1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Grottoes. —Mrs.'Forbes, in Iowa, asked about 
grottoes. We replied by mail, but the letter came back 
as uncalled for, and we give it here.—If Mrs. Forbes 
will state more definitely what she means by “ artificial 
grottoes and in-door rock-work,” we will endeavor to 
comply with her request. We have never known of 
anything of this kind larger than what would be con¬ 
tained in a fernery or Wardian case. Rock-work of any 
considerable dimensions would be rather unmanageable 
in-doors. Perhaps a word of explanation will make ns 
better understand what she wishes 
Mixing' Lime and Manure.— “Young 
Farmer ” proposes to prepare his barn-yard manure for 
use next spring by turning it over during the winter, and 
mixing lime with it. How would it answer ?—We would 
mot advise this plan. It would be better to turn over the 
manure and let it ferment and rot, and in spring apply it 
to the soil, and after plowing spread the lime and harrow 
it in. Fresh manure is injured by contact with lime. 
Cost of Slieep-AeUing;. —In reply to 
•several inquirers, we have ascertained that ready-made 
sheep-netting, as described in the Agriculturist of Novem¬ 
ber, 1S72, four feet in width, costs in England 12)4 cents 
per yard in nets of 50 or 100 yards in length. It can, 
therefore, be imported much cheaper than it can be pur- 
’Chased here from the net manufacturers. The netting 
described in the Agriculturist was intended to be hand¬ 
made. It is doubtful if it could be made here under 
any circumstances so cheaply as it could be imported. 
Parties desiring the names of the English manufacturers 
jnay write us for them. 
Homesteads in Aortli - western 
Iowa.—John Brennan, Immigration Agent for the State 
of Iowa, writes that there are still 4000 acres of land open 
to settlement under the Homestead act in the county of 
Osceola; ten miles from railroad, good rich prairie, but 
without timber. The United States Land Office through 
which applications are to be made is at Sioux City. 
Purifying Mutter.— “S. G.,” Chicago, 
wants a method of sweetening rancid butter so as to fit it 
f sale and use.—We know of no satisfactory method of 
doing this. There are many nostrums recommended, 
such as washing in lime-water, or in water with chloride 
of lime or salt and saltpeter; but we have never tried any 
of them, and doubt that the butter can be improved in 
flavor in the least degree by any of them. Rancid but¬ 
ter, like tainted meat, has commenced to decompose, and 
no treatment can restore it to its former condition, though 
It may possibly temporarily remove the unpleasant smell. 
Ilarket-Gardcning.—H. Geeding. We 
do not think that anything is quite equal to stable 
manure. Next to this we would place bone-dust, blood- 
manure, and fish-guano. Unless the real value of super- 
phospates is known, we should prefer not to risk them. 
If you have land enough to enable you to turn under a 
green crop each year, you can do well with either of the 
fertilizers named. 
Quince-Trees.—“ A. S. C.,” of Michigan, 
has quince-trees 7 and 8 years old that “ have been salted 
and brined and treated to slops to no purpose,” and asks 
what he shall do to make them bear.—It is difficult to 
prescribe for a patient without seeing it. In the first 
place he should stop the salting. A little salt may be of 
■use, but any plant can be pickled to death. Secondly, wo 
Should stop the slops. It is a mistake to suppose that 
•quince-trees do best with their roots in a bog. Thirdly, 
•we should, between now and leafing time, spade around 
them a liberal amount of stable manure. Fourthly, if 
they have grown wild and crowded, thin out so as to 
leave the branches open enough for sun and air to enter. 
We are not informed whether the quinces are trained to 
a tree-form or have made a dense bush. Trees of the age 
mentioned shonld be bearing fair crops. We have them 
in bearing 3 and 4 years from cutting. 
Sowing Clover-Seed. — “G. C. A.,” 
Champoegc, Oregon. Where there is frost during the 
•winter season, clover-seed must not be sown in the fall. 
In those parts of the Pacific Coast where frost does not 
occur, it may be sown with the wheat in the fall. 
Using; Cotton-Seed.—“ E. H.,” Madison, 
■Ga., writes that he has read much of the great value of 
cotton-seed as feed for stock; but an impression prevails 
in his locality that it is injurious. He desires some light 
on the subject.—Cotton-seed is a valuable food,containing, 
as it does, much Oil and albnmen. But the hulls are in 
digestible and injurious when the seed is fed whole. 
The pressed oake, which is deprived of the greater por¬ 
tion of the oil contained in the seed, if free from hulls is 
even better than the whole seed, being more digestible. 
-The seed when the cake-meal.is not obtainable should 
be freed from the husk or hull, for which purpose a very 
cheap and excellent machine is now made. The seed in 
process of hulling is broken up considerably, and if 
ground or cooked might be fed very usefully to all sorts 
of stock. It is safer to commence feeding it very gradu¬ 
ally. The broken hulls make an excellent fertilizer. 
Another Fence. —“M. N. ,B.” asks advice 
about a wire-fence consisting of two strands of wire at 
top and bottom, with three-inch palings interwoven, sup¬ 
ported by posts 8 feet apart.—Such a fence would doubt¬ 
less be an excellent one against stock, but whether it is 
patented or not is probably more than a patent lawyer 
could tell without examining the list of something less 
than a thousand patent fences. 
Ditching; Machine.—“ G. A. S.,” Boston, 
wants a machine for digging drains.—We know of no 
machine by which drains can be dug in soil mixed with 
stone. Ditches have been dug successfully by machine 
in soil perfectly free from stone, but we do not know the 
makers’ names. 
Cutting; Feed.—“ Inquirer,” Lennoxville, 
P. of Quebec, asks the following questions: 1st. Will it 
pay to cut feed by hand and use corn-meal, with labor at 
one dollar per day and butter at 20 cents per pound. 2d. 
What size cutter would be needed and which is the best? 
3d. Will young cattle and cows digest oats and peas fed 
in the straw ? 4th. Should it be cut; and should it be 
harvested before the grain is ripe ? 5tli. Are peas best 
sown alone or with some other grain ? Replies.—(1st) 
Yes. (2d) Gale’s copper strip; size depends on number of 
stock; for 10 head a $12 one would do. (3d) No. (4th) 
Yes. (5tli) Best sown with oats. 
Thrashing; - Machine for Cider- 
Mill.—" G. W. M.,” Gibson Co., Indiana, suggests the 
use of a one-horse thrashing-machine to crush apples for 
cider; he asks how it would do, and how should the con¬ 
cave be arrauged.—The principal difficulty would be in 
the rapid motion. The teeth and concave would need no 
change, but where the apples would go to when they 
emerged would be a serious question, and would need ex¬ 
perimenting on. 
White Butter. —“E. C. C.,” Harford Co., 
Md., has a heifer that makes very pale-colored butter with 
an unpleasant taste, and asks i f there is any remedy.—The 
writer once owned a cow that had a similar fault, but 
could hit on no plan to remedy it altogether. Her butter 
was never good for anything, and after many experiments 
she was fattened and sold. If any of our readers have 
had better success, and can help “ E. C. C.,” we shall be 
glad to hear of it. 
Corn-Stalks and Corn for llogs.— 
Wm. J. Lewis, Clinton, Ct., asks how many six-months- 
old pigs in fair order can be fattened on 1,000 bushels of 
com and cob ground together, aud the stalks therefrom. 
—We would not advise this feed for fattening pigs ; it 
would do for store hogs, but fat hogs can only be profit¬ 
ably made on grain alone. Ten bushels of shelled corn 
ground into meal shonld fatten one hog if in fair order at 
the commencement, and if it is kept in a good warm 
pen. If cooked or scalded, and fed cold, one fourth less 
feed would be sufficient. 
Gas-Lime. — “ Y. F.,” Morristown, N. J. 
Gas-lime is not worth seven cents a bushel. It is dear 
enough as a gift, for it is very poor stuff, and when 
fresh injurious. Fresh lime at 25 cents a bushel is cheap¬ 
er than gas-lime for nothing. 
Wire-Worm*.— “C. A. J.,” Hudson, Mich., 
writes, “What are we to do with the Wire-worms ? They 
have destroyed our corn and are eating up our wheat.” 
—There are two families of wire-worms : one consists of 
the larvae of the Elators, or Snapping Beetles; the other, 
not an insect, but an invertebrate animal, is the lulus, of 
both of which families there are several species, all very 
destructive, however, to the roots of grass, com, or wheat. 
Ammonia is the best remedy to apply, and a dressing of 
guano would probably be the best shape in which to ap¬ 
ply it. Soils filled with vegetable matter are most in¬ 
fested, hence lime regularly applied has been found a 
preventive. In fields regularly limed it is rare that 
much injury is done by any of the wire or cut-worm tribes. 
Summer-fallowing is also a remedy. 
Om the Wrong; Side.— “A Friend” in 
Downington, Pa., calls our attention to the fact that in the 
first-page picture in December, the driver is on the wrong 
side of the oxen. We discovered it ourselves when it 
was too late. It happened in this way: in printing, the 
engraving is reversed, and what on the block is right- 
hand is when printed on the left-hand. Sometimes the 
artist forgets that his thawing iwll be reversed. Ev¬ 
erything looks right upon the block, aud when it is 
printed he is much mortified to find that it is all wrong. 
Grease For Cog-Wheels.—“ G. C. A.” 
asks in what proportion tallow and black-lead should be 
mixed together when used to lubricate the gearings of 
thrashing-machines.—The tallow is used only to cause 
the black-lead to adhere to the gears, therefore no more 
than suffices for that purpose is needed. 
Horse Distemper.—“ J. B. C.,” Sher¬ 
burne, Mass., sends his experience about the horse dis¬ 
ease now so prevalent. He has had 46 years’ experience 
with horses and cattle. He says the cause is ill-ventilated 
stables, and exposure while hot to rain, cold, or storm. 
He gives* mash with a table-spoonful of saltpeter, one 
of sulphur, and a quarter of a pound of Glauber’s-salt, with 
feed of potatoes cut fine, keeping the horse warm and free 
from cold drafts. A preventive, he thinks, would be to 
wrap the bit around with some tow, steeped in a solution 
of assafeetida when the horse is driven out. We do not 
approve of nostrums in any way, and rtcommend all 
treatment of sick animals to be based on common-sense. 
The above treatment is judicious, although goodoare and 
protection from cold, with clean and airy stables, will be 
as good a preventive as the assafeetida. 
Windmills.— “Wm. Y. S. B.,” Saugerties, 
N. Y., wants to build a windmill with the help of a car¬ 
penter ; and wants a book with directions.—We know of 
no book containing instructions. In the Agriculturist for 
May, 1872, page 177, was given an engraving of a simple 
windmill, which might be made by any mechanic. 
The size could be enlarged to a power equal to one 
horse. The arms would have to be about 8 feet long in 
that case. 
A Wet Cellar.—“ Jas. S. ( ” Warren Co., 
Ohio, has a wet cellar, aud proposes to cement it on the 
bottom and at the sides, and asks advice.—The remedy 
is doubtful. If the water is only in very small quantity, 
it might answer temporarily, but the cement would cer¬ 
tainly give way in time. If there is no chance for drain¬ 
age any other way, we would dig a well outside the cel¬ 
lar several feet deeper than the floor, and make a drain 
around the cellar on the inside and fill it with broken 
stone, and connect it with the well. In the wet season 
the water can be dipped out of the well. 
A Leaky Cistern and Wet Cellar. 
—“ Subscriber,” Taunton, asks : (1st) How can I stop my 
cistern, cement-lined, from leaking ? (2d) What would be 
the best drain to take water out of my barn-cellar ? (3d) 
how much fall in 100 feet would carry off the water ?— 
(1st) The cistern is imperfectly cemented ; empty it of 
water and apply a fresh coat, brushing it well into any 
cracks that may be seen. Possibly the cement is not of 
the right kind. Hydraulic cement must be used, and not 
common lime. (2d) Dig the drain and lay drain-tile with 
collars. (3d) One foot in 100 is ample fall. 
Pasture for Bermuda.— “J. M. J.,” 
Halifax, N. S., desires to get a crop suitable for pasture 
on some light land in Bermuda.—We would suggest red- 
clover, treated with 100 pounds of grotmd gypsum per 
acre, when about three inches in hight. Crab-grass is a 
species of Panicum, and not Agrostis. Wo shall be glad 
to hear from Bermuda, as intimated. 
Cement Pipes. — “J. C.,” Middletown, 
Iowa. Cement pipes eighteen inches in diameter may 
very easily be made in molds similar to those figured 
in the Agriculturist of November, 1872. The material to 
be used is exactly the same as there described. 
Manure lor Sweet-PoJatoes.—“ R. 
H. M.,” Cool Spring, Delaware, is short of stable manure; 
he asks which would be the best substitute as a fertiliz¬ 
er for sweet-potatoes, bone-dust or fish-scrap.—Fish-scrap 
would probably be the better of the two. 
Jersey Bulls — Correction.— Mr. J. 
Carter Brown, of Rhode Island, calls our attention to an 
error inadvertently made in an article in the November 
Agriculturist, headed “Two Jersey Bulls.” We there 
stated that the Jersey herd pipe at the New York State 
Agricultural Fair, held at Elmira in 1872, was “ won by 
Mr. William Crozier in competition with a herd imported 
directly from the farm of Queen Victoria.” We intended 
to say that it was won in competition with a herd which 
contained a heifer imported diroctly from the farm of 
Queen Victoria ; and this, we believe, is strictly in ac¬ 
cordance with the facts as gathered from the list of 
entries. We regret the little oversight. 
