469 
MARCH 45 
To Inquiring Friends.— In the 16 columns 
of “Querist," contained in this Supplement, 
all t u e questions which we have been unable 
to answer during the late busy weeks, are an¬ 
swered except enough to fill al>out four col¬ 
umns more, and those will be published in our 
next issue. In many cases substantially the 
siime questions have been asked by several 
persons in different parts of the country, and 
in each case of this kind only one answer has 
been given. It will, therefore, be necessary 
for each inquirer to read the whole of this 
Supplement, so that he may not miss the an¬ 
swer to his inquiry. We trust this will be a 
pleasant, and we know it will be an instructive 
task. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention.] 
MANURING, MULCHING, ETC., OF SMALL 
FRUITS. 
P. E. V ., Jersey title, III. —1. Which is the 
better for small fruits—coarse horse manure 
or cow stable manure? 2. How should the 
horse manure be applied? 3. When and bow 
should small fruits be mulched and manured? 
4. Can gooseberries and currants be mulched 
too much? 5. Should red and black raspber¬ 
ries be cut back in Summer? 6. Would the 
Captain Jack be a good sort to pluut with the 
Crescent? 7. My plants are one year old; will 
that fact make any difference in the treatment 
that should be given them. 
ANSWERED BY T. T. LYON. 
1. The difference between the two depends 
mainly upon the amount of bedding or other 
extraneous matter they may contain. As a 
rule, the auimals fed with the richest food 
will yield the most valuable manure. 2. If 
the horse manure is free from straw or other 
fibrous matter, and cau be broken up so as not 
to be in the way of eultivati m, scatter it 
rather thinly between the rows at any time 
when you can get upon the ground, before the 
commencement of growth, to be mixed with 
the soil by the cultivator. 3. Never mulch 
anything In Spring till the ground has be¬ 
come warm: and not then with manure, or to 
prevent drying Thorough and constant pul¬ 
verizing of the soil is far better than mulch¬ 
ing. With strawberries, mulching is only de¬ 
sirable to keep the fruit from the ground. Ap¬ 
ply it in the latter part of May. The best 
time to apply manure is after the fruit has 
been gathered in the case of strawberries; or 
quite early in the season in the case of other 
small fruits, by turning a shallow furrow 
from the rows with a one-horse plow, putting 
in the manure and turning the furrow back 
upon it. 4. Mulch rather lightly; but not till 
the soil has had time to become thoroughly 
warm. 5. Yes; but the Black-caps the most 
severely. It increases the amount of fruiting 
wood for next year. 6, Much has boon re¬ 
cently said about the influence of thepollen- 
iziog variety in the case of pistillate straw¬ 
berries. Beyond selecting a variety bloomiug 
at the right time, nothing can be predicated, 
in advance of actual trial, as to the influence 
of any particular variety. I doubt not that 
the fact of such influence has. by some persons, 
been accepted for more than it is worth. Se¬ 
lect bisexual varieties that will bloom at the 
same time with the pistillatce; note their in¬ 
fluence. w hether good or bad. and in the fu¬ 
ture act upou it. I have known Crescent, fer¬ 
tilized by Bid well and Wilson, to produce an 
exceedingly flue crop. 7. The best time to 
apply fresh manure would have been to turn 
it under at the first plowing. Its effect would 
have been to greatly improve the mechani¬ 
cal condition of the soil, as well as itsfortility. 
After applviug a portion as described in No. 
3, compost what will bo needed next year. 
Coyer the asparagus plot with the manure, 
and fork it in before growth has commenced. 
The same also with the plot of rhubarb. 
fancy butter; garget; grain grills. 
Subscriber, Whitehall , N. Y. —1. Which 
creamer will make the best fancy butter? 2. 
Three of my young cows, one after another, 
have milked hard in one teat, the trouble in¬ 
creasing until no milk whatever came from 
the nurd milking teats. What should be the 
treatment in such eases? " here can I get a 
milking tube? S What grain drill will plant 
corn kernels eight to 12 inches apart? 
Ans.— 1 No creamer will make fancy butter. 
It is not the creamer but the person who uses 
it that must give the quality to the butter. 
The creamers are merely conveniences 
which help the good dairymen to make good 
butter, but which arc no help whatever to the 
careless aud poor onds. It may be true that 
oue who pays $30 for a creamer will be in¬ 
duced to be more careful in his work, and if 
s 
so the money is well spent. 2. We very much 
fear our friend is to blame for some oversight 
in these repeated accidents. No doubt the 
trouble was garget in each case, aud it may 
be from some error in milking, perhaps not 
milking quite dry before Jeaviug the cow. 
This is quite a frequent neglect, and great care 
should be taken to strip every teat perfectly 
before giving up milkiug. If auy milk is left 
in the teat it will gradually dry up. It is 
quite probable that the teats may be restored 
with the next calves, by gently rubbing and 
kneading the udder and persisting in milking. 
A milking tube should only be used as a tem¬ 
porary expedient in case of accident or emer¬ 
gency. William Crozier, North port, Long 
Island, N. Y., can supply you with a milking 
tube. 3. The treatment for garget is to foment 
the udder with hot water; to gently knead 
the hard parts until they are soft, to milk out 
all the contents of the quarter of the udder, to 
inject with a syringe some solution of carbon¬ 
ate of soda—a teacupful may be enough—and 
then milk it out with the dissolved curdy 
matter aud then apply camphorated oint¬ 
ment. Give a pound of Epsom salts if the 
udder is hot and tender. 3. Corn may be 
planted with a common grain drill by stop¬ 
ping up the surplus tubes. Cora should never 
be planted less than 30 inches apart even for 
fodder, as it requires air and light to mature 
its juices properly. Corn planted in eight or 
12-iuch rows is scarcely worth feeding, being 
blanched and water3' stuff. Any one of the 
drills made by leading makers is a good one. 
That made in your nearest neighborhood will 
serve you as well as any other. 
LIVE STOCK QUERIES, etc. 
J. S. P., Wohpcton, D. 21—1. Nine little 
pigs which did nothing but suckle, sleep, and 
grow fat died oue after another. The sow 
was fed ou boiled potatoes, bran, and whole 
oats. What ailed the pigs ? 2. How cau a 
gander be distinguished from a goose? 3. 
Will rolling wheatiu Spring pay ? 4. Will water¬ 
melons grow faster if protected? 0. How much 
bran would force a new milch cow as much as 
possible? G. Cau bees be kept profitably in 
Dakota? 7. Can soap be made from hay 
ashes? 8. After dropping young what is the 
earliest time a sow, cow, or mare will come in 
heat? 
Ans. —1. You probably* fed the sow too well 
and the pigs were too fat. This would pro¬ 
duce a difficulty of breathing similar to that 
caused by croup. This is, however, an un¬ 
usual occurrence. 2. There is little external 
distinction between ganders and geese; the 
only difference is that the gander is more pug¬ 
nacious. and leads the geese in the common 
demonstrations of this kind. His voice is 
hoarser, and the bead somewhat thicker at 
the base of the bill. Oue who is used to these 
birds can tell the difference easily. At this 
season the male bird usually distinguishes 
himself quite conspicuously. 3. By all means 
get a roller and use it; your observation 
should lead you to do that without fail. 4. A 
protection on the north side greatly helps the 
growth of all tender plauts, bub the south side 
should be opeu, ns a good circulation of air is 
indispensable to healthy growth 5. It is not 
advisable to force a cow as much as possible. 
Nothiug is gaiued by forcing. Six to ten 
pounds of bran may be given safety, and if in 
warm mash will do more good than dry; bet¬ 
ter still to mix it witli cut hay* or even grass 
cut up. G. It depends upon the pasture. The 
absence of trees will l>e a great drawback, as 
bees get a large portion of their bouey and 
pollen from them. If the prairies are well 
stocked with flowers and the late plants, as 
Golden-rods and Asters, are plentiful, bees 
might do well. But it is questionable, and 
can only be proved by a trial. 7. As hay*, 
when cut before it is dead ripe, eontafus twice 
as much potash as average mixed wood (25 
per cent, of the ash), the ash ought to make 
good soap. But in leaching the ashes it would 
be ad visible to use one-fourth as much quick¬ 
lime in the leach to make the potash caustic 
8. A sow on the third or fourth day; a cow or 
mare on the ninth day. 
“when to cut wood.” 
E T., Edioardsville, Kans —In the Rural 
for Jan. 19, to the question, “What is the best 
time to cut wood?" the answer is “When the 
trees contain the least water,"*****■ ‘fouud to 
be iu the latitude of Chicago aud New York 
about the 1st of January." In Johnson’s 
“How Crops Grow," p. 333, the maple is said 
to lie always charged with water, “anil never 
more so than in Winter,” while a foot-note on 
the same page, ref• rring to experiments ou 
trees, says the greatest proportion of water 
“was found to the mouths of December and 
January." On page 336 it is further stated 
that “the proportion of water iu the wood of 
the trees of temperate latitudes is least in the 
months of May, June aud July." Is the Ru¬ 
ral mistaken about this matter, or is it in ae 
cord with the agricultural “science” of our 
times—that oracle having changed its mind 
since “How Crops Grow” was written? The 
text-books of my boyhood taught that sap has 
a downward as well as an upward flow—a no¬ 
tion now commonly rejected, I believe. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. W. J. BEAL. 
This question, so far as 1 can learn, is by no 
means settled, and the difficulties of settling it 
are much greater than many suppose. In my 
trials with two sticks of the same tree, one top 
end up, the other reversed, the sticks were 
split from each other and were apparently 
alike. In some cases the one top end np lasted 
longest; in some cases the reverse was true, 
while in several eases there was no perceptible 
difference. If there is such a marked differ¬ 
ence in the durability of sticks from the same 
hight, in the same tree, set in the same soil, 
at the same time, what can we expect in case 
of different trees? We know that the tops of 
trees will not last as well as the cuts nearer 
the stump. I cannot answer this question, and 
I know of no one who can. The following, 
from the last Canadian Horticulturist, strikes 
me favorably: “The Russian foresters cut 
down their timber trees just, after the Spring 
growth is completed, and before the bark has 
tightened too much for peeling; they then 
strip off the bark, but allow the upper branch¬ 
es with their leaves to remain. These leaves 
w*ill evaporate a large portion of the sap in 
the trunk of the tree before they dry up, aDd 
the bark being taken off, the tniuk seasons 
rapidly, and makes more valuable timber for 
any* purpose than that which has been cut in 
Winter.” • 
FARCY “BUTTONS" OR “BUDS:” ULCERATION 
OF THE FROG. » 
G. J. A , Lamoni, la. —1. My twelve-year- 
old mare has scabby sores all along under the 
belly and down the fore-legs. After sweating 
and in warm weather they grow worse. She 
has been afflicted in this way for eight years. 
Giving resin and sulphur reduced the sores, 
but they returned as bad as ever. What 
should be the treatment? 2, A neighbor’s 
mule is lame; pressure on the frogs causes a 
thick black matter to ooze out. The substance 
of tbe frogs is soft and diseased, and on the 
removal of the diseased part pipes appear. 
What should be the treatment ? 
Ans.— 1. Farcy is a disease of the blood of a 
serious character as it often results in acute 
glanders, farcy being, in reality, one form of 
glauders. Treatment will only prolong life, 
aud will not effect a permanent cure. Give a 
strong purgative, as a pound of Epsom salts, 
followed by anti-septic medicines, of which 
hyposulphite of soda in one-ounce doses given 
daily in the feed is the l>est and safest, This 
may be continued for a month. Resin should 
never be given to a horse, nor saltpeter either 
unless advisedly, as these are diuretics and af¬ 
fect and weaken the action of the kidneys 
and, in fact, cause more trouble than many 
persons are a ware of. The food should be cooling 
and laxative, bran mash with a little linseed 
in it. Corn should not be given for some time: 
oats or barley would be preferable. 2. The dis¬ 
ease in the foot is ulceration of the frog and 
possibly of the navicular bone. If the dis¬ 
charge has the peculiar fetid odor of rotten 
flesh, the bone is certainly diseased, and the 
presence of “pipes” indicates that a fistula has 
formed. It is a case for treatment by a veteri¬ 
nary surgeon. If you cannot get a good one 
to attend to it. proceed as follows: Pare away 
the diseased bom and lay the ulcerated part 
open. Dress it twice a day with a solution of 
one dram of chloride of zinc in half a pint of 
water, injecting it with a syringe after cleans¬ 
ing the sore with warm water. Then cover 
the sore with dry powder of chloride of zinc 
and apply a plug or pad of lint dipped in tar. 
Bind the foot with a stoat, firm baudage. Af¬ 
ter the sore has heen quite cleansed and the 
pipes have sloughed away* apply the tar dress¬ 
ing and continue the bandage. 
TANNING SKINS: AILMENTS OF SHEEP. 
J. H. W., Huntingdon, Pa. —1. How can 
small skins be tauned? 2 After lambing my 
ewes instead of milk yield a few drops of oil; 
why? 3. Our sheep are dying of a contagious 
disease having these symptoms; the affected 
animals ruu at the nose, have a dry cough, 
are crippled in the legs, and refuse to cat a 
day before they die. What ails them ? 
Ans. —1 Small skins may bo nicely tanned 
by steeping 1 hem for three days In a strong 
solution of oak bark; then sei-aping and rub¬ 
bing them smooth with pumice stone and chalk, 
with some Ifowii umber to give them a good 
color Or the skins may be covered on the 
flesh side with a paste mad. * 1 * 3 of au eqnal quan¬ 
tity of powdered alum and salt with half as 
much powdered copperas, and rye or wheat 
flour milt'd with water. This is laid ou a 
quarter of au inch thick, and the skins are 
placed iu pairs flesh side together, or if but 
one, it is folded; a board with a weight on it 
is laid upon the skin. After 10 days the skin 
is shaken out and smoothed as above mention¬ 
ed, and pulled until soft aud dry. 2. It is no 
uncommon for ewes to be in this condition for 
some hours after lambing. The sucking of 
the lambs will soon bring them to their milk. 
If the Limbs will uot suck, or the ewes will 
not let them, they should be assisted, and tbe 
ewe should be held. It is a good thing to give 
the ewes a quart of warm oatmeal gruel an 
hour after they have lambed, as this greatly 
encourages the secretion of milk. 3. This dis¬ 
ease appears to be anthrax fever, tbe so-called 
braxy. It is recognized on opening the sheep 
by the appearance of much bloody serum loose 
in the abdomeD and the gangrened condition 
of the intestines. It is not contagious, but is 
caused by indigestion leading to inflammation 
of the bowels and intestinal fever. Treatment 
is of no use, as it is too far advanced to be ar¬ 
rested when it is first noticed. Prevention by 
careful watering, the use of bran or linseed 
meal, and a little sulphur and salt occasionally 
form the only cure. 
HOW TO RECOGNIZE PREGNANCY IN A COW, 
ETC. 
F. D., Travers City, Mich. —1. Will corn 
from 1882 grow? Where can sound seed com 
be bought? 2. How can I tell when my cows 
are “coming in?” 3. Why is cotton-seed meal 
better than linseed meal for milch cows? 
Ans. —Cora of 1882 will grow if it was 
sound originally and has been kept dry, and 
has not heated By re ferenee to our ad vertising 
columns you will find plenty of responsible 
dealers who can furnish sound and perfect 
corn seed. 2 A cow's condition of pregnancy 
can be indicated in several ways. After the 
fifth month the abdomen enlarges considera¬ 
bly, and by measuring with a tape-measure 
the rapid increase in size can be noted. The 
most conclusive test is as follows: Stand on 
the right side of the cow with the back to the 
cow's head, aud observe tbe form of the body; 
if the abdomen is low down forward of the 
udder and notably so, the cow is at least five 
months in calf. By placing the flat hand on 
the cow’s flank nine inches forward of the 
udder and in a line with the stifle, and press¬ 
ing firmly, the movements of tbe calf, which 
are short, quick jerks, can he noticed, more 
especially when the cow is drinking. This 
will not occur until the sixth month, and after 
that these motions will be more apparent. 
Two months before calving the milk will begin 
to diminish rapidly, and six weeks before it, 
the milk will have a saltish flavor. After that 
the indications consist of a loosening of the 
muscles and tendons of the pelvis, at the root 
of the tail chiefly, and a loose condition and 
darkened color of the parts adjacent. Then 
the udder begins to spring, and two or three 
days before the calf appears the teats fillup, 
and when this last indication appears, a close 
watch should be kept on the 00w; but it is 
1 better always to remove her to a separate 
place, where she can be left loose. 3. Cotton¬ 
seed meal is a better food than linseed oil meal, 
because of the better flavor and texture of the 
| butter. 
AN UNDERGROUND FRUIT CELLAR. 
W, .4. W., Noblesvitle, Ind .—How should 
an underground fruit cellar, capable of hold¬ 
ing 1,000 bushels of fruit, be built? 
Ans. —The size of an underground fruit 
cellar, with the capacity of 1,000 bushels, will 
depend somewhat on the method of storage, 
whether in barrels, boxes or bins, the former 
requiring more room than the latter. A cellar 
1 16x20 feet and six to seven feet deep, would 
store about 220 barrels three tiers high on 
their sides, or about flUO bushels, with room to 
get about amoug them, and have sufficient air 
space above them. The same space would ac¬ 
commodate 700 bushels in boxes or bius. For 
1,000 bushels the cellar would ueed to be two 
feet deeper to allow the same space above and 
room among them. A cellar 20x30 would 
furnish the required capacity with more con¬ 
venience. Iu localities whore the tempera¬ 
ture ranges very low. the walls should be 
banked to the top above ground This will 
! also aid iu carrying away the water, if the 
cellar is to be used only for this purpose, a 10 
or 12-inch wall will suffice, if proper care is 
takeu to keep the frost away from it. The 
covering should be filled iu with sawdust or 
some other good uou conducting material to 
make it frost-proof, If a building is to cover 
the cellar, the ground floor should be doubled 
and filled in between the beams. A window 
in each euii for light and ventilation should 
be provided The cost of a structure of this 
kind will vary with the locality and the sim¬ 
plicity or elaborateness of the design. A man 
of common ingenuity and skill can confine it 
to the cost of the materials aud do the entire 
work himself. This matter is easily determin¬ 
ed in any locality when a definite plan is de¬ 
cided upon. The object sought, the locality, 
the convenience, and the means at command, 
all tend to the final decision, and the prospect¬ 
ive owner can best ans sver these considerations 
for himself. 
CHOLERA IN POULTRY. 
H. C., American Fork City, IF. T .—What 
