SUPPLEMENT TO THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
be mixed. 2. It is impossible to tell, knowing 
so little of the manner of treatment: it may¬ 
be a kidney trouble, or may be due to im¬ 
proper feeding, or to keeping the animal from 
the ground. Give him some bone meal in his 
food, if you have it; if not, burn some bones, 
break them quite fine, and place them where 
he can get. them; feed a few roots of some 
kind daily, and give a teaspoonful of turpen¬ 
tine every day, for ten days, in biB food. All 
these are good. 8. It bears no comparison 
with Red Cedar, and as compared with White 
or Yellow Cedar, it lasts, perhaps, half as 
long. 
. 4 ., Mineral Point, Wis.—l. I have a plot 
of clay loam which was, last year, sod—broken 
and planted to corn. After the corn came off, 
it was manured and plowed. In trying the 
Rural’s method of raising potatoes, what 
manure shall l still use? 2. What additional 
treatment should it get for general garden 
crops? 8. Can the roport3 of the various hor¬ 
ticultural societies be obtained by those out¬ 
side the States in which they are organized? 
Ass.—1. Apply 200 pounds of very fine 
bone dust to the acre, and harrow it in after 
the spring plowing; then furrow and when 
the potatoes are dropped and covered a couple 
of inches, apply bone dust at the rate of 200 
pounds, and hard-wood ashes at the rate of 80 
bushels to the acre, and finish covering. 2. 
Apply 400 pounds of bone aud 100 bushels of 
ashes per acre. 8. Any of the societies are 
glad to send them gratia to their memhers, 
wherever these may happen to live, and usual 
ly the membership fee is only one dollar per 
year and most of the volumes are worth much 
more tbau that. “Outsiders" in any part of 
the country can generally buy them of the 
secretaries of the various associations. 
,/. A. S., Potter Co., Dak. —1. Will it do to 
use pigs of the same litter for breeding pur¬ 
poses? 2. At what age should a heifer be 
bred? 8. Will flaxseed take the place of oil- 
meal when the latter is not to be bad ? 4. 
Should the Rural Cross-bred Corn be grown 
together; will it not mix? 5. How is celery 
seed grown—such asisused for flavoring? 
Ans. —1. This is what is called in-breeding, 
and is not to be commended. 2. All depends 
upon the breeds: Jerseys are usually bred be¬ 
fore a year old, and the practice is to breed all 
classes much earlier than formerly. 3. It can 
only be used in very limited quantities; as it 
contains such u large amount of free oil it be¬ 
comes medicinal. It should be boiled or 
ground. 4. It cannot “mix" any worse than 
it is now “mixed," and great care should be 
used in selecting the best types, and then in 
planting each separately. No one should ex¬ 
pect to obtain a corn of fixed type the first or 
second year. 5. It is not grown especially for 
flavoring, but varieties of seed that bjcome 
mixed, and such as have lost their vitality, are 
used for that purpose. 
S. C, S., Atkin, S. C. —1. When grapes are 
worth from 15 to 23 cents per pound, what 
size and style of package would you recom¬ 
mend for a 1,000-mile journey when the mer¬ 
cury ranges from 80° to 100°.? 2. Do N. Y. 
grape growers ship their baskets singly or 
crated? 
Ans. —l. We should sav ship in a three to 
five pound basket got op in tasty style and 
crated,about half dozen five-pound, or one doz¬ 
en three-pound baskets in a crate. A good 
deal depends upon looks. 2 Mostof them use 
10-pouud baskets, aud put them in tiers in the 
ears, crowded so closely as to hold and sup¬ 
port each other. Some, especially in the Hud¬ 
son River region, use berry crates for light 
baskets, holding 10 pounds each, proportioned 
so that four fill the crate. Mr. Rogers, of 
Niagara fame, at Highland, on the Hudson, 
has a special basket of his own getting up, 
holding plump three pounds, which is without 
exception, in every way the tastiest aud most 
attractive package we have ever seen, and his 
Niagaras sold in such packages last Fall, we be¬ 
lieve, at from 25 to 35 cents per pound. 
F., Burlington. Kcma —1. I have a catalpa 
grove of 4,000 trees, two years old from the 
seed and one-half by seven feet apart, should 
they be cut close to the gr mud this Spring? 
2. Should they be cut back next Spring? 8. 
In saviug seed corn from stalks having two 
ears which one would it be advisable to save. 
4. Why is it hetter to feed unsoaked shelled 
corn to pigs than corn in the ear? 5. How do 
the Sealy-bark and Kolb’s Gem Watermelons 
compare with Phinney's Early as regards 
earliness? 0 Which are the more profitable, 
Pekin or Aylesbury ducks? 
Ans. —As we understand the case, the trees 
should not be cut back at all. 2. No. 8. The 
larger and more perfect ear alwavs, no mat¬ 
ter whether it is the lower or higher in posi¬ 
tion. 4. The only difference could be iu Ihe 
waste there would be if not fed on a floor, and 
the muscle used in shelling. 5. We have not 
yet tried Kolb’s Gem. The Scaly-bark is a 
flue melou, but not quite so early with us as 
Phinney’s. 6. The Pekins are a little larger, 
otherwise they rank much the same. 
E. C. W., Thetford, 17.—1. Could you re¬ 
commend the Mammoth Dewberry, so highly 
extolled by J. L. Child. Queens. N. Y. ? 2. 
What is th( relative value of 8. C. phospha- 
tic rock and bone, each ground equally flue? 
A Boston agricultural editor told me the rock 
was worth more, pound for pound. 
Ans. —1. We would recommend yon and 
everybody to go slow on anybody’s dewberry. 
If ever so good, dewberries would be a nui¬ 
sance on account of their creeping growth 
and tendency to spread. The blackberries 
are good enough, and you can cultivate and 
pick them: aud then it is safe to conclude that 
any fruit that has not been sent to the Rural 
to test has some trait the owuer doesn’t want 
shown up. Moths dread the light. 2. Unless 
treated with acid, the bone would be worth 
immeasurably the most, for the rock, however 
fine, would be almost worthless. That editor 
was a “dude farmer" that bad never smelled 
the soil, and had done his farming on a piece 
of paper seven by nine. There are entirely 
too many such. 
T. W, Council Grove, Kans. —1. What is 
the best material for a varnish for inside paint? 
2. What are the two best black, and the two 
best red raspberries for Central Kansas? 8. 
The three best strawberries for the same local¬ 
ity? 4. Three best pears? 5. The best sort of 
quince? 6. Some of my neighbors tell me I 
will ruin my land by manuring it; how much 
manure can I safely put on? 
Ans. —1. Varnish is made of gum copal lin¬ 
seed oil and turpentine, hut it is much better 
to buv it ready-made than to run the risk of 
making it. 2. Gregg and Doolittle for black; 
Cuthbert and Turner for red. 3. Wilson, 
Downing and Crescent. 4. Bartlett. Flemish 
Beauty, Seckel, Winter Nelis. 5. It is doubt¬ 
ful if the quince will succeed. Try the orange. 
6. Some of the people of many other Western 
States who once preached the same doctrine, 
are now talking abont worn-out fields. You 
need not be afraid of 20 to 30 loads of manure 
per acre each year, plowing the ground each 
time a little deeper and deeper. 
If. D. P , Kelcham, TTis.—1. Will it pay to 
draw slaked lime one mile? If so, bow much 
should be applied per acre broadcast? 2. 
Will it pay to draw peat half a mile, and 
would it benefit grass land as a top-dressing ? 
S. Will slaked lime kill Canada Thistles if 
spread four inches thick? 4. Where can I 
obtain milking tubes. 5. I find air-slaked 
lime makes a good mulch for small fruit-trees 
put on two inches deep, is there any danger 
in using it? 
Ans. —1. On most soils It would; but the 
best wav is to t ry an experiment and see what 
that particular soil says about it. 2. The 
same may be said of the peat. We know it will 
pay to pile it and th« lime together, two 
bushels of lime to 25 bushels of peat, and next 
Wiuter use the compost for bedding and thus 
double your manure pile and its value. 3. 
No. NO. no! Salt will though. 4. Of Bart 
lett & Dow. Lowell, Mass. 5. Not the least, 
if you do not pile it too thick close about the 
collar. 
J J , no address —1. Would it be advisable 
to plant raspberries or blackberries among 
strawberries planted in hills 18 inches apart? 
2, Of the Cuthbert. Marlboro and Hansell 
Rasberries, which is the earliest? 3. Will 
the Niagara Grape ripen ten days before the 
Concord ? 
Ans. —You should by no means plaut either 
raspberries or blackberries among strawber¬ 
ries. You could not do a more injudicious, 
unprofitable thing. 2. The Hansell, by the 
Rural's test, is the earliest. The berries are 
firm and bright red. of fair quality. The 
plants are not over-vigornus or fruitful. The 
Rancocas is a promising new kind for early. 
The Cuthbert is the best late. The Marlboro 
is probably the hest early red; but it is not as 
early as the Hansell. The Crimson Beauty is 
highly spoken of. S. With us it ripens with 
the Concord. 
J. L, S., Middlesex Co., Mass. —1. What 
should he done for a cow that has just “come 
in" whose bag is swollen aud whose milk is a 
trifle bloody? 2. Is there really more than 
one kind of asparagus? Has the Rural ever 
experimented with this plant? Does salt im¬ 
prove its growth? What fertilizers should be 
used? 
ANS.—1. Bathe In cool water aud apply 
plenty of frlctiou; feed the cow laxative 
food. 2. We have experimented with aspar¬ 
agus, and our report is that all kinds we have 
tried are the same in flavor. The Colossal 
will give as large shoots as any. The Argen- 
teuil gives lighter-colored shoots than others: 
the Giant Dutch, more purplish shoots. We 
do not believe that salt either harms or bene¬ 
fits asparagus. Use for fertilizers bone flour 
and unleached wood ashes. 
B. F. S,, Engl ovale, Dak. —1. I wish to plaut 
five acres of various vegetables aud garden 
truck, can I get a better tool for $12 than a 
combined Planet drill and wheel-hoe? 2. Our 
spring wheat straw grows only short, and the 
yield i3 about 15 bushels per acre on an aver¬ 
age; what do we need to cause it to grow 
taller? 3. What is the inclosed grain, and 
what is it good for? It grows 2>£ feet high, 
is very rank aud stands up well. 
Ans —The Planet is a good drill and will 
please you. 2. You need only more rain to 
make the straw grow taller, and possibly 
phosphoric acid to make more grain: but this 
can ouly be tob? by experiment. 3. The grain 
was Nepaul or Hulless Barley It is only good 
for feed. Try it farther; if it yields well, it 
may pay to grow for that purpose. 
J. W. J., Campbell ford, Out., Can. —1. My 
land would raise sav 20 bushels of wheat per 
acre as it is. I have ground bones, wood- 
ashes. a limited quantity of barnyard manure, 
and can get saltpeter. What weight per 
acre of each of these ought I to apply to get 
the best result* in growing potatoes according 
tha Rural’s method! 2. In a recent number 
you say your experience with flowering 
shrubs would limit your choice to about a 
half-dozen or less. Please name them? 
Ans.—1. Use 250 pounds of bone, 30 bushels 
of wood-ashes, 150 pounds of nitrate of soda 
per acre—the last not until the potatoes have 
sprouted. Farm manure should be old or 
spread in the Fall. 2 Japan Quince in va¬ 
riety for one. There is not a prettier flower¬ 
ing shrub in existence; Viburnum plicatum. 
Hydrangea paniculat.a grandiflora; the bush 
honeysuckles in variety; the Prunus Piswdii 
or Purpled leaved Plum; Spirsea grandiflora. 
The severity of your climate restricts us. 
5. J., No. Bergen, N. Y— 1. What would 
be the cost of transporting a present of a 
barrel of oranges from Jamaica, West ladies, 
to this place? 2 Could they be shipped to 
N. Y. in care of the Rural, and would it for¬ 
ward them to me? 
Ans. —The freight from Jamaica would be 
85 cents: the import duty 55 c B nts, and the 
expressage from N. Y. probably $1.50. 2 
We regret that we cannot find time to attend 
toanv businessof this kind. If we did it for one. 
we should feel bound to do it for others, and 
onr other duties will not permit us to do this. 
Thev should be consigned to some express 
company here, who would not charge for 
their trouble. It would be about as cheap, 
and a good deal more convenient, to buy a 
barrel here. 
D. J. C., Farmington, Minn —1. What is the 
peculiarity of the smoothing harrow so often 
mentioned? 2. Dr Hoskins tells on page 102 
abont raising the butter yield of a cow from 150 
to 600 pounds per year. How can it he done? 3 
A. and R, engage in sheep raising. A. to furn¬ 
ish ewes, and market products: B. does the rest, 
how should they divide profits: sheep are 
worth $3 each and land $30 per acre? 
Ans —1. In smoothing barrows the teeth 
incline backwards about. 45 degrees. 2 The 
only way to increase it is hv proper feed and 
care. See Rural of March 7. 8. There is no 
rule. It is all a matter of agreement as to 
who shall run the risks of lo«s. etc., and as to 
how many sheep shall be kept and how much 
expense shall be incurred in marketing 
J. McF., Watertown. Wis .—1. Does the 
Rural advise the planting of the Wilsou Jr. 
Blackberry? What about the Gainer Black¬ 
berry* A traveling agent is praising it to the 
sky. 2. Will the Downing Mulberry grow as 
far north as this? 8. Will the quince thrive 
here? A What sort is the Jersey Queen 
Strawberry! 
Ans —No. it is not hardy enough for you. 
Yould suggest Snyder, though the fruit is 
small. We have never before heard of the 
Gainer Blackberry. 2. No. 8. No. 4 It is 
a beautiful berrv of high quality. It is pistil¬ 
late, needs “high" culture and is not over- 
productive then in most places. 
F. S„ Crawford Co.. Pli.—In his descrip¬ 
tion of how he raised his Urge yield of pota¬ 
toes. Mr. Rose says he applied 400 pounds of 
Bradley’s fertilizer on a plot of ground eight 
feet wide and fifteen rods long. Can It be 
that he means what he said, and what would 
justify such an enormous quantity? 
Ansi. —-We have no doubt of Mr. Rose’s 
truthfulness, aud that he applied all he said. 
He was competing for the large prize of 
$300 offered by the RradleyCo for the largest 
yield from one pound of seed, and that would 
justify a pretty large outlay for manure. 
C. F., Naples, N. Y.—\. Should cow mauure 
made this Winter be applied in Spring to 
ground to be then planted to straw berries, or is 
it better to compost it aud applv it in the Fall ? 
2 Will strawberries planted in a matted row 
need thinning in Spring in order to produce the 
best, crop? 
Ans.— 1. You should fork it over a couple of 
times, and if you have a little horse manure, 
put iu just enough to get it to heatiug; apply 
to ,tbe ground aud cultivate, or plow in not 
2H 
very deep, and plant the vines: they would 
make a much better growth this Summer. 2. 
The less you disturb them this Spring before 
fruiting, the better, 
J. C„ Flatbush, N. Y, —1, How much a 
year can be cleared from 200 fowls, say 300 
miles from N. Y. City? 2. Can chickens be 
kept where the thermometer reaches zero and 
snow gets very deep in the Winter? 3. Would 
you advise a boy 16 years old to go to the 
country if he loves farming? 
Ans. —1. It all depends upon the keeper, and 
the selection of the breed—anywhere from 
nothiog to $400. 2. Certainly; if warm, well 
ventilated quarters are provided for them. 3. 
By all means let him go to the country and 
hire to some intelligent farmer, and let him 
learn the business thoroughly. 
P. V. S., Red Bank, N, J —L Where can I 
obtain the fertilizer recommended in the 
Rural for potato growth, at thelowest price; 
2. What kind of salt is used for asparagus 
beds: where can it be obtained and at what 
price? 
Ans —1. From any of the firms whose ad¬ 
vertisements appear in the Rural. 2. Usu¬ 
ally refuse salt, which can be bought for about 
$5 per ton from J. P. & G. C. Robinson, 
Coenties Flip. N. Y.. or American Balt Co., 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
R. E , Stockton, N. J. —L Will Orchard 
Grass seeded down with oats in Spring “take’’ 
well? 2. What mixture of grass seed sown 
in the Spring, makes the best pasture? 
Ans —1. It usually will, unless the oats 
grow very large. They are not a very desir¬ 
able crop to seed with. 2, We could not tell, 
without knowing something of the ground. 
In a general wav, sow Red Clover, Blue Grass, 
Orchard Grass and White Clover or Alsike, 
but. these would be varied, or added to accord¬ 
ing to the soil. 
J. J. C., Detroit, Mich .—1. Would it be 
better to use for potatoes barnyard manure, 
which I have, rather than commercial fertil¬ 
izers. which 1 would have to bay? 2. If the 
manure is used, should the potatoes be placed 
on top of it iu the trench in direct contact 
with it ? 3 Which kind of early potatoes will 
be likely to yield the most? 
Ans. —1. Not unless it be well decomposed, 
and we should even then add po'ash in some 
form. 2 No. 3. We beg to refer our friend, 
in answer to this question, to the potato re¬ 
ports from the Rural Grounds. They answer 
fully. 
G. H. A., New Haven, Conn —1. How 
should Justiciasbe grown? Is there a scarlet 
sort other than Sanguines? 2. My Verbenas 
are infested in Summer with a green worm, 
apparently it hatches there; what can I do to 
kill it? 3. Where can Alstroemerias be ob¬ 
tained? Would thev be hardy here? 4 How 
old must seedling Deutzias be before bloom¬ 
ing? 
Ans. —1. Like ordinary greenhouse plants; 
J. oblongata is scarlet. 2. Try Bubacb. 3. 
From the florists of your city. 4. Two to three 
years. 
G. W. G ,, Marulan, Dak .—1. Are ashes 
a good fertilizer for potatoes? 2. I raised a 
Yellow Danvers Onion 4% inches in diameter, 
was that extra large? 3. What paint do you 
use for garden stakes, and what do you use 
for writing on them ? 4. When corn is fully 
ripe, does freezing injure it? 
Ans -l Yes. for roost land alone, and good 
for all with bone dust and barn-yard manure. 
2 . Tt is hard to beat. 8. Simply white lead 
and oil, and for writing, use a lead pencil. 4. 
Not at all for anything but seed purposes, and 
if well dried out, not much for that. 
I. O. J . Grand Rapids, Miss .—1. Is the 
waste of a tobacco factory worth hauling as a 
manure. 3. To what crops should it be ap¬ 
plied? 3. What is a desirable black-cap for 
this region? 4. How far apart should they be 
planted 11 
Ans —Tt is a very valuable manure, rich in 
potash and phosphate. 2. To almost any 
crop you grow, especially potatoes and toma¬ 
toes. 3. The Ohio is a good one. 4. Plant 
three feet apart in rows seven or more feet 
apart. 
L. C. Omaha, Neb .—1. In order to start a 
crapery on a piece of timber land sloping to 
the East, will it not be snfticieut if the trees 
are cut off close to the ground or must I have 
them grubbed out? 2. Would it be beneficial 
to let a few trees remain standing?. 3. What 
variety will give the best satisfaction for 
market. 
Ans— l. It would be better to grub them 
out. 2. It would not be beneficial. 3. Please 
see other portions of Rural iu answer to this. 
TV. G., Brantford, Canada. —What about 
the Welcome Oats? 1 have glowing state¬ 
ments, iu advertisements, of their growing six 
feet high and weighing 55 pounds per bushel? 
Ans. —Thev are good oats, exactly like the 
White Australian, early, prolific and heavy; 
but it would require pmtv riob laud to wakv 
