364 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
that no stooks are left partly or entirely blown 
over, and that no bundles lie upon the ground, 
the corn fodder may stand out until there is 
danger of snow, without essential harm, and 
the more thorough the drying, the less the lia¬ 
bility to mould. Musty corn fodder is not so 
unpalatable to the stock as musty hay, but the 
loss of nutriment must be about the same. 
When sowed corn is cut for dry fodder, the 
stubble should be left low, and after one or two 
days sunning and turning, the corn should be 
bound in small bundles, and set up in small 
open stooks well braced, or against a fence, or 
against both sides of poles, supported 34 or 4 
feet above the ground, by being bound to stakes 
with withes, or laid in the crotches of crossed 
stakes. This is perhaps the best way; the fod¬ 
der is kept clean, it has thorough airing and 
dries more rapidly than if stooked. These 
ranges should stand north and south, so that 
the sun may have equal chance at both sides. 
The value of this material for food is seldom 
if ever overestimated. Cut up, salted a little, 
sprinkled over with corn meal or oil-cake, and 
then moistened thoroughly and left 12 hours, it 
is made one of the most nutritious and palata¬ 
ble articles of diet for cattle. Horses also thrive 
upon stalks prepared in this way, but it is not 
best to let it form too large a proportion of the 
feed of working horses, as it is said to make 
them what is termed “ soft.” A very large part 
of the value of this fodder is in the stalks, but 
these are often so tough and hard as to be un¬ 
palatable even after they are soaked. Cooking 
by steam is therefore highly approved of. No 
practice is so wasteful as feeding cornfodder 
uncut, when cattle simply strip off most of the 
leaves, and, if fed upon the ground, trample a 
large portion of the remainder into the dirt. 
Virginia Way of Loading Heavy Logs. 
All the handy ways of doing things do not 
originate in Yankeedom, by a great deal. Hand¬ 
ling heavy logs is one of those jobs which any 
farmer but a real woodsman undertakes with the 
hearty wish that it were over. A Virginia cor¬ 
respondent goes to work in the following way. 
He has a “hook” made of a bar of iron 2 
inches wide by s | 4 inch thick, bent so that it will 
hang over the top of the wheel as seen in the 
engraving, figure 1. It is really two hooks con¬ 
nected by their shanks, forming a sort of horse¬ 
shoe shaped bow or bight, which haugs below 
Fig. 1.—SKID AND HOOK. 
the felloe. Into this bight the end of a skid is 
placed. This is notched so that when the log 
is drawn up it will roll over the top of the wheel. 
For hauling short distances one pair of wLeels 
answers best. The but end of the log is, of 
course, put upon the axle, and the wheels are 
cramped with regard to the skid, so that when 
the log rolls up it will not roll off the wheel on 
which the skid rests, without bearing upon the 
other wheel, and thus being let down upon the 
axle without a fall, and without “ chocking.” 
After the wheels and skid are in position, if a 
chain or rope is attached to the axle, and passed 
under and over the log, a pair of horses or cat¬ 
tle will quickly roll it up. In hauling long dis¬ 
tances a wagon should be used, in loading which 
two skids are needed, and it is usually best to take 
Fig. 2.— ARRANGEMENT FOR LOADING HEAVY LOGS. 
off one hind wheel. The diagram which ac¬ 
companies this, shows about the relations of 
log, skid, and pair of wheels; the dotted lines 
indicating the position of the log as it is hauled 
up. The tongue of the cart should be made fast 
to a stump, crowbar, or something of the kind. 
Simple mechanical epntrivances like this will 
often save a great deal of hard work. Almost 
every farmer has his peculiar methods of lighten¬ 
ing or expediting work, and it should be a 
pleasure to communicate them to the others. 
• — —*-♦-- 
Storing Potatoes for Winter. 
It is often a matter of very great pecuniary 
importance for a farmer to be able to keep his 
potato crop until spring. Many made very 
handsome sums by pursuing this course, the 
past season. Potatoes were bought last fall for 
fifty cents a bushel, and those in good order 
were sold very generally in spring for two dol¬ 
lars. As long as the custom of early marketing 
prevails so generally, the man who cultivates 
the new seedlings and stores them until spring, 
will be likely to pursue a safe course. Prices 
are generally enough higher to pay for the extra 
handling, and leave a margin for profit. They 
can be stored upon the surface of the ground 
in any dry position in the same manner as 
turnips, but this requires much care in covering 
the pits on account of the extreme weather that 
prevails in the best potato districts. It is not 
uncommon for the earth to freeze two feet deep, 
and the raising of a mound with walls of that 
thickness over potatoes is a great labor. It has 
its advantages however in saving carting, and 
once handling. The heaps or pits are usually 
made upon the field where the potatoes grow, 
and so near together that when the potatoes are 
picked up they are taken directly to the heaps, 
W'hich contain from 30 to 100 bushels each, as 
suits the convenience of jthe farmer. A light 
covering of straw is thrown over the heap and 
the earth is put upon the straw, making a roof 
that will shed water and keep out the frost. 
When the farmer wishes to keep his pota¬ 
toes for the spring market, this is a good 
method. Another w r ay is to store the pota¬ 
toes in pits, partly below the surface, but this 
can only be done where the soil is perfectly 
drained. There is not much difference in the 
labor involved, or in the security of the crop 
against frost. Farmers living near ports, who 
wish to ship their potatoes in the winter, build 
cheap vaults or cellars in hill sides, that will 
hold from 500 to 1500 bushels. The vault has 
a window and shoot arranged for tipping in a 
cartload at a time, and a door is upon the south 
end for taking the potatoes out. In New Jersey 
aud on Long Island it is quite common to store 
potatoes in the house or barn cellar, to be 
ready for market at any time when the- 
prices suit. Immense quantities are stored by 
dealers in the city of New York, mostly in bar¬ 
rels, but sometimes in bulk. In cellar storage 
straw should be thrown over them to keep out 
the light. This crop keeps best, away from the 
air, in darkness, and at a low temperature, a few 
degrees above freezing. That method is best 
which secures these conditions most perfectly, 
with the least labor and with the least expense. 
---—•••>—-- o--— 
Loss in Stacking Hay. 
A farmer of sound judgment, and large expe¬ 
rience in cutting and storing hay, estimates his 
own loss in stacking at twenty-five per cent. 
He cuts probably a hundred tons a year, and 
stacks a fifth part of it for want of barn room. 
He has very properly made up his mind to build 
a new barn. We think his estimate is not wide 
of the mark. There is a large loss from mould¬ 
ing at the bottom of the stack, and old rails, 
boards, or straw, will not wholly prevent it. 
Then the whole external surface for 3 to G inch¬ 
es, is weather beaten, and loses much of its 
sweetness, aud it is not improbable that this loss 
of aroma extends through the whole stack. 
The conviction is universal among intelligent 
men that barn stored hay is worth much more 
than that which is taken from the stack. Why 
then follow this wasteful practice ? Look at 
the great loss to this farmer who cuts one hun¬ 
dred tons of hay worth $2,000. According to 
his own estimate he pays $100 a year for the 
privilege of stacking one-fifth of his crop. 
This is but a small part of the loss where the 
hay is fed out at the stack. It costs at least a 
third more hay to keep cattle without shelter. 
These are strong arguments for more barn room. 
. — « a—--- 
A Danish Cow Halter. 
The horns of neat cattle offer a means of at¬ 
taching a rope to tie them by, to which we are 
so much accustomed that other head fastenings 
seem awkward under any circumstances. Neck 
ties are in common 
use, and allow the 
animals more mo¬ 
tion with the head 
than halters or head 
ties, but less with the 
body. Fractious ani¬ 
mals are in danger 
of hurting them¬ 
selves in their plung¬ 
es, when they are 
fastened either by 
the neck or with a halter. Hornless cattle 
must be fastened in one or the other of these 
ways, and a halter which will give perfect 
control over the animal is a desideratum. A 
young Danish farmer made in a few minutes, 
