1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
345 
of health, but without reaching' the point of weariness. 
It would be better to work stallions out of the breed¬ 
ing season, and to exercise them every day vigorously 
during the breeding season, but stop short of tiring 
them. MORGAN HORSE CO. 
Kane County, 111. 
Keep in Perfect Health. 
All breeding animals should be so kept and cared 
for as to maintain perfect health—the greatest 
amount of strength and vigor—with a strong constitu¬ 
tion. To do this, the best sanitary conditions should 
prevail. A liberal, but not too great an amount of 
wholesome food, should be given. Regular exercise 
is essential, especially for the stallion or brood mare. 
If this can be given in the roomy paddock, all right; 
but if not, then get it by moderate, regular work. 
With these points constantly in view, any breeder 
can arrange details. smiths a POWELL CO. 
Rules for Heavy Horses. 
All experience, both in this country and Europe, 
emphasizes the fact that the more natural the condi¬ 
tions, the better are the results. This applies as much 
to horses as to any other animals ; therefore, I would 
unhesitatingly recommend the working of the mare in 
moderation up till the very day of foaling. The principal 
dangers arise either from excessive work—especially 
heavy pulling, although this is rarely practiced—or, 
what is more likely, enforced idleness accompanied 
by an increase of flesh, which is not desirable. A sud¬ 
den change of feed previous to or about the time of 
foaling, is also to be avoided. The stallion should 
have abundant exercise all the year ’round. Between 
seasons, he may be worked to advantage, but care 
should be taken that his condition is not brought too 
low, or his blood impoverished. During the breeding 
season, he ought to be in the most perfect condition 
of health and vigor, and while I would advocate regu¬ 
lar daily exercise, this should not be pushed to the ex¬ 
tent of tiring the horse. The general rule of treat¬ 
ment is the same in Europe and this country. 
Sec’y Amer. Clydesdale Ass’n. alex. galbraitii. 
Crimson Clover for Corn. 
0. 0. 0., Aylett, Va. —I am glad to report my field of Crimson 
clover sowed in corn in August at the suggestion of The R. N.-Y., 
came through the winter O. K., and grew every warm spell during 
our severest winter and is now coming into bloom. At what stage 
should I turn it under ? Will not an application of acid phosphate 
and muriate of potash be just the thing to use with it for corn ? 
The land has been in corn for two years, with ground bone the 
first year and guano last year and one bag of muriate on part as 
an experiment. 
Ans. —For corn, we would plow under the clover 
just as it comes in bloom—before the seeds form. Use 
acid phosphate and muriate of potash in the propor¬ 
tion of four parts phosphate to one of muriate. 
What to Do with Cow Peas. 
E. B., Brown's Store, Va. —I have a piece of winter oats, to be 
fallowed as soon as the oats are cut the last of June and sowed to 
cow peas, to be followed by Crimson clover. Would it be better to 
sow the peas and clover at the same time, with the idea of feeding 
the peas off with hogs, leaving the vines to form a mulch for 
clover; or sow the peas to be fed off or turned under in Septem¬ 
ber, and the land then seeded with Crimson clover ? Would a 
growth of peas be likely to smother the clover ? What is the 
manurial value to the land, to feed a crop of peas with hogs ? 
What would its value be to turn under without feeding? 
Ans. —We would sow the peas alone, and feed them 
off and then plow and sow the Crimson clover. Pos¬ 
sibly some of our Virginia readers have experience 
that will cover this point. Let’s hear from them. Of 
course the manurial value of such a crop depends on 
the size of it. A ton of ordinary green cow pea vines 
will contain about five pounds of nitrogen, six of pot¬ 
ash and two of phosphoric acid. A ton of pork will 
remove from the land 70 pounds of nitrogen, 10 of 
phosphoric acid and eight of potash. This, of course, 
would come from the cow peas, but to offset this loss 
the vines would be crushed and broken down and the 
manure passed by the hogs in more available form for 
plant food than the original crop. Our opinion is that 
there will be more actual profit in pasturing the peas. 
A Wisconsin Potato Fertilizer. 
J. C. E., La Crosse, Wis. —What is the composition of what is 
known as potato fertilizer ? I have just received some, and, from 
the odor, I conclude that slaughterhouse tankage is the princi¬ 
pal ingredient. Does it contain anything besides ordinary 
slaughterhouse tankage ? We have a slaughterhouse in this 
town, and tankage is comparatively cheap here. I have been 
reading the articles in The R. N.-Y. on the use of potato ferti¬ 
lizer in growing potatoes, and don’t quite understand the best 
plan of using it; whether broadcast after the field has been 
planted, or mixed with the seed in the drill. If it is sowed in the 
drill, should it not be mixed with the soil before dropping the seed? 
Ans. —You cannot have read those articles on “Wood 
Ashes and Bone ” very carefully, or you would not 
ask these questions. A good potato fertilizer ought 
to contain certain proportions of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid, and the nitrogen and the phosphoric 
acid should be in varying forms. The tankage contains 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but no potash, and is 
not, therefore, a complete potato fertilizer. Of course, 
we cannot tell what your sample contains. You could 
send a sample of it to your State Experiment Station 
at Madison, Wis., and have it analyzed if you wish. 
If you will read the articles under Primer Science, 
you will, we think, understand more of this matter. 
In using a potato fertilizer, we like to broadcast about 
half of it and harrow in. Put it on top of the plowed 
furrows—a grain drill will do this. Use the other 
half in the drills, mixing it with the soil so as not to 
bring it iu direct contact with the seed pieces. 
Insects in Stored Wool. 
A. W., Dundee, N. Y. —The price of wool was so low last sum¬ 
mer, that I and several of my neighbors decided to keep our wool 
Not having a good room in which to store it, we got large dry 
goods boxes and packed the fleeces quite solidly in them. The 
village wool buyer, who wanted our wool for 8 to 10 cents per 
pound, says that our wool is likely to be destroyed by moths, and 
spoil from close packing. Is this true ? How can we determine 
whether moths are in the wool without emptying the boxes and 
unrolling all the fleeces ? 
Ans. —If the wool was stored in the unwashed con¬ 
dition, it is doubtful whether any insect will disturb 
it. I have inquired of several wool growers who have 
thus stored their product, and none had any trouble 
except in one or two instances where bumblebees 
made their nests in it. I know of no way of treating 
the wool, before storing it, that would surely protect 
it from the attacks of insects. If it is stored in large 
boxes or bins, which are or can be made nearly air¬ 
tight, it can be kept free from all animal life by treat¬ 
ing it from time to time (when there are any indications 
that anything is at work in it) with carbon bisulphide. 
One pound of the liquid will be sufficient for a ton of 
the wool. Address E. R. Taylor, Cleveland, O., for 
detailed directions how to use this poisonous liquid. 
I would not attempt to say whether there were 
insects at work in stored wool without unrolling the 
fleeces. m. y. s. 
Work of the Snowy Tree Cricket. 
J. B. S., Wolcott, N. Y. —While pruning my young peach trees, 
I found some affected limbs of last year’s growth. By splitting 
them I found a row of grubs or worms, which must injure the 
tree. How shall I dispose of them ? Will they not do considerable 
damage ? 
Ans. —For a distance of two or three inches along 
the peach branches, there was a narrow, ragged- 
edged scar or slit, resembling a long cut that might 
be made with a very dull knife. The characteristic 
gummy exudation, which usually appears when a 
growing peach branch is injured, had nearly filled 
the slit, and had become black in color. If the branch 
be split through the scar, there will be found a row 
of long, round, slightly-curved, yellowish eggs (not 
grubs or worms, as J. B. S. states). The slit will be 
seen to consist of a longitudinal series of punctures 
placed close together, and extending through the 
woody portion of the bi’anch into the pith ; in each 
puncture there is an egg. The insect which thus some¬ 
times seriously injures the smaller branches of fruit 
trees, but more often of raspberry canes, is a delicate, 
greenish-white cricket. It is popularly known as the 
Snowy Tree cricket, from its habit of living among 
the foliage of trees and shrubs. Its wing-covers are 
broad and transparent, and are crossed by oblique 
thickenings or ribs, which form the musical apparatus 
of the male insect. In those parts of the country 
where the true Katy-did does not occur, the familiar 
chirp of this cricket is the most prominent of all 
sounds made during the late summer and early autumn 
evenings. Except for the injury caused by the female 
in laying her eggs, this cricket is not regarded as a 
noxious insect. Its diet is said to consist, in part at 
least, of plant lice and other small insects. The eggs 
are laid late in the summer, but do not hatch until 
the early part of the following summer. It is, there¬ 
fore, a simple matter to combat the insect by cutting 
out the infested canes or branches, and burning them 
before growth begins in the spring ; and this is the 
only practical way of fighting the pest. m. v. s. 
The Norfolk Island Pine Coccus or Bark Louse. 
W. W. H., Bunker Hill, III. —I inclose a small sprig of Araucaria 
upon which 1 find small nests. Are they the cotton scale ? There 
are no spiders or other insects about the plant, which has been 
kept in the house with other plants, none of which is infested. 
ANSWERED BY M. Y. SLINGKRLAND. 
The twig of Araucaria was infested with a peculiar 
bark louse or coccid known as the Norfolk Island 
Pine coccus (Rhizococcus araucarise). It was first 
described from Australia in 1879 ; and the next year 
Prof. Comstock found it very common on the Norfolk 
Island pines growing in the open air in southern Cali¬ 
fornia. Many of the scale insects begin secreting a 
protective scale soon after they emerge from the egg, 
but this pine coccid remains naked until ready to lay 
her eggs ; or, in the case of the male, to undergo his 
transformations to the delicate fly-like creature with 
two large wings and a pair of long, conspicuous, 
waxen filaments projecting from the end of the 
abdomen. When this stage is reached in the life cf 
the insect, a cocoon-like covering to the body is 
secreted ; it is composed of white waxen threads, and 
that of the male is very much smaller. This sac is 
dense like felt, but easily torn. It is open on the 
middle line of the center of the body, and often 
remains adhering to theti-ee where excreted after the 
deatli of the insect within. When this white sac-like 
covering is completed, the female begins laying eggs 
within it. As the process continues, her body shrinks 
away, making room for the eggs, and finally becomes 
a small pellet in one end of the sac, the remainder of 
the space being filled with light yellow eggs. Fre¬ 
quently these sacs are so massed at the ends of the 
twigs that the bases of the leaves are completely 
covered. The sacs are small, measuring but little 
more than a tenth of an inch in length, but this white 
color contrasts strongly with the green of the leaves, 
thus making the insects quite conspicuous 
But little is known of the life history of this curious 
coccid ; there are doubtless several generations a 
year. The insect has not yet attained economic 
importance, and thus no suggestions have been made 
to combat it. As it is unprotected by any scale during 
the earlier portion of its life, doubtless thorough and 
frequent sprayings with kerosene emulsion w’ould 
check it. It is not the Cottony Cushion scale which 
at one time threatened the destruction of the extens¬ 
ive orchards of California, but which was checked a 
few years ago by the introduction of a few specimens 
of a rapidly multiplying Lady-bird beetle from 
Australia that feeds on the scale. 
" Dung Worms " Are Wanted. 
W. V. L., Haverhill, Mass .—Having been personally acquainted 
with White grubs and their ravages, for more than 60 years, I 
have been interested in the articles pertaining to them which 
have appeared in The R. N.-Y. In New Hampshire where I was 
reared, these White grubs were called Dung worms in my boy¬ 
hood days, and by no other name among the farmers in that 
vicinity. Why were they so called ? 
Ans. —They were doubtless called “ Dung worms’ 
in accordance with the popular belief, which is just 
as prevalent now as it was 150 years ago, that the 
grubs found in manur§ piles, are the genuine White 
grubs. But, the grubs usually found in such situa¬ 
tions, are the larval stage of an entirely different 
beetle from the May beetle, which is the parent of 
the true White grub. No one will deny that White 
grubs work, and perhaps are more destructive and 
possibly more numerous, in soil containing nftich 
manure. But do they breed in piles of manure ? Send 
any worms that look like White grubs which you find 
in manure piles, to Cornell Experiment Station, 
Ithaca, N. Y., and I will gladly take the time to ex¬ 
amine them. The . question can be settled only by 
careful examination of many specimens. Send me 
your “ Dung worms.” m. v. s. 
A Cow with Rheumatism. 
B. B., Pt. of Bocks, Md .—I have an Alderney cow that Is very 
stiff, and it is with difficulty that she raises her feet. Her front 
legs have large knots on them at the knees. She has been stiff 
several months, but is in good condition, and eats well. 
Ans. —Unless the swelling on the knees is due to 
bruising against the manger, or on the floor, it is 
probably due to rheumatism. Give the cow one pound 
of glauber salts, with two tablespoonfuls of ginger 
and a good handful of salt, dissolved in about three 
pints of water, as a drench. Follow with bicarbonate 
of soda, one ounce, and nitrate of potash, one-fourth 
ounce, given twice daily on the feed, or in the drink¬ 
ing water. Rub the swelling daily until well blistered, 
with strong ammonia liniment—strong aqua ammonia 
and sweet or olive oil, equal parts, well shaken 
together. f. l. k. 
“Lumpy Jaw ” in a Cow. 
A. B. L., Barboursville, Va.— My cow has a lump on one of her 
lower jaws. I first felt it last fall ; it is now larger than a hen’s 
egg. It seems to be an enlargement of the jaw. The skin does 
not adhere tightly to the lump. The cow is a high-grade Jersey 
about four years old, and will be fresh in a month. I suppose the 
lump is what is known as “actinomycosis.” Please let me know 
how to treat it, and whether it is likely to yield to any treatment I 
can administer myself? There is ro veterinarian conveniently 
near, but I could secure the services of one if I were reasonably 
sure of effecting a cure. 
Ans. —First try painting the lump daily with the 
compound tincture of iodine, until the skin is well 
blistered; then paint twice a week for a few weeks. If 
there be no improvement after a few weeks, try the 
iodide of potassium treatment for actinomycosis. 
This treatment consists in giving the cow one to two 
drams (one to two teaspoonfuls) iodide of potassium 
once daily in the drinking water or on the feed, or 
dissolved in one pint of water as a drench, for a week 
or 10 days. Then omit the medicine for two or three 
days, after which repeat as before. A laxative diet 
should be given—green food or bran mashes—to pre¬ 
vent the bowels becoming costive. Should the feces 
become too dry, give a pound of glauber salts in the 
interval between the periods of giving the iodide. 
F. L. K. 
Constipation Caused by Cotton-Seed Meal. 
C. L. B., Hebron, Me. —One of my neighbors has a cow seven or 
eight years old, which calved about two weeks ago. Her feed, up 
to the time of calving, was about one pint of cotton-seed meal, 
with what good mixed hay she needed. Since calving, she has 
had about three quarts of cotton-seed meal and three quarts of 
shorts, with the same hay per day. A few days ago, she refused 
to eat or drink, takes no notice of her calf, and has shrunk one- 
half or more in milk. Her hide is tight, and she appears to be 
bloated a little. What is the cause and a remedy? He has had 
two or three before this in the same way. He has fed cotton-seed 
meal principally this winter, with no other grain feed—some three 
or four quarts a day per cow. 
Ans. —The cow is suffering from indigestion or im¬ 
paction, probably due to feeding too exclusively the 
cotton-seed meal. When first off her feed, she should 
have received three-fourths pound each of Epsom and 
common salt, with an ounce of ginger, as a drench to 
move the bowels This should have been followed 
with two tablespoonf als of sulphate of soda and two 
teaspoonfuls of powdered nux vomica in the feed 
twice daily. v. l. k. 
