ally, as the pigs are able to take the milk, un¬ 
til the sow is given all she will eat. Cow’s 
milk, in which wheat middlings have been 
mixed, with a little corn meal, is the best 
for a sow to produce milk. In the absence of 
milk, wheat-middlings, barley and oats, 
ground, mixed aud slightly fermented, are 
most excellent food. When the pigs aie three 
weeks old, they should be allowed to go in a 
separate pen, where they can be fed milk, in 
which some fine middlings may be mixed. 
They should also be given clear oats, with a 
very little corn, and feeding five times a day 
is important. 
AVERAGE RAINFALL IN VARIOUS STATES. 
Subscriber (address mislaid ).—Give amount 
of rainfall in the different States. 
Ans. —The rainfall varies in different parts 
of different States. The following list gives 
the annual precipitation, in inches and hun¬ 
dredths, at a principal point in each State. 
These figures are given as the average of 
several years of observation. They are taken 
from the IT. S. Signal Service Reports: 
Portland. Mr .. 
Burlington, Vt . 
Boston. Mass. 
Newport, B. I. 
Now Rayon, Conn. 
Alban v N V. 
Atl’iutlc City, N. .T. 
Delaware Breakwater. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
BuRiniore, Mil. 
Lynch ho rit, V* . 
Wilmington. X. C. 
Charleston, S. G. 
Auinmta. Oft. 
MpnlKutnerv. Ala. 
Pensaeoln, Fla .. 
VI<*kBtmrK, Mlr.«. 
New Orleans, Ln. 
Denison, Tex .. 
Colnnihu* Ohio. . 
I.anRlntt, Mleh . 
Indiana noils, fnd. 
Louisville. By. 
Nashville, Tenu . 
Little Rnrk. Ark. 
St. Louis, M-> . 
Sprlm’fleM. 111.. 
Madison, Win . 
Pes Moines, Iowa. 
St. Paul. Minn. 
Blsmurek. Dak. 
Omaha. XeTj. 
Lnwreneo, Kan. 
Santa Fe. v . M. 
Denver. Colo . 
Cheyenne. WyO. 
Ile'eDS Mont . 
Boise City. Idaho . 
Salt Lake Cllv, Utah.. 
Tueson. Arizona.. 
Sac ram e ito 1 al. 
Portland. Ore* . 
Olympia. Wush Ter.... 
.39.39 
.24.76 
.49.87 
.19.87 
,52,11 
.S7.9U 
.41 92 
.30.72 
,41.40 
.42.10 
■II IS 
.56.97 
.60.60 
. M 49 
.55.07 
73.11 
.60 19 
.64.26 
41 44 
< 7.56 
.37.08 
.47.00 
.44 56 
.53 13 
.54.31 
.37.46 
.44.55 
.41 44 
.13 47 
.30 II 
.2'.94 
.81.18 
.83.97 
.13.89 
.11.57 
1". 0| 
.15.19 
,.13.31 
.17.24 
.13.23 
. .23.32 
.73.01 
,.77.05 
WINTER FEED FOR MILCH COWS, ETC, 
H. C. 27., North Grafton, Mass —1. What 
is the best winter food for cows to make them 
produce the most milk of the best quality? 2. 
How much to each cow per day? 3 What 
should I feed calves dropped in August to 
produce the greatest growth? 4. Would sand 
and loam, with manure added, be a good 
top-dressing for a meadow after the cows 
have fed it off? 5. How can I keep one cow 
upon one aero, or five cows upon five acres? 
Ans— 1. Bran, corn meal, new process oil 
meal, clover hay, straw, aud plenty of 
mangels or carrots, or silage, if sweet. 2. 
Mix in the proportion of two of bran, three 
of corn meal and two of new-process oil meal, 
and feed enough each day to keep the cow 
gaining slightly in flesh. Besides this, give 
green food in proportion to the size of thecow, 
from one-quarter to one-half a bushel of 
mangels or their equivalent in carrots or 
silage, 3. Bran, oil meal (new-process) and 
corn meal, in the proportion of three of bran, 
three of oil meal, and one of corn meal. With 
this feed, give a little bone meal and plenty of 
roots or silage. Wheat middlings are also 
good food in place of brau. Barley meal is 
capital food, if not too high in price, 4 
Capital, and the larger the proportion ot 
manure the Better. Add also a good dressing 
of bone flour; also kai nit or muriate of potash. 
5. By making it rich and following the soiling 
system. Will some of our readers who have 
practiced soiling tell us how he should divide 
the acre or five acres, and what crops to sow? 
AR0UT TREKS. 
J. B , Parsons, Kas. —1. What is the best 
way to remove surplus trees from an orchard 
where they are too thick? 2. If they are cut 
doa n or girdled, shall I be bothered with 
suckers? 3. Would you advise girdling and 
leaving them standing bare or for grape vines 
to run over? 4. Is it advisable to transplant 
trees haviug a top from four to seyen feet iu 
diameter? 
Ans. —1. Much depends upon the size and 
soil If not more than four inches in diameter 
of trunk, by bitching a team to the branches 
with a long rope and by cutting a few large 
roots, they can be drawn out, aud this is the 
best plan; but where they are large, it is best 
to saw them off close to ground—the stumps 
will soon rot, 3 If they are once or twice 
removed, or if sheep run iu the orchard, there 
will be no suckers to bother. 3. No; in either 
ca^p they look uutidy anil should be removed 
at. once. 4. Trees of that size cau be trans¬ 
planted, and if this is well done they will make 
sound, long lived trees. The top should be 
severely cut back, and it is a good plan to 
graft the larger limbs; iu this way the stubs 
heal over and they make well-shaped tops 
again, Much pains should be taken to get as 
much root as possible. To move such trees 
will not always pay. It depends upon the cost 
of young trees and of labor. 
MAKING AN OSAGE ORANGE HEDGE. 
II. A. L., Arkadelphia, Ark, — 1. Is there a 
better hedge plant than the Osage Orange? 
2 What is the best method of planting and 
cultivation? 4 When is the best time for 
plantiug? I desire to plant along the bank of 
a river, and wish the plants to serve as a 
water-break also. • 
Ans.— 1. For ordinary hedging, we know 
nothing better than Osage Orange. 2. The 
seed should be planted in beds of rich soil 
early in Spring. It is much quicker to ger¬ 
minate and surer to grow If first put into a 
strong bag and submerged for a week or two 
in running water. (It may be left until tbe 
sprouts show.) The rows should be 15 inches 
apart and the seed be sown unite thickly in 
them, and they should be kept clear of weeds. 
When the plants are one year old, transplant 
them to the line of the hedge, placing them 
one foot apart, in two rows nine inches apart, 
the plants iu each row being opposite the 
spaces iu the other. They should be kept 
free from weeds, and cut back each Spring to 
within from four to six inches of tbe previous 
year’s bight. 3. The best time for trans¬ 
planting is in early Spring as soon as the 
ground will “work” nicely. Osage Orange is 
not well adapted to wet land, and if the river 
bmk is at all springy or wet, we doubt the 
success of an Orange hedge. In such a case, 
White Willow might be successfully used, 
though it would occupy much more land, as 
it grows larger. 
PRUNING RASPBERRIES. 
T, B. M, Averting , Ont., Can. —1. Should 
one-third of the canes be cut from the rasp¬ 
berries in the Fall, or should the pruning be 
deferred until Spring? 2. Wbat is the latest 
aud best work on small froit culture? 
Ans.— 1. We prefer Spring, If pruned in the 
Fall, the snow sometimes breaks them to such 
an extent as to gr?atly lessen the production 
of fruit. Aside from that, there is no material 
difference whether pruned in Fall or Spring 
2. Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist, *1 50; and 
Roe’s Success with Small Fruits, $5, are de¬ 
voted exclusi vely to the culture of small f rut ts. 
The same subjects are also discussed, in addi¬ 
tion to orchard fruits, in Thomas’S American 
Fruit Culturist, $3; Barry’s Fruit Gardeuer,i!3; 
and Downing’s Fruit and Fruit Trees of 
Atnerica.§5; while several works are especial¬ 
ly devoted to some particular kinds of small 
fruit, as, for instance, Fuller’s Strawberry 
Culturist. 20 cents; or White’s Cranberry 
Culture, §1.25. All these works can be ob¬ 
tained through the American News Company, 
New York City. 
ABOUT ARBOR-YIT.3C9. 
G. D., Caraysville, Ohio. —1. How should tbe 
seeds of the American Arbor-vitas gathered in 
the Fall, be cared for until sowni 2. What is 
the best time for sowing them? 3. How should 
the V>ed be prepared? 
Ans.— 1, The American Arbor-vitfe roots 
with great readiness from cuttings. Unless 
you seek new varieties, this is the better way 
to obtain plants. 2. You may sow the seeds 
in boxes of rich sandy loam, and beep them in 
a cool temperature. You may sow them in 
sashes, covering them with ahalf-inchof soil— 
not more. It is well to raise the sash or frame 
so as to admit a free current of air. The seeds 
and young seedlings need moisture and shade. 
3. A good way to treat the seeds is to mix 
them with sand, soil or muck, mixing all to¬ 
gether and ullowing the heap to remain a 
year before planting. 
ASnKS AND BONES, ETC. 
M. E. P., Cornwall, Ont., Can— 1. How 
can I dissolve bone with wood ashes? 2. 
What is the market value of bones in N. Y.f 
Ans. 1. Break the bones as fine as possible, 
usiug an old ax or sledge. Iu a cask, box or 
any other vessel, place u layer of unleached 
wood ashes three inches deep; upon this spread 
two inches of brokeu bones, upon which put 
one Inch of ashes and t hen two inches of bones, 
and so on, ulteruatiug ashes and bones and 
having a layer of the former at the top. Keep 
the pile as wet as it can be without draining, 
and in three or four months shovel it over, 
when the bones will be found to crumble rap 
idly, 2. Whole,about§24. a ton; ground raw 
bones, about §32. in large quantities; §35. at 
retail. 
GAS LIMB. 
C. W. S ., Clarksburgh, IF. Va. —1. Is gas 
lime (lime with which gas is purified) of any 
« value as a fertilizer? 2, Ts it good for killing 
noxious weeds? 3. Should it be turned under? 
Ans.— 1 It is poisonous to all vegetation 
while fresh; but after exposure to the air for 
some months the poisonous gases escape and 
the lime then becomes of value. 2. It will 
kill auything vegetable, when fresh. 8. It 
should be exposed to the air long enough for 
the full escape of all gases, and it may then 
Miscellaneous. 
L. G. S., Woodlawn, Pa.— 1. Will planting 
tansy under plum trees, or hanging it in the 
branches, keep the curculio away? 2. On 
going to milk at evening I fonnd one teat of 
my cow bard and swollen well up into the 
udder; in the morning it gave curdled milk, 
which was hard to draw. At first this hap¬ 
pened only at long intervals; now it occurs 
every few days, but not always in the same 
teat; what is the cause and the remedy? 3 Is 
the milk fit to use? 
Ans.— 1. Not in the least. 2. It is probably 
garget. Give the cow daily for a week a 
tablespoon fill of grated poke (scofee) root and 
also a quarter of a small teaspoonful of 
powdered saltpeter once a day for three days, 
and then skip the same number aud repeat. 
See also what was said about garget in the 
F. C. of the last issue of the Rural. 3. We 
should not care to use it. 
E S , Fowler's Mills Oh io. —1. When should 
millet be sown * 2. I have an apple orchard, 
planted 20 feet apart, which is too close; would 
you advise cutting every other tree, leaving 
the limbs from four to six feet, and grafting 
the stubs, putting about four cions in each 
stub? 
Ans.— 1. It should be sown as soon in Spring 
as the ground gets dry and hot. say, about the 
middle of Juue, net varying much either way. 
2. No. Out the trees out entirely so as to leave 
them 40 feet apart each way; or you may first 
cut every other tree out of each row, cutting 
the first tree from the first row, the second 
tree from the second, and so on. This would 
leave the trees opposite the spaces which would 
make them nearly 30 feet apart, and then, 
after a few years, cut oat every other row 
completely, leaving tbe remaining trees 40 feet 
apart. 
A. P V., Neligh, Neb —1. What is the ad¬ 
dress of a company which makes a potato dig¬ 
ger that digs, picks up and bags potatoes? 2. 
What is the most profitable mangel to raise 
on light, sandy land? 8. How ean I get seed 
from the Department of Agriculture? 
Anr.— 1. Root, Hog & Co., come the nearest 
to it of any we have seen. But. seriously, as 
much as such a thing is to be desired, so far as 
we know it has never been attempted. 2, 
Light sandy land does not produce large crops 
of any mangel. We think the Yellow Ovoid 
or Globe as good as any. 8, Apply to your 
member of Congress or Senator. They should 
be willing to serve you. 
IF. S'. IF., (no address). —1 Some of my 
plum trees bore a good crop last year and also 
this; but this year, just as the fruit com¬ 
menced to turn red, it began to wither and 
dry up and was worthless; what was tbe 
cause? 2 Do augle-worms in a garden soil 
cause any damage, and, if so, how can they be 
destroyed ? 
Ans. —1. The probability is that your trees 
greatly overbore last year, and as a result of 
that and of the crop this veer, they dropped 
their leaves just as the frnit began to make 
the last swell. Give plenty of barnyard man¬ 
ure and a quart of salt to each tree, scattered 
as far as the leaves extend, and don’t cultivate 
deep. 2. On this there is a great difference of 
opinion. A moderate application of salt will 
kill them. 
IF. H. T., St. Giles. Quebec. —1, I have 
a bronze turkey gobbler, two years old, 
which is a fine bird and of good size. Should I 
keep him another year or dispose of him and 
keep a younger bird? 3. Would a light 
sprinkling of sheep manure, put on this Fall, 
do auy good to a fall-set strawberry bed ? 3. 
Can any of the Rural compositors set from 
Pitman's phonography ? 
Ans.— 1. Keep him another year by all 
means. 2. It would he a capital application. 
3. No; such attainment is not common among 
compositors. 
Farmer [no address). —I have been informed 
that in Northern New York ice-houses are 
built with double walls a foot apart, the space 
between them being filled with sawdust, while 
uo sawdust is put directly on or about the ice; 
will ice so put up keep well ? 
Ans.—N o. No matter how thick the walls 
or how well packed the space between them, 
there should always be a layer of sawdust or 
other non-conductor of heat, all about the ice; 
and it should not be less than one foot on 
top and bottom. 
M. M. S , Bound Mountain, Cal —How 
can we keep borer from young fruit trees? 
Ans —By washing (he truuks with anything 
obnoxious to the pests. We use lime, sul¬ 
phur, carbolic add and soap with enough 
weter to make the solution of the consistency 
of thick whitewash. Lamp black and red 
mineral paint will give tbe wash the color of 
the bark. Tarred paper about the base is 
used. It should pot be placed in contact with 
the trpe, 
E. S., Hayden, Colorado. —1. What will rid 
cabbages of lice? 2. What makes criery and 
cauliflowers run to seed? 
Ans. —1. If the cabbages are not heading, 
apply kerosene emulsion, or whale oil soap 
suds. If they are nearly headed, as these 
would give a bad taste, apply lime dust or 
sharp hard-wood ashes, when the cabbages are 
wet with dew. 2. Poor seed. Tbe seed was 
from a poor strain, or, in case of the cauli¬ 
flower, it may have been planted too early. 
C. ,J. H., Minnesota —Is the dewberry 
lately mentioned in tbe Rural as selling at 
50 a plant, the same as the wild sorts that 
grow here? 
Ans. —No Tbe dewberry referred to is 
the Lncretia. a cultivated variety, which was 
fully described by several prominent pomolo- 
gists in a late Rural. 
T. Bering, Houston , Tea;,—Where can I buy 
pnre butter? Most butter sold here is manu¬ 
factured soap grease. 
Ans —Some of our Kansas or Missouri 
butter-makers would do well to write to this 
gentleman. 
F. P.. Stockport. N. Y. —Ts Sweet Water the 
name of a variety or of a class of grapes ? 
Ans —It is the name of a foreign variety. 
DISCUSSION. 
E. S G., Geneva, N. Y.—I notice in a 
recent Rural, page 740. that you speak of the 
Prince Albert Currant as closely resembling 
the Black Champion, from which I infer that 
the currant yon are growing under that name 
is a black variety. With me tbe Prince 
Albert is a pale red currant of rather large 
size, and quite late in ripening. On reference, 
I find that Thomas. Barry and Fuller all 
describe the Prince Albert as a red currant. 
R, N -Y.—Thanks! We should have said 
Prince of Wales instead of Prince Albert. 
W. G. W., Tyrone, Pa —I am troubled with 
a question in plant sexuality. It relates to 
tbe asparagus plant. Having tried during 
the last two or three years to thin my as¬ 
paragus bed by taking out seed-bearing plants, 
or rather by suppressing, to an extent, their 
growth of top, I began this season (as they 
seemed as numerous as ever) to dig out their 
roots: but. to my surprise, I find the seed 
bearers have the strongest stems in the bed. 
I begin to suspect that any of the plants may 
bear seed when ready for it. Is that the case? 
And am I running a ri-k of digging outall my 
roots if I perserve in extirpating all that show 
seed? 
R. N.-Y.—We are very glad indeed to secure 
this note of experience from our friend, “W. 
G. W.” A few years ago we marked plants 
at the Rural Farm—the so-called females 
with yarn of one color: the males another. 
Several of the so called female plants were a 
quarter of a mile from any other. To our 
surprise, they bore an abundance of fruit. 
We stated this in detail, and our statement 
wo3 opposed bv Mr. John B Moore and Dr. 
Asa Gray. We further stated that the fer¬ 
tilization took place before the flowers opened. 
We therefore asked what service the male 
plant performed? The male plants marked 
did not, in any case,bear fruit. The flowers 
have no pistils. 
W. S. W., Shawano, Wis.—The reference 
to sulphur as an application against the pota¬ 
to beetle, on page 728 of a late Rural, re¬ 
minds me of a fact that may, perchance, lead 
to a remedy less dangerous to handle and as 
effective as Paris-green. I have noticed that 
when the Colorado Beetle has ravaged a field, 
he starts on his travels to find fresh pastures. 
Having, iu one ease on my farm, finished a 
piece on the west, the pests started eastward. 
The ground was alive with them for two or 
three days. When the doors and windows 
were open, they would go through, instead of 
around the bonse. In passing the garden they 
had to go through a bed of petunias in blos¬ 
som, and those that weut into this bed did not 
come out, but died on the spot, and the bed 
was completely covered with a layer of dead 
beetles. What was tbe cause of this mortal¬ 
ity, which did not occur In any other place on 
their travels? It was evidently owing tosome 
properties in the petunia. This may be worth 
noticing and lead to experiments that will 
discover another insecticide as safe and fatal 
as the Persian Insect Powder. Who knows? 
Communications Rkcrtvbd for thk Week Ending 
Satcrday. Xovemuku I4.18S5. 
W.F.—S C S — J, B. F., by letter.—M. J. MeK.— 
C. .1. H., the Lueretla Dewberry Is referred to.—R. 
Morrill, thanks.-M. C,-W B A.-C M. C.-T.V.M.- 
C. 51. H.- 51nrtha, thunks.—J. R.—G. D.—E. D. L.—G. 
B.—A. C M —E C D.—E S.-H. (J. — Hen), Beckman; 
please read Notes from the Rural Oroundson im¬ 
proving the yield of potatoes by seleleotion — J. M. 
M.-P. H. J.-A. S.-W. R. \V.—E. H. S. J-E. 3.— 
E. 3 G—W. V McC.-J. R, B.—W. C. H.—.1. M. 3—L. 
P. M.. thanks.—E S.-N. L. O —J. D. L.-J. P. V.-H. 
W. K.—E M. T —J. S.-W. V. C.-C. L. J.. thanks.—F. 
D. O —E. S.-H H. W., thanks.—W. B.-W. H. N.—M. 
E. W.-H H.-A. G.-E. C. W., thanks.-L. S. H.—G. 
1 $1. A,— E, D,—UiretOunn. 
