RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS 
cents; rye, 60@65 cents ; oats, 20@35 cents ; 
pork, sides clear, 9(©10 cents; haras, 12@12J- 
cents; shoulders, 9@10 cents ; butter, prime, 
20 cents ; eggs, 15@16j cents ; lard, 7@8 cents ; 
potatoes, 40@45 cents. p. 3 . w. 
the roadway to the barn floor, as shown. The 
stable portion should be at least eight feet in 
the clear; a bight of seven feet is too low for 
safety or health, as there is not room for a 
horse to throw up its head or for good ventila¬ 
tion. The walls may be made of concrete of 
gravel and hydraulic lime which will be as 
good as stone or brick. The corners should be 
or gray horses will be by the shade of gray 
of the head and joints. Horses of a gray 
color begin to get lighter when about five years 
old. There are very few perfeci ly white horses 
now, moat of those calied so being actually 
a light shade of gray. The original white 
horse came from Northern Africa, and rarely 
exceeded a hight of 14 *.o 141 hands. The dun 
horse is said to have originated in Central Asia 
the chestnut in Tartary ; the spotted in China, 
Piebalds are very numerous on the pampas of 
South America; black horses are supposed to 
be of English origin t and they are very rare 
in Arabia, while bays are common in all cli¬ 
mates. For the last 200 years white horses 
have been raised by the Danish government 
near Copenhagen, with white hoofs, white 
manes, white tails and eyelashes, and rose- 
colored eye lids and nostrils without a single 
colored hair or spot on their bodies. Chris¬ 
tian IV received, from the Dey of Algiers, their 
ancestors, a white stallion and mare said to 
have been descendants of Mahomet's celebrated 
white mare. 
Miscellaneous 
F. E. 27.. Harlan , Kan., having heard the bar¬ 
berry highly recommended as a hedge plant, 
asks whether it has any advantage over ihe 
Osage Orange for that purpose. The latter, he 
says, is not well adapted to interior hedges, a 8 
it is such a rampant grower. Although its top 
can, of course, be kept cut, its roots occupy 
too much grouud. Wishing to hedge in bis 
orchard and fruit garden, against depredators, 
he asks what hedge plant is best adapted to 
dry, Btrong, hilly ground. 
Ans. —The Osage Orange is the best plant for 
you we know of. Next we should recommend 
the Honey Locust The ornamental Japan 
Quince makes a strong hedge. The barberry 
is too slender in its growth and not vigorous 
enough for the land you speak of. See artie’e 
“ Trees for Windbreaks and Hedges,” in last 
issue, for other trees suitable for hedges. 
E. G. Sligo, Pa., has 18 catalpa trees set out 
about one foot high in ApriL, 79. They are 
now of different sizes, two attracting a great 
deal of attention as they grew about six feet 
the past Summer, making with last year's 
growth nine or ten feet, with a few branches 
five feet long, near tbe ground, all this year’s 
growth. Our frieud asks how cau these trees 
be got into the shape of an open umbrella, 
haviog no limbs near the top. Would it he 
advisable to cut the top off—or would doing -o 
stop the growth. 
Ans, —No, you need not be afraid of stop¬ 
ping the growth. Simply cut off the top 
branches at the hight desired and continue to 
do so each Fall. 
E. L A., Russellville, Ala., asks what kinds 
of wheat would be likely to do well in that 
section— uorthern Alabama: rust is the great 
and almost the only enemy to the plant. 
Ans. —We have heard better reports of 
Nicaragua wheat than of any other variety in 
the Gulf States. Fullz, Bowden and Mediterra¬ 
nean are also more or less sucees-ful; but all 
are liable to be injured there by rust. Claw¬ 
son and Boughton have also been tried In Ala¬ 
bama, with moderate success. Seeds can 
probably be furnished by W. B. Jones it Sons, 
Herndon, Georgia, who will also furnish 
local information as to varieties. 
A, S. S., Waco, Texas, says that the South¬ 
ern seasons are so much earlier than the 
Northern that to do justice to the seeds and 
plants of our Free Seed Distribution, they 
should l>e scut out to our Southern friends 
earlier ttian to those of the North, and he asks 
whether w e can do so. 
Ans.—W e shall do all we can in this matter, 
and thank our friend for the suggestion. 
E. S. 11. Kent Co., Mich .—Wheats do uot mix 
like coni. The fertilization takes place before 
the stamens appear which is known as “ flow¬ 
ering,” The crossing of wheats is a delicate 
operation and will need careful practice before 
success can bo hoped for. Spreading the 
glumes and palets apart so as to introdnee for¬ 
eign pollen, is apt to Injusie the flower so that 
seed can uot form, 
L. S. I.. Augusta, Ark., a year ago, set out 
some Black Cap Raspberries which, owiug to 
unfavorable weaiher, made slow growth until 
the past season ; now they are long and spind¬ 
ling. and he asks whether he should cut them 
back two or three feet now or in the Spring 
before the growing season. 
Ans.— in the Spring. 
S. T. B., Buckeye Centre, Els,, asks the best 
time to trim spruce or pine trees. 
Ans.— -March, August or September. 
•The En- 
Canada, Colliugwood, Ont.. Oct. 7. 
nobled Oats have done nobly. 1 have harvested 
nearly a peck, imperial measure. They are 
put away for seed next year. The mangels 
are ahead of auy others we have, and are grow¬ 
ing finely. The Cow-pea is growing away, as 
we have had no frost here yet; but it is doubt¬ 
ful if it will ripen so far North. The rasp¬ 
berry is alive and likely, I hope, to live ; but it 
has not had fair play. We will use it better 
hereafter. All the flower seeds failed except 
one magnolia, on account of the drought, 
which was very severe in this section. 
«r. B A. 
Illinois, Ludlow, Champaign Co., Oct. 4 — 
Frequent light rains during September kept 
the pastures fresh and favored wheat, which 
now looks promising. A larger acreage was 
sown than last year. Considerable was sown 
among corn with one-horse drills. The press 
drill, with tubes like those of the corn-planter 
aDd a wheel following each tube pressing the 
seed firmly into the ground, and furnished with 
a seat for the driver, is the favorite drill now. 
Wheat yielded, in this neighborhood, from 15 
to 20 bushels per acre; oats, 85 to 40 by weight; 
flax, nine to thirteen ; Timothy seed, six to 
eight bushels. Corn-husking has uot commenc¬ 
ed yet, and the yield can only be guessed at. It 
is considered, however, only about half a 
crop. Wheat is worth 90e; oats, 25c; flax, 
$1.05; corn, 34c : Timothy seed, $2 25; apples, 
85 to 40c; potatoes, 50c; butter, 20c per 
pound ; live hogs, $4 50 per cwt. Wc have 
had no severe frosts yet, though ou September 
14th, we had a light one which singed corn 
leaves on the lowest ground, and on the 30th 
another hard enough to partially kill tomato 
and sweet potato vinos. "G.” 
.Kan. , Wichita, 8edgwick Co., Oct. 10 —We 
have had the most unfavorable season, in this 
part of Kausas, that has been known for eight 
years. Drought, winds, changeable tempera¬ 
ture, insects, etc., have all alliicted us. Wheat 
as reported by thrashers, averaged 10 bushels 
per acre; oats, 20 bushels. Grass was not 
one-half a crop. Corn is not gathered but is es¬ 
timated to be cut short from a quarter to a half. 
Tbe Fall is very favorable and most of the 
wheat sown. Most of the seeds and plants of the 
la3t seed distribution, as well as what 1 got of 
others, are gone where the "woodbine twin- 
eth,” although I gave them the best and frequent 
care and attention under the circumstances. 
A. J. p. 
Mich., Georgetown, Ottowa Co., Oct., 7.— 
Our crops are as follows; Wheat yielded less 
than last year; mine was 21 bushels. IIay 
was very good. Coru averages about 50 bush¬ 
els of ears per acre. Potatoes are a fair crop. 
Of apples we had almost too mauy. Peaches 
are plentiful. Barley, rye and buckwheat are 
but little raised here. Grapes are about an 
average and strawberries were not very good. 
Wild blackberries were plentiful. h. a. 
Minn., Cedar Mills, Meeker Co., Oct., 4.— 
We have had a great amount of rain this sea¬ 
son. yet the crops are all rather above the 
average, except coru; few pieces of wheat 
yield less than 20 bushels per acre. The Beauty 
of Hebron potato is as good as, or better than, 
the Early Rose, and a little earlier, m. e. b. 
Texas, Dayton, Liberty Co., October 4 — 
We are now enjoying tine weather for cot¬ 
ton picking, after our heavy rains last mouth. 
I have planted the Ennobled Oats again, as 
this is the proper season in this latitude. They 
are now up. Cotton worms made their appear¬ 
ance in September, but wc were helped con¬ 
siderably by the wild canary, which gobbled 
them up in great numbers. G. g. 
Texas, Lockhart, Caldwell Co., Oct. 5.— All 
cotton hereabouts is planted, not by hand but 
by cotton-planters of which at least a dozen dif¬ 
ferent patterns arc made and sold in this town. 
Iudeed cotton planters are more generally used 
here than corn planters and I am using a 
combined corn and cotton planter which is a 
complete success. This is apropos of a late 
article in the Rukal. Iu that article a method 
of removing tbe lint from the seed is given. 
This will certainly he a decided advantage, if 
the process is not expensive. We sometimes 
wet the seed and roll them in asheB to dry them, 
which " lays” the lint, and makes them plant 
better. As to the removing of the lint making 
them come up five days earlier, l doubt it very 
much. When the grouud is moist and warm, 
they will come up in a week, and very often 
begin to come in four days, and 1 think it hardly 
probable that they could be made to come flvu 
days earlier. s. K. m. 
Va., Newmarket, Shenandoah Co., Oct. 7.— 
Farmers are seeding ; every one is rushing to 
get in the wheat crop. Some of them seeded 
two to three weeks ago; others have just 
finished, while others are just beginning. 
Some farmers seed from 125 to 500 acres to 
wheat in this section. On au average in this 
valley they seed about 40 to 50 acres. Some 
wheat is up and lookiug well. Coru is a fair 
crop. Pumpkins, etc., are plentiful. Apples 
are hardly an average crop here. Prices are 
as follows: wheat, 88@93 cents; corn, 45@50 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
[Every query must lie accompanied by the name and 
address of the writer to insure attention.] 
Several letters asking substantially the 
same questions, often reach us within the same 
week, or before the answer to the first has been 
published. In such a case, we always presume 
that the answer to one, will suffice for the 
others also. 
horses 
Planting Grape Vines; Blount’s Corn, etc. 
C. H. E.Montgomery, Mich., asks, 1, what is 
the value of shaviugs from the fleshy side of 
buffalo hides that have been preserved with 
salt and alum, per wagon load, for fertilizing 
purposes; 2. what amount of manure should 
be placed iu a trench before planting grape¬ 
vines therein, and how deep should the trench 
be dug—the soil is a sandy gravel, with sand 
and cl.iv for subsoil, while the location gives 
a perfect surface drainage ; 3, full directions 
for budding fruit trees; 4, is Blount’s White 
Prolific corn a Dent or Flint sort; where cau 
seeds be had equal to those of the Rural Ex¬ 
periment Grounds. 
Ans. —1, We do not kuow. Perhaps some of 
our readers can furnish the information. 
2, Enough is as good as a feast. The practice of 
filling pits or trenches with rich, raw manures 
for vines or any plant whatsoever, is simply 
wasting time and money. A plaut needs just 
so much food. If that is furnished, all is done 
that it is possible to do to give it health and 
vigor, except cultivation and situation. The 
plan of usiug loads of manure in the prepara¬ 
tion of asparagus beds so that " once manured 
they will last for a life-time,” as advocated by 
many, is extremely senseless and will no 
doubt so be considered in years to come wh'tn 
vegetable physiology and hygiene are better 
understood. If your soil Is too heavy, add 
saud or leaf mold. If too sandy, use plenty of 
muck, if you can procure it. Use the same quan¬ 
tity of manure (well-rotted farm yard manure 
is best) that you would if preparing a field for 
a yield of 100 bushels of corn. A surface 
spread of bone flour and wood ashes from time 
to time would prove advantageous. Ihe trench 
should not be dug more than 18 inches deep. 
Nothing is gained by inducing grape-vine roots 
to go deeper. 3, Our friend will have to refer 
to back numbers. Late Summer and early 
Autumn are the proper seasons for budding. 
We shall give full directions in time for an¬ 
other year’s work. Grafting, which is Spring 
work, is the next to be considered. 4, White 
Deut with large grains and very small cobs. 
The ears average under size. 5, D. M. Ferry 
& Co., Detroit, Mieh., probably, but we can¬ 
not say whether the seed has been as carefully 
selected as our own. This year wc have se¬ 
lected the best cars (generally tbe top ones) ouly 
from stalks that bore five ears. Moreover, we 
have selected only from the shortest stalks 
and from those ears that ripened first, with the 
shortest shanks, etc., etc. We have spent 
hours iu this selection tying differently-colored 
rags to indicate special characteristics. If in 
this way wo should succeed in establishing a 
marked improvement, we shall again send this 
•* Improved” Blount’s to our subscribers. We 
may say that our selections from our lost 
year’s field, which was but a quarter ot au 
acre and produced at the rate of 72 bushels of 
shelled com to the acre, has, as it appears, 
made the corn two weeks or more earlier, so 
that it is now perfectly adapted to this climate, 
with time to spare. We are satisfied that the 
peculiarities of varieties of corn cau be pre¬ 
served only by such selection. Tb it uuusual 
marks or traits are thus fixed is proof thereof. 
All of our seed from stalks bearing three 
ears and over (except our owu selection) will 
be sent to the Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D, G. Au application to the Com¬ 
missioner may secure some. 
A Convenient Born. 
F. S., Tonawanda, N. T., would like apian 
of a bank barn on level ground, the building 
to be 40 x 00, the lower part to be for stock— 
—20 horses aud about 10 head of cattle—and 
the upper portion for grain, mixed farming 
beiug Ihe rule there. He proposes that the 
building should 6tand north aud south aud be 
seven feet iu the clear, for horses, and the 
upper portiou 18 feet, and made of boards. As 
stone costs $4 per cord .here he asks, whether 
it would not do to have stone walls only 2} 
feet high on three sides to save the use of that 
material. He also wants a small root cellar 
somewhere. Is a hip-roof better than a com¬ 
mon one ? 
Ans. —We would suggest a plan for the pur¬ 
pose required as here given. The root cellar 
might be placed under the bank or bridge for 
cattle 
built up of brick or stone. A hip-roof is not 
desirable: a plain roof is better for a barn and 
is cheaper and tighter. The accompanying 
cut shows a plan of a barn such as is desired. 
Many good suggestions as to building maybe 
got from The Carpenters’ aud Builders’ Guide; 
or Harney’s Barns and Stables; either of 
which can be procured of the American News 
Co., N. Y. 
Skim Milk vs. Corn or Bran, etc. 
W. N., A/ton, IV. T., asks what is the rela¬ 
tive value of sour milk and corn or wheat bran 
for feeding purposes—how much sour milk 
is equivalent to. say, a pound of either. 
Ans. —The only proper comparison that can 
be made between skim-milk or " sour milk ’’ 
and corn and wheat bran is by comparing the 
dry, digestible food ia 10 pounds of each. 
Skim-milk contains about 90 per cent, of 
water, and corn-meal and wheat bran about 
14 per cent, of water. The following table 
will show the digestible constituents of each, 
together with the calculated value per 100 
pounds. 
1 < o 
nutrients 
Sldtn-uiilk. 3-5 a.ul u.7 1.9:0.23 
Buttermilk. 3.1) 5.4 t.ll 2.6 0-22 
\Vhoy. l.LI 5.1 O S 6.6,0.11 
Indian Corn ..! 6.4 60.6) 4.8 8 6 Llo 
Western Yellow Corn. 7.5 67. 3.1 10.O l.O4 
Oats.. 8.7 13.31 4.0 6.3’ii.W 
Wheat brau,coarse. 10.048.5, 3 1 6.6 l.IU 
*■ ■* fine. 8.S154.SI 3.6 6.0 1.00 
These valuatious are fixed upou the Gertnau 
estimate. They estimate each pound of digesti¬ 
ble albuminoids as worth 4J cents, and digesti¬ 
ble fat the same, eaeh pound of carbohydrates 
at 9 10 of a cent- The nutritive ratio means the 
proportion of albuminoids to carbohydrates 
and fat, but each pound of fat is equal to 2 4 
pounds of carbo-hydrates. For example, skim 
milk has 3 5 albuminoids and .7 of fat, making 
4 2 pounds in 100, and this multiplied by 4^ 
cents, gives IS 2 cents, and five pounds of car¬ 
bohydrates (whey) amount to4 5 cents, added, 
making 22.7, or 23, cents per hundred pounds ; 
aud the value of coru aud other foods is ob¬ 
tained in the same way, It will thus be seen 
that 4 53 pounds of skim-milk are worth one 
pound of Western yellow corn, and 4 34 pounds 
are equal to one pound of wheat bran, and 4.08 
pounds are equal to one of oats. We have 
also given butter-milk and whey for compari¬ 
son We have fouud, practically, that skim- 
milk fed before getting too sour, is compara¬ 
tively even more valuable than here given. 
When fed to pigs of 50 pounds' weight until 
they reached 150 pounds’ weight, four pounds 
of skim-milk have been found equal to one 
pound of corn-meal aud bran mixed together; 
that is, 40.) pounds of milk would produce as 
much iucrease iu weight as 50 pounds of corn 
and 50 pounds of bran mixed and fed together. 
All the elements in the milk are very digestible 
aud ull are utilized. Some may be surprised to 
find whey of about oue-half the value of skim- 
milk, but that is when led as uearly sweet as 
it can be. Whey is only a partial food, and 
requires some other food, such as bran, oats or 
oil-meal, to be fed with it. We trust this short 
table may teach an important lesson to many 
feeders. 
White Horse*. 
M. li. H., Millwood, Kansas, asks whether 
gray horses become white with age. 
Ams. —No; but they become of a lighter 
shade of gray. One can always judge the col¬ 
COllMCN10 ATIONS RECEIVED FOR THE WEEK END¬ 
ING SATURDAY, OCT. 16. 
M. P. W.-A. H.-F. E. B.—J. S.—N. T. B.-G. M, 
D —W. E. B.—E. W. T.—M. N. N.—F. H. S.—T, 
W— W. J. O.-F. G. H.—E. R.T.—J. L.-J. T. fl.- 
L. S.-n. C. B.-J. K.-P. S. W.—A. L. J.-M. E. 
B.—M. B. W.—F. II. S., thanks.—E. W. 8.—C. A, 
G.—C. C. G.—n. S.—0. E. J,—A. M. G.—B. F. J. 
No health with inactive liver and urinary or¬ 
gans without Hop Bitters. 
