Btzmxm. 
AN AFFLICTED MULE 
AV ill somebody please tell me what to do 
for my mule? Over six months ago her 
back was bruised with a chain, w hich caused 
a deep seated sore just back of the shoulders, 
where the forward part of the saddle would 
usually rest. I have tried a number of “ in¬ 
fallible” remedies that were recommended 
by various persons, and lest I should only 
get a repetition of them through your paper, 
1 will mention what I have given a thorough 
trialFresh chamber lye, which I had 
found to be an excellent remedy at the 
North. Proud flesh having formed, I ap¬ 
plied fresh lime, burnt alum, sulphur stirred 
in melted lead until it formed a dry powder; 
copperas, (or sulphate of iron,) salt, and 
alum burned and stirred to a dry powder; 
saleratus applied dry as a plaster; a wash 
of sal soda and lime made of the same 
strength and proportions of the famous 
washing fluid; burned with a hot Iron. 
Pipes having formed that discharged offen¬ 
sive matter, I made a strong decoction of 
black Oak hark and hayberry root nr wax 
myrtle, or My rim arifera, and syringed them. 
This last remedy seemed to effect a cure, 
and the sore healed up nicely; but by roll¬ 
ing in the field she bruised herself again, aud 
it broke out more obstinate than ever. The 
syringing has no effect, and as a last resort, 
I have tried corrosive Sublimate to eat out 
the pipes as recommended in the Rural 
New-Yorker a few weeks since for poll 
evil or king's evil. 1 omitted to mention 
that I have used dry calomel also. Now, 
as the sore is still obstinate, must I give it 
up, or is there a cure for it? 
Florida Subscriber. 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Hot* anil Colic. 
A farmer at Swan, O., writes the Cincin¬ 
nati Gazette:—“ For colic make a strong tea 
of the warts from the horse’s legs. For hots 
give strong sage tea. 1 never w r ait to argue 
the question whether it is bot.3 or colic, or 
whether bots kill the horse or not, but, upon 
the first symptoms, I make the teas and ad¬ 
minister them, and in half an hour my horse 
is ready for work again. These have been 
my remedies for thirty years, and my father, 
who was an extensive horse-raiser, used them 
for fifty years, aud neither of us ever lost a 
horse by colic or hots, and had many cases.” 
To Prevent Ilor*e* Kicking: in the Ktnll. 
Give them a wider stall, or turn them 
loose in a box stall. If neither is convenient 
to do, or fail to cure, take a piece of trace- 
chain, about two feet long, aud fasten one 
end of it, with a strong strap, to the foot 
with which they kick. Or put a surcingle 
loosely around t he animal, and pass a cord 
from the kicking foot through the girth, 
around the head in front of one ear and be¬ 
hind the other. Make the knots so that they 
will not slip tight, and give length for neces¬ 
sary motions. 
Home*) Currying tlic* Tongue Out. 
Some do this without putting the tongue 
over the bit. Sometimes shortening the 
headstall as much as possible will prevent 
it. Such animals are often clever, honest 
and ambitious creatures, and if at slow 
work—or worked with a mute—may just as 
well have the lines buckled into either side 
of the halter, with nothing in the mouth. 
If the driver dare not risk the halter, put a 
large wire inside of the nose-piece. If 
(hiving to carriage, where a check rein is 
desired, use a high arched “bridoon” bit, 
Without chin strap. 
To Remove a Callus or n Hpllut. 
Dip a straw in a vial of tincture of iodine, 
and touch it to the spot once in two or three 
days.—B., Gold water, Mich. 
Sore Breasts on Horses* 
Many people are troubled, at the com¬ 
mencement of plowing in the spring, with 
their horses getting severely galled. At 
times, the fault is in having poor, old collars, 
and nut having the collar properly fitted to 
the home’s breast; and at others, the I mines 
are either too tight or loose. There is a 
great difference in horses about get ting gall¬ 
ed or dialed, and at times it lias seemed to 
me impossible to keep their breasts from 
getting sure; but a thorough application of 
strong alum water or white oak bark to the 
breast of the animal, three days before going 
to work, will toughen them so that they will 
not get sore. 
Another excellent plan is, when you let 
your team rest for a few moments during 
work, to raise the collar and pull it a little 
forward, and rub the breast thoroughly with 
} our naked baud. Try it, and be convinced. 
-E. 9 B., North Chili, JY. Y. 
To Prevent a Mnro Gor,in K , the Line Cll(ler 
her Tail. 
O, Newell can break his mare by the fol- 
owing —-Braid a lock of hair on the under 
side of the tail, tie one end of a small rope to 
this braid, pass the rope between the hind 
legs, or over the belly-band, through be¬ 
tween the fore legs, and lie the other end of 
the rope to the collar or breast strap, moder¬ 
ately tight at first; after it has been worn a 
while, it can be left quite loose. This will 
effect a complete cure, and can then be taken 
off.—s. J. B. 
A In Rural New- 
Yorker of April 29, 
Mr. O. Newell wants to 
know a remedy for hie 
mare getting the line un- 
jnftnno logical. 
der her tail, &c. I have i 
had a great deal of 
trouble with my mare in 
the same way, and final¬ 
ly contrived the inclosed 
strap, which I have 
adopted, and found it all 
that was required to ob¬ 
viate the difficulty and 
make her one of the 
£\ most, quiet of horses In 
DJ that respect The short 
\ J end of main strap ia 
fastened or buckled in 
the lower end of the 
crooper under the tail. 
The other end of main 
strap is fastened in a ring 
; in the breeching, im¬ 
mediately under the tail. 
Tbe two small cross¬ 
straps buckle over the tail under tbe hair; 
in that way it will not be observed that 
the horse is wearing any such rig, if he 
or she has tail long enough to come down 
below the breeching. Tbe main strap should 
be left loose enough to let the horse carry 
his tail in a natural position; and when 
rigged in that way, Mr. Newell will not 
have any more trouble about bis mare get¬ 
ting the line under her tail. Any harness 
maker can make and fit the strap. — N. 
Mead, Oil City , Pa., April 27. 
To Prevent Hornes Kicking In Stalls. 
Have the stalls made wide enough so that 
the horse can turn in them easily. Closo 
them with a door or bars, and turn the ani¬ 
mal loose. After a while he will forget the 
habit, and stand tied without further trouble, 
—8. J. B., Memphis, Tenn. 
Horwa With their Tommies Out. 
Please say to R. R. Macombkr, McLean 
Co., Ill., that all horses carrying their tongues 
out of their mouths are not found to have 
them over the bit. A Rural Reader. 
-♦-*-»- 
InquIrU'i lor Horaemcn.— J. B. Whitaker asks 
some one to tell him how to cure a blood spavin 
and a ring-bone.-C. A. Porter nsks “ what will 
cure a horse that issprained In the coffin jointl” 
I>f ftohu-ierir. 
PIG-PEN PAPERS. 
A Hob with the “Thumps.” 
C. A. Porter, a TToosier, asks for a reme¬ 
dy for a hog troubled with the “ thumps." 
Our correspondent, is informed that, our pig- 
ologica! knowledge is not sufficient to enable 
us to answer the question; in fact, we may 
as well confess that we never heard of such 
a disease before 1 
Weights of Western flogs. 
T. C., Mound Farm, Coal Valley, Ill., 
writes the Rural New-Yorker that a 
neighbor of his sold, in February last, eighty 
hogs, that weighed in Chicago upwards 
of 500 pounds gross, after being carted 
ten miles to the depot, thence by milway 
nearly 200 miles. lie says they were Ches¬ 
ter Whites, and asks to hear from some of 
the Spotted China breeders. 
Tho Growth of u Pig. 
I notice in the Rural New-Yorker, 
April 22, the weights of several pigs and 
bogs are given under the caption “ Weights 
of Pigs.” It may be interesting to some of 
your readers to know how fast a pig will 
grow. I have a Chester White pig now 
twelve weeks old, that I took from the sow 
at two weeks old, because she furnished no 
nourishment for it. When I took it from 
the sow it weighed— 
At 2 weeks old. 8 pounds 
“ 3 “ a . 11 “ 
The Quince Gurcnlto. — Correction. — DEAR 
Rural—1 notice iu the last issue that in the 
article on the abovo-named insect, you have in¬ 
advertently published the wrong figures, which 
are calculated to confound the reader. The 
. « Quince Cureullo to 
f* Jr which reference Is 
rr i | I made In thatarticle 
Is represented in 
A-^gyv'', JBSvI. tho accompanying 
I I out * (Figure 9,) a, 
\ \V [ l I showing an outline 
\ i s '^ e viow * a 
' s *JjL\ v ( W j| » shaded back view. 
/ \ Tho Insect figured 
it $ » in the last number 
Quince Cuiteuno. is the Strawberry 
Crown-borer, which is treated of below. 
Yours truly, C. V. Riley. 
-» » » - - 
SNOUT-BEETLES 
Injurious to Fruits nud Vegetables. 
BY CHAJ3. V. RILEY. 
[Read before tho til. State Horticultural Society.] 
[Continued from page 268, April 29.] 
Tho Strawberry Crown Oorer. 
(Anedcti fragarUe , N. Sp.) 
This is another indigenous insect, which 
seems to be confined to our Mississippi Val¬ 
ley, for I have heard no complaints in any 
of the Atlantic States of injuries ttiat could 
be attributed to this weevil. In the Maine 
Farmer for July 25th, 1867, we find a brief 
reference, made by Mr. G. E. Brackett of 
Belfast, Me., in answer to a certain “ E. B.,” 
of a “ worm that, eats into the crown of tbe 
plant and kills it.” The worm referred to 
was, in all probability, the Crown Borer 
under consideration, but as no post-office 
address of the questioner is given, (lie para¬ 
graph might just as well never liavo been 
written, for any light, that it throws on tbe 
distribution of the insect. However, no such 
iusect has ever been mentioned by our East¬ 
ern writers on the Strawberry, and we must 
necessarily conclude that it does not exist in 
the Atlantic States, 
This insect, has done considerable damage 
to the strawberry crop iu the southern por¬ 
tion of your own State, especially along tbe 
line of the Illinois Central Railroad ; and I 
have seen evidence of its work in St.. Louis 
Co., Mo. At the meeting of the Southern 
Illinois Fruit. Growers’ Association, held at 
South Pass, in November, 1867, several com¬ 
plaints were made by parties from Anna and 
Mnkanda, of a white worm which worked 
in the roots of their stuyfc.yriies; and in 
1868, the greater portion cj the plants of a 
large, ten-acre field at Anna, belonging to 
Mr. Parker Earle, was destroyed by it. 
we may infer that the beetle feeds on the 
leaves of the strawberry, for it, is a very gen¬ 
eral rule with snout-beetles, that, the perfect 
insects feed on the leaves of such plants as 
they infest in the larva state. But whether 
it lives on through the winter as a beetle, 
aud does not commence depositing eggs 
again till the following June, or whether it 
is double-brooded and produces a second lot 
of larvse which pass tbe winter in the roots, 
are questions which are not yet decided; 
and until we get a more comprehensive 
knowledge of this insect’s ways and doings, 
we shall be, in a measure, powerless before 
it. From all the facts that, can tie obtained, 
the first hypothesis is the correct, one, and iu 
that event we can, in an emergency, easily 
get rid of this pest, by plowing up and de¬ 
stroying the plants soon after they have done 
bearing, or say about the latter part of June, 
in the southern part of the Stato. By doing 
this the whole brood of borers will perish 
with the plants, Most strawberry growers 
renew tbeir plants, in some way or another, 
about every three years, and where this in¬ 
sect abounds, it will be best subdued by de¬ 
stroying the whole bed at the time already 
suggested, and afterwards planting a new 
one, rather than by annually thinning out 
the old and leaving the new plants in the 
same bed. 
Here we have an effectual means of extir¬ 
pating this little pest, if, as I believe, tbe first, 
hypothesis is the correct one; but if the sec¬ 
ond hypothesis ho correct— i. e.,if the insect, 
he double-brooded—then it, will avail noth¬ 
ing to carry out. the above suggestions, and 
we thus see how important it is to thor¬ 
oughly understand an insect’s habits in 
order to properly cope with it. Though we 
may occasionally hit upon some plan of 
remedying or preventing an insect’s injuries 
Without knowing its habits, yet, as a general 
rule, we but grope in the dark until we have 
learned its natural history! 
According to Mr. Miller, nil plants in¬ 
fested with this larva are sure to perish, and 
he has also noticed that, oh! beds are more 
apt to lie injured by it than new ones. 
In one of the roots received from him, I 
found a parasite cocoon, so that there is 
every reason to believe that, as is so very 
generally the case with bisects, this noxious 
species has at least, one natural enemy which 
will aid us in keeping it in due bounds. In¬ 
deed, Mr, Miller so often found this para¬ 
site cocoon, that he at, first surmised that the 
Crown Borer spun it. But no Snout, Beetle 
larva? spin cocoons. 
This Crown Borer must not lie confounded 
with another white worm of about the saint 
size which lives in the ground and subsists 
on the roots by devouring them from the 
outside. This last may always he distin¬ 
guished by having six distinct iegs near the 
head, and its habits are quite different. It 
occurs earlier in the season, and, as I have 
proved the past, summer, in the larva of the 
little clay-yellow beetle, known ns the Grape¬ 
vine Coluspis (ColaspU Jlavida , Sav.) A full 
account of this last insect, with illuslrations, 
will be given iu the forthcoming Third En¬ 
tomological Report of Missouri. 
This pig is not one of those that live and 
grow’ fat without eating, but has been fed 
all that it would eat of the Heat food. I 
think I will have to shorten its feed and let 
it get a little thinner in flesh than it now is, 
as 1 fear it will not be able to stand the hot 
weather if it remains fat; but I intend to 
make it weigh 300 pounds at six months old. 
—Lysander W. Babbitt, Council Bluffs, 
Iowa, April 22. 
F io. 2. - Strawberry Crown Ho risk, —a, 
larva ; b, beetle, side view; c, Game, back view. 
In t he fall of 1869 I had some correspond¬ 
ence with Mr. Walsh on this insect, and 
learned that he had succeeded in breed¬ 
ing it to the perfect state; and had it not 
been for his untimely death, its history no 
doubt would have been published a year 
ago. Through the kindness of Jos. M. Wil¬ 
son of Sterling, Whiteside Co., and of J. B. 
Miller of Anna, Union Co., I received, 
during the past year, specimens of the lar¬ 
vae, from which 1 succeeded in rearing the 
perfect beetle. It is, therefore, by the aid of 
these gentlemen, and especially from the ex¬ 
perience of Mr. Miller, that I am enabled 
to give, you the accompanying illustrations 
(Fig. 11,) of the. Strawberry Crown Borer, 
and the following necessarily imperfect ac¬ 
count of its mode of working. I give them 
iu the hope that they will prompt further in¬ 
vestigation, and serve as a clue to enable our 
excellent friend, Dr. Le Baron to increase 
our knowledge of this pest; for there is yet 
much to learn of its habits, and consequent¬ 
ly of the best means of fighting it. 
From the middle of Juue to the middle of 
July in Southern Illinois, and later further 
North, the larva hatches from an egg winch, 
in all probability, is deposited in the crown 
of the plant,and it immediately commences to 
bore its way downwards into the pit ti. Here 
it remains till it has acquired its full size, 
working in the thick bulbous root and often 
eating through the more woody portions so 
that when ft’ost sets iu the plant easily breaks 
off and is heaved out of the ground. When 
full grown it presents the appearance of Fig¬ 
ure 11, a, being a white grub with arched 
back and tawny-yellow head, aud measuring 
about l-5th of an inch when stretched out. 
It undergoes its transformations to the pupa 
and perfect beetle states within the root, and 
the latter makes its appearance above ground 
during the month of August. 
The beetle, (Fig. 11, h , side view; c , back 
view,) is about one-sixth of an inch in length, 
of a chestnut brown color, and marked and 
punctured as in the figure. From analogy, 
P £ f 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
California Rnlnlns. 
The Scientific (Cal.) Dress says: — We 
meet with notices in nearly all our agricul¬ 
tural exchanges, speaking of small lots of 
raisins which have been produced the past- 
season, in their various localities. These 
facts are of considerable interest, as showing 
that tho attention of our grape growers is 
being more than ever turned to this im¬ 
portant product. There is no reason why we 
should not prepare at home all the raisins 
needed for t he supply of this coast. Let our 
grape growers experiment, in this direction 
— put up their own raisins, at. least, and 
gradually educate themselves so that they 
may eventually prepare them for the mar¬ 
ket. Grapes arc worth only two, three or 
four cents per pound, while raisins are wort h 
from fifteen to twenty-five cents—a large 
per ceutage to add to the raw product. 
Cactnn Fence In Mexico. 
A California exchange says: — The 
Cactus fence is an institution peculiar to 
Mexico. The variety of the plant used for 
this purpose is called the orgando. It is 
eight-sided, and shoots up straight as an 
arrow, from ten to twenty feel iu height and 
fivo to eight inches in thickness. The fence 
builders cut their cactus in sections of tin* 
right length, stick the cut into n trench, cover 
the earth around it. to the depth of a foot, 
and the fence is made. The pieces are set as 
closely together as possible,and as they take 
root and grow for centuries, the fence im¬ 
proves with age, instead of going to decay 
like many others. 
Milk Culture at Napa* Cal. 
From the Pacific Rural Press, we learn 
that two or three miles from Napa, Cal., Mr. 
Wm. n. Baxter has a plantation of 55,000 
mulberry trees, and a cocoonery forty-five 
by eighty-five feet, two stories high, afford¬ 
ing room to feed 3,000,000 silk worms. The 
time of feeding begins about May 1st. Last 
year a late frost, cut down the tender trees, 
leaving thousands of worms to perish for lack 
of food, thus materially lessening the profits 
of the season ; but complete success is hoped 
for by Mr. Baxter. 
nnttrfic gift mcfttl 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC) ITEMS. 
A Clieap Filler. 
In a late number of tho Rural New- 
Yorker, I noticed an inquiry concerning a 
filter fora cistern. I will send a description 
of ours, which is very nearly perfect, besides 
being so cheap as to come within reach of 
all who can afford a cistern. The cistern is 
a brick one, cemented, and is built about 
one-third under the kitchen, so that the 
pump pipe goes up straight into the sink, 
aud is finished with an arched top, the mouth 
being about eighteen inches in diameter. A 
square brick crib, eighteen inches square, is 
built above this, and in this crib is set the 
filter, which is simply a box sixteen inches 
square, with the bottom bored full of small 
holes. Over this is lacked a piece of coarse 
flanhcl, then two or three Inches deep of 
Charcoal; above this the some of gravel, 
with a few small stones on top of this. The 
spouts from the eaves enter this box. With 
a double cover* it does not freeze. We burn 
bituminous coal, so that the water coming 
from the house roof is ns black ns ink, but 
the filter cleanses it perfectly.- k. 
Posie that will Keep a Year. 
Dissolve a teaspoonful of alum in a quart 
of warm water. When cold, stir in as much 
flour as will give it. the consistency of thick 
cream, being particular to beat up all tho 
lumps; stir in as much powdered resin as 
will He on a dime, and throw in half a dozen 
cloves to give a pleasant odor. Pour this 
flour mixture into n. pan containing a tea¬ 
cupful of boiling water, and stir it well over 
the fire. In a very few minutes it will he oftho 
consistency of mush. Pour it into tin earthen 
or china vessel; let it cool; lay a cover on, 
and put, in a cool place. When needed for 
rise, take out a portion aud soften it with 
warm water. Paste thus made will last 
twelve mouths. It is better than gum as it 
does not gloss the paper, and can be written 
oil.— /Selected. 
I'lit-miciiI Halation for Watering Street*. 
For several years experiments with chem- 
cal solutions for watering streets have been 
employed in various English cities with con¬ 
siderable success. A mixed solution of com¬ 
mon salt and chloride of lime has been used 
to a large extent. These salts attract moist¬ 
ure sufficient, to keep the street dust from 
becoming absolutely dry unless neglected. 
A very small quantity is said to answer the 
purpose, aud not only to keep the dust well 
laid, but also to act as an antiseptic, cleaning 
the streets of foul odors. The cldoralum of 
Prof. Gamgee is now proposed as a substi¬ 
tute for the chemicals hitherto employed, 
being more deliquescent, and, it. is claimed, 
superior as an antiseptic to the salts hither¬ 
to used. 
WeiKlit Power. 
Is there any insurmountable difficulty in 
the way of applying the power of a descend¬ 
ing weight (as in a clock for instance) to the 
performance of some parts of a farmer’s barn 
and household duties, as churning, moving 
washing and sewing machines, cutting roots 
and liny, turning grindstones, &c., where 
small power is needed ? Has any such thing 
been attempted? Perhaps some of your nu¬ 
merous readers may be able to suggest some 
plan.— I,. 
Sucii power has been applied to churns, 
but so far as we know, it requires as much 
effort to wind up the machinery as it would 
require to do the churning. 
Artiflcinl Fuel. 
A nATHER singular invention, says Na¬ 
ture, for remedying the actual want of fuel 
in private houses, became very popular in 
Paris during the siege. They prepared 
cylinders of clay impregnated with bitumin¬ 
ous substances; these combustible cylinders 
were used like tbe ordinary charcoal which 
is necessary in Parisian cookery. The earthy 
matters, of which the proportion is not 
greater than necessary, remain in the furn¬ 
aces like ashes left, by the combustion of 
charcoal. It is stated that it is proposed to 
continue the use of this kind of artificial fuel. 
Power lor Uulslna Water. 
W. II. L., San Salva, Texas, lias thirty 
acres of land which lie can irrigate by rais¬ 
ing the water eight feet. He asks for the 
best and cheapest mode of raising the water 
—whether by steam or homo power—and 
who can furnish the machinery. We have 
had no experience whatever in irrigation, 
and cannot therefore give so Intelligent an 
opinion as if we Imd. Our judgment is that 
horse power would he cheaper than steam, 
and a good windmill cheaper than either. 
Our advertising columns should tell where 
horse powers, pumps, windmills and porta¬ 
ble steam engines may he obtained. 
To Improve Gildiuir. 
Mix a gill of water with two ounces of 
purified niter, one ounce of alum, one ounce 
of cqnimou salt; lay this over gilt articles 
with a brush, and the color will be much 
improved. 
