1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
265 
compost and harrow in, and then use the fertilizer 
scattered over the hill or drill in a space about two 
feet wide to be well worked in with a harrow or culti¬ 
vator. For potatoes, two tons of this compost well 
worked into the soil and 400 pounds of the fertilizer 
used in the drills, will give you more fertility than 
you would get in half a ton of the fertilizer. We 
would prefer to use this compost on corn entirely, 
using as here recommended. It will he perfectly safe 
to use kainit, muriate or other potash salts in the 
compost. 
No Available Potash in Feldspar. 
if, C. M., Rawenna, Fa.---Would finely-ground feld¬ 
spar, containing 200 to 300 pounds of potash per ton, be 
valuable to apply in the crude state for general crops 
that need plenty of potash? Can the latter be sep¬ 
arated cheaply by any process V 
Ans.—T here is no evidence that an application of 
finely-ground feldspar would have any immediate 
effect as a fertilizer. There is no process in use by 
which the pctash of feldspar can be cheaply and 
readily made available. 
Losses in Mixed Fertilizers ; Trimming: Peaches. 
C. H , Selin's Grove, Pa.—l. How soon after nitrate 
of soda, muriate of potash and superphosphate are 
mixed, will they sustain injury if not used ? 2. What 
elements will be lost, and what proportion ? 3, In the 
latitude of New York City, what is the proper time to 
trim bearing peach trees ? Is it better to trim them 
early in the spring or when the blossoms are open ? 
Ans.— 1 and 2. They will keep indefinitely if shel¬ 
tered and dry. The only ways in which this mixture 
could be injared would be in becoming soaked or 
damp or heated to a high temperature. Thoroughly 
dry and cool it will keep for years. 3. As soon after 
freezing weather is over as possible. 
What Burninff Does for Bones. 
D B., Bath, N. T. —What is the difference in a ton 
of bone meal, in which the bone has been burnt with 
wood, and one in which it has been kiln-dried ? 
Ans. —A ton of ordinary bone, reasonably dry, con¬ 
tains about 70 pounds of nitrogen, 640 pounds of lime, 
460 pounds of phosphoric acid, and enough water, 
sand and useless substance to make up the remainder. 
When kiln-dried, the water is driven off, and also a 
small amount of the nitrogen. When the bones are 
burned, the nit'-ogen is all driven away, leaving the 
lime and phosphoric acid in the form of ash. To this 
is added the potash in the wood. Thus the change in 
burning bones is that you lose the nitrogen, and leave 
the phosphoric acid in a less soluble form. 
Who can Sell Separator Skim-milk. 
“ Webb," Albuquerque, N. M. —I have a market for 
all the buttermilk I can produce. Is there any way 
in which separator skim-milk can be utilized for the 
purpose ? 
Ans. —We doubt it—if the separator does its duty. 
If any of our readers have succeeded in making a 
market for separator skim-milk we want to know how 
they did it. 
More About the Value of Urine. 
I. 0. J.,Ada, Mich.—On page 22, The R. N.-Y. touches 
upon a vital question to progressive farmers, that of 
saving the liquid manure. What is the average 
amount of urine passed by a cow when stabled 24 
hours, with water as desired and fed on ensilage and 
hay ? 
Ans. —It is usually stated that a cow of average size 
and under average conditions, should void about 8,000 
pounds of urine in a year. In a recent experiment in 
Denmark, with cows under the average size, the aver¬ 
age amount voided per cow in a herd of 12 was 6,454 
pounds in one year. The quantity per day varied 
greatly, as did the quality, depending on the food and 
the season. The cows mentioned were fed on roots, 
hay and grain. They averaged 133^ pounds of urine 
per day for the seven winter months, and 23 pounds 
for June to October. The most in one day was 32 
pounds and the least 113^ pounds. As before ex¬ 
plained, the urine is the best part of the manure. Not 
only is it richer, pound for pound, than the solids, but 
the fertilizing matter in it is digested or immediately 
available. For example, in one ton each of fresh 
urine and solids from a cow we have : 
POUNDS IN ONK TON. 
Nitrogen. Potash. Phosphoric acid. 
Fresh urine. 11^ 10 
Fresh solids. 6 2 
Bear in mind, these figures are given for the fresh 
manures. The usual analyses for cow manure are 
made from samples somewhat rotted and containing 
a mixture of liquids and solids. You get an idea from 
this statement of what is lost when the liquids are 
permitted to leach into the soil. If you could have your 
bam on wheels and move it about from year to year, 
letting the garden follow it, you might save some of this 
waste. The surest way to save the urine is to pipe it 
into a tight cistern and sprinkle it over quick growing 
crops like young grass, grain, or garden stuff. As 
compared with a well-balanced fertilizer, the urine 
needs potash and phosphoric acid. By the addition of 
kainit or muriate, soluble potash will be supplied and 
the nitrogen will be held in a stronger combination. 
Dissolved bone black can be added to the urine or 
broadcasted on the soil with it. 
“ Cotton-Seed Feed” Agraln. 
W. K. R., Franktown, Va. —I enclose a sample of a 
cow and horse feed the manufacturers are trying to 
introduce here. What is it, and how does it compare 
with corn meal and bran as a milk producer ? Is it 
worth $15 per ton ? 
Ans —This is evidently the ” cotton-seed feed ” re¬ 
ferred to on page 73. Over a year ago, when cotton 
hulls were offered for sale in the North, we wrote to 
half a dozen of the leading chemists of the country and 
asked if farmers outside of the cotton belt could afford 
to pay $10 a ton for hulls. The unanimous opinion was 
” No, not with hay and grain at present prices.” These 
prices are cheaper now ! Mr. Henry Stewart, who is 
now in the South, writes this about this feed : 
“ I insist that purchased feeds are too high. When 
I used the first bag of cotton-seed meal that, I think, 
was ever fed in the North, it cost me $15 a ton. Now 
it is proposed to sell a mixture of five pounds of hulls 
and one pound of the meal for this same price, and 
hulls may be bought at the oil mills in the South for 
$1 a ton. Some one is going to make too big a profit of 
the new combination. The hulls are good feed, no 
doubt, and the Southern cows get fat on what they 
are allowed to take freely from the waste piles of the 
mills. They are a waste product, but, of course, cost 
money to handle and transport. There 5s more money, 
by a good deal, in wheat at 60 cents a bushel, or $20 
a ton, than in this mixed feed now offered, if some 
food rich in fat is purchased to add to it when coarsely 
ground. The gluten meal is an excellent substitute 
for the cotton meal which may have very little fat in 
it. The fact is that these feeding substances are all 
too dear for profit to the feeder, and thus it might be 
well to use corn meal, and stop buying other feeds, 
until they are reduced in value to an equality with the 
cheaper farm products.” 
We would not pay $15 a ton for this feed, with good 
hay and bran at present prices. At any rate, we never 
would feed it to a horse. 
White Scour in Youner Calves. 
G. P. F., Alba, Pa. —My calves are all right when 
dropped and for about one day, when they are taken 
with the scour, seem to be in great pain and will die 
in about 24 hours. 1 have saved one or two by taking 
them from the cow and feeding them a very little 
good milk, but all have been sick and do not seem to 
grow at all. 
Ans. —Your calves are evidently suffering from an 
epidemic form of the white scour, which occasionally 
attacks the sucking calves of a whole herd. Of the 
cause of the disease, very little, if anything, is known. 
Some recent European investigations indicate that the 
disease is contagious. From the fact that the calves 
are so uniformly attacked within 24 to 48 hours after 
birth, and die so quickly, the disease is evidently due, 
at least in part, to some fault or unfavorable condi¬ 
tion in the dam, which is transmitted to the calf 
either before birth or through the milk. The disease 
is so rapidly fatal that treatment has been very un¬ 
satisfactory. The best results have been obtained 
where one or two ounces of castor oil is given the calf 
as soon as possible after birth. Twenty to thirty 
drops of oil of turpentine well shaken up in the oil, 
could be added to advantage. Upon the first in¬ 
dications of the scouring, give one-half ounce of 
laudanum and repeat two or three times daily, if 
necessary, to keep the animal quiet and prevent 
straining. Salol in doses of 15 to 20 grains, or 5 to 10 
drops of creolin, three or four times daily, might 
prove beneficial; to be given soon after the calf is 
dropped and continued until all danger of the disease 
appearing is over. Special attention should be given 
to the condition, care, and diet of the cows, in order, 
if possible, to correct any fault from that source. 
Sick calves should be immediately removed to a pen 
by themselves, away from the herd ; and everything 
with which they have come in contact disinfected 
with a one or two-per cent solution of sulphuric acid, 
or by whitewashing with freshly slaked quicklime. 
F. L. K. 
Indigrestlou in Cows. 
E. C. B., East Masonville, N. Y. —What ails the 
cows ? The first one that was sick was due to calve 
in about three months. She ate scarcely anything for 
a week, commenced to dry up as soon as she stopped 
eating, and, in two days was dry. The next two were 
farrow, and did not dry up entirely, but shrunk very 
badly. For about three days they did not eat. They 
do not seem to be in any distress, bloat a little, but not 
much. They look all right otherwise. The feed is 
as follows: Hay, mostly Timothy, but with a little 
clover, is cut and about 12 pounds is fed at two feeds. 
This grain ration is fed daily scattered over the cut 
hay after it is put in their mangers: Hominy, 43^ 
pounds; bran, 33^ pounds; cotton-seed meal, 
pound ; oil meal, one-quarter of a pound. The 
cows are watered in the stable, but are turned out 
almost every day long enough to clean the stable. 
Ans. —Your cows are suffering from indigestion. 
The grain ration you are feeding is evidently too 
liberal for some of the animals. There is a marked 
difference in the capacity of dairy cows to consume a 
rich grain ration like the one you are feeding. In 
fact, it is questionable if you are not feeding more 
than any of the cows can profitably consume. Where 
it is desirable to feed to the full capacity of the animals, 
they must be closely watched and the quantity varied 
to suit the requirements of each. On the first appear¬ 
ance of any indigestion or irritation of the bowels, 
indicating that they are getting too much grain, the 
ration should be at once reduced for those animals. 
At the outset of an attack, give the cow ItolX pound 
Epsom salts (according to the size and condition of the 
animal) with a good handful of common salt and two 
to three tablespoonfuls of ginger, dissolved in one to 
two quarts of warm water, and given as a drench. If 
the bowels are not freely moved in 24 hours repeat the 
dose. Then give two tablespoonfuls of the following 
powders on the feed twice daily: Sulphate of soda, one 
pound; ginger, one-half pound ; powdered nux vomica 
one-fourth pound, mix. Following recovery, the 
grain ration should be reduced, especially the cotton¬ 
seed meal and hominy. More daily exercise would 
also be desirable for the whole herd. p. e. k. 
Is This a Sterile Cow P 
R. I. E., Seguin, lex. —One of my cows has not had 
a calf for three years, and is still milking. If I dry 
her up, will it make her breed ? If so, what will be 
the best way to dry her up ? 
Ans. —“Drying her up” will not cause the cow to 
breed. You do not give her age, condition, or whether 
she has been in heat during the three years, so that I 
cannot judge as to the probable cause of her failure 
to breed. If she has not been in heat during this 
time, or fails to come in heat again, she will probably 
never breed ; in which case you can milk her only as 
long as you wish, and then send her to the butcher. 
If she continue to come in heat, turn to pasture with 
a good bull. F. L. K. 
Lameness in Hogrs’ Hind Legs. 
L. M. S., Castleton, N. Y. —I have a shote whose legs 
seem stiff; it cannot walk and appears to have a 
great deal of pain in its legs. It wants to lie down 
all the time, and for the past six weeks would squeal 
whenever handled. It is quite fat and eats well. 
What can I do for it ? 
Ans. —Hogs frequently suffer from a condition simi¬ 
lar to the one you describe, i. e., lameness or partial 
paralysis in the hind legs or quarters which renders 
them unable to arise. It occurs most frequently in 
well-bred animals and those that are in prime con¬ 
dition or fat. Such animals are naturally very heavy 
for their legs, so that any slight trouble or accident 
renders them helpless ; and when once down it is dif¬ 
ficult for them to regain their strength. The most 
common causes are, confinement in pens on a board 
or concrete floor; inj uries to the limbs or loins by 
slipping or fighting ; overfeeding and idleness ; more 
rarely to rheumatism, or as a result of cholera or 
other disease ; and, probably, occasionally to kidney 
worms. With animals that are otherwise apparently 
healthy, in good condition, and with no indications of 
being feverish, the most profitable treatment usually, 
is to butcher them at once, while their flesh is still 
fit for use. If treatment is desirable, place the animal 
in a comfortable pen, on a dry earth floor. If fat, 
feed very lightly. If there be weakness of the loins, 
the application of mustard and turpentine, or a lini¬ 
ment of equal parts of sweet oil, strong aqua am¬ 
monia, and turpentine, well shaken together, will 
prove beneficial. f. l. k. 
To Develop a Cow’s Udder. 
A. M. B., Adrian, N. Y. —I have a Jersey heifer that 
came in at about 15 months, two weeks ago. She gives 
no milk from the two front teats, but sometimes I get 
a thin, watery substance from them. Is there any 
possibility of her giving milk from them when she 
comes in again ? 
Ans. —If the fore quarters of the udder are unde¬ 
veloped, the milk may never come to them ; but if 
fairly well developed, the milk will probably come 
after a while, if you continue milking the front teats 
while milking the hind ones. This will stimulate the 
milk secretion in the fore quarters. Vigorous hand 
rubbing of the udder after each milking will also be 
beneficial. Even if the milk does not come now, she 
might come to her milk after the next calving. That 
would depend largely upon the stage of development 
of the fore quarters of the udder. f. l. kiebornk. 
