1884.J 
AMEEICAE” AGRICULTUKIST. 
533 
if they are not new. “ I suppose,” he said, “ you 
will be back before we dig the celery and cabbage.” 
—“Possibly not,” I said, “at any rate, as soon as 
you have finished the mangolds, and beets, and 
carrots, and barreled all the apples, get everything 
in from the fields—the turnips of course last.” 
Hog Cholera and Corn. 
We often hear it asserted that hog cholera, so- 
called, is due directly or remotely to the too ex¬ 
clusive use of Indian corn. There may be some 
truth in it, but there is no proof. Indian corn is 
one of the best foods for fattening hogs. It is 
particularly rich in starch and oil, and of course, 
this means a comparatively low proportion of ni¬ 
trogenous or flesh-forming ingredients. Wheat, bar¬ 
ley, and oats, contain more nitrogen and mineral 
matter. Peas are still richer in nitrogen. 
The nitrogen and mineral matter of wheat exists 
largely in the bran, or In the part of the grain im¬ 
mediately under the bran. If corn is deficient in 
nitrogen and mineral matter, the evil, it would 
seem, could be corrected by feeding bran and fine 
middlings in connection with the corn. The 
practical difficulty is to get the pigs to eat the 
bran. They prefer the corn. The low price of 
wheat gives us a good chance to see if pigs will be 
healthier with less corn. We do not say that wheat 
is worth more than com to fatten hogs, but it is 
quite probable that for young growing pigs, wheat 
is the healthier and belter food, and if wheat is 
worth no more than corn, wheat is probably the 
cheaper food, especially for young animals. We 
believe in com. It i.s the grand American cereal. 
We can raise it at less cost per bushel than wheat, 
but when wheat cannot be sold for more than com, 
we can feed it to our animals with good advantage. 
Manures for Potatoes. 
Whether it will or will not pay to use nitrate of 
soda or salts of ammonia on potatoes, in connec¬ 
tion with other fertilizers, depends on the price we 
get for the crop. In ordinary seasons, if the.crop 
sells on the farm in the autumn for fifty cents per 
bushel, we could use artificial manures containing 
nitrogen, with considerable profit. As a rule, 
however, our large potato-growers will look to the 
soil and home-made manure for nitrogen. They 
will use what barnyard manure they can spare, and 
turn under grass or clover sod. They will plant on 
well-drained alluvial land that is rich in organic 
matter. In such circumstances many of our 
readers will he thankful for any information as 
to how they can profitably increase the yield of the 
crop. Many have obtained good results in the use of 
plaster, hen manure, and ashes, and we have found 
plaster alone sometimes remarkably beneficial. 
The experiments of Lawes & Gilbert, alluded to in 
“ Walks and Talks on the Farm ” last month, would 
seem to indicate that we could use all our ordinary 
artificial fertilizers with advantage on the potato 
field. The “superphosphate” used in these experi¬ 
ments contains no potash or nitrogen. On the 
other hand, the ordinary superphosphate sold by 
the manufacturers of artificial fertilizers, contains 
phosphates, potash, and nitrogen. There are some 
superphosphates sold that contain nothing except 
phosphates. These are usually made from Caro¬ 
lina rock phosphate, and are just as valuable in 
proportion to the soluble phosphate they contain, 
as the superphosphate used by Lawes & Gilbert. 
From these experiments we may safely conclude 
that superphosphate alone can often be used on 
potatoes with great profit. This would be par¬ 
ticularly the case when the soil contain.s organic 
matter capable of affording nitrogen to the crop. 
A large crop of potatoes cannot be produced un¬ 
less the soil has a full supply of nitrogen, phos¬ 
phates, and potash, in an available condition. 
Available nitrogen, however, is a costly article, and 
it is good policy to use up all that the soil annually 
affords. This we can do by seeing that the growth 
of the plants is never checked for want of a supply 
of phosphates and potash. We are now getting 
in this country superphosphates at reasonable 
prices, and farmers can use them with profit on 
such crops as usually command good prices. 
Stiles and Gates. 
The use of wire fences, which now-a-days is be¬ 
coming so general, makes it desirable to have 
stiles or gates at points where, with the old post 
and rail fence, it was not necessary. The experi¬ 
ence of some of our friends is in point: Figure 1 is 
a common form of gate, which they found in use. 
It consists of a V-shaped panel, filling the opening 
in the fence—the open ends of the V being fixed to 
poets equally distant from, and in a line with one 
of the posts in the fence, and at right angles to it. 
This was improved by using bent wheel-rims 
(fig. 2), instead of the straight pieces forming the 
Y-shaped panel. Kept well-painted, the hickory 
rims will bear the exposure to the weather per¬ 
fectly. The palings should be of oak, an inch 
wide, and half an inch thick, fastened on with 
screws. The opening in these stiles must be suffi¬ 
cient to allow a corpulent person to pass easily, 
even if a frisky bull is in uncomfortable proximity, 
and for this figure 3 is really the most convenient 
form. The objection to both of these stiles is, that 
there is no actual closing of the passage. Calves, 
sheep and pigs, not to mention dogs, work their 
way through. To prevent this, the gate-stile, figure 
4, was invented. It has a small gate swinging on 
the middle post, but stopped in its movement by 
the end posts of the V. A person can pass by step¬ 
ping well into the V, and moving the gate by him, 
where he has free exit. This form is efficient, but 
inconvenient. A fourth form, the best of all, is the 
swinging A-stile, figures 5 and 6. In this there are 
two light gates, made upon the same hinge post, 
spreading like the letter A, and braced with a cross¬ 
piece between the rails of each side, like the center 
part of the A. This gate is set to swing on each 
side of the center post, as shown. It is so much 
narrower than the V-stiles, that it is almost impos¬ 
sible for small animals to pass, but it is easily 
hung so that it will always remain closed, and so 
offer no temptation to animals on the out.side. At 
night, or when not in use, a wire ring, or withe- 
hoop thrown over the top of the post, and the up¬ 
right part of the gate frame, will securely fasten it. 
To make the gate swing shut, all that is necessary 
is to set the eye of the lower hinge of the gate well 
out towards the outside. In figure 6, we give a neat 
A-gate, made of pine or any strong and light wood. 
Finished Products. 
“ Buy the best,” is sound advice. Any shrewd 
purchaser learns to follow it at an early date, and 
buys of whoever has the best goods. It pays as. 
well on the farm as elsewhere. Twenty-five cents 
is a common price for butter in the older States. In 
the dairy regions most farmers are content to sell 
at the medium price, at the country store, and take 
their pay in goods, and settle once a year. They 
do not have modern Improvements or use ice, and 
are not scrupulously clean, from the milking to the 
packing of the balls for market. They fall short. 
in several respects of “gilt-edged butter.” But. 
my neighbor A. believes in finished products. He. 
uses ice, every vessel is kept thoroughly scoured 
and sweet, his cream is well ripened, churned twice; 
a week, the butter is thoroughly worked, salted by 
rule, packed in neat halls, and sent to market in 
a cold atmosphere. He does not sell at the store at 
the merchant’s price, but supplies families at thirty- 
two cents a pound, and to families in the neighbor¬ 
ing city at thirty-five cents. Every one that uses 
his butter is satisfied with this finished product, 
and continues to purchase as long as he can secure 
it. Mr. A. finds that Jerseys and their grades, are 
the best butter cows, and has weeded all others out 
of his herd. He milks them for ten and a half 
months, and has no occasion to trade off dry cows. 
By regulating the time of calving, he keeps the- 
ehum going the year round. Mr. B. is another 
neighbor, who keeps a dozen cows of high Jersey 
grade, makes a gilt-edged butter the year round, 
and sells in the city for thirty-five cents in summer, 
and forty cents in winter. With suitable buildings 
and fodder, it is no more difficult to make the best 
butter in winter than in summer, and the economy 
is not simply in the higher price. There is profit 
in the extra months in which his cows are giving 
milk. Mr. B. also keeps his cows in a warm 
barn, and saves largely In fodder. He gives full ra¬ 
tions, and does not spare the meal. More manure 
is made, and it is of better quality. As the stock 
is of better quality, the heifer calves do not go to 
the butcher, but are raised, and, after his own herd 
is kept good, he finds a ready market among other 
farmers who want to improve their herds. As a 
rule, the farmer who puts the best things of their 
kind upon the market, finds no difficulty in selling 
all he can raise at a good profit. 
Do Apples Hubt Milch Cows?—W e answer, 
no, unless they are over-fed. It will not do to- 
give a cow free access to a pile of apples, it might 
Fig. 6. —A NEAT A-STILE GATE. 
not only dry up the flow of milk, but kill the cow. 
A peck of apples twice a day will do much more 
good than harm, and the sooner farmers get over 
this idea that apples injure mileh cows the better 
for the cows. Apples are plentiful this year in 
most sections, and if fair fruit would go to- 
waste because your conscientious scruples forbid 
your making it into cider, give it in reasonable 
quantities to your milch cows and other stock.. 
