1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
369 
Sterile Fan-tail Pigeons.— H. B. K, 
Easton, Pa.— Sterility in birds of all kinds is sometimes 
a consequence or great age. If your birds are young, a 
probable reason why their eggs did not hatch is non-im- 
pregnation. Pluck the feathers from the middle of the 
tails of the hcas, removing two thirds or more of the 
whole, for the trouble in impregnation with this breed is 
in a sense mechanical rather than physiological. 
Poultry Piseasc.-W. G. West, New 
Berne, N. C, states that there is a disease prevalent 
among the poultry in his neighborhood which causes the 
fowls to mope about and shake as if they were chilled; 
the comb and wattles break out in sores, and swell so 
that the eyes are closed. Nine out of ten cases are 
fatal. This disease is roup. It is often caused by cold, 
damp, or unclean lodging. The cure is to administer the 
following: Finely pulverized charcoal, fresh burned, and 
new yeast, of each three parts ; pulverized sulphur, two 
parts; flour, one part ; water sufficient to make a thick 
paste. Give a dose about the size of a white beau three 
times a clay. Another remedy is : Powdered gentian and 
ginger, each one part ; sulphur, one part ; Epsom salts, one 
and a half parts ; mix with butter, and give a dose simi- 
lar to the one above every morning. The head should be 
bathed with a lotion of one ounce sulphate of zinc in a 
quart of water or warm milk and water. Dry quarters 
must be given, and cleanliness is requisite. 
Hog-.s and Horn I>ast.— I. W., Camden 
Co., N. J., is feeding a pen of shoats liberally with 
steamed ship stuff. He mixes with the manure daily a 
portion of swamp muck and leaves, and sows over the 
whole a small amount of prepared horn and hoof dust. 
The hoga root out and consume the horn dust, and as it 
costs $80 a ton, I. W. wants to know if he loses anything 
in the process. We should say there was some loss. The 
hogs need something of the kind, or they would not eat 
it; and needing it, must of necessity assimilate some of 
it. What amount of loss there would he, is a question 
we could not answer. We would not mix any more in 
the pen, but would burn some bones and feed them to the 
hogs. If they are young hogs, they will require more 
phosphate of lime than they will get in their feed, which 
probably has the coarse bran taken out of it, to supply the 
demand of the growing frame of bone which must be built 
up very rapidly in fast-growing hogs; the burnt bone 
will be readily consumed by them, and what is not used 
up in bone will be added to the manure. Bone, in this 
shape, will be found cheaper than in the form of horn. 
Steaming Food. — W. C. Blackfan, of 
Bucks Co., Pa., writes: L; I would like to know if it 
would be profitable for me to steam the food for my 
?tock. I fatten twenty head of cattle, and have twelve 
to fifteen head of milk cows, sheep and swine, horses, 
etc. Would it pay to cut up corn fodder and steam it 
with meal on it? and would I be the gainer after the ex- 
tra labor was deducted ? I am a young farmer, and desire 
to make farming pay by any new improvements." It 
is the general opinion that steaming saves one third of 
the food, and that cattle thrive better on cooked than on 
uncooked food. Our experience seems to sustain this as- 
sumption. Tour stock seems to be about equal to forty 
bead of cattle. If we fix the savingato/^ quarter, instead 
of one third, you will save by steaming the cost of the 
food of ten head. You know better than we do how 
much this is worth. The extra cost of steaming will be, 
Bay, 12!-2 per cent on the cost of apparatus (about $S00), 
$100; fuel, $-25: extra labor, $100; in all, $225. To off- 
set a portion of this, you will have steam-power for 
thrashing, sawing wood, grindinggrain, etc., etc., and the 
services of the extra help for a portion of the time. If 
your own time is not fully occupied in the winter, your 
extra labor will cost less than our estimate. With the 
foregoing facts before you, you can decide better than we 
can whether it will pay. It does pay us. 
Sour-Keep lor Beet-I»e»ves, etc.— 
I. B. Root, of Rockford, 111., says: "We have a greaf 
many tons of leaves of beets, carrots, cabbages, cauli- 
flowers, etc., in fall. Now, how can we keep them for 
feed even a few weeks ? An answer through the Ogden 
Farm papers in Agriculturist would doubtless interest 
many. Last season I tried the Dutchman's l sour-keep 1 — 
burying as so many roots after tramping very tight ; but 
all heated and rotted.' 1 We know of no way to pre- 
serve these leaves except by the German system of tl sour- 
keep," and that we have not tried. The reports of the 
operation as practiced in Germany are very favorable, 
and we fear that the cause of failure in this instance is 
due to the admission of air. The leaves should be very 
tightly tramped down in a pit in dry soil, and covered 
with a well-packed layer of earth -raised so as to shed 
the rain. As the leaves ferment and settle, cracking the 
earth covering, this should be smoothed over so as to ex- 
clude the air. We do not advise that the keeping of 
leaves in this way on a large scale be attempted at first. 
It is safer to begin with a limited experiment. The plan 
works well in Germany, and there is no reason why it 
should not here. Whether it will pay with our more 
costly labor is another question. Try it. 
Ciiood Advice from a Doctor. — 
"Medicus" writes: u Let me say a word to my brother 
practitioners in the country. Take the Agriculturist, and 
study it, and you will be able to pass many a pleasant 
hour discussing its contents among your patrons. A 
physician is a man of influence, and much information is 
expected from him, let the farmer but see that you have 
accurate ideas of farming, and he will have more con- 
fidence in your professional skill. Of medicine he is ig- 
norant, but if you are au fait on agricultural matters, he 
will take it for granted that your medical knowledge is 
equally reliable. So take the Agriculturist." 
Wagon witli a lLow Body.— The 
figure of a wagon with no reach, given by Mr. Stoddard 
in his article on an Egg Farm in July last, has caused 
numerous inquiries by our readers. It is a proof that 
agricultural papers have a mission to perform in dissemi- 
nating information respecting valuable inventions, when 
so convenient a wagon is used only in a few localities, 
for it should find a place in every town in the country. 
The wagon is used a great deal in Rhode Island, where 
it is called the "Providence low-gear." The advantages 
in loading low, in case of brick, stone, iron, and other 
heavy articles, are not the only ones secured, for in load- 
ing dirt, manure, and the like, each shovelful is thrown a 
less distance than is necessary in loading a common 
wagon. The saving of time, as well as of muscular ex- 
ertion in this way, is worth the attention of farmers — 
two short throws with the shovel or manure-fork taking 
no more time than one long one. We know of instances in 
our own vicinity where the wagons give great satisfaction 
in many kinds of work, the owners declaring they would 
part with them on no account, and we have never heard 
of atrial resulting otherwise. The vehicle is simple, and 
easily built by any wagon-maker, with the exception of 
the rear axle-tree, which can be made to better advantage 
at a power-shop, where heavy forging is done, than at an 
ordinary blacksmith's. Iron sockets should be attached 
to the sides of the body, in which stakes maybe inserted 
to support side boards when needed. 
* ■ ■•■■ — i » 
A Missouri Farm— How to Manage it. 
Mr. Alexander Morrison, of Michigan, writes us that 
he has " bought a farm in Missouri, and would like an 
answer to the following questions in the American 
Agriculturist. 
''The farm iB high rolling prairie, with soil from two 
to six feet deep, underlaid with limestone, but it is pro- 
bable that the lime does not help it, as the soil is com- 
posed of the grass rotting on the surface for generations. 
The Boil is flat or insipid, and needs something to quicken 
it. The crops of corn have ranged from sixty to seventy 
bushels per acre, according to 6eason and cultivation, 
and now what I want to know is how to make it produce 
one hundred bushels per acre. I have a good limestone 
quarry on the farm, and a good coal bed a few feet from 
the surface, and there is any quantity of manure to be 
bad for the carting less than a mile." 
Question 1st. ,l Will fresh-burnt lime do such land 
much good ? If so, how much and how applied t " — The 
first thing to be done is to see that the land does not 
suffer from stagnant water. If it does, no amount of lime 
or manure will enable it to produce maximum crops. 
There is no other remedy but draining; but probably a 
few surface ditches will be all that is needed to make 
such loose, rich land dry. When this is done, lime will 
probably be of great benefit, especially for wheat, clover, 
and tame grasses. If it can be burnt on the farm for five 
or six cents per bushel, the chances are that its applica- 
tion will be highly profitable, as the effect will last for 
many years. We should put on 160 bushels per acre, or a 
bushel to the square rod. Spread it broadcast over the 
land, and harrow or plow it in. 
2d. "Would stable manure do good? How much and 
how applied ? "—Apply it in any way and at any time that 
is most convenient to you. Put on twenty loads per 
acre, and as much more as you can find time to draw. It 
is ridiculous to suppose it will not do any good. 
3d. " Would it pay to use guano or flour of bone ? "— 
Certainly not— when you can get manure for the hauling. 
4th. "Will it pay to use plaster? "—We can not tell. 
Better try a little. 
5th. "Is there any other fertilizer that will help such 
B oiIs ? "—Nothing so good as well-rotted manure. All that 
such land needs to enable it to produce 100 bushels of corn 
per acre, lu a favorable season, is draining, good tillage, 
heavy manuring, early planting, and thorough cultivation. 
$185 aa Acre in Improvements, and 
How it Pays. 
Many readers will get a useful hint from the following 
facts, given to the American Agriculturist by a reliable 
gentleman, well known to us, but who wishes not to 
have his name in print. Such hints and details give 
great value to the pages of this journal, for every 
cultivator having even the smallest plot of ground. 
" Eleven years ago I bought a field that was somewhat 
wet in spots, not a little rough with stumps and bushes, 
and quite stony. With hard plowing, much hoeing 
and cultivating, a part of it yielded 34 bushels of corn 
per acre, and a part of it G7 bushels of potatoes. Failing 
to bargain for an adjoining piece of ground as 1 expected, 
I thought to put the money out at interest, but, guided by 
a suggestive item in your paper, I hired a lot of men just 
discharged from a railroad, and set them to work with 
spades. The roots and brush we burned. The larger 
stones we sunk in holes dug under them. The smaller 
ones, all that could be handled, we sunk in large drains, 
dug every 25 feet, 5 feet deep, and tilled up 2!£ feet with 
the stones. Where stones were lacking we filled out the 
drains with drain tiles. We spaded the whole piece over 
two feet deep, keeping the best soil on top, digging in 
twenty-five two-horse wagon-loads of manure pretty 
deeply, and picking out every stone as large as a hen's 
egg. This whole work cost $185 per acre, and all the 
neighbors called me foolish— wasting money that would 
have brought me 7 per cent. Indeed, I borrowed some 
money at that rate to finish my job. The whole field was 
as fine and mellow as an ash-heap or onion bed, and you 
could thrust a cane down into it two feet deep anywhere. 
u Now for the result: For ten years past a part of that 
lot has given me an average of 7ii bushels of corn per acre 
— sold at an average of 83 cents per bushel — or 42 bushels 
more per acre than I could possibly have obtained as it 
was originally. It is like cultivating any other garden 
plot. It costs no more for manure, for seed, for planting 
and working, and the extra stalks have doubly paid for 
the handling of the extra 42 bushels of corn. So I have 
had annually 42 bushels of corn extra, at 83c. per bushel, or 
$34.86 annual interest on the outlay of $1S5 at first— equal 
to over IS% per cent, instead of 7 per cent for the 
money borrowed I Part of the same ground, when in 
potatoes, has yielded as high as 50 per cent interest per 
annum, and more. Indeed, though I can not give all the 
figures, I am sure that on all the crops, taken together, I 
have got my original investment fully back once in three 
years I From this experience, and others like it for a 
shorter period, I can fully subscribe to the oft-repeated 
doctrine of the American Agriculturist, that most farmers 
would make a great deal of money by selling half their 
land and putting the avails into the other half, if indeed 
it would not pay to sell two thirds. Much less expense 
would put the majority of soils into the ash-heap or gar- 
den condition of my land. Keep on drumming these 
ideas into our American cultivators. You put money 
into every man's pocket whom you bring over to intelli- 
gent culture. Arithmetic and common sense, or sound 
reasoning, will yet do the business of making farming 1 
pay better, and your journal must perform a large share 
of the work. I was led to give you this experience by a 
remark in your business announcement for September, 
in which you say that no cultivator can afford to be with- 
out the paper, unless he would suffer great loss, and Sail 
behind his neighbors who do. I am thousands of dollars 
richer to-day for its hints to me, and I kn»w several 
others in the same condition " 
Bee Notes for October.— By M. Quvriby. 
The careful beekeeper will now select his stocks for 
winter. There should be about twenty-five pounds of 
honey in each, where there is much bee-bread; that, to- 
gether with the wax, will often weigh ten pounds, and 
bee-bread is never reliable as sustenance for old bees. 
There will be very much more of it in a hive that has 
worked from the swarming season until this time with- 
out a queen. There is danger of a hive having too much 
honey, as well as too little. The progressive beekeeper, 
witli the movable frames, will find it best 1o alternate 
combs that are filled with such as are not. Do not at- 
tempt to winter a light, weak t^tock ; unite it with some 
other. Feed up to the required weight as soon as brood is 
all batched. If strained honey is used, scald it thoroughly, 
to avoid danger of foul brood. If comb is used, cut the 
scaling of the cells, and if robbers are excluded, it may 
remain on top of hive through the day. All stocks a year 
old should be examined with reference to foul brood, 
and by no means allow such to be robbed, tkns infecting 
others. Remove boxes. If any are partly full, let the 
honey from such be removed by the bees of some hive 
that needs it, after which the clean empty combs can be 
saved for another year. Examinations for foul brood arc 
best made in the middle of the day. bnt the strength of a 
hive is best ascertained in the morning. A cluster of bcea 
