FEB 2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
69 
Ohio, 
New Waterford, Columbiana' Co., Jan. 
17.—'The corn crop was almost an entire fail¬ 
ure throughout, this section, the season being 
from two to four weeks later in the Spring 
and" a month “earlier” in the Fall than usual, 
so that the frost September 9 left not a bushel 
of sound corn in many fields. Hay was a very 
heavy crop and was got in in flue condition. 
Wheat slightly below the average in quantity, 
but of excellent quality. Fruit of all kinds 
almost an entire failure, owing to late Spring 
frosts and the visitation of the “seventeen 
year” locusts. These latter were particularly 
destructive to uowlv planted orchards. Forty 
young apple trees planted outlast Spring were 
entirely killed by the mounds made by the fe¬ 
male locust iu depositing her eggs. The con¬ 
tinued dry weather last Fall delayed the sow¬ 
ing and germination of wheat too long to 
allow a good stand to be made for Winter. If 
Winter is favorable it will come out in the 
Spring all right. T a. m. 
East Toledo, Lucas Co.— Last year's corn 
crop was uearly a failure in Northwestern 
Ohio. Apples ditto. Wheat one-tbird of a 
crop, or about six bushels per acre. Hay, oats 
and potatoes full crops. Winter Wheat iu 
good condition. Winter so far pretty steady 
with but little snow. j. c. m. 
lVIlmonii. 
Dent Co.. Jan. 14.—The weather up to the 
1st was all that could be desired. Since that 
time it has been very cold, mercury down to 
20 deg. Wheat, especially that sown medium 
early, looked better than in the average of 
years. Crops generally were good. Cora, 
however, did not get ripe before the Septem¬ 
ber frosts, so that much of it is unfit for crib¬ 
bing. M. H. D. 
Virginia. 
McTeer, Wythe Co., Jan 8,-We have had 
a week of very cold weather; the thermome¬ 
ter stood at 8 below zero, and to-day it is 
snowing; the snow is now 12 inches deep. The 
corn crop was a failure on account of the dry 
weather, and the wet, warm Fall rotting it 
badly. Wheat was a. good crop; oats poor; 
hay short, Cattle are very high here. j. r. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Connecticut- 
Sales^, New London Co.—1 have 10 Niagara 
Grape seedlings: 14germinated; four died. My 
Blush Potato yielded remarkably well for so 
dry a season; from the one sent I raised 44 
very large, smooth, handsome tubers, and 
several small ones. Of my Shoe-peg Cora 1 
raised 40 stalks; 30 ears fully matured: about 
15 ears did not get fully ripe. The stalks 
averaged 12 feet in hight; it would have 
been a success if the season had not been so 
dry. The Garden Treasures did quite well 
considering the dry weather we had and the 
amount of measles we had at the time of 
planting. lT . M . D< 
Illinois. 
Abingdon, Knox Co.—My Blush Potato 
weighed two ounces and was planted in eight 
places, an eye iu each, fn rich soil. After 
coining up they were injured by frost; yet I 
dug 23 pounds six oimces or 374 ounces, a lit¬ 
tle over 46 ounces to the eye. The Niagara 
Grape seedlings came up but were all killed 
by frost except two. “h.” 
. IHnMNneliuscIIs. 
Needham, Norfolk Co.—Perfection Water¬ 
melon very sweet with a thin rind; yield good. 
Shoe-peg Corn a total failure. For the Rural 
Treasures the drought was too severe. Blush 
Potato, having 13 eyes, was planted in 13 
bills, which yielded 17 pounds X\4 ounce. 
Largest tuber 15 bj ounces. Of the Niagara 
Grape seedlings I have one vine, which is pro¬ 
tected for the Winter. e. F. 
ililchigH 11* 
Hudsoxville, Ottawa Co.— My Rural 
Blush Potato contained 12 eyes, was cut iu as 
many pieces and planted one eye in a hill two- 
and-one-lialf feet a|>art on good sandy loam 
without fertilizers of any sort. Dug after the 
first frost; yield 17 pounds. Should call them 
late, the vines being green when frost came. 
Quality, super-extra. Would not take the 
price of the Rural one your for them. Shoe- 
peg Cora a failure; also the B-b. C. Wheat. 
Garden Treasures splendid. H. h. c. 
Jllnnesotn. 
Bockford, W right Co.—I cut my two small 
Blusb Potatoes to 17 eyes, planted them iu a 
box and transplanted them to open ground. 
Sl| ii P°or and no manure of any kind: 12 
f \ s only grew. Yield pounds, from rne- 
'humto small in size; color, pink. I notice in 
this year’s catalogue from J. J. H. Gregory, 
the following description of the Blush Potato, 
page 53: “Nkm nearly white, except at seed 
eiul, where it is of a rosy color.” Mine were 
ot a decidedly pink color. Who is right? 
Ml% °*’ s description is right. Still white po¬ 
tatoes with pink eyes often vary to pinkish in 
other parts.— Eds.] A part of the Perfection 
Watermelon seed only was planted, but. the 
early frost cut them off before ripening. Of 
the Niagara Grape seeds 24 sprouted, but only 
16 lived till cold weather. They stand in the 
open ground covered, the same as strawber¬ 
ries, with a light covering of straw. 
“subscriber ” 
Missouri. 
Deft Co.—While the Blush Potato did not 
make as great a yield as reported by some, I 
think it an acquisition. The Shoe-peg Cora 
and the Perfection Watermelon were failures. 
The latter was planted very late. My crop of 
corn raised this year from seed sent out by the 
Rural two years ago is very large. 
w. H. D. 
Ohio. 
Clyde, Sandusky Co.—With the little 
Rural Blush Potato I am well pleased. Of 
the Shoe-peg Cora 43 kernels were planted; 
38 grew. It grew from eight to ten feet in 
hight. I cut it up, shocked it and let it stand 
for a month. I had 34 ears weighing 29 
Pounds, and 21 ears and nubbins weighing 10 
pounds 12 ounces, making 39 pounds 12 ounces. 
The ears weighed eight pounds 12 ounces. It 
is as good a corn as I have seen this year. 
o. M. 
Fairfield Co.— My Blush Potato is a very 
good variety, and it did well. Beauty of He¬ 
bron is perhaps the best early variety grown, 
considering quality, productiveness, etc. 
White Elephant resembles it very much, but 
is later. It would be difficult to name two 
other varieties which unite so many valuable 
qualities. The Rural Heavy Dent Corn is a 
strong grower and ears well, ripening early. 
It makes the best of meal, preferred altogether 
to that made from yellow corn. r. j. b. 
New Waterford. Columbiana Co,—From 
my two small Blnsh Potatoes, planted in 12 
bills, I obtained 50 pounds, running uniform 
in size and of good quality. The Shoe-peg 
Corn made a wonderful growth of stalk, but 
the frosts of September 9 and 10 cut it off be¬ 
fore any ears were near maturity. The plants 
from the melon and squash seeds received 
made fine food for the bugs. T. a. m. 
W est Dover, Cuyahoga Co.—I planted my 
one little Blnsh Potato weighing two ounces 
about the last of April in sandy soil with a 
tablespoon ful of Listens phosphate to each 
hill, dividing the 11 eyes into 25 pieces, and 
putting one piece in each hill, one-and-a-half 
feet apart, commencing to cut at the stem 
end, and placing them in order as cut. I dug 
September 27, 87!a pounds of potatoes, several 
of the largest one pound each; largest hill 5W 
pounds; first 16 hills from stem end 34 pounds; 
next 10 hills 34 , s; pounds; last five at crown 
end, 19 pounds. Yield, 700-fold. The rest of 
the seeds did very well. T. H. h. 
Pennsylvania. 
Transfer, Mercer Co. — My Blush Potato 
was cut to one eye, making nine pieces, one of 
which went blind from the smallness of the 
size; the other eight gave two pounds of nice 
tubers: the three largest weighed three-and-a- 
lialf pounds. The Shoe-peg Cora was the ouly 
cora that I saved for seed. From thirty grains 
I have one-half bushel of ears that will grow, 
though not fully ripe when gathered, j. l f. 
Virginia. 
McTeer, IV ythe Co.—The Shoe-peg Cora 
was a complete failure. I never saw corn that 
was worse mixed; there were four kinds in 
mine. 1 shall not plant it again. My two small 
Blush Potatoes 1 cut into 14 pieces with an 
eye in each, and dug 52 tubers weighing 15*. 
pounds. Seasou very dry. I have five Niaga¬ 
ra seedlings. J. R. 
Wisconsin. 
WestPoint, Columbia Co.—Oulookiugover 
the seed repo its from all parts of the country, it 
is surprising how favorahle they all are as to 
the value of the Blush Potato. Judging of it by 
those reports and my own experience with it, 
I consider it a valuable variety. The same 
reports, so far as regards the Shoe peg Corn, 
are generally unfavorable, I am surprised it 
has failed so generally. Though I expected 
it would lie too late for this State, yet I have 
four perfectly ripened ears of it. answering 
fully the description given by the Rural. 
The rest were badly mixed with some other 
variety and were all soft when the frost took 
it. 1 shall try it again the coming season, but 
do not think favorably of it for this State. 
The ears are too short, the cob too thick, the 
stalks grow too large aud the ears too far 
from the ground. The Perfection Water¬ 
melon is well named; it is the finest-flavored 
melon of all l have ever raised. From the 
White Elephant Potato I have this year raised 
300 bushels; about 250 on one acre, though I 
gave to friends about three bushels of last 
year’s crop. Had I planted all raised from 
the first potato, I should have had over 500 
bushels of good ones, Does uot this show 
that it pays to take the Rural leaving the 
value of the paper out of the question? w.h.c. 
)t (Querist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.! 
STOCK QUERIES. 
A. H. //,, Bay vide, Md.—l. What is the 
value of sweet skimmed milk when fed to pigs 
and calves, by itself, and mixed with about 
half corn-meal ? 2. How much will a full- 
blood Ayrshire cow weigh ? How much milk 
will she give in a year ! How does the Ayr¬ 
shire compare with the Jersey as a butter 
cow ? 3. What is the average weight of a 
Dutch cow, and how much milk will she give 
in a year ? 4. What is the butter yield of an 
average pure-bred Jersey f 5. Which would 
be the most profitable of these three breeds 
for me to keep, soiling the cows and selling 
butter and milk ? 6. Will a ration of three per 
cent, of a cow’s or sheep's weight be enough 
to obtain the best results from either ( 7, How 
many South Down sheep could lie pastured on 
40 acres of good clover or Blue Grass by divid¬ 
ing it up into four or more fields and pastur¬ 
ing them alternately for one week. 8. How 
much will a good South Down ewe weigh, 
and what is a good breed for early lambs ' 
Where can I get South Dowds and Ayrshires? 
9. Is it true that there is more profit in feed¬ 
ing the larger breeds of neat cattle and sheep 
for milk and beef, than in feeding the smaller 
breeds ? 10. How much will an average 
Cotswold weigh and how much wool will it 
yield i How many more South Downs than 
Cots wolds can be kept on a given area ! 11. 
There has been a swelling, for six weeks, on 
the hind leg of my colt. I have rubbed it 
withamixture of mullein leaves, salt,vinegar, 
white oak bark, and also with hop vinegar 
and salt; what is it and bow should it be 
treated ? 
Ans.— 1. Skimmed milk when fed with corn- 
meal is worth for feeding about half a cent a 
pound. See experiments under “What 
Others Say,” in this issue. 2 From 
800 to 1,200 pounds. She will give 
from 2,000 to 3,500 quarts in a year. No 
one can say that an Ayrshire is better than a 
Jersey or a Jersey better than an Ayrshire, 
because this depends very much nponcirenm- 
stances. As a rule, taking the average of 
cows, an Avrshire will give more milk than a 
Jersey, and some who keep Ayrshires believe 
their average yield of butter is greater than 
that of the Jerseys. Ayrshire butter is 
harder than Jersey butter. 3. From 1,200 to 
1,400 pounds. She will give from 3,000 quarts 
upwards. Some claim 8,000 quarts as a yearly 
product. 4. From 7 .to 10 pounds weekly. 
5. We cannot give an opinion without 
knowing a good many' details. 6. To 
feed a cow properly, give her all she will eat 
up clean of whatever food is given. Cows 
differ so much that study and experience 
with the cows themselves are the ouly safe 
guides. The three per-cent, theory may do 
as a basis to start with, but of course it will 
not apply when cows are highly fed upon 
rich food. Three per cent, of the weight in 
good hay alone or its equivalent is the sup¬ 
posed standard ration. 7. Possibly 200 to 250. 
8. 150 pounds live weight. It is a good breed 
for market lambs; but lambs from native ewes 
and a South Down ram would be better than 
the pure ones. Sbropshires and Hamphires 
are equally good. See advertising columns 
from time to time. 9. It depends upon cir¬ 
cumstances; no categorical answer can be 
given. 10. From ISO to 240 for ewes; rams, 
200 to 400 pounds at times, live weight; of wool, 
8 to 16 pounds; average about 8 for ewes, 12 
for rams. The proportionate w eight is a good 
guide to proportionate uutnber that can be 
fed. 11 If the swelling is on the inside of 
the joint, it is a spavin; if behind, it is a 
curb. The substances used are entirely use¬ 
less. There is no danger, but the horse will 
probably lie lame for a time. Rest and blis¬ 
tering repeated by some person competent to 
use the latter severe remedy, will lx* neces¬ 
sary. Full directions for the treatment of 
both spavin aud curb have been given in late 
Rurals, and we must refer our friend to 
these back issues. 
butter tests of milk. 
H. S. Pueblo. Col. —A dairy* authority in a 
recent article says: “The lactometer gives 
the specific gravity of milk with great ex¬ 
actness, but no clue to the comparative 
amount of butter it will make. In like man¬ 
ner. all the tests employed to determine the 
proportions of fat in milk have failed to show 
the value of milk for butter, or cheese, or 
food.” What is the common instrument for 
testing the butter value of milk as it comes 
from the cow, aud how uearly accurate (for 
practical purposes) are the best instruments? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
The lactometer gives only the specific 
gravity of the milk, and is not even a test as 
regards the quantity of water that may be in 
the milk, unless the milk is first skimmed. 
Milk variesvery much in quantity of fat con¬ 
tained, and the more fat the lighter is the 
gravity of it; it also varies greatly in regard 
to the salts or mineral matter in it, and these 
of course make it heavier; the quantity of 
caseine also varies very much, and this in¬ 
creases the weight. The water is the zero, or 
part of the weight. It might be formulated 
thus: The specific gravity of milk is equal to: 
water plus salt plus caseine minus fat=inilk. 
Now it’ water is the only stable and certain ele¬ 
ment and the other three vary very' much, it is 
readily' seen that the lactometer cannot pos¬ 
sibly be any safe guide, and indeed must be a 
very unsafe one. Further, it is not always 
possible to get all the fat of the milk out by 
churning, or even by skimming; although 
generally the buttermilk contains very little 
butter, while about one-fourth or one-fifth of 
the fat is left in the skimmed milk. If “ the 
authority” stated that any test fails to show 
the value of milk for food he is certainly 
wrong, because the stomach will appropriate 
all the nutriment in it, and a careful 
analysis of the milk will show its 
composition very accurately: but he is 
right if the alleged statement referred to the 
lactometer, which is not reliable in any man¬ 
ner whatever. For cheese or butter, an 
analysis will give approximate results, the 
uncertainty being only in the possibility of a 
loss of fat, sugar, etc., in the process of manu¬ 
facture, by reason of variations of tempera¬ 
ture, machinery, skill in workmanship, and 
inherent character of the milk itself. To 
find the quantity of fat in milk is quite easy, 
and may be done as follows: One ounce of 
milk cooled to 60 degrees is accurately 
weighed, aud is evaporated in a small por¬ 
celain dish over a water bath. When it is 
reduced to one-fourth, a sufficient quantity of 
plaster, dried oval* a water bath until it loses 
no weight, and then weighed, is mixed with it, 
and the evaporation is continued until all the 
water is got rid of and no more weight is lost. 
The residue is then weighed, and the differ¬ 
ence between the 480 grains of milk with the 
weight of the plaster together, and the weight 
of the dry mass, gives the water. The dry 
mass is then carefully powdered. The weight 
of this of course is equal to that of the pias¬ 
ter/!/as the solid matter of the milk, and the 
latter is easily found. The powdered magg j 5 
treated with ether, and washed repeatedly 
until all the fat is dissolved out. The pow¬ 
der is then heated until all the ether is evapo¬ 
rated. aud is then weighed; the loss in weight 
equals the quantity of fat. The solution of 
the fat is then evaporated, and when all the 
ether is got rid of. the dish and the fat are 
weighed. The dish should be weighed pre¬ 
viously, aud its weight noted: the additional 
weight will be the fat The two weights will 
very rarely agree exactly, because there will 
be some little loss or gain in the process, but 
if the two weights are added and divided 
equally, the result will be as uearly correct 
as may be possible. The percentage of fat is 
found by dividing the grains by 480. 
PRODUCING NEW VARIETIES. 
G. A. Cf.f Manning, la —How are new 
kinds of wheat, corn and potatoes first pro¬ 
duced? 
Ans.— By “sports” and by crossing. We 
have always supposed that a “sport” was the 
outcropping of previous crossing, the effects of 
which might have lain dormant for many years 
and finally been brought out by peculiar con¬ 
ditions. New varieties of corn are raised bv 
placing the pollen (dust from the male flowers 
or tassel) upon the pistils isilk) of other va¬ 
rieties. It is the same with wheat aud pota¬ 
toes, though of course more difficult to effect. 
The first variations in plants may be due to 
climate and soil alone if there are no other 
plants with which natural crosses may occur. 
FLOWER QUERIES. 
G. H. A., Neiv Haven, Conn.— 1. Will Poly- 
autha Roses live out of-doors all Winter with¬ 
out special caie? 2. My Amaryllis forinosis- 
sirna, got in Spring, neither bloomed nor dried 
up in the Fall. Why? 3. Does the Oriental 
Poppy survive more than one Winter? i. 
How old must Clematis coccinea be to bloom? 
Yns.—!. Yes; they have proved to be per¬ 
fectly so with us. Ours are growing m a par¬ 
tially sheltered situation and iu the Winter 
are protected by a slight covering of ever¬ 
green branches. 2. Amaryllis, or, more cor¬ 
rectly speaking, Spreikelia formosissima, 
should be plunted iu the open border in May: 
then it will flower iu June. In the Fall it 
should be taken up aud dried with the top on, 
and stored in a dry room, protected from frost 
and mice. Or it can be grown iu pots like a 
hyacinth, Your bulb may be too smell to 
flower; try it another season. Are you cer¬ 
tain that the name is correct ? 3. Yes; it is a 
hardy herbaceous perennial plant. 4, Good. 
