1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
87 
How Long can Eggs l»e Kept ?— 
■“ W. H. T.,” Winona, Minn. Eggs for hatching can be 
kept in the spring for several weeks, if preserved in a 
moderately warm closet. They should be dipped in 
water and tlieir position changed once a week. 
Cattle in Colorado.— The rapid growth 
of the live stock business in Colorado may be understood 
from the following statement, made by J. M. Wilson, 
President of the Colorado Cattle Growers Association, 
at their sixth Annual Meeting, recently held at Denver: 
“During the past year large herds of cattle have been 
driven into the country from Texas and elsewhere—not 
less than two hundred thousand having been driven from 
Texas alone. The great country lying to the east of us, 
which but two years ago was grazed by nothing but 
buffalo, is now occupied by thousands of head of cattle. 
Beaver Creek, the South Platte, Kepublican and all their 
tributaries, which were looked upon as being out of the 
world and only fit for Indians and wild animals, are now 
all occupied by herds of cattle. This year the herds of 
“Colorado and Kansas will mingle, and the Great American 
Desert, which has intervened betwixt us and the States, 
■will be bridged over by the cattle men, and a continual 
Mae of settlements will exist from here to the Mississippi. 
The increase in number and size of our herds has forced 
vs to occupy and graze these lands.” 
Al> ai oi'in al Retention of a Foetus.— 
*‘W. L.” Numerous cases are recorded of the retention 
of a foetus within a cow for months, and even years; 
nearly forty cases are cited in the English veterinary jour¬ 
nals. Sometimes the foetus is expelled in a partly de¬ 
composed condition, and the cow recovers, but usually 
the animal suffers from fever, and putrid infection until 
death ensues. In some cases, the foetus has become 
dried, by absorption of its liquids, and its skin hard and 
•Iry like tanned leather ; or the soft tissues have disap¬ 
peared, leaving only the bones, which have been found in 
the uterus on slaughtering the animal. 
The Best Turkeys and Ducks.— 
“ T.” The Bronze Turkey is undoubtedly the best. The 
Vekin Duck is a large bodied bird, and is highly spoken 
Df, but perhaps for all purposes, the Rouen Duck would 
prove the most satisfactory. When well kept, they have 
been made to weigh 15 to 18 pounds the pair. 
Bis Wheat Lodges. — “J. B.,” Saint 
Paul, Oregon. When wheat grows very rank in the 
•4traw, it is apt to fall down under heavy rains. The usual 
remedy is to 60W very thin, not over one bushel of seed 
per acre, and to sow broadcast upon the wheat 5 bushels 
Dl salt per acre. In your climate, this may be done at 
toy time during the winter; when the wheat is 5 or 6 
inches high would be a good time. 
How Manure is Wasted.— “Farmer’s 
Boy,” Nova Scotia. Manure is not injured by the frosts 
and thaws, but it is when washed by rains, which dis¬ 
solve out of it the most valuable portions. Therefore, it 
is carefully piled in heaps, or kept in cellars, or under 
a shed, by good farmers, instead of being thrown into 
the yard, to receive all the wash from the roofs. 
How to Use Salt Mud.-“0. B.” Salt 
•mud may be spread upon the meadows as it is hauled in 
the winter or fall. Any lumps in it are easily broken 
down by frost and rain in the winter. The meadow 
would be benefited by a harrowing in the spring, which 
would spread the mud more evenly. 
Special Fertilizers.—Ville’s and 
other Formulas.— The subject of artificial fer¬ 
tilizers is now receiving more attention than ever before, 
and the practicability of applying special manures to 
particular crops is in a fair way to be thoroughly tested 
by practice. The experiments of Ville, in France, have 
done more than anything else to awaken attention to this 
subject, and now that it is possible for the farmer to get 
of the essential constituents, Ammonia, Phosphoric Acid 
and Potash, exactly what he pays for, all respectable 
establishments, selling by actual analysis, his or other 
formulas will be extensively tested in this country. 
"Ville’s Complete Manure, consists of Ammonia, Phos¬ 
phoric Acid, and Potash, in the quantities and propor¬ 
tions in which they exist in barn-yard manure, for which 
this is proposed as a substitute. This Complete Manure 
is used for wheat and most other grains and for grass, 
while for other crops the proportions are varied ; for ex¬ 
ample : the formula for turnips, etc., has much less am¬ 
monia, and more potash and phosphoric acid; for clover 
and other leguminous crops, the potash is still more in¬ 
creased, while potatoes require nearly twice as much pot¬ 
ash as is contained in the Complete Manure. Such is the 
demand for these formulas, ready prepared, or for the fer¬ 
tilizer that shall afford these constituents in the cheapest 
and most available form for the farmer to mix himself, 
that a company has been formed to meet it. This com¬ 
pany is the Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Co., and 
Mr. Charles V. Mapes is its manager. There is no 
secrecy about these formulas, hence the cultivator knows 
exactly what he is working with, and if he wishes to ex¬ 
periment with formulas of his own, he can be provided 
with the materials. The same company supply Peruvian 
Guanos, in large or small quantities, direct from the 
warehouses of the agents of the Peruvian Government. 
Potatoes to be a Profitable Crop 
for 18 77.—This esculent has become by habit almost 
indispensable. Few families fall to have it on the table 
at least once a day, however high the price. Last sum¬ 
mer’s drouth so diminished the yield, that there is now 
a scarcity in many places. The Colorado Beetle spread 
so widely, to the very edge of the Atlantic, last season, 
that very many farmers are afraid to plant largely this 
year, and the present prospect is that there will be 
a small crop, and consequently high prices. Those, 
therefore, who produce a good crop, will be likely to find 
it unusually profitable. A little extra care will enable any 
one to successfully fight off the beetle, no matter how 
abundant. The new book on “ Potato Pests,” gives full 
directions, and it will pay every farmer to get it. Fifty 
cents for this book in paper covers, or 75 cents bound in 
cloth, will be a good investment for every one who grows 
potatoes. Sent post-paid from this office. 
Short-horn Hilkvrs, — Geo. Hoover, Ful¬ 
ton, Ohio, writes that his thoroughbred Short-horn cow 
“Fiona,” 5 years old, when her calf was 4 weeks old, 
gave 24 quarts of milk per day, in addition to what the 
calf took, and when the calf was 6 weeks old, the surplus 
yield was 20 quarts. Her dam, “Belle of Lorain,” pro¬ 
duced 20>4 fits, of butter in 10 days, from pasture alone. 
The Corbett Incubator.— “ M.,” New 
Bedford, Mass. Mr. Corbett no longer resides at Hicks- 
ville, and we know of none of his incubators that are at 
present in operation. Mr. C. has an office at No. 7 War¬ 
ren St, New York, where information can be had. 
The Prickly Comfi-ey.— So numerous 
have been the inquiries for this new forage plant, noticed 
in January last, that Mr. Ashbnrner, the gentleman in 
Virginia, who has experimented with it more largely 
than any one else in this country, has arranged with 
Messrs. R. H. Allen & Co., of this city, to supply sets to 
those who wish to make a trial of it. Those who have 
written us in regard to the plant, are referred to the ad¬ 
vertising columns, as we cannot answer all. 
“ Winter Clint about Gardening." 
—“ G. W. S.” Your pleasant article is too late to be 
seasonable. No address—no post-mark, and we take this 
method to thank you, and to ask yon to report on your 
blight treatment. 
The Japan Pea.- “W. H. W.,” Reading, 
Mass. We cultivated this several years ago, and told all 
about it, with figure, in February, 1874. Probably it will 
be of little or no use to you. In the Southern States it 
may be of value as a fodder plant, or as a crop for green 
manuring. The advertisement says, it “ is a new and ex¬ 
tremely valuable vegetable, and is attracting great atten¬ 
tion wherever introduced ; is pronounced by all who have 
grown it to he superior to any pea grown ; is said to be a 
most valuable acquisition, as it can be used both in a 
green and ripe state.” This conveys the idea that it may 
be used like ordinary peas. “ Said to be ” is very safe, 
but as the pea has been sold in the Southern States for 
the last four or five years, why don’t the chap try it and 
know? If he were condemned to live upon this pea for 
a week, he would have the very positive opinion that, for 
whatever other uses it may be valuable, human food is 
not one of them, at least to the American. 
Cover to a Forl< Barrel.— In the 
Household Department for last month, (Feb.) we gave a 
description of a cover to a pork barrel, suggested by our 
correspondent, L. D. Snook. We are informed by the 
proprietor of the “Marshall (Mich.) Statesman,” M. Mor¬ 
gan Bates, that he is general agent for parties in that 
city who hold a patent covering all hinged barrel covers. 
This being the case, the device can not be used without 
infringing upon the rights of others. 
Tlie W. J. State Agricultural So¬ 
ciety is a very wide awake institution. Its fair, last 
Sept., was the only one that we have heard of held any¬ 
where within reach of the Centennial, that was not a fi¬ 
nancial failure. In the list of officers chosen at a recent 
meeting we find the following: President —Hon. Amos 
Clark, Elizabeth ; Recording Secretary— Wm. M. Force, 
Newark; Corresponding Secretary—V. T. Quinn; Treas¬ 
urer—S&mxia\ Manning. Plainfield. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
There is no greater hum¬ 
bug than some of our laws ; 
or perhaps our administra¬ 
tion of justice. The laws 
are well enough, but they, 
do not enforce themselves. 
The statute book says “thou 
shalt not,” but no one 
minds it. There are abund¬ 
ant 
LAWS AGAINST LOTTERIES, 
yet these are carried on in 
open defiance of the law. 
Papers that respectable men 
patronize, boldly publish 
advertisements of lotteries. 
A clerk takes money and 
buys lottery tickets — re¬ 
spectable man thinks the 
clerk a rascal, and sends 
him to prison. Clerk saw 
the advertisement of the lottery in respectable man’s 
favorite paper—but then respectable man is not to blame, 
oh, no ! It is but little use for us to oppose lotteries, so 
long as the laws against them are not enforced, and so 
long as papers advertising them are encouraged—or at 
least not discouraged—in this course by the business 
portion of the community. We have a pile of lottery 
schemes, and they seem to be increasing. Some of these 
are sent with letters, asking our opinion. Others, taken 
by the bait put out by Russel & Co., send us a letter to 
be forwarded to R. & Co., if we think them “ all right." 
We are not engaged in that business, thank you. Russel 
& Co. stand a much better chance of being struck by 
lightning, than they do of getting any business through 
•cur agency. As to “ouropiuion,” asked by various par¬ 
ties, we give that in brief, in three sections. 1st. All 
lotteries, for whatever purpose, are positively wrong. 
2nd. A large majority of the lotteries are out and out 
swindles, conceived iii fraud and carried out in rascality. 
3d. There is one class of persons who never lose money 
by lotteries—those who let them severely alone_Be¬ 
tween the time our remarks on the 
TEXAS LAND SWINDLE 
were written, and that of the appearance of the exposure, 
the letters of inquiry poured in upon us like a flood. 
The thing has been so thoroughly exposed here and else¬ 
where, that it has now no more life than a last years 
bird’s nest. Selling “ deeds ” at a dollar apiece, for lots 
in a place that has no existence, with an occasional 
chance of selling a few lots, adjoining the one given 
away, was a business too good to last. Taking advan¬ 
tage of the excitement relating to Texas, a chap in Tole¬ 
do, O., started a very clever swindle. There are many 
innocent persons who think that a project can have 
no humbug about it, because no money is asked for— 
little do such persons know of the resources of humbug¬ 
ging, as this case shows. This started as 
A SURVEYING PARTY IN TEXAS. 
the following advertisement appearing in the papers : 
“ Wanted. —Ten young men to form a surveying party 
in Texas; good wages and free fare. Address, with 
stamp, Drawer 169, Toledo, Ohio.” 
About the same time one Young, alias Lee, hired said 
box at the post-office, and letters began to come; they 
came more and more, and in such quantities that the sus¬ 
picions of the officials were aroused. One of the letters 
having a “ return ” notice upon it, gave a clue to the 
writer, in Cincinnati, and the Toledo post-master wrote 
to him, askingabout the affair. The Postmaster received 
the following letter, that had been sent the writer by 
Young & MacRae, to which his letter was a reply; 
Office of Young & MacRae, I 
Toledo, Jan. 13,1877. f 
Mr.-: 
Dear Sir :—Yours of the 11th inst. received. Our par¬ 
ty is about full, but think we can give you a place. If you 
have never studied surveying, we advise you to begin at 
once, so as to be prepared to start on the 15th of Febru¬ 
ary. You can, if you desire, pursue your studies at home. 
We will furnish you with text books if you will 
SEND US SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS 
for postage and use of books. Yours, etc., 
Young & MacRae. 
Here was the “milk” in that “cocoanut.” Seventy- 
five cents in each letter, and they came by the bushel, 
was a good business for Mr. Young, or Lee, or Young & 
MacRae, or whoever opened the mails. As the letters all 
came to Young & MacRae, and no books, “surveying” 
or other, ever went from them, the officials assumed that 
the post-office was being used for swindling purposes, 
and a U. S. Marshall went to arrest Mr. Young & Mac¬ 
Rae, but he had suddenly left for Cincinnati, having 
left orders with some one to send his letters-there by ex¬ 
press. By means of an express parcel he was caught. 
