duction, but an exceptionally high quality 
in the fruit itself. And now come the re¬ 
ports of November auction sales in London, 
by which it appears that Nova Scotia ap¬ 
ples brought much better prices than the 
American fruit, and were sold in far larger 
quantity. It will not do to trifle with our 
apple exportation business. The demand is 
not imperative. Our friends on the other 
side have learned what good apples are, even 
a fine American production; and the sooner 
our shippers conclude to leave low grades at 
home, and seud only sound, perfect fruit, the 
better for everybody. This fair land is bless¬ 
ed with nearly 200,000,000 apple trees, aud it 
occasionally happens that they drop fruit in 
our laps beyond our ability to use. Then it is 
that we want this foreign market,' which we 
cannot afford to offend or insult. 
On-the-Hudson. H H. 
Doinj i)tishantiri). 
HINTS TO DAIRYMEN. 
The dairy interest is one of the most im¬ 
portant in agriculture, and one capable of 
much improvement, aud consequently of 
much larger profits, and it should be the 
study of every farmer to learn and adopt all 
measures that will advance this great and im¬ 
portant industry. 
The marked improvements made in the 
cows hy careful breeding, within the last few 
years, has greatly benefited this business, and 
in the years to come undoubtedly much more 
will be accomplished in this direction, and 
every dairyman should carefully study the 
characteristics and adaptability of each breed 
or class to his particular wants, whether to 
the making of butter or cheese exclusively, or 
of both combined. No rules can be given as 
reliable as the suggestions of a careful study 
of the wants of each suction and a judicious 
selection of such stock as will best meet the 
requirements of each particular case. Next 
to the requisite care iu breeding or selection 
of cows is the question of feeding, which is 
truly’ an important one. Not ouly is the 
quantity, but the quality of the feed to be 
considered, which can be determined only by 
careful experiments and observations iu or¬ 
der to successfully feed only such as will best 
meet the needs of the case The greatest 
regularity should be observed in feeding, as 
this is a very important requisite to success, 
as the best results always follow the most re¬ 
gular methods of feeding and care of stock, 
which, as ftur as possible, should always be 
attended by the same kind hand Each indi¬ 
vidual cow should be closely’ studied aud 
watched, in order to adapt to her such a 
course of feeding and care as will give the 
best results, whether a large flow of milk is 
desired, or milk of such a quality as will make 
a superior grade of butter. For every' pur¬ 
pose it pays the best to feed enough grain to 
keep the animal in good condition, as by so 
doing a much larger percentage of profit can 
be obtained from the labor and cost of feed¬ 
ing. 
During the Winter a liberal supply of roots, 
potatoes, apples, etc., should be provided for 
cows as well as for II other stock; but do not 
make the mistake so common, viz.; of putting 
too much dependence on these alone, and 
neglecting to feed a proper amount of grain 
to keep the animals iu good condition. 
Warm, comfortable stables in Winter, and 
during cold, stormy weather, are a necessity 
that should not be overlooked, as much less 
feed is required for stock housed in such build¬ 
ings, and far better results are obtained from 
stock so sheltered than from those allowed to 
remain exposed to cold or storms at any time. 
Regularity and dispatch in milking, which 
should be done if possible by the same person 
(if a good milker), will materially increase 
the flow of milk aud add to the profits. 
The recent improvements made in the man¬ 
ner of caring for the milk and in the utensils 
used, are of great importance, aud should be 
adopted, as far as practicable, by all. A 
libera] supply of ice is a necessity and a pay¬ 
ing investment, as where it is used the butter 
will be larger in quantity and of better 
quality, especially where modern creamers 
are iu use, as it is a well-known fact that the 
animal heat should be removed from the 
milk as soon as possible, aud the sooner this is 
done, the harder the butter, the better the 
flavor,and thelongerit will be retained. Cream 
can be separated from the milk in 12 hours by 
the use of ice and a creamer, much better 
than by the old process in 48 hours, and it 
will also be of better quality, and if kept at 
the right temperature until churned, will 
make hard, firm butter of the very finest 
flavor. 
In large butter dairies some kind of power 
should be used for churning, and undoubtedly 
the small steam engiues now made for that 
purpose are the best and cheapest in the long 
run, unless the milk-room is so situated that 
a small stream of water can be used, or the 
w'iud can bo utilized for this purpose, although 
the large wheel, or a tread-power, worked by 
a horse, answers a very good purpose. 
In sailing butter, use cue ounce of the best 
fine salt for every pound of butter, well 
worked iu after all buttermilk has been thor¬ 
oughly washed out of all the butter; pack in 
cleau, attractive packages; label with your 
private brand, and endeavor to have t his braud 
known as coveriug the best article that can be 
produced. m. a. h. 
Avoca, N. Y. __ 
<£l)f poultry JWfc. 
THE TREATMENT OF BREEDING 
FOWLS. 
In a recent Prize Essay ou this subject I 
find directions whieb differ very materially 
from the practice that I have found to be the 
best. The author of that article directs ns to 
use two cocks with about fiO hens; that is, one 
cock to 30 bens. My experience is that under 
such conditions many of the eggs will prove 
sterile, or the chicks will be weak. 1 speak 
from somewhat extended observation oc this 
point. I have always fouud that where a cock 
runs with many hens he soon gets exhausted, 
aud where the hens are too few—say two or 
three to one cock—they do not lay many eggs. 
Cocks are very salacious wbeu iu good health, 
but they are easily injured. 
My method of avoiding the exhaustion of 
the cock and the worrying of the hens is as 
follows: Towards the end of December, or 
later, I pick out seven of my best liens ami 
mate them with a suitable cock. They are 
placed by themselves in a pen 33x33 feet, and 
carefully fed. No stimulating with pepper or 
“egg food;” but simply good, natural food, 
including plenty of bones, iron and sulphur. 
Oyster shells 1 always keep where the birds 
can get. at. them Under ordinary conditions 
such a pen will produce 40 settings of eggs, a 
sufficient uurnber for all my wants. But if 
we leave the rooster there all the time he is 
apt to exha ust himself. For some days before 
he is placed iu the pen, therefore, he is kept 
by himself in a dimly lighted room, where he 
is well, but not too abundantly fed. The ob¬ 
ject of diminishing the light, is simply to keep 
him quiet, as iu the open air or in ti fully 
lighted room he would worry, and rest is what 
is wanted. The food should be nourishing. I 
use chiefly wheat, and bones and flesh should 
not be omitted, aud see that he has plenty of 
pure water. After two days’ rest, place him 
with the hens, and every week, so long as the 
pen is kept for breeding purposes, give the 
cock a r«st of a couple of days. The h ns, of 
course, will rest, too, and this is quite as im¬ 
portant for them ns for him. 
Eggs from such a pen, of course, cost more 
than eggs gathered promiscuously. Such eggs 
are worth two or more times the price of 
ordinary’ eggs. But ttiey are well worth the 
difference. It is rarely that I find a sterile 
one, and the dimiuisbed mortality amongst 
the chicks more than makes up for the trouble 
taken with the mothers. My own flock shows 
this clearly. I very rarely have sick chickens, 
and the birds, though not as well bred as 
some, are so handsome, with their bright red 
combs, that they are the admiration of every 
farmer’s wife who passes our way. Last sea¬ 
son a friend who set cut to raise a thousand 
chickens got six dozen eggs from me. He 
reported that these were altogether the best 
he had. Fewer of them failed to produce 
chicks, and the chicks from them were strong, 
healthy aud matured early. This was to 
have beeu expected, as the system is fouuded 
Upon correct scientific principles and upon 
common sense. j. p. s. 
New York City. 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. ». CURTIS. 
THE KIND OF PIGS. 
A great many people are greatly exercised 
about the breed of pigs. Breed with them is 
everything. Now the breed is not of half so 
much consequence as the kind of pigs. The 
difference between breeds is so small it really 
bothers the admirers of them t> tell what 
it Is; some of them do not attempt it at 
all, but boldly declare that their ••breed” is 
the ouly one which has any merit, aud that all 
others are worthless. What is the difference 
between an Essex aud a Suffolk or a Small 
Yorkshire? None whatever, except the color 
of the hair und the slightest tinge of blue or 
dark on the skin, when dressed. Again, what 
is the difference between the Suffolk and Small 
Yorkshire or the Lancashire? None, unless it is 
the Suffolks are more chubby aud given to fat. 
Many Berkshires have beeu “improved” to 
the same objectionable ebuukiness—being all 
fat with little muscle. All these hogs are 
pretty, if you like this sort of prettiness. They' 
have led in the public fancy so long that peo¬ 
ple have begun to suppose that, any other kind 
of a hog is a fraud or an unuatural creature 
—something “horrid.” The Poland-China 
breeders have caught this epidemic, aud hur¬ 
ried to cross their strong breed on the Berk¬ 
shires, until they have merged their own 
breed so far into the form and blood of the 
other that all of the Poland-China left in them 
is the name ami here and there a small, white 
spot dotting the sides or back. These distin¬ 
guishing marks are rare, however, aud one 
gauge will fit one breed about as well as the 
other, with this difference, that the Berkshires 
are now the strongest., as the British imported 
blood has given them new blood and vigor, 
and prevented the deterioration which has 
naturally affected the Poland-Chiuas. In 
fact, it is hard work to breed any kind of 
swiue in a direct liue as public uotious have 
demanded—always the plumpest, roundest 
and chunkiest—and keep up the vigor or 
stamina of the breed; for vigor doesn’t come 
through fat, but through bone uud muscle. 
There must be a "right about” iu this matter, 
or some of these faucy breeds will speedily 
ruu out. Select the strongest and Itest devel¬ 
oped for breeders, or make crosses with some 
stroug aud well developed breed, and in this 
way get the best k ind of pigs for profit. 
INVEST AS OTHER MEN INVEST. 
Men who do business on business principles, 
put capital in raw material aud iu machinery 
or methods for workiug it up into a form to 
sell. Very few farmers do busiuess in this 
way. Their capital is what they have in the 
way of land and utensils, stock aud food. 
They rarely get out of the idea that their 
business does not reach any further, as it 
might many times to their advantage A 
farmer said to me, “I killed my hogs before 
they were fit to kill, because my corn was 
get ling used up.” Doubtless he killed them at 
a time when they were doing the best, and 
when food giveuto them would have paid the 
most profit. It seems as though a genuine 
business man would have thought it wise to 
have purchased some additional food, ami kept 
the bogs longer aud calculated that the extra 
growth would have paid for the outlay. It is 
just so with cows; farmers dry up their cows, 
or allow them to become dry rather than give 
them any extra food to enable them to make 
more milk. The extra investment would 
come back within 48 hours, and be in a butter 
roll in three or four days’ time. A prosperous 
German, the president of the Watervliet 
Farmers' Club, said to me, “My father used to 
keep five or six cows, and took all of their milk 
into the house in one pail; 1 keep two or three, 
and get more milk than he did. I give to three 
cows the food he gave to six: that is the differ¬ 
ence. ” So it is all around. I am wintering 20 
breeding sows, and I shall buy all they eat ex¬ 
cept roots and house slops. I intend they shall 
pay me a profit on cost and labor, and enter 
into a routine on the farm, the same as any 
crop, to help to eurich it, 
BEST FOOD FOR HENS. 
Now, when white wheat is so cheap, is the 
time to “lay in” a store, aud have it ready 
for the poultry. It is the best grain for fowls, 
to make them lay eggs. Corn is more apt to 
produce apoplexy, or a disease of a similar 
nature, which causes them to fall from the 
roosts dead. When I fed all corn, the loss 
from this disease was considerable; but last 
Spring, when feeding wheat screenings, I did 
not lose one. I have Bet aside 15 bushels of the 
poorest wheat for feeding the hens. 
. ijorttciutuval. 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK AT THE NEW 
YORK STATION. 
EXPERIMENTS UPON THE SQUASH-VINE BORER. 
Thf. Squash-vine Borer (Mulittia cucurbit®) 
was less destructive than usual in the Station 
Garden the past Summer. Its attack was an¬ 
ticipated, uud before the first infested vine 
could be found, our applications intended as 
preventives, were upon the plants. Wo 
selected for our experiments a plat of Hub¬ 
bard and Perfect Gem Squashes, of which the 
rowscontuined eight hills each. Commencing 
July 13, we applied to the stoma of the plants 
in one row of Hubbard Squashes, water with 
which Paris green was mixed at the rate of 
half a teuspounful to two gallous, sprinkling 
the mixture upon the stems tor a distance of 
two feet from the base of the plants. Among 
the plants of a second row we placed corn¬ 
cobs dipped in coal-tar, and to a row of the 
Perfect Gem variety we applied a weak kero- 
sem- emulsion, in the same manner as we ap¬ 
plied the Paris-green and water. The appli¬ 
cations of the Paris-green and water, and the 
soap emulsion were repeated after every hard 
rain, until September 1st. The corn-cobs were 
dipped again in the tar at intervals of about 
three weeks. We made no attempt to remove 
the borers from the vines until the squashes 
had been gathered. We then carefully dis¬ 
sected every stem iu the three rows on which 
the applications were made, and also in three 
that had received no applications. 
On the row of Hubbard Squash which re¬ 
ceived uo application, we found 23 bores, or 
cavities which they had left: on the row that 
received the Paris-green and water we found 
eight, aud on the one in which the tarred 
corn-cobs were placed we found but three. 
Iu the row of Perfect Gem that received the 
keiosene emulsion, we found two bores (or 
cavities) while iu one row that received no 
application we found eight, aud iu a second, 
seven. All three of the applications seemed 
to act beneficially, especially the tarred corn¬ 
cobs and the Paris-green aud water. In the 
case of the latter it is to be remarked that all 
the borers found were at a greater distance 
from the base ot the plants than that to which 
the mixture was applied. 
Of the tbiee methods used, the tarred cobs 
were the cheapest and most convenient. It is 
not to be supposed, however, that the odor of 
the coal tar destroys the insect : it probably 
ouly repels the moth, causiug her to choose 
other subjects for her infection. We may as¬ 
sume, however, that the Paris green kills the 
young maggot as it attempts to eat its way 
into the stem. 
melons; the effect of pinching BACK THE 
SHOOTS. 
It has often been claimed that productive¬ 
ness and earliness in the melon are promoted 
by pinching back the leading stems. In order 
to test the truth of these statements, we 
pinched back the main shoots, as fast as they 
attained the length of two feet, ID a row of 
the Christiana Melon, 75 feet long, leaving 
the stems entirely uupinched in an adjoining 
row of equal leugth. Our first impressions 
were that the fruits formed on the piuched 
row were more numerous and earlier than 
those on the unpinched row. The sequel, 
however, showed this to be a mistake. Ou 
August 15 the pinched row showed 97 fruits 
exceeding three inches iu diameter, while the 
uupinched one showed 85. The first fruit to 
ripen, however, was ou the uupinched row, 
and during Septemner no difference was dis¬ 
cernible between the two rows. 
The pinching back, however, seemed to 
greatly multiply the number of branches, and 
consequently of the female flowers. But the 
number of fruits formed seemed to bear little 
relation to the number of female flowers. It 
appears, therefore, that with the melon, the 
advantage to be gained by pinching hack the 
stems is theoretical rather than real. The re¬ 
sult might be different with the cucumber, 
when grown for pickles, as in this case the 
fruits are not permitted to ripen, hence new 
ones continue to develop, limited only by 
frost. 
In the melon and cucumber a female flower 
very rarely appeal’s on a main stem; on the 
branches, however, the first flower formed is 
almost invariably female. The second flower 
on a branch is sometimes male and sometimes 
female; beyond the second oue the fiowers are 
almost invariably male. In the squash, 
pumpkin aud watermelon the female flowers 
are borne, not on the branches, but in the 
axils of the branches. “elm." 
N. Y. Ag. Exp. Station. 
professor a. j. cook. 
This pest is entomologically known as Try- 
peta pomouulla (Walsh), it belongs to the 
order Diptera, and Family Try pet ad®. It is 
a small, footless, pointed maggot, several of 
which will be seen in a single apple iu Sep¬ 
tember, forming filthy tunnels, and causing 
the fruit to decay. 
HISTORY. 
This iusect was first described by B. D. 
Walsh 17 years ago, iu the American Journal 
of Horticulture. Since that time, we have 
hoard much of it as a great scourge iu New 
York and the New England States. Iu the 
West—Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin—it has, 
however, been known ouly us infesting our 
wild Haw or Thorn apple. Last year I received 
specimens of it from Delavan, Wisconsin, 
with the information that it was doing great 
damage. This year the enemy bus attacked 
us ou our own ground. 1 know from personal 
observation that in Ingham and adjoining 
counties it has wrought considerable mis¬ 
chief, and if we may use the experience of our 
Eastern friends as a criterion, it is safe to say 
that the last is not yet. 
