164 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



What shall I no with the Bones? — Reading your dif- 

 ferent articles on bone-dust, boue-manure, superphos- 

 phate of lime, Ac, liHS given me a light bone lever. I 

 am now saving and collecting a store of tlieni, and will 

 try to put ihein into some shape to use on my orchard 

 and vineyard. A correspondent of the Country Gentle- 

 man says they can be dissolved by boiling in ash ley. 

 Will this, if readily done, give all their value, or will a 

 proportion of the bones be changed so as to be of no 

 value?— (a) — the dissolved bones to be used as a fluid 

 , manure. Can not this solution be dried by a free use of 

 a«hes mixed with it? Will the further mixture of ashes 

 lessen in any way the bone part in value as a manure? (b) 

 Is there any portable mill for crushing and grinding 

 bones yet in market? (c) If not, how should I brake and 

 grind them ? (,(i)— John Pratt, Went Point, JV. T. 



(a) We think the ley will drive off a portion of the or- 

 ganic matter : but are not certain on this point. 



(6) The ashes will not injure the "bone part" or phos- 

 phate of lime. 



{o) We know of none. . 



(<i) It is diflicult to reduce them to bone-dust without a 

 mill. If used under your trees and grape-vines they may 

 be broken sufficiently with a hammer. We think this 

 will be your best way to use them. If your land is well 

 uuderdrained, the bones will gradually decompose, and in 

 the end yield all their fertilizing properties to the trees 

 and grape-vines. 



Corn for Fodder. — What is the comparative value of 

 corn sown for feeding stock, taking into consideration the 

 cost of cultivation, yield per acre, &c.? Are there any 

 recorded facts bearing on this poiut ? — W. Hanfokd, iti., 

 Etna, N. Y., April 13, 1863. 



Much has been written on this subject, but we cannot 

 at the moment lay our bands on any data that would de- 

 termine the question. One thing is certain, there are few 

 if any crops that will yield more per acre, and none that 

 cattle eat. with greater avidity, unless it is the vetch or 

 the Chinese sugar cane. Rich land, however, is required, 

 and it is better to sow thick in drills that admit the use 

 of the cultivator than to sow broadcast. 



Cook's Scgar Evaporator. — I see an advertisement in 

 the Farmer, of Cook's Sugar Evaporator. I want to 

 know more about it. Please send me a pamphlet. I 

 want to know what it will cost? how fast it will boil 

 away sap? flow much wood, and what length; and will 

 it pay ? We have some 500 trees, and make from 800 to 

 1000 lbs. of sugar a year. We are now boiling in kettles 

 set in an arch, which keeps us boiling day and night. 

 Has the Evaporator got to have some one by it to tend 

 all the while? Our kettles we can leave an hour at a 

 time to gather the sap, which makes it very handy. — H. 

 CABaiNQTo.v, CharUstown, Ohio. 



You can obtain the necessary information by addressing 



the manufacturers, Messrs. Bltutbrs, Bates A Day, 



Mansfield, Ohio. 



Lick on Cattle.— I have a valuable young Devon cow 

 that has become infested with some kind of vermin, which 

 the usual remedies for lice will not kill. I notice in an 

 old volume of the Farmer ih&i Mercurial Ointment is very 

 effectual for destroying them, but dangerous to use. 

 What is the danger? and how should it be used? — W. T. 

 Wilson, Olivet, Fm., April2, 1863. 



We suppose the danger, if there is any, is in nsing too 

 much. If the common unguintum of the drugstores is 

 mixed with two or three times its weight of lard, we should 

 apprehend no danger whatever. Bub a little ol it on the 

 akin on the parts most affected. 



What is the best recipe for makinc; rinecrar ? — Thos. 

 StOijf, KUtyth, C\ W. 



Which is thk Best Reaper and Mower. — I intend buy- 

 ing a combined reaper and mower the coming season. 

 Can you or some of your experienced correspondents 

 tell me which is the best? I would like one with a self- 

 raker, unless it injures the working of the machine. Any 

 information on this subject would much oblige — A Con- 

 stant Reader. 



There are so many good machines that it is not easy to 



determine which is best. Perhaps some of our readers, 



who are not interested, will give us their opinion. 



Missing Numbees of the Farmer. — (E. G.) We will 

 most cheerfully send, free of charge, any numbers your 

 subscribers failed to receive. Mistakes will occur, in 

 spite of all that is done to prevent them. Sometimes it 

 is our fault, and sometimes, doubtless, the blame is in the 

 Postoflice Department; but whatever the cause, we are 

 always ready to correct mistakes. 



Plantino Locust Trees on the Prairies. — Permit me 

 to ask your correspondents to tell us, through your pa- 

 per, the best mode of planting and cultivating black 

 locust timber on the prairies of the West — say in the lat- 

 itude of St. Joseph, Mo. — for posts for fencing. When 

 they grow alone the trunk is too short. 



Also, how to graft, plant and cultivate an orchard in 

 the same latitude, and the best varieties for an orchard 

 of two hundred trees for market. — Thomas Lawon, 

 Greenup county, Ky. 



Pruning an Old Grape Vine. — (R.) Tour better way 

 now will be to let the vine run this season. Tou can do 

 nothing with it. Tou must start afresh. Cut out a 

 greater portion of the old canes, leaving a few strong, 

 new shoots, and train these in the same way as you would I 

 a new vine. j 



Outside Cellars. — Will you please to give us a plan ori 

 plans, through the Genesee Farmer, for an outside cellar? 

 Having water in the cellar under the house a greater part 

 of the year, we have got to build an outside cellar of 

 some kind and do not know how to do it. If some of the 

 readers of the F(trmer can favor us with a plan, it will 

 very much oblige— G. G., Girard, Pa., April 4, 1863. 



Cultivation op Grapes. — (Benj. Williams.) Tou will 

 find an admirable treatise on the cultivation of grapes in 

 the open air, from the pen of one of our most experienced 

 grape growers, Josiah Salter, in the Rural Annual and 

 Horticultural Directory for 1858. 



Scours in Calves.— (T. C.) Give them some milk 

 thickened with wheat flour. If the case is not an nn- 

 nsually severe one, a pint given twice a day will cure it 

 Be sure that the calves are well littered with clean straw. 



Grubs on Cattle. — What is the cause and what the 

 cure of crubs in the backs of cattle? My young cattle are 

 very much infested and very poor in conscqueuce. — 



J. E. PlERSON. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer, — Can you or your corri spon- 

 dents inform me of the whereabouts of the. Brittany 

 cows, said to have been imported? — H. S. Collins, Co/tfni- 

 ville. Conn. 



Apple Bark Ix)U8r. — (D. Bters.) For an acconnt of 

 this insect, remedies, Ac, sec Rural Annual and Horticul- 

 tural Directory for 1860, page r>^. 



Tobacco— (J. R. Spencer). The best variety is the 

 Connecticut Seed Leaf. You can get the seed from B. K. 

 Bliss, Springfield, Mass. 



What is the best medicine to take a film off a horse'l 

 eje ?— W. Fbaukb, autar-Crtek, Fu. 



