JULY 7 
9 
427 
ways fallen short of complete effectivenes 
and practical applicability. In England com 
mercial fertilizers are extensively used as a 
palliative, while carbonate of soda in solution 
at the rate of two pounds to a barrel of water 
applied two or three times in early Summer, 
is also employed as a method of ridding soil of 
them. Salt and lime prove of little effect. 
Gas-lime will annihilate them completely, and 
also the cut-worms and all sorts of larva*, feed¬ 
ing in the ground, and, of course, every blade 
of the pasture, too. Applied in Midsummer 
and the field soon placed under fallow till the 
following Spring, the lime will then have 
been cleared from the soil sufficiently tor cul¬ 
tivated crops or grain and seeding. Powdered 
rape-cake drilled with grain at the same rate 
as phosphates has proven a perfect vermifuge 
and good fertilizer. The poisoning of seeds 
or grass foliage is ineffectual; though arseni- 
eated seed corn destroys them as long as the 
poison remains operative. White mustard, 
woad and buckwheat arc the only plants ob¬ 
served to be adverse to their tastes and sus¬ 
tenance. Wire-worms have neither the abil¬ 
ity nor habits of their co-partners in root- 
pruning and blade-cutting—the cut-worms— 
of entering into extended foraging expeditions. 
Stiff, the soil in which they usually abound is 
so rich in vegetable matter that a whole year 
of perfect fallow would barely starv e them. 
A harmless Julus three or four inches long, 
has been calk'd the American wire-worm, and 
occasionally the little pernicious garden centi¬ 
pedes, and larvae of some species of llies arc 
called wire-worms, lint the name, wire-worm, 
is generally applied correctly in every com¬ 
munity to the wiry,yellowish, cylindrical and 
soil-inhabiting larv® of several kinds of snap¬ 
ping beetles or Elaters, There are no less than 
5U species of wire-worms—Elaters—in the At¬ 
lantic States. The most common are Agriotes 
inaueus. Say, nml stubilis, Lee; Drastcrius dor¬ 
salis, Say; Corymbites cylindriformis, Hbst.; 
Melanotus luirumpuuctatus, Mels., and Dr. 
Fitch stilted that that meet abundant of all sjx?- 
cies of Elaters—Melanotus communis, Gy 11.—is 
a wire-worm. Their metamorphoses are fin¬ 
ished in three years. Poisoned treacle bait 
allures ami destroys the beetles in small num¬ 
bers, as well as the Brinkley lamp. Skunks 
catch and eat great quantities of them. 
CHOICE OF PEACE FOR SETTLING IN THE TERRI¬ 
TORIES. 
./. R. North Bend, Wis .—"Will not the 
Rural indicate which of the Territories is the 
most desirable as to healthfulness, etc., for an 
oldish man to settle in ! 
A ns. —The Territories now left are as 
follows: 
Dakota, 
area, 
150,932 
square miles 
W joining, 
it 
97,*S3 
41 
ii 
Montana, 
a 
145,770 
41 
ii 
Idaho, 
ii 
56.294 
il 
ii 
Washington, 
a 
69,994 
44 
ii 
Alaska, 
ii 
580,107 
84,476 
ii 
Utah, 
u 
ii 
ii 
Arizona, 
ii 
118,000 
41 
ii 
Indian Ter., 
a 
68,091 
44 
44 
a 
a 
Total, 
a 
1,39? 
it 
<( 
Excluding Alaska as a trifle too cold per¬ 
haps, and a good deal too little explored for 
certain; uud also the Indian Territory, as yet 
closed to white settlement, there still remain 
71*,355 square miles from which to select a 
healthful place of settlement, wluch should 
also afford other advantages. It is safe to say 
such a situation can be found in at least a 
hundred places iu each of the Territories,but the 
trouble is to find out tbe spot; and, then, the spot 
that would suit one man in every respect, 
might suit another man in no respect what¬ 
ever. The writer’s travels, though including 
every State iu the Union except Nevada, have 
touched upon only three of the above Terri¬ 
tories, and there they were so circumscribed 
by circumstances that no fair, general idea of 
such vast areas could lie obtained from them. 
Of course, we have read a good deal about the 
various Territories, and heard not a little; but 
wo have not learned enough about the 
different sections of each Territory to 
authorize ns to give udviee ns to choice of 
settlement iu any special place or Territory, 
Indeed, if we were well posted, we should still 
hesitate to give ml vice in such matters; 
especially to those with whom we are not per¬ 
sonally acquainted, because so much depends 
on each man’s individual character uud 
pecuniary circumstances. 
MORE ABOUT POTATO STARCH-MAKING, 
J. A. O , Waupaca, IVi*., 1. Where is starch 
from potatoes made ? 2. Whnt would bo the 
probable cost of a small factory—building, 
machinery, etc. ? 3. Would starch-making be 
profitable where flue large potatoes sell for 50 
cents a bushel and small ones for 85 cents ? 4_ 
llow long does it take to dry the starch? 
Ans.- 1. Starch is made iu large quantities in 
Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The 
profit of the business depends upon the quality 
f the potatoes which must be rich iu starch. 
Tubers grown in a northern locality and which 
generally cook mealy and dry, contain the lar- 
e*t amount of starch uud me lot tor tLc lac 
tory. 2. Fifteen hundred dollars will provide 
the building and machinery for a small miff. 
One that works up 1000 bushels a week in 
Marshfield, Vermont, cost $3,000. A large 
quantity of water is required and a water 
power is the cheapest power. 3. With pota¬ 
toes at 25 cents a bushel, starch can be sold at 
u profit at six cents a pound. It would be a 
convenient way to add the business to a coun¬ 
try saw or grist mill where the power could 
be spared easily. Five to ten-horse power 
would be sufficient, and the machinery could 
all be made by a mill-wright. Small pota¬ 
toes will yield starch if they are ripe, but the 
best yield the most. 4. The drying is done iu 
a few hours; the process is continuous. 
CURCULIO UPON PLUM TREES. 
G.8.P.,Jr., Bridgeport, Conn. —1 have a 
plum tree that has blossomed fuff for three 
years, but the fruit has never set. What is 
the trouble, and how can I rectify it? 
Ans. —Your tree is probably troubled by 
the curculio. It is n small, roughened, warty, 
brownish beetle, belonging to a large family 
known u.s the Snout-beetles. This insect makes 
a small cavity in the immature fruit in which 
it deposits an egg. which hntchesin four or five 
days. The fruit docs not mature, but faffs to 
the ground. After burrowing around in the 
fruit for about two weeks, the grub leaves it - 
and descends into the giound where it remains 
over Winter, coming forth iu the Spring in 
the beetle state. The beetle, upon becoming 
alarmed, folds up its legs, turns its snout into 
a groove which receives it and drops to the 
ground. By jarring the tree the insects will 
fall to the ground, and if a sheet is placed be¬ 
neath the tree the insects will faff upon it and 
can then be destroyed. By constant jarring 
the fruit may be saved. For this purpose saw 
off a small limb, leaving a stump upon which 
pounding can be done. We have known a 
case in which a lady hung corn-cobs soaked in 
molasses iu a plum tree that was troubled with 
curculio, and the result was a good lot of 
fruit. This method she annually pursues, and 
always with success. 
CHICKEN CHOLERA. 
N. A'., FemdaU, TF. T .—What ails my hens? 
They droop around for ten days or two weeks, 
refusing to eat; their coml* turn orange yel¬ 
low and look transparent; finally they drop 
dead on the roost. IV hen two that died were 
opened the livers nearly filled the inside of the 
hens, and seemed to be floating in a thick yel¬ 
low fluid like jelly. 
Ans. —The disease is that known as chicken 
cholera. It is contagious, and if not stopped 
will carry off the whole fiock. They are over¬ 
fed, Give them no feed at all but grass and 
what they pick up for a few days, and plenty 
of water. Dissolve two ounces of hyjsisul- 
phite of soda in a pint bottle of water and 
give three teaspoonfuls to each sick fowl as 
soon us it is discovered. The sick ones should 
be removed to separate coops set on the bare 
ground, which should be spaded up first. The 
cool, moist ground has a beneficial effect upon 
the inflamed abdomen. 
THE DEGENERACY OF STRAWBERRIES. 
E. A. H., Mason, N. H.—\u the U. 8. Ag. 
Report of 1863, Geo. H. Hite, of Morrisania, 
N. Y., says, that, the degeneracy of certain 
kinds of strawbeiTies was owing to the pro¬ 
pagation of sets obtained from secondary 
runners or lateral branches. Is the same 
opinion held hy the fruit men of the present 
day t Mr. Hite names as examples Long- 
worth’s 1’rolifie, Hovey’s Seedling, Triomphe 
do Guild, etc. He also states that the Wilson's 
Seedling, which 1 suppose is Wilson's All any, 
will reproduce itself from its seeds. Is that so? 
Ans. —Speaking for the Rural, we do not 
believe varieties of strawberries will “rail 
out” at all if they receive care. Auythiug 
will “run out'* under neglect If jarant plants 
are weakened or diseased, the runner-plants 
are liable to be also. The Wilson will not re¬ 
produce itself from seed. 
KAINIT. 
R. fl., Xeteark, Ohio .—What is kainit? 
Ans.—T he composition of kainit is as fol¬ 
lows :— 
Sulphate of potassa. 2S to S2 per et- 
Silljiliute uf iiiasuesia. 14 to IK) per ct- 
C'hloride of magnesium... I to Speret. 
sulphate of lime . 10 to 12 per et- 
Chloride of sodium (common suit,’.3S to 41) per et. 
It is mined at Stassfurt, Prussia, where au 
enormous deposit of it wus struck at a depth 
of from 4SO to SOO feet. How thick tlic lied is 
is not yet known, though it has been pierced 
over 1,IKK) feet. The deposit extends through 
a large area. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
“Reader," Carbondale, Kan. —1. Is there 
any successful potato digger? 2. Is any vari¬ 
ety of potato us late sis the old Peachblow? 
ANSWERED BY JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
The Central Now York Farmers’ Club bad 
a field mooting yesterday, June 15, 1 submit, 
ted the questions to t hem n session. Here are 
the answers: “Is there any successful potato 
digger?” Yes. Some said a good, faithful 
man was the most successful potato digger, 
Others said there was a machine exhibited at 
the late State Fair at Utica, made in New 
Hampshire, that did its work successfully in 
all soils, except where tbe ground w as filled 
with Quack roots. In that case the roots 
w r ould clog the working of the machine and it 
would not do perfect work, otherwise it would 
dig potatoes and leave them clean on the sur¬ 
face as fast as ten men could pick them up. 
The machine was expensive in its first cost, 
but appeared durable, an 1 it was not liable to 
need repairs; the cost of manufacture your 
correspondent could not learn, but by writing 
to Wm. H. Gray. Utica, N. Y., particulars 
can be learned about it. Several members 
spoke of the machine as a success. 2. To the 
question, “Is there any other potato as late as 
the old Peachblow ?” the answer was, Yes. 
Gleason ami Rusty-Coat Pink Eye are as late. 
[A friend who lias seen the Herrington Potato 
Digger in the field says that it works well in 
every way.— Eds.) 
A. Met’., SarrcrsviUe, Pa. —1. What can I 
put on my cucumber plants to destroy the yel¬ 
low and black bugs upon them? 2. What 
causes gapes in young chickens? Please give 
a cure for the same, 3. Can I put auvthing 
on my grape-vines to keep rose-bugs from eat¬ 
ing thorn? 
Ans. —T. White Hellebore may be used. 
Soot is very distasteful to all insects and 
would probably keep them off. 2. Gapes is a 
disease caused by parasitic thread-worms in 
the throat, to which all young animals are sub¬ 
ject. The worm is knowu as Strongylus fila- 
ria, and appears like a small piece of white 
thread. Tbe pests are hatched from eggs 
dropped from tbe older animals iu their dung 
and picked up by the young ones upon grass or 
inthe food where the ground is soiled. The eggs 
hatch in the stomach and produce the worms, 
which crawl up into the gullet and pass into 
the wind-pipe, causing much inconvenience 
and irritation. The chicks finally die from 
suffocation or weakness. To prevent the dis¬ 
ease the young chicks should be kept on fresh 
grouud where no old one? have been kept. To 
cure it, turpentine should be given in small 
doses until the system becomes saturated with 
it and the lungs exhale it freely, when it will 
destroy the worms. Several other sure “cures') 
were mentioned in the Rural of June !). In¬ 
deed, all these questions have been repeatedly 
answered within the last few months. 3. The 
best and surest way is to catch them by hand 
and destroy them. 
J. B. W. Bound Lake, X. Y.—l. What 
should lie the treatment of an cx that had 
eaten all the com meal he could swallow—say 
50 pounds ? 2. W1*R is a good veterinary 
work on diseases of horses and cattle ? 
Ans.— 1. In such a case no water is to be 
given, but a quart of liuseed oil followed by 
moderate doses of thin, warm flax-seed tea. 
The meal must be got rid of gradually but 
quickly, without expanding it. by means of 
water, aud at the same time there must lie 
sufficient moisture to prevent impaction of the 
mass iu the rumen, and to keep the coats of 
the stomach moist and active. 8, There is no 
veterinary work that will be useful for such 
cases as this. A lid upon the feed box, that 
wont stay open of itself, but which closes as 
soon as it is let go, is of more use than a house 
full of books. Law’s Farmer’s Veterinary 
Adviser $3; Clatter’s Cattle Doctor, $6; nud 
Dudd’s American Cattle Doctor. $2.50, are 
all useful books, but they must be used with 
knowledge or they may lead a reader into 
mischief. “ A little knowledge is dangerous" 
in this respect. 
B. .4. C„ Le Conna, IF. T. —1. Which is the 
best grape for this Puget Sound country 
where the nights are cold? 2. Would bagging 
prevent mildew ? 3. Which would be the best 
strawberry here? 4 Which is the best potato 
for a rich, loamy soil? 5. Will the Manches- 
ter Strawberry do well planted between the 
Iron-clad and Big Bob ? 0. Which is the earli¬ 
est tomato? 
Ans.— l. Would advise Concord ami Pock 
lington. 2. We do not find that, bagging pre¬ 
vents mildew altogether. 3. We can only guess: 
Downing, Sharpless, Cumberland Triumph 4. 
Beauty of Hebruu, Queen of the Valiev. White 
Elephant. 5. No. Big Bob is a pistillate as is 
also the Manchester. The Iron-clad beara a 
Iterfect flow er, 6. There is no earliest tomato 
that is good for anything. Try Perfection, 
Climax, Mayflower. 
J. H., Little Sioux, la. —1. How can I pro¬ 
pagate Altluea, Almond, Dcutzia crenata, 
White Fringe, Honeysuckle standard and 
climbing, Weigelu rosen, Snowball and Roses 
of all kinds? 8. Whut ails my strawberries, 
judging from the inclosed loaf? 
Ans — 1. A sand propugating box is as good 
a way as any. Fill a soap box with, clean sand 
and insert the cuttings, keeping it moist. It is 
well to select fresh, stroug cuttings of last 
year’s growth. Several of these mentioned 
will make roots best from ripening wood of 
this year’s growth—the cuttings being taken 
later Of course, you may propagate any of 
them from layers. Merely bend a stem down 
and cover with soil. 2. This is a blight which 
attacks strawberry plants, in many places. 
N. W. B. Holland, Mich .—I have 92 one- 
year-old hardy Catalpa trees, (C. speciosa) 
growing finely. 1. Should they be cut back 
every Spring and Faff for two or three years ? 
2. Nearly all died at the top, and now they are 
sending from two to six shoots out along the 
body. Should any of these be trimmed off ? 
Ans. —1. No, they do not need to be cut back 
at all, the habit of the tree being sufficiently 
branching. Of course, cutting l ack would in¬ 
duce a more compact growth. 2. All should 
be rubbed or cut off, unless you desire the tree 
to branch from the ground. A? for timber 
trees, a straight unbranched main stem is de¬ 
sirable, and the side branches should be cut 
off accordingly, 
“ Rondo," Mayrille. How should a hole cut 
by a wire fence iu a cow’s teat, be stopped up? 
The sore has healed but the milk stiff issues 
from the orifice. 
Ans. —With a small dissecting knife cut the 
skin from each side of the hole and enlarge it 
up and down a little. Then procure surgeon’s 
rubber plaster and cut strips; draw the edges 
of t be wound together and bind them with the 
plaster so that the edges w ill heal. Use a sil¬ 
ver milking tube while the cut is healing. 
11 Subscriber," Hampton, la. —Why are 
farmers advised to feed linseed meal costing 
$30 per ton, while they sell the bulk of their 
flax seed at that figure ? Why not feed the 
flax seed ? 
Ans.— By all means mix the flax with as 
many oats and have your miller grind the 
meal. This will he worth twice as much as 
the oil-cake meal, and one quart daily will be 
sufficient. 
R. B., Mutberrytown, III .—A valuable 
cow of mine had inversion of the womb after 
dropping her last calf: she is in calf again; is 
she likely to he troubled in the same way ? 
Ans. —It is highly probably that the same 
trouble will occur again. It would be better 
to let the cow go to the butcher. 
T B., Montgomery, X. F.—Please give me 
the name and price of the best work upon the 
care and priming of fruit trees. 
Ans.— Barry’s Fruit Garden, new edition, 
price $2.50. For sale by American News 
Company, New York City. 
J. B., Franklin, J\i .—When is the proper 
time to reset rhubarb? 
Ans.—I t makes but little difference whether 
the roots ore planted in Spring or Faff: the 
condition of the ground is more important 
than the time of planting. 
11. D., Farmnlle, l a., 1. Where can I get 
the best cider mill ? Is there one that does not 
darken the cider ? 
Ans.— Of the Higgauum Manufacturing Co. 
Higganum, Conn. Yes. To lie obtained of 
this firm. 
O. E. D., Hampton, la. — 1. Would root 
sprouts from the Early Richmond Cherry bear 
fruit like the parent ? 2. What should* two- 
year-old grafted cherry trees be worth ? 
Ans.— 1. No. 2. At retail. 50 cents a tree. 
G. J. G., I nderhdt P. O., A. I".—What is a 
good book on cows and their diseases ? 
Ans.— American Cattle, by L. F. Allen. 
For sale by American News Company, New 
York. Price $2.50. 
J. H. S., Bergen, X. F.—Sends, for name of 
plant, the flower and leaf of a shrub found 
growing in a swamp. 
Ans. —It is the beautiful Pinxter flower— 
Azalea uudiflora. 
Jackson, Madison Co., Tenn.—l planted my 
Niagara grape seeds on April 10, in the open 
garden on the north side next to the idling 
and facing south. They were as dry as when 
received. 1 have now 27 vigorous plants an 
inch and a-half to three inches high, and some 
of the earliest are beginning to run. J. H. B. 
Sample of seed sent in a Traveller’s Insur¬ 
ance Envelope iname of sender lost) was found 
to be “a bad lot’—containing some clover 
seed, some seed of Ox-eye Daisy and considera¬ 
ble seed of some species of Polygonum, proba¬ 
bly P. duinetorum—Climbing False Buck¬ 
wheat. The genus Polygonum is a large one, 
containing the Prince's Feather, Smart-weed, 
Lady's Thumb, Knot-grass or Goose-grass, 
Tear-thumb, Bindweed, etc. 
-»♦«-- 
Communications received for the week endinu 
Saturday. June SO: 
W. F. T.-L. S. E.-N. B. R.—T. F. P.-E. W.-E. A.— 
T. R. H.-G. A. M.—••Josh”—H. H. IV.- H. M. S.-A. L 
C., thanks-A. \V. L.—W. H. J„ thanks—M. W. H -J* 
M. S.—C. A. G.—M. B. P.—T. C. D.—C. L.-C. A. G.—T. 
C. I>. M. W. H., several of the answers will be made 
under Domestic Economy—A. G.- . 1 . H. S.—J. a. e.—J. 
W. S -L. E. F.-C. D.-F. O. C.-F. D. C.—L. H. Pierce' 
w e cannot name llie seed** f our Gurdru Treasures— 
O. E. D.-S. R. B.—J. B. IV.—H. J. V.—M. C.-J. D. R.— 
H. O. D., tliauks—J. H.—C. M. C.-O. D. B.—Mrs. H 
G., leaves received: we cannot name them. The 
'lurk one may he Peiilla—H, J. H.-J. F K.—J. a. O.— 
