fw» 
tops. 
CRANBERRY CULTURE. 
We have several inquiries concerning tlie 
culture of this fruit. In answer to these we 
extract the following from a pamphlet 
received some lime since from F, Trow¬ 
bridge, Milford, Conn.: 
The Soil Ilest Adapted 
is low, moist land, suitably drained, so that 
the water will be t welve or eighteen inches 
under the surface. As the plant draws its 
nourishment from air and water, it is not of 
consequence how poor the soil may he. 
Light soil, or that destitute of organic mat¬ 
ter, is better for their growth ; hence, if the 
ground is covered with much hog or peat, it 
would be of great, service to remove the top 
of the ground to a compost heap, and cover 
the remaining soil with sand to the depth of 
three to five inches. The sand tends to pre¬ 
vent the growth of weeds, wild grass, etc.; 
is easier cultivated, and keeps the ground 
loose around the plants. 
If planted directly on muck or rich soil, 
they are apt to make too rank a growth, 
sometimes ten or twelve feet in length, and 
cover the ground over with a mat three or 
four inches thick; and as the fruit grows on 
the ends of the shoots, the rank growth 
throws out hut few buds; hut if sanded 
over, the shoots are of short growth, the 
plants become rooted and throw out stronger 
fruit buds. 
They will grow on moderately damp soil, 
that can he plowed or cultivated, or in gar¬ 
den soil not too dry, and produce a fair crop 
m such land ; but will not do well on dry 
sand o" day. Where the soil is partially 
dry, (boy can sometimes be covered with 
tan, s; vdust. or anything that retains moist¬ 
ure, spi ad on the top of the ground ; they 
also grow well on the borders of streams 
and ditches. 
Overflowing 
is desirable, and I might say it is almost in¬ 
dispensable, to do this late in the fall. It is 
non-essential as to the depth of the water 
over them. It can be let olf again from the 
1st to the 10th of May. If it can he done, it 
is desirable to have the iiow so regulated 
that it can be let. off or on in the course of a 
few hours; so that, in case of drouth or at¬ 
tack of the worm, it can he let on for a short 
time; it may he used also in the fall while 1 
gathering the fruit, for n frost may seriously 
injure if. for market. In prospect of any 
danger, the water can be let on until it is 
past; or if if is desirable to keep the fruit 
over the winter, the berries can be left on 
the vines until spring, when they will he as 
fresh as if gathered in the fall. 
Varieties. 
There are three varieties — the Cherry, 
Bugle and Bell—generally cultivated. The 
large round Cherry is a late, not prolific 
bearer, and does best on quite damp soil. 
The Hugh is quite handsome, not ns late as 
the Cherry, and not as prolific as the Bell, 
which is most generally planted. It. is early 
and prolific, and is the kind usually sold as 
Cape Cod cranberries. It is also the kind 
sold by some dealers as upland; hut there 
are none strictly so. 
Planting and Culture. 
When the ground is well prepared, lay it 
out as you would for planting cabbage, 
strawberry or other plants, using a pointed 
stick or dibble to make a hole four or five 
inches deep, in which you place the plant, 
press the dirt; around it, and the root and 
stem will soon start to grow. The remain¬ 
der of the vines may be layered in the 
ground, leaving the shoots or stems above. 
The vines covered will lake root and much 
sooner cover the ground. 
Another plan, adopted by many, is to take 
the vines up without, roots, often six or eight 
feet in length, which they cutup and sow in 
drills, or lay the vine down and cover with 
dirt. In this way it will take from twelve 
to fourteen barrels of vines, costing four or 
five dollars per barrel, to the acre. The 
reason for this course is, that where vines 
are grown on rich muck or soil, they do not 
make roots, but all mat together, and the 
above is the only w ay they can be planted 
out; but where the ground is sanded they 
grow more upright short, vines with roots. 
These are the best to plant out, are packed 
close, and cost less for transportation, and 
the only kind that can he forwarded by mail. 
They are tied in bundles of one hundred 
each. Ten thousand can he packed in a 
barrel, sufficient to plant an acre, two feet 
apart each way; but if the vine above 
ground is layered as proposed above, the 
two feet, between each plant will be tilled at 
once. Ten thousand plants will cost only 
$25. If planted this distance apart, they 
can be cultivated with a horse hoe or culti¬ 
vator to keep out the grass and weeds. Af¬ 
ter two or three years’ cultivation they w ill 
take care of themselves. If wanted iu 
small patches or jn gardens, they can be set 
a foot apart, and will cover the ground 
much sooner. 
They can be planted out at almost any 
season of the year—when the ground is not 
frozen, in the fail from September, at the 
North, until the ground freezes, or in the 
spring until July. At the South and West, 
if possible, they should he planted from Oc¬ 
tober to January or February. If received 
too late for planting, the roots cau be cov¬ 
ered with dirt in a box and placed in a cel¬ 
lar, until they can be planted out. Where 
there is no overflow, I am satisfied that they 
can he planted out in early spring until 
July, as well as fall. 
Every family can have their garden patch, 
and in dryish soil, grass, meadow muck, tan 
or sawdust around the plant w ill be ben¬ 
eficial to retain moisture. They are highly 
ornamental in pots, the fruit hanging on the 
plant, until the blossom appears for the next 
crop. They often bear a few berries the first 
year, and increase every year, coming into 
perfect bearing in from five to eight years, 
averaging one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty bushels per acre—sometimes yielding as 
high as three hundred bushels. A point 
worthy of notice is, that cultivated fruit is 
less likely to be affected by drouth than 
wild fruit. 
A correspondent of the Magazine of Hor¬ 
ticulture writes: — “The cranberry, like 
every other fruit, needs care and attention. 
For I have found that in almost all cases 
where a failure has occurred, it has been ow¬ 
ing to inattention to the proper preparation 
of l he soil, or to keeping them clear and free 
from weeds after having been planted. 
“ There are large quantities of land all over 
our country that will grow large crops of 
fruit, that are now comparatively worthless 
—too wet and cold for grass. Other localities, 
that would produce grass, but the subsoil is 
quite wet throughout the year, ten or twelve 
inches below the surface—where also good 
crops of corn or other grains would flourish. 
The preparation of the ground of the latter 
description will not he so great as the former. 
If such soil is of a rather light nature, a 
plow can housed and the ground thorough¬ 
ly prepared; after which the plants can be 
set out. If the lot is extensive, it is bettor to 
plant the vines two feel or more apart, so as 
to cultivate between them, which always 
needs to be done, in order to keep out. the 
weeds for two or three years, after which 
the vines will cover the ground and mostly 
take care of themselves; often yielding, after 
two years, from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and fifty bushels per acre. Where 
small lots are planted out, they would cover 
the ground much sooner by placing the 
vines only one foot apart. If the soil is 
heavy, three or four inches of sand (sea sand 
is best) should he carted on to the surface 
and the whole made level. The plants 
should in all cases be set four or five Indies 
below the surface of the soil, as they take 
root from the stem; they can safely he set 
deeper than many other plants, and as they 
thrive mostly on air and water, the deeper 
they arc set out, the more likely they are to 
live. The vines may be planted out as late 
as June. 
“ In regard to land that is wet and spongy, 
it should be drained, and the surplus water 
left about ten or twelve inches below the 
surface. The ground can then be leveled, 
and the more thoroughly it is prepared the 
more successful will be the culture. Band 
should be covered over the ground to the 
depth of three to five inches, in order to 
keep the surface loose, and to prevent, foul 
grass and weeds from choking the plants, 
and it. is much easier to keep them clean 
afterwards. 
“As to flowing the land, which has been 
thought indispensable to success, it is not 
necessary; but where it can be done with¬ 
out, inconvenience or great expense, it will 
tend to keep the plants hack until the late 
frosts are over, which often destroy the crop ; 
it, will also aid them sometimes during the 
summer droughts, at the time the berries are 
forming. Still it is not absolutely necessary, 
and that is a question of some importance 
to know.” 
-- 
WHEN TO MANURE CORN. 
With me it is still an unsettled question 
whether to apply manure in the autumn and 
turn it. under in the spring for corn, in ac¬ 
cordance with the advice of .Torn* Johnston’ 
and many other farmers of fame. One year 
ago I should not have questioned the sound¬ 
ness of their theory under all circumstances. 
I am not now prepared to say that, the best 
results from fall application are not the rule 
and failures the exception. My single ex¬ 
periment may be one of tlic exceptions; 
sueb ns it is, I will give it. 
After the grass had been cut from a four- 
acre lot—1 think in August, 1807—I turned 
it over. In October 1 took from the barn 
cellar, and spread along the west, and south 
sides of t he lot, manure at t he rate of about 
thirty or more ox-earl loads to the acre. 
Manure was strong, as I had fed several 
fattening hogs during the summer and fall. 
I had stabled my horned cattle and furnish eel 
no more litter than was necessary to absorb 
all the liquid. 
Wo now left the field to freeze and thaw, 
receive rain, &e., till May, 1808. The por¬ 
tion along the west side, which had received 
the fall application, was cross-plowed. The 
other portion, manured with just about the 
same amount and of similar quality. This 
was then cross-plowed, about a week after 
the first. All thoroughly harrowed and 
planted. I did not notice any difference in 
time of its appearing above ground, but very 
soon there was a marked difference between 
the fall and spring manured portions; and by 
the middle of July it, was a good step from 
the top of the fall manured to the top of the 
other, and the difference was still — if pos¬ 
sible—more marked at harvest, 
1 neither weighed nor measured any of it, 
for it would have been perfectly absurd; for 
1 am fully confident, that the one portion 
yielded more than twice as much shelled 
corn as the other. From the one portion 
ears were large, sound and well tilled out— 
as good corn as I ever grew. The other was 
not as good as I should have expected with¬ 
out manure; for this was really the best por¬ 
tion of the lot. Hlieep had pretty well 
manured it, as it was a little lea and nearer 
to the barn than the remainder of the field. 
I watched thfs crop through the season 
with much interest and must say that 1 uni 
utterly unable to give a solution to tills, to 
me, mystery. I can only think of onccircum- 
stance which would seem to give the spring 
manured any advantage over the fall, which 
is this:—There was a heavy rain storm 
between the plowing of the two portions; 
but it does not seem probable, that all this 
astounding difference could be owing to that, 
I doubt not John Johnston and many others 
raise large corn by fall application of manure; 
but what 1 would like to know is if they 
have repeatedly manured a part of the same 
field in autumn and a portion in spring and 
have found one superior to the other V If a 
whole field is manured in the fall and a heavy 
crop of corn grown, it establishes nothing; 
for no comparison has been made. If I 
manure in the spring and get only forty 
bushels of corn, and another one in N ew Y ork 
manures in the fall and gets sixty bushels, it 
does not necessarily follow that his method is 
superior to mine. What we need is the 
experience of those who have tried experi¬ 
ments. Will they not briefly report? 
G. W. Humphrey. 
Rochester, Mass. 
-- 
FIELD NOTES. 
Cos; of Raising: Oats in Ohio. 
“ Rusty ” V/mumicates to the Ohio 
Fanner his estimate of the cost of growing 
six acres of oats in that Slate in 1800: Rent 
of land, $18; plowing, seeding and harrow¬ 
ing, $8.50, seed, $0.75; cradling, binding, 
shocking and housing, $18; threshing 408 
bushels, at, 5 cents per bushel, $“0.40. Total 
expense, $71.65. Crop 408 bushels, average 
of 08 bushels per acre, worth, at 40 cents, 
$187.68, and showing a profit of $110.08, or 
nearly $10.84 per acre, without giving any 
credit for the crop of stra w. 
Experiments with Sanford Corn. 
Geo. Wm. Wilson of Ohio, (who says he 
has no seed for sale,) writes:—“I planted 
Sanford corn on the 82d of May, in old 
ground, without manure. Soon after it came 
up, it was killed level with the ground bv 
the June frost. As it was planted on low 
ground, and the season being very wet,prop¬ 
er cultivation was out of the question. The 
ground was frequently submerged in water, 
and later in the season it was like a mortar- 
bed, But notwithstanding all these draw¬ 
backs, there was n fair yield of corn, and the 
large, well-formed cars gave promise of an 
enormous yield under more favorable con¬ 
ditions. It combines great productiveness 
with curliness of maturity. From the ordi¬ 
nary varieties in cultivation I should not 
have expected a single ripe car of fair size. 
Our short, and uncertain seasons render it 
necessary for our farmers to plant those va¬ 
rieties of corn that mat ure early.” 
Will'll Are Potatoes Ripe? 
N. N. Churchtm. has seen a good many 
statements concerning the relative curliness 
of different varieties of potatoes, but nobody 
has given a certain rule by which we can 
decide when a hill of potatoes is ripe, to a 
day, or within three or four days, so as to 
enable one to discriminate between the 
difference in ripening of two or three kinds 
of potatoes, planted side by side, at the same 
time. He asks for information ; and he evi¬ 
dently thinks, as we do, that there is a good 
deal of unreliability about most of the state¬ 
ments of the comparative earliness of va¬ 
rieties. 
-- 
Inquiries About FIcM Crop*.—.1. M. G. asks D. 
LKATiuatscrcn of Livingston Co., N. Y., to give 
Ills experience in selecting Ins turnip seed, for 
the henetli. of tin* readers of tlit* Rural.— 
“Query *’ asks practical raisers of broom corn to 
say what, kind and bow much seed Is preferable; 
the best Kind of soil, how oultivoted and cured. 
Wc shall l>e glad to receive such answers to these 
queries; tmt if "Query”will took on pages 1 SI, 
135, SOI, 217, 805. tilt!, SIS, 374.667, 7 J3. 75H ot last 
volume of Uukal, hr- will find his inquiries an¬ 
swered.- H. ill. ViAimi.vi.il asks sonm one to toll 
how to dost rny milk-weeds. — A. K. a-sks his 
Hint m. friends to name 1 lie best crop to he sowed 
in spring and fed green, for producing milk; 
also if, as recommended by a correspondent, 
sowing corn in drills three foot apart and eigh¬ 
teen inches in the drill will produce the best and 
most fodder. .7. f). It.. Jhihiski, Tentb, asks the 
best mode oi saving clover hay and barley, 
arm (bconomm 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Williams’ Farm Fence. 
A correspondent calls attention to the 
fact that this fence (illustrated in the Rural 
April 85th, 1809, and advertised during the 
past year) is a good thing. He writes us 
from Yates Co., arid says it is going to he 
extensively built in that county the coming 
season. Our readers will remember it con¬ 
sists of stout' foundation, and iron posts, 
staple in form, to receive the rails. Of its 
cost we know nothing. It is manifestly 
durable. It is a patent. 
Fancy Wooden Gates. 
Figure 1. 
We give herewith two more of Mr. 
Snook’s illustrations of fancy wooden gates. 
They are pretty devices. Figure 1 is cheap, 
Figure 2. 
neat, and showy, and will look tfell in a 
fence with square pickets. Figure 2 is not 
so strong a gate, hut unique and ornamental. 
Cistern Strainer. 
A bag made of a coarse material, such ae 
a coffee sack, hung over the pipe leading into 
a cistern, will catch all the sticks, leaves, &c., 
that lodge upon the roof or in the gutters. 
The hag can he taken off’ and cleaned occa¬ 
sionally. It, is surprising how much decay¬ 
ing and coloring matter is kept out of the 
water by this simple arrangement. It is 
much better, and easier, than to pump out 
the water and clean out the cistern. A more 
expensive one is made of wood with basket- 
work inside, which cau be lifted out, but it 
is no better than the bag strainer.— E. L. M. 
Top-Dressing Grass Lauds. 
JonN D. Spinner of Herkimer county 
writes us that in 1854 he had about seven 
acres of grass lands which did not produce 
ten hundred pounds of hay per acre. In 
March he hauled manure from livery stables, 
which he. piled in the field in piles of ten 
loads each ; this was spread on the grass as 
soon as the frost would admit. The result 
was wonderful; the crop as thick as could 
stand on the ground. 
Again lie took from a piece of new land 
five crops—wheat, barley, rye, oats; seeded 
lo grass with the oats; cut the grass two 
years and got small crops. The third spring 
applied plaster; hut. little improvement was 
perceptible. The following fall he put. on 
oldish manure, about fifteen loads per acre. 
He lias cut grass on this meadow three sea¬ 
sons since, and it has produced more than 
four-fold more than before top-dressing. 
--- 
DISINFECTANTS AS FERTILIZERS. 
With the warm and sunny days of spring 
comes, naturally, the decay of much animal 
and vegetable matter, tbe accumulation of 
t he long winter. From this decaying mat¬ 
ter, around the homestead, arises many 
offensive exhalations, and the germs or 
seeds of many diseases. This effluvia cannot 
be otherwise than injurious to the general 
health of the household, if not eventually 
developed into actual disease and death. 
The different types of fevers are often, un¬ 
questionably, induced by the inhalation of 
the noxious gases arising from unwhole¬ 
some and filthy localities. 
Around ihc farm house impure cellars, 
decaying vegetable and animal matter, the 
accumulated debris of the winter, as a veil as 
fecal discharges, are usual and prolific 
sources of imparity and noxious odors, un¬ 
mistakable evidence of the need of efficient 
disinfectants, not only as promoting cleanli¬ 
ness, but to guard fully against, worse evils. 
Among the exhalations nothing is more 
prominent or more readily perceptible than 
ammonia. This lias long held high rank 
among fertilizers, and while seeking to effect 
the removal of unpleasant and even danger¬ 
ous elements, such substances may he em 
ployed as will most securely fix the amrao- 
niacal and other gases, and render the whole 
mass a valuable auxiliary to farm and gar¬ 
den crops. 
One of the most valuable agents for Ibis 
purpose, when obtainable, is powdered wood 
charcoal. It possesses remarkable proper¬ 
ties for absorbing gases in its pores, being 
capable of taking up fifty times its bulk of 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and twice that 
amount, of ammonia, thus proving a power¬ 
ful purifier of infected atmosphere. While 
acting ilms, as the desired disinfectant, it. 
accumulates a mass of fertilizing properties 
whicli may be, by the farmer, turned to 
good account, as an addition eventually to 
the compost heap. 
Gypsum may also be profitably employed 
where charcoal is not readily obtainable 
Though not as good an absorbent, its cheap 
ness renders the use of a greater bulk less 
expensive, and this too, in the end, with the 
refuse matter upon which it was used may 
be employed to add fertility to the growing 
crops. Gypsum may also be used with profit 
around the stable; not only to remove the 
unpleasant odors, but to absorb and fix the 
gases that would otherwise, to a great ex¬ 
tent. be lost. The value, of barn-yard ma 
i nure may, by Us use, be greatly increased. 
As a disinfectant of sewers, vaults, sink 
holes and alvine discharges, where neither 
the charcoal or gypsum are available, sul 
plmtc of iron or blue vitriol cam be used with 
good effect. Its affinity for oxygen is very 
great, and a fresh solution of the crystals 
will be found efficient. It does not, like the 
oilier substances named, absorb the poison¬ 
ous gases of the atmosphere, but if, after 
having performed its office, it can be added 
to the compost heap, it ivill not be without 
value. 
Thu recent use of dry earth for closets and 
cesspools, proves it to be a valuable deodor¬ 
izer, that may afterward be converted into a 
fertilizer. There are also many other good 
disinfectants that may be employed. Un 
leached ashes and quick lime, often used be¬ 
cause they are tit. hand, are not good dis¬ 
infectants. They act to liberate rather 
than fix ammonia, and are thus far preju¬ 
dicial for adding to the compost heap, and 
should be avoided for that purpose- Coal 
ashes may be profitably used. Farmers 
should study these matters and learn to 
utilize the waste of the house and barn, 
making it contribute toward obtaining from 
the soil a more abundant harvest. r. u. 
oxsmxm. 
MEMORANDA FOR HORSEMEN. 
What Alls the Colts? 
A writer iii the Rural of March 17, 
says J. II.’s colt, is troubled with the cramp. 
This is a great mistake, the trouble with 
the colt is that the patella hone slips out of 
its place, called a luxation. The patella bone 
is a small hone at the stifle, and plays like a 
pulley, and is much the same as the knee- 
pan in man. This slipping of the patella 
bone is caused by a too great laxity of the 
muscles, whose office is to hold this bone in 
its place. This is not uncommon among 
colls. The remedy is to slip* the bone hack 
in its place, then bathe with cold water, 
which contracts the muscles that, hold it; 
feed the colt on good hay and oats, which 
will make him strong in muscle, and he will 
be all right.— W. 13. F., East Dumont , Maine. 
OH unit Pea IHeal for Hornes*. 
Your Massachusetts correspondent can 
find oil meal in Boston or in any consider¬ 
able. town. Oil meal is, simply, ground oil 
cake. The pea meal I referred to was com¬ 
mon field peas, ground. Peas can be pur¬ 
chased in almost any part of the country. 
They are usually sold at about the same 
price as corn.—E. w. s. 
Cure for Poll Evil. 
Cast the horse and cut the affected part 
out, always keeping in view that the incision 
must be with the grain of the flesh, so that 
no arteries be cut off; then you have only a 
flesh wound to heal. There arc many things 
that will cleanse the wound and heal the 
sore. As good as I have ever tried is to 
take Mandrake root, washed clean and 
boiled down to a strong solution, bathing 
two or three times per day. Another is 
crocus mortis, one drachm; white vitriol, 
one ounce; thoroughly mixed. Use one 
tablespoonful to one quart of soft water 
This is also one of the best of solutions for 
the human flesh in any form, where there is 
any inflammation.—W m. L. Young. 
--- 
Inquiries for Horsemen. - A Baltimore, >1(1.. 
subscriber asks w hen? a t ooth-saw such hs is used 
on horses, may hr- obtained. — Jambs Otis asks 
where lie can obtain a first - class Percheron 
horse colt, two to live years OldR. W • X. wishes 
some mu- who has used Perohei-on horses would 
state* If they round to tx? nipid walker? bo- 
fore heavy loads. P. M. P., Orleans To., N Y., 
asks whether it affects the progeny of a inure 
with foal disastrously to work her up to the 
time of foaling. lie desires someone having ex¬ 
perience to give in Rural a chapter on the 
.*}iest management of brood mares.” 
