1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
159 
of decomposed vegetable matter for the crop to feed upon 
after the first growth has been stimulated by some artifi¬ 
cial fertilizer, such as guano or dried blood, applied at 
the planting. Upon a good sod thus plowed with a 
jointer or double sod plow, the crop will defy drouth. 
Zinc Isabels are among the most permanent 
for fruit and other trees, shrubs, etc., and we have de¬ 
scribed the methods of making them. Those who pre¬ 
fer to buy their labels ready made, will find those offered 
by J. A. Cross, Fultonville, N. Y., exceedingly neat and 
handy; Mr. C. has also an ink for writing upon them. 
Horticulture in Wisconsin. — The 
State Hort. Soc’y. has divided the state of Wisconsin 
into twelve districts, and appointed a committee of obser¬ 
vation, one member to each district, the object being to 
collect information, especially as to the adaptability of 
the varieties of fruit to the different parts of the State. 
The society proposes to make an exhibition of fruit, at 
the Chicago meeting of the American Pomological Soc’y. 
II jacinths — Camellias. — “Mrs. A.” 
The small bulbs should be broken off from hyacinths 
grown in water ; on those in. the open ground they are 
of no use unless you wish to propagate the bulbs.— 
Camellias are pruned after flowering is over, and new 
growth is about to commence. 
Trouble with Apples. —N. H. Birming¬ 
ham. Had there been any State named in your letter, or 
any legible post mark, we should have written for further 
particulars. From what you say, we infer that the trou¬ 
ble is what is known as bitter rot. The general remedy 
for such defects is pruning, good culture, manure, 
especially lime, and thinning to prevent over-bearing. 
Barry’s Fruit Garden, price $2.50, will probably suit you. 
Trcatmen.t of 'I'hriish.—“ F. S. C.” 
Thrush is a disease of the sensitive frog of the hoof, 
from which a fetid discharge escapes. It sometimes 
accompanies navicular disease, and is sometimes caused 
by the horse standing upon heating manure. The rem¬ 
edy is to inject a few drops of muriatic acid into the 
center of the frog, once a day for a few days, to clean the 
stable floor, and to give half an ounce of sulphite of soda 
every day in the feed, for a week or two. 
Codling- Moth and Paris Green.— 
J. Plank, Iowa. We should not advise trying Paris 
green for the Codling moth ; as the mischief is done 
within the apple, it is not easy to see how it can be of use. 
Malting; Manure.—“ E. L. H.,” Clem- 
monsville, N. C. The Bommer method of making ma¬ 
nure, is one that could be extensively practised in the 
southern s'tates with profit. It is a method that might 
be studied and practised profitably by every farmer, and 
is everywhere available. It is simply a plan for compost¬ 
ing materials which go to waste upon the great majority 
of farms and gardens, and is as applicable to a garden 
as to a farm. The price of the pamphlet is 25 cents. 
“ Patent Medicines.” 
Tire Independent's View of Them. 
That quack medicines, even of very objectionable 
sorts, could be advertised in the columns of the Inde¬ 
pendent, every one who has looked at that remarkable 
journal, must be well aware, but we did not think it 
possible that even that journal could go so low in making 
a bid for that class of advertisements, as to devote over 
a column to their praise, as it does in its issue of Feb. 
11th, last. Any thing more specious than this article, is 
rarely seen ; it praises doctors who live in “ large cities 
and towns;” it is sweet on them, as probably some of 
them take the Independent; but we are given to under¬ 
stand that in “ tens of thousands of villages and ham¬ 
lets,” “ no good physician can be found,” and as “ cross 
roads doctor” is used as an epithet of detraction, we are 
led to infer that medical ability has some relation to local 
topography. We wonder if this Independent man was 
ever off of the pavements of New York and Brooklyn, 
that he can thus by implication cast a slur upon all 
physicians, save the very small minority who live in 
“large cities and towns.” The writer of that article 
evidently does not know that a physician may even live 
at a “ cross roads,” and yet have money enough to sub¬ 
scribe for the Independent, or self interest would have 
prevented him from thus insulting them. The medical 
schools were never more prosperous than now, the stand¬ 
ard of education never before so high, and every year 
there are young men graduating, who by nature and 
education are just as capable as any who ever received 
their diplomas. Does the Independent man suppose 
that all of these young physicians, (who, fresh from the 
schools and hospitals, are far better qualified than the 
majority of those who graduated 20 years ago), who leave 
the schools by hundreds each year, can all settle in the 
“large cities and towns?” Alas! even if they come 
under the ban of the Independent, they must go to the 
“ villages and hamlets,” and sad to thiuk 1 some may 
even set themselves down at the “ cross roads.” With a 
pretty wide knowledge of country doctors, extending 
through many years and many states, from New England 
hamlets to the very frontiers of civilization, where rifle 
and revolver were as much a part of the outfit as the sad¬ 
dle bags, we feel bound to defend them against this most 
unjust reflection of the Independent. We know that 
there are incapables among country doctors, as well as 
we know that there are such among city editors, but we 
have been actually surprised at the general intelligence, 
the freshness of knowledge, and enthusiasm under 
adverse surroundings, manifested by them as a class, 
and we risk nothing in saying that these men study more 
after graduating, and are better “ posted ” in the current 
literature of their profession, than the city doctor, who in 
large practice has little time for improvement. It is bad 
enough that this Independent article should imply that 
country doctors are less capable than those in cities and 
towns, but when it makes their alleged inferiority a text 
for teaching people to use what it calls “patent medi¬ 
cines,” in preference to employing them, it is an act of 
meanness of which we did not suppose even the Inde¬ 
pendent capable. This editorial we regard as an emi¬ 
nently mischievous one; but we have not space to show 
the extent it will go, regardless of the consequences to 
its readers, if it can only please its advertisers, but will 
give a single instance: It says “Thousands of infants 
are killed by unskillful medical treatment, and we would 
sooner use Mrs. Winslow’s Syrup, (if given by the moth¬ 
er), than trust the life of the child to the old cross-roads 
doctor.” nere is a paper which gets the support of 
many good people, under the pretence of being a relig¬ 
ious teacher, that openly advocates the use of this 
“Winslow’s syrup,” when it is well known to contain a 
large amount of morphine—a fact carefully concealed, 
and is considered by good medical authority, as having 
largely contributed to infant mortality. If the theologi¬ 
cal part of the paper has no more regard for the souls of 
its readers, than this quack medicine part has for their 
bodies, they are in a sorry plight. The article bases its 
praise of “ patent medicines ” upon the fact that they 
are prepared by responsible parties whose interest it is, 
etc. That is just what is the matter with the article in 
question, it is prepared by a party “ whose interest it is ” 
to get as many quack medicine advertisements as possi¬ 
ble, without regard to what may be the effect upon its 
readers. It does not touch upon our great objection to 
all these medicines, which is that by their placards, 
pamphlets, and advertisements, they so act upon the 
minds of half sick and nervous people, by enumerating 
every possible qualm and uncomfortable feeling that such 
persons are sure to have, and thus induce an indis¬ 
criminate dosing, and the use of compounds of the na¬ 
ture and ingredients of which the taker is wholly igno¬ 
rant. But our views on these matters are well known to 
our readers. If physicians who live “ in the thousands 
and tens of thousands of villages and hamlets in the 
country, where no good physician is to be found,” wish to 
know the Independent’s estimate of them, and see how 
inferior their skill is to that of “ Mrs. Winslow ” and 
the rest, they can read the entire article on page 19 of its 
issue of February 11th, 1S75. 
“Walks and Talks” Correspondence. 
This season of the year brings me a great many letters. 
I am glad to get them. The Deacon and I read them 
over, and talk about them. But it is impossible to 
answer them all in the Agriculturist , and in any case I 
have to make my remarks very brief. 
Combing Wool. —A correspondent asks, how long 
wool must be to pass for combing wool. This depends 
on the fineness of the wool; if very fine, say one cross of 
Cotswold or Leicester on Merino ewes, 5 to G inches will 
answer; if coarser, say two or three crosses of long-wool- 
ed blood, 6 to 8 inches; and for coarse wool, 8 to 10 inches. 
Petroleum as a Lubricator.— “ W. II.,” of Tidioute, 
Pa., writes that he finds crude petroleum the best oil for 
machinery. I have used it for years. The petroleum we 
use for painting, is too tlmi, except in very cold weather. 
For summer use I mix it with tallow. When common 
petroleum is exposed for some weeks to the air, the vo¬ 
latile portion evaporates, and that which is left in the 
vessel, is thick enough for oiling a mowing machine. I 
have not evaporated any on purpose. We keep a pail of 
petroleum in the tool-house at all times, and usually 
find heavy oil enough in the pail to fill our oil-cans. 
Stock Insurance Co.—“ R. C.” We ought to have 
such companies. They have them in England, and I 
think there are some here in the western states, but I am 
not acquainted with the terms. My own stock is insured 
against fire and lightning, but not against disease. Or¬ 
dinary insurance covers only the value of the animal for 
ordinary purposes, If you wish to insure high-priced 
thoroughbred stock, you must insure it separately. 
Peas vs. Summer-Fallow.— “C. A. W.,” Alleghany 
Co., N. Y., writes ; “ I am with you in almost everything, 
except summer-fallowing. Here and for us we consider 
that a good crop of peas is better than a summer-fallow.” 
—My father used to say the same thing. And, in fact, 
my own practice may be supposed to favor this idea. I 
often sow oats and peas, and follow the crop with wheat. 
Still I contend that on strong, heavy land, as a rule, peas 
are not better than a summer-fallow. If the land is rich 
enough to produce a maximum crop of peas, and a 
maximum crop of wheat afterward, by all means sow the 
peas. But if the land will produce only half a crop of 
peas, and half a crop of wheat afterward, (say 15 to 18 
bushels per acre), then you had better summer-fallow, 
and try to raise one good crop rather than two poor 
crops. The land will be cleaner, and the profits larger. 
Manure Piles in Winter. —“Will you explain,” 
ask “ C. A. W.,” “ how you keep a manure pile ferment¬ 
ing, with a thermometer at zero to 20° below ? I have 
tried it, and failed ? ”—Perhaps it was nothing but cow- 
dung, with very little straw. I have had a pile of manure 
fermenting all this winter. The fermentation should 
start before the cold weather sets in ; and the heap should 
be large enough to keep out the cold from the center. I 
put my horse-manure in the pig pens. This makes it 
very rich, and the richer it is, the more readily it ferments. 
Beans, Potatoes, Wheat.— “ C. A. W.” asks what I 
think of the following rotation on sandy loam soil. 
“ Beans on sod; next year early potatoes, followed by 
winter wheat, and seeded down with timothy and clover. 
This gives two hoed and cultivated crops previous to 
seeding down, and beans pay me better than corn.”— 
The rotation is a good one, but you ought to manure 
heavily for the potatoes. If we have to fight the Colorado 
potato-beetle, we can not afford to go over two acres to 
get two hundred bushels. We must grow them on one acre. 
Western Hogs. — “M. n. B.,” Ind., writes, “I think 
you are a little rough on western pigs, yet ‘ pity, ’tis, ’tis 
true.’ I sold a lot of 40 head, 12 to 16 months old, that 
averaged 300 lbs.”—That is good. I am just as “ rough ” 
on coarse, ill-bred eastern hogs as on the same class at 
the west. We have plenty such here. All good farmers 
should reprobate them. They lower the standard of our 
pork and bacon at home and abroad. If our bacon was 
uniformly as good ns the Irish, it would soon bring the 
same price in the English market, and this would add six 
or eight cents a lb. to the price here, and put many mil¬ 
lions of dollars into on pockets. The improvement 
which has taken place in western pigs during the last six 
or eight years, is wonderful. Push on the good work 
a few years longer, and we shall have the finest pigs in 
the world—and the world will come hither to buy them. 
Starving Hogs. —“M. II. B.” says, “We are getting 
good round prices for our pork, but owing to the high 
price of corn, many farmers are hauling their corn to 
market and starving their pigs. The consequence will 
be light weights and small profits next winter.”—This 
is so. Those farmers who have good pigs, and who feed 
liberally, will hit it. 
Oats and Peas.— “ J. D. B.,” Warrenton, Ya. If oats 
and peas succeed with you when sown separately, I see 
no reason why they will not do as well with you as they 
do with me as when sown together on rich land. It is no 
use sowing them on poor land. If your land is poor, try 
200 lbs. of guano and 100 lbs. of gypsum per acre, or if 
you have a drill with a manure attachment, drill in 200 
lbs. superphosphate per acre, or better still, 100 lbs. su¬ 
perphosphate and 100 lbs. of nitrate of soda. The nitrate 
of soda will help the oats, and the superphosphate will 
probably help the peas and oats both. 
Rape for Sheep.— R. P. Ewing, Cumberland Co., N. 
J., writes “What I learned of you about rape has been 
money in my pocket. I like it very much for sheep, I 
can raise it ns big as it will grow. An acre will keep 20 
to 30 sheep two months. Ewes are put in good order by 
pasturing clover and rape. Could I not fatten wethers in 
the same way, by adding a pint of corn each per day? 
Say buy early in Sept., and sell at Christmas,”—Certain¬ 
ly ; but you would probably make more by keeping them 
two months longer, and finishing them off in the yard. 
After effect of Manures.— Mr. Ewing asks, “In 
calculating the cost of a certain crop, is it right to de¬ 
duct therefrom one half the price paid for the fertilizers 
used ?”—With bone-dust and farm-yard or stable ma¬ 
nure. yes; but with good artificial manures, such as su¬ 
perphosphate, nitrate of soda, or guano, no. The better 
the artificial manure, the less effect it has on the second 
and third crop. 
