174 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
“MILKING.” 
Messrs. Gaylord &, Tucker —In answer to Mr. 
Freeman, your Indiana correspondent, who asks, u js 
there any remedy to keep a cow from holding up her 
milk ?” I beg leave to say, I think there is a very simple 
and sure remedy. I have for many years occasionally 
used it, and have in no instance known it to fail. When 
a child, I noticed with surprise, that a calf, when begin¬ 
ning to suck, would frequently change from one teat to 
another, and butt with considerable force the udder of 
its dam; and I inquired of a person near me, why the 
calf did this? The answer I received was, “ to make 
the cow give down her milk.” This answer was un¬ 
doubtedly correct. Since then, when milking, and the 
cow retained her milk, by imitating with my hand, this 
action of the calf, she would immediately cease to with¬ 
hold it, and the milk would flow freely. 
In every instances that has fallen under my observa¬ 
tion of a cow’s retaining her milk, I have noticed cir¬ 
cumstances that convinced me that it was not wholly an 
involuntary act, as for instance, the strong contraction 
of the abdominal muscles, and her ceasing” to chew the 
cud. Under these circumstances, by imitating with the 
hand the butting of the calf, the careful observer will 
not fail to notice an immediate relaxation of these mus¬ 
cles ; and when the milk is permitted by the cow to flow 
unrestrained, she will rarely fail to immediately recom¬ 
mence the chewing her cud. 
These hints are intended merely as a supplement to 
the directions you have appended to Mr. Freeman’s 
communication, which should never be neglected; and 
should any one fail to treat with deserved gentleness 
and kindness, that most useful animal the cow, the bet¬ 
ter part of your readers would not be anxious to lavish 
their sympathy upon him should he, in return, fail to re¬ 
ceive the rich reward due only to the deserving. 
I am respectfully yours, N. IVES. 
Wallingford, VL, Sept. 10, 1840. 
IMPLEMENTS FOR RAISING WATER. 
[Water Wheel —Fig. 86.] 
For the benefit of those fanners and others situated 
as I have been, without the convenience of good water 
near my premises, I would state that in No vember, 1839, 
I engaged Mr. D. L. Farnam of 247 Water-street, New- 
York, to put up an apparatus that should enable me to 
have water at my house, barn, &c. I had a spring of 
excellent water, 400 feet from my kitchen, that dis¬ 
charged 30 feet lower than the level of my house. I 
had in my meadow above my house, several small 
springs that discharged together, a small but constant 
stream during the year. The plan was to make use of 
the last to drive up the water of the first, to those pla¬ 
ces where I wanted it. For this purpose, I put up a 
building 12 feet square, standing on a stone wall about 
5 feet high. This building was placed about 200 feet 
from my house, on the low ground between my house 
and spring. In this I put a water wheel, 9 feet in dia¬ 
meter, and 12 inches wide. The water was brought 
along the side hill from the upper springs, and by a 
spout carried o.i to the wheel. An inch lead pipe was 
laid from the spring to a small double action pump, at¬ 
tached to the wheel shaft by a crank, as seen in the 
drawing, (fig. F6-’) thence leading under ground to a re¬ 
servoir adjoining my milk house, within twenty feet of 
my kitchen door ; from this reservoir a pipe leads into 
my kitchen, and discharges into my sink by a cock. 
From the reservoir, I conveyed water on to the shelves 
in my rnilk room, they having a raised edge, so that at 
pleasure I have water running one inch deep on each 
shelf, to keep milk cool in hot weather. Likewise from 
the reservoir, t have a two and a half inch pipe laid to 
my barn yards, 15 rods farther, and I contemplate lay¬ 
ing a pipe, to have water running constantly in my hog 
pens. Attached to the water wheel is my grind-stone ; 
likewise machinery to do our churning, which we have 
used through the season. The apparatus marked A, is 
the plan I intended for pounding clothes; with the addi¬ 
tion of a steamer, it would save much labor to the wo¬ 
men ; and the same steamer might be used to steam 
hay, potatoes, corn, &c., for cattle and hogs. My wa¬ 
ter works continued to work well all last winter, with¬ 
out being in the least affected with frost. The quantity 
of water thrown up, is about six gallons per minute, and 
has required since put in operation, but a few moment’s 
attention once a month to tighten the packing around 
the piston rod, and oiling. To those situated as to wa¬ 
ter similar to myself, I would say that the cost of my 
water works, is a small consideration compared to the 
advantages. I shall be happy to give any information 
that may be wanted, or to show my water works to any 
disposed to call and examine them. 
WINTHROP PHELPS, 
Chatham Center, Columbia Co. N. Y. Sept. 23. 
To those not situated so as to lake advantage of water 
power, it may be added that Mr. Farnam accomplishes 
the same object by a pump attached or worked by a 
wind-mill, as may be seen by the drawing (fig. 87 ) All 
that is requisite, is to have the reservoir large enough 
to contain three day’s supply. 
[Garden Engine —Fig. 88.] 
Mr Farnum likewise manufactures a Garden Engine 
(fig. 83 ) which may be made valuable to the farmer, by 
being used to tree fruit trees from worms. Last spring 
a large grape vdne became covered with worms, who 
soon made havoc of the leaves. By putting sulphur in 
water and ejecting it on the vines, the worms were de¬ 
stroyed, and the vines soon recovered, and now present 
a beautiful appearance, being loaded with fruit, which 
in all probability would have been among the missing, 
but for the engine and sulphur water. 
A HEN HOUSE. 
Messrs.' Gaylord & Tucker— In looking over the 
Cultivator for July, I noticed the inquiry of N. S. as to 
the best method of building a hen-house, &c., which has 
induced me to undertake what I have long meditated, 
but have deferred for two reasons ; first, because I had 
always rather receive than impart instruction, and se¬ 
cond, because I had never wrtten for the public eye. 
But feeling myself now called upon for information, I 
will give the result of my own experience and observa¬ 
tion, not saying that my plan is the best that can be de¬ 
vised, although I can fearlessly say that it is a great im¬ 
provement on the too frequent careless manner of pro¬ 
viding for a very useful, (and if well managed, profita¬ 
ble) class of our dependants, as well as its being the 
best plan that has come under my observation. 
A hen-house should be a building for that purpose 
exclusively ; and for the accommodation of fifty hens 
and their progeny, in size about 10 by 12 feet, and 7 to 
8 feet height of walls ; with a door in the center of the 
south or east end, made to shut as close as the doors of 
our dwellings; and a small aperture near the door, 
about 8 by 10 inches, and 2 feet from the ground, for 
the admission of the fowls. In each gable end, a win¬ 
dow hole 18 by 30 inches, with a lattice so as to exclude 
ravenous birds, and a shutter inside to be closed tight 
in winter, but to be kept open in the summer for the 
purpose of ventilation. The inside of the house should 
be plastered ar \ white-washed as thoroughly as a farm¬ 
er’s kitchen. There must be no ground floor, but a 
tight floor on three sides 3 feet wide, and well joined to 
the wall, about 4 feet from the ground. Above the floor 
place the roosts, two on each side, the outer one 12 inch¬ 
es from the wall, the other 15 inches from that. The 
roosts, if practicable, should be sassafras poles with the 
bark on, as this wood is found to be a slow conductor 
of heat, and is thought to be less liable to be infested 
with lice than most other kinds of timber, owing to its 
peculiar aromatic smell. Under the floor, place a row 
of boxes for nests 2| feet from the ground. The boxes 
to be 10 by 12 inches, and 6 or 7 inches deep. In the 
bottom of the boxes put i of an inch of fine lime or 
wood ashes, then fill nearly full with fine straw. The 
interior of the house should be thoroughly cleaned and 
white-washed early in the spring, and the ground well 
covered with slacked lime or ashes. In cold weather, 
put a little fine straw on the ground. If at any time 
the house becomes infested with lice, clean and white¬ 
wash as before directed. On the ground place your 
feed boxes which should be not very deep, but of suffi¬ 
cient capacity to hold half a bushel each, and keep them 
well supplied the year round with corn, buckwheat, and 
oats, or other kinds of grain, having one box for lime 
and gravel in the winter. I am satisfied that whoever 
will adopt the above plan and regulations, will soon find 
themselves well paid for the expense. 
Yours respectfully, p. of N. 
Elba , Mich., Aug. 15, 1840. 
FALL PLOWING FOR SPRING CROPS. 
In the cultivation of oats and barley, I have, from se¬ 
veral years experience, found fail plowing very advan¬ 
tageous and successful, even on the toughest swarded 
land. I have the land well plowed in October or No¬ 
vember, and in the spring, as soon as the land is dry 
enough to be moved, I sow the seed upon the furrow 
and thoroughly harrow it in. In this way, the crop can 
be got in early; the grain fills well, ripens early, and 
leaves the ground in a good condition for a future crop. 
I have not, in any instance, failed of getting a good 
crop, and better than I could get from the same land 
any other way. — 
WINTER SOWING OF WHEAT. 
A correspondent of the Cultivator has requested in* 
formation respecting the sowing of wheat late in the 
autumn, so that it may just vegetate and come up in the 
spring ? 
I will stale what my experiments on this subject have 
been. Having seen this practice recommended in some 
agricultural publication, I ventured on the experiment. 
January, 1838. was a very warm month, and on the 8th 
of the month I sowed about three bushels of wheat, on 
land plowed the November before. The weather con¬ 
tinued for some time warm; and the seed vegetated, 
and before the ground froze some roots began to appear 
above ground. 
In the spring a good proportion of the seed come up, 
but the growth was feeble and sickly ; a small propor¬ 
tion of the plants shot up heads, which ripened late and 
filled poorly, and the crop would hardly pay for har¬ 
vesting. The remaining part of the field was in the 
spring sowed with oats and produced an abundant crop. 
I doubt not, that in other circumstances and with a 
more favorable season, a good crop of wheat might 
sometimes be obtained in this way. But the inference 
I have made from my experiment, is, that the seed, 
when it has but just vegetated, has net sufficient hold 
of the earth to sustain life; it is still dependant on its 
own vital principle for support, and in this delicate state 
is liable to be destroyed by long continuance in a wet 
soil, and by the action of frost and drouth in the spring. 
APPLES FOOD FOR STOCK. 
From twenty-five years experience I am more and 
more convinced of the value of apples as food for hogs 
and other farm stock. When I began to feed piy hogs 
on apples, in 1815, it was generally said that there was 
no nourishment in an apple; at length it was admitted 
that there might be some in a sweet apple. Now there 
are some that go to the opposite extreme, and attribute 
too much to them, and expect too much from them. 
The object of these remarks is to set the business in its 
true light. There is scarcely any ,'i.od, of which hogs 
are more fond, than apples; but it is obvious that they 
are not a rich food, and it is in vain to think of shutting 
up a land shark, and in six or eight weeks making good 
pork of him; you must do as you would do in fatting 
an ox on grass; take a longer time for it, than if you 
fat him on grain and provender. 
I have never failed of making my hogs very fat, and 
my pork of the first quality on apples. I will state how 
I manage. I lay up in the fall two or three hundred 
bushels of apples. I store them in a room in my barn 
with eight or ten inches of chaflf under them, and a foot 
or ifiore of chafi’ over them. Thus secured, they freeze 
