©EG. U 
765 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
these diminished until they took complete pos¬ 
session of the pond. It would then be uecessary 
to provide some food, if a large stock was de¬ 
sired. Cat-fish can easily be caught with a 
hook, put into a tub of water and transported 
to a pond for a long distance. Yellow perch 
could be procured in the Bame way A few 
dozens of fish would soon stock a pond of half 
Making an Arbor-Vitae Hedge. 
L. asks how can he make a front-yard 
hedge from arbor-vit® plants. 
Ans.—D ig a trench 18 inches wide and deep. 
Procure young plants from any nursery. Place 
them in the trench from a foot to throe 
feet apart, as you may ohoose, and fill in with 
good soil. In making a hedge, we advise plac¬ 
COMBINKD MILL AND CORN BHELLER. 
the quantity was I do not now recollect, except to 
know that it well repaid me for the labor, and 
the greenhouse space the plants occupied. Of 
conree, the potato cuttings must be grown in 
email pots (three-inch pots are best) just like 
any plant under glass in a greenhouse or hot-bod, 
until the time of setting out, which, in Canada, 
would not be safe before June 1st. 
[We have planted potatoes in boxes of con¬ 
venient size about Jan. 1st in the greenhouse, 
and they have been ready to use about May 
1st.—E ds.] 
Feeding Oil-Meal. 
F. 8. IP., Genesee Go., IP. Y., saw a state¬ 
ment iu the Rural, eight or nine months ago, to 
the effect that cows would give one-third more 
milk if fed oil-oako meal. He would like to 
know Low often and in what quantities it should 
bo fed. 
Ans.—T o answer this question in a thorough 
manner would require us to write a small vol¬ 
ume, for it involves the whole subject of cattle 
feeding. Oil-meal contains the nitrogenous ele¬ 
ments of food in a much greater proportion than 
is needed by animals ; it, consequently, can only 
be fed to advantage with other articles of food 
which are deficient in such elements ; and the 
amount to be fed daily, therefore, depends en¬ 
tirely npon the nature of the other food. If 
good olover hay ig fed for coarse fodder, the 
concentrated food may consist of one part of 
oil meal to three of corn-meal, and this should 
be fed in qaautity to suit the peculiarities of the 
animal. If a poorer quality of hay or straw is 
fed for part of the ration, the proportion of oil- 
meal should be increased. Too largo a propor¬ 
tion of the nitrogenous elements in the food 
makes a soft, oily butter, which soon becomes 
rancid, while too smaJl a proportion causes the 
butter to be hard and tallowy. The proper pro¬ 
portion is one of albuminoids to five and one- 
half of carbo-hydrates (including the fat multi¬ 
plied by 2j>£), the digostible elements alone be¬ 
ing considered. In some sections of the coun¬ 
try it is oheaper to uso bean meal, bran and 
shorts, than oil-meal. 
The following table, taken from the Report of 
the Connecticut Experiment Station, for 1877, 
illustrates the method of composing these ra¬ 
tions : 
Rations for Milk Cows. 
Digestible. 
Dry 
Organic 
Matter. i 
Albuminoids. 
1 
Carb.-hyd rates, j' 
1 i 
12 lbs. Meadow Hay. 
9.5 
0.G5 
4.92 
Q 1" 
6 “ Oat Straw.,. 
4.9 
0.08 1 
2.40 
0.04 
20 “ Mangolds. 
2.3 
0.32 
2,00 
0,02 
25 “ Brewers’ Grain. 
5 6 
0.98 
2.70 
0.20 
2 “ Cotton seed Meal. 
1.6 
0.62 
0.30 
0.21 
23.8 
2,65 
13.38 
0.C2 
Standard Ration. 
21. 
2.5 
12.5 
0.4 
The standard ration contains these elements 
in the right quantities for animals of 1,000 lbs 
live weight; and in composing rations to obtain 
best results, we should endeavor to have the 
constituents approach as nearly as possible to 
the standard. 
Incomprehensible Growth of Celery. 
F. A. 0. M., Zanesville, Ohio, says that he 
plants celery every year for family use, that it 
looks well this year until he digs it, when ho 
finds it all gone to stalk, while the loaf-stems are 
short and of little account, and he asks for some 
remedy. 
Ans.—F rom this account we cannot say whether 
the celery has run to seed or not. If it has it is, 
of course, useless; but it may be only that it has 
not been blanched. What is meant by the ex¬ 
pression, “it has all gone to stalk," we cannot 
understand unless it be that it has run up to 
seed. 
Fish for a Stagnant Fond. 
F. A, AT., Macon Oily, Mo,, has a half-acre 
pood of stagnant water used for tho purpose of 
getting ice from it. The dam and bottom are 
of such tenacious clay that no water cau filter 
through them. Cat-fish, he kuows, succeed well 
iu suoh plaoes, but he would like a choicer sort, 
and asks which kinds would bo tho most likely 
to thrive, and whether more than ono sort 
should bo introduced- 
Ans.— There is some difficulty to stocking a 
stagnant pond with good kinds of fish. Ono 
cannot have tho choicest fish without the very 
best conditions for their oulture. Trout require 
cool spriug water, and it should bo a flowing 
stream unless there are abundant springs at 
the bottom of the pond, springing from gravel 
beds. Black bass is the next best fish to trout, 
and may bo kept in a pond if there is an 
ample supply of fresh water and food. Tho 
yellow poroh comes next, and tbia will thrive 
whore bass will not; a pond with a muddy bot¬ 
tom, if it is planted with aquatio vegetation, 
will provide a comfortable homo tor this varie¬ 
ty. Then come sun-fish and cat-fish. In the 
case iu question, it might be well to first put iu 
some cut-fish and let these propagate and in¬ 
crease for a time ; then add some yellow perch 
which would live on tho cat-fish and increase as 
an acre. When the fish are put into the pond, 
it would he well to transplant Home water planis 
by taking up roots of Water-lilies, Ac., making a 
ball of mud about them and dropping them into 
the water hero and there. 
Holless Oats. 
GtoF., Cascade, Wis., says there are somo 
peddlers going about in that section selling Hul- 
less Oats for ten dollars a bushel (') and refus¬ 
ing (!) to sell less than six bushels to any per¬ 
son, and then they bind the purchaser not to 
sell any until after he raises a crop. Remember¬ 
ing to have seen in past years, sevoral references 
iu the Rural to this kind of oats, ho asks wheth¬ 
er it is a “ humbug." 
Ans. -It’s now about ten years ago since tho 
Rural first informed the public of tho nature of 
this variety of oats, and every year since thou, it 
has had occasion to speak with greater emphasis 
on the matter. This kind of oats is not a “ hum¬ 
bug,” but the follows who peddle it about as 
something new, or something extra good, very 
decidedly are. The variety, a deoado ago, was 
not new; it has since then been widely intro¬ 
duced into nearly every State in the Union, yet 
so small are its merits that it is so little known 
that swindlers every year reap a dishonest, 
though rioh harvest, by selling it as a new and 
extraordinarily good variety—mostly, however, 
to farmers who never read an agricultural paper 
unless it is a borrowed oue. On suitable soil the 
yield of this Halloas oats ib about on an average 
with that of otbor Borts, but it has absolutely no 
special merit to justify, or oven excuse, the ex¬ 
travagant prices asked for it. The peddlers of 
it, in placing restrictions upon its sale, and aak- 
iug high prices for it, are merely following the 
example of travelers among the savages in cen¬ 
tral Africa, who, relying on the dense ignorance 
of the natives, place a preposterous value on 
glass beads and similar baubles. 
Treatment ol Various Flowers. 
E. R. B. Buchlin , Mo., asks ; 1. What can 
she do to insure the safety of her young Chinese 
Wistarias this winter ? 2. Should newly-planted 
Tulips, Narcissi, eto., be covered before the 
ground freezes hard ? 8. Must seeds of Yucca 
and Geranium sanguineum bo started in the 
house, or will they “come to the summit "if 
sown in the open ground iu spring? 4 She 
would like to learn what has become of “ Daily 
Rural Life." 
Ans.— 1. Lay thorn down and cover them with 
straw or evergreen branches. 2. No, we thiuk 
it best njter the first hard freeze. 3. Either 
way as more convenient. They germinate freely 
and will thrive with ordinary caro. 4. His ad¬ 
dress is Ridgewood, Bergeu Co., New Jersey. 
Exterminating an Osago Orange Hedge. 
F. J. It , Hecka' 00 , Lincoln Co., Ark., asks 
what iB the most effective way of exterminating 
an Osage Orange hedge, planted in I860, some 
of the stems being now six or eight inches in 
diameter. 
Ans, —The atoms and suckers of tho Osago 
Orange are not easy to exterminate, but the 
following method should do it: la fall, winter, 
or early spiiug, cut off these atoms or suckers 
bolow tho crown or junction of root and Htern, 
which is generally some two or throe inches 
under ground. Repeat this operation once or 
twice during the following summer and winter, 
and the most lively hedge shonld yield up its 
life. Ono operation, however, will be usually 
sufficient. 
ing the young plants three feet apart at least, 
and then keeping them cut back until they meet, 
when the hedge may be permitted to grow in 
hight as desired. Thus mauaged, the hedge 
will remain healthy for many years longer and 
endure the severities of tbq. climate better than 
when planted closer together, because the roots 
have more room and food. We would refer our 
friend to au expsriment made at the Rural 
Grounds. A single arbor-vita* was out back 
from season to season so that it was never per¬ 
mitted to attniu u hight of more than 18 inches. 
It is now, after four or five years of such treat¬ 
ment, not less than five feet in diameter. Now, 
if two plants will fill ft space of say eight feet 
and be the more vigorous for it, what is the use 
of employing three or more plants to fill the 
same space ? 
To Remove a Superfluous Hole in a Cow’s Teat 
J. -V. VV., Brandon, Vt,, has a very choice 
heifer, and, on milking her for the first time, 
found there was, about half-way up tho teat, a 
small opening which let out a small stream of 
milk while milking. Ho asks how this oan be 
remedied. 
Ans. —If the epidermis is removed from tho 
sideB of the channel, so that raw surfaces are 
brought iu contact, the opening will be obliter¬ 
ated in healing. The method usually adopted 
by dairymen is, to take a three-cornered file, in¬ 
sert it in the opening, and turn it till the desired 
effect is produced. Care should be taken not to 
insert the instrument so far as to injure the 
main channel of the teat. A stitch through the 
opening with fine silk sometimes assists, and a 
milking tubs used iu that teat duriug the heal¬ 
ing, would be au advantage. 
Wintering Various Flowers. 
D. L. B. Kenosha Co., Wis., asks : 1, The 
botanioal name of a plant called Malthea there¬ 
abouts, a flower and leaf of which she sends. 
2. Would plants of the Cactns family winter 
safely in the collar ?___ 3. Would it be right to 
dry off Suiilax bulbs iu the fall and place them 
in the cellar for summer use ? 4. How can Ivy 
Geranium be kept duriug winter ? 
Ans. — 1. Achania malvaviscus. 2. Yes, if frost¬ 
proof. 3. Yes. 4. Ivy Geraniums may be kept 
iu the cellar ; about 40° is the best temperature 
for (hem. 
Alfalfa Seed. 
H\ H. B., Afton, Ta., asks, 1. What would be 
the charge for binding a yearly volume of the 
Rural Nisw-Yorkeu. 2. Can Alfalfa, when 
once grown, be killed out, and if so, how ? 3. 
Where oan tho seed be purchased and at what 
price ? 
Ans.— 1. The charge would, of course, dopeud 
on the stylo of biuding. For neatly binding in 
boards, with leather backs aud ooruers, the cost 
here would be one dollar. 2. When Alfalfa once 
gets hold in a suitable soil aud climate, it is hard 
to eradicate it; but this cau be done by persist¬ 
ently plowing it under. 3. Of auy prominent 
seedsman in Chicago or New York. 30 cents. 
Borrowing Money on Life-Insurance Policies. 
R. B. C- asks if one can borrow money on a 
life-insurance policy, aud incloses a form of 
application sent him by a New-York house 
which appears to lend money on this class of 
seourity. 
Ass.—A life-insurance policy is negotiable, 
and in commercial transactions is often used as 
collateral. We know nothing regarding tho 
standing of the firm mentioned. 
Treatment of Seeds for a Nut Grove. 
Frank E. B., Brandon, VI., wishing to plant 
a nut grove, asks, 1. ;\yhere he can get chest¬ 
nuts, etc., to plant. 2. Which would be the 
better plan, to plant them this fall or cover 
them with sand and leave them until spring. 
Ans.— 1. Of any grocery or commission house. 
2, It would be best to place them in sand in 
boxes, and bury the boxes in well-drained soil 
during the winter. 
Alfalfa Seeds. 
•/. K., Union City, Pa., asks, where oan Al¬ 
falfa seeds be bought, and at what price. 
Ans.—O f any prominent seedsmen of Phila- 
delphia. D. Landrelb <fc Son, for instance, or of 
Thorbnrn & Co. or W. H. Corson, of this city. 
Trice 30 cents per pound. 
Planting Seeds of Free Seed Distribution. 
AT, H., St. Mary's, Ont., asks whether it will 
be necessary to plant the above-named seeds iu 
cold-frame or in the window, or will it do to 
plant them in the open ground in tho spring. 
Ans.—A ll of tho seeds of the shrubs may be 
planted in prepared upon ground in spriug. 
Defiance Wheal. 
J. M. Stirling, Ky,, asks whether the Defi¬ 
ance wheat is a fall or spring variety. 
Ans.— Spring. 
Miscellaneous. 
W. P. M., Kingston, Pa,, who is extensively 
engaged in raising oabbage, sowed a packet of 
seed on a piot of ground quite as fertile and well 
cultivated aa the remainder of his cabbage patch, 
and producing plants as fine aud healthy ; yet 
of these plants only a few thousand, scattered 
here and there, matured fine, well-developed 
heads, while the others, under conditions in 
every way just as favorable, grew into a large 
mass of leaves without forming heads. He asks 
the cause of this differeuco, and whether the sex 
of the plants might have bed anything to do 
with it, or if not, to what other cause should it 
be attributed, aside from club-foot. 
Ans.—O ur friend may have a variety not suit¬ 
ed to his climate; otherwise the failure is owing 
to poor seeds. The flowers of cabbages are per¬ 
fect, i. e., both male aud female organs are in 
the same flower. 
M. L. G., Frank ford, Pa., asks, 1. Where 
oan the beautiful grass, Eulalia Japonica varie- 
gata be purchased, aud alsu the Old-Man Cactus. 
2. Does the latter ever bloom ? 
Anb.—1. Of I’etor Henderson, this city ; Geo. 
Such, South Amboy, N. J.; John Saul. Washing¬ 
ton, D. C.; Hoopes, Bro. A Thomas, West Ches¬ 
ter, Pa. 2. Oh! yes. We should like to know 
of a plant that does not. Ferns and the lower 
orders of plants have no stamens and pistils, it 
is true ; but they produce spores instead of 
seeds. 
COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED FOR THK WEEK ENDING 
Saturday, December 7th: 
P. II.—U. S.—W. J. B.—P. W. H.—L. S. H.— 
L. P.-W. H. N.—W. H. B.—S. B.-E. C. F.—J. H. 
S.—T. II. II.-W. II. M.-S. B. S.—H. C. W.—n. 
C. S.—L. G.—J. B. B.—A. M. V. A.—V. D. O. 
-E. H. B.-J. R.-S. O. L.—F. D. C.-M. C. M. S.— 
W. B.—S. E. II.—D. K. S.—M. D. B.—M. M.— 
A. W. M.— •* Kurallst"— W. C. H.—S. B. P.—D. 
B. R.—A. L. J.—H. F. S.-VV. J. F.-J. H. B.- 
M. L.—<1. S. W.—W. S. T.— R. M. L.-S. C. I.— 
J. M. 11,—M.C. W.- 
Jnimstrial Implement, 
COMBINED MILL AND CORN SHELLEK. 
A combination of feed-mill and oorn-sheller 
that will simultaneously grind feed, and shell, 
dean and sack corn, has its advantages. It is 
a condensed labor and time-saving implement, 
aud needs only to be well and thoroughly made 
on correct principles to demonstrate its value. 
The Challenge Mill Co., of Batavia, Ill., iu 
conjunction with Mr. Nelson Burr, early turned 
their attention to iron mills and succeeded in 
inventing a construction that has stood severe 
tests satisfactorily. The grinding surface is 
eompo&ed of metallic rings attached to beds, or 
backing-plates, in such a way that tho rings do 
the griudiug, the backing-plates serving to con¬ 
vey the grain to the rings. When the rings 
become worn they are easily replaced at small 
oust, when the mill is in complete grinding order 
again. This principle is embraced in the patents 
that have just been reissued to (he company, 
and it may be important that our readers should 
plainly understand tho claims. 
The illustration is the combined mill and 
sheller, which may be worked by wind—.water—, 
steam—, or horeo-power. 11 will grind feed at the 
rate of 15 to 20 bushels per hour, at the same 
tune shelling, cleaning and sacking com at from 
20 to 40 bushels per hour, wheu driven by a 
four-horse power, which indicates large results 
with great economy in power. 
The implement is substantially built; has but 
* one pinion iu addition to the necessary ma¬ 
chinery required to rim a feed mill or corn- 
sheller, and is cheaper than if the two distinct 
machines were purchased separately, occupying 
no more room than either. Its use as a separate 
or combined machine, is not tho least of its 
many good features. It weighs—the size illus¬ 
trated—350 pounds. 
