138 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[April, 
barley last year that could not be cut with the 
reaper, because it was so short that the machine 
could not be put down low enough to reach it! 
On light, warm, sandy soil, that is not liable 
to bake, barley should be sown as early as the 
land can be got into a fit condition. When 
sown early, such land, if very rich , will produce 
splendid barley. On heavy, clayey loams it is 
thought best not to be in any hurry about sow¬ 
ing before the first week in May, unless the 
land happens to be in splendid order. We are 
inclined to think that, provided the soil is dry 
and rich, the earlier barley can be sown the 
better. Two bushels of seed per acre is consid¬ 
ered sufficient, but we prefer 2‘| 2 bushels, 
broadcast, and 2 J | 4 bushels, if sown with a drill. 
It is usual to roll the land when the barley is 
fairly out of the ground. The rolling, of course, 
can be done at the time of sowing, but it is fre¬ 
quently quite a convenience to be able to post¬ 
pone the operation for ten days or two weeks. 
The land is drier, we have more leisure, 
and the work can ' be all done at once. 
In harvesting, the crop is cut with a reaper, 
and it is better to bind it into sheaves. But 
it often happens that other work is so pressing 
that it is left loose in the bunches as thrown off 
from the machine. The bunches should be 
turned in. the course of a few hours, and great 
care should be taken to prevent the crop from 
being stained by the weather. A bright sample 
will command from 5 cents to 15 cents per 
bushel more than one stained by the weather, 
or discolored by heating too much in the mow 
or stack. If it should so happen that the crop 
heats in the mow, do not thrash it till it has 
done “sweating,” and it will not be injured. 
A Simple and Good Corn Crib. 
Mr. Francis Collins, of Bucks Co., Pa., sends 
the American Agriculturist a very accurate de¬ 
scription of his corn crib, with his reasons for 
building it as he did. If not taken as a model, 
nevertheless, the description may be very useful 
as a guide to farmers in constructing similar 
buildings of varying capacity. Mr. C. writes : 
“ I have never known any corn crib that com¬ 
bined so many good points. It is of good size 
and durability, very easily filled and emptied, 
perfectly rat-proof, and we have never known 
CORN CRIB. 
if to fail to keep corn perfectly. It has been built 
nearly twenty-five years, has had little or no 
repairs put upon it, and looks like standing 
twenty-five years more without needing any. 
It is 40 feet long, 5 feet wide at the sills, and 
7 feet wide at the plates, with posts 7 feet 10 
inches, from top of sill to top of plate. The sills 
are of white oak, G by 7 inches, set upon 14 
posts, 7 on a side. These posts are of excellent 
red cedar and locust, about 7 inches in diam¬ 
eter, set in the ground 2 : | 2 feet, and resting on 
flat stones. They should reach at least 20 inches 
above the ground, which is high enough to pre¬ 
vent rats from jumping up, and getting into the 
crib. The tops of the posts should have old tin 
milk-pans inverted over them, (as shown in the 
engraving,) for mice climb a vertical piece of 
tin. The sills are fastened to the corner 
posts by thick and long wooden pins, to pre¬ 
vent the crib being blown over. The best posi¬ 
tion for a crib is north and south, so that the 
westerly winds may 
have a good chance 
at it, and it must 
stand clear from all 
other buildings. The 
cross-sills, or joists, 
are let into the sills 
every 3 feet, and are 
of oak, 5 by 6 inches. 
The end posts, mid¬ 
dle posts, and two 
other posts which 
are equidistant from 
the end and middle 
posts, are 5 by 5 inches, and should be of a dur¬ 
able and hard wood; mine are of lieart-pine. 
The other posts are of hemlock, 3 by 5 inches, and 
2 feet from centre to centre. The corner and 
middle posts are braced. There are five cross¬ 
ties, (two of these are at the ends,) which are 
tenoned, and keyed to the larger posts, just be¬ 
low the plates. The plates are 4 by 7 inches, 
put on flat-wise for greater strength. The roof 
should be of white pine shingles, with three 
sliding doors. When the crib is nearly filled, 
the sliding doors are pushed up as far as need¬ 
ed for shovelling in the corn, and are held in 
their places by the shingles, which overlap 
the edges of the door about l’| 2 inches. When 
they are pulled down, there is a batten on the 
inside of the door which just allows the bot¬ 
tom of it to come in line with the eaves. 
The sides of the crib are covered with oak- 
lath, 2 inches wide, and with spaces between 
sufficiently narrow to keep in the thinnest ears, 
a board to face the sills, and another narrow 
one to run 4 inches up the side. The ends of 
the crib are covered with boards, and have a 
large door in each. 
After the laths are nail¬ 
ed on the sides, small 
doors or windows, about 
20 inches square, are 
sawed out of the laths, 
and the sawed pieces 
are fastened with 
wrought nails to cross¬ 
pieces; so that when 
the door is put in, the 
tops of the cross-pieces 
go inside of the first slat 
above the opening, then 
the door drops down an 
inch or two, and the 
_ _ __ bottoms of the cross¬ 
pieces go inside of the 
first slat below the open¬ 
ing. Thus we have a cheap, easily made door, 
easily taken out, and, when in, hardly to be distin¬ 
guished from the adjoining parts. I have eight 
of these doors, four of them close under the 
eaves, and four a little lower, for easy shovelling. 
When filling, nail loosely pieces of board in¬ 
side of the door-posts, at the end of the crib, so 
that the corn cannot press against the door. 
When emptying the crib, use the side-doors as 
soon as it is possible to shovel the corn through 
them into a wagon. The crib will hold about 
900 bushels of shelled corn when it is well filled. 
Plowing for Corn and Potatoes. 
There is little doubt that potatoes, as a rule, 
do best now a days on fall-plowed sward. The 
decaying sod affords organic manure enough on 
most soils, though if the laud is dry, sandy, or 
gravelly, and this crop is not especially subject 
to rot upon it, a moderate dressing of barn-yard 
THE MICHIGAN PLOW. 
manure, or a good muck compost applied early 
in the spring, is often very useful. If, however, 
the sward is a close one, we would apply, say, 
50 bushels of lime to the acre in the spring, half 
before and half after plowing. Wire-worms are 
often a great anno 3 r ance on an old sward, and 
when their presence is suspected, we advise the 
use of lime slaked with brine, not as an abso¬ 
lute prevention of danger from worms, but as an 
important check, being death to many of them. 
Potatoes are often planted on spring-plowed 
sod with good success, and on light soils corn 
does best so treated. When this is done, there 
is seldom opportunity to cross-plow and knock 
the sods to pieces. If it is attempted, the crop 
is put in very late, in order to give the sods a 
chance to rot before cross-plowing, and the 
iveeds and grass will probably prove masters of 
the situation. If the soil is thin, use a flat fur¬ 
row plow, and invert the sod as perfectly as 
possible. If there is a sufficient depth of soil to 
warrant ploiving eight inches deep, by far the 
best plow to use is the Double Michigan, or “sod 
and subsoil” plow, which is simply a large 
ploAV with a small plow, called a skimmer, placed 
on the beam in place of a coulter. The opera¬ 
tion of this plow was shown by an engraving- 
in the American Agriculturist for May, 1865. 
The little plow folds half the sod slice upon 
the other half, and the big plow turns it into 
the furroAV and covers it with mellow loam. 
The engraving gives a good idea of one of these 
plows. They are made of all the favorite 
forms, and any clever smith can adapt a “ skim¬ 
mer ” to a common plow. The share of the little 
plow should always cut as wide as the plow 
can turn, and the wing of the mould-board should 
extend out Avide enough to lay the half-slice of 
sod flat over upon the uncut portion. When 
manure is plowed under Avith the plow, it is of 
advantage to have boys follow behind the plow 
and haul tbe manure from the next slice into the 
bottom of the furrow. This leaves the manure 
in part upon the sod and in part upon the bot¬ 
tom of the furrow. When manure is turned 
under in ploAving, lime should be applied, if at 
all, upon the plowed surface. Tbe Michigan 
plow usually leaA r es the ground fit for planting. 
The Price op Horses. —The difficulties at¬ 
tending efforts to report the horse market of 
