i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
$29 
whole exhibition, being under sized, badly developed and 
seedy. It is evidently not adapted to Wisconsin.” 
South Crescent, Minn. j. s. H. 
Luther Burbank’s Work. 
I have recently been to see Luther Barbank and have ex¬ 
amined the results of his wonderful work at hybridizing. 
He has row after row of hybrids such as 10 years ago were 
thought impossible—five solid acres of them after tens of 
thousands had been cast aside, and he is constantly rooting 
out the poorer rows which the student of the flora might 
spend weeks over. Ills manipulations are so exact that 
his hybrids are hybrids. Those between the raspberry and 
strawberry are very curious. They grow about 16 inches 
high with a strawbarry leaf on bristly stems with peculiar 
underground stolons. They bloom, but do not fruit, 
though we did find a few seemingly perfect seeds on two 
plants. They do not seem to pollinate themselves or each 
other; possibly some other rubus or strawberry would 
pollinate them. A true hybrid may be nearly an exact re¬ 
production of either the male or female parent, showing 
no marks of hybridity whatever, yet if it fruits, seedlings 
of it may go all to pieces. Mr. Burbank’s grandest suc¬ 
cess so far in the rubus family is between Shaffer and 
our wild California blackberry, and it and the Evergreen 
Blackberry of Oregon, and between our native blackberry 
and the Lucretia. What the outcome of such a vast con¬ 
glomeration will be I have no idea; it looks possible to 
produce hybrids between all species of Rossaria, and I 
think that in view of all that has been done, it would not 
be very wild to say that everything could be hybridized if 
one had time and skill. Mr. Burbank’s grounds prove 
that Darwin was right when he said “ it is reasonable to 
suppose that all life has descended from one or a few 
original germ or germs.” D. b. wier. 
California. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
| Every query must be accompanied by the name arid address of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asxlng a question please see If It Is 
not answered In our advertising columns. AsK only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate plpce of paper.] 
COTTON SEED MEAL CAUSES CONSTIPATION. 
We are told that the safest and most economical way to 
feed cotton-seed or linseed meal is with roots, ensilage or 
pasture, because these meals are naturally constipating, 
and should be given with succulent materials in order to 
keep the system in good condition. If these meals are fed 
with dry hay, do they give as good satisfaction as when fed 
with ensilage ? .n the absence of ensilage or roots, would 
it be advisabe to feed cotton seed meal in the winter ? 
Generally on Ensilage. 
I have never fed cotton-seed meal. I have always fed lin¬ 
seed meal mixed with wheat bran or ensilage or cut hay 
or unthrashed oats run through a cutter, the hay and 
oats being dampened by sprinkling them with water before 
the grain feed was mixed with them. I seldom feed any 
grain feed except when mixed with cut fodder, except 
wheat bran in summer. C. R. beach. 
Is Not Linseed Meal a Laxative? 
For 10 years I have fed cotton-seed meal without ensi¬ 
lage or roots, but with dry hay, and, with one exception, 
with bran or corn meal or both, and I have never noted 
any ill effects. For a few weeks last winter, I fed cotton¬ 
seed meal and hay and noted no ill effects so far as the 
general appearance of the cattle was concerned, but the 
manure looked dark and was too hard, and I discontinued 
the practice. I think every farmer should have a silo, and 
hope to fill one myself this fall. Is it not a mistake to call 
linseed meal constipating? It is called an excellent 
cathartic, just the opposite of cotton-seed meal. 
Lamoille Co., Vt. j. w. newton. 
Cotton-Seed Meal for Calves. 
I feed 12 strippers a ration consisting of 240 pounds of 
cut hay, 33 pounds of cotton seed meal and 30 pounds each 
of corn meal and bran. The hay was wet 12 hours be¬ 
fore feeding and the meals were mixed with it. The cows 
did very well, made about a pound of butter a day each 
and gained somewhat in flesh. Cotton seed meal is the 
best grain I know of to make a nice growth of new hair. 
It will make a cow look very slick and all lovers of good 
stock like to see such an animal. I am feeding some three- 
months-old calves one pint daily of cotton seed and linseed 
oil meal—mixed equal parts—in thin milk. They are 
growing quite well. I cannot get cows fed on hay and any 
kind of grain to do as well as they do on ensilage. If it 
were not for the latter I would stop winter butter making. 
If I had some of Mr. Terry’s hay, maybe it would be dif¬ 
ferent ; but I think hay is poor stuff to depend upon. I 
was short of ensilage last winter, so I tried feeding hay 
and grain awhile after corn fodder was gone and before 
openlDg my silo. The cows grew poor and my man said 
one old cow would die, so I opened the silo and the cows 
yielded one-fourth more milk and gained in flesh and I 
cut them down one-third of their grain, as they would not 
eat it clean. They did not leave any of the ensilage. I 
could not let them have more than a bushel a day each. 
Jasper, N. Y. D. c . s. 
Never Without Ensilage, Roots or Pasture. 
1 have never fed much linseed meal; my experience has 
been more with cotton-seed, with which I became ac¬ 
quainted while spending several years in Florida, where 
it is used to a large extent in fertilizing orange trees. I 
have never fed it alone with dry hay ; but would combine 
it with wheat bran, one part of the meal to three or four 
of the bran by weight, if I had to do so ; but my intentions 
are not to be without ensilage, roots or pasture at any sea¬ 
son of the year, and the less pasture the better, as I can’t 
afford to keep up fences and furnish three acres per cow 
when half that amount will keep her a year on the other 
kinds of feed. g ( 
Albion, N. Y. 
Would Not Feed With Dry Hay. 
I believe that all highly nitrogenous foods, like those 
named, should be fed in connection with succulent rations. 
I do not feed any cotton-seed meal; but with regard to 
other grains, I feed them with the ensilage, adding them 
when the latter is being fed and with excellent satisfac¬ 
tion, and never before have my winter milkers kept in 
such fine condition. There are no signs of constipation in 
my cows, nor, on the other hand, is there any undue lax¬ 
ity. I find that with ensilage and nitrogenous grain, my 
cows in looks and performance in the winter, have a close 
resemblance to a dairy feeding on the best of pasture. I 
would not feed very much cotton-seed meal in the winter 
with hay, etc., without soaking or steaming both the hay 
and meal, preferably the latter. JOHN gould. 
Ohio. 
Sterilized Milk and Cream. 
FT. A. L., Glen Mills, Pa .—How Is cream sterilized ? 
Ans. Last year we printed a good deal of information 
on this subject. In theory milk or cream may be steri¬ 
lized by the same processes used in canning fruits or veg¬ 
etables—viz., heatiDg to a high temperature and then seal¬ 
ing absolutely air-tight while hot. Tnis is “ all there is 
to it” and yet many have tried it and failed without 
knowing why. The fault lay in the milk rather than in 
the method. The most successful sterilized milk business 
in the country, if not in the world, is conducted by a 
New York woman who has established a dairy farm in one 
of the “ abandoned ” districts of New Hampshire. She 
is a graduate of Vassar College and the wife of an eminent 
New York physician. It was through an investigation of 
the disease! of children that she came to believe in the 
value of sterilizing milk Milk from her farm is now sold 
in all the large E istern cities and is prescribed by doctors 
for children as well as for invalid adults. It is guaran¬ 
teed to keep perfectly sweet for two years. The cows are 
Jerseys fed and cared for in the most careful manner. No 
hay is kept in the stable, no bedding is provided—nothing 
is kept there taat conld possibly absorb odors and contam¬ 
inate the milk. It is tiken from the cow directly to the 
sterilizing house where it is bottled, heated, vented, 
heated again and sealed at once. Referring to the details 
of her practice this lady writes us: “ In perfecting the 
method from the crude system of sterilizing previously 
used in private families, we have spent two years’ time, 
and over ten thousand dollars in money. We have in¬ 
vented all the apparatus we use and it is not, of course, 
available for any use but our own. These things are our 
stock-in-trade, and it is not possible for us ti share the re¬ 
sults of our investigations. Few of the men who wish to 
begin sterilizing milk realize that a scientific education is 
absolutely mcessary to the work, and few would believe 
that in the ordinary cow barn no milk could possibly be 
sterilized, by any process. Neither do people at all realize 
the amount of capital needed nor always the great cost 
of producing the milk.” 
This lady’s success shows the possibilities of the steril¬ 
ized milk business and also its difficulties. By a simple 
process of heating and sealing while hot the milk may be 
kept for a few days or weeks; but for a longer time the 
most accurate and careful preparation is needed. 
Fertility Taken by Farm Products. 
Several Subscribers .—Will The R. N.-Y. print a table 
showing the amount of fertility taken from the farm in 
selling various crops ? 
Ans. —Many such tables have been printed. A very 
complete one is found in the last report of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Experiment Scation. The following table gives the 
average composition of a number of common farm crops. 
We also give the manure value as estimated at the prices 
paid for chemical fertilizers. It is assumed that a pound 
of nitrogen is worth 17 cents, a pound of potash four 
cents, and a pound of phosphoric acid seven cents: 
One ton of 
Meadow hay.... 
Timothy hay.... 
Clover hay . 
Wheat straw ... 
Barley straw.... 
oat straw. 
Corn stales. 
Potatoes . 
Winter wheat... 
Rye . 
Oats . 
Corn . 
Barley. 
Cow's milk. 
Cheese. 
Beef . 
Pork ... . 
Live cattle. . 
Live sheep. 
Live hogs. 
rggs. 
Unwashed wool 
Pounds per ton. 
Phosohorlc 
Nitrogen. 
acid. 
Potash. 
Value 
. 20.-2 
8 2 
26 4 
*5.10 
. 19.69 
14.4 
40 8 
5.99 
. 40.16 
11.2 
36.6 
9 07 
. 11 04 
4.4 
12.6 
2 69 
. 12 80 
3.8 
18.8 
3 32 
. 12.22 
3 8 
17.8 
3.0* 
. 16.93 
10.6 
19.2 
4.39 
. 7.01 
3 2 
11.4 
1.87 
. 87 63 
10.6 
15.8 
7.75 
. 33 92 
11.2 
17.8 
7.26 
. 36.42 
12.4 
8.8 
7 43 
. 83.05 
11.8 
7.4 
6.75 
. 39.65 
9 0 
15.4 
7.99 
. 10 '20 
3.4 
8.0 
2.09 
. 90 60 
23.0 
5.0 
17.21 
. 72.UU 
11.4 
8.6 
13.31 
. 69 40 
9.2 
7 8 
12.75 
. 53.20 
37.2 
3.4 
11.78 
. 44.80 
24.6 
3 0 
9.45 
. 40.90 
17.6 
3.6 
8.17 
. 43.60 
7.4 
3.0 
8.05 
. 108.OJ 
2.2 
149.2 
24.47 
Let U8 now consider a few of the feeding stuffs that are 
more commonly bought than sold : 
One ton of Nitrogen 
Wheat bran . 49.15 
Wheat middlings.. 4s.54 
Brewers’grains 17.82 
Oi meal . 103.12 
Cotton-seed meal.. 115.65 
Pounds per ton. 
Phosphoric 
i acid. Potash 
Value. 
28.6 
54.6 
12.45 
7.4 
5.2 
ft.96 
8.2 
1.0 
3.64 
32.2 
24.8 
21.11 
29.2 
56.2 
28.35 
by It is often 
more 
economical 
for a farmer to sell all his grain and buy bran, oil meal or 
cotton seed meal for feeding. Many farmers lose money 
by feeding out their own corn instead of selling it. One 
ton of their own corn returns to the land but $6 75 worth 
of fertility. By selling the corn and spending the money 
thus obtained for wheat bran and oil meal, he can easily 
return twice the amount of fertility to his farm besides 
properly feeding his stock. In the same way, pure Tim¬ 
othy hay might well be sold and the money invested in 
clover hay which could be fed with double profit to cows 
and sheep. Or, putting it in another way, $10 worth of 
Timothy hay, or corn or wheat takes away from the farm 
respectively, $5.99, $3 87 and $2.58 worth of fertilizing 
substances. That same $10 invested In clover hay, oil 
meal, cotton-seed meal and wheat bran will bring back to' 
the farm $9 07, $7 54, $10.12 and $7.78 worth of fertility. It 
will be seen that fat sheep and hogs walk off with less fer¬ 
tility per ton than cattle or horses. Bran, oil meal, etc., 
are wastes—that is, they represent coarser parts of thb 
totai product that are of least value as a food' for hutnan' 
beings, while well suited for stock food. In these times of 
high prices, does it pay you to feed your animals on the 
higher priced human food ? 
Skim Cheese ; Rennets. 
S B. H., Crawfordsville, Md. —1. Why cannot cheese be 
made from the milk returned to the farmers from the 
creamery, either sweet or sour ? 2. What kind of rennet 
is used in the cheese making districts of New York ? 3. 
What can be said for and against hydrochloric acid for 
use in place of calf rennet ? 4. What value do cheese 
makers put on the commercial rennets in the market ? 
Will The Rural please give us an article on rennets and 
how to use them ? There seems to be some difference of 
opinion as to what should be the heat of the milk when it 
is best to add the rennet. 
Ans. —1. Sour skim-milk may be coagulated by the 
simple application of heat, and makes the so-called cottage 
or Dutch cheese. Near some of the larger cities there is a 
considerable local demand for this product. The cheese 
must be eaten within a few days after it is made, and to 
be of good quality should have nearly as much cream or 
butter added to it as was taken from the milk. Cneese can 
be made from sweet sklm-mllk by rennet coagulation, but 
such cheese is of the “white oak” variety of skim cheese. 
Tne manufacture of skim cheese has probably done more 
than any other one thing to hurt the reputation of Amer¬ 
ican cheese as a whole, and it is very doubtful if even par¬ 
tial skimming is to be recommended under any circum¬ 
stances. Every year the good effects of what is known as 
the “State Brand” law ; by virtue of which factories are, 
under certain conditions, allowed to brand their cheese 
“New York State Full Cream Cneese;” are becoming 
more and more apparent. Eich year more factories use 
the brand and each year the reput ition of such cheese is 
becoming better on the market. 2. Practically as a gen¬ 
eral thing some one of the commercial preparations or ex¬ 
tracts. Probably more of Hansen’s is used than of any 
other one brand. 3. So far as I know, cheese has never 
been made on a commercial scale by coagulation with 
hydrochloric or any otner of the mineral acids. 4. They 
are universally used. Commercial rennet is so much 
stronger, purer, more uniform and batter in every way, 
that it does not seem worth while to give directions 
for extracting or preparing rennets for use as the rennet 
Is needed. It is generally considered by cheese makers in 
this State that the rennet should be added to the milk 
at as low a temperature as will give a good coagulation In 
from 30 to 45 minutes ; 82 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit is the 
temperature usually recommended, depending upon the 
temperature of the air and the condition of the milk as to 
acidity. In warm weather a lower temperature can be 
used than in cool, and if the milk is closely approaching 
the point of acidity It need not be so warm when the 
rennet is added. h. h. wing. 
Cornell Experiment Station. 
Remedies for Plant Lice. 
1. R* IF., Roselle, N". J. —The tender shoots of my grape 
vines and chrysanthemums are covered with black aphides 
for a length of two to six inches on the stems, and I have 
dusted them with hellebore, buhach and lime; but these 
seem to do no good, and if I brush them off they return in 
a short time; what shall I do? Is there any remedy or 
preventive, and do they do any serious damage, or are they 
only unsightly? They are a nuisance at any race, which I 
shall be glad to get rid of. 
Ans.— There are several remedies for these pestiferous 
lice. Tobacco is effective. So is tobacco soap sold by seeds¬ 
men. We steep the tobacco stems or snuff in water and 
spray this on the insects through a cyclone nozzle. Bu¬ 
hach will not kill them. The kerosene emulsion is also 
effective. 
Fertilizing Value of Beet-Sugar Refuse. 
E. C. A., Aberdeen, S. D.— What is the value of the 
pulp and lime cake from beet sugar factories as a fertil¬ 
izer ? 
Ans.— The Director of the Nebraska Experiment Station 
sends us this statement: The beet pulp is not used directly 
as a fertilizer because of its great value for a stock food. 
Nearly all animals eat It with avidity, and it is especially 
valuable for fattening stock. An analysis by Wolff gives 
the following constituents : 
Per cent. 
Water. Hg 
Crude protein.(digestible 4.1 per cent).... 6.6 
Fiber.(digestible 16.0per cent).... 19.3 
Non-nltrogenous.(digestlole 45.9 per cent).... 54.8 
Fats .... .(digestible .6 percent).6 
Ash. 
As to the value of the refuse lime cake, there is a great 
difference of opinion ; there seems to be no doubt, how¬ 
ever, as to its value on any soil that requires lime; on 
other soils authorities disagree very much, especially as 
the nitrogeneous and phosphoric residues are not Imme¬ 
diately available. Tne beet sugar industry is of such re¬ 
cent da e with us that no facts have yet been obtained 
here touching these questions. Experiments are now be¬ 
ing made to determine the value, as a fertilizer, of the re¬ 
fuse water and the lime cake. 
