1891 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
897 
eggs. The hens were fed until late in May, when they 
had milk and little else except what they picked up in 
an unlimited range. Harvest brought them plenty of 
grain for the searching, and their average was better 
than in the spring. It was as follows each month : 
Per day. Per day. 
April. 18 6-11 August.26 10-31 
May.19 13-31 September.21 11-30 
June. 10 7-10 October. 11 3-31 
July. 9 6-31 
My hens began hatching May 7 and continued until 
June 18, and, except in two or three cases, they were 
allowed to run with the chicks as long as they cared 
to do so, which, no doubt, reduced the egg average 
considerably. Besides my small gains in chickens and 
eggs, I have acquired a considerable amount of experi¬ 
ence, which I hope will help me next year. I shall 
kill off my old hens when the harvest egg yield is over, 
which I did not do this year. As a result, I have now 
several hens which are not supplied with winter cloth¬ 
ing. I shall pay more attention to ridding sitting 
hens of vermin, and I hope in that way to raise a bet¬ 
ter percentage of chicks. My hens will have warmer 
quarters this winter, and I hope to be able to get 
chicks hatched earlier. Lastly, I hope to profit by my 
own experience and that of other people, and to show 
a better record another year. s. A. little. 
Seneca Co., N- Y. 
ANSWER 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.] 
Blood and Tankage as a Fertilizer. 
if. O. W., Chreenbu8h, N. Y .—I am getting the tank¬ 
age and blood from a large hog-slaughtering house. 
What will be the best way for me to use the stuff on a 
shale and clay soil ? 
Ans. —Are the blood and tankage mixed or separated ? 
I f the blood can be obtained alone it can be handled to 
greater advantage. Dry it under cover and mix it 
with plaster. It will give the best results when used 
on such crops as sweet corn, melons, peas or other 
vigorous and quick-growing crops. If the blood and 
tankage are mixed, as is probably the case, two 
methods of handling them are open to you. They may 
be thoroughly mixed with the manure, pains being 
taken to keep them covered; then the whole pile 
should be well worked over. On the average farm this 
will probably be the best way to use them. If well 
worked over and mixed, they will add to the worth of 
the manure without losing any of their own value. 
They might also be hauled directly to the field and 
plowed in in the spring for corn, but we do not believe 
this would answer as well as the manure pile; or they may 
be used by themselves. In this case they must be dried 
and put under cover. For drying and preserving three 
substances are excellent—plaster, charcoal or dry dirt. 
Plaster is the best. Sometimes charcoal from old pits 
is available. The dry dirt will answer if thoroughly 
mixed and spread over the tankage. Tankage thus 
dried and mixed with plaster may be ground and 
mixed with potash salts to form a complete fertilizer, 
if that is desired. The tankage contains nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid, but no potash. Many Connecticut 
farmers use tankage as the basis of home-mixed fer¬ 
tilizers. Here are two sample mixtures : 
For corn. For potatoes. 
500 pounds tankage. 200 pounds muriate of potash. 
500 
‘ ground bone. 
300 
4 sulphate of potash. 
500 
‘ dissolved bone black. 
750 
4 tankage. 
250 
1 muriate potash. 
350 
4 nitrate of soda. 
250 
4 sulphate ammonia. 
500 
4 dissolved bone black. 
These mixtures were made up after a long series of 
experiments to learn what the soil of these farms 
needed. They were special mixtures for these special 
farms. Unless one is ready to conduct similar careful 
experiments, we should consider it safer to use the 
tankage on the manure pile. 
Were the Cows Milked too Long-? 
A. A. M., Luther, Mich .—During the summer and 
winter of 1889 we milked three cows of average age, 
good form and fair grade. One of them was dry about 
three months before calving ; one of the others was 
milked to within two weeks and the other continually 
up to calving, the last week only occasionally, as the 
udder became full enough to prevent inflammation. 
They all came in during the first week of April. Dur¬ 
ing the winter they were fed as nearly alike as possi¬ 
ble on the following rations : first feed in the morning, 
cut cornstalks wet with warm water and mixed with 
bran or mill feed (corn and oats) and slightly salted 
only enough so that all was entirely consumed, fol¬ 
lowed by a feed of carrots ; at noon, cut roots, and at 
night cut stalks as in the morning, and a large mess of 
boiled rutabagas and cut feed mixed with them while 
boiling. They were kept fat enough for the butcher 
all winter, and were healthy and came in without 
trouble. Their calves were fine, large, healthy and 
strong. During the next summer the cow that was 
dry three months or more gave as large a quantity of 
milk as during the previous summer, and of as good 
quality ; the other two did not yield over two-thirds of 
the previous summer’s flow and were not as good but¬ 
ter makers as formerly. Two of them were sold, and 
I am following the same system of feeding with the 
one I still own which is due to calve May 1. Does 
continuous milking up to or near the period of calving 
influence the productiveness of the mother during the 
following milking season ? 
Ans. —We believe it does, though many good dairy¬ 
men believe otherwise. We are certain that our own 
cows have always worked harder and paid better when 
allowed a vacation of at least six weeks. We have had 
Jersey cows that could not be completely dried off 
unless they were nearly starved so that the calf suf¬ 
fered. Such cows are not common, and we prefer those 
that will go dry at least six weeks, as we believe that 
both calf and cow will be better for the rest. The 
ration seems too soft and sloppy. We should prefer one 
feed of dry hay or stalks. You are also liable to feed 
too much salt when giving it at every meal. 
“Reducing:” Bones. 
O. W. R., Wellsburg, W. Va. —Information as to how 
to dissolve bones for a fertilizer or use them in some 
other way than ground will be interesting and useful 
to me and probably to many other subscribers ? 
Ans. —No doubt of it, and to the fertilizer men too. 
“ Reducing ” bones is the most difficult operation in 
the fertilizer trade. They can be “ reduced ” by pour¬ 
ing sulphuric acid over them, but this is a dangerous 
operation for an amateur to try. Sulphuric acid is 
dangerous stuff to handle. We know a man who 
nearly lost the use of his eyes by handling the small 
amount required in the Babcock milk test. Bones 
packed in ashes or potash and the whole kept moist 
with urine or water will, in time, be softened so that 
they will break up quite easily, but this is very slow 
work. The bones may be burned in piles of waste 
wood. This leaves bone ash—a good source of potash 
and phosphoric acid, but with no nitrogen. Bones 
broken with a sledge and packed in horse manure 
will be slightly softened and made somewhat easier to 
crush. 
Hen House Floors. 
H. S. W., Little Utica, N. Y .— In building a “ model ” 
hen house on a high gravelly place, naturally well 
drained, what kind of floor would be best ? The 
kinds thought of were grout and the bare ground. 
Ans. —We should use the grout by all means. It 
will be easier to clean out, less liable to become damp 
and sticky, and better for keeping out rats and other 
vermin. It is also better for feeding whole grain. 
Keep it well covered with chopped hay or straw, 
which should be frequently changed. If the floor is 
of grout of course extra preparations must be made 
for supplying large dust boxes, to be filled with coal 
ashes or road dust. 
A New Radish Insect ? 
H. C., McLane, Pa .— While gathering some radish 
seed this summer, I noticed one head with a hole in it 
about the size of a pin. On opening it, I found the 
inside entirely eaten out. I noticed only one head, 
although there might have been more. Are seedsmen 
troubled with an insect pest that makes such trouble 
with their radishes ? 
Ans. —I know of no insect that has troubled the rad¬ 
ish seed. The parsnip seed moth destroys the seed of 
that plant, but not in the way mentioned. If H. C. 
will watch next year, and in case he finds any seeds 
infested, will send them to me, at the Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, Mich., I will be glad to identify the insect, and, 
if it is new, to describe it. [pbof.] a. j. cook. 
Too Much Poultry Powder. 
T. O. S., Quarry Qlen, Pa .— What ails my hens? They 
seem to have St. Vitus’s dance or spinal meningitis. 
Their heads are almost continuously in motion, or 
drawn to one side. The sight seems to be defective 
too. They are hungry but cannot see the food unless 
in large quantities, and some of them cannot get their 
heads down to the feed. They walk like a drunken 
man. There is a running stream of water in the yard 
which is washed clean with every hard rain. This 
spring I had the houses, nests and everything connected 
with them whitewashed with strong lime in which 
was some carbolic acid. Still they keep ailing. I have 
also* fed them several of the egg foods and poultry 
powders. 
Ans. —The symptoms show that there is pressure on 
the brain, the birds being probably fat, but the mistake 
has no doubt been made of feeding some “ poultry 
powder ” containing sulphur, which is harmless when 
properly administered occasionally, and during clear, 
dry weather, but which conduces to “ twisted necks,” 
rheumatism, etc., when fed constantly, the effects be¬ 
ing more apparent during damp weather, or when the 
birds are exposed to currents of air on the roost. 
Clover Hay as an Exclusive Food for Ewes. 
II. & II., Cross Roads, Va. —What quantity of good 
clover hay will an average sized Merino ewe eat per 
day, when she is in fair condition, and gets no grain? 
Ans.— There is a difference between what she will 
eat and what she needs to sustain life. Some sheep 
will eat more than they have any use for. Sheep eat 
relatively more than cows—that is, sheep weighing 1,000 
pounds would eat more food than a single milch cow of 
the same weight. To keep a number of sheep weighing 
1,000 pounds in fair condition—not ewes with lamb— 
would require food enough each day to contain 1 % 
pound of protein and 12 pounds of carbohydrates and 
fats. This would be provided in 45 pounds of good 
clover hay. We do not believe that 40 per cent of 
the clover hay cut in the country can be classed as 
“good.” Recent German experiments show an aver¬ 
age loss of over 35 per cent of fat and 20 per cent of 
protein when clover hay was left out too long. It it 
therefore impossible to say how much “good clover 
hay ” is needed for such feeding. 
Cut Straw with Ensilage. 
E. J. D., Sullivan County, N. Y .— I have just opened 
my silo. About five inches of the top were moulded ; 
the rest is nice and sweet. The cows like it and eat it 
all up. Would it be advisable to feed oat straw with it ? 
Ans. —This would be a first-rate plan if the oat straw 
be cut and mixed with the ensilage. The cows will eat 
the straw cleaner than they otherwise would, and the 
feed as a whole will be drier and better for them. VVe 
doubt if there is any better way to use up good, bright 
straw than this. The ensilage gives it a “ good taste,” 
and the whole thing being chopped up fine, makes a 
handy mouthful for a cow. If the grain is sprinkled 
over it, so much the better. 
Miscellaneous. 
Cow Peas For Foraye. —II. P. D., Warwick, N. Y.— 
Some 12 years ago The R. N.-Y. tried many kinds of 
so-called cow-peas. Among the varieties tried several 
ripened seeds with time to spare. Those, however, 
which ripened seeds were not the strongest growers. 
Many of the vines from one seed covered an area of 
from 30 to 40 square feet. As may readily be seen, it is 
not easy to cure and harvest such a growth. Cow-pea 
vines are valued in many parts of the South as fodder, 
but our animals did not care for them. In good soil the 
peas may be planted in hills or drills. If the latter, 
plant a foot or so apart, and thin out at the first 
hoeing. 
Japanese Quince Propagation. —H. J. S., Niagara 
Falls, N. Y.—This shrub is propagated by root cuttings. 
Make them in the fall or spring-. Plant them in well 
prepared soil much the same as if they were currant 
cuttings. Cover them with a mulch two to four inches 
deep until growing weather. Or the propagation may 
be carried on in frames. Cuttings of the half ripened 
wood will strike if planted in mellow soil and properly 
attended to as to watering, etc. The Nursery Book 
by Prof. L. II. Bailey, price $1. Rural Publishing Com¬ 
pany, gives full particulars of all such matters. 
Cloves'fos' Butter .— J. II., Onondaga County, N. Y. — 
In spite of the fact that members of your Farmers’ 
Club “ stated that it was impossible to make first-class 
butter from clover hay or clover pasture,” we believe 
that there is no better food in the world for the pro¬ 
duction of good butter than clover hay and corn meal. 
The corn meal may not be the cheapest food, but there 
is none better. Good, well-cured clover hay has no 
superior for dry forage for cows—we can’t help what 
the Farmers’ Club says. 
Apple Pinnace ftyr Manure.. —E. G., Coxsackie, N. Y. 
—Ordinary pomace has but little value as a fertilizer. 
A ton would contain but 10 pounds of ash of which 
about four would be potash. There would be less than 
two pounds of nitrogen and nearly 1,500 pounds of 
water. It might be useful in a compost and has some 
value for feeding, but for manuring is hardly worth 
one-fifth as much as ordinary stable manure. 
S'trrayintj Bellows. —E. M. D., Boonton, N. J.—The 
Woodason bellows, price §1.25, will answer for spraying 
a hen house 12 x 24 feet. We doubt if a “small person” 
could spray a ceiling eight feet high with it. 
Broadcasted Fertilizers. —W. G. M., Port Clinton, 
Ohio.—Yes, “ fertilizers sown broadcast when sowing 
grain will give as good results as when drilled in with 
grain” and better in The R. N.-Y.’s opinion. Fertil¬ 
izer in the drill, as we have shown by experiments, 
really retards early germination while it does not give 
the food to the grain in its later period of growth that 
broad casting does. We should prefer cutting for 
fence posts just after the fall of the leaf. 
