288 
MAY 42 
seed when cutting to one eye, and cut each eye 
to the center of the potato. Great care should 
be taken when cutting to one eye that it be 
a strong one,..... 
At the Elmira Implement trial the Oliver 
plow attached to the Gaseady sulky had no 
land-side. The Husbandman remarks that it 
might be supposed that a mere mold-board 
with a point attached and a beam to take the 
draft could not make smooth furrows—that it 
would scoop off slices of earth with jagged 
edges. But such was not the fact. Doubtless 
the draft is lightened by the diminution of 
friction, the natural result of lessening the 
surface to grind against the earth. 
The Clipper was well commended for hill¬ 
sides as well as for level land unless flat fur¬ 
rows are desired. But most farmers prefer to 
have the furrows sot partly on edge. 
The Philadelphia Press says that the shape 
of the Kieffer pear is that of a beer barrel— 
Mr. Kinsey states iu the Bur- 1 Home that 
he plants seeds of the Amber Cane Sorghum 
in bills, and that three pounds are sufficient 
for an acre. It should be thinned to six caues 
to the hill. He tliinks the better way is to drill 
it in, five pounds to the acre, and then thin it 
by harrowing scon after it comes up. This will 
clean out the young cane earlier and cheaper 
than it eould be done with cultivator and hoe. 
The yield is from 10 to 20 tons per acre of 
green cane. 
Prof. Shelton, of the Kansas Ag. College, 
tried the effect of harrowing wheat on alter¬ 
nate plots with the result that the harrowed 
plots yielded 2,45 bushels of grain and 110 
pounds of straw more per acre. The plots 
were harrowed Feb. 20, and harrowed again 
and rolled April 13. He considers this large 
pay for going over the ground three times- 
He thinks well of Pearl Millet as it gives an 
i rumense yield of va 1 ual >le fodder. Its growth 
is so rapid that moderate droughts and chiuch- 
bugs do not materially injure it. 
It seems that Northern cane-seed Hour 
makes pancakes that are just as sweet and 
easily digested as those made from buckwheat. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Arkansas. 
Beebe Station, White Co., April 23.—We 
shipped our first strawberries (Crystal City) 
to-day. Farmers busy planting cotton: corn 
mostly in and looking well. Weather wet 
and rather cool. Prospect good for peaches, 
plums and apples. p. 
t'niiuda. 
Chatham, Ont. f April 21.—The Fall wheat 
in Western Ontario, Canada, is very badly 
winter-killed; there will not behalf a crop, 
according to present outlook: causes: a very 
severe Winter and scarcity of snow. a. mcd. 
California. 
Fresno, Fresno Co., April 10.—Om* recent 
rains have given a new lease of life to what 
wheat and barley survived the drought. With 
a few late showers probably we may make half 
crops. Farmers are plowing up their poorest 
grain, making Summer fallow. What wild 
feed was left alive has taken a new start, and 
stock is able to get quite a fair picking. The 
fruit prospect is good and I think we are out 
of danger from our usual April frost, s. n. H. 
Colorado. 
Larimer Co., April 19.—We are having the 
most favorable Spring we have enjoyed for 
six years—plenty of warm rains and rapidly 
melting snow. Seeding of wheat is about 
through, the first sown, up and looking fine; 
oats and barley partly sown and being put 
in fast. P. h. b. 
Illinois. 
Iuka, Marion Co., April 16.—Weather cold 
and wet; but little oats sown. Wheat consid¬ 
erably damaged by the liard Winter. Grass 
is growing slowly. Corn worth 40 to 60 cents 
per bushel; oats, 35 cents; wheat, 81; pota¬ 
toes, 30 to 40 cents per bushel. O, c. 
Indian Territory. 
Thackervillk, April 16.—I planted my 
crop of potatoes (Early Rose) February 16 
and they are eight or nine inches high now. 
Corn is up and looking well. Oats are very 
fine. The bulk of the cotton crop iu this 
neighborhood will be planted this week. a. w 
Iowa. 
Keokuk, Lee Co,, April 21 —Our fruit trees 
are coming in bloom, except Peaches, and a 
moderate fruit crop may reasonably be ex¬ 
pected here, while nursery trees are but 
slightly injured. Cherries are in bloom. g.o.h. 
Nebraska. 
Omaha, Douglas Co,, April 21.—The open¬ 
ing of the agricultural year could not be more 
promising for a golden Autumn. The writer 
lias just returned ham a western trip and 
noted the great work going on. Yesterday 
along the Colorado Central branch of the 
Union Pacific R, R., and on the Denver Pacific 
the utmost activity prevailed. The number of 
teams employed in turning ove r the wheat lands 
and seeding was astonishing, and this too in 
a region that depends on irrigation, but where 
there are grown 50 bushels of golden wheat on 
an acre. Asking a fanner the cost of turning 
water on the crops, he said the ditch belongs 
to the farm anil 50 cents au acre pay for all 
tbe labor of watering. This insures a crop, 
and prayers for rain are uot thought neces¬ 
sary by the men of Colorado. The yearly 
westward movement of rainfall is causing the 
accompanying movement of fanning. Some 
artesian wells sunk on the Laramie Plains last 
year, only 75 feet, are giving a good and con¬ 
stant flow. These wells will soon settle the agri¬ 
cultural problem on all the eastern slope of 
the Rocky Mountains and develop a great 
grain-growing country. Coming down the 
Platte Valley, the Spring wheat is up and 
looking very fine. The area of sown lauds 
will be increased this year 100 per cent and the 
farmers are busy preparing it. The good 
profits during the past season iu feeding hogs 
and cattle have told where the return comes 
from mixed /arming over a country where 
wheat is the only dependence. Arbor Day, 
which originated iu Nebraska, and for which 
the Hon. J. Sterling Morton deserves the 
credit, has been largely observed. Already 
news comes that parties have planted 60,000, 
40,000 and 30,000 trees on their farms, The 
writer while coming East yesterday, noticed 
that the trees planted by the Union Pacific 
at its stations were coming out well, the lawns 
were green, and here and there Lilacs and 
flowering shrubs were premising abundant 
bloom. This ornamentation of spots ou the 
once Great Desert makes a pleasant surprise 
to overland passengers. The Company has 
seeded its station grounds with Blue Grass, 
Red and White Clover, Orchard Grass and 
Red-top, both to make lawns as well as to 
show that these grasses can be grown with suc¬ 
cess,and the dairy farmers arc uot slow in sow¬ 
ing great tracts (one has 700 acres) for Fall and 
Spring pasturage. These are not needed for 
hay, for we have a wealth of the finest native 
grosses, free for the cutting. What would 
Eastern men think of bright, green hay at the 
cost of 81 per ton! Ou passing over the Wes¬ 
tern ranges last week. 1 noticed that the cattle 
and horses were looking very fine. The great 
blauket of snow ol' last Winter, which covered 
the country, has melted and already there is a 
green tiuge on the hills. There will be au 
abundance of early pasturage, fat cattle, large 
sliipmeuts, and good bonk accounts for the 
cattle men. The refrigerator car business is 
coming to tbe front, and the shipping of 
dressed meat is likely to be done at an early 
day at the base of supply. The pulse of the 
whole West beats strong. The proceeds of last 
year’s crop, to use a common expression, have 
set our people on their feet. They are out of 
debt, living in comfortable houses, with groves 
and orchards planted, with a start of cattle 
ami sheep on every farm, and an outlook which 
promises peace and plenty. It is u grand 
future when a man and wife can look forward 
with certainty to rest in their later days; that 
rest and leisure which are due to every man 
and woman who have toiled in the valley of 
labor. J- t. A. 
Pennsylvania. 
Annville, Lebanon Co., April 23.—We 
have passed from an ordinary-tempered 
Winter into a somewhat cool and wet Spring, 
thereby retarding ground work to a great 
extent. Considerable oats have to be sown 
yet in this vicinity, and the bulk of the po¬ 
tato crop has to bo put in. Prospects for 
the coming wheat crop are rather encourag¬ 
ing—fully as much so as the average pros¬ 
pects for a good crop at this time of the year. 
Small fruit, from what can be seen, appears 
to have suffered very little from the rigors of 
the past Winter. Stock in this part of the 
country have stood the Winter remakably 
well, all kinds of coarse fodder and coni 
ha viug been plentiful and cheap, with a fail- 
supply iu the farmers' hands us yet. All 
kinds of live stock find a ready market ut more 
than ordinary average figures. Wheat sells 
at about 81.10 per bushel; corn, 55 cents; 
oats, 45; potatoes, 50; Timothy hay, $15. * 
Vermont. 
East Hardwick, Caledonia Co., April 17.— 
Tbe weather is very warm and the snow is 
going off as rapidly as we ever saw it, and it 
seems that suguriug is over with less than 
half-a-poimd of sugar to a tree. Very little 
frost iu the ground and grass growing up 
through the edge of the snow iu sheltered 
spots. w. H. B. 
Shelburne, Chittenden Co., April 14.—The 
Spring is very cold and backward. Farmers 
have uot yet finished sowing; acreage of grain 
probably about that of last year. Meadows 
apparently came through the Winter well; 
new stock especially good. Farm help will 
probably be cheaper than last year as a large 
number of German have come into this sec¬ 
tion. w. H. R. 
(Tl)f (Oumst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.] 
irrigating a small fruit farm. 
J. 8. C., Sidney. Ohio. —1. Seventeen acres 
of land are composed of four of hill-sides and 
13 of creek bottom sloping gently to the East 
from the hill to the creek. The hill is 30 feet 
above the bottom and in it, about 10 feet above 
tbe highest part of the bottom, there is n flow¬ 
ing spring capable of affording 30 gallons a 
minute. Couldn’t this land l>e cheaply irriga¬ 
ted for the purjtoee of raising berries with a 
view to improve the size of the crop and the 
quality of the berries ? 2. What percentage 
of increase in the crop might be reasonably 
ex]iec-tod from such irrigation ? 3. The popu¬ 
lation of this place is 5,000, affording a rapidly 
growing market for small fruits mast of which 
now come by tail. There is rail communica¬ 
tion with Cleveland, 160 miles distant; Tole¬ 
do, 100 miles off. and Detroit 160 miles away. 
Would it not be tolerably safe for me to ex¬ 
pect to be able to make a good living at d 
something more from raising small fruits on 
such a lot properly irrigated ! 4. Would 
spring water become warm enough if con¬ 
ducted to the plants hv means of small canals, 
or would it Ikj better to construct a storage 
reservoir ? 
Ans.— 1, If we correctly understand the 
situation from your description, we think 
irrigation could be employed with comparative 
cheapness aud ease. We have no practical 
experience in artificial irrigation, but do not 
doubt it could l»e profitably employ'd! in dry 
seasons such as wo have had for three years 
past; but as to improving the quality of 
strawberries by this means beyond their natu¬ 
ral limit, we must take the negative side of 
the question—iu other words, the strawberry 
needs a certain amount of moisture to develop 
its normal qualities; but beyond this, the in¬ 
crease in size is at the expense of flavor; the 
flesh of extra-large berries is softer than that 
of berries of ordinary size, aud they trill uot 
keep or handle as well. For proof Of tins we 
have only to refer to excessively wet or 
or dull seasons when the flavor of strawberries 
is very much diluted, or, as it is sometimes ex¬ 
pressed. is washed out. The same is true 
of other fruits—an excess of moisture dete¬ 
riorates quality. 2. We should think 50 to 
100 per cent not an unreasonable gain to expect 
iu a very dry season. 3. From the data fur¬ 
nished, it certainly looks as though there was 
a profitable field for au enterprise of this kind 
if properly managed. It all depends ou the 
individual—first, on his ability to grew large 
crops of best quality; second, his success in 
disposing of them at good prices amid great 
competition. To raise a large crop is one 
thing, to profitably dispose of it, quite another, 
aud this Is the winning card of the whole 
pack. He who holds it, aud plays it well is 
sure to win. 4. The water could be carried 
underground by pipes or allowed to run over 
the surface as seems most feasible and cheap¬ 
est. Our preference would be for a storage 
reservoir, though the difference in temperature 
may not be of importance. 
ENLARGED MAXILLARY GLANDS IN HORSE, 
ETC. 
S. E. F., Beatrice, Neb .—1. For six mouths 
at least my six-year-old mare has had a swell¬ 
ing directly under the jaws in the threat; it 
does uot seem to interfere with her breathing, 
but when she neighs site emits a whistling 
sound, aud she is constantly foaming at the 
mouth; what ails her? 2, One of my cows 
constantly “throws ' 1 her calves: the last one 
she did not carry more than two months; is 
there uuy preventive? 3. A calf has a swell 
ing like that ou the horse; how should it be 
treated? 
Ans.— 1. This is au enlargement of the 
glands in the space between the lower jaws, 
known as the maxillary und sub-lingual. 
These glands may become inflamed and swol¬ 
len by cold or by u disease of the bronchial 
membranes, ns in the complaint kuowu as 
“distemper” or “strangles,’’ and may also be 
permanently enlarged by an incomplete cure 
of the disease. Iu this case the continuance of 
the enlargement for six months indicates a 
•chronic condition of inflammation of the 
glands or adjacent membranes. The whistling 
sound in the breathing is produced by the in¬ 
terference of the enlargement with the air 
passage and possibly by a thickening of the 
membranes us well. Similar swelling may be 
also due to u dropsical condition, iu which 
ease it will be very soft aud give way to press¬ 
ure without paiu. The foaming at the mouth 
results from interference with the salivary se¬ 
cretion which is a product of these glands. 
The treatment should be to apply poultices 
aud give half-dram doses of iodide of potas¬ 
sium for a considerable period and until the 
swelling is removed. Great care should be 
taken to preserve the horse from exposure to 
cold or wet and to secure pure air in the sta¬ 
ble. 2. The habit of the cow is probably con¬ 
firmed and her usefulness departed. 3. Treat 
the swelling of the glands iu the heifer in the 
same way as recommended for the horse. 
OVER-FEEDING. 
.7. M. A., Achor , Ohio. —1. My male turkeys 
are fatally affected by sonic ailment with 
these symptoms; Feathers very glossy; birds 
fleshy; breasts very full; tremble while walk¬ 
ing; loose feathers, especially on the breast for 
a couple of weeks and then within another 
week they die. When held up by the legs 
they discharge about a pint of greeu water 
with a very offensive odor. How should they 
be treated ! 2. I bought six Berkshire pigs 
when six weeics old, housed them well and fed 
them corn in the ear and butter-milk. In ton 
days two of them stopped eating, looked 
“drawn up,” as if cold, and next morning they 
were dead. The four others were turned out 
of the pen; two of them had diarrhea, aud 
died in two weeks. Tin two survivors were 
putina pen away from the place where the 
sick ones had been, aud for two weeks they 
throve well; then one of them stopjwd grow¬ 
ing and was dead in a week. What ailed 
them ? 
Ans. —1. We suppose this discharge is from 
the mouth. If so, the disease is caused by indi¬ 
gestion and is not uncommon in poultry. To 
cure it, give a tablespoonful of solution of Ro¬ 
chelle salts twice a day aud no feed for three 
days. Then feed lightly on brau mash with a 
little corn meal in it and half a toaspoonful of 
ground ginger. It is caused by over-feediug, 
which should be guarded against. 2. The pigs 
uo doubt suffered from the same cause. Over¬ 
feeding is the chief cause of trouble with 
young pigs. Half a pint of milk at a meal, 
three times a day, is quite euough for a six- 
weeks-old pig, with a little corn meal. Whole 
corn is dangerous food for such young jags 
whose teeth are too weak to grind it properly. 
THE RUSSIAN MULBERRY, ETC. 
./. M., Home, Kan*. —1. "Where can I get' 
seed of the Russian Mullnwry t How should 
the plants be raised in Southern Kansas? 2. 
Will Cranberries thrive here? 
ANSWER BY PROF. J. L. BUDD, OF IOWA, 
I. I do not know where seed of the Russian 
Mulberry can be secured in quantity', except 
by inqiortiug it direct from Russia. From 
seed it. runs into many variations iu form of 
tree, character of leaf, and size, quality, and 
color of the fruit. For silk worms, or fruit, it 
will lx* best to grew it from cuttings. From 
our experimental grounds we have sent out 
several hundred plants this Spring, grown 
from cuttings. Nearly every cutting made a 
bushy plant from two to three feet in bight, 
1 eauuot lielieve it will prove valuable as u 
timber tree East or West. Last Summer 1 
attended a Forestry Convention held ou the 
grounds of the Agricultural College near Mos¬ 
cow, Russia. Several hundred forestry mana¬ 
gers were present from all parts of the great 
empire. Every person to whom the subject 
was broached laughed at the idea of the Mo¬ 
rns Tatarica being valuable for timber in 
competition with their Onk, Birch, Elm, Bass¬ 
wood, White Poplar, or Rigu Pine. As 1 saw 
it in Southern Russia, it is a low, bushy tree, 
noted specially for persisting in throwing out 
limbs from the crown upward like the Morn* 
mullieindis. Yet it, will prove valuable on 
the great, prairies of the West as an ornamental 
tree, aud for use iu shelter belts where its 
fruit will have value as food for the birds aud 
to some extent for household use. 2. The 
Cranberry will uot prove profitable or produc¬ 
tive iu the dry uir of Kansas. 
WORMS IN THE HEAD OF SHEEP. 
Subscriber, IJurbank, Ohio. —Several young 
sheep have died from “grub-in-the-head.” On 
examining the Inside of the head after death 1 
found full-grown worms in close proximity t () 
the brain. Is there any help for sheep iu this 
condition, aud what, is a preventive ? 
Ans. —It, is unfortunate that our friend has 
not fully described these worms and whether 
they were in the cavity of the skull iu contact 
with the brain or iu the open spaces among the 
bones of the head, which are called the sin¬ 
uses. There are two kinds of worms which 
infest, the heads of sheep; one is something 
like the couimou white grub found in the soil, 
and is the larva of the sheep hot fly'. This 
harbors in the spucos outside of the brain cav¬ 
ity, but it rarely causes death unless very mu 
merous so as to produce irritation which inter¬ 
feres with the functions of the brain. The 
remedy for this disease is to keep the affected 
sheep iu u warm place, to steam the nostrils to 
induce the grubs to descend, and to till the 
place with fine dry lime-dust to produce vio¬ 
lent sneezing which expels the pests. If the 
worms are inside the brain cavity, they art* 
