866 
DEC 12 
A Potato Talk. 
S. H. F., Kutztown, PA.—I planted a 
considerable assortment of the leading va¬ 
rieties of potatoes, and have tested all of 
them side by side in the same field. It was 
cultivated alike all over; manured but 
lightly, and a h* avy clover sod was turned 
down in spring. The Rural No. 2 did re¬ 
markably well; Mammoth Pearl, Blue Vic¬ 
tor and Beauty of Hebron all yielded to my 
entire satisfaction. Mammoth Pearl and 
Blue Victor rotted more than any other 
variety I had planted. I found that some 
potatoes are more liable than others to rot 
and to be attacked by bugs. I procured a 
bushel of new yellow fleshed potatoes, which 
originated along the Blue Mountains, in 
this State, and planted single eyes, almost 
every one of which sprouted, and to my as¬ 
tonishment the cron was almost entirely 
free from bugs, blight and rot. The 
variety is a very rank grower. The stalks 
are stiff and stout, somewhat resembling 
those of the Rural No. 2. The color and 
flower are the same. I took up about as 
many of these yellow-fleshed potatoes as I 
did of any other variety I have, and when 
they were put in the cellar I had more sal¬ 
able potatoes of this kind than of any other 
in proportion to the amount of seed I had 
planted. A heavy clover sod, turned down 
in the fall or sometimes in spring, (accord¬ 
ing to the wetness or dryness of the season) 
and constant cultivation during the sum¬ 
mer are some of the necessary helps in po¬ 
tato cultivation. For seed I pick out large, 
round, smooth, scanless tubers with shal¬ 
low eyes. Scripture says : “ Whatsoever 
a man soweth that also shall he reap.” 
This holds good with most kinds of grain, 
and still more with potatoes, if we substi¬ 
tute harvest for “reap.” I cut the tubers 
to one, two and sometimes three eyes, and 
get very few small ones The seed end I 
throw away. Bestow good care and good 
cultivation on your potato p itch, and the 
crop will not go back on you. 
“ Hollow Horn ” Is Hollow Stomach. 
H M. Engle. Lancasteb Coutny, Pa. 
—It is amusing how earnestly this subject 
is occasionally discussed In our agricultural 
papers, and how anxious to find a cure are 
those who have cows that are attacked with 
this “disease.” At a meeting of our county 
agricultural society the subject of hollow 
horn was warmly discussed. I suggested a 
remedy, viz., feed the cow a well balanced 
ration, give her all she will eat, and once in 
a while a little more; take what she doesn’t 
eat and rub it over her back. Some time 
afterward a neighbor congratulated me 
upon the success of this remedy. He said 
he had given it a thorough trial, and it had 
effected a cure. I had simply thrown out 
the suggestion as a joke; but believed then, 
as I do now, that hollow horn is, in nine 
cases out of ten, simply an indication of 
hollow stomacp. Cows fed proper rations 
in proper quantity will seldom if ever be 
afflicted with this “ailment.” I would, 
however, not pretend to say that my rem¬ 
edy would always be effective in case of 
oovrstoo far gone wltn the disease of which 
“ hollow horn ” is an indication. I do not 
give out this remedy from experience, but 
irom observation, since I do not remember 
that a case of the kind has occurred among 
my cattle during my 50 years’ farming. My 
greatest loss of cows has been from parturi¬ 
ent, or milk fever. In such cases my rem¬ 
edy is to reduce the rations gradually a 
few weeks before calving and to feed light 
food for several days after parturition. 
My theory, in short, is that the poor feeder 
will have trouble with hollow horn and 
wolf in-the tail, while the high feeder will 
run the risk of milk fever. 
R. N.-Y.—“ Hollow-horn” and “ wolf-in - 
the-tail” are both regarded as imaginary 
diseases by veterinarians. Early in life a 
cavity begins to form in cattle in the bone 
of the skull beneath the horn which it pen¬ 
etrates, continuing to enlarge during the 
life of the animal. In old cows the horn 
oonsists of a thin shell of bone with a large 
cavity inside divided perhaps by thin bony 
partitions and lined with a delicate sensi¬ 
tive mucous membrane. The symptoms 
usually assigned to “ hollow-horn” or 
“ horn-ail ” are in reality signs of some 
disease In other p arts of the system, and on 
the removal of this the “hollow-horn ” will 
disappear. According to Dr. Law, how¬ 
ever, real “ horn-ail” does exist, but is of 
very rare occurrence. Matter collects in¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
side the horn and even in the forehead in 
larger quantity than can readily be dis¬ 
charged through the no3trll?. It may be 
recognized by discharge f-rom the nose of 
white or yellowish matter and sometimes 
pure blood; by heat and tenderness at the 
root of the horns and in the forehead; by 
hanging head and partly closed eye?, as well 
as great dullness and listlessness, and by the 
absence of sound when the forehead is 
tapped with the tip of the middle finger. 
Boring the horn, however, must not be re¬ 
sorted to as a remedy. The treatment 
should be absolute rest, a dose of opening 
medicine, a more stimulating semi liquid 
diet, the application of cold water or even 
hot fomentations steadily maintained, to 
the forehead, and steaming the nostrils by 
hot water vapor. Wolf-in-the-tall is another 
“ imaginary disease,” usually coexistent 
with “ hollow-horn.” 
Are the “Rain Makers” Humbugs? 
B F. Johnson, Champaign, County, III. 
—Just now the rain makers are being sub¬ 
jected to the ridicule and forced wit with 
which every new discovery and discoverer 
has been assailed since, if not before, the 
dawn of civilization. If the candid and at 
the same time intelligent observer will con¬ 
sider a few simple facts, the difficulty of 
drawing rain from the clouds of the atmos¬ 
phere will not seem altogether insuperable. 
It is well known that under certain condi¬ 
tions there are two currents in the atmos¬ 
phere over our heads : the lower one a warm 
current, more or less moist, moving from 
south to north, while an upper and cool 
current is going in the opposite direction, 
or from north to south. Now, it is plain 
that if the warm current could be forced 
upward into the cool current the result 
would be precipitation of the vapor in the 
warm current, and consequently rain. 
These facts account for the rain that is apt 
to follow heavy cannonading, and explain 
both the success and failure of the dyna¬ 
miting experiments in Texas. If there are 
two opposite currents to be blended, rain 
follows; if there is but one, the concussion 
of the air displaces it without precipitation 
following, for there is no lowering of the 
temperature that must precede condensa¬ 
tion. But is the atmosphere where the 
clouds ride and rule as easily disturbed as 
might be inferred from the above ? Prob¬ 
ably ; for aeronauts tell us that when 2,000 
or 3,000 feet overhead, they hear men talking 
as if only a few rods off, and when guns are 
fired there is a remarkable concussion and 
disturbance of the atmosphere, and the car 
and balloon shake as if going to pieces. 
Further, it is stated that the celebrated 
Eiffel Tower in Paris, reaching Into the air 
less than 1,000 feet, has undoubtedly modi¬ 
fied without moderating the climate of the 
city. It is hard for me to avoid the con¬ 
viction that, sooner or later, choosing the 
appropriate atmospheric state, by cannon¬ 
ading or otherwise we shall be able to draw 
rain from the clouds, if not in large quan¬ 
tities, still enough to disarm drought of its 
severest features. That the atmosphere 
over our heads is more within human con¬ 
trol than commonly thought is in course of 
demonstration every day, and that we shall 
be able to draw rain from it is far less re¬ 
markable than a dozen other victories, 
scientific and mechanical, already achieved 
over land and sea. 
Fences in Ross County, Ohio. 
J. M. J., Rexabell, O.—As yet the old 
Virginia worm fences predominate, and 
very seldom are they repaired with new 
rails. In some cases tho amount of fencing 
is curtailed, making two lines of old rails 
serve as one “new” one. The life of old 
lines is lengthened out by stretching barbed 
wires on them. Old lines are changed to 
straight fences by a number of means. One 
way is to use posts on opposite sides of 
which the ends of the rails are fastened 
with loops of wire held in place by staples. 
Another is to hang the rails under cross 
stakes with wire, bracing the fence with 
rails and pieces of rails. Much of the old 
Virginia worm fence is almost useless, as 
the rails are so old that they are fast dis¬ 
appearing. The straight fences spoken of 
cannot be long-lived, and are but make¬ 
shifts to make use of the old rails while 
they are of any value at all. I call to mind 
at least a dozen kinds of fence and fencing 
used in this township—the Virginia worm 
fence with barbed wire protection; the 
straight rail, all barbed wire; all buck¬ 
thorn; post and plank ; post and flat rails 
mortised in; post, plank and barbed wire 
in several combinations. Barbed wire does 
not give satisfaction; the post and rail and 
post and plank cost too much, when their 
short lives are considered. We are in doubt 
as to the permanent value of the wire and 
picket; the smooth wire we believe prom 
ises well, when properly put up. All this 
trouble and expense from fences tend to 
make people use larger fields and in some 
cases to abandon some branches of stock 
raising. 
The “ Bunch” Sweet Potato. 
C. C. L. D., Dillsburgh, Ala.- I am much 
interested in the letter of W. F. Massey, of 
Wake County, N. C , in The R. N.-Y. of 
November 14. I agree with him that it is 
a great pity that the confused nomencla¬ 
ture of the sweet potato cannot be unrav¬ 
eled and a uniform series of names adopted. 
This may be impossible for the old varie¬ 
ties which have different names in nearly 
every locality, but a new variety with dis¬ 
tinctive characteristics ought to have a 
suitable name that will stick to it where- 
ever it may go. Here Is a description of a 
sweet potato that Is new in this section : It 
is called the Bunch Potato for the reason 
that the vine grows up in bunches stand¬ 
ing quite erect Instead of running over the 
ground as do all other kinds. It is also 
called Vineless for the reason, I suppose, 
that the vines do not run, but as anything 
that has vines cannot properly be called 
vineless, this name is not a good one and 
the first name perhaps might be improved 
on. This variety resembles the Yam very 
much, having the same color, but it is ear¬ 
lier and of better quality. Its highest claim, 
however, is that as the vines do not spread 
over the ground it can be cultivated with a 
plow as easily as corn. The potatoes are 
also inclined to grow in a bunch, but not 
enough, perhaps, to make this a distinct 
characteristic. Will Mr. Massey or some 
one else among The Rural readers give 
this potato an appropriate name ? 
Wood Ashes for Peach Trees Again. 
J. S. Woodward, Niagara County, N. 
Y.—There Is a mighty sight of difference in 
using wood ashes in a peach orchard as a 
fertilizer and as a remedy, or rather preven¬ 
tive of the peach borer. I never objected 
to their use as a fertilizer; in fact, I use all 
I can get as the very thing which the 
peach tree needs. Potash is their chief fer¬ 
tilizing ingredient; but it was to the ad¬ 
vice given to use them to prevent the depo¬ 
sition of the borers’ eggs by piling them 
around the bole of the tree on the ground 
that I objected. I tried to make this plain, 
and on rereading what I said, think I did 
so, and am surprised that S. A. Little seeks 
to dodge the issue, on page 816 of The Rural 
New-Yorker, by trying to make it appear 
as though I was opposed to the use of 
wood ashes in a peach orchard. I should 
not hesitate to apply an unlimited quantity 
broadcast to the soil of a peach orchard; 
but I am dead sure, from my own experi¬ 
ence and observation, that whoever applies 
them in a pile in contact with the bark, will 
find, to his grief, “ that ashes will kill peach 
trees in all localities,” unless perchance 
they are like some Canada ashes I have seen, 
in which there was no more potash than in 
so much good soil, and they would then 
(Continued on next page.) 
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