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775 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
dards, and also a dwarf tree between each 
standard iB the row, so that the trees would 
be 10 feet apart each wuy ? 3. How many 
cows could be kept on a farm of 60 acres, 12 
to 15 of which are woodland ? 
ANSWERED BY T. H. HOSKINS. 
1. It. is a mistake to suppose that good crops 
of beans can be grown on poor land. The 
land should be in as go oil order as for corn, 
and be kept free from weeds by thorough cul¬ 
tivation ; 200 pounds per acre of any fertilizer 
on “ thin land ” would be insufficient. A first- 
rate fertilizer for beans is pure, finely-ground 
raw bone and unleached hard-wood ashes, 
using at least two barrels of bone and four 
barrels of ashes for an acre. They should be 
mixed together dry, then shoveled into bar¬ 
rels and packed firmly. Holes must then be 
made with a stick (say with a broom handle) 
nearly to the bottom, and the mixture be 
saturated with water, but not so as to leach. 
After two or three weeks turn it out again, 
and mix in enough plaster or dry ashes so it 
can be conveniently sown upon the furrows, 
and then harrow it in. On fair land (sandy) 
this has produced 30 bushels of beans to the 
acre, followed by Winter rye (without fur¬ 
ther mauuring) that gave 42 bushels per acre. 
2. This plan for setting a pear orchard will 
answer well, but there is no dwarf pear (on 
quince) worth planting for profit except 
Duehesse d’Augouloine. We would advise 
you to consult P. T, Quinn's work ou Pear Cul¬ 
ture, and consult your neighbors as to the most 
profitable varieties for you to plant. 3. The 
number of cows that can be kept depends up¬ 
on the quantity of feed. By very high farm¬ 
ing one cow to the acre has been carried, but 
the average in New England and New York 
is about one cow to four or five acres. Soiling 
to some extent, and the use of ensilage for 
Winter feed, in connection with cotton seed or 
grain, would be required for the best results. 
PUBLIC LANDS IN NEBRASKA. 
C. E. T., Bismarck, la. —1. In what part of 
Nebraska cau government land suitable for 
mixed farming be obtained, and how far from 
some railroad ? 2. Can a man with a small 
family and £1,000 make money there iu mixed 
farming ? 
Ans. —1. It is quite impossible for us to au- 
swer questions of this nature; for to do so 
would require a pretty good knowledge of the 
situation aud nature of the government land 
in all parts of the country, and no one pos¬ 
sesses this knowledge; for besides the fact 
that, no single man can know all about even 
the surveyed public domain, there is a great 
deal of it still unsurveyed. Our friend should 
write either to the General Land Office, 
Washington. D. C., or, better still perhaps, 
to the United States Land Offices iu Nebras¬ 
ka, as these ought to have better local knowl¬ 
edge of the lands. Such offices are located at 
Neligh, Beatrice, Lincoln, Niobrara, Grand 
Island. North Platte. Bloomington and Val¬ 
entine, Neb , aud each is iu charge of a Regis¬ 
ter, who will forward information concerning 
the lands under his charge. 2. The success of * 
a settler will depend on so many eircumstauees 
about which we know nothing, that we do 
not like to venture an opinion. Thousands 
have succeeded with a small family and $1,000, 
or even less; and then again, hundreds have 
failed. Better leave the family behind until 
a home has been built for their reception in 
the Far West. 
TYPHOID GASTRIC FEVER IN COWS (?) 
B. S., Dunnsvitle, Va.—A disease has be¬ 
gun to spread aiuong cattle in this section, the 
symptoms of which areas follows: The mouth 
first becomes sore, and there is a discharge 
from the mouth aud nose, that from the nose 
bciug yellow aud very offensive. In a few 
days the legs begin to swell. Some cattle have 
already died of the disease. What is it and 
how should it be treated? 
Ans.— The information is not clear enough 
to identify this disease with certainty. It ap¬ 
pears to be a case of typhoid gastric fever, 
probably caused by impure water or un¬ 
wholesome food at first, aud afterwards 
spreading by contagion. This is accompanied 
by much fewer, yellow and brown patches on 
the mouth, which become fetid sores; yellow 
discharge from the nose; diarrhea and swell¬ 
ing ami insensibility of the limbs. It is fatal 
unless improvement begins about the tenth 
day. The treatment should lie to give four 
ounces of Epsom salts with one drachm of 
chlorate of potash daily,with soft bran mashes 
or oatmeal gruel, iu which a drachm of car¬ 
bonate of ammonia may be dissolved. Drinks 
of slippery elm bark will bo useful, and a 
wash of borax solution may be applied to the 
mouth. Rubbing of the limbs aud good 
nursiug will ulso be useful. The stable should 
be disinfected by burning a pound of sulphur 
upon some live coals, placed for safety upon a 
quantity ol‘ earth, and closing the doors and 
windows until the gas has thoroughly impreg¬ 
nated the building. Of course the cattle 
should not be exposed to the gas. 
BEANS. 
F. H. R., Perry, N. Y, —1. To what use is 
the Red Kidney Bean put? What is the aver¬ 
age yield per acre? How far apart should the 
hills be put? Will they bear closer planting 
than the Marrow* Beans? What is the stand¬ 
ard weight per bushel? 2. Describe the Tur¬ 
tle Soup Bean. What is its average yield per 
acre? What is it used for ? 
Ans. —1. The Red Kidney Beau i6 exported 
almost altogether to the tropics—Spanish 
America, Mexico, Nicaragua, etc., where the 
natives subsist upon them to a great extent. 
They are chiefly grown in New York State, 
and yield about the same as other beaus. 
They will not bear close planting, but should 
be allowed more room than is usually given 
to beans. The standard weight iu New York 
is 60 pounds. 2. Wo cannot describe it very 
well except to say that it is flattish iu shape, 
and black. It is used chiefly in the making ‘ 
of turtle soup. It yields about the same as 
other beans. 
SCOURS IN SHEEP, ETC. 
E. T., Rice vi lie, Canada. —I. My sheep pas¬ 
ture ou high, dry sandy land, yet they were 
troubled with scours last Summer and this. 
Why, aud what should be the treatment? 2. 
Does a cross between White Leghorns and 
Brahmas make good fowls? 
Ans, —1. Diarrhea or*'scours"merely consists 
of a looseness of the bowels without pain or 
other complications, and must be distinguished 
from dysentery. In the former there is no 
fever: the appetite remains good; the stools 
are thin and watery. In dysentery there is 
evident fever: the appetite is capricious; the 
stools are thiu but much more slimy and 
sticky than iu case of “scours,” while in the 
more advanced stages the evacuations are 
tinged with blood, and extremely offensive. 
Diarrhea is generally due t-o change of food 
when the sheep are turned to rich green food, 
as clover or turuips. It sometimes occurs 
when they are exposed to the hot sun in 
Spring, and is also caused by the introduction 
of improper food into the stomach. It quick¬ 
ly yields to proper treatment. “Sheep’s cor¬ 
dial,” extensively used in England as a remedy, 
consists of prepared chalk one ounce: powdered 
catechu, four drachms; ginger, two drachms; 
opium, half a drachm, to be mixed with half 
a pint of peppermiut water. Two or three 
tablespooufuls are to be given every night and 
morning to the sheep, and half as much to a 
lamb, after the mixture has been well shaken 
in the bottle. Cotton-seed cake Is excellent 
both as a preventive and remedy for scours 
in sheep, at the rate of, say, hall' a pound a day 
per sheep. If any mucus or glutinous sub¬ 
stance appeai-s iu the dung, give the following 
laxative: Linseed oil, two ounces; powdered 
ginger, one drachm; or Epsom salts, one ounce; 
ginger, half a drachm; gentian, half a drachm. 
To be given iu an infusion of linseed meal. 
2. Yes. 
STRONGYLUS FILARIA IN CATTLE. 
,/. E., Mercer, Pa. —1. My three Jersey 
calves are thus strangely affected: They have 
lost their appetites and flesh, cough and pant, 
being hardly able to breathe. They seem in¬ 
clined to staud all tne time; froth at the 
mouth, and their luugs appear to be sore. 2. 
What is the best work ou diseases of cattle? 
Ans.— The trouble is caused by a parasitic 
worm in the throat and air tubes of the lungs. 
It is akin to the worm which causes gapes in 
chickens, and its name is Strongylus tilaria, 
or the Thread Strongle. The remedy is to 
give half an ounce of linseed oil. with a tea 
spoonful of sulphur and the same of turpen¬ 
tine each morning an hour before feeding, 
three times; then substitute half a pint of milk 
for the oil, and continue a week. Lambs are 
also affected by these parasites. 2. Law's 
Veterinary Adviser is the best book ou the 
subject. It can be procured of Prof. James 
Law, Ithaca, N. Y. Price, £3.00. 
POTATOES AS STOCK FEED. 
B. C. W ,, Rahway, N. J. —What is the 
value of small potatoes as feed for producing 
milk or fattening a cow that is to be dried off 
for the butcher? Should they tie cooked? 
How much should be fed at once? 
Ans. —Potatoes uloue will not fatten any 
animal. They should always tie cooked before 
feeding, as the starch is not fully digestible 
when raw, and raw potatoes are apt to scour 
the animal, unless given in small quantities. 
They are better when fed with corn. Soft 
corn is a good fattening food if it has uot 
become sour. Half a bushel of cooked pota¬ 
toes, fed cold, 10 pounds of cut hay, and half 
a peck of soft corn ought to fatten a con 
as well as any food, aud make good beef. 
The potatoes may lie mashed and mixed with 
the cut hay. Soft corn is as good for fatten¬ 
ing as sound corn. 
DISPLACEMENT OF THE KNEE-CAP IN A HORSE, 
S. H.. Macomb, HI.— As my three-year- 
old fills walks, one of her hind legs remains 
stretched back instead of moving forward. 
It is only after a severe effort aud with much 
pain that she can bring it forward. What 
ails her, and what should be the treatment? 
Ans. —The trouble is due to a slipping of the 
knee-cap, or the loose bone which represents in 
the stifle joint of the horse a similar loose bone 
in the knee of a man. This bone is known as 
the patella, and the weakness of the ligaments 
which causes its slipping out of place is called 
luxation of the patella, and literally in plain 
English, the displacement of the knee-cap. It 
is not an uncommon trouble in young horses, 
but with the proper treatment it disappears 
with the growth as maturity is reached. The 
treatment is to bathe the joint with cold salt 
and water for a few minutes night and morn¬ 
ing, then apply some stimulating liniment. 
FEEDING FOR MILK. 
B E. V., Des Moines, la. —1. What is the 
best feed for milch cows, quantity and qual¬ 
ity of milk being the objects sought? 2. Will 
feeding for milk injure a cow's usefulness in a 
butter dairy? 
Ans. —1. For quantity of milk, sloppy food is 
the best. Buckwheat bran will probably give 
the most milk of any grain food; wheat and 
rye bran is the next; brewers’ grains, or malt 
sprouts, steeped and made into a slop, are also 
productive of milk. 2. Long-continued stim¬ 
ulation of the milk organs, or any other in 
fact, tends to give an inclination or “set” of 
the organs iu the particular direction. Thus 
feeding for butter tends to increase the tend¬ 
ency to give rich milk, and rice verm. 
Miscellaneous. 
O. W. F. Black stone, Muss. —1. Are there 
any red. white, yellow and black raspberries 
that do not spread like the Cuthbcrt ? 2. How 
can buckwheat be made to kill out witch- 
grass? 3. What is the difference between an 
imperial acre and an acre here? 
Ans.— 1. The Black-caps root from the ends 
of the rips of canes that bend over. So also do 
the White-caps of American origin (Rubus 
occidentalis). The Caroline (white or buff) is 
probably of the latter class. It produces a 
few suckers. The American red (R. sfcrigosus) 
sucker, some more, some less, and the same 
may be said of the foreign (R. Idreusi. 
Brinekle's Orange is of this class. 2. We have 
tried buckwheat but it does not exterminate 
Quack Grass. We have little trouble to kill 
it in cornfields. The shallow cultivation giveu 
during droughts cuts off the surface roots, 
which, lying upon the surface, dry up aud 
die, while the deeper roots have no leaves to 
support, them. Try it. 8. The English stand¬ 
ard or imperial acre contains precisely the 
same area as the American acre—4,840 square 
yards, or 10 square chains, or 43,564 square 
feet. The Scotch acre is 1.27 of the English 
and the Irish is 1.62. 
E. M., Chenango Co., N. F—Hostile local¬ 
ity of a nursery anything to do with the 
hardiness of fruit trees ? Is not a well-grown, 
thrifty tree just as good from one nursery as 
another ? 
Ans. —Yes, to a more or less extent. Trees 
that will flourish iu a cold, rigorous region 
will thrive in a warmer locality, whereas 
ti'ees from a warm locality will not do as well 
in the reverse case, aud will be more likely to 
winter-kill. The cold of the last Winter 
demonstrated the fact that it is almost neces¬ 
sary in some of the colder States to grow 
“ iron-dads” as much as possible. If a tree 
has been propagated in one part of a State, 
and is stroug aud thrift}*, without dcubt it 
will thrive iu other similar climates and 
localities. 
W. P. H., Sturgis, Mich, —l. Can I cross 
late with early dent corn by planting alter¬ 
nate rows of each aud cutting off the tassels 
of one variety when iu blossom ? 2. Will 
Marrow Beans do well in soil adapted to 
Navy Beaus ? Where cau some genuine 
Marrow Bean seed be obtained ■ 
Ans. —Yes, that is the way—ouly be sure to 
cut off the tassels before they shod polleu. Of 
course late and early kinds bloom at different 
periods. They must be planted earlier or 
later, therefore. I f the tassels of corn be cut 
off, the silk or pistils must get pollen from 
other plants if kernels form ou the ears. 2. 
Yes; of almost any seedsman advertising in 
the Rural. 
J. H. M., Liberty Center. Ia.— What is the 
result of a third cross between a full-blood 
and a “ native” ? 
Ans.—A first cross between a thoroughbred 
makes a half -bred; the next, a three-quarters; 
the third, a seveu-eightlis. and so on, always 
dividing the difference one-half. It is thus 
seen there w ill always be a difference, and 
unity or full blood can never be reached. But 
in ordinary stock parlance, six crosses make a 
“ full-blood”—not thoroughbred, however 
and this is sixty three-sixty fourths, leaving 
still a sixty-fourth part of the native blood, 
which, iu breeding, is still likely to break out 
and show itself. 
S. J)., Collett, lnd.— Where cau I get OU 
instrument for cutting the snout-, of tuips? 
Rings will not stay in the snouts of my hogs 
over five or six months. 
Ans. —The Champion Hog-ringer, made by 
Chambers & Quinlan, Decatur, EL, consists 
of a pair of pincers, into which a piece of bent 
wire is placed; this is pressed upon the end of 
the hog’s snout and the wire is bent around 
and clinched, making a very effective ring, 
which prevents rooting. If the snout is cut 
it will soon heal, and become as useful for 
rooting as ever again. 
G. K. E., McLeansboro, TIL —What is the 
best preparation to render buckskin gloves 
durable and water-proof? Some use tar for 
this purpose: is there anything better? 
Ans. —Buckskin gloves cannot be made 
water-proof. It is not the nature of the 
leather. You must he mistaken about the tar, 
as this would quite ruin a buckskin glove, and 
make it hard and sticky. There is a kind of 
buckskin known as oil-tan, which is dressed 
with oil. but even that will absorb water, as 
the skin is dressed so soft as to be spongy and 
porous. This oil-tau is very durable. 
E. McC., Sing Sing, N. F.*—Where can j 
procure some German carp ? 
Ans. —Commissioner of Fisheries. Spencer 
F. Baird, Washington. D, C., is now sending 
German carp all over the country to those 
who have, applied for them. State the size 
and nature of the place where you intend to 
put them, and get a recommendation from 
the Congressman of your District, or from 
some prominent citizen. 
C. B. McC., Tidioute, Pa .—I have a mare 
sired by a full-blooded French-Canadian 
horse, dam a common mare. She is in foal to 
a full-blooded Norman horse. What is the 
pedigree of her foal? 
Ans. —The foal will lie half-Norman, one- 
quarter French-Canadian. and one-quarter 
common blood. 
L. F. S., Lowell, Mass .—If a person takes 
cows to pasture, but doesn't look after the 
fences properly, and the cows get out and in¬ 
jure a ueighbor’s property, who is responsible 
for damages—the owner of the pasture or the 
owner of the cows? 
Ans.—T he owner of the pasture 
C. S. H ., Davisburg, Mich. —What is the 
fare by steamer, iu both steerage and cabin, 
from New York to Jacksonville, and St. Augus¬ 
tine, Fla. ? 
Ans. —The cabin fare to Jacksonville is £25; 
the steerage £13. Only cabin fare is sold to 
St. Augustine: price £28. 
G. W. S., Mansfield, Ohio. —What is the best 
way of getting potash to mix with super¬ 
phosphate for potatoes in the absence of wood 
ashes ? 
Ans. —Buy the German Potash Salts and 
mix together, bulk for bulk. All fertilizer 
meu sell them. 
L. S. F.. Easton, Md,— Can a cow give 
down or hold back her milk at will? 
Ans. —Yes. This matter was lully dis¬ 
cussed iu the Querist Department of the 
Rural for November 10, page 742, and we 
must refer our friend to that place. 
S. N. R., Viroqua, Wis .—Where can a 
set of graduated cream guages be obtained? 
Ans. —Bun-ell & Whitman, of Little Falls, 
N. Y., or auy dealer in dairy goods, and prob¬ 
ably Cornish & Curtis, of Fort Atkinson, W is.. 
cau supply them. 
H. E. McC., West Jersey, PI.— Would it be 
well to take up my grape-vines and bury them 
this Winter ? 
Ans. —No. Cut them back to one or two 
buds, and then cover them with straw or hay 
till Spring. 
IF. P., Farmingdale, .V. I’.—Has the Far¬ 
mer’s Friend Corn-planter done good work at 
the Rural Experiment Grounds? 
Ans.—Y es; excellent work in every way. 
P. D. Roanoke, D. T .—Where can the seed 
of millet and Hungarian grass be got, and at 
what price? 
Ans. —From any large seed firm, such as 
the Plaut Seed Co.. St. Louis, Mo. The price 
varies with the market: but is about 35 cents 
a pound. 
“ Equidae" refers sarcastically to the words 
“ country cousins” in out-cut of the National 
Horse Show*. It is strange that any attentive 
reader of the Rural New-Yorker could 
take a view that the Rural’s earnestness in 
elevating agriculture, and respect for the 
integrity of farmers as a class, ought to ren¬ 
der absurd. 
Communications Received for the week Ending 
Saturday. Nov. 17. 
W. L. D.—G. C.. Jr.— F. L. D.—W. H. H.—Harmon 
Jackson, specimen not arrived.—W. G. K.—L. F.— 
H. A. W.-J B.-8. H. -F. L. W.-P. 8. D.-S. A. W.— 
\V. S.—W. P.-SC. D.-M. E. M — C.v, R.-B. C. B.— 
G. H. M.—R. W. S., thanks —B. E. C.—L. H. D.—D. 
G. D.-G. H.-L. A. B -A. N.—R. O. a-A. M. F.— H. 
A. S.-V. I. C\- l.. M. E.-0. R SI.- A. L.—S. C., no.— 
W. F. U.—‘"Exra.” \P8. thanks.— E. B. F.—A, B. D.— 
N, U.-P. D. q.-E O.S.-H. A. T.—SI. W.-S. H. C.- 
J. SI. S.-U. A. -J. a D.—E. N. C.-C. H. S.—A. L.— 
C. R. B.--N. R.-M. S.-L. P.W.-W. S.-l. S.-G. W 
— C. 0’B.-\Y P.— J. L. B.-C..K.-W.H, T,—H. C. B 
