MAB8H 23 
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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
<^ai(m (Bcononui. 
SOILING STOCK. 
I AM, Mr. Editor, one of those who be¬ 
lieve that our farms are not cultivated 
enough. There is my neighbor A. yonder, 
who has BO of his 125 acres in pasture. If I 
ask him what ho will take for hia farm he 
will be likely to toll me $75 or $100 per acre. 
If I wanted to buy that portion of his farm 
in pasture he would ask me about $50 per 
acre for it; and yet there is at least half of 
it that does not pay him annually seven per 
cent interest on $25 per acre. It Is good 
land enough, but It, grows little or nothing 
in the shape of forage for his cows and 
sheep. \Vhy, sir, I can select ten acres of it, 
which, if fenced off from a piece of bottom 
land ho has in the same field, would not 
keep ten sheep alive through the summer. 
And yet that land will pay 20 por cent, in¬ 
terest on $100 per acre, in its location, if 
properly managed, 
Yes sir, soiling oattle will do it. Let that 
land be plowed, manured, sowed in clover, 
and the clover cut and fed direct to the 
stock, and it will keep five times the amount 
of stock that it does now, and keep the an¬ 
imals better—yield the farmer more profit 
from each animal. “Labor is the bother," 
said my friend Jones the other day. So it 
is; but it is not a bother that is insur¬ 
mountable, if a man lias the good sense to 
know how to treat- and pay bis laborers. 
Where lands are high and valuable soiling 
has got to be adopted—every inch of land 
must be cultivated. My friend could prof¬ 
itably sell half of his land at $.50 per acre, 
till the other half as it should be, keep more 
Btock on it, and derive more profit there¬ 
from than he does now from the whole. 
And the half of the farm would, in five 
years, be worth more money, absolutely, 
than the whole Is now. 
Do you say this is dogmatic assertion, un¬ 
warranted by facts? I say no. I. have seen 
it tried. The agricultural papers have fur¬ 
nished facts proving it; there are men in 
New England and Now York getting rich 
at farming, who never made a dollar at the 
business until they began to cultivate every 
inch of ground they own, and to carry a 
heavy stock of cattle, sheep and swine upon 
it by soiling, to make manure with which 
to enrich their land. Their farms have 
grown better and their bank deposits larger 
ever since. J wish T could induce some of 
them to give facts and figures (to which 1 
have not access now) through your columns, 
to prove what I have here asserted. I hope 
they will do so. Farmer Garrulous. 
-♦♦♦- 
MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. 
Will you please give through the Rural 
New-Yorker your views as to the treat¬ 
ment and application of sheep, cattle and 
horse manure. To make my question plain 
lot me give my own practice:—The greater 
part of the dronpinga from sheep and cattle 
accumulate under the shelters occupied by 
each; the sheds are frequently littered with 
straw. The horse manure is dropped Into 
one side of t he cow shed, and becomes par¬ 
tially mingled with the cow manure. My 
method has been to leave thuso accuinula- 
tlons in tha sheds until after harvest, then 
apply as top dressing to winter wheat, or 
spread on sod designed for corn. Would it 
be a better plan to haul out in spring, and 
pile as for composting, if one cannot add 
muck or other materialV Will it pay to 
haul simply good black dirt—not extra rich 
—one hundred rods to increase the heap? 
Where manure only partially rotted is ap¬ 
plied in autumn—not to be plowed 111 or 
otherwise mixed with the soil till Bpring— 
should it be spread immediately, or left ill 
small heaps?— w. M. T. 
It is better to handle suoh manure, even 
to simply pitch it into a wagou ami haul it 
out and pile it; for each handling benefits 
it. If allowed to remain under the sheds it 
will pay to fork it over thoroughly oucc a 
month during the season, if there are no 
other absorbents available it will pay to mix 
soil with such manure—a clayey loam is best, 
but any soil, except pure sand, is better than 
none. We should spread even partially 
rotted manure as we haul it on the land. 
We know of no gain in piling it up in the 
field, except in the shape of a compost heap, 
with plenty of absorbents to take up the 
gases as it decomposes. 
-♦♦♦- 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Application of Manure.—I always read 
with especial interest the result of experi¬ 
ments, in the Rural New-Yorker. Some 
years ago a much esteemed neighbor of 
mine, who was in the habit of buying con¬ 
siderable manure for his farm, made the 
remark that his buildings, which were all 
neatly painted white, were painted with 
manure. But the question is, when, and 
how shall we apply it, in order to receive 
the most benefit from it ? I used to think 
that when I applied it to meadow, in the 
fall or winter, it was sure to yield a rich re¬ 
turn. But two years ago this winter, I gave 
a uewly seeded meadow a top-dressing of 
twenty loads per acre, and do not think 
that I have received two dollars per acre 
benefit from it. There was scarcely any 
rain the spring following, and both summers 
have been very dry. My experience seems 
to indicate that the surest way to obtain the 
largest returns from manure (fine or rotten), 
is to apply it to land after it is plowed, then 
drag, sow to grain and grass seed. 1 never 
fail to have good grain, and a good seeding, 
when appl led that way. If there is any way 
to get, a larger return from it, In ordinary 
farming, I would like to hear of it, through 
the columns of the Rural. —F. D. P., Home, 
New York. _ 
Ground Bones and Ashes for Peas, on. 
sandy land, will be found a most excellent 
application. If Mr. Thomason, who asks, 
will add a good dressing of muck, and plow 
it In, ho will raise a good crop of peas, other 
conditions being equal. By the way. wo 
would be glad to know how successful pea 
growers manage this crop, and what they 
regard the best variety for a field crop. 
SClic 
NOTES FOR SPORTSMEN. 
Fishing Through Ice.—The following 
is the Western Indian’s mode of fishing 
through ice: — Whittle a stick about six 
inches long, into a shape as near that of a 
fish as possible; color it with ink to look 
like a fish; strip the feathers from the side 
of a quill, and attach them to the sides and 
hark, for fins. By running tho point of a 
knife along where the tins are wanted, t he 
feathers may be put in the opening. Make a 
rabbet groove in the bottom, and run iu 
some lead; hitch a thread to this and your 
decoy Is complete. Out a hole through t he 
ice and put two bent poles over the hole, 
with their ends in a notch in the ice; throw 
over tho hole a blanket to make it dark; 
get your head under the blanket, with your 
spear, ready to throw in the decoy. Jerk 
the string of the decoy a little, and it will 
swim around not unlike a real tisli. (The 
thread should bo tied to the decoy a lit tle 
one side of the back.) Now If you do not 
have tho fever too bad, and are quick and 
sure enough, you may get a fish. I have ha<l 
rare sport in this way, and some good fish 
to eat.—J. S., Corrj?, P«- 
To Catcli Pickerel Through the Ice. 
—In looking over the Rural New-Yorker 
I saw that P. C. S., Otsego Co., N. Y., wish¬ 
ed to know how to catch Pickerel through 
the ice. This is my way: Pickerel may 
be easily caught, in places where the water 
is not too deep, by cutting holes in the iee 
and using tho common hook and line. 
From four to eight feet is about the right, 
depth Of water. By using what are called 
“tip-ups,” one person can attend to several 
lines, each of course being placed in a dif¬ 
ferent bole. Take a strip of board two in¬ 
ches wide and two feet long, and bore a hole 
near one end; through the hole, put a stick 
long enough to reach across the hole in tho 
ice; thereon fasten your Hue to the short 
end of the strip, and drop tho hooks in the 
water. When a fish bites, the long end of 
tho stick will tip up and can easily be seen. 
For bait use small fish or almost any kind of 
meat.—S. T. N. t Cambridge , N. Y. 
Inquiries fbr Sportsmen.—J. R. asks 
how to make and set a partridge trap. J. 
ILL. asks tho best mode of tanning musk¬ 
rat and dog skins, etc. J. J. IIardway, 
Columbus, Ga., wants to get a fine setter 
pup. We know of no one t o whom to direct 
him, who has one. “ Uncle Nki> ” wants to 
know how to raisit black bass, and where 
tho fish or spawn can bo procured. Down¬ 
ing asks the best kind of a dog to purchase 
for hunting door and prairie chickens. He 
will want two—a hound and a setter. Geo. 
Skinner asks the best way to tamo and 
keep wild pigeons. “Young Sportsman” 
wants to know what kind of dog is best for 
hunting wolves in Kansas. 
The English Fox lloiuid, (see illustra¬ 
tion), Richardson says, “ appears to have 
been produced from the stag hound by a 
cross of gray hound and probably also of a 
terrier. He is less in size than a stag hound, 
has smaller and less hound-like ears, is bold, 
dashing, sportive, supersedes, because of 
his general usefulness, all other hounds; is 
bred to size, &c., according to the sport for 
which he may be acquired. Several con¬ 
noisseurs of dogs commend our spirited en¬ 
graving of these hounds.” 
SOMETHING NEW CONCERNING ABOR¬ 
TIVE COWS. 
The great prevalence of " abortion among 
cows,” in the dairy districts of Now York, 
during the last ten years, and the dlflloiilty 
of arriving at, any correct conclusion con¬ 
cerning tho cause of the trouble, must give 
interest to any new facts or theories in re¬ 
spect to this scourge of the dairy. At the 
recent meeting of tho American Dairy¬ 
mens’ Association at U t ioa, we had a con ver- 
satiou with Dr. Brigoh of North Pitcher, 
N. Y., who claims to have disoovored souio 
curious features connected with the disease, 
not hitherto noticed. In all instances when 
ho has made dissect ions of aborting cows, 
animalcules have been found in the lungs, 
in the vagina, and in other parts of the ani¬ 
mal, while the expelled foetus has also been 
affected with tho same class of organisms. 
Iu dissecting the immature calves he affirms 
that worms are invariably found about tho 
umbilical cord, and lie attributes the dis¬ 
ease to these causes. 
It will be remembered that a few years 
ago the State of New York appropriated a 
considerable sum of money to be expended 
in investigating the cause of abortive cows, 
and Commissioners were appointed for the 
purpose. We believe no dissections of af¬ 
fected animals were made by those selected 
to investigate this matter, or, at least no 
microscopical examinations were resorted 
to. The commission, extending over two or 
three years, collected a largo number of 
facts, from which certain deductions were 
made, but* nothing positive was elicited as 
to the cause of the trouble. We thought 
at tho time, and still think, that the great 
fault of these investigations consisted in 
not, making a thorough examination of the 
aborting cows, and in not having an expe¬ 
rienced niieroscopist detailed especially for 
this purpose. It, had been long suspected 
by members of the Little Falls Farmers' 
Club, that abortion was due to causes simi¬ 
lar to those named by Dr. Briggs, and it 
was hoped that by the aid of the microscope 
tho matter would bo fully settled. 
The statements of I)r. Briggs seem to be 
confirmed by those of M. Bon lev, well 
known for his researches concerning the 
di .wises of cattle, such as carbuncle. Sc. 
\\r -e it stated that this gentleman has 
laLTv’ made a communication to the Acade¬ 
my of Sciences at Paris, based upon some 
investigations of M. ZUNDEL Upon epidemic, 
or what he calls enzootic miscarriage, in cat¬ 
tle, as follows: 
He states that it has long been known that 
when a cow undergoes a miscarriage In a 
stable occupied by other cows in a condi¬ 
tion of gestation, this accident does not, re¬ 
main isolated, but on the contrary, and, in 
fact, very commonly, the remaining animals 
miscarry successively, us though a con¬ 
tagious principle had been discharged from 
the first case, and communicated to all the 
others. It has already been shown by ex¬ 
periment, that if the liquids discharged by 
a cow that lias just, miscarried, be intro¬ 
duced into the vagina of another cow nearly 
at full term, the miscarriage will take place 
iu the second oase. 
According to Franck, this is produced 
by the microaoecl or bartering, which exist 
iu an extraordinary quantity upon the 
foetal envelopes, and conduce to their de¬ 
composition. These being introduced into 
the vagina, multiply with great rapidity, 
penetrate to the uterus, and there initiate 
that decomposition Of which abortion is the 
consequence. If it shall be established that 
abortion among cows is caused by living 
organisms of the character referred to, we 
have reason to believe that a remedy will 
yet be discovered for this disease, which is 
proving to be one of the greatest scourges 
that has ever afflicted t,he herds of Central 
New York. 
There is no abatement of the trouble this 
year in Herkimer and the adjoining coun¬ 
ties. We know of herds in which thirty or 
more cows had aborted during the early 
winter and up to February 15th. Til some 
dairies the loss from this disease for a series 
of years has been more than the entire 
profits from the herd during the time. The 
question of “cause and remedy” for the 
trouble is one of very great interest to the 
dairy public, and we give the above facts in 
the hope that further examinations may be 
made, either confirming or refuting the 
statements to which we alluded. 
X. A. Willard. 
-♦♦♦---- 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN. 
Mange on Cattle.—In a recent Rural 
New-Yorker, an Oregon subscriber says 
his cattle are afflicted with a “scaly and 
rough skin around the eyes,” looking like 
" salt-rheum,” and asks what it is, and what 
to do. It is mange—a disease of the skin, 
caused by parasites, which burrow under 
the surface, aud, if uot checked, will extend 
over the body, and Injure, if not kill, the 
animal. 
I have cured, readily, several case9, by 
rubbing off’ tho scurf on the sore places, and 
washing the parts with carbolic acid, dis¬ 
solved. A solution of blue vitriol would 
probably answer; one or two applications 
will effect a cure. After applying the car¬ 
bolic acid, or vitriol, rub on sulphur, mixed 
with lard, every other day. The parasites 
must be killed; this the caustics will do, 
and tho ointment heals the sore. Do uot 
apply mercurial ointments or tobacoo, al¬ 
though the latter is not so dangerous as tho 
former.—F. D. Curti9. 
Hoof-All.— John Adams of Redfleld, N. 
Y,, vouches for a cure of “Hoof-Ail” in cat¬ 
tle, by tho use of “Anderson’s Dermador.” 
He is not interested in this remedy, or any 
person making or selling same; but for its 
quick disposal of the disease, lie says it is 
wonderful, and Is reliable. He has cured 
several of the very worst cases by only a few 
applications of the remedy. We think Mr. 
Anderson himself does not know of this 
effect of his “Dermador;" and it will do 
many much good for you to make a notice 
of this, if you choose to do so.—J. M. Adams. 
Cure for Bloat. In Cattle.—I have found 
tobacco—a decoction of the weed is best, as 
it operates soonest-—to be one of the best 
cures for bloat in cattle that I ever used. I 
never knew it to fail to give relief within 
fifteen minutes after administered.—I. W. 
Sanborn, Lyndonvillc, Vt. 
Swelling on Bteer’a .Taw.—(See page 
130, Rural New-Yorker Feb. 24.) Take 
one ounce indigo, mixed in one pint soft 
soap; rub on the swelling. Ilad a steer a 
year ago with a bunch as large as a large 
apple; this cured him in a few weeks.—E. 
R. B., Moscow, Mich. 
Lice on Cattle.—I have driven lice from 
cattle by the use of kerosene oil, which 
should be poured along the spine, on the 
head, and rubbed on the udder. Wood 
ashes, sifted around the stalls, are a good 
preventive, and will drive lice from the 
stable.—P. Belman. 
®lff Naturalist. 
NOTES FOR NATURALISTS. 
SheepHhead. — Will not some of the 
naturalists who read the Rural New- 
Yorker tell me if the fish known in tho 
small streams of New York State as 
“ skoi-pshesid " is identical with the Seiran* 
ovls of the sea along the Northern eoa:-i 
of America? This sea fish is reported to at¬ 
tain, sometimes, the weight of fourteen aud 
fifteen pounds. No “ sheepshead’’ of the 
small streams and creeks of New York, 
that 1 ever caught, ever weighed over one 
pound.— Fisherman. 
We suppose the fresh water fish our cor¬ 
respondent alludes to is the one commonly 
known as the “gunflsh ” — Promotis vul¬ 
garis — an entirely different fish, of which 
wo: have caught hundreds, but never one, 
we think, that would weigh more than half 
a pound. It is a dark greenish-brown on 
tlits back, greenish-yellow on the sides, the 
lower end of the gill tipped with red. and 
the belly orange aud gold. It is, we believe, 
a member of the perch family. 
Horned Screamer. —A friend of mine 
asked me the other day if I could tell her 
what a “Horned Screamer” is. She said 
she heard the term applied by one person 
to another, and could not understand the 
pertinence of tho applicat ion, nor could she 
discover the origin of the word. I also 
have failed, and ask you.—P atience 1\ R. 
Horned Screamer is the common name 
of a bird (Palamcdm Cornuta) which in¬ 
habits the swamps of Brazil. It is of a 
blaokish-brown color, nearly as large as a 
turkey. From the head, a little back of the 
bill, rises a long, slender, movable horn. The 
front of the wings has spurs which are said 
to bo used by it for defensive purposes. 
The horn spoken of, and its loud, harsh cry 
give it its name. How the term could bo 
properly applied to a person we cannot 
conceive. __ 
Taxidermy.—Will some of the readers 
of the Rural New-Yorker give me the 
modus operandi of taxidermy (without the 
use of arsenic, or any other poisonous sub¬ 
stance if possible), as I wish to make a col¬ 
lection, and doubt not that others would do 
the same if it can be done without incurring 
the risk of being poisoned.—T. J. Fenton. 
