THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
37 
Seems to be showing many signs of weakness. Perhaps 
some of our potato specialists may answer F. S. H.'s 
inquiry. 
Will “Dry Bordeaux Mixture” Answer ? 
J. A., Wellsville, N. Y. —It is quite evident to me 
that we shall be obliged to spray our fruit trees in 
order to have any fruit that we can use ourselves, let 
alone selling it. Is it just as well to use pure Paris- 
green on potatoes ? Is the dry Bordeaux Mixture a 
success ? If so, why can we not get a Leggett dry 
powder gun and use it for an all-purpose tool, doing 
away with pumps and sprayers and using everything 
in that line in a dry state ? It seems to me that it 
would do away with a great deal of expense if we 
could use the one appliance for all purposes. Will the 
dry Bordeaux Mixture be put on the market, so that 
we can get it? All other things being equal, I can 
see but one thing in the way, and that is the inhaling 
of the dust. 
Ans. —Pure Paris-green will not answer on any 
plants. The Paris-green gun does excellent work on 
potatoes. The work can be done faster and cheaper 
than with any other hand appliance. The dry Bor¬ 
deaux is just the same as the water mixture, and, in 
theory, it would seem that it should answer the same 
purpose. We tried it last season on potato vines very 
carefully. But there was no blight on either the 
treated or untreated plants, so that the experiment 
was a failure, as were many others for a like reason. 
The dry Bordeaux is sold by Leggett & Brother, New 
York. 
Action of Fire on Soils. 
B. D. S., Ovid Center, N. Y. —I see, quite frequently, 
articles from different parts of the country on the 
value of ashes as a fertilizer. Thinking that ashes 
would be a benefit to a poor spot in my potato field, I 
gave a neighbor the privilege of piling some raspberry 
bushes on it to burn them. I helped pile them in a 
windrow about 30 feet long. This was done in the 
fall of 1893, and in a few days after the fire, the ashes 
could hardly be seen. Last spring, I plowed the 
ground deep, fitted it well, and planted potatoes on 
the field. 1 used about 400 pounds of fertilizers to the 
acre, and had a good crop of potatoes, but not a potato 
came up on this spot of ground, and the weeds were 
very poor, too. 
Ans. —The poor results on this spot were not due to 
the ashes, but to the action of the fire on the soil. The 
chief effect of the heat is to bake the soil, and com¬ 
pact it like a brick, destroy all the vegetable matter, 
and drive off its nitrogen. Thus the young plant can¬ 
not develop in it. After several years cultivating, the 
soil will l’egain its former condition, and yield as well 
as ever. If, shortly after the fire, the soil under these 
heaps could have been spaded or broken up, and some 
manure or cut straw turned into it, there would not 
have been much difference in the crop. This very 
action of fire is sometimes made use of to benefit soils. 
In damp swamps, there is often an excess of both 
water and vegetable matter. By good drainage, the 
water is removed. Then by burning the upper sod, 
and plowing in the ashes, the texture of the soil is 
greatly improved. li Paring and burning ” was a term 
quite popular in European farming. In this process, 
a sod was plowed off shallow, and burned in large 
heaps, the ashes to be scattered and plowed in. On 
very heavy clay soils, a fire on top of the ground 
would bake the soil like a brick. Yet when the clay 
is burned in small lumps in a hot fire, it falls apart on 
roasting into a fine product like coal ashes. This fine 
roasted clay plowed into the soil, breaks up and 
loosens the whole texture, and improves it. 
“Solid Butter;” Exchanging Wheat for Bran. 
W. B. M., Eureka, Pa .—1. I make butter, and have 
private customers in Philadelphia. I raise the cream 
by the gravity process with ice water. If I should use 
a separator, will my butter be as solid as at present ? 
I handle some creamery butter, and have never found 
any as solid as my own. I have been told that the 
mode of getting the cream made the difference ? 3. 
Which will be the more profitable, for me to grind my 
wheat, or exchange it for bran ? I can get $1 per 100 
pounds for the wheat, and buy good bran at 90 cents 
per 100 pounds. It will cost me six cents a bushel to 
get the wheat ground. The hauling will be the same 
either way. I feed my cows corn ground fine, cob and 
all, and wheat bran in equal parts by measure, mixed 
with cut corn fodder. 
Ans. — 1 . If the separator be set so that it will take 
a cream containing not less than 25 per cent of fat, and 
if the cream be at once cooled down to 50 degrees 
Fahr., or below, and held there for 12 to 24 hours 
before ripening, I think there will be little difficulty 
in making as solid a butter as can be made from 
cream separated by the gravity process. 2. At the 
prices mentioned, 91 pounds of wheat ground would 
cost as much as 111 pounds of bran. Theoretically, 
the bran would be better than the whole wheat to 
mix with the remainder of the ration—corn meal and 
corn fodder—as the latter is deficient in albuminoids, 
and bran has more of albuminoids than whole wheat. 
On the other hand, wheat as a food for cows may have 
a value, due to palatability or greater digestibility, 
not indicated by its chemical composition ; but so 
little wheat has as yet been fed, that we are not safe 
in making any deductions as to this point. At equal 
prices, it would probably not be profitable to ex¬ 
change wheat for bran, but at the difference men¬ 
tioned, I am inclined to think that the larger amount 
of bran for the same money, would more than counter¬ 
balance any advantage that the whole wheat might 
have in the way of greater digestibility or like 
quality. H. H. wing. 
Analyses of Corn ; Wet or Dry Feed ? 
W. O. E., West Chester, Pa. —1. Bulletin No. 15 of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, gives the 
digestible protein in corn as 7.85 to 8 per cent and 
corn meal seven per cent. Where is the loss ? Is corn 
meal more digestible ground coarse or fine ? 2. What 
is the effect on the quantity and quality of milk, in 
feeding wet mixed feed ? 
Ans. — 1 . The difference is chiefly due to the fact 
that the corn meal contains more water, hence the 
proportion of protein is less. The finer it is ground, 
of course, the more water the corn can hold. 2 . This 
question is not settled. Many of the experiments at 
our stations indicate that dry feed is best chiefly be¬ 
cause it induces a more perfect chewing. Practical 
men, however, very largely wet the feed, though most 
of them have no scientific reason for doing it. 
Something About Broom Corn. 
J. A. S., Annville, Pa. —Where is broom corn raised? 
What varieties are best ? Where can I get seed ? 
Where can I get information respecting its culture ? 
Ans. —Broom corn is raised mostly in Illinois and 
west. It finds its principal market at Chicago. Seed 
may be had at any of the large city seed houses. A 
small manual giving directions for its culture, curing, 
handling, preparation for market, and marketing up 
to date, may be bought of Tiie R. N.-Y. for 50 cents. 
It requires some expense in the way of machinery and 
shed room to raise and handle broom corn success¬ 
fully. It is with some difficulty that an isolated crop 
is marketed, but it may be sometimes used to g-reat 
advantage on a run-down farm. On a piece of thin, 
washed out, cakey land, I have raised broom corn, 
plowed in rye in the fall with the stalks standing, 
broken them down in the winter, sowed a sprinkle of 
clover in the spring, pastured the rye with hogs the 
following autumn, turned the whole under and 
come out with a piece of land ready for anything. 
Lincoln County, Ky. ,j. a. MCKEE. 
An Insect Fond of Rhubarb. 
A. V. M ., Martinsburg, Mo .—My rhubarb stalks last 
season were stung by some insect, and soon after that 
I found worms in the stalk, making it unfit for use. 
How can I prevent it ? 
Ans. —The worms or grubs were doubtless the larvae 
of a small, grey snout-beetle a little over one-half 
inch long, and known as the Rhubarb curculio (Lixus 
concavus.) The beetles sting their minute eggs into 
the stalks. The eggs soon hatch, and the grubs bur¬ 
row in the stalks. This insect usually prefers the 
stems of certain common species of dock, especially 
the Curly dock, to rhubarb stalks. Thus one of the 
most promising remedies yet suggested is to pull up 
and burn, early in the summer, all docks in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the rhubarb plants. The beetles may also 
be collected by hand picking. All infested stalks 
should be burned as soon as found. There are, appar¬ 
ently, two broods of the pest annually. The beetles 
which emerge in the fall, hibernate and come forth in 
the spring to lay their eggs in the dock or rhubarb. 
The eggs then deposited develop into beetles by 
August, and this brood of beetles then lay eggs from 
which develop the beetles which hibernate. If very 
numerous, it will prove a hard pest to combat, m. v. 8. 
A Paris-Green Gun On Wheels. 
H. W., Clinton, III. —Why not make a great big insect 
powder gun, something on the plan of the Leggett, to 
be used on a wagon or cart and geared to the wheels 
and arranged with a spring to wind up so that the 
machine will run while standing still. Then have a 
long hollow tube to use for large trees. 
Ans. —A device something like this is used in Eng¬ 
land and Australia. It is called the “ Strawsonizer” 
from the inventor. It rides close to the ground with 
powerful fans worked by gearing to drive out poisons, 
fertilizers or liquids in a fine smoke or spray. It has 
never been introduced in this country and is now 
seldom mentioned in the English papers. 
Fish and Potash in Washington. 
D. R. H., Excelsior, Wash. —Would fish and potash 
make a good fertilizer for potatoes and carrots ? IIow 
much should I use on light, gravelly land ? I can get 
fish for $4 a ton, delivered on the farm. 
Ans. —Better for the carrots than for the potatoes, 
as the fish might injure the quality of the latter. We 
assume that the fish are “ green,” that is, wet, and but 
a short time from the water. The best way to utilize 
them is to compost witli kainit or muriate of potash. 
Dig a pit in hard ground if possible, and put in a layer 
of good soil—then, say, six inches*of fish, then enough 
of the potash to make the surface thoroughly white, 
and so continue to the top. This pile can be made on 
the surface of the ground like the ordinary compost 
heap. If land plaster can be obtained, it will pay to 
use it freely, as the fish are put in. If it cannot be 
had, we would use kainit in preference to muriate. 
By working the pile over once or twice the fish and 
potash will be well mixed and fined. 
The Use of Gas Lime. 
J. T. McL., Leechs' Corners, Pa. —Is gas lime good for 
a fertilizer ? Would it pay to haul it five miles at 2 ^ 
cents per bushel ? Would it kill the borers in peach 
trees by digging the earth away from the trunks of 
the trees and throwing it around them ? Is there 
danger of hurting the trees with it ? 
Ans. —Fresh gas lime will kill almost any vegetable 
except, perhaps, asparagus. We would not use it on 
peach trees. After being spread out and exposed to 
the weather, it is worth about as much as other lime. 
We would not pay that price for it. 
Worms in a Pig. 
A. P., Vineland, N. J. —My young pigs have worms. 
1 found 66 worms in the intestines of one small pig. 
What will kill them ? 
Ans. —The large round worms were the Ascaris 
Suilla. The fine threads with which they were filled, 
were not worms, but the oviducts filled with eggs. 
No, the worms are not born in the pigs ; they get the 
worms by eating the eggs that have passed from other 
swine, or young worms that have hatched from such 
eggs, and are taken in with the feed. Turpentine is 
one of the best remedies that can be given to remove 
intestinal worms, in any of the domestic animals. 
The proper dose would be one teaspoonful to each 
25 to 30 pounds of pig. The turpentine should be 
given, thoroughly shaken up in milk or oil, and on an 
empty stomach, i. e., after a fast of at least 12 hours. 
If well shaken up in a quart of milk, the pig might be 
hungry enough to drink it. Otherwise, it may be 
given as a drench with 10 parts castor oil, or 25 parts 
of milk, all well shaken together. F. l. k. 
A Weak Yearling Colt. 
II. F. L., Greenville, Va. —I have a yearling colt very 
singularly affected. When he lies down, he cannot 
get up without help. I find him every morning witli 
his head and fore feet up, but too weak in his hind 
legs to rise. He eats well, and moves well when he 
gets up. What ought I to give him ? 
Ans. —There are various causes that might lead to 
the condition described, but no clue is given to the 
probable cause. I can, therefore, only advise general 
treatment. First see that the colt has dry, comfort¬ 
able quarters. A grain ration, to consist mainly of 
ground oats and wheat bran, should be given twice 
daily, (live one-half teaspoonful powdered nux vomica 
on the feed twice daily, for one week, then increase 
the dose to one teaspoonful the second week, and 
1 X A teaspoonful doses the third week. Continue the 
nux until twitchii^gs of the muscles are observed 
(most readily seen when a noise or quick move is made 
slightly to excite the colt), or until there is marked 
improvement, after which it may be discontinued, or 
reduced one-half, as the case seems to demand. 
f. L. K. 
Peritonitis in a Pig. 
W. E. T., Ridgeland, N. Y. —I had 10 pigs between 
three and five months old, six in one pen, four in 
another. I feed fine feed and bran, scalded with boil¬ 
ing water, about 25 pounds each day to the 10, or 
2 X pounds per head. One of them just died. It was 
well up to 12 hours before death, ate its supper, but 
failed to eat its breakfast ; within one hour it was 
dead. I opened it and saw a very queer sight ; the 
intestines had burst and the pig was filled with a 
watery fluid—fully one gallon if not more. A thick 
coat of slimy substance covered the heart and liver. 
In one of the small intestines I found a body or sub¬ 
stance the shape of a corn cob in every particular. I 
first thought the substance to be a fatty formation. 
Still, how could a corn cob find its way to that point, 
and there lodge and finally cause death ? The pigs 
have not had an ear of corn for four or five weeks, and 
then just one feed. 
Ans. —The pig died of peritonitis, due to some 
injury. The watery fluid in the abdominal cavity 
was serum, which had been thrown into the abdomen 
as a result of the acute inflammation or peritonitis. 
The substance covering the organs was inflammatory 
exudate which had become coagulated. A corn cob 
might be accidently swallowed by a pig, remain some 
time in the stonfach, and then pass on into the small 
intestine only to lodge, causing inflammation of the 
intestine at that point, which would be followed by 
peritonitis and death. Such an accident is not liable 
to occur often. You will probably never have another 
case like it. There is no danger in the way you are 
feeding F. l. k. 
