1894 • 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
665 
What George T. Powell Says. 
The retail trade calls for a lar^^e handsome, showy 
plum. Pond’s seedling, Bradshaw, Victoria and Prince 
Englebert are among the high colored red, purple or 
blue varieties that are very showy, and of good quality. 
Among the green and yellow, are Washington, Peter’s 
Yellow Gage and General Hand, all large and with 
rich shadings of red. The diffijulty with these varie¬ 
ties is, that they ripen in August and early September, 
while the people who would buy them, are mostly out 
in the country. If properly thinned, these varieties 
would equal the California plum in size and would be 
superior in flavor. I would plant in about equal num¬ 
bers of the above. They would thrive in Connecticut. 
The most of the Japanese varieties do ripen early and 
while very attractive, they must be sold when large 
numbers of people are out of town. They are hardy 
and better adapted to our soil and climate than many 
of the English varieties, and later varieties will be in¬ 
troduced in time that will meet the late demand. 
Believes in the Japanese Plums. 
I would plant Japanese varieties only. The best 
known are Abundance, Burbank and Satsuma, named 
in the order of ripening. Abundance and Satsuma 
must be thinned severely to secure the best fruit. 
Burbank will carry a larger crop and mature success¬ 
fully. Willard will probably sell because it is early, 
but is of indifferent quality. Ogon, which app ;ars to be 
better in Connecticut than elsewheie, if well thinned, 
is a very good early. To fill the gap between Bur¬ 
bank and Satsuma, Orient and Bailey are the most 
promising—they are, perhaps, identical. The Japan¬ 
ese, in their varieties, ripen here from July 17 to the 
present time. In the peach season, common plums 
must be sold at the price of common peaches, and 
were so sold this year in this State. I would use 
about an equal number of Abundance, Burbank and 
Satsuma, a few Willard, and if there is a market for 
yellow plums, a few Normand, which ripened this 
year with Burbank. In the present confusion of 
names, it seems unadvisable to mention others. This 
confusion is likely to increase rather than diminish 
for some years, for it is apparently easy to fruit a new 
seedling in four years or less from the ripe fruit. 
Connecticut. h. z, faibchild. 
Chicken Mites on a Horse. 
Inquirer, Kenoalia County, Wis .—Through some cause 
or other, chicken mites have got into the barn and at¬ 
tacked a black mare that is a great pet of ours. We 
have done all we can think of to eradicate the mites, 
such as scalding the barn with hoi.ing hot soapsuds, 
with an addition of wood ashes, thus making a strong 
lye, and carbolic acid diluted in water; I have had 
the mare washed in lukewarm water and carbolic 
soap, at least three times a week, when the weather 
has been warm, but after all the work done to either 
barn or mare, the mites seem to have the upper hand. 
Can you tell me what to do with the barn and not 
burn it to the ground, for I believe that that would 
be the only way to get rid of these minute pests ? 
Ans —Several who have had a similar experience 
tell me that Persian Insect Powder or Bahach (some¬ 
times sold in impure form as as insect or fly powder) 
is the best substance to use on hairy animals which 
become infested with chicken lice or mites. Get a 
cheap dust blower, such as is usually sold with fly 
powder, and blow the Buhach into the hair all over the 
bcdy. [Would it not be more effective to use Bahach 
water as a wash ?— Eps ] Do th s thoroughly and then 
cover the animal with a blanket. If a thorough ap¬ 
plication of this powder (get it as fresh as possible of 
a reliable dealer) does not rid the mare of the mites, 
1 would be at a loss to know what to advise next, as 
the correspondent has tried several good washes. Tne 
easiest and surest way to kill the mites in the barn is 
to spray with a knapsack or other handy sprayer 
thoroughly every inch of surface, every crack and 
angle, w.th kerosene oil, used undiluted or made into 
an emulsion with soap, forming the well-known kero¬ 
sene emulsion. Dilute the emulsion only four or five 
times. I would use the undiluted oil, as it would take 
but little anyway, and would save the trouble of pre¬ 
paring the emulsion. m v. slingebland. 
Something' About Peach Trees. 
E. A. S ., Heart Lake, Pa. —1. 1 wish to set a fe w peach 
trees. What are the best two varieties for this section? 
2 Which is preferable, fall or spring setting? 3. What 
is the cause of “ gummy” peaches? 4. Can it be pre¬ 
vented? 5. Can pear blight (the leaves on whole 
limbs turn black) be controlled by spraying ? 
Ans.— 1. For your section we would choose between 
Crawford’s Early, Crawford’s Late, O.dmixon Free, 
Smock and Stamp. 2, We would plant either in the 
fall or spring as more convenient. 3. The curculio 
generally, we guess. 4 Yes, to a certain extent, by 
spraying the trees with Paris-green. 5. To a certain 
extent by the Bordeaux Mixture. 
Hardy Boses. 
H. C. DeR., North Baltimore, Ohio .—Is the rose The 
R. N. Y. sent out last fall hardy, or must it be pro¬ 
tected through the winter ? I have the Dinsmore, 
said to be as hardy as an oak, but it killed to the 
ground last winter. My Ragosa bore several roses. 
The season was very dry, yet it made a fine growth. 
The blooms fall too soon, they last only one day. Some 
one inquired through The Rubal how to treat grape 
seeds. I simply put them in a woolen cloth and buried 
them in the ground a few inches. In the spring when 
I took them out, they were nicely sprouted. 
Ans.—H ardiness is one of its main good qualities. It 
is perfectly hardy. 
Some Apples in Middle Jersey. 
A. S. MacB., Lakewood, N J —Were you planting only 
10 or 12 apple trees for family use in Middle Jersey 
where the soil is light, dry and sandy, what would be 
your choice of varieties? Would you advise planting 
them in one continuous row? If in two rows, would 
you put them 80 or 100 feet apart ? 
Ans —The list of good apples succeeding in your 
part of New Jersey is small. We would choose Bald¬ 
win and Gravenstein. We would plant in double rows 
80 feet or half that distance apart. 
Nut Culture in Virginia. 
C M, B., Charlottesville, Va —1. Will the soft, or 
Paper-shell almond do well in Albemarle County, 
Va. ? 2. I wish two mulberries—a white and a red— 
which varieties would you recommend ? 3. Is Barr’s 
Mammoth asparagus better than the older sorts—Con¬ 
over’s Colossal and Palmetto ? 4. Is the Buffalo berry 
worth cultivating ? 5. Is the Japanese Winebsrry ? 
6, What are the best chestnuts to plant ? This chest¬ 
nut question is a puzzle to me. Catalogues give the 
Japan Mammoth as the largest nut produced, but 
leave us a little doubtful as to its quality. Other 
Japan chestnuts, the Advance, Early Reliance and 
Success are 83 each. As the Mammoth is 25 cents, the 
three others ought to be greatly superior to warrant 
that price. They are all advertised to bear at two to 
three years old. 
Ans. —We would say that Charlottesville would just 
about mark the line south of which the Paper-shell al¬ 
mond would be hardy and north of it not hardy. 2. For 
white, we know of but one, which is called “ White.” 
For the second, we would choose Downing’s Everbear¬ 
ing, a sort of dark maroon color. We do not know of 
any good red variety. 3, No, it is not. 4. Moderately 
so for its fruit as well as for ornament. Our friend 
must bear in mind that as it is dice nous, a male and 
female should be planted near each otuer. 5. Yes, as 
a curiosity. It is an odd plant. As a raspberry we 
would prefer any of the popular reds. 6, We would 
choose the Paragon among the Japans. The quality 
of all other Japan nuts that we have eaten, is inferior. 
The claim that the varieties mentioned will bear in 
two or three years, is correct. We may not speak as 
to the quality, as our trees were planted last spring. 
Alfalfa at the South. 
O, C. J, Belen, Miss .—1. Will Alfalfa succeed in 
northern Mississippi ? 2. Can it be sown there in the 
fall with good results ? 3. What month is best to 
sow ? 4. How much seed per acre ? 5. Can you fur¬ 
nish me the seed, and at what price ? 
Ans. —1. Prof. D, L. Phares considers it very valu¬ 
able for Mississippi. It sometimes, he says, gets two 
feet high by the middle of February. He knows of 
some plots still in fine condition that are known to have 
been growing for over 35 years. But it is often hard 
to get it well started. 2. We think so. 3. We would 
suppose that September would be the best month for 
your climate. 4. Twenty pounds. 5. The R. N.-Y. 
does not sell seeds or plants of any kind. All seeds¬ 
men offer Alfa'.fa. Send to the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Washington, D, C., for a pamphlet on^Forage 
Plants for the South. 
Early Potatoes, Peas and Barley. 
H. H. M., Monte Vista, Col .—1. I wish to purchase 
and experiment upon their adaptation to a moderately 
sandy soil, five or six varieties of the very best yield¬ 
ing extra early potatoes, without regard to quality. 
Will The R. N.-Y. give me a list as nearly as possible 
in the order of productiveness ? 2. I also wish a 
similar list of first-crop peas (not dwarfs), the very 
best yielders for field crops. 3. Is there anything ex¬ 
tra early in barley ? If so, what is the variety ? 
Ans. —1. Lee’s Favorite, Tonhocks, New Q leen. 
Beauty of Hebron, Early Sunrise. We may not speak 
of relative productiveness. Every variety will vary in 
different soils. 2. There is so little difference between 
the first early peAs of our best seed firms, that our 
friend may order one strain as well as another. 3, 
Vermont Champion and New White Hulless are as 
early as any. 
Trout in an Artificial Pond. 
O. M. C. , Rochester, N. Y .—Could an artificial fish 
pond supplied with a runing stream during the year, 
except a few weeks in the summer, be supplied during 
the dry season by a windmill from a never failing 
well near by, without injury to the fish ? Will some 
one inform me if trout will live in such a pond, as I 
desire to construct one if practical. 
Ans. —If the water supply fails for only a short time 
in the summer, and the temperature of the water does 
not rise above 80 degrees, trout will live without dif¬ 
ficulty. It will be a comfort to the fish to have a few 
floats of boards made 10 feet square in the pond under 
which they may shade themselves, if there is no other 
shade. Some deep holes should also be made in the 
pond and a few rocks, or rough stumps anchored to 
the bottom by stakes, will also be a great help. Tuese 
will furnish a large amount of food for the fish by the 
profuse growth of minute animalculse and various in¬ 
sects that gather on the decaying wood. It would 
hardly pay to pump water into the pond; it will be 
better to make the bottom water-tight so that the 
pond will not dry. But if expense is not an ol'ject 
there will be no objection to adding to the supply of 
water in that way. h. s. 
The Prices and Value of Ashes. 
L. M. M., Washington, Pa .—What should first-class 
hard-wood ashes cost me at this place ? Where can I 
purchase by the car-load ? 
Ans. —That will depend on the analysis of the ashes. 
You buy them to obtain potash, and a small amount 
of phosphoric acid. The price, therefore, should be 
determined by the cost of these substances in other 
mixtures. By taking the average cost and prices of 
different fertilizing substances, the chemists at the 
Eastern experiment stations agree that the potash in 
ashes is worth five cents a pound, and the phosphoric 
acid five cents. Suppose, then, that you have a lot of 
ashes which analyze five per cent of potash and 
per cent of phosphoric acid. That means 100 pounds 
of potash worth 85 and 30 pounds of phosphoric acid 
worth 81 50 or 86 50 in all. This 86 50 represents what 
this amount of potash and phosphoric acid would cost 
if you bought it in other materials. The price to you 
will also include the cost of handling, freight and 
dealer’s profit. By figuring the actual potash and 
phosphoric acid guaranteed you as we have done 
above, you can decide whether the price is excessive. 
We advertise dealers in ashes. 
How Much Butter in a Pound of Fat P 
D. C. B., Farmer, N Y .—1. I am drawing my milk 
to an Elgin butter factory which is in cpsration in 
this village. The outfit in this factory is first-class in 
every respect. If I deliver 700 pounds of milk per 
week, with an average daily test (Bibcock) of 4 per 
cent, how much butter should I be crediied with at 
the end of the week? At a farmers’ institute held 
here last winter, the conductor who made the Bibcock 
test of samples of milk, told us that the per cent in¬ 
dicated by a test represented only 85 per cent of the 
amount of butter which would be obtained by the 
churn. 2. Why should not creamery butter be as solid 
and firm as dairy butter? 
Ans.— 1. Butter, like many other animal and vege¬ 
table substances, varies considerably in chemical com¬ 
position, and no two samples are ever precisely alike. 
Tne average composition of commercial butter of good 
quality is about as follows : 
Fat. 84 per cent. 
Water. il “ 
Salt. 3 “ 
Card, etc. 2 “ 
Total.100 
The fat seldom rises above 86 per cent, and seldom 
falls to 80 per cent. For these reasons it is convenient 
to reckon .85 of a pound of fat as equivalent to a 
pound of butter, and these figures can be very c’osely 
approximated in factory work; for though tacre is 
some loss of fat in both buttermilk and skim milk, 
this will be counterbalanced by a percentage of fat in 
the butter somewhat less than 85. This patron de¬ 
livers 700 pcuuds of milk per week, with an average 
test of four percent. The milk, therefo-e, contains 
28 pounds of fat, equivalent on the basis mentioned, 
to 32 94 pounds of baiter. 
It seems to me, however, that it is entirely unneces¬ 
sary to reckon the fat as butter in making dividends 
in creameries on the test system. It is much more 
satisfactory to pay for the fat simply as fat. Or in 
other words to divide the net proceeds by the number 
of pounds of fat delivered to get the amount due the 
patron per pound of fat. If it is attempted to calcu¬ 
late the fat delivered into an equivalent amount of 
butter, there will^lways be a discrepancy between the 
amount of butter so calculated and the amount 
actually made, no matter what basis is adopted. This 
discrepancy will vary from day to day as the losses in 
separating and churning vary, and as the percentage 
of fat in the butter varies. 2. There should be no dif¬ 
ference between creamery and dairy butter if both 
are made under similar conditions. Creamery butter 
is made to go on the market fresh, and to contain 
mere water than dairy butter, which in central New 
York, is almost wholly made to be packed and held 
till late fall or early winter. It is necessarily made 
drier and, therefore, firmer. H. H. wing. 
