1893 
285 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
nomycosis, although a positive diagnosis cannot he 
given from the description. The swelling or enlarge¬ 
ment might he due to the presence of some sharp- 
pointed foreign body, which has penetrated the throat, 
or to tuberculous deposits. Try the iodide of potas¬ 
sium treatment for actinomycosis, as described in a 
bulletin recently issued by the Bureau of Animal In¬ 
dustry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Give 
the cow one and one-half dram of the iodide of potas¬ 
sium, dissolved in one pint of water, once daily, as a 
drench before feeding, for five or6ix days. Then omit 
the medicine for two or three days, after which repeat 
as before. A convenient method is to procure one ounce 
of the iodide for each period, make into five powders, 
and give one powder daily. If any improvement is 
noticed after the second course, the treatment should 
be continued until recovered. Should there be no 
improvement after giving two or three courses, it is 
probably not actinomycosis. Green food or a bran 
mash should be given daily to prevent the bowels be¬ 
coming costive. Should the feces become too dry and 
hard, give a dose of Glauber salts, one pound dissolved 
in one to two quarts of water. dr. f. l. kii.borne. 
Chronic Abortion in Mare. 
B. B. M., Springwater. —A mare aborts three times 
out of four ; what ails her and what is the remedy ? 
What effect will it have to let her go one year without 
service ? 
Ans. —The mare is now a chronic aborter. The first 
abortion was probably due to some special cause, 
such as injury, disease of foetus or dam, or unfavorable 
conditions or surroundings ; but the subsequent abor¬ 
tions were most likely due to the predisposition to 
abort which is so frequently acquired by breeding ani¬ 
mals when they h ave once aborted from any cause what, 
ever. If allowed to go over one year without service, she 
might overcome or outgrow this predisposition. That 
is the most satisfactory course to pursue in such 
cases. Then when bred again, she should be kept in 
moderate flesh, not too fat, and all conditions avoided, 
as far as possible, which would tend to cause a recur¬ 
rence of the trouble. F« L. kilbobne. 
Shipping Milk By Rail. 
A. S., Shamokin, Pa.—1. Can sweet milk be shipped 
in hot weather in 20, 30 and 40-quart cans, 40 miles by 
rail in condition to be sold to the trade the following 
morning? 2. If preservatives are used, what is the 
best ? 3. Which train is the better to ship on—8:45 
A. m. arriving 11 A. m., or 4:12 r m. arriving 7 p. m.? 
4. What fixtures are necessary for a room in which 
to store and sell ? 
Ans —1. Yes ; milk is shipped to the New York 
market for 300 miles and arrives in excellent order. 
A very small proportion of the 5,000 cans used daily 
here comes from less than 50 miles distant. To be 
thus shipped, the milk must be promptly aerated and 
cooled, and if sent in iced cans, so much the better. 
2. Never use any preservatives under any circum¬ 
stances. Milk is liable to seizure as being adulterated 
in this State if any of these preservatives are used, 
and justly so. There can be no excuse for using 
them. 3. If iced cars are used it makes no difference. 
If not, the train running in the coolest part of the 
day would be preferable. 4. A large tank in which 
cans of milk can be set and surrounded with ice or ice 
water, or any other means of keeping the milk at a 
low temperature. It stould be retailed from the cans 
and always dipped and stirred constantly. 
To Feed or Plow Clover. 
B F. S., Coalport, Pa ,—My farm is poor; what is the 
best way to bring it up—to sow clover and plow it 
down, or to keep cows and cut the hay off of it and 
put the manure on it ? 
Ans. —We do not know ; there are too many condi¬ 
tions that enter into the problem to make any off-hand 
answer valuable. Poor land cannot be made good 
without adding fertility in some form. Is the soil 
good enough to grow clover without manure or fer¬ 
tilizers ? What crops do you want to grow after you 
bring the land up ? When you plow in a crop of clover, 
you put the value of that crop in the soil for the benefit 
of some succeeding crop? What is that to be? In other 
words, what is your money crop on which you would 
use manure ? Is it wheat, potatoes, corn, or what ? 
As to which is cheaper, clover plowed down or cured 
into hay and fed to stock, that depends upon the farm 
and the stock. Dogs might be pastured on clover and 
the sod plowed after they have been taken off for fat¬ 
tening on corn. In this case, the feeding value of the 
clover would be obtained at the least cost, and hogs 
promise to be profitable for several years at least. To 
cut, cure and feed grass to stock seems like the funda¬ 
mental principle of farming. It is when the meat, 
milk or butter produced from the hay come to more 
than the cost of cutting, curing and feeding it. The 
manure resulting from feeding the hay is worth no 
more than the entire crop plowed under would have 
been. Nobody can say wherein hay is made richer in 
manurial elements by passing through an animal, and 
twice as much fertility will be washed out of the barn¬ 
yard as is washed out of a sod. Is not barn manure 
richer than a sod ? Yes, if grain was fed with the 
hay, and, by using chemicals on the field with the 
clover, you can get just as good manure as you can find 
in the barnyard. Clover hay alone in the barn will not 
make cows pay, and neither will clover sod alone in 
the field make crops pay forever. It will for a time on 
good soil very carefully tilled, but sooner or later it 
will need help. That help must come in the form of 
manure made from grain, fed on the farm or from 
fertilizers. Do your cows pay a profit on the cost of 
getting hay into their mangers ? If they do not, it is 
cheaper to let the clover rot down in the field where 
it grew, and spend the money you would have spent 
buying grain for chemicals to go with the clover. 
Either this, or let hogs eat the clover on the ground. 
That is all the difference there is between live stock 
farming and chemicals and clover farming. Many 
farmers will not believe that they are feeding stock at 
a loss if a fair valuation is put on their own time. Just 
figure on it and see. 
Lime Loves A Superphosphate. 
T. H. S., Dunbar, Pa .—What fertilizer can be used 
safely for best results on freshly limed land for cab¬ 
bage, potatoes, sweet corn and other garden crops on 
a soil mostly light and sandy or gravelly. I have 
some high-grade complete fertilizer, and besides this, 
South Carolina dissolved rock, sulphate of potash and 
nitrate of soda, and can also obtain the necessary 
ingredients in some other form if these are not suit¬ 
able. I have also quite a large quantity of good hen 
manure mixed with one-third of its bulk of plaster. 
Ans.—A s it is not desirable to use superphosphate 
on newly limed land, because of the effect of the lime 
on the fertilizer in making the phosphoric acid 
insoluble by reverting it to mono-phosphate by com¬ 
bination of the lime with the soluble phosphoric acid, 
it will be best to use raw bone or superphosphate 
made from it, and add to it the potash and nitrate of 
soda, which will not be affected by the lime. The hen 
manure may be used instead of the nitrate of soda, or 
may be added to the whole of the others to increase 
the quantity. On account of the action of the lime 
above mentioned, it is always judicious to use it at 
some time when it will not be immediately followed 
by superphosphate. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
N. H., Goshen, Pa .—The R. N.-Y. flint corn is one of 
tt e best varieties we know of for ensilage or fodder. 
It grows to a great height and suckers so as to give a 
great proportion of leaf. 
Soft Soap as Fertilizer.— J. O. B., Quaker, Mich.— 
This would be a very expensive fertilizer for potatoes. 
It contains but a little potash and would retard rather 
than increase the growth. 
S., Hollidaysburg, Pa.—Of all the many plans for 
exterminating Canada thistles, we know of none bet¬ 
ter than plowing the plants under in hot weather and 
then cultivating as they show life. 
F. E., Moscow , W. Va .—For a peach orchard we 
should use 200 pounds of muriate of potash or 800 
pounds of kainit per acre. The rule for bone is about 
three times the quantity of muriate. 
Early Potato. —T. R. B., Horseheads, N. Y.—For an 
early potato to plant on light soil the Early Sunrise 
yields with us better than either Rose or Hebron. As 
between Hebron and Rose we prefer the former. 
The Trench System.— W. C., Hartford, N. Y.—For gar¬ 
den culture a spade is best to make trenches for pota¬ 
toes. In field culture a shovel plow is first rate, or an 
ordinary plow run through twice, turning a furrow 
both ways. 
Manure as a Gift.— J. R., Burr Oak, Iowa.—No, it 
will not pay you to buy commercial fertilizers for 
potatoes, garden, or small fruits when you can get all 
the stable manure you need free of cost, and have to 
haul it only half a mile. 
Woods Mold. —J. J. G, Bridgeport, O.—We cannot 
give the value of mold from your woods without a 
sample for analysis. Such stuff varies so that it is 
hard to give an average value. We cannot therefore 
compare it with potato fertilizer. 
Using Nitrate of Soda.—G. S., La Plume, Pa.—Six 
dollars for 100 pounds of nitrate is too much—$2.25 per 
100 pounds is enough. Mix it with three times its 
bulk of soil and sow it at once. Use it only upon 
plants coming into bearing this season. It would be 
money utterly thrown away to use it upon plants 
which do not yield this season. W. Atlee Burpee & 
Co. Philadelphia, Pa., sell cow peas. The legal weight 
of a bushel of potatoes in New York is (50 pounds. 
Com for Canning. —W. T. P., Dresden, Ont.—We 
have not tried the Early Bonanza. The firm named 
is reliable. We would recommend Perry’s Hybrid and 
Stabler for early ; Moore’s Concord for medium and 
Stowell’s Evergreen and Ne Plus Ultra or Country 
Gentleman for late. 
Sweet Peas on Same Qroxind. —L. M. N., Maine.—■ 
We think sweet peas maybe successfully grown in the 
same soil year after year if enough plant food be 
given them. The seeds should be sown early. This 
is of the first importance and the flowers should be 
cut off before they form seeds. 
The Crandall Currant. —J. C., Rochester, N. Y.— 
Many different varieties of this black currant have 
been sold as Crandall—most of them inferior or 
worthless. Frank Ford & Sons, Ravenna, Ohio, are 
headquarters for the genuine variety which is very 
productive and the currants are large. 
A Rapid Growing Hedge. —J. K., Long Island.—The 
White pine would be our choice. This by judicious 
cutting back may be made to grow into an elegant 
hedge. If a low hedge is desired, hemlock or arbor- 
vitoe would answer. Hemlock makes a splendid hedge 
and it will endure shade as well as any other conifer. 
The Honey Locust.— K., Genesee County, N Y.— 
James M. Thorburn & Co., and Peter nenderson & 
Co., of New York offer the seed of this tree (see Gled- 
itschia triacilnthos). The price is 40 cents a pound. 
Sow the seeds early—now, in well prepared soil. They 
will germinate readily. It will make excellent 
fence posts. 
Fertilizers, Bordeaux Mixture. —M. W. Y., West Ley¬ 
den, N. Y.—Potato fertilizers will answer on any soil 
that will grow potatoes. A well-drained clay loam 
may need them as much as a light soil. The idea that 
they will give good results only on light soils is 
nonsense. Wo do not think the Bordeaux Mixture 
will work well unless it is forced through a nozzle by 
a pump. It is probably too thick for a common 
sprinkler without a pump. 
Phlox and Clematis Seed. —I , Lewis Center, Ohio.— 
Perennial phlox seed will germinate readily enough. 
Clematis seed will probably not germinate in less than 
a year—perhaps two years. They require no special 
treatment. Sow them in drills in the open ground 
and keep the soil moderately moist. It is well to cover 
the seed plot with boards or evergreen boughs, water¬ 
ing when needed and removing them only to kill the 
weeds. Of course the seeds will germinate sooner if 
sown in gentle heat. 
A FERTILIZER FARMERS’ FACTS. 
Mr. William H. Walbert of Lanark, Pa., is a fertil¬ 
izer farmer, whose plan of operations is a little dif¬ 
ferent from any we have yet described. 
“I began to use fertilizers about 15 years ago” says 
Mr. Walbert. “Then I bought half a ton of Mapes as 
an experiment. The old farmers said ‘ now we will 
see how soon your land will be worn out.’ ” 
“ Did they see?” 
“ They haven’t yet! They were surprised at the 
first crop of wheat and the grass that followed. I used 
some on potatoes and kept increasing until now I use 
about five tons on my 39 acres—which is all the land 
I have on my farm.” 
“ How are your crops after 15 years of fertilizers ? 
“ I raise more on my 39 acres than my neighbors do 
on 100, and they complain that ‘ farming don’t pay ! ’ 
When people ask me if it will pay to use fertilizers all 
I can say is that I am not fool enough to throw away 
$200 every year. If I didn’t get my money back I 
would never buy another bag.” 
“ What do you raise ? ” 
“ Potatoes are my chief crop. I have a four years’ 
rotation, and sow lots of clover seed. I never sell anv 
hay, but feed it all to six cows and three horses. I 
sell milk to the creamery, the cows paying me more 
for the hay than hay dealers in the city.” 
“ What does your farm produce in cash ?” 
“ In 1891 my 39 acres gave me : 
3,000 bushels of potatoes. % acre of cabbage. 
200 bushels of wheat. 300 bushels of corD. 
140 bushels of rye. 15 tons of hay. 
“My sales, including milk to the creamery and some 
eggs, came to $1,700. Last year I determined to make 
an accurate record of all sales. Here it is : 
TOTAL SALES FOR 1892. 
Potatoes and cabbage 
Milk and calves. 
Wheat.. 
Sundries. 
,$1,229 01 
,. 350.44 
.. 90.45 
.. 173 04 
Total. .. 1,848.94 
“How’s that for a 39-acre farm ? I propose to see if 
I can’t raise as much as D. C. Lewis and other Jersey- 
men.” 
