MILK FEVER. 
W, H. Du. B., Manulapan, N. J .—A Jer¬ 
sey cow of mine calved about three weeks ago, 
and was taken suddenly sick last week. The 
first noticed symptoms were a tossing and 
shaking of the head. After the second day 
she lost the use of her jaw's, her eyes became 
swollen, and a grayish film grew over them, 
completely blinding her. Her nose got dry, 
and the skin peeled off it, and off the tongue 
and the inside of the mouth. She breathed 
quite naturally for five days, aud then panted 
so painfully that she was killed to spare her 
more misery. Her breath was not very offen¬ 
sive, although there was a considerable dis¬ 
charge from the nostrils; what ailed her! 
Ans. —1. Thedisease was milk fever, which 
usually begins on the second or third day' after 
calving. The fever seems to have developed 
into pleurisy or pneumonia or both, excepting 
that no cough is mentioned. It is not con¬ 
tagious. As the disease lasted so long, it is 
quite probable that the cow might have been 
saved by' immediate and judicious treatment. 
This should have been, to give a very strong 
purgative, 24 ounces of Epsom salts with % 
dram of nux vomica and half an ounce of 
carbonate of ammonia, repeating the am¬ 
monia and uux vomica once a day. 
HANDLING CREAM. 
A. M F., East Saginaiv, Mich .—Will Mr. 
H. Stewart tell us his method of handling the 
cream after drawing it from the creamer 
until it is put iu the churn, and w hat should 
be its temperature when churning begins? 
After four weeks’ trial with a creamer, my 
butter is not as firm as it used to he before I 
used it. 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEW'ART. 
When the cream is taken from the milk it 
should be put into a can, or, better, an earth¬ 
en jar, and kept iu a temperature of from 55 
to 60 degrees. In 36 horn's, at this temperature, 
it will become slightly acid aud thick, and to 
keep it of an even character, each time fresh 
cream is put into the jar the whole should be 
stirred. If the cream is kept iu a sweet, pure 
atmosphere and is thus treated, it may be 
kept for three days, and will then be in the 
best order for churning. Iu the Summer thu 
temperature of the cream, when it goes into 
the churn, should be 60 degrees; iu the Win¬ 
ter it should be 65. This difference is neces¬ 
sary because in the Bummer the cream will 
get a little warmer while churning, and the 
reverse will happen in the Winter. Probably 
the reason why the butter is soft, is the cream 
is kept too warm. If the exact facts are given 
no doubt the trouble can be explained and re¬ 
moved. 
PRESERVING BERRIES—BANDS FOR BUDDING. 
H. E. M., Linden, Cal. —1. How can I pre¬ 
serve strawberries and raspberries, so as to 
retain their natural color for exhibition? 2. 
Is there anything, besides woolen yarn, I can 
use for tying buds? 
Ans.— 1. “That little thing can't be did.” 
The best you can do is to dissolve in one quart 
of cold water two ounces of salicylic acid and 
one ounce of boracic acid, and, having placed 
the fruit carefully in glass cans, fill them with 
this solution. It will keep them several w eeks. 
This is tho same thing advertised and sold for 
preserving fruits in cold water, a. Eastern 
nurserymen sometimes use gunny sacks for 
this purpose, by cutting them up aud using 
the material. The mats, which are packed 
around Russia iron aud some other goods, 
can also be used in the same way. Of course, 
they should lie dampened so as to make them 
pliable. The bark of some trees, particularly 
that of the Linden or Basswood, peeled in 
Spring and immersed several weeks in water, 
becomes rotted so that, the inside bark can be 
peeled off aud used for this purpose. 
AVERAGE WEIGHT OF MERINO SHEEP. 
In auswer to a query in a recent Rural, the 
average weight of American Merino sheep 
was giveu at 120 pounds for ewes, aud 150 
pounds for rams. Objection has lie on made 
to those figures by our friend, the American 
Stockman, on the ground that they are too 
high; but the following figures, taken from 
a report of a recent sheep shearing, bear out 
the figures given by us: Ewes, 11-l 1 ;, 116, 127, 
1 lO.’a l rams, 154, 185'c,', 156. No doubt there 
are lighter sheep, especially in Western flocks, 
and there are heavier. The weights given 
were intended to refer to the be t American 
Merinos of pure breeds. 
CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS IN HORSES. 
/). 6'. //,, Laimrenceinlle, Va .—Last Fall four 
of my seven horses died from a disease from 
which they did not appear to suffer much 
pain, but they could not swallow. They would 
try to eat aud drink, holdiug their heads in 
the water-troughs for hours. They lingered 
from four to eight days. The three other 
horses were not affected; what ailed the un- 
tuuates? For two weeks before the attack all 
were fed on ensilaged pea vines, 
Ans.—T hedisease waseerebro-spiual men¬ 
ingitis, or inflammation of the covering mem¬ 
brane (meninges) of the spinal cord aud the 
base of the brain. The inability to drink is a 
marked symptom of this disorder. It is pro¬ 
duced by various causes which may affect the 
general health and the condition of the blood, 
and at times tv lien t hese causes are prevalent 
the disease is general and becomes epizootic. 
The treatment is to give a laxative medicine 
if the animal can drink; if not, to inject a 
pound of Epsom salts dissolved™ warm water, 
and repeat until strong action occurs. Apply 
pounded ice to the neck and poll, and rub the 
limbs with hot mustard water. Half-ounce 
doses of bromide of potassium may be given if 
they can be swallowed, night and morning. If 
the ensilage was moldy or too acid, it may 
have produced the disorder. 
INFLAMMATION OF STOMACH IN A COW. 
IT. II., Wallingford, Vt .—For three weeks 
my cow has been steadily sick, vomiting a 
considerable quautilyof stuff which resem¬ 
bles manure, and when she chews the cud she 
drools, the dropping also resembling ma¬ 
nure. One side of her jaw is swollen and ap¬ 
pears paralyzed. She gains in milk but grows 
poor, although she eats well; what ails her? 
Ans. —The cow is suffering from inflamma¬ 
tion of the stomach. Give her a quart of lin¬ 
seed oil, aud feed her with bran and linseed- 
meal mash, with one ounce of hyposulphite of 
soda once a dav. 
notice that the stems of a great many pears 
havB become shriveled, and mauy of the pears 
are falling off. What is the trouble? 
Ans. —The ashes were not the cause of the 
pears falling. From the time that pears at- 
taiu the size of peas, until of the size of the 
thumb,great numbers fall to the ground. It 
. is on the principle of the survival of the fittest. 
Any ashes in reasonable qualities are a benefit 
rather than an injury. 
C. D., Woodstock, Vt. —1. What is the best 
way to apply fertilizers? 2. How should fer¬ 
tilizers be used on sod for raisiug fodder corn 
in drills? 3. In sowing oats, peas, and spring 
rye together, to be cut when ripe, what would 
be the best proportion of tho different seeds? 
Ans.—1. Apply broadcast on surface after 
plowing, and harrow or cultivate in. 2. 
Plow the ground; apply the fertilizer, aud 
harrow and cultivate till the soil is made fine. 
3. We don’t think the rye would be a good 
addition. Wo would prefer two bushels of 
peas and one-and-one half of oats, cut before 
thoroughly ripe or before the leaves fall. 
II. W. M., East Williamsburg, Can. —1. 
Where iu the United States can I get Swiss 
cows, and what would be their price? 2. How 
can I make a solution of iron in quantity ? 
Ans.-L Swiss cows are bred by William Aid- 
rich, Worcester, Mass. They are held at about 
$300 each. 2. Pure iron cannot be dissolved in 
water. A solution of sulphate of iron can be 
made by dissolving copperas in water. By 
adding chalk (carbonate of lime) the solution 
is changed to one of carbonate of iron, and 
sulphate of lime is precipitated. 
II, O., Vernon, Mich. —1. Is Harry Cole¬ 
man, Philadelphia, Pa., reliable? 2. What is 
the proper treatment for chickens troubled 
with scours? 
Ans. —1. His credit is given as fair in the 
commercial directory. 2. Feed plenty of dry 
food, aud cut short the allowance of succu- 
leut food. Are you sure that the evacuations 
are anything more than normal? The dung 
of most chickens has a tendency towards a 
liquid or semi-liquid form. 
G. II. T., StonexoaB, Manitoba. —My oxen 
get all the hay they can eat and oat chop, but 
don't look-well. They breathe as if they had 
a cold, and there is a slight running from the 
nose : what can I do for them? 
Ans.— The oxen are, no doubt, suffering 
from the effects of cold. The climate in Mani¬ 
toba, especially for the first year or the sec¬ 
ond, is rather rigorous for native cattle, and 
when warmly stabled the severe cold is worse 
than constant exposure. 
W. H. W., Wheaton , Ul, —What is a rem¬ 
edy for the May Beetle ? 
Ans —Place a she"t under the trees infested 
with these pests, aud jar the trees early in the 
morning when the beetles are torpid. Large 
numbers of them will fall into the sheet, and 
should he killed by throwing them into scald¬ 
ing water. As they are attracted by a light, a 
simple trap is a light placed over a tub con¬ 
taining some water, on which there should be 
a thin film of kerosene. 
P. de II.. Millom Springs, Kan. —Would a 
mulching six inches thick, applied after corn 
planting, on my three-year-old vineyard, to 
protect it from our-scorching sun, be likely to 
prevent injury from insects? 
Ans.—T he mulch would do no harm to iu- 
sects; but we should not apply it until a fter 
the wet weather. 
/. H. O.. Pittsford, K, Y ,—Where can I 
get White Leghorn and Black Spanish eggs? 
Ans. —White Leghorn can be obtained of R. 
B. Mitchell & Co., Chicago, Ills.; M. Cooking- 
ham & Son. Pleasant Plains, N. Y.; Thomas 
French, Auburn, N. Y.; Black Spanish of R. 
H. Shumway, Lebanon Springs, N. Y. 
E. F. C., Nnrthfield, Minn. —Why did my 
canary shed its feathers all last Winter; 
Ans. —The bird was exposed to a draught. 
Place the cage where it will not feel the 
slightest current of air—even in Summer. Feed 
on canary-seed only. 
E. D.P., Scipio, N. I'.—How can I eradi¬ 
cate Wild Parsnip and Burdock from my door- 
yard without plowing the ground? 
Ans.—C ut off the plants below the crown 
with a spud or sharp knife. 
I. S., Hampstead, Ont., Canada. —Where 
can I get Toulouse Geese eggs? 
Ans. —James Seeley, of Geneva, N. Y., has 
Toulouse Geese eggs for sale. 
RELATIVE VALUES OF FEEDING STUFFS. 
C. M. P,Sandy Hook, Conn. —1. What are 
the relative values of the following feeds as 
milk producers: corn meal, cotton-seed meal, 
linseed meal, poameal, bean meal, shorts, 
wheat bran, ryo brau, buckwheat bran, ap¬ 
ples, squash, pumpkins? 2. What are the re¬ 
lative values of the meal from yellow flint 
corn, white flint corn, yellow dent corn, and 
white dent corn for producing milk, also for 
producing fat? 
Ans.— 1. From a practical point of view, 
aud taking healthfulness and profit into ac¬ 
count, we should place these feeds, as regards 
their actual value, as follows: corn-meal and 
rye or wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, shorts, 
pea meal, linseed meal ami buckwheat bran 
along way behind the others; pumpkins and 
squash, and apples last. There is no appreci 
able difference between the various kinds of 
corn mentioned, but flint is thought more 
valuable than dent. The chemical ratios 
given of these feeds are as follows: 
Miscellaneous. 
M. M. McCoy, Oregon. —A disease very 
prevalent among horses here has the follow¬ 
ing symptoms: The animal, when first attack¬ 
ed. staggers round; later on spasms set in, 
which increase iu violence, and the animal 
becomes cramped, and sometimes remains in 
this condition for weeks before he dies. After 
death, the brain is found natural in every 
case, but the membranes of the spine are very 
much inflamed aud congested, and the cavity 
of the spine is filled with a yellow serum. 
What is the disease, and how should affected 
animals be treated? 
Ans. —The disease is cerebro-spinal menin¬ 
gitis referred to in another query, which see. 
This is the well known so called “epizootic” 
which was extremely prevalent all over the 
country some years ago, and when oxen had 
to be used iu the cities for waut of horses. It 
is caused in such cases by prevalent unwhole¬ 
some climatic conditions. 
“ SubscriberGreen Brier, Tenn. —There 
is a spring 60 rods from the house, and by 
running IS rods beyond the spring, I can get a 
12-foot fall. ‘Under these conditions, 1, can 
a hydraulic ram drive water to the house? 2. 
Can I dig straight down to get a fall so that 
the ram will be “underground?” 3. How 
much fall will be required? 4. What would 
be the probable cost of ram aud pipe? 
Ans. —1. Yes. 2. No. The ram must be 
worked by a stroam of which a part is takeu 
into the ram and forced into the pipe, and the 
rest—which makes the power—runs to waste, 
and must be carried off. 3. Four or five feet 
fall iu 10 to 30 feet, would work a ram. 4. A 
small ram can be bought for §15; lead pipe, 
% inch, costs about 12 cents a pound (12 
ounces to the foot) which is D size; E weighs 9 
aud C 16 ounces to the foot. 
G. IF. D., Dancers, Mass .—1. Is there a 
way to kill Woad Waxen in a hilly pasture too 
rocky to plow? 2. What is the cause of club- 
root in cabbage? 3. Is there any kind of pota¬ 
to earlier than the Early Rose? 
Ans. —1. This plant is very prevalent in 
pasture fields iu Eastern Massachusetts. Will 
some of our subscribers there tell us how to 
exterminate it i Club-foot, is caused by an 
insect of the same family as the onion 
maggot. The best remedy is not to plant eab- 
buges on ground succeeding any of the Bras- 
siea Family; apply well rotted manure, lime, 
and from 400 to 000 pounds of bone-dust, as 
much kainit, and work a teaspoonful of salt 
into the ground just where every plant is to 
be planted. 8. Early Vermont, Early Ohio. 
See the long list of “ earliest-of-all” potatoes 
in the Rural of April 12, page 236. 
N. M. II., Orleans Co., N. F.—Would tho 
Holly-leaved Ashberry tMahernia) make a 
fancy hedge? 
Ans. —We know of uo such shrub. The 
ouly Mahernia found iu the North is a tropi¬ 
cal plant growing iu greenhouses. We know 
of no Ashberry, neither is there such a plant 
mentioned in the flora of the Botany of the 
Northern States. Tho English Hawthorn, 
oftentimes called Haw, makes a very hand¬ 
some hedge, if grown iu a locality not subject 
to drought to auy exteut. In regions where 
dry weather is periodical, it is not advisable to 
try this hedge, as the leaves will fall, leaving 
a hedge of bare limbs. The common holly is 
au evergreen finely adapted for plunting iu 
avenues. Perhaps Mahonia is meant. 
IF. I{. F., Salisbury, Y. C. —I placed about 
one-and-one-half gallon of strong wood-ashes 
around the root, of my pear tree, and now I 
Per cent, of 
In ctirn meal. .. 
Cotton-seed meal. 
Rye bran . 
Wheat bran . .. 
Middlluvs or shorts.. 
Pea meal ami beau meal_ 
Linseed meal (old process). 
Linseed meal mew process) 
Buckwheat bran . 
In practice, these values cannot be depended 
upon, because of the different effects upon the 
quality of the products. 
PLUMS, ETC. 
F. M. S., Frcdonia, N. }‘.—1. What is the 
quality, and what the value for market of the 
Weaver, Bassett’s American and Shropshire 
Damson Plums ? Au agent who is selling them 
here, claims that they are curculio proof; is 
that true* 2. He is also warranting that the 
Champion Quince will bear every year, after 
it has been out three years; how good is it, 
and arc they sure annual bearers? 3. Will 
different kiuds of red raspberries mix if 
planted side by side? 4. What is the objec¬ 
tion to a sky-light in a hen house roof? 
Ans, —1. The Weaver Plum is utterly worth¬ 
less so far north, if not everywhere else. Bas¬ 
sett’s American is a little hard plum, good 
for nothing anywhere except for cooking, and 
not very good for that. Shropshire Dawson 
is a small fruit of the Damson class, and much 
inferior to 20 others as a market plum. Such 
a thing as a eurculio-proof plum doesn’t exist, 
aud any agent that doesn’t know that fact, 
must be an ignorumus, and il’ lie does know 
it, and is toying to sell trees as curculio-proof, 
theu ho is a knave, aud trying to swindle: so 
iu any case you had better let him entirely 
alone. The Champ! »u Quince is somewhat 
larger thau the Orange; hut not of as good 
quality and considerably Inter, and is no hard¬ 
ier or any bet ter bearer than the Orange under 
the same circumstances. 3. They will not 
mix so as to affect the quality of the fruit. It 
is only the seeds that would be mixed. 4. The 
only objection to a sky light is that it lets the 
summer suu shine in, and makes it too hot. 
In Winter it would be O. K. 
TREATMENT OF A BULL. 
C. H. li., Gaines, N. V. —1. Would it be 
well to leed a two-year-old bull the same as 
cows? 2. What would be the best grain feed 
and how much of it? 3. How much exercise 
by walking in a yard, with somebody to lead 
him, would be enough to keep him iu good 
condition? 4. How many cows could heserve 
without injuring himself? 
Ans.—I. A bull may be fed precisely the 
same as a cow; it is well, in piepariug the 
cow’s feed, to give the bull a regular ratiou, 
increased iu proportion to his extra weight, 
but of the same character as that for the cow. 
2. Corn aud brun ground together, or with 
oats added, form excellent grain food for a 
bull. Hay and six or eight pounds of tho 
ground feed should he sufficient; if not, the 
animal should have enough to keep him iu 
good, thrifty condition, but not fat. A fat 
bull will get few calves. 8. A yurd of about 
500 or 600 square feet, inclosed with a tight 
board fence seven feet high, adjoiniug tho 
stall or pen, gives sufficient opportunity for 
exercise. If walking exercise is thought most 
desirable, half an hour twice a day would be 
enough, and would tend to keep him docile in 
handling. 4 Fifty cows would be fair ser¬ 
vice for a bull of Ibis age, fed as meutiouod. 
Communications Received fob the week Ending 
Saturday, May 3. 
W.J. II.—H. K. M.-L. M. R.—T. H. B.—L. E. M.-I. 
B. O.-G. \V. L.-T, M. S.—L. C. S.-H. F. S.-.I. T. L.— 
w. G. G. a Subscriber.—F. W. C.—R. S. u. s.— g. g. 
-J. F. B.-T. E. MeO.—W. FI, M., thauks.-J. M. S.-C. 
a-T. W. J.-W. L. D.-R.n.-C. H. H. — J, M. O.-F. D. 
C. -A. C. B. R, M. O.-J. P. P.. thanks. W.-l. B. H. 
—D. T. MW. E. Wold, potatoes received. Mr. Wal¬ 
ker corn received.—N. E. B.—G. B.L.—L. O. H.—W. H. 
E. —H. A. T.—W. W., thanks.—E. M. Chrisman, seed 
received.—J. C. S.—R. I. T.—J. S.—R. T. P.—A. K.—E. 
W.A.—F.R. R.-E.M. C.. thanks—A. L. J.-J. M. S.— 
F, M.-I. M. 3.-N. R.-H. H.-Must. 
