Many farmers, at digging time, drew them from 
five to fifteen miles, and sold them for twenty- 
fivo cents per bushel, which is not a paying 
price. Apples are quite plentiful here, and buy¬ 
ers are paying two dollars per barrel to ship. 
Although it is called hard times, farmers are 
putting up new and bettor buildings, introducing 
improved breeds of stock, purchasing improved 
implements and machines, clearing np their 
farms and getting them under better cultiva¬ 
tion : all which points to the fact that the farm¬ 
er is prosperous. If farming is not as quick a 
road to wealth as some other roads, it has the ad¬ 
vantage of being a very pleasant occupation and 
if rightly conducted, is sure to lead to easy cir¬ 
cumstances. The last four years have witnessed 
quite a change in some parts of Steuben county. 
Owing to the dull times in citioB and villages, 
many men have gone out into the rural districts, 
and purchased unimproved land, at from six to 
ten dollars per acre, on which wore some lumber 
and wood, in many cases enough to pay for the 
land. They have cleared it up, set out orchards 
and got quite pleasant homes, wbicli will be im¬ 
proving in value in the future. Many of these 
were men who worked by the day and got noth¬ 
ing ahead. To such men the last four years 
havo been a blessing. 
We have had a delightful autumn. No frost 
to kill even pumpkin vines until the 7th. of 
October. Chestnuts got ripe and fell out with¬ 
out the aid of frost. And oh ! what a lot of 
them there was ! We never saw them so plenti¬ 
ful before. 
It is pleasing to note the increased attention 
bestowed upon flowers and shrubbery of late. 
A few years ago, the farmer’s home, as a rule, 
was not decorated with flowors and shrubbery. 
But now it is the rule to havo a plot expressly 
for that purpose on nearly all of our farms, and 
how much pleasanter and more home-like it 
looks to sec a nice yard! We do, indeed, pity 
the man who does not love flowers, but we pity 
the woman who has that man for a husband, a 
great deal more. Clifton, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, 
TREATMENT OF MILCH COWS IN EARLY 
WINTER. 
At no soason of the year do milch cows need 
better and more generous diet than in early win¬ 
ter. The change from grass to dry fodde.i is of 
itself siiflksiont cause to produce moro or loss de¬ 
rangement of health. But when tho animal’s 
tone and vigor have been lowered by a long 
period of milking, aud she is then subjected, at 
the same time, to the rigors of winter and a 
change of food from nutritions herbago to dry, 
coarse and often innutritious fodder, a severe 
tax is laid on her system. Yet, on many farms, 
it is the practice to feed to cattle, in early win¬ 
ter, only coarse and inferior fodder and the poor¬ 
est hay, because these articles have boon stored 
last in the barn, or on the tops of the mows, and 
must therefore be disposed of before the better 
portions of the supply can bo reached. This, 
however, is a groat mistake, as the host food 
should be givon when the cows first go into win- 
tor quarters. Afterwards, when they have been 
dried of their milk and havo grown accustomed 
to tho change of diet, tho poorer food may bo 
used, or better Btill, as animals, like men, are 
fond of variety in their diot, the coarser and less 
nutritious fodder may bo advantageously used 
in conjunction with that of a better qualif y. 
Through ueglect of this precaution, howovor, 
it freqnently happens that cows in tnilk lose flesh 
during November and December, and sink into a 
bad condition to endure tho still more severe 
weather yet to bo expected. To avoid tliis mis¬ 
fortune, in cases whero poor or damaged fodder 
has necessarily to bo givon out first, tho feed 
should be supplemented with rations of ground 
grain, oat and corn-meal mixed, bran, or ship- 
Sfuir, to add a proper amount of nutriment to a 
given bulk of fodder. Compelling cows to con¬ 
sume an excessive balk of inferior food, in order 
to enable them to support life and yield milk, 
overcrowds the stomach, tends to derange 
health, and is by no moans ft rare cause of seri¬ 
ous ailments. Among those not tbo least disas¬ 
trous is a serious liability to abortion, caused by 
an undue pressure of tbo food upon tbo parts. 
Moreover, on fire score of self-interest, as well as 
of humanity, cows should not be allowed to lose 
flesh in early winter, for it, would require much 
more food to restore them to good condition hi 
cold weather than in summer. Besides this, 
as lean animals are more susceptible »f cold 
than tlioHo in lloBh, and a proportionately larger 
amount of the food they consume is therefore 
expended in generating a sufficiency of animal 
heat, it would require considerably more food to 
carry a poor beast through winter than a fat 
one, even though nothing may be added to the 
aminal's condition. 
Tho necessity of shelter for all kinds of stock 
from the storms, frosts, aud inclemency of this 
bleak season, baa been frequently dwelt upon in 
these pages, and its oconomy as well as its hu¬ 
manity fully demonstrated. 
Another cause of injury to cows is that they 
are often milked too long in the season. Every 
oow that drops a calf annually should go thy, for 
the purpose of rest and recuperation, not less 
than say six weeks before calving ; and in many 
instances this time should be extended to ten or 
twelve weeks. If the animal is in full fleah and 
about to como in during the pasturing seaaon, 
sho may, aa a rule, be milked ten and a half 
months in tho year; whereas when the same 
the horse - radish. It should be planted 
in the rows betwoen the cabbages or other 
first crop, at about the aamo intervals as 
thoso apart, which will give about 12,000 plants 
to the acre. 
Tho usual method of planting is to make a bole 
from eight to ton inches deep with a long plant¬ 
ing stick or light crowbar, between every two 
cabbages all along the lino. Into this is dropped 
a horse-radish sot, so that the top will be from 
two to throe inches below the surface, after 
which the earth is pressed close round the root¬ 
let until tho hole is tilled. The chief reason for 
planting so deeply is to keep the roots from 
growing before, say -Inly, so as to interfere with 
tho early crop ; and should this over occur, tho 
top should be cut off with a hoe as often as noe- 
ossary, a measure that, will in no wise damage 
the after-growth of the roots. 
As soon aa the early crop has been removed, 
the ground should be well cultivated and kept 
free from weeds during August, September and 
October, for it is during these three months that 
this crop makes all it,a growth. Tho tops are so 
largo and spreading that there is very little labor 
in cultivating it. during summer. By the latter 
part of November or tho beginning of Decem¬ 
ber, the roots having attained their full growth, 
can be dug up, and after tbo tops aud the root¬ 
lets have been cut off, they may be stored away 
in pits ror winter use. 
Mrs. John Bator.—Where can I get Italian 
queens, and what is the best time to get them? 
Ana.— Send to J. H. Nellis, Canajoharie, N. 
Y. Too late to send for queens this fall. Send 
in May or Juno. 
Q. If. Binds, Iowa. —Where is the Lester Cir¬ 
cular and Scroll Saw manufactured, and what is 
the price of it ? 
Ans.— Miller’s Falls Co., N. Y. City. 
Geraldine Germane.— (1). Are the names of 
the successful competitors for the prizes offered 
in the Rural of July 28, to be published ? (2). 
Do double portulaoea plants bear seed ? 
Anh.—( 1). By request of several who drew 
prizes, the names have not been published. (2), 
“Doable Is a poor word to express what is 
meant by a greater or less number of petals. Its 
“ doubfeness” depends upon the greater or less 
^ number of stamens or pistils that have changed 
' to petals, and upon this depends its capacity of 
forming seeds. Perfectly double flowers, of 
course, can not form seeds; semi-double flow¬ 
ers do. 
J. F, II. Miller, New York.—No refer you to 
Messrs. Everett A Small, Boston, Mass., who 
make the Holbrook Swivel Plows, and the Hig- 
gannm Mfg. Co., Higganum, Conn., who make 
the Charter Oak Swivel. Both of these parties 
are reliable. 
Wvt. B, Bader, Ohio. -What is the best rem¬ 
edy for bog cholera ? 
Ass.—There is a great diversity of opinions 
respecting Ibis disease. There is no positive 
remedy for it, and even its cause is not well un¬ 
derstood. Preventive measures are the best 
“ cure.” Wholesome diet—mostly vegetable— 
and extreme attention to cleanliness, aro of first 
moment. Separate at once the healthy from the 
diseased animals. Accelerate action of the bow- 
cIb by injections, and then give six or eight grains 
of while hellebore as an emetic. As a purge, 
Epsom salts, two to four ounces; sulphur, one 
ounce, in a pint Of water, are thought efficacious. 
l)r. A. 0. Williams .—(l). What is the origin 
of our oldest American grapes, also that of Con¬ 
cord, Clinton, Hartford, and Delaware? Is there 
Sr. Lawrence Co.. N. Y. 
Yon invite your readers, to suggest topics up¬ 
on which they desire information. I believe in 
mixed farming, in other words that we ought to 
grow our own grain and provisions of all kinds, 
as much as possible on our own farms. I should 
like to see the subject of [grain culture brought 
pretty well in front, in the Rural, and please 
don’t forget tho vegetable and flower garden. 
St. Lawrence County has suffered terribly this 
season from drought and the grasshopper. In 
some towns the latter laid siege to the com, and 
late oats, which they nearly destroyed. Wheat 
and early-sowed oats were a good crop. I had a 
good vegetable garden m which everything grew 
finely till the 25th of July at which time I sowed 
late turnips. Then came the Hatefuls, and took 
the turnips in tho seed leaf, topped the carrots 
aud onions, and riddled everything 
Do yon think that slaked lime Bprinkled on 
vegetables, when the dew is on, would koep the 
grasshoppers off? A friend told me, he had 
heard ih recommended, His idea was, that tho 
lime and dew would form a crust, which the 
grasshopper could not penetrate. I am afraid 
the limo would destroy the plants. [The plan is 
not worth much we think.—Ens.j 
Anna Hayward. 
Syracuse, N. Y'., Nov. 23. 
The Hessian B’ly has done a great deal of 
damage to our winter wheat. The warm weather 
of the past few days may help us out, but it now 
looks as though we would have a largo amount 
of replanting to do next spring. k. 
season, she ought to go ary ai least ror two 
months; and an animal in thin flesh should havo 
three months for recuperation and rest. This 
interval allows her time to make up the 
wastes of tho system, so as to produce a 
healthy offspring aud be iu a condition to yield 
a full supply of milk tho following season. 
Cows that do not readily dry of their milk will, 
of cotirae, require to be milked somewhat later, 
but these are exceptional oasoH. If a cow in 
poor condition is milked during most of the win- 
ter months, more will be lost in the productio n 
of butter and cheese tTTo following summer, 
than r >s gained by milking her through the 
winter. 
In drying cows, care should be taken that all 
tbo milk should be drawn at'each milking. Tho 
habit which some have of onlv partially empty¬ 
ing the udder, from time to time, when drying 
cows, is highly objectionable, as the milk left in 
the bag, Becomes thick and putrid, canning irri¬ 
tation and intiarnniation, and not infrequently 
resulting in the loss of a teat or a portion of 
the bag. the next season. When cows are being 
dried off, they should be examined at intervals 
of a few <lays, and every drop of the accumulated 
milk should be drawn from tbe udder, indeed, 
with cows that »re supposed to be dry, it is ad- 
vi-ablo to try their teats, at least, once a week 
to see if there be any accumulation of ruilk. 
Entkki'risk, Minn., Nov. 15. 
The Minnesotans have been enjoying a squaw 
winter, from Nov. 1 to 10. On the morning of 
Nov. 0 the thermometer stood 6° below zero, on 
the 8th of Nuveinber snow five inches deep fell. 
The summer and fall were dry; the majority 
of the farmers have got their fall plowing and 
fall work done; some formers have been re¬ 
plowing their farms again. Wheat, 90fla>95c. 
per bushel; oats, 35c.; barley, 60c.; corn, 45@ 
50c. j. g. 
J). F. Jacobin. - Can any of the readers of tbe 
Rural tell (1.) ir the White Marrowfat Beans 
have vines, or are they a bush bean ? I planted 
somo last summer for the firet time, and they 
had vines to them. (2.) What is the difference 
between Timothy seed and Herd’s Grass seed ? 
I have heard a dispute about it. 
An s.—1. Bush. 
2. Timothy Grass is botanically Thleum pra- 
teuse. It is in some parts called Herd’s Grass. 
This is sometimos confusing, however, as tho 
Red-top (Agrostis vulgaris) is also called Herd’s 
Grass. 
Communications received for the week ending 
Saturday, Nov. 24th 
A. E. 8.—J. T. L. — G. G.— F. S.—W. F.—J. P — 
T. B. M.— H. E. O.—.1. S. II.—T. B. M., No. 2.— 
G. G., No. 2.—A. W. A, — A. L. J. —W. tt. B.~D’. 
G-—E. S. 
Snohomisu City, W. T., Oct. 29. 
We have had a large amount of rain hero in 
the last two months, hut no frost till last night. 
Fall feed never was bet er. Lumbering busi¬ 
ness is dull, tho hardest times for many for the 
last ten yearn Hay worth ij>lUi'ad2 per ton. 
Potatoes rotted considerably, worth 45c. per 
bushel. Wheat, $1.25; oats, 70c.; barley, 
87>£c.; beans, $2.50; beef by the quarter, 5c. 
per pound. Many idle men at present; but 
most of us aro looking for better times the first 
of January or sooner. h. 
Rural Grounds. 
Seventeen and eighteen degrees above zero 
were recorded respectively on the mornings of 
19th and 20th. But the weather is now, 24th, 
warm And the ground is quite unfrozen. 
