314 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
®|t <$nmst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Manure for Hoot Crops. 
E. E. Graves, Jefferson Co., TV". Y, inquires 
whether sugar-beets, carrots, and turnips will be 
likely to do well on rich pasture land after corn 
without the application of any manure; whether 
guano, sown after the crop is up, iB the best 
kind o' manure for these roots ; and if not, what 
ie. 
Ans.'-A goed fertilizer for root crops is the 
“ blocd guano ” prepared by Wing & Evans. It 
is made from the blood and offal collected from 
the shughter-houaes and seems to be especially 
adapted to promote the growth of roots. It 
should be placed in the drill, or furrow, before 
the seed is sown and slightly covered with earth. 
The same plan must be adopted with all fertili¬ 
zers which have strength enough to he of any 
benefit to the crop. This is particularly true of 
South American Guano. The earth absorbs the 
ammonia, which, if brought into direct contact 
with the seed or young plant, would burn it, or, 
at least, kill it. The surest method in applying 
fertilizers iB to scatter them in the furrow and 
then either by band, or with a rake or hoe. cover 
with earth or with a plow, and then put the seed 
on the top. To sow the guano or other fertiliz¬ 
ers on the surface after the plants are up is not 
good eoonomy or Boieuce, as there will be a great 
waste of the volatile properties, which are not 
lost when immediately covered in the furrow. 
Gypsum is the only fertilizer which should be 
sown over the youug plant. When this is done, 
it has the effect to collect the ammonia from the 
soil and air, and retain it for plant-food. Well 
rotted barnyard manure is, after all, the best 
thing to depend on for a good root crop. The 
best of fertilizers will not altogether supply the 
lack of this. 
To Prevent Cows from Sucking themselves. 
J. Q. Losel, Schenectady Co., N. Y. asks what 
will prevent a cow from sucking herself when a 
strap garnished with sharp nails, and placed 
round her Dose, will not. 
Ans. —If the strap, or muzzle around the nose 
is properly made, it is an effectual preventive 
for a cow sucking herself. The strap should be 
as wide as the space up to the oyes will admit 
and he garnished thickly with sharp spikes. 
The spikes or teeth in an old-fashioned wool 
hatohel are just the thing. Hampering from 
the bead to each bind foot might stop a cow 
from this habit, unless she loarned the trick of 
holding one foot forward. Covering the bag 
with a blanket of leather or thick cloth, would 
also keep a cow from getting at her teats. 
The blanket can bo strapped over the back and 
held in position by strings tied around the legs. 
Smearing the nnder-eido with aloes and pitch 
mixed together, will bo disgust the animal that 
she will not attempt to meddle with the blanket. 
The blanket can be let down on one sido to milk. 
Something About Poughkeepsie. 
IT. C. Miller, Washington Co ., Arkansas 
asks what is the population of Poughkeepsie 
N. Y.; the different kinds of manufacture carried 
on therein; its colleges and seminaries, the ex¬ 
tent of its trade and the nat ure of its scenery. 
Ans. —Poughkeepsie, the capital of Dutchess 
Co., 75 miles from New York City, had at the 
time of the last census, 1870, 20,080 inhabitants, 
of whom 4,425 were foreigners. There are in it 
three iron fouudaries, two iron furnaces, a roll¬ 
ing mill, two ship-yards and dry-docks, several 
breweries, tanneries and manufactures of agri¬ 
cultural implements, carpets, carriages, chairs, 
cooperage, cordage, dye-stuffs, files, edge tools, 
glazed paper, gloves, hardware, pins, shoos, 
soap and candles, spring beds, etc. The city 
has six National Banks, with an aggregate capi¬ 
tal of $1,585,000, a savings bank and an insur¬ 
ance company, good graded public schools in¬ 
cluding a High-school department, Eastman 
business college, and about 15 private schools 
and academies, a free city library of upwards of 
8,500 volumns, 20 churches. About two miles 
east of the city are the buildings and grounds— 
200 acres—of the Vassar College for young ladies, 
which in lb75-6 had 370 students. Its trade 
with the rural portion of Dutchess County is 
quite extensive, while its large manufactures 
bring it into commercial relations with nearly all 
parts of the country. The greater portion of 
th6 town is on * table land 150 to 200 feet above 
the adjacent B. son River. It is regularly laid 
out, with pleas auy shaded streets and many 
elegant reside ^-es, and good public buildings. It 
is lighted, night t< es. by as, and has a line of 
street railroad. The soeaot y along the Hudson, 
above and below tbe town, it very fine. 
Cnufas Age n. 
G. A. Blakely, Hock Co., Wi>:, asks for in¬ 
formation about the value c Chu ’as as a root 
crop and how to cultivate them. 
Ans. —In our issue of Deo. 15 will oe found an 
engraving of the Chufa and interesting details 
of the plaut. We may here briely answer the 
above question as to culture: l’l .mt the tubers 
in drills three feet apart, placing them a foot 
apart in the drib and covering thou an inch or 
so deep. The present is early enc-igh to plant 
them. As so ax as the grass-like le ives appear, 
a cultivator jay be run between the rows. It i 
best to cultivate them level. Afterwards it is 
only necessary to keep free from weeds. Half a 
bushel will seed au acre. Their valne is chiefly 
as a food for hogs. There is no food they like 
better or will fatten upon quicker. 
Hardening Butter. 
Another Subscriber —who seems to live no¬ 
where — asks for instructions for hardening 
butter. 
Ans, —To keep butter firm aud solid during 
the hot weather in summer, the following method 
is largely in use among good butter-makers in 
England. Pulverized carbonate of soda and 
pulverized alum, at the rate of a teaspoonful of 
each, are mingled together at the time of churn¬ 
ing aud put into the cream. The butter comes 
out firm and solid aud with a clean, sweet flavor. 
The powdered carbonate of soda and alum do not 
enter the butter, but. after acting upon the 
cream, pass off with the buttermilk. The in¬ 
gredients should not be mingled together until 
they are wanted for use, just when the oream is 
in the churn ready for churning. Another—and 
perhaps the best method for hardening butter— 
is to keep it in a cool oellar, where the tempera¬ 
ture is kept even by means of ice, or its con¬ 
struction, and then carrying the article to mar¬ 
ket in refrigerator pails or other receptacles. 
Hon Manure for Tobacco. 
ban, Conquest, N. Y., inquires the beet way 
to handle hen manure to be used in the hill for 
tobacco. He has ufed it with good results on 
com after having boxed it in order to heat it, 
then mixed it equal parts with plaster and 
leached ashes. 
Ans. —Treated in a like way, it would have a 
good effect also on tobacco. A good way is, two 
or three weeks before it is wanted, to pile it up 
in a dry place, thoroughly broken up, and mixed 
with plaster, say at the rate of a barrel of plaster 
to one or two of manure. In a few days it 
will commence to heat, and the ammonia which 
is always given off by heating manure, will be 
arrested by the plaster. After standing a few 
days more, it should he worked over, and again 
left, when it will 6oon he thoroughly pulverized 
and fil for use. Three or four times its bulk of 
dry muck, or rich mold, should always be mixed 
with so powerful a fertilizer as hen manure be¬ 
fore it is used, and care should be taken that the 
seed does not come in contact with it. 
Plan of a $200 or $300 House. 
Z., asks the Bubal to furnish a plan of a 
house that could ha built, above the cellar and 
exclusive of painting and shutters, for from $200 
to $300. 
Ans.— A plan that would answer Z.’s purpose 
exoellently, was published in the Bubal for Deo. 
1st last year, to which we refer him. We trust 
that by the time Z. writes to us again, he will 
have completed his house, for in that case he 
will he able to comply with the requirement of 
all journals, that their correspondents, to merit 
attention, must send their names and addresses. 
The house built, he will have an address whioh 
he can mention. The sum mentioned above, 
however, is hardly enough to pay for a house of 
any architectural preteusions, yet many bouses 
costing even less than this modest sum, have by 
the energy, judgment and industry of their 
owners, been soon metamorphosed into hand¬ 
some mansions. 
Beaucamea Recurvata. 
A. O. E., North Linndale, Ohio, asks whore can 
Beaucarnea recurvata be purchased, whether it 
is Bold by sprout or seed, and what is itB price. 
Ans. —So far as we know the plants alone are 
for sale. Several of the catalogues whioh we 
have noticed of late offer them and give price. 
They may be increased by cuttings when cut¬ 
tings can be obtained, and by seeds which are 
imported from Mexico. We do not know of a 
plant that has bloomed in this country. Because 
of its flowing, graceful yet odd habit; because 
of the little care it requires to keep it in a per¬ 
fectly healthy state, and because it iB as desira¬ 
ble for an out-of-door as for a conservatory 
plant, it is strange that one meets with it so 
seldom. 
Miscellaneous. 
A Subscriber— who also lives nowhere—having 
read in an April Bubal of a large, flowering, 
double-fringed Petunia from Germany, and abo 
of a work entitled “ Bimple Truths,” bv Boet, 
Colveb, of Chicago, asks where each can be got, 
and the price. 
Ans. -With regard to the Petunia, most of the 
catalogues noticed in onr late issues advertise 
the one referred to. Prioe 50 cents per packet. 
The work, Simple Truths, is published by Lee 
and Shepherd, of Boston, Mass., who will fur¬ 
nish book as well as all information. 
Miss V. S. C. asks for name aud address of 
the principal of the Horticultural School, in 
Iowa. 
Ans.—W e do not know of a Horticultural 
School in that State. Dr. A. 8. Welch is presi¬ 
dent of the Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. 
27. P, Heit, Clyde, Wayne Co., N. Y. wants to 
learn where he can purchase a good self-binding 
reaper. 
The following firms make good self-binders 
for sale :"C. Aultman & Go., Canton Ohio; Ault- 
man, Miller & Co., Akron, Ohio; W. A. Wood, 
M. & B., Mach. Co., Hoosick Palls, N. Y. 
F. C. Denton, Daleville, Botetourt Co., Va., 
asks by whom is the A Idea's Fruit-dryer manu¬ 
factured. 
Ans.—B yJno. Zimmerman, Mansfield, Ohio. 
Answers to other questions probably next week. 
Communications received fob tub week ending 
Satubday, May. 11th. 
F. McC.—L. M. B.—W. C. L. D.—“ A Marksman” 
—Mrs. B. C. D. — G. A. B. — A. G. T.. — M. L. D.— 
A. C. E.—L. A. R. —J. F., thanks—F. D. C.— 
I. P. R.—H. E. MC.—F. G.—“ Dew Drop”—T. C. D. 
—A. L. G.-J. T. M.—F. D. C. - P. W. D.-W. F., 
thanks — T. B. P. — F. C. — A. C. M.—W. H. B.— 
T. T. L.—S. R. M.—A. R.—B. W.—A. L. J.—W. J.F. 
—“Alex.”—J. M. P.-L. A. R.-E. R. N.—D. E. S.— 
M. P.—M. W.—B.—L. .0. B.—C. 
GATHERING CATTLE ON THE PLAINS. 
Elbert Co., col., April 22. 
It is difficult for any one that has never been 
here to understand, how the cattle trade is car¬ 
ried on in this country. People generally imag¬ 
ine that the stock-men see their cattle every day 
and milk their cows and feed their calves as they 
do in the Eastern States, and they will bo sur¬ 
prised when I tell them that stock-meu owning 
thousands of head, may not see twenty of them 
from November until the “round-ups” begin to 
come in, in tbe spring. Many readers of the 
Bubal will not know what I mean by the term 
“ round-up.” I will therefore tell them: 
Every man knows his cattle by the brand; 
that is, a mark or letters made on the cattle with 
a hot iron and so that it can be easily seen. In 
the winter the cattle all scatter or drift with the 
storms for a hundred miles or more. About the 
first of May, or when the grass is well started, 
the stock-men send out their “ outfits ” each 
consisting of a wagon with provisions, bedding, 
etc., and a cook together with two or more herders 
or “ cow-boys ” as they are oallod here. There 
are three or four horses to every man, and theBe 
are sent by the stock-men into all the adjoining 
counties to collect the animals. The “outfits'' 
from each neighborhood meet at an appointed 
place. These places of meeting present a lively 
appearance for a few days. There are perhaps 
one hundred wagons, one thousand horses, aud 
from two to four hundred men. After making 
all arrangements these scatter, surround the 
county and drive all the cattle to one place. 
This iB called the ‘round-up.” 
When they are all gathered there will be from 
eighteen to twenty thousand ; then the men from 
one county or neighborhood proceed to separate 
the cattle belonging to their county or neighbor¬ 
hood from the main herd into a herd by themsel¬ 
ves, holding them at a short distance from the 
main herd. This is called “ cutting-out”. While 
this is being done, other men are “ cutting-out” 
their brand and so on, until the large herd is di¬ 
vided up into small herds. Then a part of the 
men start to attend other ‘ 1 rouud-upB” aud a part 
start for home with the cattle already gathered, 
stopping at every ranch and “ cutting-out” the 
oattle belonging to the place and then (hiving on 
to the next, and so on until the last man gets 
home with his cattle. These “ round-ups” 
are comiDg in all summer and, as they oorne in, 
the cattle are held on the range by rounding 
them in every few days, to brand oalves and ship 
beef. This is kept up until all tho 11 round-ups’’ 
are in, all the calves brauded, and all the beef 
shipped. Then the remaining cattle are all 
turned loose until the next Spring. 
The men from this section start for the Bout 
County ‘ * round-up” to-morro w and expect to re¬ 
turn and meet at the appointed place for this 
county “round-up” on the twentieth of May. 
M. V. Snydek. 
1 » * * - 
FRUIT GLEANINGS. 
El Dorado Co., Cal., April 29, 187S. 
The season still bids fair to be a remarkably 
prosperous one. April 14th to 18th looked very 
threatening, and for several days it was doubtful, 
but finally it cleared off without any damage. 
Pears have set finely, the trees are fairly crowd¬ 
ed with fruitiit will be necessary to remove at least 
two-thirds, if we would have flue specimen fruit. 
It is useless to let all the fruit that has set re¬ 
main ; and where fruits of the highest perfection 
are wanted they must receive a timely thinning. 
In our section there have been several trees 
killed by blight this spring, ThiH is the first 
time that this disease has bcou noticed arnoug 
our pear trees. That it is of f ungoid origin there 
is no doubt; but as to a remedy, no certain specific 
has been discovered. I think Bartiotts are less 
liable to it than ottiori. l'oach trees are badly 
injured by the curl-leaf. 1 am of tho opinion 
that this is also due to a fungoid disease, young 
trees are not as badly affected as older ones. The 
crop had set finely aud had not tho curl-leaf ap¬ 
peared, we would have had a largo harvest. As it 
is, it will perhaps not be ovor three-quarters of 
a crop. Apples will be in abundance. They will 
need thinning where fine fruit is wanted. The 
Woolly Aphis is the worst enemy we have for our 
apples and as it attacks the roots it will be a hard 
enemy to deal with ; trees planted in hard ground 
are less liable to its attack. Plums are doing 
finely ; the trees have just about a fair orop on ; 
tbe common green louse or Aphis is tho only in¬ 
sect I have ever seen on the plum here, and 
soap-suds settles it quickly. 
Strawberries promise ns a bountiful harvest. 
Plants set out as late aB the middle of December 
are loaded with fruit. Currants and Gooseber¬ 
ries look healthy. Blackberries are just com¬ 
mencing to bud. W. C. L. Dbew. 
--- 
RURAL CRITICISMS. 
Some twenty years ago, or more, a village 
postmaster Lauded me a copy of “Moose’s 
Bubal New-Yorkeb,” which had been sent to 
him for distribution. Postmasters at that timo 
were more attentive and accommodating than 
they are now, as they were then much more ..de¬ 
pendent for position upon the people than upon 
party politicians. I took it home for examina¬ 
tion and was so much pleased with it, that I be¬ 
came a subscriber. Shortly afterwards the war 
broke out, and all communication between the 
North aud South, except between fratricidal 
foes, was interdicted, and for five years I saw 
nothing more of the “ Bubal." After the war, 
the first investment I made was for sperm 
candles and kerosene oil, as we were reduced to 
pine knots, having exhausted tallow caudles and 
beeswax coils, and with a good light, good read¬ 
ing matter was suggested. I again became a 
subscriber of tho “ Bubal,” but bad Govern¬ 
ment, hard times, aud other casualties, caused a 
break in my subscription until this year. I 
think this explanation necessary, not only to 
show my appreciation, but my long acquaint¬ 
ance with the Rural, and consequently my 
opportunity for j udging of its merits and de¬ 
merits. I say opportunity designedly for my 
ability is quite another matter, bo I don't expect 
to arrogate too much, as I am by no means a 
Sir Oracle. 
No one who has known the Bubal as long as 
I have, can fail to see the vaBt improvement 
which has been made in its appearance. From a 
single sheet it has grown to a weekly volume, 
and its mechanical execution, including tho 
type and illustrations, is faultless. Of course, it 
contains five times as much matter as it did 
twenty years ago, and where there is so much 
it all cannot be above criticism. Were we asked 
what are the excellencies of a well-edited agri¬ 
cultural paper, we would say, facts ! Theories 
aud speculations are absolutely worthless. A 
farmer has too much work to do to waste his 
time upon anything else, and these facts and 
experiments must he as plain as day; so plain, 
that way-faring men, though fools, shall not 
err therein. 
How often are accounts of most important 
aud interesting experiments rendered absolutely 
worthless by the omission of some fact necessary 
to be stated, or by a statement of facts, that no 
one cau understand. Nor haB a farmer time to 
waste upon elegant phrases, well turned periods 
or “ bighfalutiu,” He wants the grain and not 
the chaff, and the cleaner the winnowing the bet¬ 
ter is he pleased. 
1 will try to illustrate my meaning by a run- 
nig commentary upon some of the prominent 
articles in the number of Fob. 16th, which I have 
before me. 
The first article is on “ Agriculture and Edu¬ 
cation in the United States, No. 5,” by Prof. I. 
P. Roberts. The Professor lays out a big clear¬ 
ing, aud he takes up two or three columns to 
demonstrate that tho Press is a great power, 
and has benefited agriculture; that agricultural 
clubs, County and State, are very useful; and 
that since his boyhood tho couutry has improved, 
etc. He commences in tho following manner: “I 
am not a prophet, nor a son of a prophet, hut it 
is the part of wisdom to look back over the past 
that we may be able to learn something of the 
future. I may be of too sanguine a tempera¬ 
ment to judge wisely, hut when I compare the 
period of my early boyhood with the present as 
to eduoatiou, methods and results ; as to com¬ 
forts, enjoyments and wealth, etc., I cannot but 
believe that the, future has a groator prosperity, 
knowledge and happiness in Htore.” Certainly, 
but tho shuck is entirely too big for the nubbin. 
The next two articles, by Col. Curtis, and by 
Prof. Shelton, are most admirable, and are as 
full of information and instruction as an egg is 
of meat. Every farmer should read these papers. 
Then the next three pages are filled with many 
good things pleasantly told, and we come to the 
Domestic Economy column, where we have 
“Siftings from the Kitchen Fire’’by Annie L. 
Jack. Whether she is single or married I do 
not know, but I do know if she is not married 
she ought to bo. If she is as graceful in person 
as she is with her pen, and aB profound in exam¬ 
ple aB she is in precept, she is certainly a 
treasure! 
The next article, which arrests my attention, is 
the one by Faith Ripley on “Decorating Pot¬ 
tery,” and I commenced it with the hope of 
learning the modus operandi but was disap¬ 
pointed, and think this must be the last half of 
the subject. The author has kindly proffered 
to give any additional information on the sub- 
