HANDY FARM APPLIANCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3610, 14 December 1905, Page 4

HANDY FARM APPLIANCE.

A Device That Serves Every Purpose of the Stone Boat.

Several years ago the writer felt the need of something lighter and smaller than on ordinary stone boat for.conveyIng light articles around the farm. The result of some study was- the device shown in the illustration, which the hired man says is “about the handiest, thing on the farm.” it is, in fact, a sort of cross between a stone boat and a bob sled. The length over all is ilve feet, the width 2]/. feet. The runners are of hard maple, live feet long, ten inches wide, and two inches thick, the forward end rising 3% inches. The hardpiece is also of hard maple plank, SO inches long, two inches thick and one foot wide. An oval hole three inches from the fron.t edge affords a

\ GOOD THING TO HAVE AROUND.

means of attaching' a chain for hauling. Chis piece is firmly fastened to the runners by six bolts —three at each en* —-of "which the heads are countersunk in the lower sides of the runners. The floor is made of white ash boards, inch thick and ill) inches long, nailed crosswise, flush with the outer edge of the runners. This is surmounted on either side by a hickory rail two inches thick and three inches wide, extending the entire length flush with the outside. These rails are secured in place by four inch lag screws. Made thus of selected materials, and firmly put together, it has beeni in use, summer and winter, for five years, and is still nearly as good as new, save for the natural wear on the runners.

For conveying plows, cultivators, other implements, seeds, etc., hauling barrels of spraying mixture, removing bowlders, and other light short hauls around the farm, it has become almost indispensable. On a small farm 'it serves about every purpose of the oldfashioned stone boat, and is of much lighter draught. —George A. Martin, in K. y. Tribune.

How to Fight Black Rot. ; Black rot has been causing serious loss among the" cabbage growers, and the department of agriculture has been investigating the disease, which, it is said, may be spread by the seed, ! manure and insects, especially slugs. Late-planted cabbage are less liable to damage than those planted early. The while cool weather seems to check it. Rotation is advised as a means of prevention. The bulletin observes that the planting of other crops to. a Icng series of years seems to be the only satisfactory way of getting rid of the disease when it has once become serious. Fields that have shown even a little of the disease should not be planted to cabbages on other cruciferous plants for several years.—Agricultural Epitomist.

Not n Good Thlnj; to Do. ■ We do not approve of tying trees to Stakes, though this is often recommended and often done. The bark is apt to be rubbed and injured in spite ,o£ watchfulness. Much better is it to /reduce the size of the head so the tree 4. will stand without aiih Nor would we hill up around a tree to brace it, because often, when the ground is soft in the winter, the swaying of the trees opens the earth about the stem, which is filled with water, and this, later, freezes and kills the bark and damages