JULY 3 
427 
T 
E BUBAL MEW-YOBKEB 
!M 
no sign yet. Cotton is blooming in many 
fields, and some has many balls already as 
large as a hulled walnut. There has not been 
a better season for many years, and farmers 
have smiling faces and buoyant hearts from 
the prospects before them. Potatoes and veg¬ 
etables generally are abundant, the former sel¬ 
ling now for 60 cents a bushel. Our people 
are luxuriating on green corn, and that and 
potatoes go far towards supplying the places of 
bread and meat. My Blount’s corn is ripe for 
the table and has made from two to five ears to 
the stalk, and is nearly as sweet as the sugar 
corn. This corn matures here as soon as any 
of the ordinary field corn varieties. Mine was 
planted on March 17, the same time as most of 
the other corn, and it is as far advanced as any. 
This surprises me, from the fact that many of 
your Northern correspondents objected to it 
because it was so late, and often would not 
mature before frost came in the fall. I left 
two to three stalks to the hill, which proved to 
be one too many. My Ennobled oats are just 
coming into head and are three feet high ; but 
as they have tillered so much more than I ex¬ 
pected, I think I have sown them too thick 
and fear the heads will not be so large. They 
grew so rank that instead of pasturing them 
with cattle 1 used a pair of shears and clipped 
the superabundance of leaves, which had a 
marked effect. Unfortunately I nearly de¬ 
stroyed my Telephone peas by giving them 
liquid mauure too strong. The leaves have 
become wrinkled and the stalks withered, and, 
in fact, I think they are haviug a struggle be¬ 
tween life and death. I saved two or three 
dozen mangels from destruction by the worms 
and bugs, aud among them I have some hue 
ones, aud I will race your Minnesota corre¬ 
spondent sharply for the premium. I have 
them now measuring 18 inches in circumfer¬ 
ence, aud they were planted only on April 8. 
1 received a package of seed from the Agricul¬ 
tural Dept, at Washington, labeled Egyptian 
corn. I planted and cultivated it like sorghum. 
I left some three or four stalks to the hill 
with rows three and one-half feet apart, the 
hills two feet apart iu the rows, and some I 
thinned to two stalks. It is heading now aud 
I am sure the two stalks will make more seed 
than the others, having much larger heads. 
It did notsucker at all. The heads turn down; 
the stalks are so hard and woody that my 
horses will not eat them even now while green. 
A. S. S. 
<% (Sgumst, 
ANSWER8 TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must bo accompanied by the name and 
address of the writer to insure attention.] 
Caked Bag iu a Cow. 
B. A., South Lowell, Ala., has a cow with its 
second calf. Before calving she strayed off 
and wasn’t found until the calt was a week or 
more old. The little thing had used only the 
two forward teats, aud when the cow was 
found the two othcrB were so badly caked that 
no milk could be drawn from them. There 
seems to be an obstruction above the teats aud 
a soreness accompanied by fever, although the 
animal didn't flinch when the teals wore probed 
with a knitting-needle, and our friend asks 
the proper treatment and whether the obstruc¬ 
tion can be removed by such au instrument as 
that described iu “ Querist ” in our issue of 
May 8, ’79. 
Ans. —This seems a case of mammitis, a 
disease caused by blows, bruises, lying down 
on the distended gland and neglect in milking 
newly-calved cows. The whole gland is sel¬ 
dom affected. When the patient is seen early 
a small cathartic will relieve the constitutional 
symptous, aud warm fomentation in mild cases 
is generally sufficient. But when the udder 
is swollen, relieve the animal of ihe weight by 
a broad bandage made so as to envelop the 
whole gland, aud lastuued over the baek, holes 
being cut in the bandage so that the teats may 
be got at without removing it. The milk 
should be drawn frequently either by hand or 
the milk syphon, and continued friction should 
be applied over the hardened pait; also smear 
extract of belladonna and apply a hot poultice, 
renewing frequently. Should suppuration oc¬ 
cur, the abscesses should be opeuea and the 
pus allowed to escape, dressing the wound with 
a weak solution of carbolic acid, chloride of 
zinc or byposnlphate of soda. Iu some in¬ 
stances the secreting properties of the bag may 
return after the next calving; but, on the 
whole, it is better to prepare her for the 
butcher than keep an unprofitable cow, If the 
obstruction were lower down, it might be re¬ 
moved by using the instrument referred to 
—which consists of a small, round tube in¬ 
closing either a double-edged knife or four 
blades at right angles to each other. The tube 
is pushed up the opening of the teat until it 
reaches the knot, when the blades are pushed 
out of the sheath, cuttiug through the obstacle 
and ra-establishiug a eonuoction between the 
parts r forthe passage of the milk. The in¬ 
strument is sold by Whitman it Burrell, Little 
FailB, N. Y., or the Dairy Supply Co., thi6city. 
“ Grub-lii-tbe-Head ’’ In Sheep. 
E. 8. A., Great Bend, It. Y., having lately 
lost some yearling sheep, cut open the beads 
and found six grubs about au inch long and as 
th.ck as a pipe stem In the fore part of the 
skull, and he asks whether the death of the 
sheep is due to these insects, and whether there 
is any remedy for them. 
Ans. —This is the so-called " grub-in-the- 
hcad,” a disease as common among sheep as 
“hots” in horses; but it is as seldom fatal. 
Nearly every horse has more or less “bota ” in 
his stomach; almost every ox and cow has them 
in its back, and.nearly every sheep has *' bots ” 
in its nasal sinuses. For these grubs are the 
larvae of the sheep bot, or gad-tiy—ceatrua ovis; 
while the horse bot is oestrus equi, and the 
cattle bot which produces warbles, or small 
tumors in the flesh of the back, is the oestrus 
bovia. It is only when these grubs are present 
in large numbers that they are troublesome or 
fatal. In the present instance, it is probable 
that the deaths were due to some other cause; 
perhaps to poisonous plants, as the small¬ 
leaved laurel, possibly, which is fatal at this 
season; for six grabs would hardly be suffi¬ 
cient to cause death. The writer has seen 
them much more numerous and the only ef¬ 
fect was to cause a running at the nose. These 
grubs are produced from eggs laid on the 
sheep’s nostrils by active, buzzing flies similar 
to horse bot flies—slender, bee-like iusects. 
These pester sheep in August and September, 
and cause them to hold their noses to the earth 
and stamp with their feet, or gallop violently 
about the fields. The only*cure is prevention. 
This is to plow a few furrows in the pasture 
aiid the sheep instinctively thrust their noses 
into the soil, which seems to prevent the young 
grubs, deposited on the nose, from crawling 
up the nostrils, for they cannot adhere to the 
dust, and fall to the ground. It is also well to 
Bmear the sheep’s noses with common tar 
mixed with a little glycerine or molasses to 
koep it soft aud sticky, at the proper season, 
and this either deters the flies or destroys the 
eggs, which are, like the eggs of flesh flies, de¬ 
posited In a Jiving state. 
Blue Grass. 
J. 8., KendallviUe, Jnd,, sends some dried 
specimens of grass and asks whether it is Blue 
grass, and how does that grass compare with 
other grasses in nutritive qualities. 
Ans.— We think that this is Blue grass, but 
would not be positive from the dried specimen 
without flowers. It is one of the very best of 
pasture grasses. We are speaking of Poa 
pratensis. Poa compressa is the Northern 
Blue grass. It has a flattened stem and is of a 
darker-green color. In a suitable soil and ell- 
mate no grass surpasses Blue grass, especially 
for pasturage. The following analyses will 
show its merits as compared with some of the 
other most common of our grasses: 
1 st.—DRIED AT A TEMPERATURE OF 212 DEG. 
100 PARTS OF 
be 
.2 '■& 
o*s ! 
‘v a 1 
r*4 
Fatty matters. 
q 
n 
-H 
© 
.» 
S3 
| 
1 -5 
Blue grass give. 
linioiiiy. 
Orchard gross . 
' 10.36 2.63 
11.36 3.55 
13.53 3. U 
23.55 < 3•67 
18.76 4.3* 
10.4313.41 
43.06 
63.36 
44.3a 
44.47 
40.U4 
43.46 
38.02 5.94 
26.46 5.28 
33.70 5.31 
I 39.75 9.56 
20.63 10.29 
36.86 6.36 
Clover. 
White clover.. 
Swuet-scenteil Vernul. 
2d.— AS TAKEN FROM THE FIELD IN BLOSSOM. 
WITHOUT DRYING 100 FARTS 
OF 
f-t 
13 
£ 
!* | 
.2 x 
2 9 
E31 
5 v 
v 3 1 
3* Ci 
g 1 3 . 
3 g S 
a 
5* 
Blue grass give. 
Orcnard grass. 
Timothy. 
Bed clover. 
White clover... 
Sweet-scouted Vernal.... 
S'S 
A'C 
3 
« 
■3 
O 
O 
67.11 3.41 0 .SO 
7 U.U 0 4 .W U.W 
57 , 21 ! 4 . 86 , 1.50 
81 . 01 U .37 0.69 
79.71 3.80 (j 89 
80.35 4.05 0.67 
14.15 12.49 
13.30 10.11 
22.85 11.33 
$.46 3.76 
8.14 5.38 
fc* 54 | 7.15 
Epizootic Ophthalmia In Cattle. 
M. At, 8. Ellsworth, Wis., and F. At. B. 
Bucklin , Mo.—The first of these inquirers has 
a two-year-old steer that is gradually becom¬ 
ing blind. The eye first “ran” water, and 
then a white film grew over it. A heifer of 
the same age is becoming similarly affected. 
The second of our friends says that the cattle— 
mostly milch cows—in that neighborhood are 
becoming blind. At first the eye becomes 
watery, aud there is a gathering of matter in 
the corners, which seem painful. After a 
time the water ceases to flow, or nearly so; the 
eye looks hollow; a “bunuh,” the size of a 
pea, of a reddish or greenish color, gradually 
forms directly over the pupil, aud total blind¬ 
ness follows, and a remedy is asked for in both 
cases. 
Ans.— The trouble in both cases is due to 
epizootic ophthalmia, whieh often attacks the 
herds of a locality, without any appareut 
cause, except exposure to changeable weather. 
Place the sick beast in a darkened building and 
give it a strong cathartic—l to 11 pound of 
Epsom salts, followed by au ouuee of nitrate of 
potassa daily after the purgation. Take of sul¬ 
phate af at rop a eight grains, aud distilled water 
two ounces, aud with a small syringe inject a 
few drops mornings and evenings. The film that 
spreads over the eye, when the animal becomes 
convalescent will gradually disappear by ab¬ 
sorption, to hasten which a few drops of the 
following solution may be applied mornings 
and evenings: Nitrate of silver and sulphate 
of morphia, each four grains, in two ounces 
of distilled water. 
Cotswold Merino or Merino-Cotswold t 
W. P. M. t Richland Station, Tenn., asks 
which makes the best sheep for all purposes— 
to cross a Merino ram on a Cotswold ewe, or a 
Cotawold ram on a Merino ewe. 
Ans.— One can scarcely say that there is a 
best sheep for all purposes. All the excellen¬ 
cies are rarely, if ever, found combined in any 
one thing, and in sheep it is very certain that 
there is no best kind that would be foumd sat¬ 
isfactory everywhere. Each one of the many 
kiuds has its place, and to find the kind for 
each place requires not only a general knowl¬ 
edge of the different kinds, but an intimate ac¬ 
quaintance with the place and its peculiarities. 
Moreover, the purposes for which the flock is 
designed are to be considered before a judg¬ 
ment could he safely concluded. But if our 
inquirer means, which makes the better sheep 
of these two, the cross of the Cotswold ram on 
the Merino or grade Merino ewe is better than 
the reverse; and for this reason, the design ia 
to improve the smaller Merino, and it iB a rule 
in breeding that the improvement should come 
from the male, the "top cross’’ as it is techni¬ 
cally designated. The Cotswold is a superior 
race and the cross is intended to give size, 
weight, early maturity, and weight and length 
of fleece to a race that is Inferior in these 
points. Therefore the “Cots wold-Merino,” and 
not the Merino-Cotswold, is the better sheep for 
general purposes, if not in every case. 
Giant Powder Cartridges. 
J. W. W., Loose Greek, Mo., and a dozen or 
two more, ask where they can procure Giant 
Powder cartridges, how to use them in clear¬ 
ing ground of stumps and bowlders, and their 
price. 
Ans. —An article published elsewhere in this 
issue is written purposely to answer most of 
these inquiries. These cartridges are made 
only by one company in this country, so far as 
we know—the Atlantic Giant Powder Co., 
Varney & Doe, Agents, 59 Park Place, N. Y. 
City. The agents do not supply private par¬ 
ties with the cartridges, mainly on account of 
the objections to transport the article to a 
distance in small quantities. They tell us, how¬ 
ever, that they will send to each applicant the 
name of the agent living nearest to him, from 
whom the cartridges can be obtained. The 
powder is furnished either loose or in car¬ 
tridges. in boxes ol 25 or 50 pounds each. Car¬ 
tridges are eight inches long, aud any diameter 
required. Purchasers should desigiate the 
kind of powder—whether No. 1 or No. 3, the 
number of pounds, diameter of cartridges, 
number of caps, and feet of fuse they may 
need. The following are the prices of requi¬ 
sites : Powder, No. 1, SI, and No. 3, 50 cents 
per pound; caps (per box of 100), $3; single- 
taped water fuse (per 100 feet), 75 cents; nip¬ 
pers, 50 cents. Full instructions as to the 
methods of using the cartridges are furnished 
to applicants, in the form of a pamphlet. 
Foul-lu-the-Foot. 
D. C. J)., Viola, la., asks for a remedy for a 
disease in his cattle like foot-rot iu sheep. Its 
first symptom was lameness in the hind feet, 
which, after running a few days, emitted a 
very disagreeable odor. The hoof soon cracked 
all round to the cleft which became sore 
throughout aud discharged a watery substance. 
Ans.— This is a case of foul-in-the-foot, a 
disease of horned cattle, consisting of inflam¬ 
mation and suppuration of the interdigital sub¬ 
stance, or that between the claw6, arising from 
overgrowth of the hoof causing a strain on 
the internal structures, or due to the irritation 
of dirt between the claws or digets, and some¬ 
times from a tuberculous diathesis or un¬ 
healthy condition of the parts. As treatment 
carefully remove all loose horn and thoroughly 
eleause by soaking in warm water and hot 
poultices; theu dress daily with pledgets of 
oakum or tow steeped iu a solution of carbolic 
acid and oil (sweet)—one to forty; or, take 
chloride of zinc and water—oue to thirty. Keep 
the oakum in place by a bandage. If the dis¬ 
ease extends to the joints above, prepare the 
animal as soon as possible for the butcher. 
Give laxative food aud one-ounce doses of ni¬ 
trate of potassa daily while under treatment. 
Uoura. 
G. R. P., Sonwrset Center, Mass., asks 
whether we have for sale auy seed of the Doura 
whieh the Rural has been highly recommend¬ 
ing. 
Ans.—Y es, we highly recommend a certain 
kind of Sorghum vulgare, which, so far as we 
can learn, needs a variety name. We are hav¬ 
ing several acres of it grown in South Carolina 
for the Rural's next Plant and Seed Distribu¬ 
tion. Many of our readers have bought what 
has been advertised as Doura, supposing it to 
be the same as that tested at the Rural Farm. 
But they are not the same. That to which we 
have often referred produces an average of 
seven or eight stalks from a seed. It grows 
from seven to ten feet high and bears an up¬ 
right panicle of grain. It may be cut twice in 
this climate. Cattle are exceedingly fond of it. 
It takes so firm a hold of the soil that we have 
never known a plant or stalk to be blown 
down. We sell absolutely nothmg except the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
Spavin, 
A Subscrffjer, Uniontoion, Pa., has a valuable 
horse that is severely crippled in the hind leg, 
arising, it is supposed, from a blood spavin. 
He was injured about a year ago, and flinches 
very much when he trots, and our friend asks 
whether there is any remedy. 
Ans.—F rom the meager description we are 
unable to say whether this case is curable or 
not. If of long standing, treatment would be 
of no use. If the lameness is recent, try a 
strong blister on the inside of the hock, and 
allow a rest of two months at pasture; or, if a 
veterinary Burgeon is within reach, have the leg 
fired and blistered, and good results may en¬ 
sue. As the horse is valuable, the services 
of a competent surgeon should be secured at 
once. 
What i* a Quart of Milk I 
S. W., River Palls, Wis., asks what is a 
standard quart of milk—some there claim that 
it must weigh two and one-half pounds. 
Ans.—A quart is a fourth part of a gallon. 
There are three different gallons in use:—the 
old standard wine gallon of 331 cneic inches ; 
the imperial gallon of 277J cnbic inches and 
the ale or beer gallon of 282 inches. The first 
is that by which milk and other liquids arc 
sold. A gallon of pure water at a temperature 
of 60o weighs 8.338 pounds. Milk has a spe¬ 
cific gravity of 1.034 or 84 pounds to the 1,000 
more than water. This will give pure milk 
the weight of 8.675 pounds per gallon, or 2.16 
pounds per quart. In general use a quart of 
milk is taken as weighing 2.21 or 21-5 pounds. 
Miscellaneous. 
8. F., Slcohegan, Me., asks why cannot sugar 
beets be ground with a 6mall, portable mill on 
the farm, the inice to be then pressed out of 
the pulp, and evaporated to the consistency of 
sirup containing all the sugar of the beets to¬ 
gether with a considerable amount of foreign 
matter which it would be the business of the 
sugar refinery to eliminate in the process of 
crystalization. If the sirup alone had to be 
taken to the factory, the cost of transporta¬ 
tion wouldn’t be one-iwentieth of that for 
transporting the whole beets, while the pulp 
would be left where it is most wanted—on the 
farm. Our friend remarks that if such an ar¬ 
rangement were possible, hundreds who never 
raised a sugar beet would go largely into the 
business. 
Ans.— Beet sugar cannot be made in the 
rough-and-ready manner described. It re¬ 
quires a careful chemical process to rid the 
juice of such impurities as would prevent 
crystalization ; and once the sirup should be 
made and become glucose, it could not be 
brought back to the condition in which it 
would form solid cane sugar. It seems a 
neeessity of the business that the beets should 
be grown near the factory where they are 
manufactured into the sugar. 
N. J. A., .Grand Rapids, Mich., sends a 
specimen of marl and inquires as to its 
quality. 
Ans.—T he marl is of good quality, having a 
large percentage of lime. The exact amount 
of lime cannot be determined short of an 
analysis, and we cannot undertake to institute 
analyses of substances unless the charges for 
the same are remitted—from two to five 
dollars according to the nature of the sub¬ 
stances. 
G. E. At., Afton, At. T,, asks how to get rid 
of toad flax, which has become a very trouble¬ 
some weed on his farm. 
Ans.—T he only way to extirpate it is to keep 
it down with the cultivator wherever this im¬ 
plement can be used, and to prevent it from 
going to seed by using the scythe or mower 
where the cultivator cannot come. 
J. O. 8., Frenchtawn, At. J., sends two speci¬ 
mens of rock and inquires what they are. 
Ans. —No. 1 is a specimen of common trap- 
rock, and No. 2 is a shale. Neither is of any 
value as a mineral. 
♦ « ♦ ■ ■ 
Communications received for the week ending 
Saturday, June 26th. 
J.T.—M. R. T. D.—J. J.B.—A. B. A. —Ludie — 
C. R. D.—H. T. J.—G. A. G., Jr.—A. W. P.—J. P. 
R.—H. 8.— S. R. M.—L. W. S.—J. E. 51. — J. D. B.— 
G. G.—A. B. A.—M. H. D.—D. B. At. D. W.—C. H. 
B. M.-E. C.-S. W. R.—D. S.HLW. C., Jr.—N. O.— 
J. N. L.-A. a. C.—II. A. B.—G. E. P.—£. E. B. S.— 
T. H.—B. P. M. 8. R.—8. E. H. —. L. W.—J. At,— 
A. L. j;-7. C.-J. F. Tt—J. P.—A. E. B.-G. W. 
C. —S. T. R.—1). M. C. P.—J. Van V.—B. J. J.—W 
L. S.—E. W. S.-O. 8. B.—H. A. W.-M. P. W.-G. 
E. N.—A. H. W.—E. M. S.—W. B. Jr.—G. L. S.—S. 
R. Al.-G. W. b\— W. A. W.-D. W. H.-J. A. C— 
J. B. C.—S. H. R.—C. L. I.—J. W. W.—T. T. L.— 
A. R. D.—R. F.—W. R., thanks-^I. D, H.—D. P.— 
A. E. B.—M. P.-J. S. 8.—E. B.-J. D. H.-J. A. 
E.—G. AIcF.—B. P. J.—J. S.—J. W. M.—W. H. M.— 
C. a. R.—E. R. B.—R. W. M. C.—A. B. P.—A. J 
H. W. W—W. Y.-E.P. J. 
