742 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Nov  12 
Where  the  Honse  Fly  Blooms. 
H.,  Fairfield  County,  Ct. — We  have 
a  second  crop  of  flies  at  our  house.  At 
least  the  good  wife  says  so,  although  it 
seems  to  me  like  a  fifteenth  crop,  “and 
where  do  they  come  from  ?  ”  At  last  I 
have  made  a  discovery,  and  if  one  doesn't 
believe  the  house  fly  increases  in  horse 
manure,  just  let  him  examine  a  heap  of 
it  some  of  these  cool  mornings  before  the 
sun  has  risen  to  warm  the  air  enough  for 
the  pests  to  fly.  My  stable  manuie  is 
thrown  into  a  shed  where  it  is  both 
shaded  from  the  sun  and  sheltered  from 
rain.  Having  detected  a  slight  motion 
on  the  surface,  a  closer  scrutiny  revealed 
hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  these  buz¬ 
zing  wall  spotters  and  peace  destroyers! 
crawling  in  all  stages  of  growth  and  de-( 
velopment,  only  waiting  for  a  chance 
of  sunshine  or  more  heat.  Their  antici-j 
pations  were  speedily  nipped  in  the  bud,» 
however,  for  I  opened  the  gate  and  ad- 
Except  in  rare  cases,  why  not  use  straw 
as  a  mulch  on  pastures?  But  there  may 
be  no  permanent  pastures,  and  in  that 
case  the  sooner  they  are  made  the  bet¬ 
ter.  If  there  is  no  rough  land  winch  na¬ 
turally  would  be  used  for  that  purpose, 
then  fence  two  or  three  small  fields 
near  the  barn  and  seed  and  care  for  them 
with  a  view  of  always  having  exercising 
yards  in  winter  for  the  colts  and  other 
young  stock,  and  nearby  pastures  for 
the  young  things  and  their  dams  in  sum¬ 
mer.  Often  one  of  the  permanent 
(sheep)  pastures  should  be  the  bearing 
apple  orchard  and  just  here  the  straw 
can  be  used  to  better  advantage  than  on 
any  other  place  on  the  farm.  Draw  and 
spread  it  over  the  entire  surface  thickly, 
but  evenly,  not  earlier  than  the  last  of 
May,  nor  later  than  the  middle  of  June. 
I  f  spread  in  the  fall  or  early  spring,  it 
will  tend  to  make  the  ground  “  sad  ”  and 
induce  the  roots  of  the  trees  to  come  to 
['the  surface,  both  of  which  results  are 
[undesirable. 
The  Naming:  of  Strawberries. 
Prof.  W.  R.  Lazenby,  Ohio. — The  usu¬ 
ally  careful  R.  N.-Y.  must  have  made  a 
?slip  when  it  referred  to  Mr.  E.  Williams’s 
...  .  _  .  .  .  T>  T  £  suggestion  in  regard  to  naming  strawber- 
mitted  my  flock  of  breezy  Brown  Leg-Wj  .  e 6  .  .  ,  .  ^  . 
,  J  .  ,  ,  .  ,  (?  ries.  It  would  certainly  be  inappropriate, 
horns,  whose  quick  eyes  and  quicker  mo-W  ,  ,  ,  .  ,  ,  .  . 
,  .  ,  r.,,.  „  ,.  F1  from  a  structural  standpoint,  to  give  pis- 
tions  plainly  told  that  my  discovery  was  *  . 
.  1  *  .  , ,  ,  .f  ,  '  tillate  varieties  male  Dames,  and  I  can 
their  meat.  There  should  be  a  “place  ,  .  .. 
,  ,.  .  scarcely  believe  that  this  was  recom- 
for  everything,  and  the  place  for  flies  is-  1  z.  ,  ,,  ,  t  uOTm 
J  b’  ■  mended  by  Mr.  Williams,  although  I  have 
r  not  seen  his  original  article  on  the  subject 
in  the  crops  of  poultry. 
Is  Bran  a  Good  Milk  Feed?  | 
E.  L. ,  Warrenville,  III.— On  page 
688  of  The  Rural  the  question  as  to  the 
feeding  value  of  bran  is  raised.  I  doubted 
this  many  years  ago  under  the  following 
circumstances :  I  owned  a  share  in  a 
flouring  mill  and  ran  a  farm  at  the  same 
time,  shipping  milk  to  Chicago.  Occa¬ 
sionally  the  mill  had  some  surplus  bran 
and  I  was  allowed  to  get  a  load.  This  I 
fed  to  my  cows,  always  feeding  it  as  I 
would  hay  or  straw.  My  usual  feed  was 
four  quarts  of  corn  and  oats  twice  a  day: 
when  I  had  bran  I  fed  at  each  feed  two 
quarts  more.  When  the  bran  gave  out, 
the  usual  four  quarts  of  meal  were  given, 
nothing  being  allowed  for  the  missing 
bran.  My  hay  was  alwrays  cut  early, 
commencing  about  June  20,  and  w  as  gen¬ 
erally  good  ;  corn  stalks  and  Hungarian 
Grass  were  also  fed,  but  were  only  snuffed 
over,  and  found  their  way  into  the  ma¬ 
nure  pile.  The  hay  was  fed  ad  libitum — 
all  they  could  stuff.  In  shipping  milk, 
there  was  often  an  anxiety  to  keep  up 
the  number  of  cans,  particularly  in  hot 
weather  when  a  shortage  of  a  quart  or 
two  would  keep  a  can  at  home  and  di¬ 
minish  the  profit.  Now,  although  this 
feeding  of  bran  was  of  frequent  occur¬ 
rence.  I  never  saw  any  increase  of  the 
milk  or  any  decrease  from  its  discontinu¬ 
ance.  I  have  frequently  spoken  of  this 
to  dairymen,  only  to  be  scouted  at,  as  in 
the  opinion  of  a  very  large  majority, 
“  wheat  bran  is  the  stuff  to  make  milk 
of ;  ”  but,  once  in  a  w’hile,  I  have  met 
men  whose  experience  had  been  the  same 
as  mine.  But  bran  is  a  fine  feed  where 
it  is  clean  and  wholesome,  as  it  is  healthy 
and  a  grand  fertilizer.  E.  lambe. 
Don’t  Mulch  a  Soil  to  “Sadnes  .” 
Prof.  I.  P.  Roberts,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. — 
C.  H.  P.’s  failure  to  receive  benefit  from 
,|  One  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the  nam¬ 
ing  of  strawberries  according  to  sex,  or 
character  of  flowers,  is  that  there  are 
many  strictly  neuter  words,  names  of 
places,  qualities,  and  the  like,  that  are 
descriptive  and  in  every  way  appropri¬ 
ate;  but  such  names  could  not  be  used. 
Again  family  names,  or  surnames,  are 
regarded  as  masculine,  and  if  the  rule  of 
naming  according  to  sex  were  adopted, 
they  could  be  used  only  for  the  perfect 
flowering  varieties.  We  must  remember 
also  that  such  names  are  already  given 
to  some  of  our  best  known  and  most  val¬ 
uable  pistillate  varieties,  as  Bubach, 
Haverland,  Warfield,  etc.  If  it  were 
known  that  all  new  pistillate  varieties 
would  be  given  distinctively  female 
names,  it  might  save  some  trouble,  yet 
in  my  judgment  the  advantages  of 
“names  according  to  sex”  would  scarcely 
overbalance  the  disadvantages. 
[R.  N.-Y. — Mr.  Williams  intended  of 
course  that  female  names  should  be  given 
to  pistillates  and  we  were  not  aware 
that  it  had  been  stated  differently  in  our 
columns.  The  list  of  familiar  female 
names  is  a  long  one.  If  that  were  ex¬ 
hausted,  then  combinations  of  such 
names  might  be  made  indefinitely.  Still 
we  must  admit  that  Prof.  Lazenby’s  ob¬ 
jections  are  not  without  weight. 
Praise  For  The  Vergennes  Grape. 
II.  L.  L.,  W  estfield,  Mass. — I  have 
a  Vergennes  vine  12  feet  high  on  an  arbor 
in  front  of  our  piazza,  which  has  borne 
several  crops  of  fruit  that  would  sell  for 
15  cents  per  pound  and  keep  from  three 
to  six  months  under  good  conditions. 
The  large  clusters  are  shouldered  and 
closely  resemble  foreign  grapes  I  think. 
Though  not  as  large  of  course,  they 
are  very  sweet  and  the  pulp  parts  readily 
from  the  seeds,  and  they  are  much  sweeter 
mulching  wheat  with  stra  w  (see  R.  N.-Y.,  at  the  seeds  than  most  other  grapes.  There 
page  650)  was  due,  probably,  to  one  or  were  about  75  pounds  of  grapes  on  it 
all  of  the  following  causes  :  Extraordin-  this  year,  but  owing  to  the  blight  strik- 
ary  season,  too  thick  mulching  and  too  ing  the  leaves,  40  to  50  pounds  of  them 
wet  land.  Heavy  clay  lands  become  were  prevented  from  ripening,  though 
cold,  sour  and  “sad”  when  mulched,  many  half  ripe  were  sweeter  than  some 
provided  the  ground  becomes  very  wet  other  kinds  fully  ripe.  About  10  pounds 
in  the  fall  or  early  spring.  Light  wheat  are  now  on  the  vine  and  are  very  hand- 
soils  are  almost  certain  to  be  benefited  some  to  look  at.  I  have  taken  three  or 
by  a  light  mulch.  A  straw  mulch  is  of  four  first  premiums  on  them  and  the 
great  advantage  to  exposed  knolls,  espe- [  Niagaras,  winning  wherever  I  have  ex- 
cially  along  the  borders  of  our  great  ^liibited  them.  I  think  I  would  have  had 
lakes.  The  grass  seeding  on  light  lands  200  pounds  of  Niagaras  but  for  the  blight 
is  much  improved  by  a  light  mulch,  but  and  black  rot  which  caused  over  a  bushel 
the  danger  is  that  two  or  three  times  as  *'of  solid  grapes  to  drop.  There  were  150 
much  straw  will  be  used  in  mulching  asT  pounds  on  the  vine  two  years  ago.  These 
is  best.  The  same  rule  is  true  in  mulch-'f  two  vines  are  trained  up  straight  and 
ing  strawberry  beds.  A  little  mulch  is  a  smooth  till  they  reach  the  arbor  overheadT 
beneficial,  too  much  is  worse  than  none.1?12  feet  high,  30  feet  long,  10  feet  wide 
and  with  no  supports  from  the  ground. 
I  fear  the  Vergennes  may  winter-kill 
somewhat  as  very  little  wood  has  thor¬ 
oughly  ripened  on  account  of  blight.  I 
notice  that  on  both  these  vines  the  best 
fruit  grows  farthest  from  the  roots.  The 
Vergennes  is  such  a  good  grape  that  when 
I  have  given  persons  a  dozen  grapes  to 
taste  they  have  ordered  a  vine  on  the  spot. 
A  North  Carolina  Sub-Experiment  Station. 
T.  B.  L  ,  Douglas,  N.  C. — This  farm  is 
situated  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  river 
Dan,  and  consists  of  650  acres.  Nearly 
half  is  bottom  land,  producing  corn, 
wheat  and  grass  to  perfection.  The  up¬ 
lands,  comparatively  level,  are  adapted 
to  the  growth  of  tobacco,  grain  and  the 
grasses.  On  this  farm  is  the  sub-experi¬ 
ment  station,  conducted  by  Mr.  Lind¬ 
say,  the  proprietor,  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  H.  B.  Battle,  of  Raleigh,  N.  C.  The 
soil  and  fertilizer  tests  are  made  on  the 
poorest  of  the  upland,  on  plots  of  one- 
twentieth  of  an  acre.  Mixed  and  un¬ 
mixed  chemicals  are  used  in  different  pro¬ 
portions  of  cotton-seed  meal,  acid  phos¬ 
phate  and  kainit.  Notes  have  been  taken 
during  the  year  on  the  growth  of  the 
corn  on  each  plot,  and  soon  the  product 
of  each  w  ill  be  gathered  by  itself  and 
wreighed.  This  will  give  some  idea  of 
what  the  soil  needs,  and,  instead  of  a 
complete  fertilizer,  only  the  ingredient 
most  lacking  in  the  soil  will  be  procured. 
Now,  as  to  the  cost  of  living  here  : 
flour  is  worth  $4  to  $4.50  per  barrel; 
sugar,  43^  to  6  cents  per  pound  ;  meat, 
8  %  cents  and  25  pounds  per  month  are 
used.  A  fair  suit  of  clothes,  $10  ;  a  pair 
of  boots,  $3  ;  shoes,  $2  ;  a  dress  for  wife, 
$10  to  $20.  Medical  attendance,  one 
year,  averages  $10  The  family  consists 
of  wife  and  two  children.  The  farm  is 
cultivated  mostly  by  tenants  who  furnish 
their  own  stock,  tools,  etc.,  and  pay  one- 
fourth  of  the  tobacco  and  one-third  of 
the  grain.  Cattle,  sheep,  hogs  and 
poultry  are  raised,  and  vegetables  for 
all,  so  that  but  little  is  spent  for  pro¬ 
visions.  Early  Orange  sugar  cane  is 
grown  by  the  tenants,  and  on  a  good 
many  adjoining  farms,  and  a  mill  and 
evaporator  are  owned  by  Mr.  Lindsay 
and  the  syrup  is  made  upon  the  farm — 
sometimes  as  much  as  600  or  800  gallons 
a  year.  This  sy’rup  retails  at  50  cents  per 
gallon,  40  cents  by  the  barrel. 
If  you  name  The  R.  N.-Y.  to  our  advertisers  you 
may  be  pretty  sure  of  prompt  replies  and  right 
treatment. 
Thousands 
Of  dollars  I  spent  trying 
to  find  a  cure  for  Salt 
IS  he  it  m,  which  I  had 
13  years.  Physicians 
said  they  never  saw  so 
severe  a  case.  My  legs, 
hack  and  arms  were  cov¬ 
ered  by  the  humor.  I 
began  to  take  HOOD’S 
s  ARSA PAIIIJLIj  A  , 
and  the  flesh  became 
ire  healthy,  the  sores  soon  healed,  the 
lies  fell  off,  I  was  soon  able  to  give  up  ban- 
I’-es  and  crutches,  and  a  happy  man  1  was. 
Mr.  S.  G.  Derry. 
HOOD’S  Pills  cure  liver  ills,  constipation, 
biliousness,  jaundice,  and  sick  headache.  Try  them. 
Sheridan’s  Condition  Powders 
If  you  can’t  ffet  It  send  to  us. 
We  mail  one  pack  2oc.  Five  $1.  A  2  1-4  lb.  can  $1.20.  Six, 
$5.  Ex.  paid,  l'oultry  Raising  Guide,  free,  with  $1  orders. 
1  S.  JOHNSON  &  CO.,  22  Custom  House  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
O&TCUTC  trade-marks,  caveats, 
I  M  I  kll  8v  OR  NO  FEE. 
Send  model  or  sketch  for  free  advice  as  to  patent¬ 
ability.  Full  Information  In  my  50-page  book,  FREE. 
Address  SAML.  O.  FITZGERALD,  Atty., 
1003  F  Street,  Washington,  D.  C. 
G-IVE  •  THE  •  BABT 
IF  YOU  WISH  your  infant  to  be 
We'!  nourished,  healthy,  and  vigorous. 
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other  Mills  that  are  oiled.  Truly  a  GEMt] 
and  worth  its  weight  in  gold.  The 
GEM  STEEL  TOWER  is  made  trian¬ 
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