JAN § 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKIB, 
7 
necessary rotary motion to the barrel-churn. 
Better consult Carroll & Dole, manufacturers 
of mud-mills at Kankakee, Ill., who will be 
able to advise you what is best to do, and at 
what cost it can be done. 3. The Early Ohio 
is unquestionably the best early market po¬ 
tato for Illinois. Had the Early Rose not 
been “run out” or run “into” the Late Rose, 
we should recommend that. 4. If your pas¬ 
ture is low and moist, or wet, and after five 
years’ seeding to Red Top, Blue Grass has not 
obtained a vigorous start in some places, it 
is not likely to in two years more. Better 
plow up and plant in corn one year, in small 
grain another, and seed to Timothy and clo¬ 
ver, with an addition of Blue Grass. The 
latter, however, will not cut much of a fig¬ 
ure for two or three years. After that time, 
it' the land is strong and dry, Blue Grass will 
take possession and hold it; if wet, cold or 
weak, Red Top will dominate in spite of any 
precaution you can take. 
KEROSEXE AS AN INSECTICIDE. 
C. E. J., Cvbct, Mo., sends us a statement 
from a contemporary to the effect that tur¬ 
pentine used freely on trees attacked by bor¬ 
ers, destroys the borers and adds vigor to the 
growth of the trees. Moreover, it is said that 
sprinkling turpentine among the grains of 
seed corn and rubbing it in will destroy “the 
microscopic animalcules that consume the 
germs,” thus rendering replanting unnecessary 
at any time. It is indeed said that so “pow¬ 
erful is the turpentine that its odor follows the 
stalks of coni daring growth, protecting them 
from all kinds of insect enemies;” while “di¬ 
luted in water and sprinkled or sprayed over 
delicate plants, vegetables, etc., it protects 
them from like enemies and stimulates their 
growth.” Our friend asks what we think of 
these statements. 
Ans. We do not believe that turpentine can 
have any effect upon the hoi-el's, which after 
the first year cannot, be reached by it. Emul¬ 
sions of kerosene are excellent insecticides. 
That statement that the odor of kerosene if 
applied to the kernel, can be perceived in the 
stalk of corn, is very absurd. 
FEED FOR BUTTER. 
W. N,, Stowe, IT. —Which is the better 
feed for making butter—ground oats and 
corn meal, or wheat bran aud corn meal' 
What are the best proportions of these with 
plenty of good hay ? 
Ans. —Oats and corn do not give such a 
good flavored butter, and perhaps not so much 
as corn and wheat, or rye bran. From some 
tests made recently, the writer has found that 
fine bolted yellow corn meal, with fine bran 
(either wheat or rye) or coarse middlings 
chiefly bran, gives the most and the best 
flavored butter. But then the question of 
cost comes in. as such meal costs about a third 
more than common meal. Perhaps the near¬ 
est approach to it is made by griuding toge¬ 
ther (not mixing after grinding) 800 pounds 
of yellow corn and 200 pounds of fine bran; 
and grinding them very finely. Fine grind¬ 
ing of the feed is certainly a great economy 
in feeding cows. 
SORE ON COW’S JAW. 
E. H. S., Manchester, la .—A cow of mine 
has had a sore on her jaw for about a year; it 
is now- raw aud as long as my hand, and dis¬ 
charges a little bloody mutter; how should 
it lie treated i 
ANS.—Procure an ounce of carbob'c acid in 
a bottle. Take a tablespoonful of warm 
water and drop into it 20 drops of the acid 
and inject this into the oponiug of the tumor 
morning and evening with a syringe. Syringe 
the opening well with warm water every 
time before usiug the carbolic acid liquid. 
Apply a plaster made by smearing common 
pine tar over the part, first shaving off the 
hair, as a protection from the cold and from 
dirt. Give the cow one ounce of hyposul¬ 
phite of soda daily for two or three weeks. It 
is quite possible that the bone is diseased, aud 
the tumor will not In that rase be wholly 
cured, although it may be relieved, but it will 
reappear. 
FOR FRACTIOUS BULLS. 
IF .4 D., Aurora, W. In.—Where can I 
obtain the device pictured aud described in 
the Rural for Juue 30 last, for preventing a 
bull from mischievously using his horns? 
Ans. —The device must be made; it is not 
kept for sale anywhere. It is safer if a large 
hard wood ball is fitted on to each horn. A 
very good aud snfo plan is to put a strong i 
hard wood stick across both horns, with a 
hole at each end for the horns to eomo 
through, und secure it by a pin or spring key 
through each horn; fasten uu iron rod to the 
nose ring and let it pass about three inches 
t hrough the hard-wood strip so that as it slides 
up uud down freely. Then screw a knob on 
the iron rod above the wooden strip to make 
it safe. When the bull uses the horns all its 
force is exerted on the nose ring much more 
effectively than in the way you mention. 
SPLITTING OF THE BARK OF APPLE TREES. 
J. L., Dunedin, Canada .—What is the 
cause of the splitting of the bark of apple 
trees in the Fall, and a remedy or preventive 
therefor? 
Ans. —The trouble referred to is common 
everywhere north of Virginia, though more 
on some soils and with some varieties. Trees 
in sod are less affected. No 'preventive is 
known, but the cure is to bind up the wounds 
with waxed cloth as soon as they are made. 
They should be expected, and the trees ex¬ 
amined, after any early freeze of much 
severity. It is possible that bursting of the 
bark may occasionally happeu from disten¬ 
sion of the sap-wood by the accumulation of 
fluid, without freezing, but it is not common. 
The evil is least in a dry Fall with no severe 
freezes earlier than December. 
SORE ON COW’S FOOT. 
C., Waterford, Pa .—One of my cows 
has a raw sore on one of her hind feet just 
above the hoof; she is awfully lame; how 
should she be treated { 
Ans.—I t would be well to make the follow¬ 
ing dressing and apply it to the cow’s foot: 
melt together four ounces of lard and one 
ounce of Venice turpentine; then stir into it 
while hot one ounce of spirits of turpentine 
and two drams of acetate of copper (verdigris) 
finely powdered. Stir until cold. Apply 
some of it to the sore; then spread some 
of it on a rag aud make a plaster of it and 
bind it upon the foot. Renew It every day. 
This is an excellent application for wounds 
and sores. 
WAYS OF SETTING MILK. 
N. V. H., Hannibal, N. Y. —1. Which pro¬ 
duces butter of the best quality, deep setting 
at 45 degrees or shallow setting at 60 degrees? 
2. Which butter keeps best’ 3. From which 
setting will cream churn most quickly? 4. 
Which is the more convenient method of 
handling milk? 
Ans. —1, 2 and 8. There is no difference be¬ 
tween either of these methods in the ways re¬ 
ferred to. 4. As regards space and handling 
the milk, the deep-setting system is the more 
convenient. When there is no ice and no ade¬ 
quate supply of cold spring-water, the shal¬ 
low-pan system is indispensable. 
“ MILK-LEG ” IN A MARE. 
J. H. F., Pleasant Valley, Xeb .—What 
should be the treatment of a brood mare in¬ 
clined to have the “milk-leg.” as shown by 
the swelling of one of the hind legs? 
Ans. —This is a species of dropsy, which usu¬ 
ally indicates some disorder of the kidneys. It 
should be treated by occasional doses of one 
pint of linseed oil with one ounce of sweet 
spirits of niter. The legs should be nibbed 
morning and night with a rough woolen cloth, 
and the horse should not stand idle in the 
stable. Exercise tends to prevent the swell¬ 
ing. 
Miscellaneous. 
J. E. H ., Minnesota. —1. What is an early 
corn ? 2. What is a design of a practical, por 
table, cheap fence ! 
Ans.— 1. The Early Cauada Corn will ripen 
with you, and will yield a good crop ou good 
soil—80 bushels per acre of grain and stalks 
seven or eight feet high have been produced 
in Canada, and could no doubt in Minnesota, 
where the seasou is shorts It is an eight- 
rowed yellow corn, and being small, can be 
planted iu rows three feet apart an i two-and- 
oue-hnlf feet in the rows. 2. An excellent 
portable fence is made of boards aud stakes or 
split small timbers put together as follows: 
The posts are driven into the ground, and 
the ends of the rails are wired together. 
If H. L., Salem, Mass. —1. We have a Kerry 
heifer, a year old in January, She is a gent le, 
sturdy, short legged little thing, fully four 
inches shorter than a Jersy bossy only seven 
months old. She has an unsatisfied appetite, 
and keeps so full that she is sometimes lauglv 
able to see. The Jersey eats as much, but is 
entirely different in shape. How is it best, to 
feed them? Are Kerry cows considered fine 
iu any particular ? 2. What is the best lettuce 
for a hot-l>ed ! 
Ank. 1. Merry cows are a race of Irish cattle, 
which are small because they havebeeu poorly 
fed for generations and even centuries bark. 
They will endure considerable hardship, and 
are coarsely-built and pretty ravenous eaters. 
Borne of them give rich milk, ns all small 
rattle do, and some give a proportionately 
large quantity. But they are not considered 
fine or valuable in any particular. They are 
very far behind the Jersey in every respect. 
A Kerry cow may be fed precisely the same 
as a Jersey, but will do better on coarse food, 
such as straw, and make more milk with it 
than the Jersey. 2. Golden Stone-Head and 
Boston, or Tennis-ball, are as good as any for 
forcing. 
A. H. P., Sherman, Tex. —1. Would it pay 
to haul cotton-seed hull ashes after they have 
been lying out-of-doors for some time, and 
consequently been partly leached? 2. Would 
it pay better to haul fresh stable manure with 
much litter? 3, Does it pay to haul cotton¬ 
seed hulls as manure for cabbage? 
Ans. 1. The ashes of cotton seed hulls are 
very rich iu phosphoric acid and potash, and 
are consequently a valuable fertilizer; of 
course, the value will be somewhat 
reduced by exposure to rain. 2, It 
will pay to haul stable manure, so long 
as the cost of the hauling is not too 
great. Doubtless in this case excellent man¬ 
ure may be made by procuring all these sub¬ 
stances and mixing them together in a heap 
and composting them, but uot permitting 
them to heat too much and dry’ out. The 
heap should be turned over when it gets hot. 
3. Cotton-seed hulls contain considerable fer¬ 
tilizing matter when they are decayed; but 
when fresh they would be of no use for a cab¬ 
bage crop. 
W. C. J., Ttrippe, Md. —Would 250 pounds 
ground S. C. bone knowD as floats or phos¬ 
phate dust, 250 pounds of kainit and 100 
pounds of plaster be a good fertilizer for com 
per acre. Would it be sufficiently soluble to 
apply broad-cast in Spring after plowing up 
clover sod say about the middle of March or 
first of April ? Or would it do to apply it 
raw broadcast on the clover soil to be plowed 
in the Spring ? 
Ans. —The S. C. mineral phosphate (not 
bone) which is called floats when very' finely- 
ground. is not as soluble as the reduced phos¬ 
phate, or as it is called, superphosphate. If 
this latter were used instead of the floats, the 
mixture would be a good one, excepting that 
two-thirds of the superphosphate is sulphate 
of lime or plaster, aud the additional plaster 
would not be required. This mixture might 
be sown broadcast. If the floats is used 500 
lbs w mld uot be too much per acre. It and 
the kainit should be applied just before plant 
ing and harrowed into the soil. 
./. L. P., Centerville, Fa. — 1 . What is meant 
by cutting potatoes southeast by northwest, 
directions I saw in a late agricultural paper ? 
2. Why do my skim cheeses made late in Oc¬ 
tober and early in November, turn sour * 
Ans. 1. Cutting potatoes “ northwest, and 
southeast” instead of north and south, means 
to maze the cuts in a slanting direction from 
the sides of the potatoes towards the center, 
supposing there is an eye between each two 
lines, instead of cutting from top to bottom 
through the potato. This manner of cutting 
is certainly the best, and has been practiced 
by good potato-growers for years. 2. The de¬ 
velopment of acid in the cheese is due to the 
presence of too much whey iu the curd, or too 
long exposure of the curd to the air, or per¬ 
haps to neglect of greasing the crust of the 
cheese to keep the air from penetrating it. 
Skim cheese requires much more care and 
skill in the curing than whole milk cheese. 
‘'Young Farmer ,” Pulaski, Fa.—1. What 
is the value of well-rotted leaf mold, compared 
with common barnyard manure? 2. Would it 
pay to draw the mold 100 rods to apply it to 
a woru-out field intended for corn? 3. Is saw¬ 
dust a good substitute for straw as an absorb¬ 
ent in a cow stable? 
Ans.— 1. It would probably ta ke 10 loads or 
more of leaf mold to have the good effect of 
one load of ordinary barnyard manure. Still 
it would pay to draw the leaf mold aud put it 
on the field, as every little helps in such a 
case. If the leaf mold were mixed with one- 
tenth part of nir-sluked lime and composted 
for two or three months, it would be greatly 
improved. 2. Uardw-ood sawdust is an excel¬ 
lent absorbent, tor cow stables, and ts cleaner 
than straw; but straw is about ten times rich¬ 
er in fertilizing matter than flxixed hardwood 
sawdust. 
J. B., Ashtabula, Ohio. —Is it a fair ques¬ 
tion to ask the Rural to send to myself and 
a neighbor some choice potatoes, as we are 
young, aud have no time to experiment? 
Ans.—T he question is perfectly fair. We 
do not sell potatoes or anything whatever 
exeept the Rural. We test all of the new 
kinds t f potatoes every year, or as many of 
them as we oau procure. We then report as 
to the yield, quality, etc., for the benefit of 
readers. But we do not. sell them. It, would 
give ns pleasure to substitute other kinds of 
seeds or plants tor those offered from year to 
year in our seed distributions, but it would 
entail an amount of detail and labor which 
we are not equal to. 
E. T., Riceville, Canada .—What is the best 
way to underdrain a sandy swamp in the ab- 
fence of tiles ? 
Ans. —Make pipes of four Loch wide hemlock 
boards, of a triangular shape, thus: 
Figure 16. 
The top pieces are laid crosswise, and placed 
a little apart to let in the water. The pipes 
are laid edge downwards. 
E. S. M., Crisman, Ind— My cow had a 
whitish substance growing on the lower cor¬ 
ner of her eye; it has now disappeared, but 
pus is constantly discharged from the place, 
Whatshould be the treatment? 
Axs.—Make a solution of four grains of sul¬ 
phate of zinc in one ounce of water; inject a 
little of this twice a day into the diseased cor¬ 
ner of the eye, with a small syringe. Wash 
the eye with warm water in the same way be¬ 
fore renewing the zinc solution. It might he 
well to give the cow a few doses of hyposul¬ 
phite of soda, one ounce each, daily, say for 
one week. 
G. W L., Lawton, Mich.—In a late Rural 
an inquiry was made relating to the best way 
of making a Jersey cow “stick” after being 
served by the bull, and a dose of 24 ounces of 
Epsom salts was recommended; wasn’t a mis¬ 
take made in the size of the dose! 
Ans.—A^ ery strong purgative is required 
for this purpose. The object is to produce a 
strong reaction in the system even to partial 
exhaustion, which often has the effect desired. 
The quantity mentioned is right. 
W. H., East Xew-Market, Md .—1. How 
would it do to replant peach trees in an orchard 
seven or eight years old, to replace some that 
have died? 2, Which is the better, to apply 
lime in the Fall to ground intended for corn 
next year and plow in the Spring, or put it on 
in the Spring after plowing? 
Ans.— They will do well if the soil is good— 
that is, if the soil has not been particularly 
exhausted by the old trees. 2. We should pre¬ 
fer the Fall. 
J. F. M., Claremont, Vt.. —Wishing to plow 
up my apple orchard and apply 300 pounds of 
bone per acre, as recommended in the Rural. 
is there any reason why rj-e should not be 
sown in it for pasture? 
Ans. —There would be no harm in sowing 
rye for pas? are, if fed off before heading out 
by such animals as would not injure the trees. 
But nothing injures a young orchard more 
than growing grain in it. 
T. S- E., Brockwayville, Pa. —My soil is a 
sandy loam river bottom of medium richness. 
Potatoes were grown on it this year, and it 
was plowed eight inches deep. I am thinking 
of putting 30 bushels of lime to the acre ou i fc 
and three bushels of salt; what other fertilizer 
would it be advisable to apply? 
Ans. —We should use from 800 to 600 
pounds of chemical potato fertilizer, costing 
not less than #50 per ton. with the above. 
iV. P. B., no address.— vYhat should be the 
treatment of wounds on a lamb’s head, caused 
by the bite of a dog ? The flesh is sloughing 
away. 
Ans. —All you can do is to dress the wound 
and keep it clean, but the opening will re¬ 
main; the flesh that has been destroyed can¬ 
not be restored. 
E. T., Eduxirdsrille, Fans .—All reports of 
the Rural Blush Potato speak of the small size 
of the seed received. I got two marbles that 
yielded about 40 pounds. Why were all the 
seed potatoes small? 
Ans.—F or the sake of economy in postage; 
we could hardly afford to pay ten cents post¬ 
age on each large potato sent to a subscriber. 
F. W. ..TElmwood .—Where are the Wood- 
astou Bellows, reported in a late Rural, man 
ufactured ? 
Ans.—T he Woodaston Bellows, 2,612 Ken 
sington Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 
COMMUSICATIOSS RECVIVTD FOB {HE WEEK E»P!NO 
Saturday, Dec. 29. 
V. L.—M. W.-M. E. C.-G. H.-D. F.-E. L. H.-T.S 
A, —M. H. L.—E P. R , Tor prize.—W, L D., thanks,— 
F. B.—R. E. F.. plans for prizes—E.P. P.—E J. S.—W. 
H. W.-T. D. B.—F R —N P. B.-W. H. T —J P.—W. 
H. W.—C. S. J.—T. J. L.-E. T.—O. S. R—W. C-, box 
prize.—L. A. B., M. D.—J. L.Perkins, two potatoes re 
celved.—E. J. S—A. H. G.—C. E. L.-J. R—N. B. J.— 
Mrs. T. L. G„ for prize.-T. W.-E. S. P.--H. C.—M W 
V. —T.H. H.—T.C. K -H. S.-P. K. P.-E. H. S.-K 
D.—R. B. s.— o. A. Parsons, R B. c. received, thanks. 
—W. Z H.—Clem Aulion,—Henry C. Robinson.—B. F. 
J.-H. K. R-H. L. E.-A. H. McC.-J. H. W.-G. W 
D.—D. W. C-- Harden Bros.—N. R. M. -T. Stay man.— 
W. F.-W. C. I..-C J. M.. address not given.-E. M. 
—J. M. S —B. S. M.—Z. W. r.-James Dougal, thanks. 
-L. H. Spear, thanks.—R. W. S.-L. P. G.-J. B.—G. 
M. H.—O. K.-H.-J. H. B.-D. B. C.-T. A. P.-W. G. 
R.-T. H. H.—L. K. A.-A. H.-A. S. H.-V. M. Smith, 
for prizes,—W. s. \V,—a. C , for prizes.—W. O. B.; n» 
thanks.—J. S. LutUy. for prize.—F. E. F.—T. R P.—B 
F. L.—M. Q. R.-T. G. W.. tb&nks.-P. W. R., tlianis- 
R. D. M.—John Wilder, for prize—Sept., Qulncev 
\Vis.,for prize, thanks—J. H. W.—R.G. B,—O. G. G. 
-J. P.-J. T. J„ for prize- W. A. McG-C. J. M.-J. N 
B. -A. S.H.-B. P. J. 
