1870.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
287 
Vinegar "riahin;;. — "B. H." asks if it 
■will accelerate the conversion of cider iuto vinegar to 
add yeast. As vinegar is usually made, probably not. 
What is needed is free access of air. The cider naturally 
contains enough ferment, and if it be exposed freely to 
air, the change takes place. Sonic secret and patented 
processes are founded upon this fact. 
TTIie "Fly" on Turnip* ana Cab- 
bage Plants, — * ; B.,'' Goshen, Conn., writes that a 
mixture of equal parts of wood-ashes, plaster, and rye 
flour, sifted upon the plants while wet with dew. will 
successfully rid them of the ' ; fly."— The flour is used to 
make the other ingredients adhere. 
lllack: Ants. — N. S. Buckley says : " Ail 
articles set upon a cold stove or other cold iron are safe 
from the attacks of black ants. 
Mice or Moles? — "Fowler," Orange, N. 
J., asks how to destroy mice which injure his bulbs. 
Arc they mice 2 — They are more probably moles. In either 
case, some kind of a trap is, thus far, the best remedy. 
The Colorado Potato Beetle.— Sev- ! 
cral inquire about ' the potato bug." There are several 
beetles which live upou potato vines, the most destruc- 
tive of which is known as the 12-lined Spearmau, or Colo- 
rado Beetle. As we have already twice figured this in- 
sect, we will say that it is in shape somewhat like a 
large Lady-bug, yellow, and with twelve black longitudi- 
nal lines. The remedy that has been found most effectual 
is Paris Green. This is mixed with S or 10 times its 
bulk of flour and dusted upon the vines while the dew 
is on. A very slight qnantity is said to be sufficient. A 
broad-mouthed bottle with a bit of gauze tied over it may 
be used for applying it. We give this remedy with the 
positive announcement that Paris Green is a dangerous 
compound of arsenic and a deadly poison. The use of 
Paris Green is commended in the journals of those States 
in which the insect abounds, and by our correspondents. 
If need, every care should be taken to avoid accidents, 
and the operator should be npon the windward side of 
the viues and avoid breathing the dust. 
Oats Cut and Cured as; Hay. — "H. 
L. B." Oats cut and cured as hay can hardly be said to 
have a market value ; they are, however, constantly used 
iu this way, and are found to be profitable. We should 
say, ton for ton, they wonld be worth as much as good 
timothy hay. The oats should be cut while the most for- 
ward heads are just coming into the dough state, and 
while most of the crop is still in the milk. If tall, they 
should be cradled and bound, as it saves labor iu cutting. 
Oats should be cut small with a hay-cutter, and wet up 
with a little bran or meal when fed out. 
Spiirrey. — We are informed by a friend who 
is familiar with the use of Spurrey in Germany, that it is 
highly valued, in fact, regarded as indispensable in some 
sections, as fall feed for milch cows. It is sown after the 
rye harvest in July, or early in August, and affords rich 
succulent pasturage in October, upon which it is custom- 
ary to tether the cows. See article on page -246 (July, ) 
" Superphosphate " Recipe.— 1 * TV. 
It Y.." Myersvillc, Md., asks if the following recipe for 
making superphosphate is good. It is no superphos- 
phate, but a rich nitrogenous and phosphatic manure, 
and we presume is one of those secret recipes which arc 
advertised so often. Here it is: "For Corn or 
"Wheat.— Take GOO lbs. of good, rich earth, spread on a 
Moor, and then add 500 lbs. of Peruvian Guano, 100 lbs. 
Sulphate of Ammonia, 500 lbs. Flour of Raw-Bone, 100 
lbs. Pulverized Saltpetre, and 200 lbs. ground Plaster. 
200 lbs. of the mixture for one acre."— This mixture 
would not cost les* than $"0 for the 2,000 lbs. directed, of 
which GOO is earth, and it certainly is not worth more than 
half as much as Peruvian Guano, which, sifted, and mixed 
wiili earth and plaster, we would prefer at $100 a ton. 
Ashes vs. Criiaiio. — " W. II.," of Snow I 
Camp, N. C, proposes this conundrum: "What are ' 
wood-ashes worth per bushel, if Peruvian Guano is worth ! 
$100 per ton ?" Really this problem is about equivalent 
to this: If broadcloth is $7 a yard, what will a pair of 
shoes coat? Guano and Ashes arc each used as manure 
—Broadcloth and Shoes arc both articles of clothing. 
Almost anybody who raises grass, potatoes, corn, or cot 
ton, can afford to pay 15 to 30 cents per bushel for good, 
quick wood-ashes, and often one might pay more with 
profit.— They may usually bo bought for 10 to 15 cents per 
bushel. The use of Guano is to supply nitrogen and the j 
phosphates. Ashes supply potash chiefly. 
SelfMiiilUing; Cows.— A cow sometimes ' 
gets the habit of milking herself, anil as she appears to ! 
enjoy both the operation and the milk, it is hard to break 
her. "We published some years ago a highly recommend- 
ed cure, which was to slit the cow's tongue about 2 or 3 
inches. Some readers tried this, and, failing, tried two 
square yokes placed on the neck and braced apart with 
iron bolts so that the cow could not get her head near her 
6idu. This was of course effectual. Now we have a let- 
ter from A. Allan, of St. Louis, Mo., saying that the yoke 
arrangement did not work, for the cow would break it, 
and that the tongue -slitting worked like a charm. 
Cows that Hold up their ^1 ilk, — 
"X. M. F. 1 * It is very exasperating to sit and handle 
a cow's teats and vainly try to coax her to let down her 
milk, but we know no cure. Sit quietly and manipulate 
gently— after a while the muscles which hold the milk 
back will relax from sheer exhaustion, and you will get 
it The plan we have often thought of putting in prac- 
tice but have not, is to arrange a lid which shall close 
the manger. Then prepare cut hay with meal upon it, 
or roots or other favorite feed, which the cow must be 
deliberate about eating : then "when one sits down to 
milk let him draw back the lid by a cord and give Cushy 
a bite. If she withhold her milk close the crib and open 
it only when the milk comes down. We think she 
would appreciate the cause and effect, aud so be cured. 
Churns. — W. G. Kukman, Gibson, 111. You 
can get Thermometer Churns of almost every large dealer 
in agricultural implements and machinery the country 
through— at least such has been the case. Other and bet- 
ter churns have been introduced of late, and it may be 
the thermometer churns are not so easily found. We 
prefer testing the temperature before putting the cream 
into the churn and while it is in the churn, by a common 
brewer's thermometer held in the baud. 
blinks. — We have numerous inquiries where 
live Minks can be purchased for breeding purposes. 
Those who have them for sale should advertise. 
Trouble with Cabbages.— 'G. A.," 
Biddcford, Me., writes us a pathetic account of his troub- 
les in raising cabbage; the larva, ormaggot, at the root 
destroyed his crop in spite of all the preventives he could 
think of. Some time ago Mr. P. T. Quiun offered are- 
ward for the best remedy, and he is this season trying a 
large number of those proposed, and promises to publish 
his results. We doubt if the manure had anything to do 
with G. A's tronble. 
August Butter.— " A. W. K.," Monmouth 
Co., N. J. If the cows are well fed, or have good pas- 
turage, and their milk is kept cool, especially if cooled 
as soon as milked, and the cream is churned two or three 
times a week, and ice or spring water is at hand to con- 
trol the temperature of the cream, of the churn, aud of 
the butter when it comes, there is no difficulty about pack- 
ing butter all summer. With half-fed cows, milk kept in a 
warm cellar, and warm, sour cream, a week old. you will 
have soft and miserable, lardy butter, if any, which is not 
fit to eat to begin with, and will be rancid in three weeks. 
Industrial Exhibition. — A grand 'Ex- 
position" of Manufactures, Products, and Arts, will be 
opened at Cincinnati on Sept. 21st, and continue until 
Oct. loth. Artizans. Manufacturers, and Inventors, arc 
invited to exhibit, aud can obtain a prospectus, giving 
rules, etc., by addressing ■■Cincinnati Industrial Exposi- 
tion, Cincinnati, 0." 
CousflitiLtious of Agricultural and 
Horticultural Societies and Clubs.— When 
men are really iu earnest it requires very little machinery 
iu the way of constitutions and by-laws to keep Asso- 
ciations together. Many societies spend so much force 
upon their constitution, that they have little left for their 
proper work. As we are frequently applied to for a form 
of constitution for clubs and societies, we give tin fol- 
lowing, which, with the necessary verbal changes, will 
answer for almost any society: 
Art. 1. This Organization shall be known as the 
"Horticultural Society of Jo. Davics' County." 
Art. -.'. Its object shall be the advancement of Horti- 
culture, 
Art. :j. Its members shall consist of persons who 
have paid au annual fee of one dollar; aud of Honorary 
Members of distinction in Horticulture and Agriculture. 
Art. 4. Its officers shall consist of a President, five 
Vice Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording 
Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Board, which 
shall consist of a President and four other members; all 
of which shall be elected at the first regular meeting in 
the year, and shall hold their office one year, or until their 
biiccessors in office are chosen. 
Aut. 5. The officers of thlfl Society, and the Chairmen 
of the Standing Committee?! chttll be chosen by ballot, at 
the regular meeting in January, of each year, and a ma- 
jority of all the votes cast shall be necessary to a choice. 
Art. b". There shall be the following Standing Com- 
mittees: 1— On Orchards *2— On Vineyards 3— On 
Orchard Fruits. . . .4— On Flowers. . . .5— On Culinary Veg- 
etables 0— Ou Entomology 7— On Botany and Veg- 
etable Physiology s— On Ornithology 9— On Small 
Fruits — 10— On "Wines 11- On Useful and Ornamen- 
tal Planting. 
Art. 7. The Society shall hold Monthly and other 
Meetings and Exhibitions as it may direct. 
Art. S. This Constitution may be amended at any reg- 
ular meetiug by two-thirds of the whole number of votes 
cast, one month's notice having previously been given. 
Tobacco in Litcltlield Co., Conn. 
— *• A Constaut Reader " is IS years old, can hire a farm 
of 50 acres for ,£100, and inquires if without knowing 
anything about it he can make it pay by raising tobacco. 
We advise him to try some other crop first. Get a lease 
of the farm for 10 years with the right to purchase at a 
fair figure, if you wish. Then raise cattle and sheep and 
pigs, take horses to board, or in some way, keep all the 
stock you can keep well, aud make all the manure possi- 
ble. Then you can manure your corn laud well, and top- 
dress your permanent meadows and get the farm in or- 
der, so that you and your man or men can keep ahead of 
the work easily : then lay out for half an acre of tobacco 
on the richest and warmest laud you have, give it 50 to 
100 big loads of manure, and take good care of the crop. 
Orange Judd & Co. have published a comprehensive little 
•treatise on Tobacco for 25 cts.. which it would pay "you to 
possess. It contains the experience of several growers. 
Labor irons Castle 4Sar«lcn. — We 
cannot undertake to engage labor for our correspondents. 
We have ourselves frequently engaged men here aud have 
obtained the poorest as well as the best help we ever 
had. One shoulu come iu person and pick out the men 
himself. If he is a good judge of character, he will be 
able to make a better selection than another can do for him. 
The officials, as far as our experience goes, are uniformly 
courteous and painstaking, but wheu they have brought 
the laborer and employer together, their duties cease. It 
is a well-managed labor market in which, as in all other 
markets, the purchaser must be a judge of the article. 
I>esfiroyins Persimmons. — " J. A. 51. 
P.," who lives in Georgia, is much troubled by persim- i- 
mon '"scrubs'* iu his fields. lie wishes to kuow if any 
one can tell him a better way to destroy them than by 
the use of the grub-hoe aud root-drag. Who is learned 
on the persimmon question? 
Fleas upon E>0£t's. — "■Cosmopolite." We 
have found an occasional washing with carbolic soap to 
keep the animals quite free of tleas. 
Cranberries on Iplaud.-E. IT. Rose 
and several others ask if cranberries will succeed on 
high, warm, aud rich, sandy loam. We have no proof 
that cranberries have ever paid when grown on upland. 
The vines will sometimes be a long while in dying, and 
will produce some fruit; but we would not advise any 
one to undertake cranberry culture upon upland with a 
view to profitable returns. 
Purification of Cisterns. — F. II. Rob- 
bins, of Allamakee Co., Iowa., writes: -Please inform 
me how to cleanse a cistern and keep it in good condi- 
tion, and the water free from smell and taste?" — If 
it is foul, clean it out. If not. heat half a bushel of 
charcoal, and when iu a glow, pound it iuto pieces as 
big as hickory nuts, and shovel them with the coarsest of 
the dust into a wet gunny bag or other coarse sack ; put 
in a stone big enough to sink it, and, lying a cord to it, 
draw it up aud down through the cistern, finally leal tug 
it suspended near the top of the water one day and near 
the bottom the next. The results will be observed very 
soon, and will be permanent for several weeks, when 
the operation may have to be renewed. 
Potatoes from Seetl.— "F. IT. M.," 
Scarborough, Me. When the potato halls arc ripe, hang 
them iu a dry place, leaving the seed untouched until 
lime to sow. Ill the spring sow the seeds in a hot-bed 
or iu a box in a warm window, just as you would those 
of tomatoes, and transplant to the opeu -round wheu 
danger of frost is over. 
Fallen Apples.— "D. P." says: "Apples 
arc dropping quite IVeely. Would it be of any use to 
Spread ashes or lime under the trees to kill the worms 
thai come out of the fruit?" This would be a very un- 
certain way of killing the larvae in the apples. It is much. 
better to gather the fallen fruit aud feed it to the pigs. 
