366 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
The Mail of Honor.— Natural, true to 
life, full of interest from first chapter to last, aud 
witlial teaching a sound morality, are the character- 
istics of Hearth and Home stones, aud Mr. Eg- 
gleston's new story, Robert Pagebrook, the 
Man of Honor , will be no exception to this stand- 
ard. "We heartily commend it to every reader of 
the American Agriculturist, and ask them to com- 
mend it to their friends. As per announcement in 
another column, it will be commenced in Hearth 
a>"d Home about the first of October. 
41orn and Hay. — "Subscriber," Allen- 
ton, R. I. The theoretical value of corn as food in 
comparison with hay is in the proportion of 80 to 64. 
That Is, 100 pounds of corn possess SO parts of substance 
valuable for nutriment, and 100 pounds of hay possess G4. 
Hay is of greater value when cut early and well secured 
than when cut ripe, and early hay, of course, is meant in 
this comparison. Then if hay is worth $30 per ton corn 
is worth 8 %4 of that price, which is $37.50 per ton for 
feed, which is equal to $1.13$£ per bushel. Corn then, at 
65 cents a bushel, i3 the cheaper feed. But practically 
it will not do to feed corn wholly, as it is too concen- 
trated, and some coarse fodder, as straw or stalks, should 
be fed along with it. 
Superphosphate fov Wheat. — 
"Young Farmer, 1 ' Yadkin Co., N. C. The action of 
superphosphate when applied in the fall is ofien imper- 
ceptible in the crop for the reason that the phosphoric 
acid meeting lime in the soil returns to a condition of 
insoluble phosphate, which acts very slowly. There arc 
other reasons for disappointment which may be greatly 
avoided by sowing part of the superphosphate with the 
seed and the other part in the spring, when the wheat 
should be harrowed or rolled. We have had better 
results by using 100 lbs at sowing time and 150 H»s 
in the spring per aero than from 250 B>a in the fall. 
For Fairs to bo held this month and later 
see page 398. 
Size or a Good Farm. — " W. D," 
Austin, Texas. Tne amount cr u.,,,1 nw,.,,..,-^. r« „. r.!^,,-, 
that can be carried on in the most economical manner is 
frcm 300 to 500 acres. In the hands of a perfectly com- 
petent farmer, who has sufficient capital to stock such a 
farm with six or eight marcs, 20 to 50 cows, or more if he 
raises soiling crops and feeds a considerable number of 
hogs and sheep, and who can procure plenty of trust- 
worthy belp, such a farm would furnish perhaps the best 
opportunity for the cheapest and most profitable meth- 
ods of working. A farm of less than 100 acres is enough, 
if the farmer does his own work with occasional help. 
Scaly Leg;s in Poultry. — L. Horning, 
Montgomery Co., Pa. When old fowls are troubled with 
swollen scaly legs they had better be fattened for market. 
If they are worth saving a solution of concentrated lyo 
applied to the legs sometimes brings about a cure. But 
preservation from damp and filth is a good preventive. 
Building: a I>airy.— "E. F.," Provi- 
dence. In arranging for a dairy in which water is to be 
pumped from a well into the cooling tank we would not 
permit the waste water to escape back into the well. 
Neither would we use tarred paper to cover the boarding, 
for the reason that the milk and butter will undoubtedly 
receive some taint ; paper free from tar can be procured, 
which is equally serviceable. In fact, wc would not use 
coal-tar about any part of the building. Coal-tar will not 
disgust rats unless it is made into a cement through 
which they can not penetrate. Rats are only disgusted 
With impossibilities, and a cement of hydraulic lime and 
coarse cinders or broken clinkers or finely broken stone, 
on which their claws aud teeth can make no impression, 
will alone disgust them. 
For Cliielfen Cholera.— " W. R.,» Car- 
roll Co., Md., sends the following as a cure for chicken 
cholera: Take half a pound of sulphate of iron and one 
ounce of sulphuric acid, and dissolve ill two gallons of 
water. One pint of this liquid is added to one gallon of 
water, and corn-meal is added to it until a dry, hard 
dough is made. The dough is then fed to the fowls. 
Farm Labor.-"E. J. M. C.," Pope Co., 
111. We would not recommend any farmer to base any 
hopes on procuring Chinese as farm laborers. Tbey are 
nscd to some extent in California in binding grain and 
doing other mechanical common work, but they have no 
virtues which white men do not posses*, aud they have 
all their vices, and some more which are peculiar to 
themselves. It may be that very soon an organized plan 
for the introduction of skilled farm labor from England 
will be set on foot, and agricultural associations, both 
State and County, may we hope have an opportunity of 
taking part in such a movement. 
Soda or Potash.— "E. II.," Lancaster, 
Mass. Because soda and potash arc both alkaline sub- 
stances it does not follow that one will take Llie place of 
the other as plant-food. If the alkali is made to serve 
the purpose of dissolving vegetable or mineral matter 
and making that more readily available for the plant's 
use, then soda, potash, or lime may be equally beneficial. 
Bat potash and lime enter largely into the composition 
of many plants — as potatoes, clover, peas, etc. — while 
soda does so only to a very limited extent. In theso 
cases soda can not fill the place of the other substances, 
and of course soda-ash could not in them be usefully 
substituted for wood-ashes. 
Water Pipes.—" R. A. V." Ou the whole, 
the most durable and satisfactory water pipes are those 
of cast-iron. Where there is a head of 150 feet, which 
gives a pressure of 75 pounds or thereabouts per square 
inch, they would be the most substantial ; and where 
there is a continuous flow of water there is very little 
oxidation. What oxide is produced is insoluble and 
innocuous. Pipe of 3 in. diameter, % in. thick, weighs 
8,'i lbs. per foot; S-inch pipe, y 2 in. thick, weighs 40 lbs. 
per foot. Its cost is somewhere about three or four cents 
per pound in large quantities. Paterson and Passaic, N. 
J., use water pipes of sheet-iron lined with cement. 
Cong-h in a Horse. — "Subscriber." 
There are many causes for cough in horses. It however 
arises from some irritating source which should be 
sought for and removed, when the cough will cease. If 
it is attended with running at the nose it may be caused 
by a cold, in which case it will be best to give bran- 
mashes at night with half an ounce of saltpeter, and feed 
boiled oats or scalded feed slightly warm. The stable 
should be kept cool, and the horse blanketed for a few 
days. If the cough proceeds from indigestion, which it 
is very apt to do, the feed must be changed ; soft or green 
food should be giveu, with an ounce each of ginger and 
gentiau aud a dram of copperas daily for a few days. 
Stnmp «j %. it «•- • -- ■ ~.- " n,_ x). t " a-i.-i 
gomeryCo., Pa. There arc two or three very excel' ent 
stump and rock-lifters made. The "Excelsior" is a 
good one, so is the " Little Giant; M but wc can not give 
you the makers 1 addresses. Probably they will do so in 
the usual manner. 
Tan-Bark on Land.- "E. B.," Frank- 
lin Co., Pa. We do not recommend the use of tan-bark 
on land in its raw state ; but we should mingle it with 
lime and decompose it, or burn it and nse the ashes. 
These are the only ways in which we ever got any good 
from it. By these methods it may be made useful as a 
dressing for grass lands. 
China Pigs.— " W. G. S., 1 ' Cumberland 
Co., Pa. We do not know where pure China pigs are to 
be procured, nor can we conceive why they should be 
preferred when we have the Berkshire, the Essex, and 
the Magie, or Poland-China, and the Suffolk. Here is a 
Variety which can meet all tastes aud serve all purposes, 
and all of these breedB arc valuable. 
Alabama State Agricultural and 
Mechanical College.— This institution, situated 
at Auburn, Ala., sends out a circular asking for drawings, 
models, plans, etc., of roads, buildings, or machinery for 
the use of students. They will accept such articles on 
deposit or as a gift. 
Impregnation of Eggs. — We have 
received several letters in reference to our remarks in a 
former number about the impregnation of turkeys' eggs. 
Those who favor us with their experience on this matter 
will confer an additional favor on us by giving their 
name and address, not for publication, but to authen- 
ticate their communication. 
Burning Caterpillars.— "G, M. R.," 
N. J. A touch of kerosene or other inflammable liquid 
is an old appliance to destroy caterpillars. Unless used 
with care it wilt injure young wood and buds. Where 
the nests can be reached with or without a ladder they 
are easily and effectively removed by the hand. 
IMnrrhcea in a Colt. — " Irwin. 11 A colt 
that suffers with scours should have rice-milk given to it. 
Iu case of a young sucking colt, it would be advisable 
to fwCi powdered chali cr caibor.ate of znagnesia iu the 
mare's feed. The colt should be giveu half a pint of 
milk in which a tea-spoonful of rice-flour has been boiled 
and to which half a tea-spoonful of prepared chalk with 
half a tea-spoonful of ground ginger are added. Prcbably 
one dose will be effective ; if not it should be repeated 
in two or three hours. If it docs not then produce a re- 
lief, ten drops of laudanum or ten drops of oil of pepper- 
mint may be added to the preparation. 
Fire-proof Roofs.-"J. N.," Pendleton, 
S. C. Just now is the very best time to prepare a roof 
for winter. Being dry, the shingles will absorb more of 
the preparation, audits effect will be so much greater. 
One of the best methods of lire-proofing a shingle roof 
is to cover it with hot coal-tar. The first coat will be 
absorbed into the shingles. The second should be cov- 
ered with fine sand, well heated in an iron kettle, and 
scattered upon the soft tar in sufficient quantities to ab- 
sorb it. Such a roof is comparatively co®l, because the 
sand reflects the heat of the sun in a great measure, aud 
it is proof against fire from sparks from the chimney. 
See Pag^es 3»8 and 300 for Humbugs, 
Fairs, the Great Campbell Cattle Sale, aud other items. 
Old Potatoes and New.-"F. T.C.," 
Lycoming Co., Pa. New tubers growing upon and 
within old ones very often occur, and we have in years 
past figured several freaks of this kind. 
Trouble with Apples.— "W. A. J., 11 
Morrisania, N. T. It is the Codling-moth that destroys 
your crop. A moth lays its egg in the blossom end of 
the young apple. The "worm" hatches and eats ita 
way into the fruit and in time causes it to drop. Unless 
the whole apple-growing community will agree to pick 
up and destroy all fallen fruit, and thus kill the "worm, 1 ' 
we can not offer you any remedy with your single tree. 
Salt and other applications to the tree will not do the 
least good. The "worm" in the apple has nothing to 
do with the borer in the trunk. 
"The Laughing Plant."— A lady at 
Port Gibson, Miss., sends us a newspaper slip which 
gives an account of a plaut growing in Arabia the seeds 
of which cause those who partake of them to laugh vio- 
lently and to behave iu an extravagant manner, and asks 
Gok further information. The ways of the ordinary news- 
paper in matters rrn^ .„ *_ M or w nth( , r sr1ence 
are past finding out, and their accounts of matters like 
this Laughing Plant are likely to be highly extravagant. 
There are several plants which will prodnce delirium, 
especially among the Night-shade Family. The accounts 
given by the early visitors to this country of the effects 
of the common Stramonium or Jamestown-weed are quite 
as extravagant as this of the Arabian Laughing Plant. 
"BngrgT Peas." — A farmer asks us what 
he hai better do with " buggy peas." There are several 
plans recommended for killing the bug— or, more proper- 
ly, weevil— but the best thing a farmer can do with peas 
affected with the weevil is to feed them out as fast as he 
can. Pigs will cat the peas and weevils together and 
grow fat on them. If fed out before the middle of Novem- 
ber there will be comparatively little loss. 
A "Golden Morning-Glory."— Dr. A. 
Kellogg, a most industrious aud enthusiastic botanist of 
San Francisco, describes and figures in the California 
Horticulturist a new member of the Convolvulus Family 
under the name of Aniseia aurea. This is a new discov- 
ery by Prof. George Davidson, made in Lower California. 
The leaves are firs- girted, and the flowers about the size 
of the ordinary Morning-Glory, yellow, with a purple 
throat. The Doctor, who describes the plant in his usual 
poetical style, intimates that it is a perennial, and we 
hope to hear more of it. We are glad to see that the 
California Horticulturist shows evidence of prosperity, 
and hope it will give us more California novelties. 
To Use Old Plaster.— "Ground Tur- 
ner," Brighton, Mass. The best method of using a lot 
of old plaster (mortar) in an orchard is to pulverize it as 
fine as possible and spread it over the ground at once. 
If the ground is to be plowed the plaster should be 
spread after plowing and harrowed in. It should be kept 
as near the surface as possible, as lime is giveu to sink- 
ing rapidly. 
Harvesting Peas.— "W. P. T.," of Clear- 
field Co., Pa., wishes "a few plain, practical directions 
how to harvest peas." We cut our own peas with a 
Johnston reaper, turn them once or twice, and draw in. 
That is all there is to it. 
See Page? S98 to ef*6. 
