(Jjtcld dj/TOpf). 
CASTOR OIL BEAN CULTURE, 
Seeing an inquiry in the Rural, New- 
Yorker of March 16th, about the Cultiva¬ 
tion of Castor Oil Bean, l will give the 
manner of culture, harvesting, etc. Select 
good corn ground, as free from weed seed 
as possible; plow deep, and harrow; mark 
oft' four feet one way, and the other way, 
every fifth row, live feet for gathering; 
plant about the middle of April, dropping 
three to five beans in every hill, so as to get 
a good stand ; cover about two inches deep. 
It takes from four to five weeks to conic up. 
The after cultivation is the same as for 
Corn, keeping free from all weeds; plow 
four or live times. After the second plow¬ 
ing, thin, if on strong laud, to one stalk; if 
on thin, leave two, as far apart as conve¬ 
nient. 
The time of harvesting commences about 
the middle of August, and cont inues till t-lle 
last of September. The manner of harvest¬ 
ing is to take a sled, put on a large store 
box, driving your horse in the wide row, 
and gathering from each fddo, taking two 
rows on a side. When the bean is ready to 
gather, the bull of the bean cracks open. 
If there is one bean cracked on the pod, the 
pod Is ready to cut, which is done with a 
knife. The lower pods ripen first. The 
pods are thrown in the box, and when the 
box is full, take to the bean yard, which is 
made by smoothing the ground off in a place 
well exposed to the sun; if on sod, lift the 
soil and pile up around the yard ; or make 
a close plunk fenoc around, about three feet 
high, to keep the beans from hopping out. 
Throw on to the depth of throe or four 
inches. T f I he weather is good, they will be 
out in four days, ready to clean up for more. 
Clean through a fanning mill. The sun 
cracks the hull of the bean, and they fall 
out. » 
Gather your beans at least once a week, 
or you will lose a good many, as they will 
not wait till you get ready after they com¬ 
mence ripening. A good hand will gather 
six acres. The yield per acre will average 
twenty bushels, if well tended. The price 
is from $1.50 to 83 per bushel. The market 
is good. The oil is pressed in St,. Louis. 
The Castor Oil Bean is as good for the 
ground as a crop of clover. There are al¬ 
ways a good many beaus that fall off, and 
the large leaves seem to enrich the ground. 
Nothing will molest them but tho cut worm. 
Chinch bugs, stock, nor anything else, will 
molest while growing. We consider them 
a good crop to raise. Our neighbor raised 
10 acres the last year, which yielded him an 
average of 25 bushels per acre. Two hands 
and two boys gathered them in four weeks, 
going over them live times. They sold at 
depot, V-4 miles distant, for $1.90 per bushel. 
Franklin Co., ICan. J. It. Edoewouth. 
- -»♦»-- , . ■ 
CARE OF CORN, 
Plowing corn before it is up was a new 
tiling to us three or four years ago, and 
maybe new toothers; lienee 1 talk about 
it . This article applies to those who have 
corn planters and raise from Jifty to three 
hundred or more acres of corn, and of 
course cannot have time to bon it or plow 
it more than fivo times; also where hired 
help is dear. Our plan, ou full plowing, is 
to go over the ground thoroughly with the 
seeder, then the harrow in the opposite di¬ 
rection, mark out and plant four feet each 
way. After the corn is sprouted well, go 
into it with the two-horse cultivator; and 
even if you cover the Corn with an inch or 
two of tine, mellow dirt, it will bo all the 
better, especially so ir planted shallow. 
The object in so plowing is to have the corn 
start ahead of the weeds; and how can you 
unless it is plowed before it is up? 
When corn is four or live inches high we 
are apt to plow so far away from the hill 
that t here is a streak of weeds on each side 
of the row; and by the time wo plow tho 
second time they are so tall we cannot cover 
them; the result is two-thirds of a crop of 
corn and the ground well seeded with fox¬ 
tail and other seeds for next year. 
Another suggest ion I would liko to make 
for those who have large fields of corn to 
plant and cannot afford to buy a planter 
for a year or two, and that Is cover t he corn 
with a cultivator. Two men can cover 
twenty acres of corn in a day, which would 
take quite a number of persons with a hoe. 
One thing must not be omitted — that is, 
stepping on each hill as you walk after the 
plo.w. A neighbor tried each way; he said 
there was much more corn missing that 
was not stepped ou. 
We raise from 200 to 300 acres of corn and 
never put a hoe in it. Last year ('71) the 
corn went from 80 to 90 bushels per acre; 
1870, 75 bushels per acre. 
Davenport, Iowa. Frank Lindley. 
CORN CULTURE IN MISSOURI. 
I was pleased with au article on corn 
raising in your issue of March 9th. It may 
be the best way for Indiana; but out hero 
ou the coniines of barbarism we would look 
upon it as rat her tedious. I also five in a 
corn country, and claim that l can raise 
more corn with the same, value of land and 
same manual labor than he can. We usu¬ 
ally follow corn with corn; dispose of tho 
stalks with a “ stalk cutter’'- an open roller 
set with horizontal knives which revolves, 
chopping them Into 15 inch lengths, which 
may be turned under with tho “turning 
plow;” then harrow, and mark one way 
with two horses and a marker that makes 
three or four marks. We then plant with 
a horse planter which drops and covers two 
rows,across the marks, rowing it both way.-:. 
After this some roll with an eight feet 
roller; others harrow all over with a lino 
harrow; others wait until corn is up, thou 
knockout a tooth from an A harrow, put 
handles to it, and straddle the row. But 
when corn is well up some use a riding 
plow. Most cultivators, however, use a 
walking-straddle-row-four.sliovel-two-horse 
plow, which we claim does better work, 
and twice as fast as the double shovel. 
With this “policy” one of my neighbors 
claims that with a little help before plant¬ 
ing, lie tilled clean, (and we have a weedy 
country,) fifty-eight (58) acres, and raised 
3,200 bushels. Another man, now working 
for me, tilled sixty acres clean, and raised 
2,400 bushels of corn. One had a single 
span of mules, the other a single span of 
horses. s. k. f. 
Bolckow, Andrew Co., Mo. 
-♦+♦——— 
SPRING RYE FOR SUMMER PASTURE. 
T. P. L., Soil alia, Mo., desires to know if 
any of the friends of tho Re rat. New- 
Yorker have ever tried sowing ryo, in 
spring, with Timothy and clover for sum¬ 
mer pasture. 1 am a groat friend to tho 
Rural, and have tried rye for pasture in 
summer. The Rural always amounts to 
something, but ryo sown for pasture never 
amounts to enough to pay for tho seed, if 
the cattle are turned on it; for they tread 
it into the ground, and pull it up at such a 
rate that the first dry spell that comes 
there will bo but very little ryo left. Then, 
again, if ho sows the Timothy and clover, 
the cattle will entirely spoil it; or, at least, 
he could not get a catch, as it is called, if 
the cutt le mu upon the field where the seed 
was sown. Tho best way is to sow the rye 
early hi tho spring (l 1 , or 2 bush, per acre.) 
also his grass seed; when the ryo gets largo 
enough to mow, or cradle, cut it and feed 
it. to his cows. If the season is not dry, he 
can cut it two or three times and his grass 
will got a line catch—become well rooted so 
that he can turn on to it. in the fall and not 
injure it, il ho docs not feed it down too 
short, or too late in the fall. Such has been 
my experience. G. R. Crandall. 
Ellsworth, N. Y. 
-- 
FIELD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Alfalfa in New Jersey.—Will any of 
your readers tell me if they ever sowed Al¬ 
falfa in the latitude of New Jersey? and if 
it lived through tho winter. The past win¬ 
ter has killed mine (sowed last, spring) when 
the common red clover beside it looks well. 
1 have more seed and will keep it until 1 
hear from some one who has tried it.—n. 
Tobacco Seed for Cayuga Co., N Y. 
W. R. Laird, Cayuga, Co., N. Y., asks 
where he can get the best tobacco weed for 
his climate. Soil, a rich, sandy loam, rather 
dark. We should prefer seed produced in 
Massachusetts or Connecticut; but we can¬ 
not say who lias it for sale. 
Plaster on Wheat.—A correspondent 
asks if it is profitable to sow plaster on 
wheat in the spring. Wo have found it to 
be so—especially on dry. loamy, or sandy 
soils. A bushel per acre is plenty. The 
earlier ill spring it is applied the better. 
Will Bpring Wheat turn to Winter? 
—If I sow Spring wheat early, and after it 
comes up the ground freezes and remains 
so for several days before thawing, will it 
make Winter wheat of it?—w. A. d. 
No._ 
Not too Many (Trasses oan be got into 
any soil designed for pasture, if they are 
nutritious and adapted to forage. This an¬ 
swers Jon Stearns’ question. 
Sflie Herdsman. 
KILLING LICE ON CALVES. 
A correspondent inquires concerning 
the best means of killing lice on calves, and 
whether a decoction of tobacco for the pur¬ 
pose would be considered dangerous. We 
do not regard tobacco juice a safe applica¬ 
tion for killing lice. The poisonous princi¬ 
ple of tobacco is absorbed by the skin, and 
passes into the circulation through the 
pores. Again, if the cattle are allowed to 
lick (homselves after tho application, seri¬ 
ous injury will be liable to result. The 
only way in which tobacco may be used 
safely is to fire it in a fumigator, blowing 
the smoko into tho hair of tho animal. 
(’arbolic acid is a vermin destroyer, either 
on cattle or plants, is of late coming largely 
into use. Carbolic arid, whou pure, is cor¬ 
rosive and dangerous; but when dissolved 
in water at the rate of an ounce of the acid 
to a gallon of water it is abundantly strong 
and safe for such purpose. Carbolic soap is 
often used for killing these parasites. It 
can be had at most of the shops, but may 
bo made much cheaper by farmers than it 
can be purchased, and at very little trouble. 
We give tile receipt furnished by Secre¬ 
tary Good ale of the Maine Board of Agri¬ 
culture, which is as good as any we have 
seen, and is as follows“ Dissolve a pound 
or two of bar soap in as little bet wator as 
possible, and stir in an ounce of carbolic 
acid. When cold it can bo cut into cakes 
and kept any length of time. Tho easiest 
way to apply it for lice Is to wash tho ani¬ 
mal with this soui> and water.” 
% A woolen string smeared with mercurial 
ointment and tied around t ho neck of tho 
animal often proves effectual in destroying 
the lice. X. A. Willard. 
I have frequently noticed inquiries in 
your paper for remedies to destroy lice on 
cattle. In this section our cattle are infest¬ 
ed with large, blue lice, They increase on 
fat as well as poor cattle, and reduce either 
of them to skeletons if they have sufficient 
time. I have always watched for remedies, 
hut T have never found any so good and so 
cheap as the one 1 have now, which I send 
for the benefit of those who are unfortunate 
enough to have lice ou their stock:— For a 
cow, take nearly a hull’pail good soft soap; 
heat some rain water, and turn in enough 
to niuke it warm, and stir it well. It tho 
soap is very thick, it may want a little cold 
water too; it must only bo thin enough to 
work in tho hair nicely. Tie the creature 
out of tlie wind, in the sun, and apply with 
a large paint brush; it will bite the animal 
as well as kill the lice; but itdrys so quick¬ 
ly it docs no injury to the hair nor the ani¬ 
mal. Soap is good medicine for cattle, and 
if they hole it off, no harm is dime. Repeat 
the application again after the nits have 
hatched. It takes about three applications 
for a very lousy animal, there are so many 
nits to hatch out.— Harriet UaklOck. 
-- 
COWS ABORTING. 
In answer to questions asked me by 
“ Farmer,” of Mystic Bridge, Conn., in 
Rural New Yorker of Feb. 10th, in re¬ 
gard to my two cows aborting, lie says; 
“ Permit mo to ask two questions, the an¬ 
swering of which may suggest to my mind 
the cause of my misfortune. He asks, 
“has your cows been fighting?” 1 would 
say that I never knew of t heir lighting, on 
the contrary, they were very playful when 
let loose from the stable, frequently run¬ 
ning and jumping with all of their might, 
and sometimes slipping, which I think 
would be equal to fighting. 
The next question is, “ Who has taken 
care of them?” 1 would say that I took 
care of them most of ttie time, myself, and 
am sure they never received any ill treat¬ 
ment from any one. 
My friend “ Fanner” says ho is of the 
opinion that nothing a cow will eat, of her 
own accord, will cause abortion; but I am 
still of the opinion that tho cause of my 
cows aborting was ou account of their eat¬ 
ing something yet unknown to me. I am 
quite inclined to think the pumpkins they 
ate had something to do with it. 1 have 
made some inquiry of dairymen and others 
in regard to cows aborting, and the cause. 
I find some are of the opinion that, cows fre¬ 
quently or oecaaionully, eat something that 
will cause It. One tells me that his father had 
six or eight cows abort one Fall; he thinks 
some time the last of October, or the first 
of November, all within two weeks, they, 
the father and son, attributed it to their 
cows running in a field, part of which bad 
a heavy crop of barley ou it that season, and 
in harvesting the crop there was considera¬ 
ble of it shelled out on the ground. In con¬ 
sequence of it being a wet season, the bar¬ 
ley sprouted and grew up like a meadow, 
the cows were turned in. and in less than 
two weeks’ time, six or eight had lost their 
calves, in another instance, a dairyman 
tells me ho had two cows loso their calves 
the forepart of the Winter. He attributed 
it to feeding June grass lmy. H. r. c. 
Dale, Wyoming Co., N. l r . 
-»-*•-*- 
CARE OF A NEW MILKS COW 
As many people do not understand man¬ 
aging a new milks cow, I will give some of 
our experience, which has been very suc¬ 
cessful for many years, A few weeks before 
coming in, besides the usual fodder, a feed 
of sound roots, such as carrots, turnips, 
beets or potatoes, ought to bo fed each 
morning, before turning out for the day. 
All unsound parts of such roots ought to be 
cut oil’ and placed beyond their reach, or 
they may do much injury. 
They should have pure water to drink 
and access to salt daily ; and when expected 
to calve should be placed loose by them¬ 
selves, in comfortable quarters, where no 
animals can get to them or they can get to 
others. They need freedom to change their 
position at: will, as this is often necessary 
during the process. They should not bo 
disturbed or any forcing measures used; 
but if the labor Is protracted a handful of 
salt may bo offered her. If she cats it, it 
will relax I lie system. If tho presentation 
is wrong, and she has her liberty and suf¬ 
ficient time is allowed her, nature will teach 
her to change her position so us to make all 
right, and she will do much bel ter than if 
force was used. 
After t lie process she should be allowed 
her own time to get up and lick the calf, 
but when she docs so, a warm mess of wheat 
bran and water, witli a little salt added, 
may be given her. h. 
-♦♦♦- 
CALVES DYING. 
There have boon quite a number of calvos 
and cows in this vicinity taken in the man¬ 
lier herein described, and some calves, from 
three to four months old, have died. 1 had 
one cow taken very suddenly the first day 
, of March. I had watered my catt le between 
11 and 12 o’clock, and put them back In tho 
stable •. On reluming to tlie stables, about 
one o’clock, I found a two-year old heifer, 
which is coming in this spring, ly ing in great 
distress, and seomed to have great difficulty 
in breathing. The water was running out 
of her eyes, and you would have thought 
she was blind, 
I examined her t hroat, but found nothing. 
She was slightly bloated, and her pulse was 
running very high. I did not know what to 
do, but I poured some camphor, black pep¬ 
per, and bog’s lard into her. She lay as 
above stated, without any eluiugo, for about 
halt and hour, and then she begun to sweat, 
and perspired profusely, so that- the water 
stood in drops on her hair. After l icit sho 
kept gradually improving, and, after 21 
hours, I thought her as well as usual. If 
you will publish this, and give, or ask your 
readers to give, a remedy, you will greatly 
confer a .favor on me. 
Del. Co., N. Y. Thus. Miller. 
-- 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN. 
Spaying Heifers.—W. F. G. is informed 
that it is impossible to describe the process 
of spaying heifers, on paper. It is to be 
learned only by witnessing the practical op¬ 
era! ion at the hands of one skilled in it. It 
is a delicate process, and requires skill. A 
spayed heifer, three or four years old, well 
fatted, furnishes tin: yei*y finest beef ; aud 
when there is no profitable demand for 
milch cows, spaying heifers for feeding is 
profitable. 
Lice on Cattle will decamp if dry sand 
be applied to their whereabouts. They will 
apply it themselves, when let alone in the 
spring of the year, by goring the earth and 
Hinging it over themselves. Kerosene oil 
is also good to remove them, and ticks 
from sheep, by sprinkling it over them and 
about the stables, &c.—T. L., Seiploville, 
N. Y. 
A Cow Bucking Iler Tongue.— 1 have 
a cow that will stand and suck her tongue 
sometimes when she is not eating; looks 
fine and healthy. Will some one tell the 
cause and a remedy?—D entt. 
Warts from Cow’s Teats.—A corres¬ 
pondent asks our readers for the safest and 
surest way. to remove warts from cow’s 
teats. Apply caustic potash two or three 
times a week. 
