37® 
JUNE 46 
Parker Earle, President of the Mississippi 
Valley Horticultural Society, said, in his ad¬ 
dress at their late notable New Orleans moot¬ 
ing, among other good things, the following 
for our "boys”: A bright, high-spirited boy is 
not afraid of labor, but he despises drudgery. 
He will work hard to accomplish a fine end, 
when the mind and heart both work together 
with the muscles', but he will escape from dull, 
plodding toil. Let our boys learn that rural 
labor is drudgery only when the mind is dull; 
that the spade mid plow and pruning-knife 
are the apparatus with which he manipulates 
the wonderful forces of the earth and the sky, 
and the boy will begin to rank himself with 
the professor in the laboratory or the master 
at the easel. 
— - - I M- 
Industrious Professor Ben] gives a chapter 
on snakes iu the Iowa Hot t instead, in which lie 
says that although the groat bulk of our com¬ 
mon snakes are entirely harmless as to their 
bite, and much less able to inflict a serious 
wound than is a rat, yet on the whole they do 
no good and we may, therefore, willingly let 
them go to the complete extirpation which is 
probably in store for them.They live only on 
animal diet, but. they take insects as a make¬ 
shift, choosing small birds and their eggs, and 
frogs and toads, all which are genuine friends 
of the farmer and gardener. It goes to the 
credit of the snakes that they make away with 
a good many mice and similar vermin. 
Our excellent exchange, the New England 
Homestead, alludes to the fact that the far¬ 
mers of Chester County, Pa., having been 
swindled by unscrupulous fertilizer-men, re¬ 
cently combined bo purchase for cash in quan¬ 
tities only of 100 tons. The result was not only 
a saving of 25 percent., hut the securing of 
goods fully up to the manufacturers’ guaranty. 
In Michigan the State Grange sot to work to 
break up a plaster grinders’ monopoly, which 
compelled the farmers to pay $1 a ton. The 
State Grange started a mill of their own, and 
the price is now whittled down to #2 a ton—a 
saving of $100,000 a year to the fanners of 
Michigan. We like to record those and simi¬ 
lar instances of successful co-operation, for 
they show what the farmers can do if they will 
only pull together. Just bear this in mind, 
farmers, everywhere. 
Mr. John M aver, of the Havemeyer Farm, 
is reported to have said, in the late Report of 
the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 
that the entire crop of corn was harvested and 
the silos filled in nine days. As it was late in 
the evening when the last, of it was put in, the 
covers were left oir over-night. 1 u the morn¬ 
ing he was aroused by one of the men, who 
reported that a fellow-workman had gone into 
the silo and had fallen unconscious before he 
could get out. Mr. Mayer at once hastened to 
the spot, and entered the silo to rescue the 
workman, but was overpowered by the gas, 
and he too fell unconscious as he was coining 
out. When he recovered consciousness he 
called a gang of men together and the covers 
were put on, and IKK) pounds weight to the 
square foot Were put on the covers. The mass 
settled down seven feet, or one-third of the 
depth of the silo. 
WORTH NOTING. 
Mr. J. Wallace Harrow remarks, in his 
Chatham Courier, that one of the most aggra¬ 
vating incidents in the farmer’s life, is to find 
his wagons and tools borrowed and kept until 
broken or unfit for use. We agree witli him 
that a farmer who cannot. In the main provide 
his own tools had better go out of the business. 
No rose, suys the London Garden, brings so 
much satisfaction to the eyes and noses of Her 
Majesty’s subjects or contributes so largely to 
the decoration of boudoir, bouquet and but¬ 
ton-hole as the magnificent roue Marcehal Niol. 
A Western farmer exercises his bull by 
making him run a tread mill, thus furnishing 
the power for churning, sawing wood, etc., 
says the N. E. Homestead. .. 
Try to make a creditable display at the fair. 
Remember that you remarked while looking 
at the cabbages, beets, etc., that you had 
“ better at home.’’..... 
Prof. Tanner forcibly remarks that they 
have two very good agricultural colleges in 
England for the wealthy class, but they are 
entirely l>eyoiid the reach of poor people. 
Prof. A. J. COOK, in the Ohio Farmer, cor¬ 
roborates the Rural’s statement that salt will 
not harm wire-worms. He has found that 
they will laugh and grow fat. In a llower-pot 
where enough salt was added to kill the plant. 
The Breeders’ Gazette says that more 
mares, cows, owes and sows are wanted for 
breeding purposes than ever before in the his¬ 
tory of our country.. 
Refuse to breed from a poor animal, 
whatever its pedigree.. 
To insist on any shade of color or peculiar 
markings in the Jersey or the Hereford can¬ 
not be wise../..... 
THE RURAL WEW'YOBKEB. 
Puck says that we may know Summer is 
at hand 
W HEN the small boy swaps his skates off for 
a base-ball... • > .. 
When the pot-hunter goes out. and shoots 
robins among the cherry blossoms. 
When a person can’t walk past a seed-store 
without tripping over a lawn mower. 
When the demure 1 ittleteacher of a Sun¬ 
day-school class calls around to see if she can 
sell you a few tickets for a strawberry festival, 
When the green apple bends the small boy 
until he looks like an interrogation point. 
The Court of Appeal 111 Brussels has just 
decided that the objection to pickles artificially 
colored green by the contact of the vinegar 
with copper utensils is a mere prejudice.. 
A writer in the Rural Home truly remurks 
that by drilling in corn t.lie expense of hand 
planting- about one day’s work per acre—is 
entirely saved, for it is no more labor to drill 
in (he seed than to mark the land into checks 
for planting. 
And now, says Prof. Arnold in the N. Y. 
Tribune, it is found that plank silos entirely 
above ground preserve fodder quite as well as 
those made of heavy masonry, and cost but a 
trifle in comparison.. 
•* Blessed is content, with simple happy 
competence, peace of mind, and the company 
of the lovejJ and trusted !’’ writes Mr. A. B. 
Crandell from his quiet country home. 
This insane attempt, says Mr. Sloeson in 
the Western Rural, to raise from one to three 
hundred acres of corn, when only half the 
number of acres can bo tilled as they should 
he, is beginning to dawn upon the minds of 
some from the few examples here and there 
practically given... 
Now is the time to thin out fruit so as to 
prevent the exhaustion of the tree by over¬ 
bearing. Mr. J. J. Thomas remarks that it is 
much easier to pick olF the small, poor speci¬ 
mens, before they have grown, than to liaud- 
pick them in gathering, and then to go over 
the whole iu the slow and laborious process of 
assorting..... 
If of proper materials ami properly put up, 
there is no doubt that lightning rods afford 
some measure of protection against lightning, 
remarks the Fanners’ Review, but ns usually 
put. up by men ignorant of the very first 
principles of electrical science, they are of 
little or no practical value. 
It is simply atrocious, remarks the Mark 
Lane Express, that beautiful flowers and 
plants should be called by hideous and crack- 
jaw names, which the public cannot rennim 
her even if they could understand them. 
The demand for hop poles and for hop run¬ 
nel's, which are usually cut off and thrown 
away, shows something of the extent of the 
mania for hop cultivation. Wo hope that 
there is not one attentive reader of the Rural 
New Yorker that is afflicted with this 
madness..... 
Dr. Nichols believes the dry fodder from 
ripened corn, put into silos and slightly 
moistened after 1 icing cut up, will give as 
good results us green fodder, when fed to 
milch cows. It costs but a trifle more to raise 
a good field of ripened corn than a field of 
green fodder, and if the dry fodder can be 
secured so as to lx* as valuable as the green a 
great guin will result to farmers. 
“ Hack out” the raspberry and blackberry 
suckers. Sprinkle plaster, or sulphur, or fino- 
sifted coal ashes, or flue, dry soil on the young 
melon or cucumber plants. Don’t wait until 
the first leaves are half eaten up. If your soil 
is sandy and dry, cultivate melons flat; if 
moist., hill up. Do not cut grass short, if you 
expect an after-math. Cultivate the beans 
well and keep them us free from weeds as an 
onion bed... 
Water constitutes on the average seven- 
eights of milk. The one-eighth only is valu¬ 
able as food .. 
"Has saltpeter preserving qualities, and 
why do we use it iu preserving pork and 
bains f’’ is a question answered in the late re¬ 
port of the Conn. Ag Ex. Station as follows: 
“Saltpeter has similar preserving qualities to 
common salt. Being much more expensive, it 
is not used for preserving simply, but because 
it gives a red color to lean meat. Sultpel.er in 
much quantity is very injurious to man, and 
but little should be used in preserving meat 
intended for human food”. 
It Is said that the yield of Amber Cane seed 
and stalk is about the same as that of Indian 
corn; but, let, it lie understood, after the seeds 
are ripe and hard the stalks are elili green 
and are thus suitable for ensilage or they may 
tiie better tie cured for fodder. 
A writer in Colman’s Rural Word says 
that he gives visitors “buckwheat” cakes 
made of sorghum flour and does not tell t hem 
until after the meal. ‘‘What makes your 
buckwheat cakes so nieeaiid sweet they ask. 
It is quite true, us Richard Goodman tells 
the Science News, that our ordinary agricul¬ 
tural gatherings are too much of the order of 
experience meetings, from which only those 
who do the gossiping gain amy satisfaction- 
Cbct^uiljexe. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Con n (’client. 
Tolland Co., May 27.—Grass is looking 
unusually well; so arc oats. Rye looks splen¬ 
did. There is a prospect of a fair crop of ap¬ 
ples, a full crop of pears and an average one 
of peaches. St rawberries promise well. Corn 
is not all planted. Potatoes are coming up 
with no present appearance of bugs. Butter 
sells from 22 to 25 cents per pound; cgus, 20 
cents per dozen; potatoes, 85 cents to $ 1 per 
bushel. Onions are being liotxl and are look 
ing well. On the whole, the farmer’s pros¬ 
pects for the year are favorable. vv. H. V. 
Onkoln Territory 
Miner Co., May 24th—My Niagara Grape 
seeds have sprouted. I scalded them and 
planted them out-of-doors. I think they will 
all grow. j. J. s. 
Texas. 
Lawrence, Kaufman Co., May 25,—Five 
years ago 1 came here from “Hoosiordom,” 
and. from my experience, believe H. A., of 
Nokomis, 111. (and many others who are 
troubled with weak lungs), can lind what he 
is sis.’king by coming to this part of Texas, us 
here we have both the climate and country lie 
needs and desires. This climate is very de¬ 
cidedly beneficial to those who have weak 
lungs, and by coming in time many such ore 
restored to perfect health if they remain here. 
Consumptives, too, are greatly benefited by 
this climate if they come before the last stage 
of the tiiseaso is upon them: but in case they 
are “far gone” it is useless for them to come. 
Tlds part, of Texas is also a good farming 
country, and no part is better for cattle and 
horses, if H. A., of Nokomis, or other readers 
of tiie Rural have any special questions they 
wish to ask concerning this climate or country 
they can write me, inclosing stamp for reply. 
Mrs. J. H. Raymond. 
WlMCOIIMill . 
Delavan, Walworth Co., May 28.—Reason 
very late; crops generally look well. I think 
more corn and leas potatoes iiave been put in 
than last year. Several smart white frosts 
this week, but no harm. Strawberries and 
apples only just in blossom. May or June 
bugs by far the thickest I remember. It 
seems to me there ore ten this year to one in 
previous years. Your Rural Gem Squash last, 
year did “first liest," with us, and was by far 
the finest Summer squash we ever saw; but, 
strange to say, the seeds saved from three or 
four of the ripest and best,all failed to vegetate 
this season. Crop of apple blossoms generally 
moderate or light,, save on Siberian Crabs, 
which are very full. Fruit trees and plants 
seem mostly uninjured by last. Winter. F. K.P. 
Si )t (Qumst. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must he accompanied hy the name 
and addroHH of the writer to insure attention.) 
SHEER AND COWS—FRUITS FOR MARYLAND- 
BEST UKK-1IIVK, ETC. 
A. H. //., Jiayville, Mik— 1. How many 
sheep can lie kept on an acre of pasture, and 
how many on the feed of one cow? 2. What 
are the best, varieties of apples for this section; 
also the best [>eais, poaches and grapes? 3. 
How can 1 construct a Langstroth hive, and 
how many boos can I keep on my farm? 4. 
I am thinking of starting a hennery of 1,000 
hens; would it be likely to pay, and what 
management would host conduce to that end? 
5. Where could 1 purchase agricultural books 
at a discount? 
Ans.— 1. It will dojiond on the kind of sheep 
and the richness of the pasture in the first 
place, and on the kind of sheep and of cows 
in the second place. Six Met inns can lie kept 
as easily ns three Cotswolds, anil either as 
easily as one ordinary cow of H(Mi pounds, 
live weight, but a large Holstein or Dutch 
Friesian would require as much pasture os two 
small cows. 2, The best, apples, jsvirs, peaches 
and grapes for Maryland, aeeording to the 
Ameriean Pomologicul Society, are: Apples, 
Cannon Foartnnln, Cornell’s Fancy, Drnp d> 
Or, Falla water, Gilpin, Gravenstoin, Jeffries, 
Loudon Pippin, Maiden’s Blush, Niekajack- 
Pryor’s Red, Rawle’s Genet, Bed Astrachan, 
Shockley, Smith’s Cider, Smokehouse, Sum¬ 
mer Pippin, Summer Rose, Tewksbury, Winter 
Blush, Winesap and York Imperial. The best 
pears are: Bartlett, Belle Lucrative, Bergen, 
Beurrtf Clnirgeau, Bourrd d’Anjou, BcurnS 
Giffard, Bonn* Buporlln, Bloodgood, Doyenne 
d’Ete, Duohw**! d’Angoulenic. Fulton, Gray 
Iloyenne,Henkel.Howell.I.awrcnce, Manning’s 
Elizabeth, St Michael Archaugc, Seokel and 
Sheldon. The best peaches are: Beer’s Smock, 
Crawford’s Early and Late, Early York, 
Grosso Mignorme, Hale’s Early, I/argo Yellow 
* York, Oldmixtrfi Free, Oldmtxon Cling and 
Susquehanna. The best grapes are: Concord, 
Delaware, Agawam, Catawba,Clinton, Gravel¬ 
ling, Elsingburgh, Go*tin 4 , Hartford Prolific, 
Israella, Ives, Massasoit., Maxatawney, Mer 
rimack and Norton’s Virginia. 3. This ques¬ 
tion lias been answered three times iu the last 
three mouths by ourselves and by Prof. Cook, 
and we must really refer our friend to back 
numbers, or he might buy the Bee-Keepers 
Guide, the cheapest and best bee book for any 
part of the United States, by Prof. A. J Cook, 
Lansing, Mich., by whom the book will be 
sent for $1.25. It gives full descriptions of all 
the important bee plants, and excellent, illus¬ 
trations of the more important ones. It. also 
gives full descriptions of the best hives, and 
tells how to make them. There Is no point, of 
interest to the bee-keeper which is omitted. 
The number of bees that can be kept, on the 
farm will depend on the number und kinds of 
honey plants on it and in the neighboring 
country, nlioiit which not. a word is Raid. 
4. We have very strong doubts about the suc¬ 
cess of a novice in poultry-keeping who at. 
tempts to start with 1,000 fowls. Much better 
begin with 1(H), or even less, and if successful 
with these you can mid to the flock, while if 
disgusted with failure the loss will not tie 
heavy, especially In contemplation of thehon v 
ier loss you would have escaped at. our .sugges¬ 
tion. It. would take far too much space here 
to give the information sought., but the wi ole 
subject, will be exhaustively discussed by Mr. 
Felch, the eminent, poultry keeper and writer 
on poultry topics, iu the series of articles, the 
first of which appears in this issue. 5, Any book¬ 
store will allow a discount on a large numtier; 
wo don’t know of any places where unusual 
discounts tire made. 
SAND CRACK IN HORSE’S HOOF: SCOURS IN 
A COW. 
IF. IF. IF., Kennedy , N. Y., How can, 1, 
“ sand crack” in a horse’s hoof, and, 2, scours 
in a cow be cured? 
Ans. — 1, “Sand crack” is a crack or fissure 
in the walls of the hoofs, beginning at the cor¬ 
onet and extending downwards. It, is due to 
brittleness of the hoof, bod shoeing or splitting 
of the hoof from hard driving. Sand crack 
usually occurs in tho fore feet only, and nl 
most,always iu the quarters. When the horse 
leans its weight on the hoof the crack opens, 
and when the foot is lifted it closes; thus sand 
and dirt work into the parts, causing more or 
less pain and lameness. In recent cuses be¬ 
fore any inflammation has set in, nothing 
more will lie needed than to remove t he shoe, 
thoroughly cleanse the crack, draw the hoof 
together closely by means of a couple of 
thin clinch horse shoe nails, one at the top 
and the other at the bottom, and fill with the 
following compositions: tallow half an ounce; 
oil of turpentine one ounce; resin two ounces; 
beeswax four ounces. Melt together and fill the 
crack with it while quite warm, and let it, cool. 
The foot should be protected from dirt by a 
bandage and tho horse be turned to grass tin 
til a new hoof has grown, the injurned part 
being eased by a bar shoe. If the crack is 
older and inflammation has set, in, the edges 
should be pared, and the fissure laid sufficient¬ 
ly bare to bo thoroughly cleansed of nil 
dirt and grit. Then tho crack must bo 
thoroughly fomented to reduce the in¬ 
flammation and poulticed until the place 
assumes a healthy appearance. Afterwards 
the treatment should ls« the same us for re¬ 
cent sand cracks. 2. Diarrhea or “scours’* 
in cattle results from several causes; first, it is 
an effect of irritants, such as the rank grass 
of marsh lands, wet, sloppy grass, excess of 
bran or linseed, change from dry to green 
food; second, it is a result of disordered diges¬ 
tion in which caso food is unnoted upon and 
enters the intestines ns an irritant.; third it 
often results frbm disorder of the liver and 
pancreas, their abnormal secretions also act¬ 
ing as irritants to the Intestinal tube; and 
fourth it is an at tendant of malignant catarrh* 
tuberculosis, pluuro-pneumonia, etc. As the 
treatment should be modified iu accordance 
with cause of the disease, it would lie a speci 
men of “quackery” to prescribe a general 
“cure" for “scours" to whatever cause 
it. may be due. The actual or probable 
causes should therefore Is’ mentioned by t hose 
seeking information. In all eases, however, 
food should bt» diminished, the quantity of 
water limited, and exercise discontinued un¬ 
til the proper action of the bowels is secured. 
Irritants are found to lie the most, common 
causes, therefore we will suppose this to lie the 
ease in the present instance. It would be well, 
then, to give a pint of linseed oil to remove 
any crude, irritant matter from the intestines. 
Then make a mixture of one pound of sail, 
eight ounces <»f carbonate of soda and one 
pound of prepared charcoal; mix these well 
together and give a handful in meal at each 
feed. Continue until the ailment is relieved. 
HORSE TALK. 
/’. // /?., Larimer Co., Col —1. Is there any 
advantage to the coming colt, in the liberal 
feeding of the dam? Are transfers of pure- 
