the dairy as well as the shambles and where, 
not far from this place, can such stock be got ? 
Ans. —What kind of dairying—butter, 
cheese or milk ? For all three purposes com¬ 
bined, having regard to meat production 
also when the cows are to be “ turned off," 
no pure breed surpasses the Ayrshire and 
Guernsey, especially when the animals re¬ 
ceive only the moderate care and feed given 
on ordinary farms. Holsteins would give 
satisfaction with abundant feed, and so would 
Short-horns of tbs milking strains, such as 
the Princess family. A deep-milking Devon 
could hardly be excelled for the above re¬ 
quirements, but deep-milking Devons are not 
easily found, and are expensive. On the 
whole, we believe Ayrshire? and Guernseys 
would bo the most profitable of the pure 
breeds; but most likely cross-bred or grade 
cows with Ayrshire, Guernsey, Holstein or 
even Jersey blood, would give the best profit 
on the investment. Care should be exercised 
in making selections. Ormiston & Jardine, 
Cuba, N. Y., deal in Ayrshires, and Smiths & 
Powell, Syracuse, N. Y., are large and trust¬ 
worthy dealers in Holsteins. Guernsey cattle 
can be got from Silas Betts, Camden, N. J.; 
Ed. Norton, or E. F. Bowditch, Farmington, 
Conr.; Chas. M. Beach, Hartford, Conn. 
AILING PIGS. 
A. R. M., Hutchinson, Kansas, 1, A few 
weeks ago I bought some pigs and the morn¬ 
ing after their arrival I noticed that they 
wanted to lie huddled up in the straw. They 
were nearly always shivering, and they 
coughed and sneezed, and were often purged. 
Two of them died, and my other pigs are be¬ 
coming affected in the same way. Is it 
cholera or trichina spiralis? 
Ans. —PigB are subject to many of the dis¬ 
eases which are common to human beings. The 
above symptoms indicate a severe cold which 
the pigs may have taken. Perhaps the pen 
isopen to cold drafts. They may have been 
fed too much corn which brought on inflam¬ 
mation of the bowels. This disease is quite 
common among young pigs when over-fed, 
aud is often called “cholera,” because gen¬ 
erally fatal. Sweating by immersion in wa¬ 
ter as hot as bearable and wrapping in a 
woolen blanket, carefully cooling tbe body to 
a normal condition, would be good treatment, 
with doses of castor oil according to the size 
of the animal. The presence of trichina in the 
tissues of tbe body is not manifested by such 
symptoms. 
BARN FOB SHEEP. 
L. O. S., Warren, O —What should be the 
size of a barn tor storing hay for 50 sheep and 
housing them, and what is a good plan ? 
Ans, —Sheep require at least 20 square feet 
of floor room tor each one. A barn for 50 
should, then, be 40 by 25 ftet. A good arrange¬ 
ment would be as follows: 
be applied? When and how should the vines 
be planted ? 
Ans.— In preparing the ground for planting 
a vineyard, if the soil is not rich enough, give 
the surface a covering of manure. If sod, 
plow immediately if possible, and as soon 
as the surface dries harrow thoroughly, and 
after another day or two’s dryiDg the sod 
should be torn to pieces by cross-plowing, 
which will leave the surface quite rough, and 
it should remain so until dry enough to pul¬ 
verize, when a good barrowing will put it in 
order for planting. If subsoiling could now 
follow it would be of more advantage than 
several years of manuring. If the land is not 
sod plowing twice will be sufficient. When 
ready to plant, mark out with a light plow 
north and south, and cross it with a two- 
horse plow, going two or three times in a fur¬ 
row until it is made as deep and straight as 
possible. In making the furrows set up 
stakes across the field measured the proper 
distance apart at the ends. The brushing of 
a little earth out of the bottom of the furrow 
Divide 
snow helps the matter now. Corn is about 
all cribbed and nearly all hogs are fattened. 
Corn is selling at 40 cents a bushel, but very 
little is being sold, all farmers who can keep 
it preferring to hold over at this price. Pork 
has dropped to six cents net. N. J. s. 
Of course, says the N. Y. Sun, we do not 
suppose any of our more prominent seedsmen 
would be guilty of such tricks as mixing old 
and dead seed with new; still we happen to 
know that such things have been done and 
are likely to be repeated by those who are 
over-anxious to make money. The Rural 
advises farmers to select and order their seeds 
early and to test the vitality of each kind. 
Then they will know, if the seeds fail to make 
a good stand, to what extent the seedsman is 
responsible..... 
Dr. Hoskins thinks that three-fourths of 
our complaints are but different forms of ex¬ 
haustion. Therefore he says * ‘ Never get tired 
out if you can help it”... 
“ Our American cousins have lately—prob¬ 
ably because it is a new fancy—been strongly 
under the influence of a whim which leads 
them to prefer hornless cattle. The taste 
should have its turn; and those who benefit by 
it may be congratulated on the dice having 
fallen in their favor," so says the London Ag. 
Gazette. 
If you want to slip into a round hole you 
must make a ball of yourself... 
The Husbandman says that a man has not 
been bred in vain who plants a good tree in 
the right place.*... 
Dr. Iloskins reminds his readers that one 
ton of good bone-dust contains as much nitro¬ 
gen as 8H ton* of fresh stable manure, and as 
much phosphoric acid as 110 tons of fresh sta¬ 
ble manure. But one ton of manure contains 
more potash than five tons of bone-dust. So 
bone-dust and asbes make a complete fertilizer 
The production of grapes from the old wood 
of a vine is, to say the least, unusuaL An in¬ 
stance of this phenomenon is, however, fig¬ 
ured and described in a recent number of the 
Revue Horticole. Iu this case, wherein grapes 
were produced without either leaves or ten¬ 
drils, direct from the old wood, it appears that 
the greater portion of the wood was killed by 
frost, but that one portion remained alive, 
and from this portion the berries were devel¬ 
oped ...-. 
Mr. John J. Thomas, tbe well-known po- 
mologist of Union Springs, N. Y, reports to 
Vick’s Magazine that he raised ac the rate of 
98 bushels per acre of White Russian Oats. 
The seed was sown after moderately manured 
corn. He ascribes his success to the excellent 
variety end to harrowing. He sowed three 
bushels of seed to the acre and covered it with 
the Acme Harrow, harrowing again with a 
fine-tooth harrow when they were a few 
inches high. None of them lodged, though the 
oats measured flve-and-a half feet high......... 
La Porte, La Porte Co.—Every seed of the 
hollyhocks grew. Of the Perfect Gem Squash 
two seeds grew, bearing S3 perfect squashes— 
tbe most perfect squash I have Been. I think 
there is money in it. If I could get no more I 
would not take a dollar apiece for tbe seed. 
The Rural Golden Heartwell Celery was plant¬ 
ed beside the Crawford Half dwarf. The soil 
was a little stiff for the Heartwell to break 
through, consequently I only got about 50 
plants; but after they were transplanted 
every one lived, while half of the Crawfords 
died. The Rural Golden Heartwell is as large 
os any I have grown andof far better quality, 
and two weeks earlier. An unusual rise of 
the lake (Erie) submerged the W. E Potatoes 
and I fear they are entirely lost. The aspar¬ 
agus and Cuthbert Raspberry are all that 
could be wished. The Beauty of Hebron still 
holds its own. and I think is becoming more 
corpulent. We appear to have two strains of 
it. As we have for years cot but one eye to 
the piece, it is not strange that we find differ¬ 
ent strains occasionally as we usually plant 
several acres. J. 8 . B. 
I OWIl, 
Stanwood, Cedar Co.—A friend gave us 
some of the gem Squash seeds from the Rural 
Distribution. We had over thirty squashes 
from four small vines. They were good in 
Summer and are better now aud seem to be 
excellent keepers. F. B. n. 
New York. 
Lima, Livingston Co.—Planted 140 kernels 
of the Rural Heavy Dent Corn on May 29: 70 
germinated after the ground bad been cov¬ 
ered with water three times, twice before 
planting and once after—a complete uiortar 
bed; clay-loam under-drained as hard as a 
brick. I nursed the corn by putting on leached 
ashes and scrapings from under a shed where 
the hens had run, and harvested 94 plump 
ears, from eight to twelve inches long and 
eight to nine inches iu circumference. I lost 
two or three ears by being destroyed by hens, 
and I also lost two ears by rats after harvest¬ 
ing. The corn measured two bushels in the 
ear, yielding three pecks of shelled corn. J. R. 
New Jersey. 
Columbus, Burlington Co.—My R.ural Hol¬ 
lyhocks came up and grew luxuriantly and 
bore the prettiest of dark maroon double 
flowers I could desire. I have transplanted 
them, for I thought such beauties worthy a 
conspicuous place in the lawn. t. e. h. 
Penney I vanlii, 
Wallsville, Lackawanna Co.—I plant¬ 
ed 160 grains of Thoroughbred Flint Corn on 
May 20. At hoeing time there were 112 
spears. They grew very large and suckered 
immensely. Horses got in when the corn 
was in the milk and destroyed about one- 
eighth of it. The rest was cut up October 5. 
I husked about November 1 chree bushel bask¬ 
ets of ears. That which grew on the main 
stalks was mostly ripe enough for good seed; 
that which grew on the suckers was quite 
green. The Gem Squashes did very well; but 
for quality I do not think they ought to be 
mentioned in the same paper with the old 
Hubbard. My White Elephant Potatoes yield¬ 
ed extra well and are of extra quality. I 
raised from the second planting 19}*[ bushels 
of very fine tubers. I found a few rotten 
when dug, and have since lost nearly one- 
fourth of them by dry rot. Have they rotted 
with others ? w. e. m. 
[The reports received appear to show that 
the White Elephant is an average variety so 
far as rotting is concerned. With us it keeps 
finely.—E ds.] 
will make all the hole the vine needs 
the roots half each way from the cross-furrow 
(which is made to plant by); draw in a little 
earth with the hand to keep the roots in 
place, and let another person follow with a 
shovel and finish the planting. Four men 
can plant six acres in a day. Newly-broken 
sod will give the best growth of vine the first 
and second years. Grape-growers plant at 
different distances. We prefer, for strong- 
growiug varieties,10 feet each way; for Dela¬ 
ware and its class of growers, six feet in the 
row, the rows being eight feet apart. Coarsely- 
ground bone aud wood-ashes we have found 
the best fertilizers for grapes. Planting 
should be done as soon as possible after the 
ground settles in the Spring. 
“dutch short horns.” 
J. E. S., New Hartford, Conn .—What is 
the difference between the Holstein cattle and 
the short-horn Dutch cattle spoken very 
highly of by Flint in his work on Milch Cows 
aud Dairy Farming? 
Ans. —The short horn cattle spoken of by 
Flint on pages 14,15 and 32 of the above work 
are cattle said by some writers to have been 
imported from Holland and Denmark into 
the Teeswater district iu England, the orig¬ 
inal home of the “Durham” or Short-horn 
cattle, where tbe latter are alleged to have 
been crossed with the strangers, considerably 
to their improvement. This statement, how¬ 
ever, is denied with more or less vehemence 
by moBt Short horn men, who are unwilling 
to ooncede that their favorites owe any of 
their excellence to other stock, whether Dutch, 
Scotch or Chillingham. The term “Dutch” 
was also applied to the progeny of such alleged 
crosses. Flint uses the word “Dutch” as ap¬ 
plied to cattle a trifle loosely, as may be seen 
on page 53, where it seems to be applied to 
cattle from Sweden. Usually, however, he 
applies the epithet Dutch or Dutch short¬ 
horn to the cattle of Holland or their ances¬ 
tors, and the present cattle of Holland include 
the Holsteins and their close congeners, the 
Dutch-Friesians, as well as the Belted or Blank¬ 
eted Dutch cattle, and some other sorts not 
known in this country. The cow illustrated 
on page 53 of his work and described as “the 
cow most esteemed in Holland," is evidently 
of the Holstein or Dutch-Friesian breed. 
expensive queries. 
O. H. R., The Dalles, Oregon, asks whether 
the Rural would have specimens of his soil 
analyzed so as to Inform him what it lacks to 
produce large crops of wheat. 
An 8.—The cost of analyzing a specimen of 
soil would be $4 for each “ determination,” 
and five “determinations” would be needed 
to ascertain the constituents, causing a total 
expense of f20. The analysis would tell 
the constituents of the plot from which the 
analyzed specimen was taken, and of that 
only. An analysis of the soil ia other parts 
of the same field or of that in the next field 
might give very different results. At most, 
therefore, the analysis in this or any other 
case could be of no general use or interest, 
however satisfactory it might be to the owner 
of the ground. For a two-dollar subscription 
to the Rural, however, we really cannot af¬ 
ford to send that excellent paper fifty-two 
times a year, and in addition hold ourselves 
ready to pay $20 for an analysis of the soil of 
the farm belonging to each of our subscribers; 
for all have as much claim on us as any par¬ 
ticular one in this respect. Indeed, the same 
person might cause us an expense of several 
hundred dollars for analyses of the soil iu his 
different fields or of different parts of the same 
field. If the high-priced information were of 
general, or even of extensive, interest,of course 
money would be of “ no consideration ” to us 
in procuring it; and an answer to a single 
query In this department often costs us in 
money considerably more than a single sub 
scriptlon to the Rural. 
COWS FOR TUB DAIRY AND 8HAMBLES. 
L. E., Deljthos, O ,—What would be a good 
breed of cattle for a farm of 400 Acres, for 
Fig. 65. 
The feed-rack is in the center, placed so that 
hay can be dropped from the floor above 
through two chutes. There should be at least 
two large doors in the sheep floor, and it would 
be better to have more than half the front in 
doors made doable so that the upper or the 
lower halves could always be open. The 
sheep floor may be eight feet high and the 
hay floor the same. 
A CALF STALL. 
c. W, L., Scott Co., Iowa .—What is a good 
plan for a calf stall in which 12 calves can be 
conveniently fed meal, hay aud skimmed milk ? 
Ans. —The following plan has been found con¬ 
venient for a calf stable of the kind mentioned. 
North Carolina. 
Henderson, Vance Co., Jan. 18.—Although 
our farmers were compelled by the short 
crops of 1881 to run deeper in debt in 1882 
than usual, yet they learned a lesson which it 
is to be hoped they will not soon forget. The 
raising of too much cotton, to the exclusion 
of food products, is destructive of the best 
interests of Southern agriculture. The corn 
crop of last season was the best we have had 
for many years, and the dealers are getting 
but a very small proportion of it. If this 
state of affairs continues for one year, then 
there will be no excuse for the planter who 
sells corn n November and buys corn again 
in July at au advance of 50 per cent. Cotton 
was late owing to the cold, wet Spring; but 
frost held off late in the Fall, so that almost 
every boll opened, yielding much better than 
was anticipated earlier in the season. Cold 
weather retarded picking; some are not done 
yet, aud some corn still hangs on the stalks in 
the field. So far this is an exceedingly severe 
Winter. Very many rain and snow storms, 
winding up with a foot of snow on the 10th 
of this month. A large acreage of wheat has 
been sown, though but on very few fields is it 
above ground. We shall look for it when 
this snow leaves us. Our coldest morning 
was Dec. 8., at sunrise, 6° above zero. On 
Jan. 11 and 12 the thermometer was down to 
8° above. Prices in our home market are 
about as follows: Cotton, 9c.; wheat, $1.00 to 
$1.10; sweet potatoes, 60c.; eggs, 15c.; butter, 
35c.; tobacco, from 4c. to $1. ; oats, 60c.; 
corn, 50 to 60c. m. b. p. 
Missouri. 
Eldon, Miller Co., Jau. 18.— We have been 
having a great deal of cold, cloudy, threaten¬ 
ing weather; more so than usual, with very 
little falling weather. The continued thaw¬ 
ing out in the day and freezing up hard at 
night must damage Winter wheat, especial¬ 
ly the lat® sown, A slight covering of 
Fig. 66. 
It is a building of sufficient length and width 
to accommodate the calves, leaving a feed 
passage in the front with a trough for the 
feed. A short partition is rnude at the head 
to separate the calves and the feed boxes. 
Each calf is tied by a short rope and a strap 
around the neck to prevent one from inter¬ 
fering with another; the feed trough is low 
down and a pail with milk can be set in it for 
the calf to drink. 
ONIONS. 
W. J. //., Lemont, III —1. Will onions grow 
successfully on light, clay soil that was well 
manured three years ago with barnyard dung? 
2, What vurlety of onion is best for this soil and 
latitude? 8, What kind of fertilizer, if any, 
should I use? 4, How many bushels per acre 
may I reasonably expect with good cultivation. 
Ans. — 1. Yes. 2. Probably the Yellow Dan¬ 
vers will give beat satisfaction. Try also the 
Weathertfltld Large Rtd and th« BUht 8kin 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of tbe writer to Insure attention.] 
PLANTING A VINEYARD. 
W. A. P., Williamsburg, Va .—I have 250 
good, strong grape-vine roots which I started 
from cuttings laat Summer. I wish to set 
them out permanently the coming Spring. 
When and how should the soil be prepared? 
Wb*t in the beat manure and how should it 
