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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
had from one to eig^ht perfectly developed pods of seed 
nearly ripe. 'Fhere was enough in the lot to seed the 
whole patch nicely. I also found quite a number of 
smartweed plants from an inch to three inches in 
length, each with a good head of perfectly developed 
seeds all ready to go into winter quai^ters, and puzzle 
me next spring. 'Fhere was also a rag weed, three 
inches in height, with about (JO seeds ripening nicely. 
Ordinarily, this weed grows about three feet high be¬ 
fore ripening seeds. Formeidy I wondered where the 
weeds came from that shot up so vigorously among 
the strawberry plants every spring. I don’t now. 
KKKI) GHUNDY. 
A HEALER FOR BRUISED TREES. 
Wliat is a frood remedy for bruises or borer marks on fruit trees, 
especially peach .and quince ? A “tree healer” is advertised at a 
hlffh price, too high it seems to me for general use. I am trying 
this fall something I thought might answer the purpose, but it is 
an experiment, .and may fail. I stirred flour of sul})hur into a 
liquid known as “oil shellac,” adding a few drops of carlnflic .acid. 
This I applied with .a ]).aint brush to bruises, borer marks, etc. 
.Such a remedy would be useful, in ])lace of paint, where barge 
limbs have been sawed off, and, possibly, where tree rot has com¬ 
menced. 
A Tree Salve Works Well Here. 
'Fhe above tree wash for bruised hark, or where 
limbs have been sawed off, may be good. We some¬ 
times paint the wounds with gum .shellac, which is 
quickly done ; yet we think a salve made of four parts 
of resin, two parts of beeswax and one part of tallow, 
melted together, poured into water and immediately 
worked as one would work molasses candy, and made 
up into rolls of, stiy, a half pound each, would be a 
good thing to have ready for such use. lly holding it 
in the hand to soften up a little, greasing the fingers 
a little to keep it from sticking, and by pressing the 
thumb on a small lump it may be spread over a wound 
where it will remain some time and keep out all mois¬ 
ture until the cut is healed over. If the wound be 
large, it may be necessary to repeat it in a year or 
two. 'Fhis salve is the very best wax to use in graft¬ 
ing trees, we have ever tried. It is a good thing to 
have in the house for use at any time. It will keep 
for years. Soften it for use in the sun or on a stove. 
ST^i’JiKN hoyt’s .sons. 
Nothing Beats Plain Grafting Wax. 
A tree healer (so called) is a good thing for the man 
who sells it at a large profit. I have \ised various 
preparations for covering wounds and bruises on 
trees, and have settled down to plain gi*afting wax, 
believing, from comparative te.sts, that it is the equal 
of the best. Why cover a wound or bruise ? Simply 
to exchide air and water. This done, a little extra 
feed and careful culture for a year or two, seldom fail 
to overcome such injiiries. 'Fhe preparations that are 
“ always ready for u.se,” such as shellac, paint, etc., 
have to be repeatedly applied to effect the .same pur¬ 
pose that a good coating of grafting wax does. In or¬ 
der thoroughly to rid peach, plum, qiiince and other 
trees of borers, the earth must be removed from the 
collar of the tree to a depth of three to four inches ; 
before this is returned (and it .should not be left too 
late in spring), 1 sometimes apply a wash of lime, with 
eight to ten pounds of muriate of potash to each half 
barrel of wash, and enough carbolic acid to give it the 
odor. 'Fhis applied with cheap fiber brushes, liber¬ 
ally from the bottom of the basin made by the re¬ 
moval of the earth from about the tree, to a height of 
a foot above the surface level, helps to heal the borer 
wounds, only by excluding air therefrom. 'Fhat the 
carbolic acid odor has any merit as a repellent to the 
insect when seeking places to depo.sit its eggs, is a 
badly strained belief. Hereafter, I shall use lime 
alone for this purpose. AVith borers, as with other 
vermin, prevention is better and easier than cui*e, all 
things considered. It is scarcely practical to prevent 
the deposit of eggs at the collars of trees in large or¬ 
chards, but it is practical to remove the “ grubs ” 
hatched therefrom, before they do much injury ; this 
is all that is implied by prevention as used above. 
J. W. KERK. 
Prevention Always Beats Cure. 
Prevention is far preferable to cure, even if a cure 
were practicably possible, which it is not. 'Fhe only 
practicable cure consists in protecting the wounds, 
while Nature repairs the damage. Keep the tree in 
vigorous condition, and borers will not attack it. 
Prune intelligently, annually, if needful, and no large 
branches will need to be taken off; and no large 
wo\inds will require to be protected. If such occur, 
by accident or otherwise, nothing better can be done, 
than to cover the wounds with a solution of shellac in 
alcohol. 'The addition of sulphur can be of little if 
any advantage, and will probably do no harm, unle.ss 
it should diminish the tenacity of the shellac, causing 
it to crack while drying. There can be no possible 
occasion for an expensive preparation, and since 
Nature must nece.s-sarily do the healing, the high- 
priced “healer” is probably a humbug. T. t. lyon. 
Shellac and Carbolic Acid all Right. 
Nothing is better for bruises upon trees than this 
suggested mixture of shellac and a little carbolic acid. 
The latter, however, should be u.sed very sparingly. 
In my own experience, I have found that trees in 
vigorous growth will soon heal over any marks made 
by efforts to get out the borer from peaches and 
quinces. 8. i). wtij.ard. 
Mr. J, H. Hale’s Opinion. 
AVhere, thi*ough any carelessness in cultivation, a 
tree is bruised, I u.sually have it bound up with wet 
clay or fresh cow dung ; if kept moist for a few weeks, 
a new growth of bark is readily stimulated. I do not 
advi.se saw'ing off any large limbs, but where it must 
be done, a coating of some sort of shellac answers the 
imrpose ; probably that suggested by your correspond¬ 
ent would answer the purpose as well as anything. 
WHAT COW FOOD SHALL / BUY? 
I )i;ive a lar(<e stock of cows and hogs. I do not want to fatten 
them. I am buying wheat bran at $18 per ton and buckwheat 
middlings at $1.5. I can buy pumpkins at $1 per load, all a team 
can draw, and <-abbage at $6 jjer ton. Which of the above is most 
profitable to buy for buttermaking and to feed brood sows ? 
A Great Friend of Pumpkins. 
I would prefer to buy pumpkins at per load. A 
good team should draw at least two tons at a load. 
'Fhis would make thein cost .50 cents per ton. On 
account of severe drought here this summer, 1 have a 
short crop of pumpkins, and would be glad to buy at 
per load. 1 can get $1.50 per bushel of 27 pounds, 
for all the pumpkin seeds I can save. At the above 
price per ton, 1 could make enough from seeds alone 
to pay for the pumpkins and the labor of saving and 
drying seeds. I have had enough experience in feed¬ 
ing pumpkins to cows to know that they will produce 
a large flow of rich milk. I think them w’^orth for 
feed, at least $2 per ton, provided they are fed as they 
should be—that is sliced and fed in the manger where 
there will be no waste. 1 have had no experience in 
feeding them to brood sow^s, but think that they would 
be all right for them also. i.aw’ton m. conger. 
Erie County, N. Y. 
Buy Bran Through the Grange. 
From my experience, 1 would advise to feed as fol¬ 
lows : 'Fo produce the most butter, 1 would feed the 
w'heat bran at .$10 and pumpkins at $1 per load. Hran 
increases the flow of milk, and I would mix cotton 
seed with it to improve the quality. 1 would not ad¬ 
vise the use of wdieat bran alone for buttermaking. 
For hogs, in addition to skim-milk, pumpkins and 
bran are excellent for growth. I woiild boil or steam 
the pumpkins, and mix the bran with them w’hile 
hot. .Just a word for the (Irange, an order to w hich 
every farmer should belong. 1 buy nearly all my 
stock through the (Irange. 'Fhe party making the 
above inquiry should buy choice coarse bran for about 
$15, and cotton-.seed meal for $20 per ton. F. H. gates. 
High Praise for Buckwheat Middlings. 
For buttermaking, I suppose buckwheat middlings 
are by far the cheapest feed. They are a very valu¬ 
able nitrogenous food, and in the localities where 
produced, are generally among the very cheapest of 
feeds. Probably they are worth $24 per ton, if bran is 
worth $18. before many years we shall have to pay a 
higher price for this, now, not very w'ell-known by¬ 
product of the pancake. Of course, wdiere such a very 
nitrogenous food is fed, it must be balanced with 
something containing a larger per cent of carbohy¬ 
drates [fat-formers] as corn. Where the roughage is 
principally corn stalks, Timothy hay and straw, the 
buckw’heat middlings may form a large part of the grain 
ration. Fed largely with clover hay, the ration would 
be too narrow^—that is, would contain an undne pro¬ 
portion of protein [muscle-makers] which seems to 
endanger the health of the cow by throwing too much 
work on the excretory organs. 
For brood sows, 1 would prefer a considerable part 
of bran—perhaps nearly all bran—in the ration. Bran, 
by reason of its large amount of ash (phosphate of 
lime for bone), is the ideal food for pregnant animals, 
and for their young after birth. Fed alone, it is a 
very well balanced ration for young stock. 'There is 
something about bran—its ash and its laxative effects 
—which does not show in the feeding tables, but which 
gives it a feeding vahie higher than its mere analysis 
would indicate. It is a popular notion—with perhaps 
considerable truth—that buckwheat gives hogs the 
“itch.” 
Cabbages at .$(5 per ton are entirely out of the ques¬ 
tion. Pumpkins at $1 for “ all 1 can draw,” ought to 
be w'ell worth the money. Personally, I have never 
been able to see any very decided results in feeding 
them. 'Fhey are said to be excellent for feeding store 
hogs, and a Boston market gardener with several tons 
of unsalable IHibbard squashes on his hands, reports 
having secured a fair price for them by feeding them 
to fattening pigs. Pumpkin seeds in large quantities, 
are dangerous for animals in advanced gestation, 
owing to their well-knowm diuretic and abortive effects. 
'The question with brood sows is to get some cheap, 
bulky food that will satisfy their hunger without mak¬ 
ing them too fat. Certainly, pumpkins at $1 per load, 
should be, like Sam Weller’s peas pudding, “ werry 
fillin’ for the price.” .iare7) van wagenen .jr. 
Hillside Farm, New York. 
Buy the Pumpkins First. 
'The first thing I would do would be to buy all the 
pumpkins I could find before they would spoil, and 
cease buying bran, for I have never realized profit on 
more than $14 bran. Not having experience with the 
buckwheat middlings, I would compare them by careful 
te.st with ground wheat which, at the present price, I 
think is the cheapest feed we have in the market that 
I have tried. I would remove the seeds from the pump¬ 
kins, chop fine and sprinkle the meal over them in the 
feed boxes. For the sows, I would split the pumpkins, 
remove the seeds, and let them cut them up as they 
want them; make the ground feed into a middling thick 
slop, as they will not need so very much drink while 
eating the pumpkins. I have never fed any but refuse 
cabbages, but would think, at the prices given, that 
water would be much the cheaper bought in the 
pumpkins. n. w. G. 
Palmyra, O. 
A Ration Figured Out. 
It would be impossible to get anything like a bal¬ 
anced ration out of the list of articles named in the 
above inquiry ; consequently, the formula I vould 
propose would be to mix wheat bran with the buck¬ 
wheat middlings in equal quantities by weight. 'Fhe 
feeding value of each is not very different. 'This 
would be greatly improved by a .small (quantity of 
corn meal or corn ensilage, with 10 pounds of good 
clover hay, or as much corn stover in the absence of 
the ensilage. A better and cheaper ration could be 
obtained from bran, ground wheat and gluten meal, 
mixed in eq\ial parts by weight, and, in the absence 
of corn ensilage, some corn meal. 'This ration fed 
with 10 pounds of clover hay, and as much corn stover 
or oat straw in place of the corn stover, while not for¬ 
mulated upon the most economical basis, would, I 
think, be nearer right. 'The grain in either case fed 
on the pumpkins, would no doubt stimulate the milk 
flow, though I think that the pumpkins add very little 
to the essential qualities of milk ; they only aid the 
flow, thereby inducing a greater assimilation of solids 
into the milk and blitter from the feed consumed. 
My faith in cabbage at $(5 per ton, for even milch 
cows, is very small, and I would decline them at any 
such price, taking the pumpkins at $1 per load. 
For brood sows, a mixture of the bran and mid¬ 
dlings in equal quantities, would make a better feed 
for a suckling mother than they would for a cow 
feed ; and a moderate quantity of pumpkins cooked 
and the meal well incorporated in the mess while hot, 
would give the sows a very good diet. If I were to 
suggest a ration, it would be : bran, dark or low grade 
flour, and gluten feed, equal parts by weight, with 
an occasional feed of corn on the ear. The meal to be 
fed in slop or as mentioned above with the pumpkins. 
Jefferson County, O. geo. e. scott. 
Cabbage not a Good Cow Food. 
In my judgment, the pumpkins are decidedly the 
cheapest, and would prove most profitable for butter 
making. It goes without saying that cows should 
not be fed exclusively on any, or all, the feeds men¬ 
tioned, but as a supplemefitary feed, ripe pumpkins 
are excellent, and the brood sows would do well on 
them alone. It may be unscientific, but I never take 
the seeds out, having no fear of that diuretic effect 
which our mentors have so faithfully cautioned us 
against as sure to dry off the cows. 1 have fed hun¬ 
dreds of loads in my butter dairy, and always with 
the best results, both in quantity and quality of 
product. I always feed them in the barn, beginning 
with a moderate ration, and increasing the quantity 
gradually. Some farmers d ump them in the field for 
the cows by the wagon-load. 'The young and timid 
will often stand aside and look on in bla nk wonder at 
the fierceness and voracity of their elders and betters. 
When so fed, the cause of failure is not far to see— 
too much and too little—but it has been charged to 
the medicinal effect of the seeds. 'The fattest sheep 
that I ever saw was a “churn sheep” that followed 
cows thus fed and ate nothing but the seeds which 
are unquestionably the best part of the pumpkin. 'The 
fact that many an old cow after giving milk all sum¬ 
mer, has been quickly fattened in the fall on pumpkins 
exclusively, not even water being required, should 
be conclusive evidence of their high feeding value. 
As to cabbages, they are ruled out of my list of 
