1685 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
473 
the soil. The manure becomes thoroughly 
saturated, and when plowed under (which 
should be quite early), it holds the moisture 
and renders the land more, instead of less 
moist during the Summer. 
THE BEST FODDER CORNS. 
A. II. F., West Cheshire, Conn. —Which are 
the best corns for fodder, dints, dents or the 
sweets, and why? 
Ans, —As a rule, those corns are best for 
fodder which have the largest amount of 
leaves: therefore those varieties that branch 
most have the shortest joints and widest leaves. 
These are some of the Sweets ami Dents gen¬ 
erally. though the Rural Thoroughbred is by 
far the best fodder corn of our acquaintance, 
and this is a flint variety. 
PARALYSIS IN POULTRY. 
G. W. D ., Danis, Mich .—What is the mat¬ 
ter with my poultry? Young fowls, six 
months old, lose tho use of their legs, and their 
wings fall and drag, and they die. 
Ans —The trouble is caused by paralysis, 
due, probably, to over-feeding and continued 
indigestion. It i* often caused by cramps 
from cold or damp. It is no use trying to cure 
it. The only cure is prevention. Warmth, 
dry quarters, cleanliness, good, but moderate 
feeding and pure water will prevent it. 
CLOVER HAY. 
"One horse Fanner,”Kendall Co., Texas.— 
Does clover make good hay and when should 
it be cut? 
Ans.— The best of bay, and the best of ma¬ 
nure also. It should be cut when the field is 
in full bloom or just as the first heads begin 
to show a little brown, unless it grows so rank 
as to lodgs badly, then it should be cut 
as soon as possible, for when a large part of 
the field gets down it never gets better, but 
rapidly worse. 
GRAPE QUERIES. 
F. O C, Washington, Kan .—1, Is there a 
paying vineyard in Northern Kansas of any 
grape but Concord? 2 I want au early mar¬ 
ket grape that can be depended upon to pro¬ 
duce one-half as much fruit as the Concord; 
what shall it be? 
Ans. —1. We do not know for certain, but 
presume thero is not. 2. If you plant the 
genuine Worden, you will find it as hardy, as 
productive, and as good as tho Concord, and 
about a week or 10 days earlier. We think it 
would also pay you to try the Niagara. 
— »** 
Miscellaneous. 
Subscriber, Austin, Texas.— 1. What we 
want most here for good crops is more moist¬ 
ure; would salt scattered on the soil aud 
plowed iu, attract suflleieut moisture to count¬ 
eract the effects of our long droughts? 2. 
Where can 1 get a comprehensive work on 
dairying, giviug plana of buildings, appli¬ 
ances, etc., etc., with full accounts of breeds 
of cattle and processes followed in all branches 
of the dairy business. 3, What is the Rdral’s 
method of raising Irish potatoes? 4. In a late 
Rural, reference was made to a volume of 
the Rural containing 843 pages, how can 
this be, as there are only 16 pages in each of 
the 52 issues? 
Ans —1, You could not use enough salt to 
have any useful effect in attracting moisture, 
without injuring the soil. The soil has 
almost as much ability to absorb moisture as 
salt has. 2, There is not at present auy Amer¬ 
ican work on dairying, which gives this in¬ 
formation. The centrifugal creamer requires 
a steam engine to work It, and is therefore 
only applicable to largo dairies or creameries. 
The best work on dairying in all its 
branches and iu every country is "Dairy 
Farming” by our contributor, Prof. J. P. 
Sheldon, of England. This is a splendid book, 
magnificently illustrated, aud containing de¬ 
tailed descriptions and copious illustrations 
of all sorts of dairy stock, appliances,process¬ 
es and buildings. it was originally issued iu 
numbers (25 parts at 10 cents each) by Cassel, 
Fetter, Galpiij & Co.,London, Paris, and New 
York, but can now be had, in a large, single 
volume, from the above firm, 5.36 Broadway, 
this city; price, 812. 8. We have several 
times of late fully explained our method iu 
the F. ()., and must refer our frieud to these 
recent issues. 4. The referouce is to the prev¬ 
ious volume of the Rural. There are at 
times uumbers issued having many more than 
10 pages, The Fair Number alone contained 
IS pages, and several supplements have 
swelled the number. 
W. E. T., Boothby Hill, Md. —1. What are 
the fertiliziug qualities of rotten chips, bark 
aud sawdust from an old wood pile? 2. In 
" * ia t proportion should S. C. Rock, kaiuit aud 
cotton seed meal be mixed for com aud pota¬ 
toes? How should the mixture be put on? 
4 Would plaster be bouefieial, and, if so, how 
much? 
Ans. 1. It depends a good deal upou the 
kiud of wood from which the stuff has ac¬ 
cumulated. If from hard wood, it ooutains a 
considerable amouut of potash aud phosphoric 
11 id and some nitrogen, enough to pay to use 
it, but how much, none cau tell without an 
analysis. 2. If the S, C. Rock is in its natural 
state, its phosphoric acid is so locked up as to 
be very sparingly available. If it has been 
dissolved with sulphuric acid, then put 800 
pounds of phosphate with a ton of cotton seed 
meal for four acres, and put the kaiuit on 
separately at the rate of 400 pounds per acre. 
S. For potatoes, in the trench above the seed 
and covered up; for com, broadcast, after 
plowing, and barrow in. 4. You can tell if 
plaster is beneficial only by a trial; on some 
lands it is, and on some it isn't worth 
scattering. 
J. IV. /?., Columbus, Neb. —1. I have 14 
horses, 50 calves, 40 yearlings, 80 cows and 30 
steers fattening; also 150 bogs. I have ample 
barn room. Wood costs from 80 to 87 per 
cord; soft coal, $7 per ton, and I would have 
cobs to burn. Now I wish to cut, grind and 
otherwise prepare food for the lot; which is 
the cheapest power, steam or horses? 2. 
With prairie bay from 88 50 to 85 per ton, 
Can I afford to cut up and husk my com, feed¬ 
ing the stalks? 3. What about centrifugal 
machines for separating the cream from the 
milk? 
Ans.— 1. Where you have a supply of horses 
available, it is much the cheapest aud most 
satisfactory to use them. 2. We think it would 
pay Western farmers to cut their corn fodder 
and take better care of it. and thus be enabled 
to keep more stock and feed more of the grain, 
and thus sell that in the form of beef, at a 
greater profit. 3 The separation is effected 
by letting the milk enter the machine, while 
in rapid revolution; the milk being heavier 
than the cream, passes to the side, and the 
cream gathers near the center, and both are 
drawn out by separate tubes. These centrif¬ 
ugals work satisfactorily, but require power 
to operate them. Sometime since, we erred 
in saying the Delaware Co. Creamer was a 
centrifugal; it is not; it is a creamer for 
4 ‘cold-setting.” 
G. IF. M., Ogle Co.. III. —1. What can I give 
pigs once or twice weekly to ward off disease? 
2. How can drinking water for stock be kept 
from freezing? 3. What pear or plum trees are 
best to plant iu Northern Illinois? 4. What is 
the best manure for onions? 
Ans. —We don't believe in giving any med- 
iciue to a healthy hog—or man either. Give 
good, dry, warm quarters for sleeping, good, 
clean water to drink, wholesome food, with a 
daily feed of both roots and clover hay, and 
there will.not be much danger of disease. 2. 
Place a box or curb all round the tank. IS 
inehes distant, and fill between with chaff, 
sawdust, cut straw or manure even, packing 
tightly, and place a cover over nearly the 
whole surface of the water tank, with a door 
to cover the remainder, when stock is not 
drinking, and the water will not freeze much. 
3. You must not expect great success in plant¬ 
ing any of the present popular pears so far 
North iu the West. Flemish Beauty is the 
only one double starred. Try that, Bartlett 
and Winter Nelis. The same may be said of 
the Eastern plums. Weaver, DeSoto ami 
Forest Garden.and possibly some others of the 
Chickasaw type, may succeed. 4. Well decom¬ 
posed barn yard manure for Northern 111.— 
some of the immense quantity that goes to 
waste. Next to that, good superphosphate 
with nitrogen and potash. 
G. M. .4., East Deering, Me. —1. I have a 
piece of clay loam facing the south-east, tile- 
drained and worked two years in corn well 
manured; are such land and such an exposure 
good for strawberries, raspberries and black¬ 
berries, or is the land too much exposed to 
the sun f 2. On an old meadow to be planted 
in cabbages, would nitrate of soda be a good 
fertilizer iu the absence of haru-yard mauure ! 
8. Also for onions? 4. In piliug manure in 
Summer to be used in the Fit! 1 or Summer, 
would it be a good plan to cover the piles with 
an inch of plaster? 
Ans —1. We should thiuk the land aud ex¬ 
posure both good. Exposure to the suu does 
no harm; on the contrary, it is highly benefi¬ 
cial if there is only plenty of moisture. 2. We 
should prefer a complete fertilizer and one 
especially rich iu potash and phosphoric acid. 
3. The fertilizer for onions should have a 
larger percentage of uitrogenous mauure, 
like nitrate of soda, sulphate of anuuouia, or 
barnyard manure made from nitrogeuous 
foods. 4. Yes, but it would be better to pile 
it in broad heaps and use loam on aud in the 
mauure iu sufficient quautity so it will not 
fire-fang. 
J. S, S, Minn. —1. Where can crude 
petroleum be obtaiued? 2. How deep should 
corn be planted? 3. How cau I cultivate our 
corn shallow with the four-shoveled sulky 
cultivators in common use? 4. What cultiva¬ 
tors do you use? 5. If a cistern is walled up 
with stone laid in common lime mortar, and 
the inside surface is cemented, is that as good 
as a brick wall with the inside eemeuted? 
Ans.— 1. Most likely at Miuueapoles or St, 
Paul, and possibly not uearer than Chicago. 
Your nearest dealer in paints ought to be able 
to tell you, or get it for you 2. Much depends 
upon soils aud climate. When no drought is 
apprehended, not more than two inches. 
Sometimes on the borders of the "American 
Desert” it is planted in the bottom of a "dead 
furrow ' and the soil is worked toward it all 
Summer. 3 By setting the teeth so that they 
can not run more than one or two inches 
deep. 4 We use several different kinds on 
the different farms, but all work shallow. 5. 
If well laid, the stone would be best, as the 
wall would be rough and hold the mortar 
better. Either would be much better if a 
share of cement were used in the mortar with 
which the wall was laid, 
L. F. M., Silver ton, Oregon. —1. We have 
a tough, yellowish worm about one inch in 
length, tapering from the middle each way, 
that infests onions and sometimes almost des¬ 
troys them, what is it and what will destroy it? 
2. The only fertilizers we cau get here are 
barnyard manure, bone flour, supherpbospate, 
plaster, lime and hard-wood ashes; which are 
best for onions? 3. What is the best imple¬ 
ment for cultivating corn and potatoes fiat? 
Would a spring-tooth cultivator answer? 4. 
tFhat is the best food for milch cows in win¬ 
ter! We have wheat and oats besides man¬ 
gels, carrots and potatoes? 
Ans.— 1 We cannot tell what it is from 
your description. Send a specimen in a little 
damp moss and a tight tin box. 2. Use barn¬ 
yard manure, fine bone and wood ashes: you 
need nothing else. 3. It would, providing 
it does not run too deep. We use cultivators 
with flat teeth, that are made sharp aud cut 
the ground; but only run from one to three 
inches deep. 4. Feed ground oats, wheat, 
bran aud middlings, and corn meal, if you 
have it, and plenty of carrots or mangels. 
J. C.,Lam, Idaho .—What apples and crabs, 
cherries, grapes, raspberries and blackberries 
will thrive in this climate—between parallels 
45 and 46 north, and at au altitude of 5400 
feet? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. j. L. BUDD. 
On account of the altitude and the sudden 
advent of freezing weather iu autumn, it will 
be necessary to select varieties of the apple 
that mature their wood early in the season. 
M bitney s No. 20, Tetofsky, Yellow Trans¬ 
parent. Wealthy, Plumb's Cider and Pewau- 
kee are safe for trial. If the wood would 
ripen, such sorts as Ben Davis, Willow and 
Grimes's Golden would endure the climate, 
but the chances are against them in Oneida 
County, Idaho, on account of the cool, moist 
air of early Autumn The best cherries for 
trial are Early Richmond and English Mor- 
rello. The best grapes are Concord, Worden 
and Jauesville. The best raspberries, Tyler, 
Souhegan, Shaffer’s Colossal and Doolittle. 
The best blaokberry, Snyder. The best straw¬ 
berries, Crescent, Green Prolific and Downer’s 
Prolific. All of the crabs will be apt to do 
well. 
J. J., Parkdale, near Toronto, Canada.—1. 
What are the best and most productive kinds 
of red raspberries and black-caps for this 
country? 2. For 400 pear trees in au orchard 
what varieties would the Rural recommend? 
8. I want a grape that will ripeu ID or 12 days 
earlier than Concord: for 1.000 vines what 
would you recommend? What of the Duchess? 
Ans. —1. The Cuthbert is best for a late 
red; try Marlboro or Honsell for early, and 
by sending ns a new subscriber you will get a 
stock of Marlboro free. 2. From our expe¬ 
rience we should recommend Bartlett for the 
bulk, if we wished to make the most mouey 
from it. ] Try also Flemish Beauty, Louise 
Boune de ‘Jersey, aud Bose. 8. It is hard 
to find a good grape that is 10 days earlier 
than Concord, and we know of noue the plant¬ 
ing of 1,000 vines of which we would advise. 
We should say try Early Victor, Cottage, 
Jessica, Moore’s Early, Brightou, Rogers's 30, 
Lady, and Niagara in a small way, The 
Duchess is not as early as the Concord. 
J. T. E., Sharptown, Md.— 1. I have a lot 
of peach trees budded last Fall, wheu should 
the top bo cut off, and how far from the bud? 
2. How should I treat lice on peaeh trees? 3. 
Will ciuns from old apple trees make thrifty, 
young trees? 4. Iu putting up different qual¬ 
ities of apples for market, how should they be 
marked? 5. Is there such a nursery firm as 
Lovett Sc Co. ? 
Ans.- 1. Cut them five or six inches above the 
bud, as soon as you cau, after Spriug opens; 
keep all growth rubbed off, except the bud; 
if necessary, tie the young growth to the .stub; 
cut that off smooth with the bud wheu the 
new shoot has grown two feet, or so, high. 2. 
Spray thorn with kerosene emulsion or whale- 
oil soap-suds. 8. Yes. if the tree is not dis¬ 
eased, 4. Mark them No. 1 aud 2, or X and 
XX; it maxes no difference how, provided 
your commission man knows your mark. 5. 
Probably it is J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, N. J., 
you mean. 
IF. J. M.. Orange City'. Fla.— 1. What ap¬ 
ples, pears and grapes grow best here? 2. 
What is the best rasin grape? 3. Where can 
Japan Persimmon trees be procured? 
Ans.— 1. Of apples, not enough is known to 
form an opinion. Of pears, the Le Conte and 
Bartlett are both recommended. Grapes, 
SScuppernoug will certainly succeed: try Cre- 
veling. Concord, Delaware, Triumph, Duchess 
Niagara and W orden. 2. Raisins are 
the dried fruit of the European grape-vine— 
\ iti? vinif«ra. None of ournativegrapes have 
yet afforded raisins suitable for commerce, 
though a few varieties encourage the hope 
that some may yet be produced that will make 
good raisins. The European grapes succeed 
excellently in California, and the supply of 
raisins from that State is abundant and in¬ 
creasing yearly. 3. Of P. J. Berckmans, 
Augusta, Georgia. 
J H. W., Richards, O.— According to your 
advice, I applied to Hon. Frank Hurd for a 
copy of the Report of the Department of Ag¬ 
riculture, and he entirely ignored me; I then 
applied to the Secretary of the State Board of 
Agriculture, but he demauded 35 cents in post 
age. Are they cot sent postage free? 
Ans. Mr. Hurd should have been enough 
of a gentleman surely to have answered your 
letter, if he could not have supplied you with 
the Report. The Secretary of the State Board 
could not send it, even if he had a copy, post¬ 
age free; aud it was perfectly legitimate for 
him to ask you for the postage. If Mr. Hurd 
had deigned to notice you, as he probably 
would just before election, he could have had 
it sent free; for all books and documents 
from the Government Printing Office at 
Washington are "franked” through the mails. 
Mrs M. .4 R , Bloom field, Mo., L—On 
rich sandy prairie land on which a crop of 
corn grew last year and was well cultivated, 
could I raise another crop successfully this 
year by merely harrowing, laying off and 
planting, without plowing? 2. What variety 
of corn is best for rich, sandy prairie? 3. Can 
Navy beans or stock peas be raised among the 
growing corn without injury to the crop? 
Ans. —1. A partial crop, and if very rich a 
fair crop, might he so grown, but the aggre¬ 
gate labor on the crop would be less if the 
ground were well plowed and fitted before 
planting 2. The best variety grown just 
about you, as a rule. 3 You cannot expect 
two full crops from the land in one season. As 
a rule, it is much better to grow crops separ¬ 
ately. 
C. 8 B., Cushing, Iowa —1. I have a couple 
of yards in which cattle have been fed, and in 
which the manure is several inches deep; how 
can I raise a good crop of potatoes in them? 
2. From experience, does the Rural advise 
fall plowing for potatoes? 
Ans. It is possible there is so much manure 
that potatoes would not do well. In that case, 
put a part of it on the corn ground: it will 
pay there; then plow the ground as early as 
possible, aud pretty deep; harrow till fine, 
and plow the second time; then fit it in good 
shape and plant in trenches three feet apart, 
and when so rich, 16 inches in the trenches', 
and cultivate flat. 2. Plow certainly in the 
Fall, puttiug on manure before plowing, if 
you have it. and don’t forget to plow again in 
the Spring. We hardly think it possible to 
get the land too mellow and fine for potatoes. 
-4. J. B , No address.— 1. Which are the 
more valuable as food for stock and horses, 
carrots or mangels? 2. What is the best way 
to rid a field of wire-worms? 8 Will the rais¬ 
ing of buckwheat on infested land drive out 
the pests? 
Ans.— 1. Carrots are nearly one and a half 
times as valuable as mangels: but it will cost 
more than twice as much to grow them, and 
you cannot grow more than half as many per 
acre, so it pays the best to grow the mangels, 
and then they are much more easily harvested. 
2. Wire-worms (Elaters) mature in from three 
to five years and leave the land spontaneous¬ 
ly. It is doubtful if anything can be put on 
in sufficient quantity to kill them without 
injuring the crop. Land that is not in grass 
is seldom infested to an extent sufficient to 
injure vegetation. 8. No, 
.V. R. M., Montreal, Can.— 1. What reliable 
firm manufactures small grist mills, with ap¬ 
pliances for crushing aud steaming stock 
feed? 2. Who manufactures a harvester that 
cuts the heads of the grain aud leaves the 
straw standing? 3. What is a cheap, practi¬ 
cal work on the construction of outbuildings 
and fences? 
Ans —1. J. Ross, Jr., 33 South 5th Street, 
Brooklyn, N. Y.. and the Stover M’Pg. Co,, 
Freeport, 111. 2. "Headers" are made by 
Baker & Hamilton, Sau Francisco, Cal.: and 
Harris & Co., Pekin, 111. 8. “Woodward’s 
Country Homes," price 81,50; American News 
Co , Chambers St., New York. This book 
gives chapters on fencing aud outbuildings. 
G, IF, D , Davis, Mich. —1 What is the ex¬ 
pense of raising au acre of potatoes by the 
Rural s method? 2. Should poultry be fed 
