Show IN FARM AND GARDEN Observations and Experiences of Interest to Farmers A POULTRY HOUSE ON WHEELS A Very Useful CartItems In Plum Culture Preserving Fence Posts General Farm Notes Our readers are indebted to Ohio Farmer for the drawings and descriptions descrip-tions of the boat cart hero given This style of cart is great improvement over the mud boat which is so hard on a team and will answer many of the purposes pur-poses of a four wheeled wagon when tho load is properly adjusted It is an excellent vehicle for drawing manure being easy to load and unload It is also t convenient where grading is to be done or low places aro to be filled with earth G A b s s Fig 1 FIG IA USEFUL CART In unloading earth manure etc takeoff take-off the sideboards and with a chain hitch the team to one of the wheels carry the chain square across the load over the other wheel start up the team and tip the load over As the cart is the same one side up as the other it is always al-ways right side up Put in the sideboards side-boards hitch to the front and drive off I Tho cart ia made alike on both sides hence you do not havo to tip it back The sideboards are also alike and fit ont on-t ther sides It may bo used with or without a tongue If you havo much backing to do a tongue is handy Without With-out a tongue the team is hitched to the staple C Fig 1 by a chain or large link A tongue is attached to this staple by a hook and a half inch bolt is put through tho tongue and the front of the cart at P is bolt is left out when pulling In hauling rails and the like use stakes a instead of the sideboards o a M I1 r 7 j A 1 Fig 3 FiaS2 AND 3A USEFUL CAnT The wheels used in the model are from an old mowing machine and 28 inches high Tho maker chiseled off tho projections pro-jections broke off tho cogs and had the lioles reamed out to take in a IJinch axle The length of tho boat is 12 feet width 3 feet 3 inches outside measure The bottom is made of good oak boards 1 inch thick and 3 feet 3 inches long and laid crosswise of the cart The ends of these boards are put between 2 by 4 inch oak scantlings F The shaft or axlo is perfectly straight without turning turn-ing or lathe work but simply has a i inch holo through tho ends for linchpins linch-pins This shaft is placed 4J feet from the hind end of the cart A strip of band iron B 3 inches wide and 16 inches long is put on each side and riveted on solid to hitch to The btaple works loosely through this iron to admit of hitching lc either side This staple is made of f in h round iron C 1 inches long and 4 inches between tho nuts on the ends A strip of iron li by J inch is slipped over these ends and nuts put on The staples S are mado of Ixf inch iron cut 17 inches long tho ends drawn out and turned square edgewise ono end one way and ono tho other as shown in Fig 3 Bend flatwise to form the staple This makes the staple holes 2x3 inches These staples are put in place when building build-ing the cart The end projections coming com-ing against the upper and lower scantlings scant-lings of tho frame make it impossible to pull them out A threeeighth inch bolt should be put through tho scantlings between be-tween the staples and one close to the axle Nails or spikes can be used in other places Tho front ends of the side scantlings should be beveled to an edge commencing back about fifteen inches from the ends Then put on the runners D which should bo of the same length as the beveled ends of the scantling You can iron these ruuners with band iron if you please by putting on from tho hind end of one runner clear around to the hind end of the other side One of the sideboards is shown in Fig 2 Items in Plum Culture We glean tho following from American Amer-ican Garden A good strong clay loam is best sandy subsoil not wanted Wood ashes and bone dust are good fertilizers li for plums The curculio can generally be depended upon to do all the thinning that is needed Plum trees in poultry yards are usually exempt from curculio Cultivation should bo shallowjust enough to keep the weeds down The more food you give to the trees the better bet-ter will bo the fruit and tho more there will bo of it Tho Lombard is ono of tho hardiest of all good plums and often does well for twentyfive years while the tenderer Rome Claude hardly ever lasts morn than fifteen or twenty years at most Salt as a Check to the Chinch Hug Professor Forbes tho Illinois state entomologist en-tomologist is credited with having said I have no personal experience with theme the-me of salt as a check upon chinch bug increase but from what I know of the habits of that insect and the effect of other fertilizers I should not expect any important advantage except in soils where salt will specially stimulate the growth of the grain Soiro experiments with salt mado within my knowledge by intelligent farmers of southern Illinois Illi-nois were without noticeable effect Breeding Swine II A New York breeder of long experience experi-ence says that ho finds it best to select ltood < < clean cut sows with plenty of bone stud constitution Such animals me bettor J bet-tor than those in which tho bono is too litho bred Breed the sows to finely bred I Berkshire Essex or Yorkshire boars Tho pigs will combine the fineness of the I boar with tho constitution of the sows |