398 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
soon enlarge, rise in the center, ana in ten days form a 
pustule, which contains first a clear fluid, but afterwards 
a thick pus. There is a red ring around the base of the 
pustufe, and it is depressed or sunken at the point or sum¬ 
mit. This tatter peculiarity is a special characteristic of 
the disease. The pustule dries up and forms a crust, which 
in about ten days more is easily removed, leaving a red, 
shining spot on the skin. The proper treatment is to 
use a milking tube, to draw off the milk, to keep the sick 
animals by themselves, and to have separate attendants 
for them. Unless the stables are thoroughly disinfected 
by whitewashing with lime, the disease will be apt to re¬ 
appear every year. It is rarely that this disease is very 
troublesome in this country or Canada, and good nurs¬ 
ing, warmth, and administering half an ounce of sulphite 
of soda daily, during the first stage of ten days, will 
generally prevent very ill effects. The milk of cows af¬ 
fected with this disease should not be used for food, ex¬ 
cept for calves and pigs. 
“Grub in tlie Mead.”—“R. S. F.,” 
Litchfield Co., Conn. It is not probable that the death 
of your sheep has occurred from grubs in the head. 
These parasites rarely, if ever, cause -ieath. They annoy 
the sheep while crawling up the nostrils to the nasal 
sinuses, where they live quietly until the time for their 
change to pupae, when, in crawling down, they again ir¬ 
ritate the sheep and cause violent sneezings and stamp¬ 
ing with the feet. In all cases of sickness among ani¬ 
mals, it is necessary to send a full statement of the 
Eymptoms, in order that we may form a judgment of the 
true cause of the trouble. There is a serious and fatal 
disorder of the brain caused by a parasite known as 
hydatid, which is a tape-worm in one state of its develop¬ 
ment, and is not uncommon. This appears as a watery 
bladder in the brain, but it is not what is known as 
41 grub in the head.” 
B*oullry and Eg'S's for Pi-oiit.-“J. 
P. IV.,” Buffalo, N. Y.—One man out of ten thousand 
might probably go into the business of raising eggs and 
.poultry for market profitably ; but the chances are that 
every one of the others would fail. It is a business that 
requires as much tact, patience, practical knowledge, and 
habits of close and careful observation, as bee-keeping. 
A suitable place is also needed, and a locality where 
.fresh eggs and spring chickens bring a good price. The 
knowledge of what is required can come only through 
experience, and can not be communicated, except with a 
great deal of detail. That there is profit in the business 
is certain, but only when the right man goes into it in 
the right place. 
Tomato Catsup. —(When tomato catsup is 
desired, the following is the best recipe we have yet 
found, judging from the taste of the many who have 
tried it along with other varieties.) For four or five 
quarts of catsup, boil 1 peck of ripe tomatoes 15 min¬ 
utes without removing the skins, and strain through a 
sieve. Put into a little bag 1 teaspoonful of whole cloves, 
1 tablespoonful each of unground cinnamon, allspice, and 
black pepper, and put these with 1 pint of good vinegar, 
into the strained tomatoes, and boil the whole carefully 
3 to 5 hours. When sufficiently boiled and condensed, 
stir in 1 tablespoonful of ground mustard, and 1 tea¬ 
spoonful of ground Cayenne pepper. Salt to the taste, 
and keep in well corked bottles. 
B>ou1»lc Furrow l*I«vviaiig'.—“B. O. 
•C.,” Los Angeles Co., Cal., writes, “ On the big farms of 
this state a man with two pairs of mustangs, (these are 
the light native horses of the country), and a gang-plow 
cutting two feet wide will plow 4 acres a day at any time, 
and often as much as 5 acres per day.” Most of the plow¬ 
ing in California is done with gang-plows, and we have 
not as yet learned half the value of these plows, on suit¬ 
able soils, in the eastern part of the country. (We re¬ 
cently saw a £ acre Handsomely plowed in 45 minutes 
with one of these plows, with one pair of heavy horses 
and one driver, and the horses were not overworked). 
Ellects of Impure Water.— “W. W. 
S.,” Rockford, Ill. The too rapid souring of milk is fre¬ 
quently the effect of impure water which has been drank 
by the cows. When the stock -water is derived from 
ponds and sloughs, it is always contaminated with num¬ 
berless microscopic vegetable forms and myriads of 
germs or spores of this minute vegetation. These ac¬ 
company the decomposition of organic matter contained 
in the water. When this impure -water is drank by a 
cow, these germs or spores are absorbed along with the 
water into the blood, being so exceedingly small that 
they pass through the absorbing glands and vessels of 
the intestines with ease. In the blood these spores or 
seeds grow, and if very numerous may become the cause 
of those blood diseases commonly known ns “murrain,” 
“blackleg,” “red water,” &c. In any case as they pass 
into the circulation they must necessarily affect the milk 
which is derived from the blood. When the milk is ex¬ 
posed to the air, these minute organisms grow vefy rap¬ 
idly and change the character of the milk, causing the 
formation of acid and then rapid decomposition. The 
spores and plants cannot bo destroyed at a less heat than 
that of boiling water, and it is doubtful if that heat will 
destroy all of them. A heat of 120 degrees assists their 
growth instead of arresting it, and this may account for 
the fact that heated milk sours more rapidly than the 
cooled milk. The only remedy is to use well water for 
the cows, or water from deep underground cisterns. 
ElFects oTForestsou oSae Stiiist-fiiEl. 
—“ A. S.," Olathe, Kansas. The character of the pres¬ 
ent season will probably have the effect of modifying the 
views of those persons who have been led into the error 
of supposing that the quantity of rain-fall depends 
upon the existence of forests. The past summer has 
been one of extraordinary moisture in parts of the coun¬ 
try where there are no forests, as in Kansas, Nebraska, 
and Eastern Colorado, and of drouth in places where 
forests abound as in Northern Minnesota and Canada. 
The truth probably is that the development of meteoro¬ 
logical effects, such as the fall of rain, the course of the 
winds, etc., depends upon causes which are not bounded 
by small areas, or even such a large area as that of our 
own continent. The destruction of a thousand or two 
square miles of woods is but a small thing in comparison 
to the other influences which affect the rain-fall of the 
whole world. Forests act as reservoirs of moisture, hold¬ 
ing it until it is distributed gradually by means of springs, 
streams, and slow evaporation, and thus prevent floods 
which never occur disastrously in wooded localities. 
They also moderate the heats and colds of the season 
just as they moderate the distribution of water. They 
also act as a barrier against the excessive force of the 
winds. They are therefore indispensable to our comfort, 
and where they do not exist naturally, should be planted 
as rapidly as possible. The whole surface of the earth 
cannot be given up to cultivation, any more than a man’s 
■whole life can be given up to work ; some portion must 
be left fallow and to rest; and to grow timber is an actual 
rest to the land. 
When <« B*Iow Binder Clover.— 
“ R. J. n.” If oats are to be sowed on a clover sod, we 
would plow the sod in the spring and sow the ground 
immediately while the soil is mellow and fresh. Oats 
do very well on a newly turned sod. 
Bee Ilonse. —“ R. P.,” Woodbury, Md. Plans 
of ice houses were given in the Agriculturist of October, 
1870, November, 1871, and October, 1874. These are 
of different style of construction, but the principle is the 
same in all of them. 
TTie Use of lime.—“JE. N. S.,” McMil¬ 
lan’s Station, E. Tennessee. It is impossible to say 
whether this or that soil can be improved by lime with¬ 
out experimenting. The proper way is to scatter a cer¬ 
tain quantity of lime, say ten bushels upon a quarter of 
an acre of land and wait to see the effect. If it is found 
to pay try again in a larger way, on a whole field. Gen¬ 
erally clay soils and those full of peaty or vegetable mat¬ 
ter are improved by lime ; but it is not a cure-all or 
panacea for all sorts of poor land. As in human diseases, 
so in sick or defective soils, there is no cure-all; the 
claim that certain fertilizers are good for all soils, is as 
much quackery as the same claim for a medicine. Ex¬ 
periment with observation is needed. The investigations 
of science are coming to help us to less hazardous and 
less costly experiments, ere long. 
“Walks and Talks” Correspondence. 
Which is the Best Grain Drill?—“ W. n. H.,” 
Milton, Pa., writes: “I have no grain drill, and want to 
get one of the best. Of the many kinds, which shall I 
select ? The agent for the ‘ Champion ’ will convince 
one that their’s is the best.”—If he “convinces” you 
of this fact, buy it by all means. It is a good drill.— 
“ The agents for the ‘Farmer’s Favorite’ toll you to buy 
no other than a double force-feed drill, while those of 
the ‘ New Gearless Buckeye,’ would have you believe 
that in all essential points their’s excels all others. Now 
how can a farmer determine which is the best?”—You 
must hear all that is said, examine carefully for yourself, 
and act according to your best judgment. I have seen 
the “Champion” at work, have tried a “Buckeye” 
drill belonging to a neighbor, and own and use a “ Far¬ 
mer's Favorite.” These are all good drills, but I cannot 
undertake to decide which is the best. One thing I can 
say, you had better get a drill that has a good manure 
attachment, and if you have many stones in your fields, 
you had better get rubber springs to the coulters. 
Manuring Cobn.— “W. J. S.,” Calhoun Co., Iowa 
asks how I manure corn in the hill, whether the manure 
is put under or over the corn, or on top of the ground. 
I have not manured corn in the hill for several years, and 
should not think it would pay an Iowa farmer to do so. 
[The fine roots of corn spread out through the whole 
surface soil, and find manure anywhere in it. A little in 
the hill, on poor soils, sometimes gives the young plants 
a good start.—E d.] 
Sowing Wheat on Good Land.— “J. W. W. ” of 
Wisconsin, writes that he “lives in the Chinch-bug re¬ 
gion, but believes that good farming will arm us against 
them.”—He sends me a sample of the Diehl wheat. It 
is whiter than my own. He has twice taken the first prize 
at the Wisconsin State Fair with it. He also raises the 
Fultz wheat. It is good this year.—“ The one lesson I 
have learned thus far,” he writes, “is not to sow winter 
wheat on ground which I do not believe is fitted for it. 
This may seem trite to you, but it is something for a 
western farmer to learn.”—It is something which farm¬ 
ers everywhere would do well to think about. I try to 
live up to this rule myself. 
The Trials of Farming.— We know that trials lead 
to patience,and patience experience, and experience hope, 
and if it was not for hope, what should we amount to ? 
Now trials are the common lot of farmers. And it does 
not matter where we farm, east or west, north or south. 
A farmer and minister in Nebraska has favored me with 
several letters, giving his experience, and telling me of 
his hopes and disappointments. Last year the grass¬ 
hoppers did him a great deal of damage.—” This year,” 
he writes, “I rented my farm, but by the wet weather 
some 25 acres got into sunflowers, so that .the renters 
did not harvest the wheat, and now they refuse to cut off 
the sunflowers. The balance of the crop is very poor, on 
account of the wet weather and weeds. Some 20 or 25 
acres of barley was taken away by the flood. Now I will 
farm myself another year.”—That is right. What is 
needed is a better system of farming. 
Mangel Wurzel or Beets vs. Carrots and Pars¬ 
nips.— Steele Brothers, La Porte, Ind., ask the following 
questions: 1st. “ In what respect do you consider man¬ 
gel wurzel better than Lane's improved sugar beet? ”— 
I do not suppose there is now any difference.—2nd. “ Do 
you consider beets better, pound for pound, than parsnips 
and carrots for milch cows ? No. Precisely the oppo¬ 
site.—3rd. “ Or do you prefer the mangels because so 
much more food can be raised per acre? ”—Yes; and 
because they require less labor in weeding and hoeing. 
Grass for Wood Lot.—“ R. S. E.,” Akron, Ohio, 
says that I once gave him advice that was of use to him, 
and now he writes that he has a piece of wood-land, high 
and dry, and not heavily timbered, still so heavy that 
grass does not grow upon it. He is short of pasture, and 
wants to get it into grass; he asks: “ Would it pay me 
to clean out all of the underbrush, logs, and rubbish, 
drag it thoroughly, and sow it to grass seed, and if so, 
what kind or kinds would be best ? ”—I do not know, I 
have just such a lot, and my own plan is to sow timothy, 
Kentucky blue-grass, and red-top, without harrowing or 
other preparation. 
Please Write Again. —William Denny, of Greenville, 
writes me a letter enclosing a stamp for reply, but he 
forgets to tell in what state he lives, and the postmark 
on the letter, as usual in such cases, is illegible. There 
are 26 Greenvilles in the United States. [An astonish¬ 
ing number of letters go unanswered for this very rea¬ 
son ; we get stamps to pay for a reply “ by return mail,” 
and have no idea where the writer lives.—E d.] 
When to Atply Lime. —“ C. H. S.,” of Richfield, 
writes that he has “ a fifteen acre field lying on top of a 
limestone ridge. It laid under blue-grass 8 or 10 
years until 1873. I then fallowed it in the spring and 
cultivated four times through the summer, and sowed 
•wheat, and seeded with clover in the spring of 1874. The 
wheat winter-killed, and the hot, nry weather in July 
burnt up the clover, except on a few small spots of 
lighter soil. Now there is nothing on the field but blue- 
grass and wild turnips. My object is to get it into clover, 
and I thought of sowing it with oats next spring and 
seeding down. There is a heap of 1,600 bushels of lime 
in the field which is to be spread upon it. Would you 
haul the lime on the field now, and plow it in the spring, 
or would you plow now, and put the lime on in the spring 
and cultivate it?”—The bettor plan, perhaps, would 
have been to have summer-fallowed the field, plowing it 
three times, and then after sprinkling the lime and har¬ 
rowing or cultivating it in, sowed to wheat and seeded 
with clover in the spring. The next best plan would be 
to break it up as early as possible in the fall, cultivate 
and harrow the surface and then plow it again in Octo¬ 
ber or November, and leave it rough for the winter. 
Sow the lime on in the spring and seed down with barley 
or oats. Mr. C. n. S. asked me to answer his letter by 
mail, but he did not tell me what State he lives in. 
