266 
a 
APRIL 28 
Cwnjwljm. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
MnsfiachnBftts. 
Springfield, Hampden Co., April 8 :—Ou 
March 4 I planted the seeds of the Niagara 
Grape in a seed-pan 13 inches wide and six 
in -U as deep, set in a 13-inch saucer, and 
poured boiling-hot water into the saucer every 
time 1 watered them. They were placed in 
the sitting-room window and the vines began 
to come up yesterday. L, m. 
Scott, Cortland Co., April 7.—My Niagara 
Grape seeds are coming up. T planted them 
three weeks ago after soaking them in warm 
water 34 hours, in a cigar box of good soil, aud 
have kept them close behind the sitting-room 
stove, well wet, with a paper over the box to 
keep the surface from drying. Several plants 
are up and more coming every day. \v. E. 
New York. 
Nunda, Liv. Co., April 10:—The grape 
seeds which you sent were received about the 
middle of February. I planted six seeds in a 
small pot. which I kept wet from the bottom 
as you advised, aud the 2nd of April a fine 
plant made its appearance; also another on 
the 8 th. We planted the remaining seeds 
later. J- v. t. 
Ohio. 
Mansfield, Richland Co., April 7.—I 
planted about a dozen of my Niagara Grape 
seeds soon after receiving them, in a small 
crock, placed and kept in the east sitting- 
room window. In about three weeks after 
planting one germinated aud came up. looking 
thrifty and strong. At the end of another 
week two more germinated. These are all 
that have put in an appearance to this time. 
The first, one up has now formed two rough 
leaves; the other two are yet in the seed- 
leaves, and have at no time had the vigorous 
and hardy appearance of the one first up. No 
extra care has been given; the earth in which 
they are planted is a day loam, with some 
sand aud vegetable mold. G. w, s. 
Mansfield, Richland Co., April 10.—Wheat 
in this section is quite brown and frozen in 
appearance, but a close examination shows the 
roots not injured. Farmers who were much 
discouraged are taking more hope. Present 
prospects indicate an average crop. G. w. s. 
<£l)f <&umsL 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the uame 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.] 
APIARIAN QUERIES. 
J.E. M, , address mislaid, asks several ques¬ 
tions about bees, all of which are answered as 
follows by Prof. A. J. Cook. 
If J.E. M.purchasesthe nucleus,he had better 
add frames containing foundation. Then the 
combs will surely be built straight., aud the 
foundation will more than pay in other re¬ 
spects. Unless he puts foundation in the 
frames he must watch the frames to be sure the 
combs are true; still, if a single empty frame 
is added at a time, and placed between other 
frames full of brood, honey, etc., the chances 
are many to one that the combs will be straight 
and true. It always will if rightly spaced and 
the frame is between two frames with brood and 
honey all capped. The second tpiestion is hard 
to answer. It depends on the honey plants of 
the region and the season. By the middle of 
July the clover, the raspberry, in fact all fruit 
bloom, is [Mist, and unless there are Bass-wood 
and Fall flowers, feeding would have to be re¬ 
sorted to in most parts of the Western States- 
The seasons, too, are vaiying. Sometimes 
there is no nectar secreted late because of cold 
nights or much rain. In such a case as sug¬ 
gested by J. E. M., close watching would be 
imperative were wc to insure against failure. 
1 use a cubic foot for Winter space, which 
takes eight Gallup frames. In very cold Win¬ 
ters, like the past, bees often fail, when win¬ 
tered out-doors, to move the cluster, and so 
starve, even though the space is contracted. 
We have had one colony starve the past Winter 
just iu this way. There was abundance of 
honey n the hive. Three frames at one end 
were ul touched; four-and-one-half at the other 
were eaten clean. In the cellar no such result 
could have occurred. 
SUNJ LOWERS SEED FOR POULTRY. 
W. 11., Norwich, N. I’.—Is sunflower- seed 
good for poultry? 
Ans.—,S unflower seed is very nutritious, hut 
unless poultry are at lilierty they should be 
fed with it sparingly. To birds free to exer¬ 
cise it may be given alone and entirely with¬ 
out risk to health, but then it will not prove 
as profitable as if fed with grain. It 
should not, however, under any circum¬ 
stances, be fed with eoru, Poultry will always 
do better upou a mixed diet than upon a 
single article, even though the latter contains 
more nutriment than the others combined. 
Sunflower seed is especially valuable as poul¬ 
try food iu Winter and at this season. Its 
utility is soon seen in the improved condition 
of the plumage. Its action upon the skin is to 
increase the oily secretion, lessening the lia¬ 
bility to vermin. Buckwheat would have the 
same action in the main as this seed, but, 
having the further tendency to develop any 
scrofulous taint, it is to be avoided, unless the 
birds have perfect freedom and must scratch 
in good part for their living iu the open air, 
giving their blood the chance for aeration. 
Plant, sunflower seeds in the poultry yards 
fbr shade, protecting the plants until beyond 
the reach of the birds. Poultry are very fond 
of the leaves when young, and will even 
strip mature plants hare as high as they can 
reach. The stalks, burned in the poultry- 
yard, will yield an ash the birds will eat 
greedily. It is said the large proportion of 
potash contained in it will appease the appe¬ 
tite of both egg aud aud feather eaters. The 
Mammoth Sunflower advertised so largely a 
few years ago. is worthless except as stalks for 
burning. The seeds are mainly husks aud 
the leaves tough. 
SCALY LEGS ON POULTRY. 
J. O. C., Miller's, Va, —Is there any sure 
remedy for scaly legs on poultry ? 
Ans. —This ailment is due to the operations 
of a minute insect under the scales of the 
fowl's legs, and in our own experience we 
have foui d that the most effective remedy is 
to place the affected legs in a narrow pail of 
kerosene. Generally the operation will have 
to be repeated, but it will cure the worst 
cases if persisted in. Tegetmeir and Moxeu 
recommend to soak the legs in warm water, 
so as to remove the scurf without injury’, and 
then to apply sulphur ointment, to be had at 
the nearest drug-store. Other remedies recom¬ 
mended by trustworthy, practical poultry- 
owners iu the Rural, are the following:— 
Wash the legs as above described, and rub 
kerosene freely upon them while they are held 
upwards so that it ean penetrate under the 
scales. The birds should have wholesome diet, 
including animal food at least once a day. 
Auother remedy is to wash the legs with a 
weak solution of sugar of lead in the morning, 
aud anoint them with clean lard mixed with 
ointment of creosote justjbef ore going to roost. 
In all cases the affected birds should be sepa¬ 
rated from the rest of the flock as soon as the 
first symptom of the malady appears, as it is 
extremely “catching.” The ailing fowl should 
not be exposed to rain or even permitted to 
roam on wet grass, but should be kept quiet 
until the disease disappears, which will he in 
from eight to ten days if properly treated. 
FRUITS FOR NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 
P. M., Maple Forest, Mich. —What are the 
best varieties of the following sorts of frait 
for Northern Micliigan—lower peninsula? Ap- 
ples, two Bummer; two Autumn; four Winter. 
Pears, two Summer; two Autumn; two 
Winter; three Plums; four Cherries? 
ANSWERED BY PRES. T. T. LYON. 
Ans. —Two Summer Apples; Early Harvest, 
Red Astrachau. Two Autumn Apples; Kis- 
wick Codlin, St. Lawrence. Four Winter 
Apples; Jonathan, Shiawassee Beauty (or 
Fameuse), Red Canada, Golden Russet. Two 
Summer Pears; Uoyeund d’ Etc, Osbaud’s 
Summer. Two Autumn Tears; Bartlett, 
Sheldon. Two Winter Pears; Beurrd d 1 Anjou, 
Lawrence, Almost any of the European or 
garden Plums will succeed on suitable soils 
in Northern Michigan. A good assortment 
for profit would be Washington, Jefferson, 
Ravay’s Green Gage, Lombard, Bradshaw, 
Yellow Egg. Neither the Sweet nor the Duke 
Cherries will stand the climate of Northern 
Micliigan. Any of the Morellos will be found 
hardy enough in most seasons. Kentish, 
(Early Richmond), Late Kentish, Louis Philip 
aud perhaps Carnation, will afford a good 
succession. 
FIELD BEANS. 
D. C. N., Townees, N. F.—How are field 
beans raised? 
Ans. —Beans can be planted either by the 
drill system or in the hill. Good crops may be 
obtained either way. The row’s should be 
about three feci apart, aud the lulls one-and-a- 
half to two feet apart in the row. Drills 
should be about the same distance apart as the 
rows, but the plants should uot be too thick iu 
the drills. After the plants are nicely up, the 
the cultivator should be started, and the soil 
lie kept loose and free of weeds. After hoeing 
about two weeks or so, run the cultivator 
through again aud keep them well tilled until 
time for blossoming. They should not be 
planted until all danger of frost is over in the 
Spring, and they should lie harvested before 
frost comes in the Fall. In harvesting, hand¬ 
pulling Is the method usually pui-sued. The 
vines may be thrown in windrows where the}’ 
may be easily shaken out uutil dry, ami then 
drawn to the mow or stack or te> the thrashing 
floor. The soil best adapted to the bean is of 
a light, warm or sandy nature. As beans are 
very exhausting to the soil, plant food re¬ 
moved by the crop should be restored by the 
use of propel 1 fertilizers. 
FISTULA ON HORSE’S SHOULDER. 
W. F. L., Grnftrm, IF. Va, —My horse has 
a sore shoulder, caused, I think, by injury 
from tho collar. A swelling fonns round a 
hard gristle when the animal is worked, and 
subsides after a few days’ rest: the first day 
after lie begins work agaiu the swelling is very 
large; how should he lie treated? 
Ans. — From the above description it seems 
that the sore has become a fistula, and that 
cartilaginous pipes have formed in it. This is 
the usual coui-sc of a pustular tumor, 
or boil which has been produced by re¬ 
peated bruises upou any muscular tissue and 
lias had no opportunity of recovery. The 
treatment must first include the removal of 
the cartilaginous tube or pipes, if there are 
more than one. This must lie done by poul¬ 
tices with lard added to them; by patient con¬ 
tinuance the hard substance will slough or 
come away and the wound will then heal very 
rapidly. But the horse should not be worked 
with a collar meanwhile. It is a ease in which 
an ounce of prevention—in the shape of a 
well fitting collar—would have been worth 
several pounds of cure. 
JERSEY RED AND DUROC SWINE. 
L. A. IF., Mayseille, Ala. —Where can I 
get red hogs? 
Ans. —There are two breeds of red hogs: 
the Jersey Red, bred in New Jersey, and the 
Duroc bred in Saratoga and Washington 
Counties, N. Y. Col. F. D. Curtis, Charlton, 
N. Y., breeds the Durocs which were illustra¬ 
ted iu the Rural of last year. Both the 
Jersey Rod aud the Duroc resemble the old- 
fashioned Berkshire from which they are 
probably descended. The Durocs are finer- 
boned than the Jersey Reds, not lieing so 
coarse and they do not generally grew to such 
large size. Both breeds are well adapted 
to the South and are remarkable for hardi¬ 
ness and prolifienessand for the production of a 
larger amount of lean meat iu proportion to the 
fat than any other breed. Col. Curtis reports a 
Duroc sow Which weighed over 500 pounds, 
the meat being nine inches thick through the 
back, five inches being lean meat. Jersey 
Reds can he had from W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
anaesthetics for animals. 
J. E. I)., Andes, N. Y. —I wish to castrate a 
pig, could he be put under the influence of 
chloroform during the operation? 
Ans.— Chloroform or ether can be adminis¬ 
tered to a pig by wetting a sponge with ether 
aud holding it to the nostrils so that the fumes 
may be inhaled. The animal would have to be 
caught and held with a slipping noose around 
its upper jaw. This will set it to squealing 
aud the stopping of the squealing would in¬ 
dicate that it had had sufficient, and the oper¬ 
ation could be performed which ought not to 
take longer than a minute. The use of anaes¬ 
thetics is not as dangerous with animals as 
with persons, as they possess a lower nervous 
organization. 
miscellaneous. 
IF. W. F., Waterville, O. —1. I’m thinking 
of planting my poultry-yard with plum trees, 
will the poultry dest.roy the curculio ? 3. How 
near to each other should the trees be planted? 
3 . What is the best fence for such a yard ? 4. 
How many fowls could be kept in a yard ono- 
third of an acre square ? 5. What is the best 
work for a farmer on the treatment of farm 
animals in general ? <». Are fish guano and 
sea-fowl guano the same? 
Ans. —1. The plum curculio matures in the 
ground under the trees where the injured fruit 
has dropped. When the hens are confined in 
a yard nothing in the shape of an insect, es¬ 
capes them, and of course any curcnlios that 
may emerge from the ground arc picked up. 
We cannot tell precisely how it happens, but 
this we do know that the plum trees iu the 
fenced poultry-yards last year were loaded with 
plums, while those outside the fence did not 
mature one plum. We know of several such 
cases. 2. Plum trees should be 18 feet apart. 
The Wild Goose Plum needs 35 feet on each 
side. 8 . The woven steel wire fence of the 
Sedgwick Go., of Richmond, Ind.. is the best 
we know for poultry-yards; 54 inches wide is a 
good size. 4. With occasional range, and if 
the yard is plowed or cultivated now and then 
to keep the ground fresh, 100 fowls can Is? kept 
in one-third of an acre. 5. Dadd’s American 
Horse Book and Dadd’s Cattle Book are plain, 
popular, useful works, more so than others. 
Law’s Veterinary Adviser is the best of all, 
but too tecliuical for common use*. •>. Fish 
guano is the refuse scrap from the fish oil 
works; sea-fowl guano is an inferior kind of 
the common guano, supposed to consist of the 
droppings of sea birds. 
,/. E., Seneca Falls, N. Y .—What is a remedy 
for a little green bug ou my grape-vines. As 
soon as the buds appear in Spring the pest* de¬ 
posit their eggs uiul iu a short time hundreds 
of small gray worms come under the leaves 
and eat them up? 
ANSWER BY D. S. MARVIN. 
The description is so vague that I have been 
unable to identify this enemy of the vine. 
J. E., should have stated the manner in which 
the leaves are eatcu. The Grape-vine Flea 
Beetle eats holes in the leaves and destroys the 
buds, but the bug is blue instead of green. 
The color, though, varies, and it should he 
stated whether there is more than one brood 
during the season. However, the remedies 
would perhaps be much the same. Syringing 
the foliage with whale-oil soap, or blowing 
pyrethrum powder on the under surface of the 
leaves ought to dislodge and destroy the worms. 
If these fail, I would uot hesitate to resort to 
Paris-green and London-purple, either dusted 
or showered in water over the foliage, for if 
the vinos were once cleared milder remedies 
might keep tho pest in check. It would be 
better to lose the fruit one year by poison than 
allow the vines to he destroyed. 
C. TF. /»., Junction P. O., Fa.—1. Will cows 
be more likely to take the bull on the ninth 
day after dropping a calf than at other times? 
2 . Which is the best grain drill; 
Ans. —1, The cow, sheep and ass as well as the 
mare will very often become iu a reproductive 
condition on the ninth day after parturition. 
It is not always that visible indications are to 
be observed, but if they are introduced to the 
male, the service is generally effected with 
more certainty ou that day than at any 
other time. If this period is allowed to elapse it 
may be several weeks before the cow may come 
in condition again. 2. We have not found 
much difference between the various grain 
drills. The mechanism is very much the same 
iu each of the leading machines; in choosing 
a grain drill all that, is really needed is to pro¬ 
cure one that is well and .substantially made, 
and all the leading manufacturers take pains 
to secure this. 
"Joseph," Dell Rapids, Dakota. —1. Why 
are not Suffolk Swine more popular, and what 
would be the best cross with them ( 2. What 
is a good paint for out-liuildings; is coal-tar ? 
Ans. —1. Suffolk hogs are too fat to suit cus¬ 
tomers. They have uot growth enough to meet 
the wants of extensive breeders. A Suffolk 
boar crossed on a Chester White,Duroc or sows 
of other large breeds would be valuable for 
feeding. 2. There are patent paints highly 
recommended. Good red paint can be had at 
a few cents a pound of dealers by wholesale. 
Coal-tar is cheap and very preservative, but it 
does uot impart any finish ton building. Crude 
petroleum is a very good covering for out¬ 
buildings and fences, as it penetrates deeply 
into the wood, gives it the appearance of pitch 
pine and renders it very durable. ()u account 
of its rapid absorption by the wood, however, 
it cannot be mixed with any coloring matter, 
as this would be left on the surface and be 
washed or rubbed off. 
./. (?., Grand Rapids, Mich. —A cow has the 
annoying habit, of voiding from the rectum 
and bladder while being milked; how can this 
be prevented? 
Ans. —This is due to a nervous reflex action 
hy which the bladder and bowels are stimu¬ 
lated by the irritation of the udder. It is 
quite common with some nervous cows. The 
writer has quite cured two cows which had 
this disagreeable habit by giving them a sharp 
slap on the back of the thigh when they began 
to whisk the tail, which is usually a prelimi¬ 
nary proceeding. This distracts the atten¬ 
tion, and when accompanied with a scolding 
in time removes the habit. 
G, C., Copest one, Ont. —1. Is there such a 
fowl as the Blue Spanish ? What should be 
done with a grupo-vine that hasn’t been 
pruned for a year? 
Ans. —1. There is a Black Spanish breed of 
poultry; but the ‘‘Standard of Excellence” 
mentions no such breed »is the Blue Spanish. 
2. We do not think it will do any harm to 
prune even now. Grape-vines were pruned 
at the Mass. Ag’l College at different seasons 
of the year, and it was found that those trim¬ 
med during the sap-flowing period were fully 
as strong aud productive as those pruned in 
the Fall and Winter. The loss of sap pro¬ 
duces no apparent harm; still the ojieration 
is objectionable. 
A. B. T1., N. V. (Hty ,—Some of my Niagara 
Grape seeds were planted Feb. 27; on Good 
Friday one vine appeared and in seven days 
grew l 8 ) inch. Then I transplanted it. which 
checked its growth for a few days, since then 
it has been growing well. The next l ine came 
up on April I, another on April 2, and in 
a week lakh grew more than an inch. The 
first had a clean, white stem, the second is 
pinkish at the base of the seed-leaf, and the 
third is pinkish along the entire stem; does 
this variety of color indicate differently col. 
ored fruit? 
Ans,—N ot necessarily. 
11. C. M., Kei/lescille, Mo. —Where can I 
get a good work on horticulture, fruit grow¬ 
ing, etc.? 
Ans.—W e do not know of any satisfactory 
work including horticulture and pomology, to 
