1 89 1 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
785 
ment stations and they certainly are decisive as to the 
keeping qualities of whole ensilage. I expect that while 
our smaller varieties of corn keep perfectly as a rule, the 
larger Southern and Western varieties do not keep so 
well, but no farmer growing flint corn need fear that his 
corn will spoil if put in the silo uncut. Then Prof. Massey 
says: “Just imagine a man with a stock of cattle that 
will eat up a ton and a half of ensilage dally, chopping it 
down with a broadaxe.” I will say, just imagine a man 
who has only two or three acres of corn to put in the silo, 
going to the expense of an engine or horse power and cut¬ 
ter. The fact is, there are thousands of farmers who keep 
from two or three to a dozen head of cattle, and who can 
afford to build silos but cannot afford to buy power and 
cutters. It is this class of men who are using uncut en¬ 
silage, and they find it pays. In this part of the country, 
we cannot do much on the land from the first of December 
to the middle of April. We have to spend quite a large 
portion of our time in doing chores, and getting out 
uncut ensilage for a dozen head of cattle does not add so 
much to our labor as those llviDg under different condi¬ 
tions might imagine. This is a large country, and a man 
needs to bear the fact in mind when writing for a paper 
like The R. N.-Y. j. w. newton. 
Lamoille Co., Vt. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asking 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 piece of paper.] 
SHALL I DEADEN THE TIMBER? 
E. H. C., Mattville, Ind.—l have purchased a piece of 
woodland which I want to put into cultivation to help pay 
for itself. I am advised to deaden the timber and let it 
rot for four years. I am told the land will last longer. 
Others advise me to cut it off at once and let the ground 
be paying interest and principal. Will the increased fer¬ 
tility from deadening pay the interest on the price of the 
land while waiting ? 
Will It Last Longer ? 
One could advise better if he could see the piece. If the 
trees are large and comparatively far apart, I would plant 
as soon as cleared. If they stand so close as to leave the 
ground almost covered with stumps, the other way would 
be better perhaps. As to the ground’s “lasting longer,” it 
would not “last” more than four years longer I suspect, 
i. e., the time of delay. It wonld depend chiefly on how It 
was handled as to how the fertility endured. T. H. H. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
A Shiftless Process. 
The old notion of girdling timber and letting it stand on 
the ground to die and scatter its dead limbs over grain, 
endangering stock and the men who worked the fields was 
a shiftless one and was abandoned by thrifty people. 
I can see no reason why such standing dead timber can 
enrich the lsnd to amount to anything, and I do not be- 
lieve it does so enrich it. The timber will be worth more 
if cut and used while sound, than it will if left to partially 
decay and be damaged by insects before it is cut. 
Agricultural College, Mich. [dr ] w. j. beal. 
Cut and Utilize While Green. 
Any fertilization of the soil from deadened timber 
would be due to the decaying leaves, branches, bark, etc., 
that fall to the ground and increase the humus cover. In 
addition, the weeds and grass growing up under the re¬ 
duced shade of the standing timber and the litter on the 
ground, by decay, add to the desirable humus cover, which 
by plowing under would make the soil more durable. If, 
however, as usual, fire is used to clear the land and thereby 
the humus cover is, wholly or in part, destroyed, the en¬ 
tire advantage that might arise from the leaving of the 
dead timber is lost at once. Altogether the question of 
profitableness can be answered only by knowing all 1 cal 
conditions. If the land is worth turning into farm or 
meadow at all, and the timber is salable, it would be bet¬ 
ter to cut and utilize it while green. If the land is not worth 
cultivating for field crops, it had better be left to forest 
growth, cutting the timber so as to reproduce a new and 
valuable timber crop. Such cutting must be done under 
the principles laid down in Bulletin No. 5 of the Forest 
Division of the Department of Agriculture. 
Chief of Forestry Division. B. E. fernow. 
An Amateur Farmer Wants Help. 
L. H. D., Boston , Mass. —Having lately come into pos¬ 
session of a farm, I would like to ask; 1. What Is the best 
way to secure a good farmer ? 2. How and how much is a 
good man paid ? I mean a man that has entire charge of 
a place. 3. What are his privileges? What is his wife 
expected to do ? 4. What is the best way to renovate 
upland pastures and meadows that have been neglected 
for years ? 
Ans.— 1. We should advertise in the farm papers. You 
need a man of intelligence and experience, unless you can 
give the work personal oversight—which we presume is 
not the case. You can frequently hire good men at the In¬ 
telligence offices at this season, but a more satisfactory 
way will be to advertise in the papers good farmers are 
likely to read. 2. No stated rule can be given for this. 
Some men are ready to work lor a share of the crop—others 
demand a salary. Forty dollars per month and a small 
house and a place for a garden, make a salary equal to over 
$20 per week in a business where rent must be paid and 
vegetables and eggs must be bought. We do not know 
hosv large your farm is or what you intend to grow. A 
man will nave to grow a big crop to leave you any profit 
after taking $365, or one dollar per day cash for his work. 
If the man has to spend time taking care of house and 
grounds, the profit will be still less because such work 
brings in no money. Too many employers do not allow 
for this fact when they figure up at the end of the year and 
wonder what the farmer has done with his time. 3. The 
privileges and the work of the man’s wife are matters that 
will vary with different contracts or situations. These 
things are to be provided for in the contract, and the 
employer should know what he wants before hiring. The 
best way to do is to plan out work enough to keep the man 
fully employed and then expect him to do it. A reason¬ 
able man will be modest in his demands for " privileges.” 
Experience alone will teach an employer what is fair to 
the man and also what is a fair season’s work. 4. If the pas¬ 
tures and meadows are clean and level enough to plow, we 
should sow grain and seed to grass, using plenty of high- 
grade fertilizer—if stable manure is not available. The 
grain may be cut before ripening for hay or matured for 
grain and straw. The surest way to get such land Into 
permanent grass will be to grow corn on the sod, and fol¬ 
low with potatoes, using 1,000 pounds or more of fertilizer 
per acre and then seed to wheat or rye with grass. 
Fruit Queries. 
C. F. J., Adrian, Mich.—l. Will It do to crack peach 
pits and remove the meat, say one month before planting? 
2. Wnere can I obtain Japan pear seedlings? 3. Where 
can I find Excelsior Peach trees from a reliable party ? 
Ans. —1. No, the seeds would become too dry and their 
germinatlve power would be impaired or destroyed. 2. 
Probably of The Storrs Harrison Co., of Painesville, O. 
A good way would be to obtain the fruit (Mikado, Keiffer 
etc.) and plant the Beeds. 3. Of Hale Bros. South Glaston¬ 
bury, Conn. 
Tumor on Point of Shoulder of Mare. 
0. F. R., ( no address.) —From wearing too large a collar 
my mare got afflicted with a sore on the shoulder, and 
owing to continued rubbing it became from a quarter to a 
half inch thick under the skin. What can be done for 
her ? 
Ans.— Remove the pressure from the tumor by cutting 
out or padding the collar. Paint twice a week with the 
compound tincture of iodine. If this fail to reduce or 
cause absorption of the tumor, it had best be cut out. 
Make a vertical incision over the center of the tumor, 
and carefully dissect out the lump. Then stitch the skin 
of the upper two thirds of the opening together, and treat 
as an ordinary wound. 
Experience With Manettla Vines. 
J. L. M., Wintersville, Ind. —I sent J. L. Childs 50 cents 
for one Manettia Vine, one Spider Lily, one catalogue. 
All were forwarded promptly. The catalogue was filled 
with wonderful things. The Spider Lily sent up half 
a dozen leaves but no sign of a flower stem. The Manettla 
Vine was very slow in getting a start, but once started it 
proved a rampant grower. It sent up two vines and each 
attained a length of seven or eight feet when they were 
pinched back about one half. It immediately sent out 
side branches which have continued to grow during the 
season, but there has been no flower nor is there any pros¬ 
pect of one, and the • 1 ad ” said it would begin blooming 
at once and would be a perfect mass of flowers indefinitely. 
I have not seen any other Manettla Vine, for there are none 
near here that I know of, but I hear from reliable sources 
of vines that have bloomed all summer and it is said they 
do not look like mine. I Inclose a slip of my Manettia and 
will be glad if The Rural will Inform me if it is the real 
article, and if so, what is the probable cause of its not 
blooming ? 
Ans.— Yes, this seems to be the true Manettia bicolor. 
The plants often begin to bloom when six Inches high or 
even less and continue to bloom incessantly. Possibly the 
soil is too rich. 
Knuckle Fetlock Joint In a Horse. 
J. E. D., New London, Conn —I have a horse that had 
an ulcer in his foot, which caused him to stand on his toe 
so much that his ankle joint is knockled over so that his 
heel bears lightly on the ground; the ulcer Is nearly 
healed. What should be done for him ? 
Ans. —The joint and back tendons will probably return 
to their normal condition after the horse is put to work 
again. At first, apply a shoe raised at the heels and pro¬ 
jecting well forward, and gradually return to the natural 
shoe, as the heels come down. Bathing the joint and back 
tendons once or twice daily with soap liniment may prove 
beneficial. 
Keeping Onions In the Row. 
J. L. S., Quincy, 111.— I have a patch of Mammoth Silver 
King Onions, grown from seed, which I was unable to 
gather at the proper time on account of the wet weather, 
and they have made a second growth. Can I preserve 
them through the winter by putting fresh horse manure 
between the rows ? 
Ans.—W e doubt it. Good, sound onions are sometimes 
planted in the fall and mulched through the winter, but 
as these have already made a second growth, they would 
probably be worthless. The experiment might be tried on 
a small plot of them, however. 
Corns ; Farm Horses Without Shoes. 
T. H. J., Charles River Village, Mass. —My five-year-old 
horse is troubled with a corn on his left foot. The black¬ 
smiths in this region can do him no good and one is now 
working on the no-cure, no-pay system. I think the smiths 
pare his feet down too much and thus make the sole ten¬ 
der, and the frog does not touch the ground. It is not a 
bad case, but is liable to get worse if not cured. He is 
more lame when he steps on sandy soil than on hard 
ground. I think of taking off his shoes and not putting 
them on for six months or more. Are there any farmers 
who do not shoe their horses at all, and with what results ? 
Ans.—I f it is a simple corn, relieving the pressure and 
keeping the hoof moist should effect a cure. In preparing 
the foot do not cut away the bar between the wall and 
frog so as to weaken the heels. Simply relieve the pressure 
from over the corn. In a healthy foot the frog should 
come to the ground, and should not be cut by the black¬ 
smith. If the horse shows more lameness on soft than on 
hard ground, the lameness Is probably not due to the corn, 
but to some trouble in the upper part of the limb. Farm 
horses that are used but little on the road and especially 
in sections where the soil is sandy or soft, are commonly 
worked without shoes or with the fore feet only shod, and 
with good results. Shoes are necessary for some kinds of 
heavy hauling, on hard roads or pavements, and wherever 
the wear of the hoof exceeds the growth ; but where the 
wear is less or only equal to the growth, the horse can, ex¬ 
cept for special purposes, be used perfectly well without 
being shod. Whenever the growth exceeds the wear the 
hoof should be rasped down occasionally to prevent over¬ 
growth. Many more farm horses might with profit be 
used unshod, thus not only saving the time and expense of 
shoeing, but preserving the feet in better condition. 
[dr.] f. l. KILBORNE. 
Mare out of Condition. 
W. H., Watertown, N. Y. —My six-year-old mare rubs 
her tail badly and sweats easily, and her legs swell while 
she stands in the barn between drives at intervals of a day 
or two. It is hard to keep her clean and her coat is rough. 
Her urine is sometimes milky. She is lively, however, and 
seems in good health. Her feed consists of cats and hay. 
What should be done for her ? 
Ans.— Give six drams of aloes with one ounce of ginger, 
either in a ball or as a drench in one pint of water, to open 
the bowels, Prepare the mare for the physic oy feeding 
her on bran mashes or other sloppy food for 12 hours be¬ 
fore giving the aloes, and continue the same diet for 24 
hours after giving the medicine. In 36 hours, or before if 
the bowels are freely moved, give two ounces of oil of tur¬ 
pentine well shaken up in one pint of raw linseed oil. The 
oils should be given two or three hours before feeding and 
after a fast of at least 13 hours. Repeat this course of 
treatment in six or eight days, giving eight drams of aloes, 
if not purged by the first dose. After the aoove treatment 
give two tablespoonfuls of the following powders on the 
feed twice d illy : Sulphate of soda one pound; bicarbonate 
of soda, eight ounces; powdered nux vomica and nitrate 
of potash, each four ounces. Mix. Feeding ground flax 
seed would improve the condition and coat of the mare. 
[DR.] F. L KILBORNE. 
Inflammation of Feet In Cows. 
J. B„ Madalln, N. Y. —A singular disease has attacked 
my cattle. It generally begins with swelling and inflam¬ 
mation of the hind feet, seldom attacking the front ones, 
just above the hoof, and oft an it extends to the ankle 
joint. Sometimes the skin breaks where it joins the hoof 
or a little above, and a thin matter exudes. The sores are 
often so painful that the animal lies down, and can hardly 
be induced to rise either to eat or drink. After the sores 
have discharged about a week or more, the inflammation 
slowly subsides, and the sores gradually dry and heal. 
About half the cows have successively passed through the 
same affection. All have run to pasture, being stabled at 
night for milking and feedlug. Is the disease contagious ? 
What are the causes and a remedy ? 
Ans.— If there is any general fever accompanying the 
attack, give one pound of Epsom salts with an ounce of 
ginger, as a drench, in tepid water. Follow with 25-drop 
doses of tincture of aconite and one-half ounce of nitrate of 
potash two or three times daily. During the attack the 
diet should be a light one of a laxative nature. Bathe the 
sores and swollen feet with a weak solution of sugar of 
lead—one ounce of the sugar of lead dissolved in two 
quarts of water. Then to the open sores apply a dressing 
of pine tar. The outbreak is probably due to some local 
condition and is not contagious. 
A Hollow-hearted Potato. 
F. W. L., Falmouth, Mass.—la the Rural Blush Potato 
as grown at the Rural Grounds hard hearted? On noticing 
one of my neighbors digging a patch which he told me 
were not merchantable on account of being hollow and 
hard hearted, I was led to look at a few bushels I had in 
my cellar. About, say one in five or six of the largest and 
finest looking had hollows from the size of a bean to that 
of a walnut in the center. The Rural New-Yorker No. 2 
are fine and so are the Rose and White Elephant grown 
on the same land. Is it characteristic of the Blush to be 
so hollow-hearted ? 
Ans.—T he Rural Blush is disposed, so to speak, to 
“hollow-heartedness” and we would advise planters to re¬ 
ject all imperfect potatoes for seed. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
The New Farmer's School.— Several Subscribers.—The 
plan for an educational association similar to the Chau¬ 
tauqua Course, mentioned on page 664, is not yet completely 
in working order, but will probably be soon. It is intended 
to be a summer school for Pennsylvania much as Cnau- 
tauqua is for New York. When arrangements are com¬ 
pleted and officers are elected we shall give particulars for 
the benefit of our readers. 
Excelsior Peach Trees.— W. S., Yeddo, Michigan.—These 
trees can be purchased of Hale Bros., South Glastonbury, 
Conn. 
Late Orapes.— A. W. P., Coulterville, Ill.—The Jeffer¬ 
son is a magnificent late grape—so is the Centennial. Ver- 
gennes, Rochester, Barry, Pocklington and Victoria are 
also rather late. 
Kerosene Sprayer.— W. N. H., South Easton, Mass.— 
For killing the ilce in chicken houses we use the Wood- 
ason bellows, made by Thomas Woodason, Philadel¬ 
phia. This device works admirably. 
