THE CULTIVATOR. 
95 
Pine,. 
.321 
inches . 
. 25l 
inches. 
6 
to 
20 
Elm,. 
.32 
do. 
. 26 
do.... 
9 
to 
30 
Silver fir,. 
.281 
do. 
. 25 
do.... 
8 
to 
20 
Spruce,. 
.27 
do. 
. 22 
do 
Chesnut,. 
. 27 
do. 
. 22 
do.... 
12 
to 
30 
Birch,. 
. 25 
do. 
. 20 
do.... 
9 
to 
30 
Sycamore,. 
. 24 
do. 
. 20 
do.... 
6 
to 
30 
Beech,. 
.23 
do. 
. 21 
do.... 
6 
to 
20 
Oak,. 
.23 
do. 
. 13 
do.... 
6 
to 
30 
Ash,. 
.20 
do. 
. 17 
do.... 
6 
to 
20 
STACKING GRAIN. 
In most parts of Europe, and in the state of Pennsylvania, and 
perhaps in other states, it is the practice to secure grain in stacks. 
This is not a matter of necessity, but of choice, from an impression 
that the grain keeps better, and is more secure from vermin, than 
when stored in the barn. There is probably no district of country 
that can boast of better and more capacious barns than are to be 
iound in Pennsylvania; they may be termed splendid structures, 
and frequently cost from one to two thousand dollars: and yet they 
are hardly ever used for storing the unthreshed grain. In travelling 
in that state in August, we saw stack yards often containing from 
ten to twenty stacks of grain, but seldom saw any in the barns, se¬ 
veral of which we examined ; and we were informed, that the grain 
remained some times for years, in one instance seven, and until the 
market price was high, without sustaining injury—the farmer being 
rich enough to do without the avails of his crop till he got a good 
price. But there are many who must stack their grain from neces¬ 
sity ; and as it is very important that the stacking process should 
be rightly managed, we have deemed it useful to copy from Low, a 
description of the mode practised in Scotland, where the business 
is managed in the most approved form. It follows: 
“ The stacks may be made circular, with a diameter of 12 feet or more, ac¬ 
cording to the convenience of the farmer, and the size of his barn. The man¬ 
ner of working is this : 
“A circular layer of straw, or other substance, is laid, to form the bottom.— 
The workman begins by placing a sheaf upright in the centre of the intended 
stack, round which he places other sheaves, also on their but-ends, with the 
tops inclining inwards ; and this he continues to do in regular courses, the 
sheaves being placed closely together, until he nearly reaches the outside of 
his foundation He then lays an outside layer all around, the buts being out¬ 
wards, with the top and upper half of the sheaves resting upon the inner ones. 
In this operation of laying the exterior layer, he first grasps a sheaf, and then, 
placing it close to, and somewhat upon, the sheaf last laid, he presses upon it 
with his hands and the weight of his body, and lifts himself forward, until he 
has placed his knees upon it; and then grasping another sheaf, he, in (he same 
manner, places it in its position, and so moves on from sheaf to sheaf. He 
thus lays a layer of sheaves all around, and then a second layer, in the same 
manner, filling up, where necessary, the interior of the stack, until he has rais¬ 
ed the whole nearly to the same level as the top of the upright sheaves before 
mentioned. 
“ Having completed the first part of his work, that is, having laid his out¬ 
side layers, and filled up the heart, so that the whole may be nearly level, but 
with a slight dip from the centre outwards, he proceeds thus:—He lays his se¬ 
cond course of sheaves all around, with their buts about 1.5 or 18 inches further 
back than those of the outside course. Having done this, he fills up the inte¬ 
rior of the stack; but, in filling up the interior, he does not generally observe 
the same order of courses which he does in laying the outside layers; he mere¬ 
ly packs the sheaves in a proper manner, so that they may fill up the whole 
interstices. He now' lays an outside layer all around, with the buts outward, 
as before, and the ear-ends slightly elevated, by resting upon the buts of the 
last laid or inner course. Thus he proceeds, alternately laying the outside 
and the inner course, and filling, as he proceeds, the heart or interior, carefully 
preserving, as has been said, the dip of the sheaves from the centre outwards. 
“Sometimes when the stack is very large, or the straw short, more than two 
internal courses are laid. The process, however, is the same. The different 
courses overlap, and the workman proceeds by laying the courses in succession 
upon each other, and filling up the heart. 
“When the workman has carried his stack to the height of 12 feet, or more, 
he begins to contract it. But he first lays a course projecting a few inches be¬ 
yond the outer course last laid. This is intended to form the eaves of the 
roof; but often this is dispensed with, and it is not essential. 
“After this he contracts the stack, each successive course of sheaves being 
laid more inwards. At the same time, the elevation of the centre is not only 
preserved, but increased, so that the sheaves may have an increased obliquity 
ns the upper part of the stack is formed. 
“ When the workman has contracted the top to a platform of three or four 
feet in diameter, he rises from the position in which he had hitherto worked, 
and places a sheaf upright in the centre, and this he surrounds with sheaves 
standing in like manner upright, but with their tops inclining inwards, and 
leaning upon the centre-sheaf. This summit of upright sheaves he firmly sur¬ 
rounds with two or three turns of a straw-rope, the ends of which are some¬ 
times fixed to opposite sides of the stack, so as to prevent the summit from be¬ 
ing blown down. 
“ The stack is now in the form of a cylinder with a conical top. It is usual 
to make the diameter of the stack increase as it rises in height. This devia¬ 
tion from the perpendicular, however, should be very slight, as it tends to ren¬ 
der the stack more apt to incline to one side. 
“ The stack is now to be thatched, after it has subsided a little, and it is pro¬ 
per that a certain quantity of straw be in readiness for the purpose. The 
straw is formed into bunches, by drawing it out by the ends into handfuls: the 
short straw which is separated in this operation is reserved for other purposes, 
a3 forming the bottoms of the stacks, and partly also for thatching. 
“Twisted straw-ropes are to be in readiness. They 
may be made by means of the simple instrument, Fig. Fig. 30. 
30. It consists of a handle of from two to three feet 
long, bent at one end like a bow, and having at the 
other a ring and swivel, through which ring a straw- 
rope is passed, which is tied round the waist of the 
worker. The straw to bo twisted is fixed to a notch 
at the end of the bow, and gradually supplied by a 
person from u heap. The other worker, who may be a very young person, 
the work requiring no exertion of force, walks backward turning his bow round 
with one hand, until the rope is formed of the length required. The ropes thus 
formed are coiled upon the arm, and reserved for use. 
“The workman who thatches the stack stands upon the roof. The bunches 
of straw being handed or forked 
to him, he spreads the straw in Fig. 31. 
handfuls all around the stack, 
laying successive layers until 
he reaches the top, the higher 
overlapping a little the lower; 
and he takes care, by working 
backwards, not to tread upon 
the straw already spread.— 
When he reaches the upright 
sheaves at the top, he lays a 
thick row of covering on, which 
may consist of short straw, 
which he draws to a point a 
the top, and makes tight with 
a thin straw'-rope wound round 
it. 
The straw is then fastened 
down by means of the straw- 
ropes already described. The 
thateher stands upon a ladder 
aloft, so as to be able to reach 
the summit, while two assist¬ 
ants remain on the ground be- —- •* 
low, or are supplied with short ladders. He lays the ropes over the roof in a 
series at the distance from each other of 12 to 15 inches. They are passed ob¬ 
liquely over the roof, and fixed to, or wound round, another rope placed above 
the eaves, or below them, as in figure 31.” 
Conklin's Revolving Press Harrow —figured in the 2d No. of the 
current volume, promises to become very serviceable to the farmer, 
and for a purpose not originally anticipated. The object of the in¬ 
ventor was to obtain a machine to scarify old meadow and pasture 
grounds, for the purpose of destroying the mosses, pulverizing the 
surface, and covering seeds of the cultivated grasses. As a scari¬ 
fier, for tillage lands, it is found highly beneficial—first, in super¬ 
seding repeated ploughings; and, secondly, in saving for the crop, 
the fertilizing matters of the sod, in grass lays, which are turned up 
and wasted by a second ploughing. By its action upon an inverted 
sward, or upon a stiff clay, the surface is thoroughly pulverized, and 
a fine tilth is expeditiously obtained, for covering the seed. Our 
neighbor, C. N. Bement, has one of these machines in operation, 
and is higlfiy pleased with its performance. 
New Barn Door Fastening .—Thomas D. Burrall, Esq. of Geneva, 
who has invented and put in operation many excellent machines to 
abridge the labor of the farmer, has sent us a model of a barn door 
fastening, which combines simplicity, cheapness, strength and dura¬ 
bility. We give a representation of it below, as shown with the 
doors open. A, is an upright bar, attached by a half inch bolt, or 
pin, B, which serves as a pivot, to one of the doors, near the edge, 
and is held in its place by brackets, a b at top and bottom, and the 
spring c. On the other door, is seen the slide latch or catch D, 
kept also in place by bracket c, and spring e. The latch may be 
six inches broad, and should be bevelled on the inner side. A knob 
for opening the door, is attached to the latch, and passes to the out¬ 
side of the door, through which an opening is made for it to slide. 
Over the centre of the doors, is a catch /, firmly fixed, into which 
the upright bar A, fastens when the door is closed ; and below it, in 
the sill, is a mortice G, which fastens the lower end of the bar._ 
When the doors are to be opened, the latch D is drawn back by 
means of the knob, and the door opens ; and by pressing the foot or 
hand against the bottom of the upright bar A, on the other door, it 
is thrown into the position indicated by the dotted lines 2-2, and the 
