474 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. MARCH 42 
Kansas, Washington, Washington Co., Feb. 
14.—We have had a very cold Winter, it froze 
up November 9ih and has been steadily cold 
ever since. The thermometer went down to 
24 deg. below zero once. The peach buds are 
all hilled as far as I can find out. Wheat that 
was put in right is doing well, and is not win¬ 
ter-killed so far. On Saturday, the 5tb, it 
commenced to rain and rained until in the 
night when it turned to the biggest enow-3torm 
of the season. Stock is wintering well. Fodder 
is getting scarce; if the cold weather should 
hold much longer it will be high in the Spring. 
Prices of grain, are:—Wheat, 65c to 75c; corn, 
20c; hogs, $4.15 per hundred pounds ; butter, 
15c per pound. j. <j. b. 
Kansas. Harlan, Smith Co., Feb. 18.—Pros¬ 
pects for crops the coming season are most 
flattering. Abundant rain in the Fall, and a 
good deal of snow through the Winter—that 
is, for this country, where we seldom have 
much. There has been very little thawing 
since the first freeze. Warm rain the 5'.h inst. 
softened the ground a few inches and was fol¬ 
lowed by about eight inches of snow. The 
severe weather will probably kill the insect 
pests, which were as injurious last year as the 
drought. Winter wheat is reported to be in 
excellent condition. b. e. h. 
Kansas, Lmvenworth, Leavenworth Co., 
Feb. 13 —I have ju6t been examining the fruit 
buds of apricots, budded peaches, and Heart 
and Duke Cherries and find many killed; but 
enough good ones are still left to make a fair 
crop of fruit except of apricots, of which only 
a few are left. J. b. 
Kas., Caldwell, Sumner Co., Feb. 23 —The 
coldest weather down here in Southern Kansas 
was 14 deg. below zero when we had a three 
days’ blizzard which began on Feb. 13. s. k. 
Md., Denton. Caroline Co., Feb. 19 —The 
bearing peach trees in most of the orchards in 
this vicinity were frozen down to snow line—8 
to 10 inches above ground. The bark peels off 
neatly, as far dowu as frosted, as in budding 
season. Young peaches in nurseries are killed 
down to snowline, so are tender varieties of 
cherry. Such a freeze has never lefore been 
known to occur here. 8ome claim the ‘ Queen 
of the Market” Raspberry to be unhurt, but 
Brandywine, and Wilson Blackberries have 
succumbed to the “ pressure." J. w. k. 
Mich., Three Rivers, St. Joseph Co., Feb. 
26.—The Winter has been pretty cold here. 
We had not much snow until January, but since 
then we have had sleighing, except for one 
week, during which a great deal of rain melted 
the enow. The wheat looks bad. It was sown 
late and accordingly it had very little growth 
on ihe advent of Winter. Corn was two-thirds 
of a crop. 8. m. s. 
Mich., Evart, Osceola Co.. Feb. 15.—This is 
a new count: y and hitherto lumbering has been 
the chief business here; but now splendid 
farms are being made out of the land that has 
been cleared of pines. We are having a cold 
Winter, with the mercury frequently down to 
28 or 30 degrees below zero, and the snow three 
feet deep in the woods. b. o. t. 
Minn., Fremont, Winona Co., Feb. 20—We 
have had an old-fashioned Winter in this sec¬ 
tion. It froze up on the 11th of November and 
has not thawed out since that date. All kinds 
of stock have been in good older thus far. 
Farmers are bt-ginniBg to stop raising all kinds 
of wheat, and are raismg more stock and going 
into mixed farming generally. Stock is fetch¬ 
ing fair prices; that which formerly brought 
from $10 to $15 now brings from $15 to $30, 
Oats. 28<®'30e.; coin, 80@35c.; hay, $12 'p ton ; 
wheat, 80@90c. j. g. 
N. Y., Croton, Delaware Co., Feb. 12.—The 
old adage 
When the days begin to lengthen, 
The cold begins to strengthen. 
is being verified this Winter in Delaware Co. 
Our cold December was followed by a January 
equally severe, and then February started off 
a little ahead of either of the other months. 
On the second my thermometer indicated 24 o 
below zero, four degeeei lower than it has 
been here before. e. j. b. 
N. Y., West Croton, Delaware Co., Feb. 17 - 
Cold and blustering here now. Snow 20 inches 
deep on the level. Hay worth $18 per ton and 
scarce at that. I fear a good many farmers 
will run short of fodder before Spring. Dry 
weather and erass-hoppers have done a world 
of mischief here. d. h. c. 
N. Carolina, Charlotte, Mecklenburgh, Feb. 
21—We have had three or four weeks of ex¬ 
tremely cold weather this Winter—more severe 
than it has been for many years. The young 
pice trees in many places, the leaves being 
killed, look as if fire had rnn through them 
and scorched the leaves. On the river and 
creek banks the blades of the reeds are killed. 
I have never known this to happen before. 
Rose bushes are killed to the ground. 
w. J. H. 
Pa., Salem, Clarion Co., Feb. 19.—We have 
had an extremely cold Winter, the thermom¬ 
eter being very often down to zero and as far 
as 24° below—lower than it was ever before 
known in this section. Wheat, $1 00; corn, 
30c.; oats, 40c. hay, $10 to $16 per ton. 
B. R. 
Tex , Birdedale, Bell Co., .Feb. 10.—Never in 
the memory of the oldest man living, have we 
had snch a season—from a severe drought to 
almost incessant rainy or cloudy weather up 
to the end of January. Much of the cotton 
crop was not gathered, and but very little of 
an immense corn crop was harvested. No 
Fall wheat was sowed. No Spring wheat or 
oats are yet planted, and it is still cloudy, 
misty, icy and cold with mud! mud! every¬ 
where. People on the prairieB are getting out 
of wood, in fact, in 60me plaeee, they are now 
using cotton seed for fuel. It has been excep¬ 
tionally cold here since the middle of No¬ 
vember, with ice, snow and frost enough for at 
least sir ordinary Texas Winters. e. g. h. 
Va., Middiebnrg, Loudoun Co., February 
22.—The peach crop in this vicinity will be a 
total failure, the buds having been killed by 
the severe cold weather. It is feared too, that 
the peach trees are seriously injured. 
w. c. B. 
Wash Ter , Colfax. Whitman Co., Feb. 12. 
Wehavehad a long, dreary Winter. Thcground 
has been covered with snow since the last week 
in November, and as a great many stock-men 
here prepare no feed for Winter, depending 
upon hunch grass alone, much stock have 
perished, especially cattle and s-heep. Horses 
fare better as they will dig through several 
iuebes of snow and keep in very good order. 
The “Chinook” is gently blowing tc-day—a 
warm wind that melts the snow very rapidly. 
It has been anxiously looked for, as there is 
plenty of grass if it could only be uncovered. 
Wheat. 35c.; oats. 45c ; hay, $10 to $15; but¬ 
ter, 37$e.; eggs, 37£c. h. m. 
®Jff (jurist, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The Improved Kentucky Sheep. 
A. B. M., Le Seur, Minn., asks for some in¬ 
formation about the Improved Kentucky 
Sheep, of Robt. W. Scott. 
Ans—F orty-six years ago Mr. Scott, not 
finding any sheep suitable for the West aud 
South, resolved to produce one by judicious 
crossing. Accordingly in the beginning of 1S84 
he selected about 30 ewes from a flock of com¬ 
mon or “ native ” 6heep, and bred them to a 
very flue large Saxon Merino ram, the object 
being to give in the offspring more thickness 
to the fleece and more fineness to the fiber of 
the wool before uniting the coarse fleeces of 
the native sheep with the coarse and still more 
open fleeces of the large Imported breeds. The 
ewe lambs of this cross, when one year old, 
were bred to an imported Bakeweil Leicester 
buck, of large, full, round carcass and of heavy 
fleece of long wool. In due time the ewe 
lambs of the latter cross were, in turn" bred to 
an imported South-Down ram of large size and 
high form, the object now being to infuse into 
the progeny the active, sprightly and thrifty 
disposition and the highly flavored and beauti* 
fully marbled muttou for which the South- 
Down is celebrated. Here again success was 
achieved, the flesh of the wethers being highly 
prized, while the value of the wool was in¬ 
creased as much by the greater number of 
fibers to the square inch, as it was lessened by 
the los6 iu the length of them. The next cross 
was by a ram possessing many of the good 
qualities it was desired to perpetuate in the 
flock. He was tbrec-fourtbB Cotswold and 
one fourtli South-Down—a large, hardy, active 
sheep, with a thick and heavy fleece—qualities 
which he transmitted to his progeny to an em- 
iment degree. The next two crosses were 
made by pure-blood Cotswolds and the next 
by a full-blood Oxford ram of remarkable soft¬ 
ness aud 6ilklness of fleece. All these animals 
had short necks, round barrels, broad backs 
and full briskets. These increased the weight 
of the carcass and fleece of the flock. Every 
one of the crosses, Mr, Scott s&ys, was percep¬ 
tible iu the flock ju the character and habits, as 
well as in the carcass*nd the fleece, though in 
some a particular cross predominated. 
In 1853 the flock was divided between two 
full-blood Cotswolds, and in the following year 
it was bred to five Belect rams of Mr. Scott’s 
own breeding in order to produce more uni¬ 
formity. For the same object in the Fall of 
1855 the ewe6 were bred chiefly to a r^iu whose 
pedigree showed a mixture of Cotswold, Ox¬ 
fordshire, Teeswater and South-Down blood. 
In 1856 Mr. Scott says he bred chiefly to a 
large Cotswold buck, and in 1857 he bred to 
the eame and to another ram of mixed blood, 
the ewes being so mated as to produce greater 
uniformity in the flock—those with more 
marked South-Down and Merino characteris¬ 
tics being bred to the Cotswold and those with 
Cotswold qualities being mated with the mixed- 
bloed ram. In 1858 two large rams of his own 
breeding were UBed iu the same way and for 
the same object. In 1859 about 109 ewes were 
picked out and bred iu the same manner, for 
the same end, about half of them being bred to 
af flue mixed-blood ram which had gained a 
premium at the State fair the previous year, 
and the rest to a choice ram of what had now 
become known as the “ Improved Kentucky ” 
breed. 
By this time the sheep were essentially uni¬ 
form and imparted their qualities to their pro¬ 
geny as certainly as do other breeds of sheep. 
They had also become well known, having 
been successfully exhibited at many State and 
County fairs, and some of them had been sold 
in nearly every State of the West and South. 
8 ,nce 1860 judiciously selected rams of his own 
breeding, and others of Leicester aud Cotswold 
blood, have been used eo as to impart some 
desirable quality to the carcass or fleece or to 
strengthen the constitution of the progeny. 
Only the most healthy, finely-formed and 
well wooled ewes are kept as breeders, and 
great care is taken to secure rams of like 
character. The fleeces of Mr. Scott’s flock of 
over 100 breeding ewea have averaged over 
eight pouLds of merchantable wool, free from 
burs, etc., and though it was not washed on 
the sheep’s back, still he thinks it was clean 
enough for domestic manufacture. The weight 
of the fleeces varies from eight to fifteen 
pounds. The wool, he saye, is exceeded in 
length only by that of the Cotswolds, while it 
greatly excels that of the latter in fineness and 
softness of fiber and in the number of fibers to 
the fquare inch on the sheJp’s back. Although 
the fleeces are net quite uniform in length, 
thickness and fineness of fiber, still there is as 
close a general uniformity as in most other 
breeds. The entire body, except the face and 
legs below the knees, is covered with a close 
and compact fleece, which, when full-grown, 
leaves no open line along the back, but gives 
a perfect protection and a smooth, handsome 
and portly appearance. Though the fleece 
has sufficient yolk to preserve its softness, it 
has noi enough to produce a dirty appearance. 
Mr. Scott says that the wool has generally 
commanded from three to five cents per 
pound more than any other combing wool iu 
the neighboring markets. 
Mr. Scott’s flock never have any artificial 
shelter in Winter or Summer, yet they have 
always thriven well and been always almost 
entirely free from disease, especially from 
coughs, snuffles and foot-rot. In Winter short 
grass is all they need, and in its absence they 
are content with fodder corn, though, of 
course, at lambing time they require a more 
succulent diet. He has also heard good ac¬ 
counts of the thrift and hardiness of those he 
has sold to other sections where the climate is 
more severe than it usually is in his section 
of Kentucky. As to the proiiflcness of the 
dams, ho has often raked one-third more 
, Jambs than there were ewes, and has rarely 
failed to raise a lamb for evoiy ewe in the 
flock. Ho has not sacrificed other good qual¬ 
ities to size, but atuoug the weights are 174 
pounds for a yearling ram; 224 pounds for a 
two-yeat-old ram never shorn ; 102 pounds for 
agrowu ewe; 114 pounds for a ewe lamb—ail 
weighed off grass without any extra feed, 
some of them in August. 
Tho Phylloxera. 
W. E. M., WaUsville, Pa , asks for an ac¬ 
count of the phylloxera that is proving so 
injurious to grape-vines. 
Ans.— The term phylloxera designates not 
only the insect, but also the disease it pro¬ 
duces. The phylloxera insect occupies an 
intermediate position between the plant lice 
(aphida?) ai)d the bark lice (coccidre), though 
in mo6t respects more closely allied to the 
former than to the latter. Although the genus 
was first discovered in Europe by Prof. Pian- 
chon in 1868, yet it Is more largely represented 
on this than on the other side of the Atlantic, 
for while there are only two discovered species 
indigenous there, there are 16 described spe¬ 
cies here, most of them inhabiting galls upon 
the leaves aud twigs of hickory, oak or grape¬ 
vine. But none of these, except the phylloxera 
of the grape-vine, seriously effects man’s in¬ 
terest. Iu 1869 M. Lichtenstein, of France, 
suggested that the insect which was ravaging 
the vineyards of hie native lund might be the 
same described by Dr. Fitch as making galls 
on the leaves of American grape-vines, and in 
1870 Prof. Riley proved that this suggestion 
was true. At the same time he also proved— 
what was discovered simultaneously in Fi ance 
—that the grape phylloxera presents itself in 
two different types, one making galls on the 
leaves of grape-vines and the other affecting 
the roots. This hibernates mostly as a young 
larva attached to the roots. In Spring it 
moults. Increases in size and hegins to lay 
eggs. These eggs produce young which eocn 
become virginal, egg-laying, wingless moth¬ 
ers. Five or six generations of these follow 
each other, and then, about July, some winged 
female insects appear. These fly to new vines 
or vineyardB where they lay eggs, usually two 
or three in number, and then die. These eggs 
are of unequal size and in about a fortnight 
they produce sexual Individuals, the larger 
producing females and the smaller, males, the 
latter being wingless and mouihleas. The 
impregnated female produces an egg, which 
in its turn gives birth to a virginal, egg-bear¬ 
ing, wingless mother, which begins again the 
same round of reproduction. The insects spread 
in their winged state by flight from vineyard 
to vineyard; and in their wlnglesB state fl ora 
vine to vine, or even from neighboring vine¬ 
yard to vineyard, either through underground 
passages or over the surface. The winged 
females begin to appear in July and continue 
to swarm out of the ground until vine growth 
ceases. The gall lice are found on all species 
of grape-vines, but least on the European 
vine—Vitis vinifera, and most on the River 
Bank Grape (V. eordifolia), and especially on 
the Clinton and Taylor. The root lice are 
most disastrous to the European vine, and 
least to our Summer Grape (V restivalis) and 
the Scuppernong. Of native vines, the most 
liable to the pest—the Catawba. Iona, Dela¬ 
ware and Goethe—belong to the Northern Fox 
(V. Labrusca). The puncture of the root lice 
causes knots and swellings of the roots, which 
begin at the tips of the rootlets which even¬ 
tually die, when the lice migrate to frpsh feed¬ 
ing ground. During the first year there are 
scarcely atiy visible sigus of disease. Daring 
the second year all the fibrous roots disappear, 
and the formation of others is prevented by 
the lice which also settle on the larger roots 
which their ravages cause to rot. The symp¬ 
toms of the disease now are seen in the sickly 
yellowish appearance of the leaf and a small 
growth of cane; and about the third year the 
vine dies; but then au examination of the 
roots will generally fail to discover any of the 
pests, all of which have by that time sought 
“ fresh fields and pastures new.” 
Lime and Ground Limestone, etc. 
E. Ji., Salem, Pa., asks, 1, for some informa¬ 
tion on limestone crushed or ground and 
burnt; aud whether the former would prove 
beneficial on a limestone clay soil; 2, how 
would one get the most benefit from barnyard 
manure that has been left iu the open yard, 
and has been frozen all Winter without having 
rotted at all—should it be baultd out in the 
Spring for corn, or ^eft to rot until Fall for 
wheat. 
Ans— 1, Ground limestone is of no value on 
a limestone soil which has already abundance 
of limestone in it. Where the soil is quite 
devoid of lime finely ground limestone might 
be of service; but only on soilB that have plunty 
of vegetable matter iu them from the decompo¬ 
sition of which carbonic acidisproduced. Lime¬ 
stone is soluble only in water which contains 
carbonic acid, and it is therefore only in rare 
instances that it can be used with advantage. 
But lime is useful on all soils, because being 
freed by the burning from the carbonic acid, 
combined with It in the limestone, it is iu a 
caustic condition and a very active decompos¬ 
ing agent of both organic matter, from which 
U takes carbonic acid again and of mineral 
matter from which it takes silica and so sets 
potash and soda tree from their combinations 
as silicates and carbonates in which they are 
insoluble. Therefore lime is found very use¬ 
ful even on limestone soils, and It is really up 
on such soils, and where it is consequently 
cheap on account of its neighboring proximily, 
that lime is most extensively used. Ii is most 
useful on clay soils. 2, The manure would do 
the most good on the corn ; if it is too coaise 
to be harrowed iu on the plowed ground, it 
should be spread as soon as possible, and 
plowed in, when it will be well-mixed with the 
soil by thorough harrowing. See Farming for 
Boys and Girls No. 6, December 11th, 1880, 
where this is explained. 
Farcy, etc. 
W. H. O., Thompson Station, Tenn., asks, 1, 
where can he jirocure a small package of Sil¬ 
ver Chaff wheat; 2, what will cure his mare 
of a skin disease called “ farcy.” 
Ans.— 1. We do not know just yet where 
Silver Chaff wheat can be bought. 2, Farcy 
is closely allied to glanders, both depending on 
the same poison in the blood, but while the 
poison in glanders is thrown off by the nostrils, 
in farcy it is eliminated through the ekin. As 
it is usually the result of extreme neglect and 
exhaustion, we doubt whether it is really the 
disease that effects our friend's mare. The 
malady usually first shows itself by one, two 
or more lumps or hard enlargements in the 
ekin of any part of the body, but generally iu 
the thin skin on the inside of the thighs and 
arms, or the neck or lips. These are called 
“ farcy buds,’’ or “ button.}.’’ They soon soften 
and burst or are opened. The sore, however, 
does not heal after discharging; but the edges 
grow rough and the center becomes pale aud 
moist. Then on pressing the neighborhood 
of the sore, cords uioie or less thin and hard 
will be felt runuiug from it to other lumps, 
which form one after the other, until the skin 
becomes ulcerous. As the disease progresses, 
the appetite fails or becomes voracious; thirst 
becomes agonizing, and glanders breaks out. 
As with glanders, there is no cure for farcy t 
and as the disease is contagions, and glanders 
may be “ caught" by human beings with results 
horribly fatal, all affected animals should be 
slaughtered and put out of the way at once. 
Sulphate of copper or of iron, oak bark, Cay¬ 
enne pepper aud cantharides may give tem¬ 
porary relief, but a speedy death is the safest 
remedy for either glanders or farcy. 
