346 
9 
JUNE 2 
ford bull, which do yon consider the best for 
milk, haviug regard both to quantity and 
quality, and in quality' both as regards cheese 
and butter? 
Ans, —Heifers got by a Hereford bull are, 
T consider, equal to the pure-bred Short-horn 
for the production of milk, both as regards 
quantity and quality. 
3. As to the produce generally got by a 
Short-horn or Hereford bull, do you lind any 
difference as to their gaiu of tiesh or ability 
to thrive both at grass and in yards, and if 
so, state fully your views thereon? 
A ns. —My experience tells me that produce 
got by a Hereford bull out ot a Short-horn 
COW feeds quicker both on grass and when put 
up to feed. 
4. Do you fiud any difference of size in the 
produce, and if so, which are the larger ani¬ 
mals—the Short-horns, or those the result of 
the cross with the Hereford bull? 
Ans. —Produce obtained by the cross as men¬ 
tioned in No. 3 (viz., by a Hereford bull) is the 
larger of the two. 
5. Do you think there is any difference as 
to hardiness, or as to liability to disease, be¬ 
tween the Short-horns and the animals result¬ 
ing from the cross with the Hereford bull, and 
if so, to which do you give the preference! 
Ans.— Undoubtedly the produce obtained by 
using the Hereford bull is the hardier, and has 
my preference? 
fj. Does the offspring of the cross with the 
Hereford bull generally follow the marking of 
the sire or of the Short-horn dam? 
Ans. — I find that the offspring obtained by 
the cross with the Hereford bull usually fol¬ 
lows the sire in color in five eases out of seven. 
Ensilage in the Dairy. —Fermentation, 
says Prof. L. B. Arnold in the New' York 
Tribune, implies acid and alcohol, which never 
make good milk. They injure it for the use of 
infants and invalids; spoil it entirely for con¬ 
densing, whatever the food in which they are 
mingled, and depreciate it for both butter and 
cheese. He has repeatedly proved this in re¬ 
gard to sugar meal. Badly preserved ensilage 
is always sour. The degree of acidity and 
quantity of alcohol developed depend upon 
the amount of air permeating it. Ail that re¬ 
lates to ensilage and silos is steadily coming to 
a eommon-senselevel. The extravagant claims 
of 80 and 90 tons of fodder corn to the acre 
have been toned down more tbau half, and the 
idea that though it is known from its lack of 
flesh-forming matter to make an imperfect 
ration in its normal condition, it is, by some 
hocus-pocus in the silo, converted into a per¬ 
fect and w ell-balanced food, is giving way to 
the more sensible opinion that fodder-corn in 
a silo is as one-sided a food as it is out, and 
that variety in ensilage is just as important as 
in other fodder. The exact tests which have 
been made of its feeding value have none of 
them placed it higher than the same food 
dried or fed from the field, while some have 
made it lower, and the crucial tests of its 
effects upon the quality of milk have shown it 
to be inferior to the same food fed sweet in¬ 
stead of sow. If the silo is very tight the 
acid and alcohol are in such small quantity as 
not to be very objectionable, and the experi¬ 
ence of the majority of experimenter agrees 
in sustaining the liest modern silo as a cheap 
and efficient means for preserving green vege¬ 
tation for Winter use in a state but little in¬ 
ferior to its normal condition. 
Rearing Silkworms. —The Kansas Indus¬ 
trialist gives instructions for the rearing of 
silk-worms in a small way. The larva- thrive 
on Osage Orange leaves; and the writer be¬ 
lieves the product is nearly or quite as good as 
if they be fed on the White Mulberry, The 
eggs should be kept in a cool place—a cellar is 
good—until the young hedge leaves start; 
when, if they are brought into the tempera¬ 
ture of an ordinary h'viug room, the larvae 
will soon appear. They are not inclined to 
travel, aud may be kept on a pasteboard box 
lid, or even on a newspaper from the time 
they come out small, black worms, until they 
are 2)4 inches long, and are ready to open 
their cocoons. Lest refuse from their feeding 
should become moldy, and therefore damp, the 
worms must, be placed upon dcw and clean 
paper. It must be remembered that the young 
larvae are extremely tender, aud must lie han¬ 
dled with the utmost care. They cau, how- 
ever, be successfully transferred by letting 
them become quite hungry andsupplying them 
with good, fresh leaves on the young branch¬ 
es; the worms will crawl upon these, and may 
be readily transferred. In no case should wet 
leaves be fed, whether from dew or rain; all 
drops of water should be shaken off the leaves. 
They should be fed three times a day; in¬ 
deed, it will lie found that the letter the worms 
are fed, and the drier and warmer they are 
kept, the faster they will grow, the larger they 
will become, and the sdoner they will mature 
and spin their cocoons. 
The horrible hruelty of the traus-Atlantic 
importation ol •nilh’ suj* the Loudon Mark 
Lane Express, should surely count for some¬ 
thing in favor of a dead-meat traffic. During 
1882, the Report of the Veterinary Depart¬ 
ment tells us 2,797 animals were thrown over¬ 
board, 195 were lauded dead, and 138 wore so 
much injured or exhausted that they' had to 
tie killed at the place of landing, makiug a 
total of 3,130 animals drowned, killed, or in¬ 
jured. In 1881 the total was 9,221. This is 
not only horrible, but disgraceful also. With 
such heavy casualties, the sufferings of the 
survivors must have been very great. 
Prof. S. A. Knapp a-sks in the Iowa Home¬ 
stead, if it will pay the farmer to put up a 
mill and manufacture bis own sorghum crop ? 
He answers that the history of such transac¬ 
tions should lie the best answer to tins entirely 
practieal inquiry, and it has demonstrated 
that it is better for the farmer to give a rea¬ 
sonable proportion of the product to an expert 
for manufacturing, than to attempt to do the 
work himself in a way necessarily crude and 
unskillful. If too much is charged for manu¬ 
facturing at present, time will remedy this. 
Col. Portal, in the Field, takes the recent 
American recommendation of keeping breeding 
sows (of which he has 13 or 14) ent irely out at 
pasture iu the day-time. This plan has been 
employed on one farm, in the recollection of 
the Agricultural Gazette, for above 40 years; 
and upou that farm abortion, sows eating 
their litters, and swine-fever never once oc¬ 
curred. The pig is not half enough dealt with 
as a grazing animal. 
A writer in the Tribune says that the 
Golden Millet is preferred to the common Mil¬ 
let liecause the retail price of the seed is 82.25 
—75c. per bushel higher than that of the com¬ 
mon. He remarks, aud the remark accords 
with the Rural’s experience that unless the 
land for millet is pretty rich it is only a waste 
of seed and labor to cultivate it. Pulverize 
the soil well before sowing. Sow a bushel of 
seed to the acre, harrow, and if the laud is 
dry, roll It will be fit to cut in GO days and 
should be harvested when the heads appear. 
Millet may be sown for this climate as early 
as the middle of May and successive sowings 
be made until July, thus prolonging the crop 
green for soiling till sweet corn comes iu use. 
FINALLY. 
Harris Lewis, according to Joseph Har¬ 
ris, has mixed one bushel of hen manure to 10 
of muck and applied it to corn and mangolds 
with “wonderful results—too big to tell of”... 
The Philadelphia Weekly Press thinks that 
Mulberry trees would be useful in a poultry- 
yard,as they would furnish fruit, and shade for 
the fowls, and food for silk worms if those in¬ 
dustries should lie united, as they might be.,.. 
Mr, Caywood inclines to the opiuiou that 
too much pruning of grape-vines is the cause 
of grape-rot—and there is many a wilder 
theory. Give them more wood and more 
foliage to ripen the wood, and then thin out 
the fruit.-. 
Ciias. E. Parnell advocates the sowing 
of Blue Grass (Poa pra tens is), pure aud simple, 
for lawns. It will not form a lawn as soon as 
the mixtures for the lawn sold by seedsmen, 
but when formed it will pay for the waiting... 
Prof. Henry has found that a solution 
made of three-fourths of a pound of soap to a 
gallon of water will destroy every scale in¬ 
sect it reaches. Pyrethruw is worthless. 
The London Ag. Gazette thinks that en¬ 
silage is not only the saving from destruction 
of what w’ould otherwise bo wasted for want of 
sunshine, but also it is the result of converting, 
by judiciously-controlled fermentation, coarse 
provender into appetizing, wholesome and 
productive food. 
There is a field of Hir J. B. La wes, at 
Rothamsted, that has received no manure 
containing nitrogen for more than 40 years. 
A liberal application of mineral manure, i. e., 
potash and phosphoric acid, will not produce a 
crop of more than 13 bushels to the acre. An 
application of nitrate of soda, Dr. Dawes 
thinks, would certainly double this produce, 
and in a favorable season it might increase 
it fourfold..... 
A correspondent of the N. K. Homestead 
visited a farm where there were three costly 
silos each 13 feet square and deep packed with 
com cut with an expensive ensilage cutter. 
The ensilage of one w as inoldly aud worth¬ 
less. Ensilage was not, it appeal's, fed very 
largely as the milk was thought “too thin.” 
The foreman thought that upon ensilage alone 
the cow's would soon be ruined. 
We are pleased to see that our formidable 
contemporary Puck has taken to flowers, aud 
that the Rural New-Yorkeh is given the 
credit. We advised our friends to “Plant 
Liliurn longitlorum and eandidum; to plant 
Clematis, selecting Jaokmanii, Law soniana, 
Full' Rosamond, Coceiuea, Hophia and Heu- 
i-yii,’’ To this Puck v.firmly replies; “Wo 
will do it. As soon as the boy gets back 
we shall send him right out for the seed, 
and we shall plant, it in a herring-box, and set 
it out on the office window-sill, and in two < 
mouths more our friends will come iu and say: 
‘Oh! what exquisite specimens you have there 
of Liliiun longitlorum and eandidum!’ Aud 
they will also bestow words of praise on the 
Jackmauii, Lawsoniana, Fair Rosamond. Coc- 
cinea, Sophia and Heuryii. Ami w e shall feel 
highly delighted thereat. ’ Wo hope Puck 
will let us know' what success lie meets with. 
[See the Rural “comic” on the last page.] 
Several articles have appeared in the 
Rural columns praising the thorn as a quince 
stock. Joseph Iloopes. au excellent authority, 
states in the N. Y. Tribune that: “ The fact 
is that no kind of fruit on thorn proves satis¬ 
factory. Grafts of pear and apple will unite 
aud grow for a time, hut soon become un¬ 
healthy and produce little, if any, fruit. Good 
thrifty pear seedlings are, after all, the only 
really valuable stocks to be thought of> 
although the Angers Quince answers well for 
dwarfing and inducing nu early bearing. 
Professor S. A. Knapp. of Ames, Iowa, 
thinks that, we cau make sorghum sirup lower 
than any foreign brand can be imported, anti 
that the crop is reliable in all seasons if prop¬ 
erly managed. It. is so light a tax upon the 
soil that many successive crops can be raised 
without manure, as most of the material comes 
from the atmosphere. 
“ Think-shop.” a word used in the Ohio 
Farmer, is a good sort of tiling to have aud to 
use on every farm.- • 
“ The requirements for market fruits” says 
Dr. Hexamer, “are just the reverse of those 
most desirable for home use. The most es¬ 
sential properties in a market fruit, in the 
order of their importance, are laid down by 
the New York State Horticultural Society as 
follows: 
“1. Productiveness; 2. Keeping Quality; 
3. Size: 4. Appearance; 5. Eating Quality. 
For home use, reverse the order.”. 
P. M. Augur, speaking of the “ Causes of 
Failure iu the Peach,” iu Bliss's Garden, men¬ 
tions (1) unsound seed or buds; (2) infected 
soils; (3) the peach borer; (4) excessive late* 
growth; (5) over-bearing. Mr. Augur says 
that peaches should be grown on laud of mod¬ 
erate fertility and on a high northern expo¬ 
sure. We should grow' no other erop in the 
same orchard; it should lie well cultivated 
until midsummer. He recommends an appli¬ 
cation of 25 bushels of caustic lime to the acre 
every four years, 400 to 000 pounds of lioue and 
the same amount of muriate of potash to sup¬ 
ply uot only potash but “chlorine.” which is 
said by Dr. Goossmann to be a specific against. 
the yellows... 
The New' England Homestead says that it 
costs very little to keep the daily milk record 
for every cow. A steelyard aud a ticket for 
every cow' will tell the story, aud then you will 
know just how much each cow is worth to 
you—which to keep and which to turn off..... 
Fresh lime-juice is considered a specific iu 
China for diphtheria. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada. 
Falkland, Brant Co., May 11.—Wheat is 
badly killed; it will not be more than half a 
crop. Spring cold aud ltackward. Markets— 
wheat, 70 to 95 cents; barley, 55 cents; liens 
60cents; oats, 40 cents; cattle, live weight, 5 
to 7 cents per pound; butter, 25 cents; eggs, 
15 cents; cheese, 14 rents; hay, 810 per ton; 
potatoes, 50 to GO cents a bushel; com, 70 cents 
—all in good demand except w heat. T. a. 
iNiohlciui. 
Ludington, Mason Co., May 14.—Spring 
very late, but fruit looking well so far. 
Nothing in bloom yet; April very dry—only 
two rains in all the month. May wet enough 
surely, cold also. *'• T - 
Went Virginia. 
Scott, Wood Co., May 15.—W heat looks 
well; com planting in fair condition; fruit 
very good. If no frost, a big crop of grapes 
Grass fine. E * M - 
£l)e (Querist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention.! 
the apple tree borer. 
IP. B. A., Como, M. T.—l. The bark ou some 
of my three-year-old apple trees is dead iu 
spots, al ways on the south side; under it 1 found 
wood dust and u worm flat, white and yel¬ 
low, about IK inch long, sometimes buried in 
the wood though generally just under the 
bark: is it the regular apple tree borer? It is 
also found in half-dead Pities and Cottonwood. 
2. What should be the treatment of the trees 
for their present and future welfare? 3. Have 
the pests now in the trees done all the damage 
they cau do? 4. I have cut out all I could and 
piled a mound of w ot earth around the tree 
and above the wounds; could l have done bet¬ 
ter? 5. Will the pests trouble the older trees? 
6. What is the best work ou fruitgrowing? 
ANSWERED BY T T. LYON. 
1. The insect in question is doubtless the Flat 
Headed Apple Tree Borer, (Saporda bevittata) 
which usually attacks the tree near the ground. 
The beetle is nocturnal, and hence rarely seen. 
2. This insect rarely, if ever, deposits its eggs 
in healthy, vigorous trees, in this case, as is 
very frequently the case with, newly planted 
trees, the enfeeblcineut consequent upon trans¬ 
planting, invited the visits of the parent insect 
for the deposition of its eggs. All the larva; 
should have been cut out or otherwise de¬ 
stroyed before the commencement of growth 
in Spring; and before the appearance of the 
beetles (about the beginning of Juno), wash 
Flan for Ventilating a Hor House.—Fig, sl9. 
he trunk and larger branches with strong 
soap suds (if the trees are young) or soft soap 
for older trees; and, if washed off by rain tie- 
fore midsummer, repeat the application. 3. 
The larvae continue two or three years, doing 
more und more damage each year. The first 
year they seldom get deeper than the sap-wood; 
afterward they bore the trunk through and 
through. 4. The mound of wet earth can do 
no harm, and if perchance the moisture shall 
reach the larvae it may kill them. Once in, 
the only sure remedy is to cut them out or 
punch them to death with a flexible wire. The 
best preventive is rigorous trees; and, if rut 
out, keep the bark and exposed wood coated 
during the egg-depositing season, with lye, 
soap suds, carbolic soap, or other equivalent 
substance to repel the lioetlc. 5. If older trees 
are thoroughly vigorous they will probably not 
lie troubled, unless, by leaning to the north or 
northeast, the hark on the exposed side of t he 
trunk becomes so enfeebled or diseased from 
the heat of the sun as to invite their attack;— 
a circumstance which they will surely dis¬ 
cover. 0. Dowming’s Fruits and Fruit Trees 
of America, 85, is the most, complete v> orlc for 
such purpose. The American Fruit Culburist, 
by J. J. Thomas. 83.75; The Fruit Garden, by 
P. Barry, 82.50; and, so far as the apple alone 
is concerned, American Pomology, by Dr. Jno. 
A. Warder, are each valuable iu their way. 
Plan for Ventilating a Hor House.—Fig. 320. 
VENTILATING THE DRYING ROOM OF A HOP 
HOUSE. 
Subscriber, addressvtistaid, 4\ hat is n good 
way of ventilating the drying room of a hop- 
house ? 
Ans. -There are several devices in use for 
ventilating the drying room of a hop house. 
The plan here described is that used in the 
English und Bavarian hop yards. It. consists 
of a tall roof surmounted by a hood which 
moves us the wind changes. In the illustration 
Fig. 319, A is the stove room; B the drying 
room over it, about five feel from the tlooi 
to the eaves; U is the cooling and store room? 
