8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
FREE.-The very Ilest Table €ut- 
lery— Silver-plated Table Artieles 
— Gold Pens'— Kudeliblc Ink— Chil- 
dren's Toys-Flower and Garden 
Seeds — Floral Sets — Sewing- and 
Watslaing' machines and Wringers 
— Itni j t iai^, ;- 3Eachiues — ]Vlelodeons> — 
Pianos — Anteriea a Watches — Sin- 
gle and B>osabIe BSarrel Guns — As- 
tral Oil — Pumps— IFaauily Weigh- 
ing 1 Scales — Dictionaries — Boohs — 
Toy Steam « Engine.*. — Toy Steana- 
Doats— etc., etc., etc., are among the things 
that we are distributing very largely all over the country to 
our friends who send in dubs of Subscribers. Some report 
getting as many as fifty Btibscri'iers a day. Oth era get 
one, two, three, or more, as opportunity serves. Some 
make this their sole business, and sell the premiums 
received, and thus get large wages. There is no humbug 
ot clap-trap about this. At least Thirteen Thousand per- 
sons have received these premiums with great pleasure, 
and still, not one in ten of those who ought to read the 
American Agriculturist and Hearth and Home for their 
own pleasure ant\ profit^ is yet supplied with it. So there 
is abundant room for thousands of others to obtain these 
valuable premiums. This work can go on all winter. 
Full particulars will be found in the Advertising Col- 
umns, pages 33 and 34. 
Tobacco Crops. — Along the Connecticut 
River the tobacco crop has been very heavy, and of ex- 
cellent quality. Farmers speak of perfect leaves thirty- 
nine inches in length aud twelve in width having been 
produced. 
** Give us Gravel, or we Die." — 
"C. C. R." sends us Borne "-fowl fables," but our col- 
umns have space only for the moral, which is that after 
many hens had died, having been doctored for pip, gapes, 
worms, thrush, aud all other diseases found In the books, 
finally it was discovered that what was the matter was 
simply want of gravel; of which all may take a note. 
a-aospects for a Dairy.— "£. H. M.," 
Ciir.Um Co., Pa., desires to enter into the dairy business, 
and asks some questious relative thereto, to which we re- 
ply : That milk may be conveyed ten miles by wagon with- 
out difficulty if it is in close cans which arc kept quite 
fllied, so that there is not much dashing about, which 
tends to sour the milk rapidly ; by railroad it may be 
conveyed forty or even a hundred miles very well, 
without too great expense for freight. Cowb may 
be kept in the Btable or yard and fed there through- 
out the year without injury, and with advantage, 
if they have an hour's exercise in a pasture twice 
a day. The best feed is grass, green oats and peas, 
clover, and corn-fodder in the Bummer, and clover 
hay in the winter, with carrots, sugar-beets, bran, and 
corn-meal in the winter. The milk business, all things 
being equal, gives leas labor and more profit than any 
other form of dairying. 
Corn-Husking Machine.- "H. B.C.," 
Oxford, N. H., asks if there is a machine that will husk 
.en. — Philips's coru-husker does this work in a very 
vapid and cleanly manner. The stalks are fed into the 
m.Kjinc, aui <jfe> ears are separated and the husks 
stripped off at one operation. It is an invention well 
worthy of examination by thosw interested. 
Bone-Flour and Piaster.—'' Ohio," 
Centralia, 111., asks where bone-flour and plaster can be 
procured in the WeBt.— The Michigan plaster, mined at 
Saginaw and Grand Rapids, is to be procured in Chicago, 
as is also grouud bone. If farmers will attend their 
county fairs and keep their eyes open, they will see 
samples of all these things exposed for their especial 
benefit, aud they can sec the dealers themselves on the 
ground, who will give them all needed information. 
Farmers do not ?eem to toinis that these men attend the 
fairs for this express purpose. 
A Question of Profit,,— u Z. F. H.," 
Makauda, 111., writeB as follows : A stailfeeds B ! a cattle : 
what proportion of the gain in weight should A have? 
With that gain for his share, would it pay A to feed un- 
united colton-seed, cooked, at $15, bran £12, hay $20, and 
corn-meal $25 a ton ? What would be the best selection 
of feed to make from this list for profitable feeding in 
money and manure ? What amount of floor ;-pace is 
necessary for one head of stock, aud what the safest and 
cheapest fastening'' — In all these questions, a great deal 
depends on the kind and condition of the cattle; if they 
were in good condition it would not pay A to undertake 
to feed them ; if poor, he would make niomy by taking 
the gain for bis share, and so would B by reason of the 
mure marketable condition of his stock. Wc would 
rather feed hay and corn-meal at the prices given, than 
any of ihe other materials; it would hardly pay to use 
any but concentrated food, for much profit lies in the 
quickness of the operation. The cotton-seed if hullfd 
and ground would be a valuable help to the meal and hay 
and valuable in the manure, but with the husk it is not 
safe feed. If the cattle arc large, five feet in width is not 
too much floor space if stalls are used ; if not, four is 
enough. Stanchions are safest and best on the whole. 
Whea-e shall we Stop?— Truly this is 
% land flowing with milk, if not with honey, if the "plain 
story of a truthful James " must be accepted, as a corre- 
spondent, "Q.." who hails us from Colorado Territory, 
eaye it must. A native cow gives fifty-four quarts of milk 
in twenty-four hours at three milkings. If this is true, 
it must be due to the irrigation commonly practiced in 
Colorado Territory. 
Beekeeper's Magazine. —This is an 
illustrated monthly, published by H. A. King & Co. , Mur- 
ray St., New York, and devoted to the interests of bee 
culture. It promises, to use its own words, to be "ft 
storehouse of information for all engaged in this pur- 
suit." Amongst the names of the editors that of Mrs. 
Ellen S. Tnpper, of Iowa, appears ; this of itself will be 
sufficient to show that it is to be a practical work". 
Amongst the contributors we perceive the name of M. 
Quinby, also a well-known " beeist." 
Rule of Three.— " J. F.," Natick, Mass., 
propounds the following question : If corn-meal is worth 
iy s c. per pound, what is skimmed milk worth per gallon 
for feeding pigs?— We would advise "J. F." to feed both 
the skim-milk and corn-meal, as the pigs will thrive 
better on this mixed feed than on either separately, and 
not endeavor to settle the question by means of figures. 
North Atlantic Express Co.— Having 
been at times obliged to pay for a small parcel from 
Europe twice the real value of its contents, we feel that 
we do the public a service by making it known that there 
is now an Express Company that transmits parcels either 
way for something like a reasonable charge. We wish it 
abundant success. 
Peach-boring; Beetle. — A correspon- 
dent in Maryland sends us a small beetle which does 
mnch damage to the peach-trees. It is a species of 
Coryphalus, and our entomological contributor, Mr. Riley, 
promises us an article upon it in November. 
Osage Orange. — "E. E. W." asks if 
Osage Orange is hardy in Central Iowa. — In some locali- 
ties it is. 
Viuegar-Making.-T. Paulsen, Portland, 
Oregon. It is true that we have warned people against 
buying recipes, but the advertisement "Vinegar-Making 
in 10 Hours " refers to an apparatus constructed accord- 
ing to well-known principles. Wc do not advertise things 
of this kind without first investigating them. 
fistula. — l< T. W.," Tuscumbia, Ala., asks 
how to treat fistula in the shoulder.— If there are several 
openings, the dividing walls must be cut so as to connect 
them; and a solution of five grains of corrosive subli- 
mate to an ounce of water should be injected with 
a glass syringe until these walls are sloughed away ; the 
wound is then healed from the bottom by washing twice 
a day with a solution of one dram of chloride of zinc to a 
quart of water, keeping a plug of lint in it until the bot- 
tom heals. If the bone is diseased, there is no help but 
in a surgical operation. 
The Bfii^'ht Doctrine. — A correspondent 
at West Point, Wis., writes : " Farming is Blowly rising 
from the old beaten paths. Our lands have been cropped 
with cereals until the ret units are so small that farmers 
from sheer necessity have to return something to the 
Boil. Clover is doing wonders for us, and were it not for 
wolves and dogs sheep would be our best syick, because 
we get so much money in so little space and weight that 
transportation is not 60 burdensome ; while on the other 
hand the cost of getting the heavy cereals to the sea-board 
almost eats up the proceeds."— This is the right doctrine. 
Clover and sheep, corn and pork, grass and beef, will not 
only improve the fertility of the soil, but in all sections 
distant from market will afford the greatest profit. We 
have advocated this t'octrine for years, and are glad that 
its truth is being recognized by intelligent farmers. 
Washing Wool.- **F. C. W.," Lebanon, 
in reply to "Maryland," who asks (June Agriculturist) 
for a method of washing wool, says that salt is prefer- 
able to soap for this work, that it leaves the wool of a 
good color and very loose, while soap has a tendency to 
cauee it to "mat." 
.Keed foi" Draining. — If we recount the 
troubles and losses which result from a want of drainage. 
it will be seen that a wonderful balance of loss lies on 
the side of undrained fields. There are late plowings 
and sowings and plantings in spring consequent on wet 
fields ; poor crops and ill-conditioned soil resulting from 
enforced plowing of land when in an unfit state for the 
plow; drowned-out crops in wet seasons, and parched 
crops in drouths, for, strangely enough, both of these ex- 
tremes occur in undrained soils more than in drained 
ones ; wet pastures, poached and water-soaked, filled with 
sour, coarse grass and weeds unfit for the food of an 
animal giving milk; cattle with diseased feet, or sick or 
dying from disease engendered by unwholesome pasture, 
or by drinking stagnant surface-water; sheep with foot- 
rot, liver-rot, dysentery, or other deadly complaints, re- 
sulting from the to them fatally destructive moisture of 
their feeding grounds ; with, finally, crops heaved out by 
frost, meadows killed by freezing or by a covering with 
ice, and laBt, but not least, the miasma which arises from 
undrained ground, and which affects the health of the 
farmer or his children. Then does it pay to drain ? 
Farm stills. — Charles Beecher, Newport, 
Fla., wants to know where the mills figured in the August 
Agriculturist can be obtained, and if they will grind suf- 
ficiently fine for domestic use. The particular mill there 
described was oneconstructed for the writer of the article ; 
the stones were purchased in Chicago, and the framework 
was home-made. Similar mills, which can grind fine 
enough for family use, but do not bolt or sift, can be 
bought in New York and other large towns of almost 
any of the dealers in agricultural implements. 
Emasculation. — " E. E. W." wants to 
know if it is quite safe to perform emasculation at 
any season of the year.— No. There are periods when it 
is safer than at others. Horses should not be operated on 
during hot weather, whilo with hogs hot weather is not 
considered injurious. If it is necessary to operate during 
fly-time, pine-tar will keep off flies and assist in the heat- 
ing process. It is better to operate on lambs when they 
are very young, from twenty-four hours up to a month old, 
and on pigs when they are from two to six weeks old. 
Calves and colts may be castrated late in the fall. 
fresco for Walls and Ceilings. — 
"J. F.," Northampton, Mass., wants a good recipe for 
fresco which an ordinary workman could apply.— The 
difficulty here is not the want of the coloring, but the 
skill In laying it on the walls or ceiling. No ordinary 
workman would be able to do this, it needs one who has 
learned the art by long practice. Any of the mineral 
colors which arc not affected by lime may be used, but no 
others. The groundwork also needs particular treat- 
ment, which only an expert can give. 
How to ?Iake a Good Cow. — "8. 
K.," Bedford Co., Pa., has a heifer, twenty-two months 
old, which will have a calf next February. lie fears thiB 
early milking will tend to injure her as a cow, and wants 
advice as to the proper treatment to make her a good 
cow, as good as her mother, which has made 13% pounds 
of butter in a week.— It is not in the power of a man nor 
of any particular treatment to make a good cow out of a 
poor one, but a good one may easily be spoiled by im- 
proper treatment. This heifer should not be forced too 
much. The best of hay, with (when there are no roots) 
four quarts of bran and one quart of crushed oats per 
day, to within a month of her calving, when the bran and 
grain should be gradually dropped off until a week after 
calving, when it may be gradually given again, would be 
quite as much as she would bear, and possibly too much. 
She must be watched, and not allowed to get into a high 
condition, but kept only in fair growing order. If she 
gets fat the oats should be discontinued. 
Salt for Poultry.— "L. H.," Montgomery 
Co., Pa., asks if salt should be given to poultry.— No. 
Premiums. 
them, see page 33, 
-If you would know all about 
