Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/714

 698

��Popular Science Monthly

���The pig with his individual pen can rove all over the farm but he can't root under fences

This Little Pig Went to Market— and Carried Its Pen Along

THE photograph above shows the con- struction of a pen made for the individ- ual use of a pig afflicted with Wanderlust. It was effective in keeping the pig out of the enclosed places and yet left him free to wan- der anywhere he pleased. The rub came when he tried to get under a fence or into the chicken coops. It is the invention of S. L. and J. A. Hirst, of Arkansas Pass, Tex.

��A Portable Alfalfa Mill Grinds Hay for the Allies' Cavalry

ALED al-

��B

�� �• -MIXi i:i ^ 4i:y '

� � � ��falfa hay is shipped from Califor- nia to all parts of the world where cattle or horses are fed. Yet this, added to the immense home con- sumption ,

could not use up all of the tremen dous crop.

The problem was solved a few years ago by the invention of a machine, now proved suc- cessful, which travels from field to field and converts alfalfa hay into alfalfa meal, using stems and all. It is known as the portable mill.

The meal, itself, is not a new product. Alfalfa meal has been made for years in

��stationary mills; but the labor and cost of hauling, and the loss of fine leafage in handling, held back the industry The portable mill did away with all that.

The mill can be operated with steam or electricity. A traction engine is preferred because after a job is done, the engine can hook on to the mill and haul it to the next field. Three or four horses can haul it, where no engine is used. Two men can fold the machine up for traveling and can set it up again in twenty minutes. When folded, it is compact enough to pass beneath telephone lines or trees, and to pass over irrigation ditches, etc.

The mill can be adjusted to sack the meal, to blow it into silos, into barns, or on the ground. An engineer, stacker, feeder, sacker, sack sewer, water "boy, and horse fork boy are required to run the outfit.

Alfalfa meal is a valuable concentrate alone, but it is usually fed in conjunction with coarser ground feeds. When desired, the mill can be adjusted to mix corn or oat hay or other mixture.

The meal is shipped at the grain rate, which is from one-third to one-fourth less than the hay rate. A ton of loose alfalfa will occupy approximately 500 cubic feet; baled alfalfa, from 215 to 225 cubic feet The meal takes up only ioo cubic feet.

��The portable alfalfa mill. It is drawn by engine power from field to field and converts the hay into meal at a fraction of the usual milling cost

��� �