6 
JAN S 
but as the concern is particularly anxious to 
get this wonderful article introduced, “in the 
neighborhood,” it will generously send aspeci- 
raen “absolutely free," provided a fair trial is 
given it. Then comes a little “soft soap:” 
“We know a few words from you will do us 
more good than *2tI worth of newspaper ad¬ 
vertising.” Then a promise of an agency is 
held out, in the customary fashion, and, of 
course, as might naturally be expected, an 
answer is requested “at once,” as the offer 
ouly holds good for 80 days. But if theofferof 
of a gift “absolutely free,” is accepted, 40 
cents must be forwarded “to pay postage, 
packing, etc.” That’s the “little joker.” 
Send i>n your cash. Oh. you greedy numskull, 
send it right along at once, and wait for the 
gift that is “absolutely free.” How do the fel¬ 
lows get the names of the parties to whom 
they write? Why, lists of such names are for 
sale in hundreds of places: and often the lists 
are swindles too. as the names are frequently 
fictitious Swindlmc all round ! 
M t;CH Mol asses- Mak i xG.—Mr. J. H. Whet¬ 
stone, of Pomona, Kansan, writes to the Live- 
Stock I ndicator describing his process of man¬ 
ufacturing molasses. He uses nothing of a 
chemical nature bat the milk of lime, in small 
quantities, to neutralize the acids. He pumps 
the raw juice from the tauk into the defeca¬ 
tors and raises the Lieut just to the boiling 
poiut. when a very thick green scum rises, 
lie then shuts off the steam until t his blanket 
of scum is all swept off, then the steam is 
again turned on and another scum rises, and 
so on uutil the water is well clarified, then he 
lets out the clear water into the evaporators, 
which are ten feet lorg, three feet wide, and 
two-and-oue-halt feet deep. What be calls a 
batch is a six-inch depth of the clear juice iu 
the evaporators. He then turns on the steam 
until the juice foams up to the top of the pan 
or evaporator. This enables him to force the 
steam through the liquid until it forces every¬ 
thing of a sc-uuimy nature to the top. where 
it flows off into the scum-pocket, leaving the 
clear, sweet juice to evaporate. Wbeu iu this 
stage <»t completion the juice is all appar¬ 
ently as white as snow-flakes; aud his visitors 
are constrained to say it looks beautiful, aud 
so it does. He does with the heat what many 
try- to do with chemicals, but his goods are 
pure, aud no one need be afraid to eat or give 
it to their children, for it will give health and 
vigor to those who use it. He has finished his 
work for the season, and has about 400 barrels 
on hand, of 50 gallons each. He averaged 
through the crop about 75 gallons to the acre. 
He has a large amount of seed, which he is 
now stacking, preparatory to thrashing, hav¬ 
ing as yet found no market for it- He thinks 
he may sell if to feeders, as it is very rich feed 
if ground into chop. Upon the whole Mr. 
Whetstone has made a fair success, for a new 
beginner. He regards the industry as one of 
the best for Kansas to engage in, and thinks 
he can sweeten a large portion of the Eastern 
States—a long-felt need. 
Mr, F. D. Coburn, the editor of the Indi¬ 
cator, remarks that a Sample of the goods 
turned out by the process may be seen in his 
ortic-e, and for body and sweetening quality, a 
comparisou between it aud the fancy glu¬ 
cose-doctored sirups ou sale at the stores 
shows it to excellent advantage. 
ATir.tr FO» Pins.—The Wisconsin Experi¬ 
ment Station ha« been making a series of in¬ 
teresting experiments to ascertain the value 
of sweet milk for feeding pigs, as we see iu the 
N. E. Farmer. Two lots of pigs were fed sep¬ 
arately, one lot upon corn meal, the other lot 
upon milk, the latter being given all they 
would take. After 25 days the milk fed pigs 
had gained 5n) v pounds, agaiust {()% made by 
the meal-fed lot. The lots were then re¬ 
versed. the milk-fed pigs being put on meal, 
and the meal-fed lot being given milk for “5 
more days, at the end of which time the milk 
fed had made a gam of 7!) pounds, and the 
meat-fed only 61! j pounds. The weights of 
hoth lots of food were recorded, and showed 
that 500 pounds of corn meal made a pound 
of pork, and that 1,900 pounds of milk made 
the same quantity ot pork, live weight, so 
that when live hogs are worth live cents per 
pound, milk is worth about half a cent per 
pound, 
THE LATEST AND BRIEFEST. 
Heat of 212 degrees destroys trichina? in 
pork. Subject .your pork, therefore, to that 
degree of heat—the inside as well as the out¬ 
side—aud you need have no fear of trichino¬ 
sis. Water boils at 212 degrees. 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBHEB. 
It is a good time to select your seed wheat 
and seed corn, though it ought to have been 
done earlier. Farmers of a thousand acres 
may laugh at the Rural for its advice to se¬ 
lect soed wheat hi the field, when the largest 
heads may be cut off to be sown in small 
plots. But that is the way to improve wheat. 
The Rural soys to its readers: “Send for 
specimen copies of all the rural journals pub¬ 
lished. Examine them fully and subscribe 
for the best.” We can mention uo less than 
six farm journals that have refused to insert 
the advertisement of the Rural New- 
Yorker. They call themselves “leading 
journals” and profess to make the promotion 
of agriculture their first aim. 
Wk glean from the Pacific Rural Press that, 
there are three new pears soon to lie offered 
to the public, all raised iu California by the 
late B. S. Fox from seed of the Belle Lucra¬ 
tive. One is called P. Barry, it is of a golden 
russet color, and in season (Cal.) from the 
middle of December to February. The sec¬ 
ond is named Col. Wilder, a fine yellow 
hi color, and in season from January to 
May. The third is named B. S. Fox, of a 
cinnamon yellow, ripening from October to 
November. All are said to be of good quality. 
A!r Purdy gives high praise to a new 
strawberry he proposes to call the Jumbo. 
He says it fruits from 10 to 12 days after the 
Kentucky is used up. It is also, be says, 
exceedingly firm and will yield as many large, 
fine formed berries as auy of 60 varieties be is 
growing. . 
Prof. Arnold says that cheese has not proved 
so useful for food as chemists make it out to be. 
It IS noted as a significant fact, hardly calcu¬ 
lated to iucrease the demand for canned meat. 
saysfche N. Y. Tribuue, that when chepoultry 
market was so thoroughly demoralized as iu 
Bostou during Thanksgiving week, by reason 
of heavy receipts of sour and damaged fow l, 
the can tiers appeared to l>e the principal buy¬ 
ers at extremely low prices. 
Remember this, that the l»est teiujiernture 
to preserve apples, potatoes, turnips or any 
other roots or fruits stored in the cellar is 
just above the freezing point. 
Are you getting tip a club for the Rural.' 
Send for posters and premium lists. A club of 
seven will secure a free copy for one year to 
the sender.. .. ..... 
Progress in Horse-Breeding. -The de¬ 
mand for large work-horses has led to ex¬ 
treme experiments in breeding the suiall 
mares of Western ranges to large Percheron 
stallions. The results, contrary to public be¬ 
lief, says M. AY. Dunham, have proven re¬ 
markably successful. From these mares, 
weighing from 700 to 000 pounds, aud worth 
from $25 to *56 each, when bred to Pen-heron 
stallions, are produced horses that possess 
about one-half the united weights of sire aud 
dam, and while partaking oE the character¬ 
istics of the sire they lose none of the endur¬ 
ance and hardihood of the dam, selling read¬ 
ily for from *100 to *200. 
Experimentation is costly beyond belief, 
remarks Dr. Sturtevant, aud the majority of 
the experimeut stations at present established 
are so hampered by the insufficiency of the 
appropriations for their support that, we can 
hardly' expect to obtain the greatest usefulness 
from them..... 
A writer in Home Farm is confident that 
mulching fruit trees with sea-weed and salt 
grass is very beneficial. He is also of the 
opiuion that the borer does uot attack trees 
so mulched...... 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
kdllKHIl. 
Davis Co., December 11.—The past two 
weeks have been one unbroken spell of delight¬ 
ful weather, clear, bright, suushining days, 
with the mercury frequently above 70 deg. 
In driving about the country’ it is quite com¬ 
mon to see the hands at work iu the fields in 
their shirt sleeves pulling corn, and in many 
instances plow’iug. This state of things ex¬ 
tends from Junction City to Leavenworth, 
over 130 miles, and the same is reported over 
a distance of 150 miles west, although on the 
0th a heavy snow storm has been reported at 
Denver. Col., only 500 miles west of this place. 
So far this season Central Kansas sustains 
nobly the soubriquet of “The Italy of the 
United States.” < >ur good friends from aw ay 
“ Dow n East" would be astonished to see the 
beautiful weather we are having here in 
droughty, bleeding Kansas! All Ibis is in 
addition to good crops of corn, wheat, oats, 
rye, horses, cattle, sheep and hogs Mouey 
easy, the best sign of prosperity known; 
taxes being paid up rapidly. h. s. 
Dayton, Rhea Co., Dec. 11— We had but 
little rain iu this part of the country after the 
15th of May, and we had a very cold wet 
Spring before that, therefore the gram, grass, 
and vegetable crops wore very light. Fruit 
was fair, but not so large as it generally is 
here, aud the drought caused many of the 
W inter apples to ripen prematurely, r. s. 
Phillips County, Dec. 0. —Our first frost 
was on October 43. A hail-storm on June 
IS, destroyed the crops on a strip about four 
miles wide and thirty miles long. Aside from 
that, crops generally were good. Wheat was 
A No 1 in quality; yield from 1(1 to 30 bushels 
per acre. We sow’ both Spring aud Winter 
varieties. Oats, barley aud rye were above 
an average in yield. Yield of corn according 
to cultivation, from 20 to 60 bushels per acre. 
Potatoes a fair crop, A larger acreage than 
usual has been sown to W inter wheat and rye. 
Both look splendid. We have bad some cold 
days, but. the ground has not been frozen up 
yet; are still plowing for Spring crops. 
w. n. r. 
111 tools, 
CtKNESEO. Henrv Co.. Dec. 17.—About, 
three inches of snow fell here yesterday and 
to-dav. Mercury down to zero this morning. 
Home-grown corn spoiling badly in crib; lots 
<>f Kansas com being shipped to this place; if 
sells at 50 cents. Oats are worth 26 cents, rye 
ts route; no wheat, raised here. Stock in 
good condition, prices advancing. Farmers, 
generally, improving their stock by the use of 
thoroughbred males. I saw a half Clydesdale 
colt fournaoutbs old sell for *104. Geueseo is 
quite a busy town of alxmt 4.000 inhabitants^ 
and possesses a bn ndn nt educational privileges, 
an independent normal school with over 200 
students, and a seminary; also a Presbyterian 
collegiate institute in course of construction. 
Fire la 'Rural. j. j. 
New Jersey, 
Elmer, Salem Co., Dee. 21.—Crops all gath¬ 
ered, and our farmers’ countenances gener¬ 
ally wear a satisfied expression. While the 
1 'iinj crop was uot as good as that of the pre- 
eeding year, it was better than many ex- 
Iiected. Late potatoes a fair crop; those 
planted very late failed to come up well, ow¬ 
ing to the drought. Winter apples a failure. 
The shippingof inilk by rail is a business which 
has sprung up w ithin the last six or eight 
years. Some of the milk went to supply the 
sea shore trade the past season. For the past 
two or three years our farmers have co oper¬ 
ated aud purchased their bran by the car-load, 
gettiug it in the original cars direct from the 
West, thus saving several dollars per ton. I 
noticed some of our rattle owners raised a 
patch of corn to help out the short pastures 
during the dry Summer month*. They have 
found that it does not pay to let the supply of 
milk run down at this season of year. 
R. w. s. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Kamma. 
Phillips Co.—My little Blush Potato had 
seven eyes. I dug nearly thirty pounds of 
nice tubers from it—worth to me the sub. 
scription price of the Rural. w. a. t. 
Pittsburg, Mitchell Co.—From my small, 
nine-eyed Blush Potato, planted iu five hills, I 
got nearly a pailful of good-sized tubers, only 
five of which were as small as the one I 
plauted. At the same time, and in the same 
corner of the garden, 1 planted two Burbanks, 
either of which was three times as large as 
the Blush, and from these I got two pailfuls. 
e. m. c. 
Tennessee. 
Dayton, Rhea Co.—The Blush Potato w ith- 
stood the severe drought, aud yielded re¬ 
markably well here on the mountain four 
miles west of Dayton. The Shoe-peg Corn did 
very well. The Niagara Grape-vine seedlings 
all mildewed to death in late Summer. We 
had some nice flowers, but most of them were 
killed by dry weather. r. n. s. 
Pittsburg, Mitchell Co., Dec 10.—Crops 
were very good, averaging 40 bushels for oafs 
and 45 for corn. So much millet was raised 
that, it is only worth 15 cents per bushel. 
E. M. C. 
.Maine, 
Holden, Penobscot, Co.—From six small 
eyes of my Blush Potato 1 got, twenty pounds 
of nice tubers. The Shoe-peg Corn produced 
handsome stalks, about ten feet high, with 
three or four ears to a stalk, but Jack Frost 
took them when the kernels were about half 
grown. Everything else, except the R b- 
Centennial Wheat, was good. M. n k. 
(Tl)f lOumst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
I Every query must hr nccoti)|ianieil by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.) 
FEED FOR COW IN STABLE, ETC. 
.4. H. G., Ray City, Mich, —1. Is it best to 
keep stripping a young cow ? 2. If she gives 
a mess of four quarts of milk just before leav¬ 
ing pasture, and if she is fedchoice Timothy 
and clover hay in the barn, together with 
equal parts of No. 2 feed and bran, should 
she continue to give four-quart messes ? 3. 
Should a cow be salted oftener than once a 
week ? 4. What should be the treatment, of a 
horse that stumbles and drags his foot ? On 
hard roads he limps very much. 5. What ails 
my chicks '? They become blind iu one eye or 
both and soon die. 
Ans. I. It is a bad plan tokeep oustrippiug 
auy kind of a cow. Milk quickly aud leave, 
or she will dribble the milk in a tiresome man 
ner •>, A cow will fall off when taken from 
grass and put on to dry feed. If you mean by 
No. 2 feed, mill feed or midbugs, tlinl is not a 
good feed for milk: corn meal and bran would 
be better. Perhaps if the hay is cut and wet¬ 
ted and the feed mixed with it, it would in 
crease the milk. Cold weather will tend to 
decrease the milk. Rut although the miJk is 
lessened, the cream aud butter may not be; as 
milk from dry feed is generally richer than 
from grass. 3. A cow will take usually one 
ounce of salt every second day. But with dry 
feed the appetite for salt is uot so eager as 
with grass. 4. What foot is dragged ? Much 
depends upon that. It it is a hind foot it in¬ 
dicates spavin; if the fore foot, it is an indica¬ 
tion of navicular disease, especially if the toe 
is lowered. A spavin is worse at starting, and 
as the horse travels the lameness may disap¬ 
pear; with navicular disease the toe of the 
shoe will be found worn aud the foot is hot 
in its hinder part, betweeu the heels. The seat 
of a spavin is the hoek joint. These conspicuous 
differences will help to distinguish one from the 
other But the treatment of each differs, and 
knowing no more than is slated, uo definite 
advise iu this way can be ottered. 5. The 
matter with the chicks is roup or catarrh. 
The eyes should be washed with alum water, 
and if necessary the throat, should be washed 
too. Some breeds of fowls are rot hardy and 
require great care and protection from cold 
and wet. 
MAKING HARD SOAR, ETC. 
C. S. V , Stoeetsburgh, Canada. —1. Having 
plenty of hard-wood ashes, I can readily make 
soft soap; how can l make hard soap t 2. 
What is a remedy for scaly legs iu poultry ? 
3. Would it work well to make a compost of 
hen manure and plaster through the Winter 
aud sow it broadcast on tli’e garden next 
Spring aud harrow it in ? 4 Why lias a sow 
cast her intestines aud what is a preventive or 
remedy ? 
Ans. 1. Hard soap is made of soda. Potasli 
makes soft .soap : if common salt is added to 
the soft soap as soou as it is made, it is decom¬ 
posed. and the soda in it unites with the soap 
and forms hard soap. Other ways are to take 
one pound of Glauber salts (sulphate of soda) 
melt it on a hot shovel and add it to 20 
pounds of soft soap hot iu the kettle; (as the 
soap cools the hard cake floats ou the top) or 
seveu pounds of soft soap; four pounds of sal- 
soda; two ounces of borax; one ounce of 
spirits of ammonia, aud one-half-pound of 
resin are lioiled together in 22 t pi arts of water 
for 20 minutes. Iu adding the salt it is put 
iuto the kettle, after the soft soap lias boiled, 
by handfuls at a time, uutil as the soap is 
stirred, a ring of hard soap gathera ou the 
stirring stick. It is then poured out to cool 
and harden; when cold the cake is cut iuto 
bars and lifted off aud dried. 2. “Hcaly legs” 
is caused by a mite which burrows under the 
scales. To cure this disorder, make a mixture 
of sweet oil three parts, kerosene oil one part, 
and work it well under the scales with a stiff 
brush. 3. Yes; the plaster would preserve 
and improve the hen mauure. 4. This trou¬ 
ble (eversion of the bowels) is caused bv cos- 
tiveness. Give one ounce doses of linseed oil; 
wash the intestine with warm wuter; oil it 
well and return it. If it, comes out again, smear 
it with an ointment made of two ounces of 
pure lard, one dram of powdered sugar of 
load, one drum of Venire turpentine, and n 
dram of tincture of benzoine, all well rubbed 
together. 
LINSEED FOR BREEDING STOCK. RED TOP 
AND BLUE GRASS. 
L. £>., Kankakee, III 1. Will linseed 
meal he harmful as fped for brood mares or 
brood stock of any kind? 2. How can I run 
a barrel churn by power obtained from a 
wind-mill two rods from the milk house? 3. 
Which is the earliest market potato for this 
State? t. 1 ha ve a pasture that was seeded to 
Red Top five years ago; will it, ruu to Blue 
Grass if not plowed up within t wo years? 
Ans.— 1. It will not only be safe, but it is 
an excellent plan to feed linseed meal to 
brood mares and other stock in I ike condition. 
But there is danger in feeding t oo much, a 
pint twice a day being a large ration tor a 
brood mare. 2. Assuming the wind-mill to 
be made after the common pattern, liaviug a 
slow’ up-and-down stroke, there will be ex¬ 
pense. if not difficulty, in communicating the 
