6 
ripe from July 28th to August 14th. Planted 
28 peas; 27 grew; 389 pods; 1,070 peas. Both 
kinds do well here. The R. TJ. Corn was 
badly frozen in May; 61 stalks; 63 ears; the 
longest IS inches. Too late for this locality. 
Planted May 15th; harvested October 4th; 
142 days perfectly ripe. The tomatoes were 
started in the house; plants 10 inches high 
when set out, the winds and frost took them 
all. The oats were very late, but I have 
saved them for seed. Wheat sowed on Sept. 
23, in drills 15 inches apart and six inches in 
the drills came up nicely. The flower seeds 
did well and were the delight of the children. 
We never had so many or such nice flowers 
before; they alone were worth the price of 
the paper. p. o. 
New York. 
Amboy, Oswego Co.—The R. N.-Y. Pea 
and the tomatoes are all that I can praise. 
The Market Garden Pea was destroyed, much 
to my regret. The tomatoes were late, but 
some ripened after being picked, and they 
were very nice. The R. U. Corn made a large 
growth of stalks; but the ears did not corres¬ 
pond. The season was too short for it to 
mature. We have better corn for this sec¬ 
tion. The same may be said of the oats which 
rusted badly and were too late any way. H. G. 
Alfred, Alleghany Co.—The Rural seeds 
have always done well for us, and from them 
we have got many valuable crops. The pota¬ 
toes have all been very good, and yielded well. 
I have 18 bushels of the Blush from the two 
small ones received in ’S3, and I consider them 
very good as a table potato. Mold’s Ennobled 
Oats I have raised ever since I got them, and 
they yield from 40 to 65 bushels per acre, ac¬ 
cording to circumstances. The Black Cham¬ 
pion Oats were too late, and the heads were 
light; so I did not save them; but among them 
grew two or three kinds of white oats which 
ripened much earlier than the Black Cham¬ 
pion; from one of these I cut 30 heads and 
shelled them by hand and got 4,361 grains by 
actual couut, aud that I call good enough. 
I never raised such fine tomatoes as I did 
the past season from Rural seed. They were 
early and late, solid, fine-flavored, handsome, 
and kept extremely well. The flowers are 
alw T ays beautiful and various, and we have 
some choice shrubs, etc , from Rural seeds. I 
have taken the Rural ever since I returned 
from the army at the close of the war, and 
commenced housekeeping and farming, and I 
can truly say that from it I have gained more 
instruction aud benefit than from any other 
source, and I consider the two dollars which 
I pay for it every year, one of my very best 
investments, and 1 know of no reason why I 
should not continue to tube it to the end. I’ve 
put up the posters and never fail to speak the 
“good word,” and I hope for the best of suc¬ 
cess for the best farmers’ paper—the Rural. 
F. M. B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Moorheadvtlle, Erie County.—All the 
Diehl-Mediterranean Wheat in this vicinity 
—some sixty acres or more—is looking per¬ 
fect; it is a strong growth, of a dark color, 
and huggiDg the ground instead of spindling 
up, while much of the older varieties have 
quite an unhealthy appearance. C. l. 
The King Humbert Tomato—new to the 
American garden. It is of excellent quality, 
has few seeds and is very distinct in shape. 
It is immensely prolife , less acid than other 
kinds and, though of the first quality for the 
table, will be highly prized for preserving. A 
feui of these seeds, with the Rural Bicolor 
Tomato and several other kinds originated a t 
the Rural Experiment Grounds, will be sent 
in every packet—one of seven of the Rural’s 
present Free Seed Distribution, Send for 
the Nov. 8 th Supplement, which will explain 
all. 
[Every query must be accompanied by t lie name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see If it is not answered In 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions 
at one time.] _ 
FERTILIZERS FOR STRAWBERRIES. 
J. D. M., Fremont, Ohio.— I have an acre 
of ordinary upland clay-loam in preparation 
for strawberries next Spring. I spread 12 
loads of ordinary barn-yard manure and 
plowed it down last Fall, and propose to 
spread 75 bushels of wood-ashes from a lime¬ 
kiln, probably one-fourth lime. We cannot 
spare more manure from other crops; would 
it pay to apply any commercial fertilizer; aud 
if so, what, and how much? 
Ans.—W e think it will pay, largely, to use 
phosphoric acid and potash. We suggest try¬ 
ing an experiment that will involve but little 
trouble and will be worth ten times its cost. 
When the land is fitted ready to plant, if you 
can get bone-flour as fine as dust—if you can¬ 
not get that, get pure, dissolved bone—and 
apply on the surface broad-cast, to one fourth 
of an acre, 500 pounds; to another fourth, 250 
pounds; and to another fourth, 100 pounds; 
to the remaining fourth apply nothing. Let 
these strips run completely across the plot one 
way; now clear across one end the other way; 
on one fourth apply 50 bushels; on the next 
fourth, 25 bushels; on the next fourth, I2}i 
bushels of the ashes you mention, leaving the 
rest without any. At the dividing lines each 
way strong stakes should be driven into the 
ground, so high that they can be seen above 
the foliage of the plants, Harrow the ground 
lightly and set the plants. Iu this acre you 
will have 16 different plots, each under vary¬ 
ing conditions; and you should carefully note 
the result. On one corner, one-sixteenth of an 
acre, you will have boue at the rate of one 
ton, aud ashes at the rate of 200 bushels per 
acre; and from this all the way down to noth - 
iug but the 12 loads of manure. The highest 
manured plot will be treated, to some extent, 
as the ground is fitted for strawberries in New 
England, and what is good for them should 
show equally good results in Ohio. Try this 
experiment and carefully watch the results, 
aud you will know more about the use of 
these fertilizers on strawberries than any man 
can tell you, aud it will be knowledge worth a 
hundred times what it will cost. 
CREAMERS. 
F. II. M., Weisberg, hid. —1. Can the Del¬ 
aware Co. Creamer be successfully used with¬ 
out spring water or ice? 2. Is it possible that 
all the cream can be raised, ready to skim, in 
12 hours? 3. Would it pay to buy a creamer 
for 10 cows? 4. Can a creamer be used iu a 
dwelliug, or must a room be built on purpose 
for it? 5. What is the Rural’s experience 
with a creamer, and will it recommend one? 
6. How or what are the spirits of Jamaica 
recommended in a cough sirup? 
Ans. — 1. The Delaware Co. Creamer is a 
centrifugal machine, and none of them re¬ 
quire ice; but all require considerable power, 
as the cream is separated from the milk by 
rapid rotation of the machine containing the 
milk. All the creamers using cans requiro, 
for successful use, either ice or cold water,at 
least below 60°. 2. It is possible to separate 
the cream completely in six or eight hours, 
and perfectly practicable to do so in 12 hours. 
With a centrifugal machine it can be done in 
a few minutes. 3. It will pay to use a cream¬ 
er for one or two cows when cold water or 
ice (ice is much the better) is handy. 4. Any 
where, out-of-doors orbj the side of the cook 
stove; no matter where, ODly there must be 
plenty of ice. 5. We use a creamer and don’t 
see how we could get along without it. We 
strain the milk into the cans, put a supply of 
ice in the outer case, and in 12 hours, draw 
off the milk and cream, and again strain the 
milk into the cans. In cold weather we wash 
the cans once a week, in warm weather twice. 
We are now having about 175 quarts of milk 
per day, and to give room for this amount in 
ordinary six-quart pans would require as 
much as 200 pans,and not less than 90 of these 
would require to be washed daily. We most 
heartily recommend the use of creamers; they 
are a great relief to the butter maker. C. 
Jamaica rum was what was meant. 
FEED FOR FATTENING CATTLE. 
A. L C., Catonsville, Md .—I am feeding 
cattle this Winter, and want some advice 
about feeding oats. The cattle are of good 
size and thrifty, and I want to get them as 
fat as possible by the last of April. I have 
first rate corn and oats and waut to know the 
advisability of grinding them together, aud 
the relative value of oats and wheat mid¬ 
dlings as food for my purpose. Oats are worth 
in Baltimore, $20 per ton, and middlings $17. 
I have the oats and would, of course, have to 
haul the middlings six miles, and the oats the 
same distance, if I sold them and Itought 
middlings. I ground to-day 22 bushels of 
corn and 44 bushels of oats, mixed before 
grinding, and gave the cattle about two 
quarts each as a beginning, besides a few ears 
of whole corn. Will it pay me to sell the oats 
and buy middlings? If I feed oats, what pro¬ 
portion should I use and how much of each 
should 1 feed to 1,000-pouud cattle? 
Ans. —Oats are a good feed to mix with 
corn, although the mixture would still be too 
low iu albuminous matter, aud should have 
au addition of col ton-seed meal, or, better 
still, new-process-oil meal. We think, how¬ 
ever, that at the prices, wheat middlings are 
preferable to the oats, as a ton of the former 
would contain one-seventh more muscle or 
meat-forming material and one-twelfth more 
fat-forming—though It does not contain so 
large a proportion of free oil. According to 
the figures given, the oats are worth $5.00 
more, while their feeding value is $3.00 less, 
making a difference of $6.00 in favor of the 
change. Besides, these figures are based 
upon the constituents of European oats, while 
those grown iu America contain less meat 
and, of course, a much larger proportion of 
woody fiber, and, of course, are worth much 
less as a stock food. 
FURUNCOLOSIS IN A HORSE. 
J. G. N., Parkin'll e, Conn .—On a valuable 
mare eight years old bunches come out on the 
body or legs, and break and run. When one 
stops ruuning another forms. The trouble has 
continued all Summer. She seems to suffer 
till the bunch opens; otherwise she is healthy; 
appetite is good; seems better when worked 
than when standing in the stable; what ails 
her, and what is the remedy ? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. F. L. KILBORNE. 
The affection is known as furuucolosis, (a 
succession of furuncles, or boils). The boils 
are due to faulty nutrition in some part of the 
animal economy; but just what, it would be 
difficult to say. They are usually curable. If 
noticed when tbe swelling begins, the boils 
may sometimes be checked by making two 
cuts across the swelling like the letter X, and 
applying cold-water bandages. If this does 
not check them, or if they were not seeu early 
enough, poultice with warm poultices of lin¬ 
seed, bran or oatmeal, to hasten the forma¬ 
tion of matter. After the boil ripens and dis¬ 
charges, dress with carbolated dressings, or 
simple ointments. To prevent tbe occurrence 
of tbe boils, give a change of diet, changing 
especially to a laxative diet, such as mashes, 
roots, potatoes. Let the animal receive a 
thorough grooming daily, with plenty of exer¬ 
cise or moderate work. Every evening, give 
two drams each of aloes, gentian and ginger 
(administered by making into an oblong ball 
with sirup and placing it well back in the 
mouth and holding up the head until the ball 
is swallowed.) In the morning give four 
drams of sodium bicarbonate. This treatment 
should be continued for two or three weeks, 
or until the boils disappear. If the bowels be¬ 
come too laxative, omit the aloes for a few 
days, aud give only the gentian, ginger and 
soda daily. 
A CHEAP HOUSE FOR 50 HENS. 
IF. D. C., New York City .—How can I 
make economically a house that will accomo¬ 
date 50 hens? 
ans. —Such a house can be built of good 
common one-inch boards]“matched” by board¬ 
ing up and down. It should be 16 feet square 
or, wbat would be better, twelve by twenty 
feet with the side to the sun, and it may be 
made with the north side 6 and the south 10 
feet high, with a root slanting to the north. 
The south side should contain much window- 
space, so as to admit abundance of sunlight. 
After boarding up it should be “battened” on 
the inside with laths, and sheeted over these 
with tarred felt, or lining paper. The tarred 
paper should extend under the roof as well, 
and if more laths are nailed over the first 
and another thickness of paper put on, it will 
be much better, the object being to exclude 
tbe cold, The roosts should be placed hori¬ 
zontally along the north side, about five feet 
from the grouud, and should have a tight floor 
under them and not more than one foot away. 
A slanting ladder should be provided for them 
to reach tbe perches without flying. The 
nesting-boxes should be placed along the south 
side and beneath the windows. Nothing 
makes a better floor than coal ashes, and fresh 
ones should be added once a week. A venti¬ 
lator should pass through the roof and extend 
within one foot of the floor. This will keep 
the air pure w ithout taking out all the warm 
air as it would if opening close to the roof. 
This house need not be made of planed lum¬ 
ber even, and with 'such a house, and proper 
care, 50 hens should pay twice what it will 
cost, in net profit, the first Winter. 
FEED FOR MILCH COWS. 
A. T. PSteele City , Neb .—What is the 
most profitable ration for cows in milk, or 
those to come in, in Spring, with corn at 15 
cents per bushel; oats 16 cents; bran $8 per 
ton; shorts $12; wheat 40 cents per bushel; 
with a limited quantity of rye and oat straw, 
and plenty of prairie-huy, hut the latter con¬ 
siderably damaged by rain aud frost ? 
Ans. —The prices named are equal to about 
$7 for corn and $10 per ton for well dried 
com and oats uuground; to pay for grinding 
will bring them considerably higher, and as 
the bran is already grouud aud dry, aud as it 
is, ton for ton, more valuable for cow-feeding 
than oats, we should say, mix corn and bran 
half and half; grind tbe corn if you have a 
mill,and any wuy .unless the cows are to be fol¬ 
lowed by pigs. Give plenty of tho hay with 
a little of tbe straw each day, aud enough of 
the bran and corn to keep the animals in 
good condition. If the cows are gjviug milk, 
it will pay to wet this feed with hot water in 
the morning for night-feeding, aud at night 
for morning, keeping it where it will not 
freeze. By all means have a stable where 
the cows will be warm aud comfortable; if 
nothing else is available it can be built of 
sods or prairie hay. 
REMEDY FOR LICE IN HENS. 
E. S. B,, French, Minn.—We have 60 hens 
in the basement of a new barn because it is 
warm, and they have become very lousy ; 
what cau we do for them? 
Ans. —If the vermin are the large black or 
gray lice, the hens should be caught, and 
greased liberally under the wings with hog’s 
lard or fresh butter made quite soft with 
kerosene. The roosts aud adjoining parts 
should thon be sprayed or washed with kero¬ 
sene, or kerosene emulsion made with kero¬ 
sene, soft soap and water. After this, spray 
the roosts once a month, and the lice will 
travel. If it is the mites that causes the mis¬ 
chief, then merely spraying or washing the 
roosts and all parts adjoining with the kero¬ 
sene or emulsion wi’I thoroughly clean them 
out, and in this case the roosts should be 
sprayed monthly. 
WHEAT AND CHESS. 
J. D. T., Brookside, N. J .—If growing 
wheat is picked off close to the ground in the 
Fall or Spring, will it produce cheat (chess) 
or wheat? 
Ans. —It is just as easy to change an apple 
tree into a pear; or to change a to mato into 
a po-tato by cutting buck their tops or by in¬ 
jury to their tap-roots as it is to change wheat 
into chess; in fact, more so, for these plants 
are much more nearly allied than are wheat 
aud chess. Chess grows in rye fields, and rye 
grows in wheat fields, so does Timothy Grass, 
aud all these less highly organized and more 
hardy plants grow rankest, where, by some 
means, the better ones have received some in¬ 
jury. The Rural will give $100 for a case 
where it can be shown, to the satisfaction of 
botanists, that chess has been produced from 
wheat. 
CROPS FOR HOG FEED. 
G. IF. P., Sernry, Kansas. —1. What is the 
value of artichokes as a swine food? 2 Cau 
peas be raised as hog food, profitably; if so, 
what are the best varieties? 
ans.— 1. Artichokes as a pig food are more 
valuable than potatoes, and when land is 
cheap may be profitably grown, letting the 
hogs do the harvesting by rooting, and when 
once seeded usually enough will be left in the 
grouud to coutinue the crop. 2. We should 
think you could make pea-growing for hog- 
food pay. Bow the little Canada June pea and 
feed to the hogs without thrashing, or when 
it does not rain much at the proper time, the 
hogs can he turned into the fields to do tbeir 
own harvesting. Of course, the amount of 
profit will depend much on how well the cli¬ 
mate is adapted to the growth of the crop. 
Miscellaneous. 
E. P. F. t Sterling, Kansas .—L My pear 
seedlings have their roots covered with warty 
bunches apparently caused by an insect, 
what is it, and will it be likely to harm them ? 
2. Is the seed for pear aud cherry stocks 
mostly imported? 3. Is the Jessica Grape 
likely to prove valuable for general planting? 
ans.— 1. We caunot tell from so meager a 
description; probably it is the work of aphi¬ 
des. Dip the affected roots in a solution of 
tobacco before plantiug them out, after hav¬ 
ing cut off all diseased fibers. 2. Much of the 
pear seed is, though many of the pear stocks 
are imported. We think the cherries are ob¬ 
tained almost entirely in this country, being 
largely the VIazzurd stocks. 3. It is entirely 
too small for a market grape. It is worth try¬ 
ing in a small way for amateur use. 
IF. E. E., Lamarlin, Ohio.—l. How shall I 
use bone-meal on corn? How much shall I 
put in a hill, and when shall I apply it? 2. Is 
it equally good for vegetables? 
Ans. —1. If by bone-meal is meant that 
which is of the size of wheat aud upwards, 
then the immediate results would hardly jus¬ 
tify its use, except it was put in a pile with 
fermenting manure now, to bo forked over 
once or twice this Winter, to he used next 
Bpring. The bone to be available for plant- 
food must be soluble, rendered so by fermen¬ 
tation. the use of sulphuric acid, or by being 
grouud extremely line, like mere dust. In any 
one of these forms it should be used for corn 
by being scattered broad-cast, after plowing, 
and thoroughly harrowed into tho surface soil 
Put on from 300 to 400 pounds per acre. The 
corn roots reach every part of tbe surface soil, 
and you cannot hide the manure from them. 
2. It is equally good for auy vegetable need¬ 
ing phosphoric acid or lime, and that includes 
nearly the whole list. 
J. .4. F., Terre Haute, Ind, —1. Supposing 
two kinds of corn to have been planted to¬ 
gether in 1SS2, would the product have been 
visibly affected then, and could a cross then 
made be considered so fixed in the growth of 
tbe present season as to he offered as a now, 
distinct variety? 2. Were the Pearl of Savoy 
and the Early Ohio Potatoes tested at the 
