226 
APRIL 2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ter. Prices are as follows: wheat, 98c to $1.02; 
corn, 50c.; rye, 60c.; oats, 35c.; butter, 16 to 
18c.; eggs, 12Jc.; bacon, 8 to 11c.; potatoes, 
50c. p. s. w. 
Wis , Minnesota Junction, Dodge Co., March 
13 —We are having a large amount of snow 
this Winter. I have lived in this State for 40 
years, and up to the present season have not 
Bien so much suow or felt so many blizzards. 
We have been deprived of mails for a week at 
a time, and have only justgot the roads cleared 
so that teams can travel. Just now a regular 
northeaster 5s coming on again. I think the 
Spring will open rather late, od account of the 
great body of snow on the ground. In the 
Full. Winter wheat was 6mall; but, as a general 
thing, it looks well, and I think will come out 
all right when the snow goes off. Stock lookB 
well, but unless we have warmer weather soon 
fodder will be rather scarce. A great many 
farmers will plant Amber Cane seed in Spring. 
We think the Rural Corn and Small Fruit 
Numbers just what we vraut. 0. o. d. 
Wis., Rice Lake, Barron Co., March 14 —This 
section is best adapted to the raising of small 
grain—wheat, oats and barley. Little corn is 
grown; a few farmers only raise some of the 
earliest sorts, Wheat averages from 15 to 30 
bushels per a^re; oats, 20 to 60; barley, 20 to 
40. The last two years have been so dry that 
crops have only been medium. Fruit culture 
has not been developed here to any extent. 
Of apples a few varieties of so called “iron¬ 
clads” are raised. Oue gentleman however, 
is astonishing the neighbors by raising some 
of the staudard sorts. w. T, F. 
Wis.. East Troy, Walworth Co., March 17.— 
We have had a long, cold Winter. It froze np 
the 11th of November and it only thawed one 
day in two months. The roads were as smooth 
as a plank road We have had plenty of suow 
since the 13th of January. On the 9th of Feb¬ 
ruary we had a big rain, then a heavy snow 
storm and wind drifted the snow badly. 
Wheat looked bad when the enow came, as it 
got a poor start last Fall n. a. t. 
Wis., Lodi, Columbia Co., March 17.—We 
have had a long, cold aud snowy Winter. 
Once the thermometer dived down to 40 deg. 
below zero. The roads have been blocked up 
so that it has been almost impossible to get 
around at all. b. m. s 
Wis.. Kingston, Green Lake Co., March 16 — 
We have had a very cold Winter with plenty 
of snow. For some parts of the time the roads 
were so badly blocked that whoever died 
could not be buried for days. p. b. 
®tir ^ncnst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Soiling Milch ('offs—All About It. 
D. £,, Ornro, Wis., asks for the proper 
method of Boiling milch cows, with all the 
usual details, so that a beginner can practice 
the system. 
Ans. —Soiling is a method of feeding cattle 
that are con lined in yards, pen6 or stables, 
with green fodder grown for the purpose and 
cut and carried to them. It is a practice 
Buited be6t to lands that are of high value, and 
to small farms upon which pasturing cannot 
be made profitable. For instance, a farmer 
that has 50 acres of fair laud would be doing 
well to keep 10 cows upon it under ordinary 
circumstances, but if by soiling his animals he 
can support 30, 40 or even 50 cows the advan¬ 
tages are very obvious; and this result has 
been reached by farmers who understand the 
system aud know how to apply it economically. 
The method may be described 3s follows:—To 
begin, a green crop should be prepared for 
use early in the Summer, but a beginning may 
be made at any time. Tbe system can, how¬ 
ever, be better understood by going through 
the whole detail, supposing everything is in 
working order. The first crop prepared is 
winter rye or wheat or both, sown early in the 
Fall and later, so as to give a succession of 
crops lor cutting. A piece of clover and grass 
is also kept in readiness and a field of Orchard 
Grass is useful. Tbe rye or wheat is ready for 
cutting in April and May, and is cut and fed 
as it is required. One square rod will supply 
a cow for one day if the crop is good, 
as it ought to be. Near the end of May 
Orchard Grass and clover will be ready for 
cutting and Timotby and clover in June. Oats 
are to be sown on fall-plowed ground as early 
as possible in the Spring, one acre or more at 
a time in strips, so that the fodder will be 
fresh and tender. Oats and peas sown to¬ 
gether yield twice as much as oats ulone; bar¬ 
ley and vetches also make a good crop as a 
change from oats. This lasts until early Can¬ 
ada com, or early sweet corn becomes ready. 
Thi6 is ready as soon as it is in tassel, and lasts 
until the ears are hardening. If there is a 
market the ears can be sold for green corn ; If 
not, they make rich fodder. Corn is sown in 
succession so as to keep coming in in the best 
condition. 
When the first rye is cut off it will make a 
second growth and may be pastured if de¬ 
sired, bat it is better to plow the land at once 
and plant corn or mangels, or oats aud peas 
on it. The oat ground Is plowed and planted 
as soon as an acre is cleared, and in thiB way 
the land is never idle but is always producing. 
Hungarian Grass or millet is sown in July on 
the late oats or the earliest corn ground, and 
these crops carry the cows through until the 
frosts make it necessary to cut tbe corn and 
millet. Rye may be sown in August for late 
pasture if needed, or for early cutting in the 
Spring, and also later. Whenever a new crop 
is ready, what is left of the former one is cut 
and cured for Winter feed, while it is in good 
condition and before it gets ripe and bard. An 
acre or two of maugels or sugar beets should 
be planted in May or early in June for Winter 
feeding with the surplus fodder or hay not 
used in the Bummer. The coT-n is planted in 
drills from 18 inches apart for ihe small kinds, 
to three feet for the larger kinds, and tbe hills 
are made from six to twelve inches apart. 
Some bran and corn meal should be fed. as 
theBC make the manure rich and pay for 
themselves in the increased growth of the fod¬ 
der crops. 
The fodder is fed in racks in the yard or 
feed troughs in the stables, and all the manure 
is saved by using abundance of litter, such a9 
dried Bwamp muck, leaves, hard-wood saw¬ 
dust or even earth drawn in from the fields 
and scattered around liberally. An enormous 
quantity of tbe richest manure may be made 
by feeding liberally of such feeds as malt 
sprouts, bran, middlings, palm-meal, cotton¬ 
seed meal and corn meal; and the extra milk and 
butter pay for the feed. A cheap 6table for 10 
cows to be used for soiling may be made by 
setting po9ts in the ground 14 feet apart one 
way and seven feet apart the other way, and 
boarding up and dividing into stalls; two cows 
can be kept in each stall, fastening each to one 
side of the stall. The stalls are 9x7 feet and a 
feed passage runs in front from which the 
fodder can be given. The fodder is best cut 
12 or 24 hours before feeding aud it can be put 
into the feed passage through windows from 
the wagon so as to be readily distributed to 
the cows. Each cow will eat 50 pounds of 
green fodder, with an allowance of meal, or 80 
pounds without, but the meal, if it h&8 to be 
bought, is always advisable. The feeding 
should be in tbe morning right after milking, 
at noon and after milking at night. Abun¬ 
dant water also should be provided, as much 
as if the cows had dry food. The manure 
should be wheeled out twice a day and a deep 
gutter made to carry off the liquid into a hol¬ 
low where it is absorbed by proper material of 
some kind. As soon as a piece of land is 
ready, the manure is spread, fresh as it may be, 
and plowed in, so thatbnt lluleof it accumulates 
aud none of it is wasted. The cows may be 
kept very clean if well littered, or the stable is 
well drained and cleaned twice daily and a 
brush aud card should be used before milking. 
It is but little trouble and it pays both in the 
health of the cows and the cleanlinees of the 
milk. 
Inversion o!' Ihe Womb In Cows, etc. 
C.I1. B., Ham/Blt, Fa., says that one of his 
neighbors lately had u sick cow that was yery 
weak, wouldn't eat, and was shivering all 
over; the tender-hearted owner gave her a big 
piece of pork ; rubbed tnrpentine on her back 
and between the horns, and then, having cut 
open the end of her tail, put in some pepper 
and salt and tied a rag around the place, and 
onr friend asks what we think of such treat¬ 
ment ; but he says the cow did well after a day 
or two. 2. Another neighbor has j ust lost a cow 
owing to the so-called “calf bag”coming out 
after she had calved, and he asks a preventive 
or remedy for such mishaps, which are of quite 
frequent occurrence. 3. He also inquires how 
much a Cooley Creamer will hold; and, 4, what 
is our opinion of soiling cows. 
Anb.— t. The treatment of your neighbor’s 
cow was brutal, and not in accordance with 
the intelligence expected of a reader of the 
Rural New-Yorker; but probably he doesn’t 
read it. As the symptoms are not given suffi¬ 
ciently at length, we cannot prescribe the treat¬ 
ment that ought to have been employed. 2. 
Inversion of the womb is usually due to over¬ 
straining during parturition, irritation of the 
digestive organs, constipation, rumors in the 
womb passage, etc. Some cows have a natural 
predisposition towards it, owing either to a 
tendency to tuberculosis or to their shape and 
make in the parts implicated. Elderly cows 
are more liable to the complaint than younger 
ones; aud it has been noticed that those that 
suffer most from it rise considerably in the 
back, begin l ing to lower towards the tall, the 
hips, rump and sirloin being for the most part 
straight—a form that denotes great weakness 
in the special parts affected. If cows are kept 
in a cow-house before calving, tbe floor should 
not slope backward, but be level, or, better still 
in the case of some cows, slope as in the 
cut, figure 88, for some time before calving. 
The same beneficial influence would be exer¬ 
cised by raising the hind-quarters with a thick 
layer of litter. If falling of the “ calf-bag” is 
anticipated, the cow should be carefully 
watched at the time of calving, and when the 
mishap takes place, a clean sheet should be 
placed under and around the “bag” to keep it 
from being soiled. If this has not been done, 
it should be thoroughly cleaned by the free use 
of warm water. The placenta should be 
gently removed and the bag returned as soon 
as possible. To effect this, the cow should be 
placed with the hind legs higher than tbe fore,as 
in the cut, a couple of assistants holding the bag 
at the level of the vagina by means of a cloth 
placed under it The operator then, having 
well oiled his arm and hand, as well as the 
surface of the womb, places his fist or half- 
closed hand against the center of the bag—the 
point faithest from the vagina—and presses it 
gently but steadily up tbe passage as far as 
possible, stopping when the animal strains and 
progressing between her throes. An assistant 
should afford aid by pressing the organ closely 
round the operator’s arm, \$hich should not be 
pulled out until the bag has been returned to 
its place and all the dependent parts pushed in 
with the left hand, which should also be well 
oiled. If the animal’s throes are very violent, 
the following anti-ipa6tnodie should be given: 
Chloride ether I oz ; luudaniun.Soz.; ale (cold), 
1 pint. The introduction of a ball of tow has 
been found beneficial in keeping the bag in its 
place; it should be removed after 24 hours, if 
the auimal has become quiet. Harness, such 
as that shown in the cut, should also be em¬ 
ployed uutil all dauger of the bag falling a 
second time is over. It is well to restrain the 
bowels for a couple of days with doBes of laud¬ 
anum. Animals that have died from this dis¬ 
ease are unfit for human food. 3. The Cooley 
Creamers are made of a dozen sizes, with a 
capacity of from one cow to a large dairy. 4. 
This question is answered in reply to another 
inquirer elsewhere in this department of this 
issue. 
Feeding Calve*, ele. 
A. H, O., Beatrice, Neb , is feeding five calves 
on the milk of two cows by feeding, with the 
milk, gruel made of equal parts of oil-cake 
meal and shorts, and he asks, 1, a number of 
queries as to the best method of feeding calves 
from one to tinee mouths old under the above 
condition, and what should be their ration of 
grain after they have been weaued of milk and 
put on grass when three months old; 2, a rem¬ 
edy for lice on stock; 3, how to grow large 
water-melons. 
Ans. —1, CalveB muBt be fed very carefully 
at such au early age. They cannot digest 
much meal and to over-feed them will stunt 
them in growth. The oil-cake meal and shorts 
should be boiled. If mixed in equal parts, 
one teacupful a day will be enough to begin 
with at a month old, and the allowance may 
be gradually increased until, when three 
months, a pint may be given to each calf. The 
meal should be well boiled, and made into 
thin gruel and added to the milk; raw meal 
will scour the young things. The feed should 
be given three times a day and about as warm 
as new milk. Some hay should be given—as 
much as they will eat; but the meal should 
never be left before them or they will eat too 
much. After three months they may have the 
raw meal, beginning a few days before with a 
small quantity and gradually increasing up to 
a teaeupfal at a meal, which is enough when 
on grass. Whole grain is not good for them; 
the extra cost of grinding the meal will be 
saved in the use ot it. 2, Lice will come on 
any cattle under any circumstances, as these 
vermin are carried about by cats, dogs, rats 
and mice, fowls, owls, aud other birds, and 
they come from unsuspected quarters often. 
When they appear use either the remedies 
lately mentioned in the Rural, or apply a 
mixture of linseed oil and kerosene oil in 
equal parts to the top of the head, the ridge of 
the neck and the backbone, the brisket and 
under the thighs. A few applications will 
kill them off. Keep no fowls with the cattle 
or horses. 3, Lai go water-melonB may be 
grown by pinching the ends of the shoots and 
keeping only one melon on the vine and feed¬ 
ing it plentifully with weak liquid manure. 
The soil should also he made rich and con¬ 
tinually hoi d aud stirred. 
Hoomu In Oatlle, 
M. R. L. M., Fair Haven, Minn., asks for the 
cause of, and a remedy for, a disease that is 
proving fatal among his cattle. When lying 
down they can’t get up, seeming to lose the use 
of their limbs which will not hold them up even 
when they have been raised. The appetite, 
however, continues excellent. On a post-mor¬ 
tem examination of one of twelve lost within 
three months, the lungs looked as if Mood had 
settled in them, and on cutting them open the 
cells or "pipes” were found full of white 
worms from two to three and a half inches 
long, the size of No. 36 thread, and sharply 
pointed at both ends. 
Ans —This disease i6 known as verminous 
bronchitis or hoose, and is caused by the pres¬ 
ence of the worms alluded to, in 
the bronchial tubes—the parasite 
is the Strongylut mierurus. The 
worm is taken into the body from 
the pastures or drinking places 
which are undoubtedly infested 
with it. Ab preventive measures 
—pasture on fresh land for two 
or three years and drain wet 
places in the pastures. Provide 
pure, uueoutaminated water for 
drink and, if possible, give fod¬ 
der that has grown on land to 
which sick cattle have uot had 
access. Bury deeply the bodies 
of dead animals. As treatment, 
separate the sick from the well, 
give the former good, nutritious 
food to which is added one-half ounce, moi- 
ning and night, of a powder made by mix¬ 
ing one part of copperas and two of gentian. 
Give plenty of salt, and fumigate by plac¬ 
ing ihe animals in a close stable and burn¬ 
ing flowers of sulphur as long as it can be 
breathed without producing violent cough¬ 
ing. The sulphur may bo burut by drop¬ 
ping a small quantity at a time on a shovel 
or pan of burning coals. Fumigations should 
be daily for three or four days, then weekly 
til] cured. 
Kfteou of Heat In Summer and Winter. 
J. J. B., AUenlown, Fa., asks why do we feel 
the heat more oppressive in July in the shade, 
where the thermometer registers 80 deg., than 
we do in January iu a room in which the mer¬ 
cury rises to 80 deg. 
Ans. —The bodily sensations of heat and cold 
are poor criterions by which to judge of the 
temperature, inasmuch as they often depend 
on conditions other than the degrees of heat 
indicated by the thermometer. Among other 
reasons why 80 deg. of temperature might be 
more oppressive in July than in Junuary, the 
first that occur to ns are, that the system is 
then more relaxed by a protracted heated term 
and therefore less able to endure a high tem¬ 
perature thau in January, when it is braced 
up by the ordinary cold of the season ; second, 
the air iu hot Summer days is more heavily 
charged with malaria and other debilitating 
Influences thau in the cold days of Winter ; 
third, a sensation is often pleasant for a short 
time which, if prolonged, would prove the re¬ 
verse. Ills related of Charles II., of Euglaud, 
that one day ho asked a circle of courtiers and 
learned men why it happened that if a fish 
were carefully and slowly put into a vessel al¬ 
ready filled with water, not a drop of water 
would overflow. Various reasons, foolish and 
philosophical, were given for the phenomenon, 
and when all seemed satisfied that the matter 
had beeu satisfactorily accounted for, the 
“Merry Monarch " exclaimed, with a laugh, 
“But the water will overflow.” So, after giving 
the above reasons why a temperature ot 80 
deg. might prove more oppressive in the shade 
in July than in a room in Januaiy, it occurs to 
us to inquire—" But is it really more op¬ 
pressive ?” 
Retention of Placenta, etc. 
T. W. C., Big Rapids, Mioh., asks what 
should be done when a cow retains the placen¬ 
ta after the second day. 
Ans. —No harm usually results from the re¬ 
tention of the aftei-birth for a couple of days ; 
but its removal should not be delayed beyond 
that time. To effect this, the hand and arm 
should be well lubricated with salad or lin¬ 
seed oil, and carefully passed up the vagina 
into the uterus, the points of the fingers having 
first been brought together so as to occupy as 
little space as possible, aud the back of the 
hand being upwards on introduction. The 
protruding end of the placenta should be held 
iu the left hand so that the operator can pull 
gently at proper times, and an assistant should 
hold the tall on one side. On entering the 
womb, the hand is passed to the several placeB 
where the after-birth is attached—the cotyle¬ 
dons, as they are called—and if these are 
gently pressed between the fingers with a kind 
of rotary motion, detachment soon takes 
place. Anything like violence must be avoid¬ 
ed, or hemorrhage may result. When the en¬ 
tire placenta is removed, it would be well to 
syringe the vagina well with a quart of soft 
water containing oneouuce ol chloride of lime. 
The following drench may be beneficially given: 
Eight ounces of Epsom salts, half au ounce of 
ginger pulverized, one-quarter of au ounce 
of caraway seed pulverized, two drachms of 
copavia. If there are indications of bleeding 
give two ounces of ergot of rye powdered. 
