208 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June. 
Swinging Door lor Pig-Pen. — "F. 
H. W., 11 Buncombe Co., N. C. The swinging door fig- 
ured in the March Agriculturist, is designed for each pen 
only and one is sufficient. It may not he necessary in 
North Carolina to provide such careful shelter for pigs, 
but it is in the North, where drifting enow is often per- 
mitted to completely fill the pen, and the pig compelled 
to make its bed in it. 
Inline. — " H. M. L.," Somerset Co., Fa. It is 
a fact that the richest portions of Pennsylvania in which 
farming land as such is salable any day for $100 to $300 
per acre has been made rich, and is kept so, by the regu- 
lar use of lime. Not by lime alone by any means, but 
with the addition of clover, and large quantities of ma- 
nure made from the direct resources of the farm. The pro- 
duce sold consists of grain, meal, batter, and cheese. It is 
there claimed that this can not be done without the reg- 
ular use of lime applied in each rotation witti the grain 
crop with which the land is laid down to grass and clover 
or clover alone; and from the writer's experience this 
claim is abundantly supported by the results. It is the 
large quantity of vegetable matter added to the soil in 
conjunction with the lime which maintains and even 
adds to its original fertility. If this is the . in East- 
ern Pennsylvania, why should it not be in the Western 
part or elsewhere ? 
Hungarian Grass or Jtlillet.--A "New 
Subscriber," Saratoga Co., N. Y. A crop of Hungarian 
grass or millet might betaken from a sod plowed after 
mowing. No crop pays better for a proper preparation 
of the ground both in rendering it mellow and fine and iu 
fertilizing. If hay is desired we would sow thickly, say 
3 pecks or a bushel of seed per acre, and cut immediately 
after the blossom has turned. If sown thinly the hay is 
coarse. If sown for soiling, the ground must be very 
rich, or it will make no second growth. 
Maclaine-€ut Clover.— "E. F.," Provi- 
dence, R I. There is no difficulty in raking clover cut 
by a machine. With us a steel-tooth horse rake never 
"ruined it." It needs to be raked as soon as it is thor- 
oughly wilted, and cured in the winrow or cock. The 
slight heating and fermentation it there undergoes rapid- 
ly drive off the water, and give a sweetness of flavor to 
the hay. which make* it greatly more palatable and nutri- 
tious. But unless clover is cut at a proper time, which 
is in early blossom, it is really mined, beyond redemption 
by any process of curing. 
Farming; in Arkflimsas. — John C. Palm- 
er, Monroe Co., Ark., writes that parts of Arkansas may 
be called the farmer's paradise, where with less labor 
larger returns can be made than anywhere else he knows 
of. He makes 60 bushels of corn to the acre. The past 
season he has made 35 bales of cotton of 475 lbs. each on 
31 acres. 3 acres made 2,100 p )unds of lint Clover hay 
grown there is not excelled in Kentucky, nor is blue- 
grass, red-top, nor timothy. His experience with clover 
is the most satisfactory. There he gets three crops in 
the year. The first cutting yields a ton and a half of hay, 
and the other two one ton each to the ncr^. All the fruits 
but grapes succeed well. Essex and Berkshire pigs are 
found the best to improve the native hogs, which are very 
poor. He raises his own horses, mules, cows, sheep, and 
all their feed, and if more Northern farmers with capital 
could get thilher the country would rapidly develop. — 
(Our correspondent's success with clover is well worthy 
of emulation by onr Southern readers, with whom the 
growth of this crop will be found a key to open up a 
vastly improved condition of agriculture. — Ed.) 
Salt for Slock.-'R. S. W.," Trenton, N. 
J. Salt is absolutely necessary for all sorts of stock. It 
assists digestion and helps to prevent the presence of 
worms, hut as a remedy against them when they have 
taken possession it is of no avail. But if not fed regular- 
ly it is of very little benefit. It is best lo have a lump of 
rock salt where the animals can always gain access to it, 
otherwise a special time ■hould be 6et for salting. 
Iiitei-fVrin^- l?or*<'«i. — "O. S.," Gran by, 
Ct., writes about interfering horses. He Fays : "I have 
Been but few out of several hnndred interfering horses 
that struck the opposite ankle with either the crust of the 
hoot", the shoe, or the heel-cork ; and those were all cured 
by rest, good keeping, and hand-rubbing of the legs, thus 
showing that weakness and a loose shambling gait were 
the cause. When the crust of the hoof turns under on the 
inside and grows out on the outside, the horse will in- 
terfere. When such a shaped foot is seen,, some chalk 
should be rubbed on the hoof, and when the horse strikes 
and the foot is examined, it will be found that the chalk 
has been rubbed off near the toe. and if the clinches of 
the nails are loose,, tlipy will be found to have torn the 
skin of the opposite ankle. In such a case the hoof 
should be pared away on the outside as much as is safe, 
and the shoe set out on the inside so that the bearing of 
the foot will be equal on each side from the center as it 
rests upon the ground. The horse will not then inter- 
fere. A farrier who had a reputation for shoeing inter- 
fering horses so as to cure them, tried this plan on a 
horse, and found that the chalk mark was rubbed off on 
the outside of the toe, and that two projecting clinches 
there hgd cut the opposite ankle. He pared the outside 
of the hoof and set on a shoe made very thin on the out- 
side and very thick on the inside, and set well out on the 
inside with the heel wide. The interfering then ceased. 
This is not the only trouble that can be remedied by 
skillful shoeing." 
A Double Carolina, JeKsaraiuc. — 
The ordinary wild Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium) was 
figured last month. Since then we hive received from 
Mr, P. J. Berekmans, Augusta, Gu., the flowers of a double 
variety. This novelty which, if we mistake not, origi- 
nated in Louisiana will be prized in Southern gardens 
and Northern conservatories. 
Iiiiminous Itf isierals. — Querist asks : " Is 
there a mineral substance which omits sufficient light, in 
the dark to enable a person to read letters or figures ? -1 
—There is no mineral that gives off light of itself in this 
way, but fluorspar and some other minerals after being 
exposed to sun light arc " phosphorescent' 1 when taken 
into a dark room, and continue for a while to give off 
some of the light they have absorbe I. 
Hollow Horn. — "A Learner," Chntauqua 
Co., N. Y., says, "How am I to believe that there is no 
such disease as "hollow horn 11 or '"horn ail," when I 
find the horns seriously affected, sometimes very hot and 
feverish and sometimes deathly cold? Arc not these 
symptoms proof of disease there ? And yet you say there 
is none." — Learner has well designated himself; for it is 
necessary for him to learn that when he himself has a 
severe headache and a burning heat in his temple?, and 
throbbing veins, that it is not his head but his stomach 
that is out of order. In such a case, lie would linger a 
while before he poured pepper and turpentine into his 
ears. Both men and oxen are flesh and blood. 
Insects from Georgia.— " J. T. S.," 
Snow Hill. The cases found on the rose and quince are 
the nests of the Basket-worm {ThyridopUrij'.) The per- 
fect insect is a moth. The larva lives in these cases and 
moves about with them. The female never emerges from 
her case but undergoes her transformations, lays her eggs 
and dies there ; the coffin of the mother serving as a 
cradle for her children. When sufficiently numerous, 
they do much mischief, and should'be destroyed. 
Green Manure for Garden, — "A. B." 
Gait, Ontario, finding stable manure expensive, proposes 
to sow peas or rape and turn under. This would certain- 
ly enrich the soil and wonki answer amon<r trees, but 
practically it would be difficult among currant-bushes, 
where he proposes to use it. The crop would be apt to 
smother the bushes. Better make a compost of muck 
and lime and spade it in around them. 
Ivlange. — At this season of the year clogs, 
horses, and cattle, are subject to a parasite in the skin 
which causes severe itching and loss of hair. It is the 
well known complaint mange, which is similar to the 
formerly well-known itch. A cure is to rub the affected 
parts with an ointment made of 1 pint offish-oil, 6 ounces 
of flowers of sulphur, and ounces of spirits of tur- 
pentine. As it is contagious, or communicated by touch 
or contact in any way. the stable fittings, walls, and door 
frames, should be washed with lime-wash in which car- 
bolic acid has been dissolved, at the rate of 4 ounces to 
the pailful. 
Diseases of PonUfj, — As a reply to 
many inquiries inspecting diseases of poultry, we say 
generally that the remedy lies altogether in prevention ; 
that preventive measures against cold, damp, filth, over- 
crowding, want of ventilation, irregularity of feeding, and 
watering, in every case ward off almost every complaint 
that poultry are subject to. Other curative measures are 
generally inapplicable, and if those we mention are re- 
sorted to disease will be prevented or its progress 
stopped when it has occurred. 
Striped. Kugs.— The following comes from 
"S. F.."acorrespondent of Delaware County, O. "Take 
four pieces of board, each one foot long and seven inches 
wide, nail them together, and this will make a box with- 
out top or bottom. Before your plants are up put this 
on the hill, press it down so that bugs will not creep un- 
der, and the work is done. When you want to hoe them 
take off the box ; this done replace as before. I have 
proved it for several years, and never had one enter the 
premises. Several that I know have tried it never failed 
of a sure defence. When the plants are bo large as to he 
out of the way of the bugs take off the box and put it un- 
der shelter, and it will last forty years or more. Try it, 
it don't cost much." 
Sheep for the Plains.— " C. H. B.," 
Republic Co., Kansas. Pure Merino sheep are not ex- 
actly the proper sort wherewith to experiment in sheep- 
raising on the Western plains. They are too costly, and 
pure Merino wool is not the most profitable. The wool 
manufacturers need mostly the three-quarter fleece, which 
is produced by sheep of two crosses of pure rams on 
native ewes. ForaperBon who is commencing sheep 
culture, it would be best to procure not more than 100 
well-selected, healthy native ewes of two or three years 
old, and three two-year-old pure Merino rams. The ram 
lambs produced should be raised as wethers, and only 
the pure rams used; after the second year, the produce 
would be three-quarter blood, and would yield fine fleeces 
of more than double the weight and twice the value per 
pound of the original natives. As the flock increases, so 
will the experience necessary to succeed, and the num- 
ber may he increased indefinitely. 
Manure for Iteans. — u M. O. R.," 
Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. As a general thing, beans do 
not require much manure. Stimulating manures produce 
a rank growth of vine, but few pods. A dressing of a 
few bushels of wood ashes, one bushel of ground plaster, 
and a bushel of salt would meet all the requirements of 
a crop of beans, and with us have always produced a fair 
crop on well worn but cleanly cultivated soil. 
A Seasonable Suggestion.— U L. L. 
S.," Tipton, Iowa, says that the reason why the lambs 
die as Mrs. W. S. has complained, is that their teeth have 
not appeared through the gums, and that the gums being 
very tender and sore in consequence the lambs refuse to 
suck. As a remedy he cuts the gums with a sharp pen- 
knife or lancet, so as to allow the teeth to come through. 
Spayiiiig; Sows.- u H. M. C." It would be 
unsafe to attempt to spay a sow from any written direc- 
tions. After a person has seen the operation performed 
a few times he can operate on a slaughtered animal sev- 
eral times until he becomes proficient. Any mistake 
made on a living animal would be fatal, as the ovaries to 
be extracted arc in close proximity to vital parts, which 
are to be carefully avoided. 
A mile and a E£ilometer.— "E. L. N.," 
St. Louis, Mo. An English mile is 1,760 yards or 5,280 
feet; a kilometer is 1.000 meters: a meter is a French 
measure equal to 39 3T /ioo inches or 3 28 /, 00 ^ et - A kilo- 
meter is therefore 3,280 feet or 1.093 yards nearly, or ex- 
actly 4 furlongs 3S rods 12 feet and 3 inches. 
Ivloss on Apple -Trees. — " S. K. B," 
East Milton. Mass. The best application to remove 
moss from trees in an orchard is a solution of potash, or 
concentrated potash lye (which can be procured at any 
store) or strong soft-soap. If neither of these can be pro- 
cured easily, lime-water, the. clear water which remains 
after the lime of the whitewash has settled, is the next 
best. Young trees should never be whitewashed. The 
application must be renewed each spring. 
TVimlraill*. — The numerous inquirers nbout 
windmills for grinding grain and other mechanical pur- 
poses are referred to our advertising column** where they 
may gather the information they desire. 
Small Packages for Butter. — " M. R. 
H.," Ironia, N. J. There is a very useful package for 
butter in which small quantities of one to five pounds 
can be put up. It is patented ; we can not give you the 
maker's address. When he is desirous of selling them he 
will probably make the fact known in the usual way. 
3£oo?«Culture. — It is constantly said that 
roots can not be grown iu this country. A striking argu- 
ment to the contrary comes to us in the shape of a solid 
and handsome Russia turnip from J. B. Page & Son, of 
this city, which was grown at Vinelaud, N. J., which 
measures 24 inches in I lrcumference. Now if such roots 
can be grown in one place, they can be in another where 
the soil and season are similar. The Boil of that part of 
New Jersey is well known to be a light sandy loam ; and 
if roots can be produced there, there is nothing to hinder 
their growth elsewhere. Root-culture is one of the most 
important means of improving onr agriculture, and the 
common cry of "they will not grow here " is clearly 
6hown, by the success of those who do grow roots, to be 
an imaginary bugbear and nothing more. 
