AUG 12 
i* 
1 
535 
indented; in fact it was as hard as wood 
or stone. The material therein was the color 
of grass. I cut it in every direction, and 
found in all the folds cakes as hard and dry 
as they could have been if passed between 
rollers. The other small stomach had but 
little in it, except a lot of gravel and small 
stones, probably drawn from a small spring 
brook in the field. Some of the stones were 
as large as small peanut shells, but most, of 
them were as small as wheat grains. This 
stomach was purple inside and out. No per¬ 
ceptible inflammation in the first or large 
stomach. What was the cause of death ? 
Was the treatment correct ? What should 
have beeu done ? Did the stones in the 
stomach have anything to do with her death ? 
Could they have remained there since last 
year wheu the water in the brook was quite 
low ? 
Ans. —The cow died of impaction of the 
rumen and severe indigestion, which had been 
existing for sometime. The presence of the 
gravel and stones in the small stomach proves 
the continued indigestion, as cows thus suffer¬ 
ing will swhIIow earth sometimes in consider¬ 
able quantities. Cows will not take up solid 
matter when drinking, and they are very 
cautious in that respect, filtering the water 
carefully between tbe lips. You could not 
have doue any better under the circumstances. 
A veterinary surgeon might have seen symp¬ 
toms which would not be apparent to any 
other person, that would have indicated the 
trouble in the stomach, and he would then not 
have given aconite. The appearance or non- 
appearance of the dung is the leading symp¬ 
tom in inflammation of the stomach; but, 
under tbe special circumstances of the case, 
any person might have beeu led astray, unless 
there were marked and peculiar symptoms 
which are not mentioned. In neatly every 
case of trouble with a cow a dose of one 
pound of Epsom salts dissolved in warm 
water, and half a pound of molasses in it, is 
the safest medicine. This might have saved 
the cow. 
DRYING HAY ARTIFICIALLY. 
J. B., Elmshurst, III .—What is the English 
process for artificially curing grass cut in wet 
weather? 
Ans. —Such a process is practiced in Eng¬ 
land with considerable success, and in that 
moist climate where weeks are sometimes lost 
in securing the hay crop by reason of repeated 
rains and drizzles, it is found in some cases a 
profitable operation. There are two methods 
of doing it. One is by passing tbe bay in a sort 
of elevator through a flue arranged very much 
ou the principle of some of the fruit evapora¬ 
tors—the American Evaporating Machine ap- 
Neilson Method of Drying Grass. 
Fig. 255. 
proaching most closely to it—and so removing 
the moisture and preserving every valuable ele¬ 
ment of the grass; the hay thus made is in fact, 
as we might say, evaporated grass. A modi¬ 
fication of this plan is to force a hot blast 
through the grass, or rather convey the grass 
through a rapid current of heated air forced 
by the machine. The other method is to put 
up the wilted or half dry grass into a stacker 
mow, and to draw the air through it by means 
of pipes or ventilators placed properly in the 
stack and connected with a rotary blower or 
fan, worked by hand, horse or steam power. 
Grain is thus dried iu balk as well as hay. 
Tbe English hot-air machine is known as 
Gibbs’Hay Drying Machine, As the princi¬ 
ple of the first method is already patented here 
and used in drying fruit it would be very easy 
to apply it to curing hay, if it would pay; this 
is the only questiou to be settled. The other 
system is knowu as the Neilson method. It 
was referred to in an editorial last week. We 
give the above illustration of it. 
crude petroleum for out buildings, etc. 
A. F., Virden, III.— 1, Where can crude 
petroleum for painting out-buildings be pro¬ 
cured, and at what price. Our village drug 
store doesn’t keep it. 2, Tree peddlers say the 
Keiffer Pear is not blight-proof unless grafted 
on the Sand Pear—they profess to have just 
such trees for sale. How is it? 3, Is it com¬ 
mon that ti» leaves should be marked with a 
reddish-brown spot on the upper Bides? 4, If 
the Rural wheats are planted side by Bide will 
they “mix?” 5, The Kirkwood Strawberry 
beats all others—even those recommended by 
the Rural —on our black prairie soils. 
Ans. —1. Crude petoleum is the oil as it flows 
from the rock, and that of which kerosene oil 
is made. It is a very good covering for out¬ 
buildings and fences, as it penetrates deeply 
into the wood and gives it the appearance or 
character of pitch pine and makes it very 
durable. On account of its rapid absorption 
by the wood, it cannot be mixed with any 
coloring matter, as this is left on the surface 
and will be rubbed or washed off. Just uow 
this oil is very cheap, costing in large lots 
about one-and one-half cent a gallou or 60 
cents a barrel. By single barrels it costs 
more. No doubt it can be procured by the 
barrel of Hanna Bros., Franklin, Pa. The 
lubricating oil is too thick for this use and 
being scarce is much dearer than the common 
oil. The effect of the oil is to give pine or 
hemlock a brown color which is not dis¬ 
agreeable. 2. We have heard of the Keiffer 
blighting once or twice. Its being grafted 
on the Sand Pear may or may not influence 
it. It is not at present known. 3. No. 4. 
No; wheats can not mix. 5. We have recom¬ 
mended the Kirkwood. It is the same as the 
Mount Vernon. 
MILK GETTING SOUR IN HOT WEATHER. 
J. G. F, Wabuslea, Nev. —How can milk be 
kept from getting sour and thick in hot 
weather? 
Ans. —Pure, wholesome milk kept in a clean 
cellar or milk house where tne temperature is 
not over 70 degrees will keep sweet for 30 
hours, and will not become thick under 43 
hours. Otherwise something is wrong with 
the cows. A cow exposed to the hot sun in a 
pasture or having impure water to driuk, can¬ 
not he in a healthy comlitiou, and the first 
appearance of trouble will be iu the premature 
souring of the milk: if the pins are not 
perfectly well washed and any smallest par¬ 
ticles of sour tuilk are left on or about them, 
the milk will not keep sweet more than 12 
hours or so. Again the first indication of 
tuberculosis of the lungs in cows is the rapid 
thickening and souring of the milk. If milk, 
kept as above stated is not swset in a day and- 
a-halfand is thick before two days, something 
is wrong in one or other of the ways mentioned. 
C. S. P. E., Bethel, l’?., sends two grasses 
for name. The first grows there in the bor¬ 
ders of fields and along road-sides and thrives 
on dry or wet land. The seed is ripe by the 
middle of August and the grass grows quickly 
after having been mown, but it does not head 
out again. The second grows in moist 
meadows, is tall; the seed shells off very easily 
and the grass thrives best on wet ground. 
Ans.—1, The kind with long seed heads is 
Meadow Fescue, Festuea elatior, var. pra- 
tensis (Gray). See this department in recent 
RuRals for its value. 2, This is Manna 
Gra^s, Glyceria nervata. This will not grow 
on dry lauds according to the best of our in¬ 
formation. 
THREADWORMS IN HORSES. 
L. W. M., Lafayette, N. F.—My horse is 
constantly rubbing the hair off his tail—what 
is the cause and remedy l 
Ans —The cause is, most likely, the presence 
of thread-worms in the rectum. Whenever a 
horse persistently rubs its tail when it can 
get a chaoee, the presence of these thread-like 
pests in tbe rectum may be safely inferred, 
if on examination no vermin or eruption can 
be found in the dock. In ordinary cases give 
an injection of salt and water two or three 
days in succession by means of a syringe 
or a bladder with a pipe of elder wood 
made to fit the bladder’s mouth; then admin¬ 
ister a ball consisting of half an ounce of 
aloes and one drachm of calomel. In bad cases 
a sure remedy is by injection every morning 
for a week of a pint of linseed oil, containing 
two drachms of spirits of turpentine. This 
will either kill or bring away the worms with 
the exception of a few that may be driven 
higher up the colon, but by waiting a week, 
aud then repeating the operation these will 
be got rid of. A drachm of sulphate of iron 
* (powdered) twice a day for a few days given 
with the grain feed is excellent after this 
treatment. 
LICE ON TURKEYS. 
E. S., Lexington, Ohio—A number of my 
turkeys have been ailing, and several have 
died. One of them I found covered with lice. 
What is a good remedy for the pests ? 
Ans. —Turkeys are very tender when young, 
aud cannot withstand hardship of any kind. 
Gold, damp, over-feeding, Improper feeding, 
and, above all, vermin will quickly destroy 
the poults. Tbe indispensable requisites for 
success iu raising young turkeys are, a dry 
and clean coop, in which they are shut up 
until tbe dew is entirely off from the grass; 
proper food, as cracked corn, coarse oat¬ 
meal, cracked wheat, buckwheat, stale bread¬ 
crumbs, and chopped onion, always given 
dry; pure water to drink; protection from 
rain and from vermin. To get rid of vermin, 
dust them at night, when in the coop, with 
flowers of sulphur, or, if possible, sprinkle 
Persian insect powder in the coop a little 
while before they go in at night. Turkeys 
are far better raised by a common hen than 
by a turkey-hen. 
CHRONIC BRONCHITIS IN A HORSE. 
J. J. D., N. F. City. —A horse I bought 
last April has bad a cough ever since, with 
frequent discharges from the nose. How 
should he be treated ? 
Ans. —The disease is chronic bronchitis, 
which is recurring or intermittent iu its 
phases. The treatment for such a case Is to 
give a free laxative, a pint of linseed oil, 
repeated the third dav; then give warm bran 
mash, and occasionally a quart of linseed 
6teeped over-nigbt in hot water. Give every 
morning one ounce of hyposulphite of soda, 
aud every alternate evening an ounce of 
niter. Give no dry grain until the cough has 
disappeared. Keep a quart bottle of pine-tar 
with a stick iu it, and stir the stick in the 
drinking-water before the horse takes it. 
Use precautions against overheating and ex¬ 
posure to showers when hot, and keep the 
stable clean and well ventilated and the floor 
well sprinkled with plaster, to avoid any 
scent of ammonia, which irritates the air- 
passages. 
A COW WITHHOLDING HER MILK. 
W. i>\, Elkhart, Ind. —What is the best 
remedy for a favorite cow that withholds her 
milk? 
Ans. —There is no remedy for this trouble 
but patience. Various methods of getting 
the best of the cow’s obstinacy and viciousness 
have been suggested, as giving a little salt or 
meal at milking, placing a heavy chain or 
other weight over" the small of the back; 
blindfolding the cow and in any way dis¬ 
tracting the attention of the animal from the 
milking. Wetbiuk the difficulty originates in 
the training of the cow, as we never knew of a 
case happening in a dairy w here the calves 
are taken away soon after they are dropped 
and before they have sucked the cow. A cow 
that has never been sucked by a calf is great¬ 
ly more docile than those that have, and a 
young heifer comes to her milk without trou¬ 
ble when tbe calf is taken away. The habit 
or vice, however, so mm h lessens the value of 
the cow as to make such a one undesirable 
property. 
HOW TO MAKE A HOG PASTURE. 
IF. G. IF., Hancock, Minn. —I want to 
make a good clover pasture for hogs next 
Spring. I have several plans: please tell me 
which is best:—1, To cut my Spring wheat, 
leaving a long stubble, and sow directly ou 
the stubble in the latter part of August, har¬ 
rowing well afterward ; 2, to sow on the 
stubble, or plow immediately and sow with 
oats or buckwheat for a mulch; 3, to sow be¬ 
tween corn rows after the last cultivation. 
Ans. —Plow the wheat stubble, and make a 
nice mellow seed bed, and sow nothing but 
clover, as soon as possible after the wheat is 
harvested. A thiu seeding with oats would 
do no harm, and would help to hold the snow 
the first part of Winter until it was pushed 
down by the weight of snow. The corn would 
shade the ground too much, and k9ep the 
clover back, aud make the plants weak. 
Sowing on the wheat stubble is not so good 
as plowing. The better the seed-bed, the 
better the growth will be. 
Miscellaneous. 
O. DeM., Taylorsville, III. —L, Are Western 
Dakota and Eastern Montana good for general 
farm purposes ? 2, Are thev good for raising 
sheep, cattle, and horses ? 3, Are the Winters 
severe ? 4, Is the climate healthful i 5, Cun a 
young man with a family, energy, pluck, and 
$2,000 do well there ? 6, Can good land near 
the railroad stations be obtained there under 
the Pre emption, Homestead and Timber Cul¬ 
ture Acts ? 
Ans.— 1, No. 2, Yes. 3, Sometimes. 4, 
Yes. 5, Yes, with the above conditions and 
good business ability. There is but very little 
of such land now remaining. We would sug¬ 
gest to our friend, and to others in search of 
information about Far Western lands, to read 
carefully the cm respondents of Messr-. Holmes 
& Sweetland, that appears nearly every week 
in the Rural. Detailed information about 
the different sectious will be found there. 
F. S. P. B., North Rochester. Mass.— 1.1 have 
a piece of ground that is high and dry iu the 
Summer, but during Winter and Spring it is 
flooded by water from a neighbor’s cranberry 
bog, which he keeps on until very late, and in 
warm seasons it is liable to sun-scald. What 
kind of grass seed is best to sow on it i 2. 
Which of the inclosed flowers is property (not 
commonly) called Ox-eye Daisy? 
(I Ans.— 1. Barn-yard Grass is the only kind we 
can think of. The tall, smooth Panic Grass, 
Panicuw virgatum, would stand such a situa¬ 
tion, but is of little value. If the w ater is 
brackish, Spartiua juncea would prove as val¬ 
uable as anything. 2. The white. The other 
is the Cone Flow er. 
J. R., Laconia, N. Y. —1, What is necessary 
in order to get an article patented? 2, What 
would be the cost of getting a small article 
patented? 
Ans. —1. Clear specifications or description 
of the article must be prepared, also drawings 
of tbe same—no model is now required. When 
the above are properly prepared send them 
with an application for the patent to the Com¬ 
missioner of Patents, Washington D. C. The 
ordinary cost of a patent is about $60, the 
amount being made up of the government 
fees, $35, and the cost of the drawings, speci¬ 
fications and application, $25. 
O. P. G., Kingston, Ohio —Where can the 
Wick’s, Diehl, and Golden Chaff Wheats be 
got ? 
Ans. —It is strange enough that there is not 
one seed house in America that offers anything 
liks a comprehensive list of wheats. We can¬ 
not answer the above question, but would 
advise an application to the Ohio State Uni¬ 
versity and the Colorado State College at 
Fort Collins. We have had possibly 50 to 100 
inquiries during the past year as to where 
certain wheats could be procured. 
J. H. G., Altona, Kans. In’ the Rural of 
Nov. 26, ’HI are cuts of an ice-house and cream¬ 
ery joining each other on the same floor, how 
would it do to keep tbe ice in the upper story 
and use the cellar as a creamery ? 
Ans. —You save a little expense by this, 
but you spoil the creamery, as there will l e 
dampness in the lower part in spite of all you 
can do, and dampness will not do in a cream¬ 
ery. If the floor is made perfectly water¬ 
tight and nonconducting it will do, but it will 
be troublesome to do that. 
W. G. IF, Hancock, Minn. —What is Al¬ 
falfa ? I have seen it highly recommended 
for hog pastures. Is it better than clover? 
Ans. —It is a kind of clover that, where the 
climate suits it, will continue for many years 
on good soil, From Kansas we have received 
fine reports of it. In California it does well. 
With us it is worthless, and we presume it 
will not prove a profitable crop in Minnesota. 
A great deal has been said as to Alfalfa (or 
Lucerne) in these columns. 
A. B. C., Pontiac, Mich., asks for infor¬ 
mation about the Huddleston’s Favorite 
Strawberry. 
Ans.—T he following we take from our notes 
made June 26, “Huddleston’s Favorite, 
pistillate, broadly ovate, bright color, golden 
seeds, excellent quality—not firm.” We shall 
soon print full reports of strawberries from 
trustworthy growers—among them Pres. T. T. 
Lyon. 
D. S., Hughesville, Pa., sends for name 
specimens of an insect which destroys the 
larvae of the potato beetle by sacking the juice, 
leaving the shriveled coverings hangiug on 
the leaves till they drop to the ground. 
Ans. —These insects are specimens of the 
Great Lebia (Labia graudis). This is only one 
of about 15 insect enemies known to destroy 
the Colorado beetle. 
H. S. S., Washington, Wis. —Where can I 
get some good South Down sheep in this 
State? 
Ans. —We do not know a breeder of South 
Downs in Wisconsin. In Illinois we refer you 
to Wing & Thompson, Bernent, Piatt Co. and 
J. H. Potts & Son, Jacksonville. 
J. K. P., Matteaivan, N. F., sends for name 
three plants marked, I. 2. 3. 
Ans.— 1, W« do not know. 2, Polypodium 
vulgare. 3, Scolopendrium vulgare, Heart’s- 
tongue. 
J. B., Peoria, III., sends specimens of Holly¬ 
hock for name. 
Ans.—T hey resemble the Lemon-colored 
Chater Hollyhocks sent out by the Rural. 
They are very fine. 
& K., St. Anns, Ont. —Can fresh meat ue 
preserved in glass fruit jars through warm 
weather? 
Ans.—T he Erie Preserving Co. says, “Fresh 
meat cannot be canned in glass jars.” 
H., Hersey, Wis., sends a flower for name. 
Ans.—I t is a Larkspur—Delphinium form- 
osuni—one of the handsomest of hardy herba¬ 
ceous plants. 
E. B., Kalama, W. T., sends plant for 
name. 
Ans.— Doura, a kind of Sorghum vulgare. 
It is often called Egyptian Corn. 
Communications Kkckivkd fob thk Wkkk Ending 
Saturday, Aug. 5. iSSi 
A. K.—D. 1. H.— A. K. \V.— A. D. & M. B. R.—F. S.— 
Gregory.—A. R. L, D.— E. L —J. W S.. thanks tv. 15 
D.—T. L, G —I. H. 8—W. l\—X. A. \V\— N. K.—G. S. 
S.-S. Jl.-A. R. P.-H. N. W.-E. >*. E.-J. H. L.-R. 
G. Jr.-A. L. J.—8. R.-L. W\ M.- C. 1>„ tkan*8-J. A. 
W. - A J. C.l F. D. C.— E. 5. S.-O. P. G.—Cl. Jl. C.—C. 
S. C.—R. W.F., thanks—C. E. P.-E. S- P.-C. P,— 
Giles G., thanks.._ _ 
