«7 
FEB 23 
THE RURAL NEW-Y0RKER.1 
0t)£rijwl)m\ 
variety of vegetables last year, and nearly all 
did well. We irrigate from mountain streams. 
G. G. M. 
settling the thermometer from 76° to 24 9 in a 
few hours, and it has been severe weather all 
the month. <j. (j. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada. 
Eastwood, Oxford Co., Feb, 4.— We had a 
very cold January, the mercury being often 
down almost to zero and several times below, 
and once 30 below. We had no thaw until 
January 80; then it settled the snow, but did 
not spoil the sleighing. Stock is plentiful and 
doing well. Feed of every kind is abundant 
except corn, and we miss that very much. It 
was all destroyed by the frost before it was 
ri pe. As a consequence, it took a lot of our 
barley to fatten our hogs. For the last three 
or four years we have raised but few peas on 
account of the bugs. A good many cattle are 
feeding here, as usual, for the English market. 
Some have sold f or six to 0)^ cents, live weight, 
to be delivered the first of May; but a goodly 
number of owners prefer to risk the market, 
and are expecting even better prices. Land 
is worth Jrom $60 to $100 per acre. A great 
deal of underdraining has been done the past 
15 years, and it has added a great deal to the 
wealth of our county. The apple and cherry 
crops were poor; small fruits were plentiful. 
The cherry trees are about all destroyed with 
the black-knot. r. l. 
Iowa. 
Oasis, Johnson Co., Feb. 4.— We have a 
tine farming country here. We raise mostly 
com, clover and Timothy, black hogs, fine 
horses, Short-liorn cattl^and some fine steers. 
The farmers are all doing well. Stock of all 
kinds are iu fine condition. Corn is worth 35 
cents per bushel; oats, 30 cents; hogs, about 
$4.40; steers, $4.50 to $5. Stock cattle very 
high; horses from $80 to $200. d. m. d. 
iHIchlffnn. 
Riley, Clinton Co., Feb. 1.—Since January 
2, with the exception of a very few days, the 
weat her has been very cold. Stock looks very 
well, considering the short rations of grain 
and poor hay, rather poor wheat straw gene¬ 
rally and, with few exceptions, no cornstalks 
at all Hogs have been sold off quite close. 
Very few keep more than enough cows for 
family use. Butter does not pay at It! to 18 
cents per pouud. Buyers don’t make any dif¬ 
ference here between good butter and poor 
staff. Most people think they would do better 
by keeping 25 hens than a row; but- I think 
they will have to take 1 letter care of their 
poultry thau most of them do. or there will 
not be much profit iu the poultry business. 
The poultry quarters are too cold, too poorly 
lighted and too poorly cared for, but wonder¬ 
fully ventilated atevery crack. My hens have 
laid through the cold weather; but upon iu- 
quiry, 1 find there is not one in 50 of those 
around me that has any eggs this cold weather. 
Stock is generally better housed than it used 
to be. There are more bank barns and better 
stables and better stock generally. s. J. b. 
Miaaourl. 
Palmvra, Marion Co., Feb. 2.—The weather 
from Christmas through the early part of 
January, was very cold, the thermometer 
reaching 33 degrees helow zero; now it- is fine. 
The wheat crop looks very promising. Our 
corn crop was an average one. Corn now is 
worth 40 cents per bushel. The grass and oat 
crops were fine, and both bring good prices. 
Stock of all descriptions are quite high and 
scarce. Our county is well adapted both to 
raising stock and grain, hut around Palmyra 
our principal crop is wheat. A. L. D. 
Virginia. 
Lynhaven, Princess Anne Co., Jan. 30.— 
The weather has been very severe for our sec¬ 
tion for some time, more so than usual. Warm 
weather preceding the cold, had caused kale 
and spiuaeh to look more forward thau usual 
and consequently these show signs of injury, 
not permanent, we hope. Some have finished 
shippiug both crops, cabbage looking tolerably 
well. Fruit failed in this section last year. 
Our fisheries did tolerably well, but the guano 
factories or some other causes are ruining 
this great industry with us. Many crabs are 
caught aad shipped from this river. They 
now fetch $1,75 a Darrel. Here Lyuhnven 
oysters are our specialty; this season they are 
$2.50 a bushel. Many Northern men have set¬ 
tled among us, some succeeding, others not. 
Good citizens are welcome. Good roads and 
railroads are being multiplied. Except for 
our malarial troubles—bilious mostly- we 
have a flue country. Good help is needed; 
what we have is not very roliuble. Canning 
and evaporating factories would do well, we 
have so much fruit and vegetables that are 
not utilized. F- M 
Wyoming, 
Rawlins, Carbon Co., Jan. 31.—I brought 
the first hive of honey bees to Wyoming Ter¬ 
ritory that were ever seen here. They make 
nice surplus liouey from wild prairie and 
mountain flowers, and also winter well. Gar. 
dening is in its infancy here. I tided a great 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Alabama. 
Gallion, Hale Co.—The Asparagus seeds 
sent were planted 18 months ago, and now the 
plants are as fine as can be, and will yield 
well this Spring. The potatoes failed. The 
Rural Branching Sorghum came up well 
aud grew to the hight of 10 feet, and was 
well seeded, but the birds destroyed the seed. 
w. p. B. 
Kansas. 
Abilene, Dickinson Co.—My little Blush 
Potato yielded half a bushel. The Shoe-peg 
Coru did not do well—weather too dry. The 
Garden Treasures were washed out by heavy 
rains. j. K . 
Bolton, Jackson Co.—My little Blush Po¬ 
tato did splendidly; so did the Shoe-peg Corn 
and the Perfection Watermelon. The flowers 
were very nice. I sowed the Centennial Wheat 
last Spring; it was a failure, so T sowed the 
rest last Fall, to try it for a Winter wheat. 
The grape seeds did well. I am very thaukful 
for the valuable seeds and the splendid reading 
in the Rural. b. c. b. 
Illinois. 
Kingston, DeKalb Co.—The Shoe-peg Corn 
grew very nicely till stopped by frost. Three 
ears are ripe enough, I think, to grow. The 
Blush Potato and the other seeds were just 
splendid. I planted six acres of the Rural 
Dent Corn. It grew from 12 to 15 feet high; 
but the frost caught it in the milk. b. b. a. 
Town. 
Mount Pleasant, Henry Co.—My two 
Blush Potatoes weighed three ounces and were 
planted in 13 hills. A shovelful of hen ma¬ 
nure aud ashes was put in each hill. They 
did not get much cultivation on account of 
wet weather. I dug 15 pouuds of smooth, 
sound potatoes. The early part of the season 
was very wet, and the Summer extremely dry 
and cool. I think, with n good chance, they 
would have yielded well. The Niagara Grape 
seeds were planted iu the garden; 51 came up, 
and some of them grew thriftily. A heavy 
frost in September killed them, I fear. The 
Shoe-peg Corn was pretty well matured be¬ 
fore the frost. There are several good-sized 
ears; some of them have a flinty appearance. 
It did well, considering the season. The wheat 
was a failure; a few heads formed, but did 
not fill. The weather was too cold and wet 
for the melons. The Garden Treasures gave 
I us a treat; some were old favorites, while 
others were new to us. j. m'n. 
Oasis, Johnson Co.—The B-b Centennial 
Wheat was sowed last March, looked fine in 
June, but rusted. A part headed out lu the 
Full and was killed by frost. "When the snow 
fell the wheat was green; I expect a crop next 
harvest. Of the 50 grains of Shoe-peg Corn, 
48 grew. I had 58 ears. A part was Shoe- 
peg. a part was flint and a part dent. It all 
got ripe. I will try the pure Shoe-peg again. 
The Blush Potato did well, though it was 
planted too close to some maple trees. My ex¬ 
perience is that grapes raised from seed are 
no good; hence I did not give the Niagara a 
fair chance; still 1 have two uice vines. There 
was nothing new in the Garden Treasures ex¬ 
cept a blue Fall rose and a vine that looked 
like a cucumber and a black coleus. My wife 
is a flower culturistand has a great many very 
fine plants. D. M. D. 
New Y’ork 
Pompey, Onondaga, Co.—The Blush Pota¬ 
to yielded 40 pounds. The Shoe-peg Corn did 
not mature. The wheat looked well when 
the snow came. I dug and put iu the cellar 
437 bushels of White Elephants from the 
small tuber received from the Rural three 
years ago, besides some that rotted, and many 
I gave away to friends during the last two 
years. j. c . b. 
Pennsylvania. 
Athens, Bradford Co.—My Blush Potato, 
with six eyes planted in six hills, one eye iu a 
lull, without any fertilizers or extra care, 
yielded 59 potatoes. e. c. h. 
Mosiertown, Crawford Co.—My Shoe-peg 
Corn was planted May 18th, aud grew and 
grew. Frost would not let it ripen. I have 
one ear that will grow, if 1 plant it. No 
good; fakes too loug to mature. Grape seeds 
came up all right, but for some roasar they 
did not grow to be very large vines. Shall 
nurse them well next Summer. The Blush 
Potato, a very small one, was cut to 11 pieces 
aud planted a piece iu the hill aud yielded au 
even half bushel of very large potatoes; but 
they rotted badly. The vines were green 
when frost came. Garden Treasures gave 
good satisfaction. cl s. 
Texas. 
Dayton, Liberty Co.—My Blush Potato 
gave me 39 sound ones, and the season was an 
unusually poor one. I am now ready to plant 
again as soon as the weather moderates. The 
New Year came in here with a fierce norther, 
Vermont. 
Woodstock, Windsor Co.—My Blush Po¬ 
tato was very small, but did very well, con¬ 
sidering the season. I think the tubers too 
much scattered in the hill for a good field po¬ 
tato. Wheat and corn failures. The flower 
seeds well appreciated by the women, h. n. t. 
Wisconsin. 
Otsego, Columbia Co.—From 2 l ,{ ounces of 
Blush Potato I raised 60 pounds, and think 
this the best flavored of the ten varieties I 
have. The Shoe-peg Coni matured so that 
some of it was dented, but not dry when cut. 
Stalks too large—over 11 feet high. G. w. t. 
<l\)t (Jlumst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention.] 
HARD UDDER; controlling sex, etc. 
C. L., Davenport, la. —1. W T hat, if any, are 
the disadvantages of Winter plowing for 
small grains! 2. Half the udder of one of my 
cows enlarges and hardens.at least a month 
before calving. At calving time it has become 
as hard as stone, and this hardness never en¬ 
tirely disappears, while the yield of milk is 
always less from that side than from the other; 
what will prevent this trouble? 3. In breed¬ 
ing cattle how can sex be controlled? 
Ans. —1. There are no disadvantages; 
where the weather permits plowing can be 
done at auy time with advantage, and, where 
the soil is a heavy, stiff 1 clay, with a great deal 
of benefit. 2. The udder, in such a case as 
this, should be milked, if it contains any milk; 
if not, it should be gently rubbed with the 
haud, and camphorated ointment should be 
applied night and morning. The cow should 
have no grain—nothing but hay with some 
roots or cut potatoes during the time she is 
dry. It would be well not to stop milking 
until the milk secretion entirely ceases. 3. It 
is a law of nature, or at least there is reason 
to believe nature works in this way,that when 
for any reason a race of animals is threatened 
with starvation an effort is made to avert the 
disaster by the production of an excess of 
male births, by which the increase is kept 
within bounds. On the other hand, when 
there is abundance of food, and other circum¬ 
stances ure favorable, the excess of births is 
the other way. Thus the early breeding of 
animals has a tendency to increase the pro¬ 
duction aud decrease in proportion the supply 
of food, and the result of this is a larger num¬ 
ber of male births* It has been found that a 
young male, coupled with well fed and well 
kept mature females, produces a larger pro¬ 
portion of female births; while an old male 
coupled with poorly fed females produces 
more male births. 
THE CENSUS, ETC. 
L. J. R., Pittsfield, Mass. —1. Is the report 
of the Department of Agriculture for 1881-2 
in one volume? 3. Who is entitled to receive 
the Census return, and bow many volumes 
are there of it? 3, Is a mare that is a cribber 
unfit to be a breeder? 
Ans. —1 . Yes. 2. The Compendium of the 
Census, in two large volumes, was published 
about a year ago. The full work will embrace 
about 30 volumes, quarto of 900 pages each. 
Of the Compendium 100,000 copies were 
printed, of which 30,000 were for the use of 
the Senate, 60,000 for the use of the House, 
aud 10,000 for the use of the Department of 
the Interior. Of the complete Census 10,000 
copies are to be printed, of which 8,000 are to 
be for the use of the Senate, 6,000 for the use 
of the House, and 1,000 for the use of the De¬ 
partment of the Interior. In additiou to 
these, extra copies will be printed as follows: 
20,000 of the Report on Population. 20,000 of 
the Report on Agriculture, 10,000 of the Re¬ 
port on Manufactures and Mechanics, 6,000 of 
the Report on the History of the National 
Loans, and 1,500 of the Report on Fish and 
Fisheries. These ari' to be distributed among 
the same parties in the same proportion. As 
to the distribution of the work, it is to be ob¬ 
tained by each party who wauts it through the 
Representative for his District, or the Sena¬ 
tors for his State. Of course, there will not 
be nearly enough copies to satisfy all appli¬ 
cants, and already it has been decided to print 
a larger number, especially of the Compen¬ 
dium, than was at tint contemplated. The 
whole work had to be printed by the 1st of 
last August, but so fur as we know, it is still 
in the hauds of the binder, 3. No. 
ALFALFA NOTES. 
Win. IF., M. D., W. O., and Others .—How 
much Alfalfa seed should be sown to the acre, 
and -what is the price per pound? Is it good 
for horses and colts fed green, and also for 
cows giving milk? What is the length of time 
between the cutting of crops, etc. 
Ans. —Not less than 20 pounds per acre of 
Alfalfa, widely known also as Lucerne, should 
be sown in Kansas, where it is largely grown. 
It is sown about April 15. It should be har¬ 
rowed in lightly, aud then followed with a 
roller if possible. It is best to sow it by itself. 
Prof. Shelton, of Kansas, does not recom¬ 
mend Alfalfa for counties where it rains, be¬ 
cause, while in the field, if cut, and a rain 
happens to fall, the Alfalfa is speedily reduced 
to the condition of manure. It is not a good 
crop to grow in cold climates, especially Can¬ 
ada. It will make a growth of 18 inches in 
about six weeks, and four crops of one-and- 
one-half ton each per acre have been cut dur¬ 
ing a single season. The hay is not as good as 
Red Clover, the stalk being solid and very 
woody; to obtain the best results it should be 
cut on the first appearance of blossoms. Cat¬ 
tle and horses eat it well, and greatly prefer 
it when green in the pasture, where they lit¬ 
erally gnaw it into the ground. There is 
danger of their getting bloated, however, just 
as if they pastured clover. It is not necessary 
to re-seed this crop every year. Seeds can be 
bought of most seedsmen for about 25 cents a 
pound. 
TANNERY REFUSE AS A FERTILIZER. 
S. S. C., Bingham, Pa .—Is fertilizing ma¬ 
terial from a tannery worth hauling five miles, 
and, if so, how should it be composted? Are 
ashes from leached tan-bark worth hauling 
the same distance? 
Ans. —Tannery waste differs very much in 
value; some is of considerable value, as the 
fleshings and scraps from the bodies; but the 
spent lime and hair are not so valuable. The 
ashes are worth about 30 cents per 100 pounds, 
and, according to analyses by Prof. F. H. 
Storer, contain from three to five per cent, of 
potash and one-and-one-half to two-and-one- 
half per cent, of phosporic acid; that is, when 
they have not been exposed to the weather. If 
the other wastes include the fleshings, they 
are worth going five miles and paying a 
dollar a load for; they do not need the trouble 
of composting, but may be spread on the 
ground at any time and plowed or harrowed 
in. 
SALT AS AN ABSORBER OF MOISTURE, ETC. 
H. G., Hamburg, Conn. —1. Would a liberal 
dressing of salt harrowed in in the Spring help 
to retain or collect moisture on sandy-loam 
soil that suffers severely from drought? 2. 
Would gypsum at three dollars a ton be valu¬ 
able as a fertilizer for the same land? 
Ans. —1. Salt is of no service in absorbing 
or retaining moisture. If a whole ton per 
acre were used when perfectly dry, it would 
not absorb more than 1,000 pounds of moisture 
from the atmosphere, and this would be about 
a tablespoonful to three square feet of ground. 
But it does not even do this, for it will dry up 
as soon as the soil will, and will not absorb 
any more moisture thau the soil is able to. 2. 
The gypsum referred to would be valuable in 
proportion to its purity. No certain result 
can be prognosticated of gypsum; its usefulness 
depends very much upon the condition of the 
soli and the quality of the fertilizer itself. 
SPLIT HOOFS IN HORSES. 
IF. A. P., Mercer, Pa. —What is a preven¬ 
tive of aud remedy for split hoofs in horses? 
Ans.— The hoofs split because the horn is 
dry and brittle. This may be caused by inter¬ 
nal fever in the feet, or by the horse standing 
in manure, or working in mud and not having 
the feet washed. Some horses naturally have 
brittle hoofs and need much care to preserve 
them. To remedy the trouble, the feet should 
be soaked with warm water frequently, and 
then rubbed with vaseline to keep them soft. 
Standing in wet manure should be avoided. 
A deep, soft bed of saw-dust, kept rather damp 
or nearly moist, under the feet will be useful. 
Feed bran frequently to keep the system cool. 
Too much coru should not be given, as it has 
a feverish tendency. 
FRUITS FOR KANSAS. 
J. P. G., Verail, Kan. —What varieties of 
apples, peaches, pears, cherries and plums 
would be best here for home use? 
Ans.—Apples: Carolina Red June (Sum¬ 
mer), Ben Davis, Gilpin and Jonathan (Win¬ 
ter), Lowell (Autumn!, Maiden’s Blush 
(Autumn), Mangum (Winter), Nickajack 
(Winter), Rambo (late Fall), Rawle's Genet 
tWinter). Peaches: Columbia (medium) 
Hale’s Early, Heath Cling (late). Pears 
Bartlett, Ducbesse d'Angouletne, Flemish 
Beauty, Seckel. Plums: Wild Goose. Try 
Miner, Lombard, Green Gage, Damson, Coe’s 
Golden Drop. Cherries: Early Richmond. 
mother goose. 
J. O., Auburn. Mich .—Who was Mother 
Goose? Where did she live, aud how did she 
come by that name? 
Ans. —Mother Goose was a real character— 
Elizabeth Goose, or Vergoose, by name—who 
