54 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JAN 96 
that anybody can grow it as easily as a cab¬ 
bage...*. 
A WRITER of a prize essay iu Vick’s Monthly 
recommends for an early crop the Early 
Wakefield, Henderson’s Summer and Win- 
ningstadt. Sow in a hot bed in January or 
February, transplanting into other frames as 
the weather becomes milder. 
0uaT)u>l)m. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois, 
Kellerville, Adams Co., Jan. 4.—Crops 
generally good. Apples better iu quality than 
usual; a full crop in many orchards. Peaches 
a failure. Corn an average crop, but not 
well matured. Potatoes good. The White 
Elephaut did splendidly this season, e. h. r. 
Iowa. 
Emerson, Mills Co., Jan. 5.— 1 he corn eiop 
is bad here—not over half a crop, and that is 
generally of poor quality. 1 think there will 
he no corn to ship from this county. R. r. 
North Carolina. 
Henderson, Vance Co., Jan. 8. A look 
back over the causes aud results of 1883 
shows some dark and some bright spots, 
and teaches a lesson to those Southern farm¬ 
ers who are susceptible of being taught. 
An unusually severe Winter was followed 
by a cold aud very wet Spring, retarding 
the work of plowing and planting. Then 
agaiu, this was followed by extreme drought 
iu June and July, cutting short even the 
poor prospect of the Spring. due result 
is about a half crop of cottou aud corn and 
about one-fourth of a crop of wheat. Fortu¬ 
nately wo had no early frosts, and the rains of 
August and September gave us fine crops of 
sweet potatoes, turnips and tobacco, the latter 
being splendid iu quality, and no\' bringing 
extraordinarily high prices, and tobacco- 
growers are jubilaut; but alas! tor the pool 
man who depends entirely ou cottou, for there 
is a short crop aud prices are low, and the 
growers are buying nearly all their supplies. 
The prospect for them is dark indeed. We 
had beautiful Autumn weather uutil Christ¬ 
mas, though there were two or three cold 
“snaps,” with the temperature dowu to 18 
degrees above zero. Since Christmas the 
weather has been wet, foggy and dismal, 
reaching the climax on the morning of Jau. t>, 
when, with tw r o inches of snow, the thermom¬ 
eter indicated two degrees below zero at suu- 
rise, which is about as low as it ever goes here, 
going dowu to zero only once iu four or fi\ e 
veara. Market prices are: Cotton, good, b l jC.; 
corn. 80c.; wheat, $1.25; oats, 00c.; eggs, 20c.; 
butter, inferior. 20 to 25c., (prime always 
commands 80c.): side-meat, 9c., sweet pota¬ 
toes, 00c. «• B p ' 
Ohio. 
Edinburgh, Portage, Co., Jau. 10. Our 
wheat was not a full crop; the straw was light 
but the heads were well filled, making a 
better yield thau was expected. The cause 
of light straw was that the ground was 
covered with a heavy eoatiugof ice the entire 
Winter, and there was no snow to protect the 
plants, so that the roots perished. The hay 
crop was heavy. Oats were also good. The 
corn crop is a great failure; there is but very 
little in the country. Early potatoes suffered 
from the cold, wet Spring; those pmnted late 
turned out a fair crop. Our Fall wheat is 
now covered with snow aud will not suffer as 
it did last Winter. a. s. p. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Connecticut. 
Naugatuck, New Haven Co.—My Rlush 
Potato was planted iu seven pieces IS inches 
apart; yield 24 potatoes weighing 10 pounds. 
For gome reason they did not set well: one fiue- 
looking hill had no potato, aud another ouly 
one. 1 noticed a disposition to grow deep; but 
think this a valuable sort. My White Ele¬ 
phant yielded 45 bushels from 20 rods of 
ground; U80 bushels to the acre. Ihe Euily 
Rose beside it yielded on’y 200 bushels, aud 
they had the best ground. The quality of the 
W hite Elephant is equal to that of the Early 
Rose. u - N ' w ' 
Illinois. 
Ellibville, Nichola* Co.—My Blush Pota¬ 
to yielded me 1*>$ pouuds of tiue tubers, aud 
part of them were drowned out. Of the 52 
grains of Shoe-peg Corn 40 grew, aud 1 have 
40 pounds of tine seed. Some of it is inclined 
to be flinty: Ihe stalks grew 11 feet high; it 
ripened early. Melons a failure. The Carden 
Treasures gave us some tine flowers. W. A. M. 
P mo iu a, Peoria Co.—-My Plush Potato had 
11 eyes and wasplauted iu 11 hills; to my great 
mrpriee the yield was IttV* pound# of very 
large nice tubers. No extra culture. The 
Shoe-peg Corn whb rather late, but 1 have a 
number of ears that will do for seed. Garden 
Treasures very fine. The wheat, watermelon, 
and Niagara Grape seeds failures, G. M. 
town. 
Keokuk, Lee Co,—My little Blush Potato had 
no reason to blush here. It was Cut into nine 
pieces, with an eye iu each, and yielded about 
one-third of a bushel of nice medium-sized tu¬ 
bers. The melon seed failed to germinate, 
probably on account of the unusually cold wet 
weather: but the corn grew well, produced 
moderated and partially ripened, but proved 
to be a mixed lot. There was very little of 
the “Shoe-peg.'' and the yield was unfit for 
future use us seed 11 • 
New York 
Marlboro, Ulster Co.—My two-ounce Blush 
Potato, cut iuto 12 pieces, with au eye in 
each, and planted in 12 places, yielded 80 
pounds. J ' 
Ohio. 
Edinburgh, Portage Co.— Of the Niagara 
Grape seeds less thau 20 vegetated aud nearly 
one-half of the vines died almost as soon as 
they were above ground: about eight or nine 
could be transplanted. The wheat was 
planted this Fall aud came up finely, but the 
extremely dry aud cold seaf-on prevented it 
from growing well. The watermelon was a 
total failure. Of the Shoe-peg-Corn eight or 
ten stalks came up. grew and matured a few 
grains on some ears. Immediately after 
planting these seeds very cold, heavy rains 
set in and continued for some three weeks; 
the ground was u complete mortar bed 1 he 
seed all rotted iu the ground except a few 
grains of corn. The potatoes suffered severely 
from the same rains, ami with all the care 
that could lie given them they never fully re 
covered; but 1 harvested seven pounds of 
very fair-sized tubers, one weighing three- 
quarters of a pound. A - s - H - 
Pennsylvania. 
MurryBVILLE, Westmoreland Co.—I cut 
my two Blush Potatoes to one eye iu a piece, 
making 18 pieces. They were planted iu gar¬ 
den soil, and watered once with nuauare water. 
Yield 14 pounds. The Shoe-peg Corn yielded 
a few good, well-filled and well matured ears. 
The flowers were just splendid. MRS. K. J. L. 
West Virginia • 
Ripley. Jackson Co.—I cut my Blush Po¬ 
tato into 15 pieces, with au eye in each. 
Planted them in thin soil. Using two baskets of 
manure in the drill, aud harvested 105 tubers 
measuring three gallons. 1 lie Shoe-peg Loi u 
was late, owing to the drought. I have saved 
some of the best eats. I will try agaiu. It is 
a fine-looking corn. No success with other 
seeds worth commenting on. J. H. 
Wisconsin. 
Bohemia, La Crosse Co.—From two Blush 
Potatoes 1 dug 5» pounds. They are firat- 
class, the ouly drawback being their straggling 
propensity like old Peachbluws. Ol the Per¬ 
fection Watermelon 1 have seed enough, 
quality first-class. Wysor’s Corn was too late 
for my place. Living in a narrow valley frost 
comes ofteu the first week in September, aud 
even sooner. T - w * 
(Tl)e (flumsl. 
answers to correspondents. 
LEvery query must he accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention. I 
SEED-CORN, ETC. 
J. S. II ., Uhumbersliimj, /it.—1. How far 
from the latitude iu which it originated can n 
variety of corn be grown with good prospects 
of successf Sibley’s Pride of the North was a 
failure here, Vicing stunted iu growth, small 
in the ear. and maturing too rapidly; while, 
on the other hand, white corn from Virginia 
had immense stalks, but scarcely au car oil an 
acre matured. 2. Will it pay to use com¬ 
mercial fertilizer on oats where they sell at 80 
cents a bushel, and what kind is best adapted 
to that crop? 8. Which would have the best 
and most lasting effect on laud 50 t.usbels of 
lime eostiug $5, or 250 pounds of grouud bone, 
costing the same sum? 4. What is a s|K*cial 
manure tor peas aud beaus! 
Ass-1, How far a given variety of coru 
can be grown away from its native place de¬ 
pends entirely upon its time of ripening, etc. 
For example, the well known Chester County 
Mammoth will not ripen uorth of New York 
or Chicago. It is best to plant such kinds of 
coru a# are known to succeed in any particular 
locality. Thousands of farmers have learned 
this lesson the past seasou by bitter experience, 
as iu Minnesota, lowu, Wisconsin, Michigan 
aud Illinois, where seed was procured from 
Nebraska and Kansas, aud it failed to ripen. 
In your locality the Chester County Gourd 
Corn, or the Mammoth, would have matured, 
and these are remarkably good kinds, yield. | 
ing 80 to 100 bushels of grain to the acre when 
well cultivated ou good land. Corn is a grain 
that is susceptible of great improvement by 
selection of seed aud good cultivation iu any 
one locality, and it will do better then iu this 
locality than iu a distant one, until it has 
goue through courses of naturalization. 
2. We must raise heavy crops of oats at 30 
cents a bushel 1 o make them pay, do matter 
what manure or fertilizer is used. We prefer 
to manure for corn and wheal, sowing lightly 
of chemical fertilizers for oats. Any com¬ 
mercial fertilizer which furnishes, let us say, 
six to eight per cent, of ammonia, seven to 
ten per cent, of phosphoric acid, and ten per 
cent, of potash, serves for wheat, rye, barley, 
oats, aud seeding down for grass. You can 
buy the raw material aud mix it yourself or 
buy it already mixed. 3. The best special fer¬ 
tilizer is one that contains all the elements of 
plant food, that are necessary to the growth 
of plants. These are nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid. Ihe commercial fertilizers 
of this kind are known as “complete man¬ 
ures ” Lime is a very imperfect fertilizer, 
especially ou poor soil: bone-dust is far better, 
but it lacks potash. A mixture of 25U pounds 
of bone dust and 10 to 20 bushels of wood 
ashes would be useful for any crop. We have 
not. as a rule, a favorable opinion of special 
manures for particular crops, and would n.se 
the same for beaus and peas as for any other 
crop, and that would be a fertilizer having 
all the elemeuts of good manure. 4. Bee an¬ 
swers to questions 2 aud 8. 
FROSTED WHEAT FOR SEED. 
,/. A. C .. Worcester, Mass .—-W ill frosted 
whqat, when of good size aud quite plump, do 
for seed, aud if so will it be necessary to use 
more seed to the acre? 
Ans. —The above heading has. without 
doubt, a strange sound to those who have 
always associated harvest with a tempera - 
ture 90 degrees in the shade. Lust year iu a 
small portion of the Northwest there was a 
heavy frost during the first, days of harvest; 
many fields were uuripe at the time and were 
badly injured. The frosted wheat differs 
somewhat from ordinary shrunken wheat, 
being paler in color. Many of the grains 
were injured only on the aide or end most ex- 
]>osed, aud hence only a portion of the kernel 
was shrunken badly. Thu vitality of such 
wheat depends altogether ou the degree ot 
cold to which it was exposed: if the germ 
actually froze when the wheat was iu ihe 
“milky stage, 1 without doubt tlm cells were 
ruptured and virtually destroyed; but if only 
the outer portion of the grain was frosted, the 
wheat would grow. It is doubtful if the plains 
would be as strong as those grown from 
plump, imfrosted seed. We suggest thut. our 
friend procure au ounce of good seed and a 
like quantity of frosted seed, count the num¬ 
ber of grains in each aud plant them in a box 
of earth by the stove; subject the plants to 
cold and moisture the same as they would 
meet with ir the field, aud then report the 
result to the Rural. This test would settle 
the question as to the quality of the seed aud 
the amount which it would be necessary to 
sow. 
ailing pigs. 
K. J. Muscotah, Kails What ails our 
pigs? They thrive and look well until five or 
six weeks old, when they hegiu to wheeze and 
cough and run at the nose. After some time 
tney lose their appetites aud begin toloseflesh; 
still, they will linger 01). getting weaker aud 
thinner, with long hair and crooked backs, 
uutil they Anally die. Worms came out at 
the nose of one that died. Several others 
were swollen about the neck and throat. 
ASS.— These pigs undoubtedly have para¬ 
sites iu the head. Inhaling the fumes of sul¬ 
phur for a few seconds might kill them. Syr¬ 
inging spirits of turpentine, diluted one half 
with water, up the nostrils might cause the 
parasites to become dislodged or kill them. 
Administering spirits of turpentine by the 
mouth, one tablesjiOOnful at a dose, slightly 
diluted with milk, ou an empty stomach, 
would doubtless be good. This dose will kill 
parasites In the stomach aud kidneys. It 
should be followed Up for several days. This 
disease Is not well understood, aud we would 
advise our correspondent to examine a dead 
pig carefully. If it is quinsy, the pigs will 
breathe hoarsely. Ill this case liniments or 
blisters should he applied to the neck. I lie 
symptoms are not like those of quinsy, but 
indicate worms in the bead. 
ZINC LABELS FOR TREES, ETC. 
T. II. U'.. Roselle, N. J .—In usiug ziue la- 
| bels for trees, how should the writing be 
made on the labels! La my experience the 
writing soon fade#. 
Ans.— Use a No. 2 Faber. Do not scour the 
zinc at all. The murks will scarcely show at 
all at first, and not clearly iu less than a mont h 
or more. Attach with copper w ire Try it 
as we have described. Mark the letters as 
plainly as you can and bear on rather haid. 
You cannot fail to be satisfied with these la¬ 
bels after a fair trial. The writing on labels 
written at the Rural Grounds six years ago 
is now perfectly distinct, and will probably 
remain so for years and yeara. 
Miscellaneous. 
Jf. IF.. Oshkosh, Wis.—l. Would it hurt a 
cow to go 30 to 8<i hours without milking? At 
what season aud age would it hurt her most, 
aud how soou would she recover? 2. Would 
25 bushels of unleached hard-wood ashes aud 
5(H) pounds of a fertilizer made from the tank¬ 
age of a soap factory—meat, bones, lime, 
etc.—insure a fair potato crop on rather light, 
sandy soil l 
Ans— 1. It would certainly Injure a cow 
very much to go so long w ithout milking, if 
she" was in full milk. She might never re¬ 
cover from the injury; that depends upon the 
severity of the mischief done. It would hurt 
a cow most when in full milk, audlei age 
would make uo difference. Such an oversight 
should be strictly guarded against. When es¬ 
cape is impossible the best treatment would be 
to give a dose of salts, eight to twelve ounces, 
with one ounce of saltpeter, at Once, and if 
the udder is hard aud feverish, to foment it 
with warm water and wipe it dry. and then 
rub camphorated ointment over it, 2 It 
should, if anything would or could; and 
would, no doubt, if the seasou is not unfavor¬ 
able. 
If. McL New Lots, L. 1, N. F.—1. I have 
a Fall Pippin apple-tree that bore fruit until 
I our veai*s ago: since then it lias flowtied but 
jot fruited, How should it be treated to make 
t bear? 2. What apple trees would do well 
jere? 
Ass.—1. Is your land rich? The tree needs 
restraint. Cut a ditch two feet deep around 
the tree six feet from the trunk. 2. Baldwin, 
Cooper’s Market, Early Harvest, EsopusSpitz- 
enburgh. Fall Pippin. Fameuse, Golden Russel 
of Western New York, Golden Sweet, Gra- 
venstein, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Jefferis. Jon¬ 
athan, King of Tompkins County, Large A el- 
low Bough. Mother. Northern Spy. Peck’s 
Pleasant. Porter, Red Astrachau. Rhode Island 
Greening, Ribston Pippin. Roxbury Russet, 
Saint. Lawrence. Tulmtn’s Sweet, Twenty- 
Ounce Apple (especially on the true Paradise 
stock), and Alexander. 
H. C. B., Poteau, Ark— Iu uiakiug a fish 
imnd is it absolutely uecessary that the pond be 
supplied by a ucver-failiugspring of soft, fresh 
water, or can a /vet weather drain or “swag 
be dammed up and made to answer in the ab¬ 
sence of anything better? If so. bow large 
aud how deep would be best to have it ? 
Ans —The water of a carp pond must uot 
have any deleterious impurities; where at all 
possible there should be a current of water. 
In the bottom of the pond there must be at 
least one foot of mud in places. A small pond 
will answer if the water be pure, and one 
feeds the fish. Otherwise it must he large 
enough to supply food. 
q W' I),' Junction /*. <>■. la—How can 
Irish potatoes be best preserved until the 
following Spring or Summer? 
Ans.—I t is necessary to keep the tubers as 
cold as possible, without freezing, and to ex¬ 
clude light. A Southern correspondent of the 
Rural keeps potatoes in the following man 
mw: They must lie dug as soon as ripe. It 
will not do to wait, uutil the tops die, for they 
do uot die dowu as they do at the North. I be 
tubers are dug aud put in lioxes, which arc 
placed under the house, the covers being 
t 1 slightly opened to admit the air. 
s II. VC. S„ Elnter. A’. ./.—Is the Centennial 
Grape a good grower, aud does it resist mil 
dew? 
Ans. _Our own vine, received from tne 
originator several years ago. bus not as yet 
f made a strong growth. It was sent to the 
e office first, aud the viue was much weakened 
• by becoming and remaining dry. Mr. Mat 
e V i„ dooms it. a vigorous growci.and says it 
y loos mildew sometimes, though the foliage is 
i, heavy aud durable. We much like this grape 
II as to quality, and object #o it, only on account 
It of its large seeds. 
's ./. B. IF., Charlton. Mass. —\N bat is a good 
d work on the culture of small fruits ( l have 
d Pmily's Small Fruit Instructor and Fuller* 
11 Small Fruit CuRurist. The former is good 
ir I so far as it goes. 1 do not like the lattei 
le i also have Thomas’s American Fruit t ul 
Lit til l ist, which is too old. 
Ans. There are few better than Thomass. 
Barrv’s Fruit Garden has lately been revised. 
It is a line work. Almost uuy book-seller will 
11 furnish it. E. 1‘. Roe’s Success With Small 
b '' Fruits is the latest wa know of on the subject, 
he 
Price $•). 
h b IF. E. Ik, Wisctty, ,V. F.-l. Will seed corn 
at from Vermont be likely to do well here? Com 
,h generally thrives well here, though the la>( 
it crop was cut short by frost. 2. IV here can 
a# I Spring rye be obtain'd ? 
