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MOOSE’S RUSAL NEW-YORKER. 
©he harden. 
ANTS IN A GARDEN 
The Rural New-Yorker has had so 
many inquiries as to - the best modes of de¬ 
stroying ants in gardens and orchards, that 
we copy the following from a foreign jour¬ 
nal The most simple and effectual way to 
destroy ants is to pour boiling water on the 
nests at night; but if the nest should bo in 
a pot among the roots of a plant, the best 
way is to immerse the pot and plant in cold 
water, and let it stand for live or six hours, 
in which time the ants will all he drowned, 
and their eggs destroyed. 
A very effectual plan is to place raw meat 
in dishes or vessels of any kind about places 
which t hey infest, and, as they prefer that 
kind of food to any other, they surround it 
in thousands. Boiling water is then poured 
upon them, and this, if persistently applied, 
with the bait above recommended, will in 
time effect a good riddance. 
The following mixtures have also beeu 
found successful4 ounces of quassia chips, 
boiled for 10 minutes in a gallon of water, 
dissolving in the liquid while cooling 1 
ounces of soft soap, Ur take 1 pound of 
black soap, dissolve it in 1 gallons ol' water, 
and sprinkle the solution through a Hue 
rose over the runs and nests, taking care, 
however, not to water the roots of the 
plants with it. 
The following poison is highly spoken of: 
Ferrocynnido of potass, 1 drain; raspings 
of quassia, 1 dram; sugar in sutlioient 
quantity to form a syrup. The auts are 
said to devour this greedily and die almost 
immediately. 
It is not generally knqwn that fresh Peru¬ 
vian guano will drive ants from any spot, 
however firm a hold they may have ob¬ 
tained on it. Paraffin and benzoline oil 
are said to have the same effect. Turpen¬ 
tine, gas-water. Rowers of sulphur, lime 
water, a decoction of Elder-leaves, chloride 
of lime dissolved in water, and camphor 
have also been recommended. Suppose a 
colony of ants to he com moncing operations 
on a lawn, it is an easy matter to trap them 
all by placing a large empty llower-pot, 
with the hole stopped, over it. The ants 
will build up into the pot, and in a short 
time it may he lifted with a shovel and be 
carried away and dropped into a vosacl of 
water, which will make an end of them. 
When they make a run up the Btem of a 
fruit tree, a line of gas tar allround will put 
a stop to their progress and do no harm to 
the tree. To poison them, mix arsenic with 
sugar and water, put the mixture in a 
saucer and lay a slate over it, and on the 
slate a stone. This, of course, is a danger¬ 
ous plan, and any who think of adopting it 
must use their own judgment as to the safe¬ 
ty of any larger animals, It. is said that auts 
will avoid any tree which has a circle of 
chalk around the stem. 
In houses and other places where hot wa¬ 
ter cannot be poured on the soil without 
danger to the plants, piecos of coarse sponge 
dipped in diluted treacle will form a most 
effectual trap. The ants will crowd into the 
sponges, which should be taken up from time 
to time and thrown Into a vessel of boiling 
water. An equally effectual plan, in such 
plaoes, is to lay half-picked bones about. 
These will soon ho covered with ants, and 
can then be thrown into a vessel of boiling 
water, after which they should bo again 
laid down to attract a fresh batch of vic¬ 
tims. By persisting in the use of either of 
the two last-mentioned, traps, a house will 
bo completely cleared of ants in a short 
time; the sooner, of oourso, in proportion 
to the number of bones or sponges em¬ 
ployed. 
In the Revue UorPlcnle for September, 
1870, the following method of destroying or 
banishing ants is described as having proved 
quite successful:—Take 2 ounces of soft soap, 
1 pound of potash, and about 2]4 pints of 
water. Boil the whole together for some 
time, stirring the ingredients occasionally. 
The liquor may then bo allowed to cool. 
With a pointed stick or dibble make holes 
here and there in the soil infested by the 
ants, at a safe distance from any plants 
which may bo growing there, to avoid any 
chance of their roots being injured by the 
mixture (although this isMoubtful;, and till 
the holes once or twice with the prepara¬ 
tion. By this means M. de Forghefc was 
completely successful in clearing his melon 
beds of these troublesome insects. 
-*—- 
SEXES IN PUMPKINS AGAIN. 
Several months since we endeavored 
to muke it clear to one of our correspond¬ 
ents that there were no such things as male 
pumpkins, squashes, melons, or cucumbers, 
although there are pistillate (female) and 
stamlnate (.mule) flowers on the same vine. 
The more absurd a thing may be the more 
persistent will some men, and woman too, 
stick to it, reason, common sense, and their 
own senses, if they possess any, to the con¬ 
trary. This question in regard to the sex 
of pumpkins, is still going the rounds of 
the agricultural press, and as a fair sample 
of the belief of many farmers, wo give the 
following, clipped from ouo of our ex¬ 
changes : 
If you will examine a lot of pumpkins at 
the blow end, you will find they are male 
and female; on the male you will find a 
a protuberance, and in the female a cavity 
(the deeper the better). 1 have raised 
pumpkins for more than thirty years, and 
never failed of a crop excepting when the 
striped bugs got the upper hand of mo. 
A Farmer. 
A man might, with just as much reason, 
declare that a cow was not a cow but a bull, 
because her horns wore a little shorter or 
longer than some other cow. We will say 
once more, that pumpkin vines produce 
two kinds of flowers; aud to make it plain, 
wo will call them male and femalo. No 
pumpkins aro ever produced from tho for¬ 
mer, and they are of no use except to mako 
the latter produce seed. If we remove 
every male flower while in bud, and before 
they open, we will still get pumpkins all 
the same; but fertile seeds will be wanting 
to make them perfect. English gardeners 
have tried tho experiment over and over 
again with cucumbers, forced under glass, 
and unless they desire to raise seed, they 
do not trouble themselves to fertilize tho 
female flowers artificially, which is neces¬ 
sary with such plants when grown in a con¬ 
fined atmosphere. 
This idea of the sexes In pumpkins be¬ 
longs to the dark ages aud not to t he 19th 
century. We suppose there aro men aud 
women who will Btill believe, us they al¬ 
ways have, in spite of the light which sci¬ 
ence throws upon such things, just as thoy 
will cling to the belief that the sigiiH of the 
zodiac, put into almanacs for the special ac¬ 
commodation of ignorant and supersti¬ 
tious people, have foundation in nature. 
Men will continue to plant their vegetables, 
kill hogs, ami do many other things during 
a certain phase of the moon; while their 
wives woati their babies under the same 
rule, believing that the moon actually has 
some influence in the matter. 
I We. a re not. disposed to call these people 
by harsh names on account of tlieir igno¬ 
rance, because we have many men in very 
high places who are constantly talking non¬ 
sense of an equally absurd character. It is 
not. very reasonable to suppose that our 
great botanists, who have studied plants 
all their lives, could be so careless or igno¬ 
rant as not to know as much about pump¬ 
kin vinos as men who do not know even tho 
rudiment# of the science*; then what shall 
wo say of a man who virtually declares that 
he can pick out male and female pumpkins, 
while every sol entitle botanist that Ijvos, nr 
has lived, is against him. Our greatest au¬ 
thority in America, Prof. Gkav, says of 
the genus Cuowi'hUtt, in which we find tho 
pumpkin and squash: —'• Flowers, large or 
middle-sized, on separate simple peduncles 
in the axils, liQth kind# of flower* solitary 
in the arils." Why should he speak of 
both kinds of flowers if there were not two. 
Of the cucumber (OucuinU) ho also says: 
“ SterilB flowers, clustered fertile ones, sol¬ 
itary in the axils.” In other words, the 
male flowers which aro sterile or produce 
no fruit are produced in clusters, while the 
females are solitary. But we have said 
enough to make u blind man know pump¬ 
kin blows if ho could not see them. 
--— 
A Strawberry Trimmer.— Austin S. 
Drake sends to the Fruit Recorder tho 
following aud illustration, which wo copy: 
“This ‘Strawberry Trimmer* (my inven¬ 
tion) is a hoop two 
or three inches 
wide, and about 
three feet long; the 
ends lapped by with 
a set screw. This 
hoop is of saw plate, 
tho lower edge 
sharpened, while to 
the upper are at¬ 
tached thin strips 
of iron, which unite 
to u wooden handle 
about five feet long. 
One downward 
stroke with the ma¬ 
chine removes all 
tho runners from 
tho plant, like cut¬ 
ting out. biscuit 
with a cake-cutter; 
and it is so much 
less fatiguing than 
stooping over and 
blistering one’s fin¬ 
gers with shears.” 
©he Hoi^nm 
HORSE DISTEMPER. 
I ttatk ft valuable mare that, had tho horse 
distemper, or diptheriii, in the month of 
Juno. She did not break under the jaws 
like my ot her horses, but appeared to break 
inwardly, and throw a great quantity of 
matter out of her nose. She did not get 
along very well; she has a lump under her 
jaws where she swallows, elio breathes and 
rattles all of the time, with a light backing 
oough. I have given her ginger in her feed, 
but it did not seem to do any good. I am 
now giving her tar from the pine knot. She 
is in line condition, hut coughs and wheezes 
aud throws matter from her nose. You 
will confer a favor by inserting this in tho 
Rural, as I would liko to find out some¬ 
thing that, would help her.—E. T. MoC., 
Greenfield , hid. 
This animal evidently has not recovered 
from the strangles, and we can do no better 
than republish an artiole, with illustration, 
given in Rural New-Youiceu June 1, 187;'. 
Fig. 1. illustrates the head of an animal 
Via. 1 .— SEVERE ATTACK OF DISTEMPER. 
with a severe attack of distemper. This 
distemper is another form of sore thront 
familiar to every one. Its design seems to 
he to throw some poisonous matter from 
tho system, and the object should bo to 
keep the strength of the animal up and 
hasten suppuration. The horse is out of 
sorts; the nock becomes soro and stiff; an 
enlargement appears, which is first hard 
and tender; there is some discharge from 
the nose. The oaRo usually grows worse, if 
very severe, often threatening to cause suf¬ 
focation; horse unable to eat or drink but 
little, and strength is lost rapidly. Use 
freely a poultice made of wheat bran and 
warm vinegar, changing as often as the 
poultice becomes dry, using tho eight-tailed 
bandage, (see fig. 2) until the enlargement 
FIG. 2.— EIGHT-TAILED BANDAOE. 
becomes soft aud can bo opened, when re¬ 
lief will be prompt. Or tho following treat¬ 
ment may he adopted, which is similar, aud 
If the alteration Is not good, is preferable: 
Take spirits of turpentine, two parts; spir¬ 
its of camphor, one part; laudanum., one 
part. But this on the neck with a brush, 
if convoked, or any way to apply it without 
exciting pain, threo or four times a day, 
until soreness is caused. After each appli¬ 
cation, have ready three or four pieces of 
flannel, which should be a thick article; put 
these over the parts and hind on with the 
eight-tailed bandage (see lig. 3.) When the 
FIG. 3. —Al’I’I.YFN(i KIGUT-TALLED RANDAOK 
tumor points, open it (see fig. 4), and he 
sure that the mattor has a tlio#ough outlet. 
Sometimes the inflammation is so deep as 
FIG. 4.— OPENING ABSCESS IN DISTEMPER. 
to cause serious soreness and swelling of 
the throat. In this case tho horse must he 
nursed carefully, by feeding with warm 
gruel? tho driuk Bhould be warm ; grass, or 
anything that will tempt the appetite, 
should be given. Simpler treatment would 
be rubbing on the enlargement an ordinary 
fly-bllstor, to bring the enlargement to a 
head. Physic must not be given. 
THE HORSE DISEASE. 
Tins disease has seriously affected the 
busines of New York City and Brooklyn 
the past week, and dees still. The details 
of its extent, the number of fatal cases, etc., 
might bo interesting to our readers, but we 
have no space for such detail. The Profes¬ 
sional Veterinary Surgeon who so ably edits 
the Veterinary Department of the Spirit of 
the Times gives, in that paper, the foliow- 
ing: 
Tho disease is manifestly a catarrhal 
fever , or influenza, probably depending 
upon some specific atmospheric influence, 
ns is Bhown by its appearing simultaneously 
in all parts of tbo city, attacking all kinds 
of horses, old and young, in good condition 
or in poor. 
Tho premon itory sy mptoms of tk is malady 
are a staring coat, watery discharge from 
tho nostrils, hot mouth and cold extremi¬ 
ties. The throat and bronchial tubes soon 
become Involved, more or less, producing a 
severe hacking cough. Tho discharge from 
the nostrils increases, becoming of a thicker 
consistency and of a yellowish-white color, 
coming away in large quantities. The pulse 
is accelerated and the respiration more or 
less Increased. When affected animals aro 
exposed to vit iating influences, such ns im- 
purn air, resulting Trotu filthy and ill-ve» 
tilated stables, or from exposure to cold 
storms or severe work, the lungs become 
affected, producing alarming aud more dan¬ 
gerous symptoms. 
This disease, although it has created great 
excitement and iilnrm, and has proved to 
he of considerable loss and annoyance to 
owners of horses, aud to tho community 
generally, is not lilcrlv to bo attended with 
any great fatality* It will run a certain 
course, and as far as we have Imd an oppor¬ 
tunity of observing, it will take from 10 to 
20 days, according t o the severity of attack, 
before an animal completely recovers. 
In the treatment of this disease, as in all 
diseases of tho respiratory organs of the 
horse, ii la of the greatest iinj 
insure a sufficient supply of pure air; 
therefore cleanliness, and comfortable, 
well-ventilated stables are found to he of 
the utmost benefit in mitigating the symp¬ 
toms and in hastening the period of con¬ 
valescence. If the animals are not severely 
affected, gentle exercise or even moderate 
work does not. appear to he hurtful. As it 
matter of course, the body should he kept 
warm by proper clothing. 
As to medicinal remedies, wo prefer the 
preparations of potash say chlorate of pot¬ 
ash, nitrate of pot ash, and liquorice powder, 
in equal partis. Dose—a tabluspnonrul daily 
in food. In case the animal refuses all kinds 
of food, as occasionally happens, then a lit¬ 
tle of the powder by means of a teaspoon 
may l*e carried to the liaise of the tongue at 
short intervals during the day. When the 
cough is severe relief may he afforded l»y a 
mustard application to the throat and 
windpipe. The nostrils should be sponged 
out several tiimiB a day with tepid water, 
and afterwards washed with a weak solu¬ 
tion of bromo chloralum or carbolic acid. 
The stable should bo disinfected daily, with 
either of the above disinfectants or chlor¬ 
ide of liniu. Whan the animal is weak the 
strength must be supported by stimulants. 
In all cases tho food should be such as is 
nourishing aud easily digested. Depletive 
remedies, as bleeding, purging, severe blis¬ 
tering, and the use ol powerful drugs, us 
aconite, belladonna, digitalis, emetic tar¬ 
tar, etc., should bo carefully avoided, as 
great harm and irreparable injury may he 
done by their incautious use. as well as 
from the nostrums and complex mixtures 
which are held out as specifies to ouro this | 
and every other disease. 
A Physician writes to the Buffalo Courier 
as follows:— 
Little tnedioino should ho given, us there 
is more danger of giving too much than not 
enough. By cureful nursing 99 out of 100 
will get along very well without internal 
medicine. Take away their hay and oats; 
feed warm brau mash and clean oat or rye 
straw moistened with brine. We have 
given our horses (and we have six all sick 
with tho distemper) from six to eight 
drams of bromide of potassium two or 
threo times a day, dissolved in a bran mash 
for the first, two or three days while tho in¬ 
flammation lasts. This medicine is a power¬ 
ful sedative, and as such lessens the flow of 
blood to the head and lungs. It has no in¬ 
jurious properties, is perfectly harmless. 
1 have proscribed the bromide of potassium 
for two years past to break up severe (folds) 
(which is acute catarrhjot myself and fami¬ 
ly and friends, and it never tailed to cure 
the cold effectually in rrom 12 to 21 hours. 
It has worked well on my horses. After 
the nose begins to run freely, the danger is 
passed and by good care the horse will he 
soon well. Externally 1 used aud would 
recommend Dr. Trask’s Magnetic Oint¬ 
ment to the throat, around the ears and m) 
the forehead. This ointment contains to¬ 
bacco and lobelia, and operates upon the 
mucous glands of the head and throat by 
causing an increased flow of secretion from 
them, at the same time by its relaxing ef¬ 
fect removing thu stricture aud giving al¬ 
most instant relief to tho cough and 
breathing. Free ventilation (but avoiding 
draughts of air) is very important; good 
fresh air is very essential, therefore burn¬ 
ing tar or anything of the kind should bo 
avoided. If the weather is warm or clear, 
turn tho horse out during the day. 
-- 
Never Let a Horae Stand and Dry, 
when ho comes into the stable wet with 
perspiration, Wash and rub him dry the 
first thing. It’s the only safe way. 
