124 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Communications. 
farm gate. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I have seen several 
plans ot farm gates in your paper. I send you one (fig. 
72.) which experience proves to be an excellent gate, 
for several reasons; one is, it is made without nails or 
iron; another, it is durable; and another, it never sags 
EXPLANATION. |—ill [Fig. 72. J 
A, A, Posts, 8 and 10 ' 
feet Ions;, hewed square 
above the ground. 
b, Bed piece, 10 feet in 
clear, tenanted into the 
posts, and pinned firm. 
c, Block of wood 3 
inches thick, and 6 inch¬ 
es wide, 11 feet long, te¬ 
nanted into post 6 inch¬ 
es; two inch tenant; 
shoulder on each side; 
put in firm—hole 2 inch¬ 
es to receive the upright shaft of gate, which is made round ; 
rounded also at the bottom, and fitted into the bed piece. 
d, Slats'of gate, tenanted into uprights and pinned. 
. e. Two beams, one on each side Pins of wood made of 
seasoned timber. Uprights 3 by 5inches. 
Troy, Mich. May, 1S40. A. C. H 
Implement for Harvesting Ruta Baga—[Fig. 73.] 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I often hear an ob¬ 
jection made to raising ruta bagas, because of the la¬ 
bor of harvesting them. I have a mode, which is very 
expeditious, and as I have never, to my recollection, 
seen any thing like it published, although I have been 
a subscriber to the Cultivator since its commencement, 
I am induced to send you a description of my ruta ba¬ 
ga hook, and if you know of no better implement for 
the purpose, and think it would be useful, you will 
please publish it. 
My hook is made with a strong eye, like a common 
hoe, and the blade is a piece of handsaw plate, riveted 
on to the eye, 4 inches by 6; and the hooks on the other 
side are about 6 inches long, with a strong handle like 
a common hoe. 
The man walks along the row, and with a light blow 
of the blade cuts the top and turns it, and with the hook 
pills the bottom. Any common hand may top and pull 
from 6 to 8 hundred bushels in a day. 
Above you have a rough draft ol’ it. Our crops look 
promising for the season. Yours. 
EBASTUS SKINNER. 
Prattsburgh, June 12, 1840. 
DRESSING FLAX BY MACHINERY. 
Messrs. Editors —’Having made some experiments 
in the use of machinery, I send you the result for pub¬ 
lication, if you think best. About 18 months since, I 
purchased a thrashing machine at an expense of $85. 
It has worked to my satisfaction, as I have found its 
use a great saving of labor'. Last fall, having fourteen 
acres of flax, from which I wished to take the seed, I 
concluded to try my machine, and found it the most ex¬ 
peditious method of taking of}' the seed which I have 
ever seen. It was done by the attachment of one small 
wheel, which reduced the motion of the cylinder three- 
fourths, and running the band across, turning the cylin¬ 
der the opposite way from which it runs when thrash¬ 
ing grain; then put a stick across on the back side of 
the cylinder, just so as to clear the teeth in the cylinder, 
and make it fast on the frame at each end, when it is 
ready for use. I put the flax in on top of this stick as 
far as there was any seed, and pulled it out as quick as 
possible. Every particle of seed was taken off. with¬ 
out injury to the flax. I think one man can take off 
more seed in this way, than three can in the ordinary 
way by whipping it off on a stone. 
My next attempt was to fix a machine to the horse 
power to dress the flax ; and this I did at an expense 
not to exceed $5, and five day’s work. It works as well 
as ever I saw one work by water. Two hands can break 
and dress of good flax one hundred pounds a day. It is 
worked by two horses with ease. If it is requested, I 
will give a description of the flax dressing machine. 
[We shad be glad to receive it, accompanied with such 
drawings as may be necessary.— Eds.] 
I am fixing a circular saw to saw my wood ; and I 
design to attach a cross-cut saw to the horse-power, for 
the purpose of sawing logs, which I think can be done, 
and a great saving of labor be thereby effected. 
I saw an inquiry in one of your papers respecting the 
best and cheapest thrashing machine. The preference 
was given to the one horse power. Almost every one 
thinks his own the best. I think mine the best, because 
it is the cheapest and managed with as little he’p as 
any other. Three men and one boy are sufficient to 
thrash 150 bushels a day; and 500 bushels may be 
thrashed in a day with help and team enough. So you 
see we can thrash on a moderate scale or more rapidly 
as circumstances require. My machine is a lever power, 
and can be used with one or more horses up to six or 
eight. It was made at Scaughtacook Valley, 
Berlin, Conn. April, 1840. G. N. G. 
__ ^ PORTRAIT OF ONEIDA—[Fig. 74.] 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker—I have to acknowledge 
the receipt of an impression from the “block” left with 
i * 1 * lj ase .°f y° ur city, and must confess that my muti¬ 
lated di awing has been in some degree restored by the cor- 
lections and alterations of that artist, whose taste and 
feeling for the subject enabled him at once to detect and 
amend some of the absurdities committed in the engraving 
room of the celebrated Mr. Adams, where the “ tool” had, 
in this instance, almost made a burlesque ot the subject. 
It was not, however, in Mr. Pease’s power to recut the 
whole block; you must, therefore, accept my assurance 
that the animal itself was, like other good calves, clothed in a 
thick mossy coat of fine hair, the engraving notwithstandin g. 
Having attempted an apology for the much that will 
strike you about the portrait as un-artist like, I most 
e.ieerfully accede to the wish you have expressed, that it 
should appear in the Cultivator ; for I think it an admira¬ 
ble illustration of my favorite axiom, that the only desira¬ 
ble size is where we find the greatest weight in the small¬ 
est relative compass. 
The original drawing was made by myself, from a hei¬ 
fer calf when about six months old. She was of the im¬ 
proved short horn family, and of course a “ Held Book” ani¬ 
mal; bred on one side from Mr. Whitaker’s stock, and on 
the other side she is descended from Mr. Wethcrell’s herd; 
her weight at the time was five hundred and sixty pounds, 
by no means an extraordinary one, unless her apparent 
rne&iocrity of size was taken into consideration, which 
from its symmetrical proportion, was most deceptive ; the 
best judges never estimating her within fifty, and some an 
hundred, pounds of her ascertained weight. I therefore 
selected her, as embodying in a high degree, (though only 
a. calf,) iny apothegm, that weight for inches, not, super- 
fice, constitutes true size. I believe it will be found that 
this form of animal necessarily combines constitution, sub¬ 
stance and beauty, and consequently constitutes what is 
most profitable in neat stock. I have, however, had very 
frequent occasions to remark, that where there is great. 
justness of proportion, a due relation between the several 
parts, and a light offal, that the common observer is apt to 
under-estimate the size, and especially the weight of such 
animals ; oftentimes overlooking the very best of the herd, 
while his eye is caught by an individual possessing some 
monstrous development, altogether out of proportion to the 
surrounding parts. An appearance of size and weight is 
thus often assumed which is unreal ; these very projections 
standing out the more conspicuously from deficiencies else¬ 
where, which escape observation, making on the whole an 
uneven carcass of deceptive weight, though abounding in 
superfice. 
On reference to the portrait, it will be seen at once, that 
ll Oneida ” combined great weight in the most valuable 
points, with an unusual lightness of offal: her head, neck 
and shanks being quite small, and the plates of the abdo¬ 
men sustaining its contents on a nearly horizontal line_ 
The neck vein is so full as to blend the neck beautifully 
with the shoulder point, which is small, and the elbow 
lays well to the side. She is remarkable for the laying out 
of the fore rib, and is full in the crops, the width of her 
loin extending itself nearly the whole length of her back; 
she measures well across her hips, which are level, the rumps 
high and fleshy, with great length of quarter, and her 
twist is well let down; her flank is full and heavy, and 
her general appearance indicating “ mellow handling” and 
great “ proof,” two points I think indispensable. 
I have in my portfolio the sketch of a calf about the 
same age as “ Oneida," exhibiting both size and weight, but 
neither of them, in my opinion, of the right kind.— 
Should you think the subject worth pursuing farther, I 
will make a drawing of one of those “ Beat-that-if-you-can” 
breed, by way of illustration, and send it you, with some 
few remarks on the calf himself. But if you think my 
“ bobby” has been rode sufficiently for the present, I’ll sta¬ 
ble him, and look on, with all imaginable good nature, 
while some one else takes his turn. R. 
Butternuts, July 15, 1840. 
THE PLACE TO DIG A WELL. 
Messrs. Gaylord 8c Tucker —I saw in your paper 
an inquiry for the best mode of finding water, or rather 
a place to dig a well. I have had some information on 
the subject, but do not profess to be a very experienced 
hand at the business. The way I manage, is to choose 
a clear day, when there are no clouds to interfere with 
the eye; about 1 or 2 o’clock, I go out to the place I 
wish to look for water ; I turn my back toward the sun, 
and look toward the sky, to examine the vapors that 
arise from the ground into the air, and if there is a vein 
of water near in that direction, there will appear a va¬ 
por to rise quick to a certain height, and then it will 
move off on a level, in the same way that the smoke will 
rise from a chimney over a very hot fire of coals, where 
there is no smoke, and will rise as liisrh above the sur¬ 
face as the water is below the top of the earth. The 
facts are, that water must have vent, and the deeper in 
the earth the water lies, the harder the pressure and the 
highhr it will rise. Now, as I have stated, I am not a 
professed water witch, I would wish to hear from those 
of more experience, as there are many who do profess 
to know, and say that they can trace a vein of water 
not larger than a rye straw, that lies 60 feet under 
ground, and tell as to the quality of the water. I know 
that many men wish to keep such things secret, but I 
think it the duty of every man or woman that can be 
useful to their fellow beings, to do so. As to qualities 
of water, all I know is, that salt water gives a stronger 
cloud than fresh, and lime water gives a whiter cloud 
than pure soft water. Any information that can be 
given on the subject, will be thankfully received. 
Newark, III. May 30, 1840. W. STOWELL. 
HIVING BEES. 
In the 7th volume of the Genesee Farmer, page 236, 
is a description of an easy method of hiving bees. If it 
would answer the purpose as there described, it would 
be valuable. I have put up a board in the manner there 
described, but have not had a swarm on it yet, although 
I have had a number this spring. Perhaps the descrip¬ 
tion is not right. If you, or any of your correspondents 
have tried it, I should like to hear bow it answered. 
Perhaps the hoard should be laid on the bench or stand 
cn which the hives are placed, instead of the ground. 
Anv information on the subject would be very accepta¬ 
ble to A YOUNG APIARIAN. 
Note. —The “easy method” referred to above, was contain¬ 
ed in an article from the Yankee Farmer, purporting to be a 
description of the plan pursued by Mr. Moses Winslow of 
Westbrook, in hiving bees. We know nothing more of the 
matter than is contained in the extract alluded to, never hav¬ 
ing seen the plan recommended pursued. 
