70 
a 
FEB 2 
strong plants of the clematis, such as are usu¬ 
ally sent out by our florists, will, if planted 
early in the season, flower well, although the 
plants do best after the}' have had a season’s 
growth and become well established. 
THE HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG, ETC. 
C\ J. M., Luray, Fa, a9ks the name of, 
and a remedy for, a pest of the cabbageplant, 
specimens ol' which he forwards. The pests 
destroyed most of the cabbage crop in Page 
County, Va., last year, and are now found in 
great numbers near the top of the ground at 
the roots of the cabbages. 2. Will the appli¬ 
cation of chemicals to the soil change the 
color of flowers and so influence the seed as to 
create a tendency to variation of color? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. C, V. RILEY. 
The insect referred to is known as the “ Har¬ 
lequin Cabbage Bug” or “ Calico Back” (Mor¬ 
gan tia histronica. Hahn). It is a native of the 
Southwest, but has been spreading towards 
the Northeast, from year to year until it seems 
to have stopped temporarily in the latitude of 
Delaware and Central Illinois. It usually 
occurs iu great numbers and injures the cab¬ 
bage and other cruciferous plants by piercing 
the leaves and stems and sucking the sap. 
There are many gene rations in the course of 
the season iu Texas, and probably three iu 
Virginia. The full-grown bugs are known to 
pass the Winter under stones and rubbish, 
but have uot before been known to burrow 
uuder ground. As to remedies. I would rec¬ 
ommend sprinkling with hot water and kero¬ 
sene emulsion solution, trapping with cabbage 
leaves, and especially hand-picking the early 
brood. This correspondent will fiud a fully 
illustrated article upon the species in my 
Fourth Report on the Insects of Missouri, 
p. 35. 2. No chemicals applied to the soil 
will influence the color of flowers so far as is 
known. The hydrangea is thought to be 
changed iu color by iron or some other metal. 
But it is not decided. 
CRANBERRIES. 
H. C. P., Big Bapida, Mich. —1. I have a 
creek bottom,a deep alluvial deposit-sand and 
muck—very rich. It has been overflowed 
Winters from “time immemorial” until a few 
years ago when it was cleared of a good growth 
of Swamp Elm and Black Asb, and sown to 
Timothy. It can be easily overflowed and 
kept submerged at pleasure. It lies about a 
f oot alx>ve the level of a considerable brook, 
which flows through it, and is nicely arable. 
Is it a good place for cranberries, and if so 
what course should I pursue with it? 2. What 
variety of cultivated cranberry would you 
recommend? S. I have land just like the 
above not cleared; would the new laud, if 
cleared, be better than the meadow? 4. 
Would the cranberry plants thrive well among 
the elm trees standing not very thick? 
Ans. —l.Such a location would Ik? well suited 
for a cranberry plantation if proper measures 
are taken to fit it for the purpose. 2. The 
three principal varieties in the market are the 
Cherry, the Bugle and the Bell, the last being 
the favorite with cranberry growers. 3. Not 
necessarily better but fully as good and if it 
is intended to clear it at all it might be better 
to fit it at once for a cranberry bed. 4. It 
would be better to clear the bed of all trees 
and other vegetation. A four-column article 
on Cranberry Culture appeared in the Rural 
of December 1 last. In it was given in a con¬ 
densed form all we know about cranberry 
culture, after a pretty careful study of the 
subject. To this we must refer our friend 
for further information, as it woul i be unfair 
to our other readers to devote more space to 
the subject so sood after that exhaustive ar¬ 
ticle. 
PEACHES IN IOWA. 
c. H., Ida Grove, la — 1. What would be 
the best peach trees here, where the mercury 
often drops to 30° Fah. below zero, and where 
we have frequent late Spring and Early Fall 
frosts ? 2. Would it be any benefit to put a 
shock of corn round each tree as a Winter 
protection ? 
ANSWERED BY T. T. LYON. 
Ans.— 1. There is little difference in the 
ability of the blossom buds of the peach to 
withstand extremes of temperature, although 
a few varieties, such as Hill’s Chili, Smock 
Free, and doubtless some others, are of more 
thau average hardiness, so far as wood hardi¬ 
ness is concerned. It will doubtless be found 
true that, iu the latitude of Iowa, the occur¬ 
rence of temperatures even as low as 20° be¬ 
low zero, will be *»rely fatal to the unprotect¬ 
ed fruit, buds of the pencil, aud, iu all proba¬ 
bility, to the tree also. 2. A few shocks of 
corn-stalks placed about the trees, covering 
the branches, would possibly protect them 
against sudden very low temperatures, if of 
very short duration; but I would have no 
faith in this, unless the actual temperature of 
the tree could lie maintained above the danger 
point of about—15°. Some years since, an Iowa 
man (if I mistake not), patented an arrange¬ 
ment similar iu principle to that projxised; 
but it seems to have proved valueless; and has 
not been heard of for several years. 
CARP. 
M. IF., Colum bus, O.—l.l have a piece of land 
containing springs, which I consider suitable 
for a fish-pond, as I can have running water 
the year round. How many medium-sized 
families will a pond covering an acre supply 
with fish 3 2. How deep should it be made ? 
3. How should I apply for carp ? 4. How 
many would it probably take to stock a pond 
of that size ? 5. W hut food do they require ? 
Ans.— 1. It will depend altogether ou how 
fond the families are of fish, and upon the care, 
protection and feed given the fish in the pond, 
so that they may multiply, grow and fatten 
rapidly. As a rule also, the fish wouldn’t sup¬ 
port as many Catholic as Protestant families. 
3. A small part of it should be quite shallow— 
uot over a couple of feet—for the spawn and 
the infaut fry; the deepest part should be 
deep enough to afford the fish a secure refuge 
below the deepest ice of the coldest Whiter. 
3. Write to Commissioner Spencer F. Baird, 
Washington, D. C. We do uot know whether 
fish are supplied by the authorities of Ohio; 
but a note to W. I. Chamberlain, Secretary of 
the State Board of Agriculture, Columbus, 
Ohio, will secure the information. Carp are 
also sold at. very reasonable figures by Charles 
S. Medary, Little Falls, N. J. 4. Carp multi¬ 
ply with extraordinary rapidity, if proper 
cure is taken to protect them from their foes, 
especially when they areiu the spawn aud fry 
stages, so that not more than about 100 or so 
would be required to start with; though of 
course with a larger uumlier the pond would 
be stocked more rapidly. 5. They will eat al¬ 
most anything—all kinds of water grasses 
aud lilies, cabbages, bread, corn-meal dough, 
etc., etc. The carp articles now appeal ing iu 
the Rural give personal experience on this 
matter. 
WORMS IN HORSES. 
D. .S'.. Sc wick ley- Pd .—For the last six 
months my horse has been troubled with 
worms. The use of copperas and turpentine 
would prevent their passing for 10 to 12 days, 
but they would afterwards recommence to 
pass: wliat would effect a permanent cure ? 
Ans.—C opperas cannot safely be given in 
doses large enough to expel worms, and it 
should uot be used as a vermifuge. The safest 
remedies are oil of turpeutiue, dose two ounces, 
with a pint of linseed oil given every second 
day for six days: or powdered arecu-rort, one 
ounce: or santonin (worm-seed) one ounce; 
or assafeetida, half an ounce; anyone of these 
three to be repeated on the second day with a 
pint of linseed oil between the doses, for a 
week. A good remedy, iu severe cases, is 
tartar emetic, one dram; powdered ginger, 
one dram. Mix with enough linseed meal, wet 
with boiling water, to form a ball, and give 
one every morning for a week before feeding: 
then give a pint of linseed oil. Let the stom¬ 
ach rest a week, and then give another lot of 
balls, followed by the dose of linseed oil. 
Then give good diet with daily tonics, say, 
two drams of sulphate of iron, or four drams 
of gentian in the food. 
SOAP MAKING. 
H. K., New Boston, N. EL— What is a for¬ 
mula for making hard soda or soda and potash 
soap, and what is meant by soda lye? 
Ans.—H ard soap cauuot be made from pot 
ash; soda only will make it. A lye is a solu 
tioti of any alkali in water; but a caustic lye 
is required to make soap. The lye is made 
caustic by putting fresh lime in it. The 
lime is caustic; that is, it has not been 
made mild or its causticity neutralized 
by carbonic acid. AV hen it is mixed with a 
solution of sal-soda, or soda ash, it takes the 
carbonic acid from it and makes it caustic. It 
then combines with the fat and decomposes it 
and unites with the acids of it—stearic and 
oleic acids—aud forms a neutral substance 
which we call soap, aud leaves the glycerine 
of the fat in solution in the water. This is the 
process by which soap is made. A formula 
for hard soap is as follows: take six pounds of 
sal-soda, six pounds of grease, and three 
pounds of quick-lime. But the soda aud lime 
in four gallons of water, pour off the clear lye 
into a kettle, put iu the grease (clear rendered 
fat is required), and boil 20 minutes. W hen 
cold cut the cake of soap in bars aud dry for 
use. 
POTATOES AND ONIONS IN THE EAR NORTH¬ 
WEST. 
T. E. K., Fort Qu' Apetle, Canada .—How 
can 1 obtain the beet, crops of potatoes and ou- 
ious iu this northwestern country ? My soil is 
a black aud sandy loam, and has never been 
brokeu. 
A ns.— We suppose this laud to be prairie. If 
dry, with good natural drainage, there ought 
to be no difficulty iu growing potatoes upon it 
after the sod is subdued, In the same way in 
which they are usually grown. The best vu 
riety of onion for our friend to begin with 
(also after the sod is conquered by oue or two 
crops of small grain) is one of the multiplying 
or potato onions commonly grown among the 
French Canadians. These are very early and 
good, and some kinds are quite productive, 
though less so than the common onions grown 
from black seed. If be wishes to try the lat¬ 
ter, we recommend the Extra-Early Red as 
most likely to succeed with him. If he will 
send for the seed catalogue of Wm. Evans, 
Montreal, he will find in it much information 
that will be useful to him on these and other 
subjects. 
about muck. 
O. J. G., Cropseyvillc, N. Y.—l. ‘Iu what 
element of fertility is muck lacking? 2. 
Would muriate of potash be the cheapest way 
to supply a deficiency in potash? 3. Is muck 
composted with horse manure at the rate of 
say two-thirds muck to one-third manure as 
valuable for upland as clear manure? 
Ans.— 1. Muck contains too much organic 
matter, and Consequently is deficient in mine¬ 
ral. Lime is, therefore, the best thing to 
apply to it.. Wood ashes would be also equally 
good. If it could be done conveniently, a 
good dressing of sand or gravel would be use¬ 
ful. ' tlsof little use manuring raw muck until 
it is limed quite freely. 2. We would not rec¬ 
ommend muriate of potash until the muck had 
been considerably decomposed. 3. In com¬ 
posting muck aud manure, lime should be used 
and mixed with the muck. A compost of 
good muck with lime has sometimes been 
found as effective as manure, load tor load, 
upon light aud heavy soils. 
CRACK IN THE FROG OF A COLT. 
,/. A. A., Irvington, Iowa.— What ails my 
yearling colt, and what will cure it? It has 
been lame in its right hind foot during the 
past month. I can see nothing the matter 
with it except there is a large, deep crack iu 
the center of the back part, of the frog. I have 
put axle grease into the crack, but it does not 
seem to help it. 
Ans.— Why should you put axle grease into 
a diseased foot? It is a great mistake, 
although a common one, to do such entirely 
useless and probably iujurious things as this. 
A crack of this kindshould be bathed iu warm 
water: then dressed with tincture of benzoin 
or some other active stimulant; then filled 
with lint to keep out dirt, and this treatment 
followed until it heals. This crack is suffi¬ 
cient cause for the lameness. It would help 
the healing to keep the foot wrapped in a 
bunch of wet rags bound with a cloth, so as to 
keep the horn soft and prevent the crack from 
spreading. 
MALT SPROUTS, RYE AND WHEAT BRAN AS 
FEED. 
L. E., Delphos. — 1. What is the relative 
value of malt sprouts and wheat or rye bran 
as feed for hogs and cattle? 2. Which is the 
better way to feed malt sprouts—wet or dry ? 
Ans.—T he following figures show the dif¬ 
ferences between the substances named: 
Percent, of albuminoids.. 
Carbohydrates... 
Fat . . 
Relative value of 100 lbs... 
Malt 
Spr’ts. 
Rye 
Brau. 
W&pat 
Bran. 
am 
12 9 
59.1 
8.5 
• 1 00 | 
• 1 01 
| $2 06 
*7 72 
*1 62 
Another estlmute of value. 
These values are relative, and as compared 
with common hay at 66 cents and SI per 100 
pounds. In practice they are no doubt cor¬ 
rectly estimated. Malt sprouts are very dry 
and swell considerably, aud upon that account 
are better when steeped iu water than when 
fed dry. Ou account of the large quantity of 
albuminoids in them they should be fed with 
bran or corn-meal. 
PLANTING HORSE-CHESTNUTS, ETC. 
J. A/., Litchfield, Pa.— 1. How can I raise 
seed from Swiss chard ? 2. How should horse- 
chestnuts of last seasou’s growth be planted ? 
Ans. —l. Preserve the roots iu sand or earth 
iu a cool cellar, but where frost will not reach 
them, and plant them out in rows in April. 
2. Preserve them during Winter in damp 
earth or sand in a box set out of-doors with 
some leaves or litter over it, aud as soon as the 
ground is mellow in Spring plant them in 
rows one to two feet apart, and the chestnuts 
one to two inches deep, aud the same apart. 
Or you can plant two or three iu hills where 
you wish the trees to grow, and when they 
come up thin out to oue. 
Miscellaneous. 
.S'. .s', C., Bingham, Pa.— 1. Will it injure 
rye sowed iate last Fall on corn stubble to 
spread stable mauure on it this Winter? 2, 
Which would lie likely to be best on a fallow 
now ready fora Spring crop—Spring wheat, 
oats, barley or corn? 3. Will new ground 
need any fertilizer or manure for potatoes? 
4. Is the Mayflower Potato for sale; aud if so 
by whom? 5. What trustworthy seedsmen 
are near this placet 6. How should the 
ground be prepared for setting out raspber¬ 
ries and currants next Spring? 7. What are 
the best currants for family use and market? 
Ans.— 1. If the laud is fairly fertile, we 
would not spread the manure. 2. Corn. 8. 
That depends upon its richness. It would be 
an excellent plan to try potato chemical fer¬ 
tilizer on a small part. 4. Yes, by Johnson 
& Stokes of Philadelphia. Other Philadel¬ 
phia seedsmen will probably offer it, but their 
catalogues are not yet to hand. 5. We regard 
the seedsmen of Philadelphia as reliable as 
any others. Send for the catalogues an¬ 
nounced and compare them. 6. Prepare it 
as you would for corn. 7. Fay’s Prolific and 
White Grape. 
H. T. D., Ipswich, N. S.— 1. For a fertilizer 
on a light loam soil how does lime compare 
with leached woetd ashes ? 2. How should lime 
be used ? 3. How many bushels of oats arc 
equal to a ton of common wild hay as stock 
feed? 
Ans.— 1. There is little difference between 
lime and leached wood ashes, excepting that 
the latter contain about one per cent, of pot¬ 
ash aDd from one to two per cent, of phospho¬ 
ric acid. The greater part of the leached ash¬ 
es is carbonate of lime. This lime, however, 
is better assimilated by plants because it is of 
organic origin while common lime is mineral. 
2. Lime is first air or dry-slaked and then 
scattered over the plowed soil and harrowed 
—never plowed—in: 40 bushels per acre form 
a usual dressing. 3. There cau be no equality; 
the two are not comparable at all. Noauimal 
that eats hay cau be fed wholly upon oats, 
without iujury, except perhaps a horse iu rare 
cases. 
J. G. S., Ellenwood, Kan. —1. What is the 
scale of points of a pure Leghorn hen and cock l 
2. Where cau I get information about Eas 
teru, Ky. 
Ans. —1. There are four breeds of Legliorus 
the White, Brown, Dominique aud Black; 
the scales of points of all these would occupy 
at least two columns, aud we cannot afford so 
much space. Besides, the American Standard 
of Excellence, the only authority on such mat¬ 
ters, is copyrighted, and it would hardly be 
fair to the American Poultry Association, who 
own the work, to copy so much from it. The 
book is handsomely bound in morrocco, is 
gilt-edged, contains 246 pages, giving a com¬ 
plete description of all the recognized varie¬ 
ties of fowls, and cau be obtained for $1.75 
(we believe) from G. 8. Jossleyn, Secretary of 
the Association, Frodouia, N. Y. There is a 
f 1 edition also. 2. Write to the State Board 
of Agriculture, Frankfort, Ky. 
F. L., Caledonia, N. Y .—What ails iny sow 
aud pigs ? Since the birth of the pigs, three 
mouths ago, they have been kept in pretty 
close but comfortable quarters, a nd fed on malt 
sprouts aud bran iu equal proportions by 
measure, audtbe latter part of the time, until 
quite lately, three heaping tablespoonfuls of 
cotton-seed meal, and lately a handful of 
corn-meal three times a day with skim-milk 
fed at the temperature of the kitchen. They 
stop eating and breathe unusually loud. The 
breathing soon grows excessive, and in three 
or four days they die. The quantities named 
were fed three tin ea a day. 
Ans.— Cotton-sted meal is the matter. The 
food was wholly too rich; corn and bran make 
a safe food for pigs: but malt sprouts and cot 
ton-seed meal are too rich in albuminous mat¬ 
ter for digestion. 
E. L. M., Charlemont, Va —One of my 
Dark Brahma hens suddenly appeared to be 
mad. She seems to fancy that she sees a 
hawk, and then flies at an imaginary object. 
She refuses to eat or drink. The whole head 
appears inflamed, but she seems to suffer no 
pain; what ails her? 
Ans —The hen is suffering from an affec¬ 
tion of the brain, probably caused by a blow 
ou the head, or from a sudden fright, which 
has been often known to produce strange 
movements and singular actions. We know 
of no cure. We have kuown fowls to recover 
for a while, but afterwards a relapse has 
proved fatal. 
B. A. C., La Conner, IF. T.— Which would 
be the most profitable breed of hogs for tbi.' 
country, where we raise no corn but plenty ot 
oats and barley? W Inch breed will make the 
most pork at nlue to twelve mouths? 
Ans. —Berkshire, Poland-Cbmu, the Large 
Yorkshire, or any other good breed will 
make good growth upon oats and barley, 
ground together; but some potutoes, turnips, 
or other coarse food would be needed. It 
nothing else, finely-cut clover bay would be 
useful in the Winter and green clover or 
grass in the Hummer. Probably Poland-China 
or Jersey Red. 
•'Subscriber, " Caroline, Minn.— 1. Is there 
a cheap aud durable flat roof for au addition 
to a dwelling house? 2. Do wood ashes when 
applied to land attract moisture? 
Ans.— 1. There is no cheaper flat roof than 
oue of tin kept well painted; it is cheap be 
cause it 1«durable. There arecheap felt Pools 
which are very good, if well put on and kepi 
properly covered with the tar preparation and 
sanded; but they cannot be made quite lint, 
