208 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Fine Lettuce. — Mr. Albert Berdan, gardener 
at West Hackensack, sent us on May 8th specimens of 
finely-grown and well-headed lettuce of the Tennis-Ball 
" or some related variety. 
I*otato-Bitg. — L. Oswald, Cape Girardeau, 
Mo. If the bugs are too numerous for hand-picking, use 
Paris green, mixed with twelve to twenty parts of flour. 
Dust it upon the vines while the dew is on. Paris green 
can be had at the drug and paint stores. Recollect that 
it consists largely of arseuic, and is a most dangerous 
poison. Keep it entirely under your own control, and in 
dusting the vines be careful not to inhale the powder. 
Artificial Incubation. — " G. W. C," 
St. Genevieve, Mo. All the hatching machines we have 
Been involve the same general principles, and fail in 
nearly the same points. Very great nicety is required in 
apparatus, m order that the degree of heat shall be cor- 
rect and uniform. Animal heat is regulated with a pre- 
cision unrivaled by the most cunning appliances. The 
cost of artificial incubators is considerable, as is also fuel 
for the lamp, when one is used. The hot-water apparatus 
involves in its management time and care. Artificial in- 
cubation, if free from objections, would be much to be 
desired, because there would be no necessity of waiting 
for the spell to come upon the hen, and great conve- 
nience in putting the hatching nest wherever desired. 
Keeping Hens apart for Breed- 
ing. — The following is like many other qneries we 
often receive : " I have a trio of pure Brahmas that have 
been running with other fowls. How long must I keep 
them separate to keep the eg£S pure?" — Ten days is a 
safe rule. Most breeders believe, however, that previous 
impregnations affect slightly eggs impregnated by other 
cocks for months afterwards. The evidence has not been 
collected, however, to set this last matter entirely at rest. 
It is not supposed that the egg germs are directly affected, 
but indirectly tbrough the organization of the mother. 
Poultry keepers of a scientific turn will do well to insti- 
tute a series of experiments to decide this question. 
Tea-Plants. — <l S.," Zanesville, O., can pro- 
cure tea plants of our friend P. J. Berckmans, Augusta, Ga. 
I^urifying the Fowl-House.- u M. 
C.," Charleston, S. C. After killing your diseased fowls, 
make the premises ready for the new-comers as follows : 
Whitewash thoroughly, covering every spot, and filling 
up every crevice all over the building. Cover the floor by 
pouring down the last of your whitewash and spreading 
it in every corner with an old broom. Go over all the 
perches, and the nests and movable coops and fixtures. 
Keep everything clean with whitewash. 
To Preserve Eggs. — George T. Fisk, 
Staffordville, Ct. There are numerous ways of preparing 
eggs to keep them a long time, but all present some 
difficulty which is hard to surmount. Some oil every egg 
all over, and they keep as long as the oil remains sweet. 
They can be varnished or coated with' any substance 
which will exclude air from them, but the slightest im- 
perfection in the coating produces a failure in keeping. 
We have known eggs kept from the summer, when they 
could be bought cheap, until midwinter, by packing in 
ealt. Cover the bottom of your vessel with salt, stand 
your eggs in this, small cuds down, then cover with salt, 
and imbed another layer, until full, covering the top layer 
an inch deep with the salt. 
Borers.— " J. M. F.," Kirksville, Mo. If the 
borers are already in your apple-trees, we can advise no 
external application. They must be killed in their re- 
treats. A wire or sliver of whalebone, a sharp knife, and 
a gouge and mallet will be required. Sawdust or sunken 
places in the bark will show you where to work. Open 
a passage to the channel of the borer, and probe it out. 
The article upon the use of carbolic soap for the prevention 
of peach-borers was not from our own experience, but 
that of Mr. Bateham, and we have entire confidence in 
any statement that he may make. 
Odd Eg£». — liens seem to be freaky this 
year. Among the odd specimens of eggs sent us is one 
from B. L. Hubert, which is as large as one's little finger, 
several inches long, and looks like a great "worrum." 
Scales upon Fowls' Feet. — Several 
letters are on file, asking us to tell the cause and cure of 
this trouble. We do not think it is owing to uncleanli- 
ness of roost and yards, as has been often suggested, but 
is probably one of the various ways in which a bad state 
of the general system is manifested. Amixtureofequ.il 
parts of spirits of turpentine and olive (sweet) oil, put 
on with, a feather, every day, will generally effect a cure. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
OK4.NQR J odd «fc Co., Publishers, 245 Broadway, N. Y. City. 
Annual Subscription Terms (always in advance) : $1.50 
«*,ach for less than four copies: Four to nine copieB, $1.25 
each: Ten to nineteen copies, $1,20 each: Twenty copiei 
and upward, $1 each. Papers are addressed to each name. 
C^~ Either English or German Edition, at these prices. 
HEARTH AXD HUME : $3 a year for less than four. 
Four to nine copies, $2.75 each ; 10 or more copies, $2.50 each. 
t3f" Hearth and Home (weekly) with Amer- 
ican Agriculturist sent to one address for $4ayear. 
DO YOU WANT 
(Without Money) 
A First-rate Knife? 
A First-rate Watch? 
A First-rate Harrow? 
A First-rate Gold Pen? 
A First-rate Melodeon? 
A First-rate Barometer? 
A First-rate Family-Scales? 
A First-rate Chest of Tools ? 
A First-rate Cylinder-Flow ? 
A First-rate Buckeye Mower ? 
A First-rate Sewing- machine ? 
A First-rate Great dictionary ? 
A First-rate Wringing- Tlarhinc ? 
& First-rate Xhings of many kinds? 
(See List on page 207,) 
You can have One or More of 
the Above 
THIS MONTH, 
By simply soliciting a few of your friends and 
neighbors to take American Agriculturist or Hearth 
and Home, or both of them. The table on page 
207 shows how few names are required to get any 
premium free of charge. For years past many 
persons have started up premium clubs during 
JUNE and quickly filled them. Last year a lady 
made up a full list and obtained a Steinway Piano, 
that saved her $625 cash, as she needed one as a 
music-teacher. 
§^" Read over the list of excellent Premium ar- 
ticles on page 207. Select one or more and you can 
soon get names enough to secure it free. Over 
14,000 others have done so with pleasure 
and profit. 
The Premiums will be withdrawn after June 30th, 
except where persons are too distant to get this 
paper by June 1st. At such points enough extra 
time will be allowed to give them a month for 
work. Two half-year subscriptions count as one 
whole year in Premium Clubs sent this month. 
C3^~ Many partially made-np premium 
clubs should be filled this month. 
Applying Hen-JVIstnure, — A corre- 
spondent asks, *' After hen-manure is prepared for the 
garden according to your directions in the March number, 
can I use it free]}', allowing it to come in contact with the 
seeds? "— As a general rule do not allow seeds to come 
in contact with strong manure of any kind. It is safer to 
separate the two with a little fine, mellow earth. Some 
sorts of seeds will bear direct contact with manure, and 
others will not. Ilcn-manure, even when composted with 
peat or earth, is strong stuff. 
Setting; ont ^few Raspberry Seels* 
— During wet weather, this month, raspberry suckers may 
be taken up and transplanted. "We make the rows 5 feet 
apart, and set out four or five young suckers in each hill, 
making the hills 3 feet apart in the rows. Press the earth 
firmly round the plants, and if the work is done in moist 
weather and as much earth as possible is left round the 
roots, or, in other words, if the suckers are taken up, as 
gardeners say, " with a ball," they can be transplanted as 
easily as cabbage. You save a year's time by this plan. 
If the ground is rich and you mulch the young plants, 
they will bear a small crop the next season. 
Sheep in England. — The advance in the 
price of sheep in England has been even greater than in 
this country. We hear of a Norfolk farmer who bought 
lambs last fall to eat off his turnips at 30 shillings each 
(say $7.50), and sold them this spring to the butcher for 
90 to 100 shillings each (say $22.50 to $25 each, in gold). 
We believe he fed about 400 of them, and the profits must 
be a very pleasant addition to his bank account. 
Maggots on Sheep. — In warm, moist 
weather, maggots are sometimes quite troublesome. By 
shearing off the wool and washing with sweet whey, 
they may be destroj-ed. But a solution of carbolic acid, 
say one teaspoonful, in a pint of water, or a strong solu- 
tion of carbolic soap, will kill them without shearing. 
Every Physician, Drug-gist, Law- 
yer, Itledioine- Vender, and Medicine- 
Buyer should without fail read the report of the " Libel 
Suit," occupying a 16-column supplement of Hearth and 
Home for April 20th (No. 16). The testimony, the import- 
ant rulings of Judge Brady in regard to medicines, the 
exposure of medical qnackery, etc., brought ont on the 
trial, are of very great importance to the country, and to 
every individual. The paper is electrotyped, and can be 
reprinted. PoBt-paid copies are supplied at 10 cents each. 
Elementary Drawing Book, by 
John G. Chapman. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. The 
works of Mr. Chapman enjoy a well-earned reputation. 
The examples are numerous and excellent, and the in- 
struction is conveyed in a manner easilyto be understood. 
This book, which costs only $1.50, would be a capital 
present for a child that shows a talent for drawing. 
Sowing Wheat in the Corn. — " J. 
G. E.," Camden, N. J., wishes to sow down a piece of 
land now in corn, to grass, and proposes to sow with 
wheat and timothy before the corn is removed ; he asks 
how this plan would answer. Not very well. It would 
be better to cut the corn first, and shock it in rows as far 
apart as possible, and then plow and sew the wheat and 
grass seed. Better still would be to sow down with oats 
in the spring, using only two bushels of seed per acre. 
We never found oats so thick as to injure grass or clover 
sown with them. 
How to Make Cheese.— "H. M. T." 
wants a recipe for making cheese. No directions which 
would be of use practically could be given in less space 
than a column of the American Agriculturist, for which at 
present we have not space. Flint's Milch Cows and 
Dairy Farming, $2.50, treats of this subject at length. 
Mules Wanted.— "C. M. de R M " Ports- 
mouth, N. H., wants one or two pair of mules, and can 
not find them in New England. He asks if it would pay 
to go to Pennsylvania after them. He would find but 
few mules in Pennsylvania, as they are not bred there to 
any extent. Kentucky and Southern Ohio would b» 
better places. They may be procured in New York City. 
Xo Clean a Cesspool.— 1 ' S. J. B.," Ohio, 
wishes to clean out a vault which has been used for 30 
years. "We would provide a quantity of dry earth, which 
we would throw into the vault, and mix with the material 
to be removed, using diluted sulphnrieacid (oil of vitriol) 
as a deodorizer. The material should be placed on a bed 
of dry earth as it is"BCOoped out, and more earth mixed 
with it, until it is reduced to an inoffensive compost. If 
kept in a dry place, it will be ready to use in a few days. 
For other Basket Items see page 233. 
