328 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 26 
the exception of less than a half dozen cities like 
Ogden and Salt Lake City, there have been no towns 
or villages of any thrift and size, at least if they are 
judged by the hundreds of pleasant, well-kept villages 
of New York State, in the last 1,200 miles. Every¬ 
thing gives evidence that there is little, with the few 
exceptions named, but has been brought here by the 
railroads or is dependent on the money they pay out. 
The sooner the Eastern farm boy realizes that there 
is more in a single acre of well-tilled land in New 
York than in 1,000 acres of these wind-swept, sage 
brush plains and rocky mountain sides, the better for 
him. 'A careful inspection of the country about North 
Platte, 300 miles from Council Bluffs, by a two days’ 
drive, revealed many new, and to me, striking things. 
The usual annual rainfall is less than 20 inches, and it 
sometimes falls below 10, as it did last year. A single 
dashing rain in June, most of which ran off, was not 
sufficient to make a crop last year. This year on 
April 10, the farmers had but little plowing done and 
were not sowing any grain because there was literally 
no moisture in the ground. Wells on the uplands are 
from 200 to 300 feet deep. Irrigation cannot be 
practiced except on a very small portion of the land 
along the rivers; and even when all the expense of 
preparing the land has been incurred, the farmers 
higher up the river may take the water and leave you 
if not high, certainly dry. The South Platte, usually 
a river more than a mile wide, was, owing to the 
drought and use of water higher up the stream, dry. 
The North Platte is still a noble river and looked 
really refreshing in these dry times. 
Many of the farmhouses are built of sods, have 
walls two feet thick and seven feet high, are mostly 
covered with good roofs and furnished with good win¬ 
dows, floors and doors. They are usually plastered 
inside and often papered. They are wind and cold 
proof, and though not large, are as comfortable as 
could be desired. I have described the best of these 
houses, the poorest can be described in one brief sen¬ 
tence. A hole dug in some bank, or, rather, a notch, 
the front formed of sods, the top of poles and sods 
with now and then building paper under the sods. Six 
months' residence in one of these hybrid dugouts 
entitles one to a Government deed. An intelligent, 
high-bred girl, one brought up in comfort, if not 
luxury, one with whom I am intimately acquainted 
and whom I visited two days since, lived for six 
months in one of these dugouts and for more than two 
weeks of that time entirely alone, on this wind-swept, 
lonely prairie, two miles from the nearest house ; and 
this in order that she might make a gift of it to her 
mother for her old age. And this not in the heroic 
ages of the past, but in the year of our Lord eighteen 
hundred and eighty six ! Our country will stand the 
shock of Coxey’s army, the Populists and the Anarch¬ 
ists if the future citizen is born of such heroic mothers. 
Battle Mountain, Neb. i. p. kobkkts. 
MUTTON SHEEP IN OHIO. 
The sheep industry is at present at low ebb. Many 
are disposed to get out of the business, regardless of 
any and all sacrifice that may be necessary. Viewed 
from a wool standpoint, it seems as though the sheep 
will have to be dropped from much of the mixed farm¬ 
ing east of the Mississippi; at least until a change in the 
tariff policy of the Government is assured. Prom the 
mutton point of view, it appears to me as though we 
were soon to enter upon a more prosperous era. Cer¬ 
tain it is that the number of sheep kept in this coun¬ 
try is being speedily reduced, and will be further 
reduced if the free trade policy prevail. Is not this 
likely to affect the supply in the mutton market 
after a time ? With the constantly increasing demand 
for mutton, does it not look as though the producers 
of a good article were likely to see better prices soon ? 
I would not be surprised if the men who are now so 
anxious to get rid of their flocks were scouring the 
country on horseback for the now despised members 
of the ovine family inside of four years. 
In conversation a few days since, with an extensive 
breeder of Shropshires, he said that he had made just 
the cross mentioned in a recent R. N.-Y.—an imported 
Shropshire on high-grade Cotswold ewes. He bred the 
sire back to his own get when yearlings past. The 
second cross was very satisfactory ; no bad effects re¬ 
sulted from inbreeding. He, however, said, that with 
any but the very best of sires, results might be disas¬ 
trous. A flock of which I have some knowledge, was 
originally bred in this way, and then interbred for a 
succession of years without the infusion of new blood, 
with not the best of results. When grades are inter¬ 
bred, there is fully as likely to be a reversion to in¬ 
ferior qualities, as progress toward more desirable 
ones. 
I think it goes without saying that the mutton sheep 
is the sheep for the future for Eastern men. While I 
am of the opinion that one will have to go to the Down 
breeds for the mutton sheep par excellence, yet if I had 
a good flock of Cotswolds, I am inclined to think that 
I would breed them pure. But, perhaps the inquirer 
referred to does not fancy the Cotswolds. Since he 
has used a Shropshire on his ewes, I think it would 
be wise to follow it up, using the best Shropshire rams 
obtainable. I would expect a rather better farmers’ 
sheep after three or four crosses of the Shropshire on 
the Merino than on the Cotswold, sheep of rather 
better constitutions, and that would stand bunching 
better. Some men have made a great success of cross 
breeding. The Downs as well as other breeds are the 
results of intelligent work of this kind, but the farm¬ 
ers are very scarce who are likely to make a succesfi 
of establishing new cross breeds. A few years ago 
there was considerable enthusiasm in this country in 
this direction, but the “ new breeds” are not forth¬ 
coming. 
The Delaine Merinos have resulted from selections 
for breeding purposes from common Merinos, with a 
view, principally, to increasing the size of the carcass, 
and doing away with excessive wrinkles and very oily 
or gummy wool. From our point of view, they seem 
to be a great improvement over the Spanish Merino, 
but by no means the equal of the Down. 
_ O. G. WILLIAMS. 
A CASE OF CHICKEN CHOLERA. 
About April 10, I went to my chicken house and 
found one of my hens sick and apparently nearly dead. 
She could not stand, kept her eyes closed nearly all 
the time, her comb was black and she would take 
neither food nor water. I examined her carefully, 
but could find no injury and thought I would experi¬ 
ment a little. I gave her a dose of Epsom salts, and 
quite a quantity of water, and, as it was a cool day, 
put her on the sunny side of the house and left her. 
About 1 p. m. I gave her more water, and a little food 
was put into her mouth, as she made no attempt to 
eat. She was given a little food and plenty of water 
for a day or two longer, then she began to move 
around a little and to pick the grass. She improved 
steadily from that time, but slowly, and is now ap¬ 
parently well but rather weak. 
Two days later, another hen was found dead, and 
a week later a hen and rooster were dead, and several 
hens in the flock were dumpish and weak, with dark- 
colored combs. I was told that it was chicken cholera 
by several people who had had experience with it, and 
began to look it up in “The Business Hen.” I soon 
came to the same conclusion, and decided to take 
prompt measures to eradicate it. As night was fall¬ 
ing, I could do nothing until the next morning, when 
I found two dead hens and eight that could not get off 
the roost. I had the latter removed to the sunshine 
and grass outside the yard, and as two were nearly 
dead, they were killed and buried deeply with the 
others. The remaining six were given a dose of 
salts and plenty of water. I then had a solution of 
sulphuric acid prepared, one pint to eight gallons of 
water, and the houses, roosts and yards were thor¬ 
oughly sprayed. The hens themselves were also given 
a sprinkling. They were given drinking water with 
carbolic acid in it, and asafoetida was mixed in their 
food. At night they could all walk except two, were 
allowed to go back into the yard, and went to roost 
with the others. Those outside were put in a barrel 
and covered till morning, when they were taken out 
and given carbolic water and asafcetida in their food, 
as on the previous day. That morning there were six 
that could not get off the roost, and several others 
that acted dumpish. They were removed and given 
exactly the same treatment that was given the others 
the previous day. Before night, all but four were 
walkiog around picking at the grass and went back 
into the yard. The others remained outside two or 
three days longer, care being taken that they had 
plenty of food and water; then they were all put 
back, and the flock was apparently in as good health 
as ever, after a few more days. 
I have not seen Epsom salts recommended in this 
connection, but the prompt recovery of my flock on 
treatment, may have been partly due to the action of 
the salts in expelling more quickly the offending ba¬ 
cilli, while the prompt and thorough disinfection com¬ 
pleted the work. The carbolic acid was kept up in 
the drinking water for a few days after all symptoms 
of disease were past, but another disinfection will be 
given soon. mbs. f. e, emery. 
North Carolina Agricultural College. 
To Deaden Trees.— On page 304, J. P. D. asks when 
is the best time to deaden trees so that they will not 
send up sprouts. If he will thoroughly girdle the 
trees late in June, and let them stand until the next 
year, he will find them dead root and branch, unless 
they are connected with some other green top by root 
grafting or suckering. I have killed elms in this way, 
and they are worse than most trees about suckering. 
Medway, Mass. m. m. 
[Byerj query muat be acoompanled by the name and address of the 
writer to insure attention. Before asklnK a question please see if it is 
not answered in our advertislni; oolumns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
GREEN MANURES AT THE SOUTH. 
DO THEY “sous THE LAND?” 
Our aKrIcultural writers say, " never plow under a green crop In 
the South in the summer time, for fear of acidulating the soil.'* Is 
this to be apprehended ? If so. is there no method by which we may 
plow under two crops of green pea vines during hot weather 7 We 
wish to plant 2D acres of our 30 acre pear orchard in peas If we plant 
peas April 1, we can turn them under by July 1, rep'ant and hog the 
peas down, in October turn under the vines, and sow in rye, oats or 
Scarlet clover, for green feed, pasture or green manuring for a spring 
crop. Can we do this, and how, so as not to sour the land 7 It certainly 
Is better to plow in the vines in the green state so as to get the 
full benefit of the nitrogen they contain, than to Jet them dry up and 
get woody. But the advice quoted above has been and still is, a 
stumbling block in my way. Can Thb R. N.-Y. help me out? w. w. j. 
Mllvlew, Fla. 
How Green Manures Act on Light Soils. 
Southern agricultural writers are not careful 
enough, when making such assertions, to take into 
consideration the character of the soil. Qpon the 
light sandy or loamy soils of the South, it is always 
dangerous to plow under a green crop while green, 
for two reasons : First, turning in this large amount 
of matter very shallow, as is usually done, places a 
large amount of green matter between the lower sub¬ 
soil and a thin layer of inverted soil. In this condi¬ 
tion, enough air is received to continue the fermenta¬ 
tion, and not enough to cause the crop to become 
rapidly oxidized. Besides, the thin layer of earth 
above the green matter, on account of the porosity 
of the soil, becomes so dry as to endanger any crop 
sown above it. Oats or wheat put in upon an inverted 
cow-pea crop in September will nearly always fail; 
not so much on account of fermentation, as on ac¬ 
count of the thin layer of dry earth, detached from 
the dry earth by a stratum of cow peas, which soon 
causes the plants to turn yellow, due mainly to the 
absence of moisture, the want of compactness in the 
soil, and the fermentation of the green stuff below. 
This obtains only in light, sandy or loamy soil. 
Per contra, in the alluvial lands of Louisiana, it is 
the general custom to turn in a large growth of cow 
peas early in September, with a four to eight-horse 
plow, and to plant the field to cane early in October— 
one month after the soil is so inverted. These allu¬ 
vial soils soon become in a condition, thus treated, to 
bring stands of cane, and are admirably adapted for 
the growth of oats, grasses and clovers. One other 
point must be claimed here. From a chemical stand¬ 
point it is always bad policy to turn in green vege¬ 
table matter in the fall, unless the soil is to he occu¬ 
pied at once by a growing crop, since our climate is 
so mild as to permit of nitrification going on during 
the entire winter, in which time our heaviest rainfalls 
also take place, leaching the soil and carrying away 
much of the nitrates formed from the nitrification of 
the organic matter. By spring, especially in loose, 
sandy soils, the good effects of green manuring, so 
far as the nitrates are concerned, are far beyond the 
reach of the crops then to be planted. Experiments 
along this line have fully confirmed the above, espe¬ 
cially upon light, sandy soils deficient in humus and 
deficient in clay. On the other hand, when we get to 
stiff clay soils, or heavy alluvial soils, we find that 
while these chemical changes are not prevented, they 
are greatly modified, and a mechanical effect is pro¬ 
duced by throwing the land up in ridges during the 
winter, and draining them well, which cannot other¬ 
wise be obtained. In this way our stiffest clays and 
alluvial soils are rendered as friable in the spring, 
and easy of cultivation almost, as an ash heap. The 
chemical changes go on, but in a diminished degree, 
while the mechanical effects of the fall plowing and 
the turning in of the vegetable matter, are almost 
magical in their influence upon subsequent crops, so 
much so that we regard early fall plowing and the 
turning under of pea vines as being the most effica¬ 
cious tillage that we can possibly give in the prepara¬ 
tion of cane soils. It may, therefore, be asserted that 
the turning under of green crops in the South is a 
question more of soil than of climate, and while the 
mild winters of the South aggravate, to some extent, 
the fermentation of green manure when turned under, 
the main cause is due to the porosity of the soil and 
shallow plowing. Both in the black lands of Alabama 
and in the alluvial lands of Louisiana, occurs the 
practice of plowing under green crops in the fall. 
Elsewhere throughout the South the practice is of 
doubtful utility, and often dangerous. Nothing that 
I have been able to obtain in the way of fertilizers 
will prevent the bad effects of turning under green 
crops upon thin, porous sandy or loamy soils. Neither 
lime nor cotton-hull ashes are able materially to pre- 
