MAY 2 
300 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
(Every query must be accompanied by filename 
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ask.'UR a question, please see If It is not answered In 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions 
at one tlme.l _ 
SPASMODIC AND FLATULENT COLIC. 
Inquirer, Lewis Center, O .—What is the 
difference between spasmodic and flatulent 
colic in a horse, and how should each be 
treated ? 
A NS. —Spasmodic colic is a sudden contrac¬ 
tion of the muscular coats of tbe intestines, 
with a tendency to inflammation, and is due 
to improper food; sudden changes of diet; ex¬ 
haustion from over-work, particularly if as¬ 
sociated with long fasting; drinlnng cold 
water when heated, etc, Colicy pains are also 
sometimes symptomatic of intestinal parasites 
and other causes of irritation. The symptoms 
are, sudden pain, pawing, kicking at the belly, 
lookiug round at the flanks, lying down, roll¬ 
ing over, struggling in various ways, or lying 
outstretched; then suddenly riaiug, shaking 
the body, and intermissions of pain. After a 
short interval, the pain returns, and the same 
performances recur until the animal is re¬ 
lieved, or dies from inflammation of the in¬ 
testines (enteritis), pain and exhaustion. Dur¬ 
ing the paroxysms of pain, the breathing and 
pulse are accelerated, w itb sighing or panting. 
There may, too, be frequent discharges from 
the bowel* and bladder. The best way to 
treat spasmodic colic is by purgatives and in¬ 
jections. The best form of purgative is a ball 
containing from five to teu drams of aloes, 
depending on the size of the animal, and the 
nature of its food, more being required with 
dry than with wet feed. Tbe enemas, or in¬ 
jections, way consist of warm water only, fre¬ 
quently repeated, at a temperature of 100“ 
Fah. Castile soap and warm water also make 
a good enema. When the pain is extreme, 
however, it should be relieved by opiates, and 
for this purpose nothing is better then tincture 
of opium in two or three ounce doses, mixed 
with warm water. In a slightattack, asingle 
dose of this opiate will often a I Ford permanent 
relief; but in all cases tbe purgative should 
be administered. Here is another drench:— 
aloes, four drams; sulphuric ether, one ounce; 
laudanum,one ounce. Pulverize the aloes into 
a pint and a half of hot water; cool; add tbe 
other ingredients mixed, and give immediate¬ 
ly. Hot fomentations to the abdomen, with 
friction, are also serviceable. A good remedy 
is a pint of linseed oil with one ounce of sweet 
spirits of niter. Another, in mild cases is:— 
Sulphuric ether, one ounce; laudanum, two 
ounces; compound decoction of aloes, five 
ounces. Mix and give as a drench every half 
hour until relief is afforded. In severe cases, 
this drench is strongly recommended:—Aro¬ 
matic spirits of ammonia, an ounce and a half; 
laudanum, two ounces; tincture of ginger, an 
ounce and a half; warm water, one quart. 
Mix and give every hour until the pain 
ceases. 
Flatulent colic is much more dangerous than 
spasmodic, and demands prompter treatment. 
It is due to an accumulation of gas in the 
stomach and intestines, and is most common 
in Spring and Fall. It may be the result of 
some other disease, or a consequence of spas¬ 
modic colic, or it may be produced by the 
same causes; but most commonly It is an ef¬ 
fect of food which easily undergoes fermenta¬ 
tion, such as raw potatoes, green clover, etc. 
If the accumulation of gas is not arrested, 
it soon swells the stomach and intes¬ 
tines to such an extent as to cause the 
walls to give way, and death follows, 
either from suffocation or blood poisoning 
from the absorption of gases, sometimesln less 
than half an hour from the appearance of the 
first, symptom. The expression of pain, though 
less acute than in spasmodic colic, is more 
constant. The abdomen is tense and swollen, 
and sounds like a dmm, when struck. The 
pulse is rapid and feeble; the breathing diffi¬ 
cult.; the feet and ears cold. The animal is 
weak and sometimes delirious, and reels to 
and fro. The iutestines appear to be sore, as 
indicated by the cautious manner of lying 
down, if the animal lies down at all. In this 
form of colic, the same remedies may be em. 
ployed as in the other; but the following 
drench is strongly recommended:—spirits of 
turpentine, four ounces; linseed oil, 12 ounces; 
laudanum, one-and-a half ounce. Mix and 
give every hour as long as the pain lasts. In¬ 
jections, however, are safer than purgatives, 
and soap suds and oil of turpentine are most 
efficacious; but the latter should be used with 
care. The following has been found effica¬ 
cious:—oil of turpentine, half a pint; soap 
suds, one quart. Repeat every half hour if 
necessary. When the urgent symptoms of 
colic are removed, care must betaken to pre¬ 
vent a relapse. Give water with the chill off, 
and uot too much. A warm bran mash with 
half a feed of bruised oats may be safely 
given. Feed often and moderately for a day 
or two. avoiding anytbiug which may appear 
to have contributed to the colic. 
APPLE QUERIES. 
D. S McM, Plattsburgh, N. Y—l. Which 
are more profitable for market in this section, 
fall or winter apples? 2 Which are the best 
varieties of each? 3. How shall I plaut a ten- 
acre orchard? 
Ans.— 1. Sometimes local markets make a 
limited demand for fall apples: but, as a rule, 
there is much more money in winter fruit. 2. 
For fall apples the Summer Bippiu, St. Law¬ 
rence, Oldenburg, Maiden’s Blush. For win¬ 
ter apples, Fameuse, Jonathan, Black Gilli- 
flower, R. 1. Greening, Beu Davis, Canada 
Baldwin, Tolman Sweet, and any other varie¬ 
ty that is giviug satisfaction in your neigh¬ 
borhood. Talk with John W. Bailey, of your 
city: he Is a well-posted man. 3. Fit the land 
in all respects as for corn, except that if the 
soil is not deep it should be mellowed with a 
sub-soil lifting plow. Stake it off in rows 
both ways, placing the trees not nearer to¬ 
gether than 35 feet, 40 is better; dig the holes 
large and deep, mellowing up the bottom 
well. With a sharp knife cut smooth the 
ends of all roots that have been broken or 
bruised; place the tree in place, being sure to 
have it in row, both ways: fill in with sur¬ 
face soil, taking pains to see that it is worked 
in well among all roots, and that the tree 
stands about one inch deeper than when in 
the unrsery row, pack the soil well among 
and over the roots. Prune the trees well, 
taking paiDs to so leave the limbs as to form 
the basis of a shapely top. The land should 
be worked and may be cropped with almost 
any hoed crop, provided the fertility is kept 
up with a sufficiency of manure. The trees 
should be looked after and the pruning done 
each year in such a way as to obviate the 
necessity of at any time cutting large limbs. 
DIABETES IN A HORSE. 
A. H. W., Rodney, Miss.—W hy does my 
horse urinate 20 to 30 times a day while at 
work? 
Ans. —This profuse staling is known as dia¬ 
betes, diuresis, etc. It causes a loss of flesh, 
weakness and exhaustion, uuless cured. A 
common cause is dosing with quack medicines. 
It is also produced by musty hay and grain, 
new oats, distillery slops, acid diuretic plants, 
and any cause that irritates the stomach 
while stimulating the kidneys. There is gen¬ 
erally great thirst, profuse voiding of pale- 
colored urine, thin and with little odor, and a 
depraved appetite for licking qpxious sub¬ 
stances. A total change of food, as far as 
possible, should be made. Green feed will 
often check it at once, and so will a bran 
mash containing a few carrots. Inordinate 
drinking should not bo allowed. The follow¬ 
ing is a good remedy: Iodine, 90 grains; 
iodide of potassium, one dram; carbonate of 
soda, four drams; mix and give in water. 
Another: Gallic acid, half a dram; opium, 
one dram, with molasses and linseed meal 
enough to make into a ball, which should be 
give twice a day. It will be generally found 
sufficient, however, to mix with each feed, 
half a dram of sulphate of iron (powdered) 
and to keep the horse well clothed and his legs 
warmly bandaged, in an airy box. A cure 
should be effected in five or six days at most. 
GROWING MELONS FOR MARKET. 
A subscriber, whose name and address we 
have mislaid, asks how to grow melons for 
market. Mr. Julius Harris, a uoted aud suc¬ 
cessful melon grower, gives the following 
directions: A dry, mellow loam or gravel is 
the best for melons, and should be made rich 
enough with barn-yard manure to raise 100 
bushels of ear corn per acre. It should be 
well plowed and thoroughly harrowed until 
it is as mellow aud fine as it Is 
possible to get it; then mark it off for hills 
eight feet each way, If for water melons; and 
six feet each way, if for musk-melons. The 
place for hills should then be opened with a 
spade, shove) plow or common plow about five 
inches deep, aud half a shovel-ful of thorough¬ 
ly rotted cow or horse manure should be ap¬ 
plied in the place for each hill, and thoroughly 
mixed with the soil. Plant 10 or 12 seeds in 
each hill, scattering them somewhat, as early 
as it will do to plant corn. As soou as the 
plants are up, cultivation should commence, 
aud be repeated often enough to keep the 
ground loose and mellow and entirely free 
from weeds, and this should continue until the 
plants are too large to work amongst them 
without breaking or covering up. The enemies 
of the melon, the cut-worm, the striped bug, 
and the black bug, are always about seeking 
what they may devour, and must be kept off 
A 
by careful watching and killing tbe first that 
appear. He has found this about the most 
effectual, and, withal, about as cheap as any 
other method. Gradually thin the plants by 
taking out the weakest, and just before they 
commence to run, take out all but four in 
each hill. After this disturb tbe vines as little 
as possible until the melons begin to ripen. 
GROWING PEAS. 
A. H., Port Allegheny, Pa.— 1. What is the 
method of raising field peas? What kind 
should be sowed, and how much to the acre? 
2. When peas aud oats are sown together, how 
much seed of each kind should lie used f 
Ans.— 1. To produce a good crop of peas, 
requires a good, rich soil, naturally, or one 
made so by the use of barn-yard manure, also 
a liberal amount of ashes or other manures 
rich in pota-h. Fit it the same as for corn, 
and sow, as early as the ground is in good con¬ 
dition, three bushels of what is known as the 
Canada Held pea per acre, either drilled or 
broadcast. If it is desired to raise the crop 
for seed and have them free of weevils, sow 
about June 10th to 20th, but there is a risk 
when sown late, that they will mildew, and 
this greatly reduces the yield. 2. How two 
bushels of peas aud V/ x of oats per acre by the 
same method. Harvest as soon as the oats are 
iu the dough state, and if well cured the straw 
will make splendid fodder. The grains can 
be easily separated when thrashed by running 
through a fanning mill. 
SCOURS IN CATTLE. 
R. G. P., Madison , Ind .—What is a remedy 
for scours in cattle? 
Ans —Diarrhea, or “scours,” in cattle is 
the effects of various causes: first, it is fre¬ 
quently the effect of irritants, such as rank 
grass of marsh lands, wet, sloppy grass, ex¬ 
cess of bran or linseed, change from dry to 
green food, etc.; second, it is often a result of 
disordered digestion, and then the food is not 
acted upon, but enters the intestines as au irri¬ 
tant; third, not seldom it results from dis¬ 
order of tbe liver and pancrea*. their abnor¬ 
mal secretions also acting as irritants to the 
intestinal tube; and, fourth, it is an attendant 
of malignant catarrh, tuberculosis, pleuro¬ 
pneumonia and other ailments. As the treat¬ 
ment should be modified iu accordance with 
the cause of the disease, it would be worse 
than folly to prescribe a general ‘‘cure” for 
“scours,” whatever the cause might be. 
Those seeking information should, therefore, 
mention the actual or pro be Me cause. In all 
cases, however, the food should be diminished, 
the quantity of water limited and exercise 
discontinued, until the proper action of the 
how els is restored. Irritants are found to be 
the most common cause, and in such cases it 
would be well to give a pint of linseed oil to 
remove any crude, irritant matter from the 
intestines. Then make a mixture of one 
pound of salt, eight ounces of carbonate of 
soda, and one pound of prepared’cbarcoal; 
mix these well together and give a handful iu 
meal at each feed. Continue until relief is 
afforded. 
STORING LARGE AMOUNTS OK CELERY IN 
WINTER. 
./. //. S. , Brant ford,Ont. , Can. —What is the 
best plan for preserving celery in large quan¬ 
tities during Winter, so as to have it for use 
in March and April? 
ANS.— Keep it out-of-doors in a warm, 
sheltered place, sloping, if practicable, and 
where snow or water will not lodge iu Winter. 
Bet the plants upright in single file close to¬ 
gether,and to their full length in deep, narrow, 
rowp, uDd two or three rows in a ridge, the 
ridges to be ouly four or six inches higher 
than the common level of the ground, and the 
earth space between the row’s six to nine 
inches wide. The soil should tie packed firmly 
between the rows, and the ridge* headed off 
firmly, ao as to lead off water easily. On the 
approach of hard frosts, ft coping of boards 
set like au inverted & should be placed over 
the ridges to keep the water off the celery; 
also enough leaves, sea-weed, thatch or straw 
should bo put over the coping to exclude hard 
frost. Or store in commodious sheds, pits or 
cellars that are airy, dry and cool—but cool 
they must bo. Store the celery in an upright 
position, and closely packed in single rows 
with a strip of sand or earth six to nine 
inches wide, packed firmly between the rows. 
A friend has good celery yet (April 20), and 
lots of it in ridges out-of doors, which were 
covered, with lt?-aves and thatch only ,iu Winter. 
CROPS FOR A DRAINED SWAMP. 
A Subscriber, Mich. —1. Can a drained 
swamp having from two to three feet of muck 
covered with moss, on which area few Tama¬ 
rack trees, bo cleared so as to get it into 
onions, cabbage and celery, and if so, how? 2. 
Would it be better to burn the moss, or to pile 
and rot it? 3. Is it too late to bow celery seeds 
now? 
Ans.—1. If the laud is drained, and has 
been so long enough to become properly 
aerated, it might possibly be fitted for late 
cabbages aDd celery, but not for onions, as 
they should be in by this time. We could tell 
much better did we know more about it—how 
long drained and how much rotted. All the 
trees of every kind should lie grubbed out and 
removed. The moss also should bo treated in 
the same way if there is much of it,and theu tbe 
land should be thoroughly plowed-the mors the 
better. In any case, it will probably be wot th 
much more next year, and may be much ben¬ 
efited by an application of ashes or lime. 2. 
We should prefer to pile the moss and diy it, 
to be used next Winter in the horse stables as 
bedding: it is splendid to use for this purpose. 
3. No—plenty of time for main crop. 
SULPHATE OF IRON AS A FERTILIZER. 
N. R.. Paris, N. Y— I found the following 
in a Western agricultural paper: “Tbo value 
of sulphate of iron as a plaut food has been 
tested by an English chemist, Mr. A B Grif¬ 
fiths. The use of 50 pounds per acre increased 
the yield of beaus from 28 to 44 bushels, aud 
that of turnips, from 18 to lGJtf tons, but pro¬ 
duced but little effect on cereals.” What do 
you say to this? 
Ans.—T hat it is of a piece with much of the 
nonsense that is put into so-called “agricul¬ 
tural papers’’ hy editors who know no more 
of farming than did the city dude who sup¬ 
posed farmers used the cow’s tail as a lever by 
which to obtain the milk; and the farmers 
are asked to believe such twaddle and support 
such papers Fifty pounds per acre would do 
tiut little harm, but this salt in any large 
quantity would prove destructive to vegetable 
life. It has sometimes bepn used as a medi¬ 
cine on pear trees to prevent blight, but no 
one knows that it has ever done any good 
even here. 
DESTROYING POULTRY VERMIN. 
C. /. M., Woodlawn, Pa .— What will rid 
poultry and the house of lice* 
Ans—G et a gallon, more or less, of crude 
petroleum, and with a spraying bellows, if 
you have it, and with a brush, if you have 
nothing better, thoroughly saturate every 
part of the inside of the poultry house. This 
will rid it of every vestige of lice, large or 
small, and as the small lice, or mites, mostly 
leave the poultry in the morning, it will in a 
couple of applications rid the fowls of the 
pests. Also a little lurd oil aud kcroseue, 
half and half, applied under the wings of the 
birds, will kill all tlie large lice that are on 
them. But every man who bus many fowls 
Bhould lmve some sort of a spraying appara¬ 
tus, und with this spray the fowls mid bouse 
about once a month with kerosene emulsion. 
This can be quickly done at night when the 
fowls are on tbo roosts. This will keep every¬ 
thing free from vermin. 
MANURE FOR STRAW’BERRIES. 
R. S. J., Oakville Ont, Can. —1. How 
should hen manure be applied to strawberries? 
2. Wliat other fertilizers, aud how much per 
acre should be used? 
Ans. —1. Make it fine by pounding or slight¬ 
ly dampening and putting it iu a pile, nud if 
it smells strong, sprinkle it with loam or 
plaster. When fine, scatter it on the ground 
among the vines just before a rain if possible. 
But on any quantity from 5(X> to 1*000 pounds 
per acre, according to the poorness of the 
land. 2. But on, a week before the hen man¬ 
ure is applied, 25 bushels of unleached hard 
wood ashes per acre, and with the hen manure 
400 pounds or more of fine bone flour: 1,000 
pounds of this would do no harm, but try 
more and less on different plots. 
M » ■ - 
Miscellaneous. 
A. G. L. Great Rend, Kans. —1. How should 
the afterbirth be removed from a cow, from 
which it does not come naturally ? 2. Where 
can I get a Holstein bull near this place? 3. 
Will tbe offspring of u cross of a Holstein bull 
on good domestic cows be likely to be good 
stock i 
Ans.— 1. The best way is to take a towel 
in the left hand aud with it grasp the purt 
hanging from the vagina; then with the right 
hand, well oiled follow the placenta into the 
uterus and unbutton very gently—no force 
is neoded. It may be held hy from 10 to 20 
cotyledons or buttons, und it requires consid¬ 
erable patience to do it properly. Afterwards 
syringe out the uterus witti a weak solution 
of carbolic acid aud water (one to 40), and if 
the animul is feverish give half a pound to 
oue pound of Epsom salts, according to the 
size of the cow. 2. Holsteins are for sale by 
John B. Hall, Emporia, Kans. 8. The cross 
will undoubtedly make a marked impioveaient 
on the domestic stock. 
R II. M., Wing's Station , N. Y.—l. Wlmt 
is the way to raise early tobacco plants? 2. 
What is the hist sort of corn to bo fed green 
to mileb cows? 
Ans.— 1. The seeds should bo started in a 
hot bed Or in a cold-frame. As the plants are 
very small, they will need careful attention. 
They must uot bo allowed to suffer for water. 
