1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
county," he says, " but all belonged to the large breed. 
My hog, being; quite a cariosity, was well discussed, but 
was most always dismissed with, the remark that he was 
too short or too fine. Says I, ' gentlemen, here is a tape- 
line, get in and measure him, and then measure any of 
these large pigs.' They did so, and he was only from 1 
to % l / 2 inches shorter tbau the large breeds, and about the 
same in circumference aronnd the heart. It opened their 
eyes. He was decidedly the best proportioned hog on 
the grounds. " 
SXisfli Wages, Light Crops, and 
IjO w Prices have made the past year a very unprofita- 
ble one to many of our readers. Let us keep up our 
epiritsas best we can. "It is a long lane that has no turn- 
ing." Wages will probably be lower, prices arc almost 
certain to advance, and we shall have better crops if we 
use the proper means. It should be understood that, no 
matter where we live, whether land is cheap or dear, or 
whether we adopt high farming or slow farming, we can- 
not hope to make ranch profit unless we raise large crops 
per acre. This is the central truth of American agricul- 
ture, and it is our aim to have it thoroughly understood 
by all our readers. 
Clover for Hog Pasturc-Wm. T.Strick- 
land, of Indiana, writes: " Say to your 'Kentucky far- 
mer', who wants to know how to start "a hog pasture,' 
that he may sow red clover seed on his wheat field— say 
from February 1st to May 1st, owing to the season— with 
the prospect of having a pasture ready for use by the 1st 
of the May next following. The better time to bow 
clover seed, as a general rule, is in March. There are 
not usually a sufficiently number of successively warm 
days in February,to sprout the seed, but in some seasons 
there are, and when the germ has sprouted, it requires 
very little cold to kill it. It matters but little about the 
condition of the ground, only that it should be free from 
weeds. It is the better plan not to pasture clover until 
it is 13 or 14 months old. It is very frequently large 
eneugh to make fine pasture in the fall, after having been 
sown the spring previous ; but fall pasturing not unfre- 
quently assists the following winter to destroy your next 
spring's crop.*" 
Oil-cake for ff*igs. — "A. S-," Iowa, asks 
" If it will pay to feed fattening hogs oil-cake at $3 per 
cwt., when corn can be bought for 30 cents per bushel, 
and hogs are worth 10 cents per lb., dressed." Most 
certainly not. When oil-cake costs no more per ton than 
corn-meal, we should use oil-cake in preference, not be- 
cause the oil-cake is any more fattening, but because the 
manure from it is much more valuable. We are ourselves 
at this time paying $5 per ton more for oil-cake than we 
can get corn-meal for, partly for the above reason and 
partly because a little of it helps to regulate the bowels 
and keep the animals in better health. Fattening hogs 
should not have much oil-cake, or it will render the pork 
soft, and so it is said, gives it a disagreeable flavor. Young 
pigs may be fed one-third oil-cake and two-thirds corn- 
meal, with decided advantage to the pigs. But it cannot 
pay to use it when it costs much more than corn. 
I&inU Breeding.-" J. B. S." A great 
deal has been written, rather indefinitely, however, 
about the breeding of mink. So far as we can learn, the 
facts are, briefly, that minks will do well and breed in 
confinement, provided they have plenty of water and 
enough to eat. During the breeding season they are 
kept in pairs, and in families after the young are brought 
forth, until they are nearly grown. Adult minks are al- 
most untamable, but young ones readily submit to hand- 
ling, and are easily domesticated. The time to secure 
young minks is in May and June, when they begin to 
run with their dams. The streams must be quietly 
watched fir mink trails, and these tracked to the nest. 
When they leave the hole the old one may be shot, and 
the young ones secured, or, they maybe dug out. Those 
who own a breeding stock of minks ask high prices for 
them; but trappers represent to us that it is an easy mat- 
ter, with a little patience, to get the wild young ones. 
Pin-Worms in Morses.— ' A. C," of 
Hicksville, L. I., asks: "Can you give me a certain 
remedy for a kind of worms in horses, which are about 
one inch in length, of a white color, with glassy-looking 
heads and pointed tails ? At times they come from the 
animal in his manure. I have tried every remedy that 
persons have suggested to me, including the one in the 
' Hints to Horsekeepers,' but not one of them seemed to 
avail any thing. The horse is about fifteen years old, has 
had the worms a long time, and is at present in a very 
poor condition. He is an excellent work horse, and I 
want to get him in good order." The best remedy for 
pin-worms we know of is the following given us by Dr. 
Liantard, of the New-York College of Veterinary Sur- 
geons: Give drachm doses of tartar emetic twice a day 
for three or four days, and follow with a mild purgative, 
say five drachms of aloes. Precisely the same remedy 
is good to bring away the long white worm. 
Filinona 3Iorse% Eye. — (Wm. Hanna.) 
—Ask the advice of a veterinary surgeon or of a physi- 
cian. It is probably caused by bad treatment, such as 
poorly ventilated stables, irregular feeding, letting the 
horses stand out of doors in cold storms without a blan- 
ket when heated ; and then when you bring them home 
at night blanketing them in the stable instead of rubbing 
them dry. If you feed your homes much corn, work them 
hard,and do not groom them, yon must expect them to be- 
come blind. Give the horse half a peck of bran or car- 
rots twice a day ; groom him thoroughly, and otherwise 
improve his general health, and his eye will probably 
get well. 
Gypsum.— u C. D. 0-," Hampton, N. Y., 
writes: "In the December Number of the American 
Agriculturist, under the head of ' How much Gypsum 
per Acre,' you seem to convey the idea that two bushels 
would be as beneficial, and for as long a time, as four 
bushels. Is it true that two bushels applied to an acre is 
as good as four if no more be put on for a number of 
years? Is gypsum in the soil different from other ma- 
nures ?" Yes. Gypsum is very different from all those 
manures which, like bone-dust, superphosphate, ashes, 
etc., exert their chief action in contributing directly to 
the nutrition of the plant. They are good because they 
arc plant food. Gypsum is good because, to a consider- 
able extent, it either enables the plants to take more of 
other food, or because it supplies or retains in the soil 
for the use of the plant,ammonia, moisture, or something 
else. There is no subject upon which there is more dis- 
agreement or uncertainty in the teachings of agricultural 
writers of authority than upon the action of gypsum. 
Experiments have proved that the maximum beneficial 
amount is soon reached on most soils. 
Caponizing Fowls. — This is not a diffi- 
cult operation to one Who is accustomed to it, but the 
beginner will have difficulty unless he practises upon 
dead fowls until quite familiar with the mode of opera- 
ting. If possible, a few lessons should be had of an old 
caponizer. Instructions accompany boxes of implements, 
which arc worth $6 or $7. 
Poultry Raising on a large Scale. 
— We are in receipt of a number of letters asking advice 
on this subject. Poultry is cheap this year for some rea- 
son—probably because corn is not dear, grasshoppers 
more abundant ; the season was dry, and the weather 
holds warm. It is therefore easier to buy 1,000 choice 
pullets than usual ; but if any body tries it he will find it 
a task to do that— if we may judge by the experience of a 
neighbor. We have no doubt it is profitable to keep 
fowls by the 1,000; and the experiment iu almost every 
case, where care is constantly exercised, will be success- 
ful for the winter and part of the spring, bnt when we 
have moist, cool spring weather, damp within and with- 
out, colds, roup, and death will surely come to an extent 
to reduce the profits essentially, unless experience and 
vigilance, with the closest attention to the wants of the 
fowls and their sanitary surroundings, .ward them off. 
We advise no one to undertake wintering 1,000 hens, but 
are glad if discreet people try the experiment. We aro 
learning more about chicken ailments, preventives, and 
cures ; and the time is coming when flocks of 5,000 will 
be no rarity. 
Minerals and Fossils.— It is very desir- 
able for all who are interested in studying the strncture 
of the earth's surface and its geological history, to know 
some one to whom they may apply for characteristic spe- 
cimens of minerals and fossils. To such we are happy 
to recommend our old laboratory friend and associate, 
Mr. Louis Stadtmuller, of New-Haven, whose advertise- 
ment has been for some months in our columns. The 
study of mineralogy in those sections of the country 
where it can be pursued among the rocks, quarries, and 
mines, is interesting and improving. And all who col- 
lect minerals iu one locality need to be iu communication 
with other collectors, or some dealer with whom they can 
exchange, or from whom they can purchase specimens. 
Picfeles.— Mrs. W. A. B., Windham Co., Ct., 
contributes the following: " Cucnmbers should be cut 
from the vines, a part of the stem left on ; observe care 
not to mar them, if bruised they will decay. Select such 
as are of suitable size and of good quality, and cover 
them with boiling water, let them remain until the water 
is cool ; if for vinegar pickles, add a small quantity of 
salt before scalding. When cold, drain thoroughly, and 
cover with boiling vinegar with an addition of spice if 
preferred. If for brine, put a layer of dry salt in the bot- 
tom of a barrel, and after thoroughly draining the pickles, 
put them in with dry salt amongst them. Add no water. 
Put a weight upon them, they will furnish moisture for 
brine, and will keep better, besides being more crisp and 
brittle for having had the gum soaked from them, by the 
boiling water." 
Delaware State Poultry Society.— 
"A. R. Tatnall," of Wilmington, the Corresponding Sec- 
retary, writes: "I wish to inform you of the organiza- 
tion of the 'Delaware State Poultry Society,' which will 
hold its first annual exhibition in this city from the 9th 
to 14th of January, 1871. Premium lists, etc., will soon be 
issued. The officers of the society are as follows : Presi- 
dent, Th. H. Churchman ; Vice-President, R. M. Griffith ; 
Corresponding Secretary, A. R. Tatnall ; Recording Sec- 
retary, W. D. Bush; Treasurer, N. R. Benson. The 
Executive Committee includes all the above officers, with 
H. Morrison, Thomas Macfree, J. Bowers, and S. D. Jen- 
nison. Although our members are few, we have promise 
of a good exhibition. " 
Slack-knot.— L. A. Ide, Claremont, N. H., 
sends us a specimen of a black-knot with a grub in it. 
We have frequently seen the same thing. We have also 
seen apples with grubs in them, but never supposed that 
the grub was the cause of the apple. It is as well ascer- 
tained as any one point can be that black-knot is the re- 
sult of a fungus, and that no insects have any agency 
whatever in producing it. 
The blades of the Alleghanies.— 
C. W. Broad writes : " I have 500 acres of land in what 
is known as the "Glades of the Alleghany Mountains." 
The soil is a light, rich, sandy loam ; there are hundreds 
of cattle grazed in this district and do remarkably well. 
Whore the Glades (or open lands) are, there is plenty of 
natural wild grass, of which cattle are very fond. Do you 
think I could make a better pasture for stock by plowing 
up and sowing tame grass, or to sow tame grass on the 
land as it is, merely harrowing it in ? I wish to make a 
fine permanent pasture, suitable for all kinds of stock." 
Let the sod alone ; the grass we believe to be Bluw 
Grass, yielding to Red-top on wet spots. If yon sow 
anything, try guano and plaster, and tell us the result. 
Squash Seeds.— "S. G. B. G., 1 ' Galesburg, 
111., finds it difficult to free squash and pumpkin seeds 
from pulp. The best way is to put the squashes and 
pumpkins from which it is desired to save seeds in a 
room where there is an even temperature, and let them 
remain until they show signs of decay. In this treat- 
ment the seeds receive all the nourishment that they can 
from the fruit. In any case place the seeds and pulp in 
a vessel with water enough to cover them, in a warm* 
room and as soon as fermentation sets in the seeds can 
be easily washed from the pulp. 
ILarge Squash. — C. J. Mills, Gloverville, 
N. T., reports a squash which weighed 205 lbs., and was 
within an inch or so of feet in circumference. We can- 
not tell what such a squash would be worth, as such 
monsters have no regular price. 
** My Summer in a Garden."- 
Fields, Osgood & Co. have just published a charming 
book, by Mr. Chas. D. Warner, of Ilartford. There are 
ev£r so many funny things in every man's experience of 
the world, if we can only see just " where the laugh 
comes in," and how to get the fun out of them. Mr. 
Warner sees very clearly, and kindly lends us his specta- 
cles. It is not meant for a practically useful book, strict- 
ly, nor to make you laugh ; but it blends so pleasantly 
useful hints, dry wit, racy fun, and observations of and 
upon nature and the rest of the world, that when taken 
up it fascinates one to the very end. Henry Ward 
Beecher writes a sprightly, chatty, introductory letter for 
it, and the little book pleases everybody, we believe. 
Trees on the Prairies.— A Correspond- 
ent thus writes from Holt Co., Mo. : " Can you not de- 
vise, or help devise some plan by which our Government 
may be induced to plant forest trees on these vast plains 
west of us ? If it be true that trees cause rain, to longer 
neglect it is criminal; for all these treeless regions of 
almost countless millions of acres are subject to droughts, 
and once during many years (say twenty) to such a 
drought as to be frightful in its consequences. Indeed, 
I tremble to think that the time will come when these 
prairies, being densely peopled, a whole year may pass 
without rain. It matters little now owing to the sparse 
population, though in 1859, during such a time, hundreds 
of people died in Kansas in consequence. Years of com- 
parative regularity pass and people are deceived, hence 
the country becomes densely settled ; but unless some 
means be found to secure to us rain, (and a very little 
