Bristol News

MAKE A ROLLER.—No farmer should be without a roller. It is invaluable in making the ground hard after the spring grain is sown, thus helping to protect from drought and what is better, preparing the ground for the mowing machine, after the grain is cut and the grass grown. A cast-iron roller is the best, but it can be made of wood, and if the farmer has leisure, and a suitable tree, he can do it himself, and thus save a few dollars. Take the butt of a white oak, (chestnut will answer,) cut it three feet and a half long, and then on to each end spike an inch-and-a-half plank a foot square. Through these and into each end of the log, exactly in the centre, bore holes six inches deep. Drive into these holes an iron linch-pin. Now, hang the log, either on some sturdy crotches, or otherwise, and then hew it until perfectly round. Take two walnut straddles, ten feet long and four inches through at the butts. Flatten them on one side. Bore a hole in each to receive the pins at the ends of the roller; bring the little ends sufficiently near for a horse to walk between; flatten the upper sides in front of the roller; and then bolt thereon a foot wide inch-and-a-half or two-inch plank, with three bolts in each end. Instead of a whiffle-tree, have two small irons made, one for each thill, to hitch the draft chains to, so that in turning, the horse will pull on one side instead of both, and with the further addition of some hold back irons, your roller is done. When wanted for use, put a small boy (or girl) and the steadiest horse, and it will earn in one day more than the three dollars, at the outside, that it cost to make it, and if always kept under cover will last an ordinary lifetime.—Hearth and Home.