FES 2S 
not hardy at the Rural Grounds. It certainly 
is hardy in some places: but not hardy over so 
wide a range as others. Nemaha, Earhart, 
Carman, of the newer kinds, are hardy with 
us; Soubegan and Ohio of older kinds. 
W. K. S., At eh in son, Kans .—Has broom- 
coni seed auy value for feed? Have heard 
that it would cause mares to abort. 
Ans. —If well cleaned it is as good as oats 
for any stock. For cattle, hogs and horses it 
is best when ground. When fed in moderate 
quantities we do do not think it will cause 
abortion. It is a capital food for poultry. 
C. W. G., Wryneslow, Pa ,—I have a strip 
of land of about three acres, lying near a 
small stream. The soil above it is excellent, 
but this strip acts like very poor soil and fails 
to respond as it should to barnyard manure 
or fertilizers; what is the matter with it? 
Ans. —We should say that the soil is too 
wet and needs drainage. 
J. II., Palermo, .V. Y .—Which is the hard¬ 
ier and more prolific—The Downing Ever 
bearing or the Russian Mulberry? 
Ans. —We should never plant the Russian 
for its fruit. It is hardier than the Downing, 
that is all. 
J. K. II'., Warsaw, Ind ,—To whom can I 
write for information in regard to children 
wanting homes? 
Ans. —Mauager Children’s Aid Society or 
to the N. Y. Tribune, this city. 
J. S., Caledonia, N. Y .—Do salt and plaster 
make a good fertilizer for celery? 
Ans. —No. Neither can be considered a fer¬ 
tilizer for celery except, it may be, on laud 
that needs lime. 
IJ. II. L., Bainbridge, .V. F.—Iu the cream- 
gathering system how is the value of the 
cream determined. 
Ans. —See Rural of January 29, page 73. 
“Prices of Milk aud Cream at Factories.” 
W. 2'., Stilloyuainish, W. T ,—What grass 
will grow well on well-shaded woodland, 
cleared from underbrush—soil, a sandy loam? 
Ans. —Orchard Grass and June Grass. How 
the seeds in Spring or in September or Octo¬ 
ber. 
IF. L., Greemburg , l‘a. —Does $1 per 
dozen bunches of celery in the New York 
market reports, mean eight and one-third 
cents per single bunch? 
Ans. —Yes. 
E. A., El Dorodo, Cal .—From whom can 
I obtain Jesssie Strawberry plants? 
Ans. —C. A. Green, of Rochester, N. Y.,is 
the introducer. Other firms offer them. See 
catalogue notices. 
C. F. K., (no address )—What, is a good 
work on raising, handling aud marketing 
hops? 
Ans.—H op Culture, G. G. Thurber, 30 
cents. To be had through the American 
News Co., this city. 
J. S., Caledonia N. Y ,—Who handles celery 
at the market? 
Ans. —Mr. Henry Kelly, 85 Washington 
Market. 
O. P. Jones, Allen , Md. —W r hat farmer 
keeps Devon cattle. I want some; but can’t 
pay breeders’ prices. 
C. R. Jr. Abelene, Texas .—Is butter used 
in the manufacture of oleomargarine—(not 
butterine) ? 
Ans—-Y es; a little. 
H. B. E., Peoria , 111 .—“The best treatise 
on the horse, cow and hog,” that is on the 
various breeds of these genera, is probably 
“The Breeds of Live Stock,” price $3, for sale 
by the J. H. Sanders Publishing Co., Chicago, 
Ill. For diseases of these animals the best, 
work is the Farmers’ Veterinary Adviser, by 
Prof. Law, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., 
from whom it can be obtained; price $8, 
G. 1C. P., St rut t gat, Ark .—There is no 
“machine” whose “influence” will lame wild 
horses. We huve heard of devices by which 
electricity is used to “tame” vicious horses, 
but they are not in common use anywhere, 
and we have never heard of any being used in 
this country. 
E. 2\ 11., Caldwell, Kans .— Most, of the 
catalogues of seedsmen will tell you where to 
get Chester Co. Mammoth Corn. The blush 
Potato can be obtained from J. M. Thorburn 
& Co., and Peter Henderson of this city. 
J. II. W., Westfield, N. Y,— We should pre¬ 
fer Pekin ducks for market, or indeed, any 
other purpose; but there is little difference be¬ 
tween them aud the Rouen aud Aylesbury. 
E. T, S,, Wooster, Ohio. —The Gardener’s 
Monthly is published at Philadelphia. The 
Garden, published by Wm. Robinson, Covent, 
Garden, Loudon, England, is a fine paper. 
L. I)., Budapesth, Hungary .—The Pneu¬ 
matic Fruit Drier is one of our best fruit 
driers. It is made in all sizes by the Vermont 
Farm Machine Co., Bellows Falls, Vermont. 
DISCUSSION. 
A. B. A., Flushing, L. I.—The editor of the 
Rural, page 92, complains of the injury done 
to bis fruit trees by cats. Some years ago not 
only did my fruit but also my ornamental 
trees near the house and baru suffer in the 
same way. By scratching the trunks of trees, 
even when of considerable size, the cats badly 
injured and sometimes killed them. To pre¬ 
vent their scratching I drove sharp-pointed 
slender stakes about three feet long, round the 
trunks of the trees thus exposed, so near to 
each other that a cat could not crawl between 
them aud these have effectually guarded all 
the trees from further injury. # The stakes 
ought to be driven into the ground three 
inches or so from the stem of the tree, so as to 
let in the air aud sun freely, and thus prevent 
injury to its growth. 
Vermont. 
Bakersfield, Franklin Co., Feb. 12.—Jan. 
and Feb, so far have been very windy with 
frequent cold waves. Produce is selling as 
follows: butter, 20to 23 cents, creamery high¬ 
er: corn, Northern, 75 cents; Western HO to 75 
Cents; potatoes, 40 cents at the cars; home 
grown wheat $1; oats, 35 cents; barly, 75 
cents; squash, 1 ’,j cent: turnips, 50 cents per 
bushel; beets, 75 cents; horse hay, 810 per 
ton; whole hog, six cents; beef, ft and 0 cents; 
maple sugar, 5^ cents; eggs, 25 cents, w. o. s. 
“A., v Toms River, N. J.— On page S7 of 
the Rural, Mr. Herrick says he was induced 
by the advice of a correspondent to try cut¬ 
ting potatoes aud spreading lime upon them 
to hasteu their ripening four or five weeks be¬ 
fore planting, as it was alleged that it would 
hasten their ripening 10 days. Bui instead 
of this he lost the seed aud the labor on half 
an acre planted in this way. I think the seed 
died in consequence of its being kept so long 
before planting. I have repeatedly cut seed 
potatoes thus,and sprinkled them with lime to 
guard the produce from rot. But I planted 
them almost immediately after the lime was 
sprinkled, aud never lost any of the seed. As 
to its hastening the ripening, I could not tell 
as I planted no unlimed seed along with the 
other for a test, To prevent rot after drop¬ 
ping the cut seed of potatoes i l the hill, 1 havi 
also often put a gill to a half pint of sluked 
lime over the pieces aud found this an effec¬ 
tual preventive of rot in the produce. 
C. H., Bakersfield. Cal.—P lease give us 
the picture of a fanner who looks like a gen¬ 
tleman, and hasn’t, his coat off or pantaloous 
tucked in his hoots. 
R. N.-Y—.We like to represent a fanner the 
same as we would a minister, mechanic, dude, 
butcher, lawyer or statesman—in the clothes 
worn during working or professional hours. 
Cvcnjui 1) m. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Michigan. 
Calkinsville, Isabella Co., Feb. 5.— The 
potato crop was very light; the tubers now 
bring (15 cents per bushel. Wheat very good, 
most of the crop has been sold at from Oft to 70 
cents. K. m. 
Palmyra, Lenawee Co . Feb. 9.—While the 
past season was the driest that we have had 
in some time, Lenawee Co. has had no cause 
to kick. Wheat averaged about 15 bushels 
per acre, and some pieces 35 bushels; others 
were almost all taken by insects. Corn was 
good, from 50 to 125 per acre; oats, from 25 to 
75; potatoes, from 50 to 150. Apples were 
more than an average crop and were nearly 
all taken by Eastern buyers at 75 cents per 
barrel. Fanners sold too soon; thej' are now 
worth 05 cents per bushel in our home market. 
Wheat, is worth 80 cents per bushel; corn, 25 
cents on the ear; oats, 32 cents; w bite potatoes, 
35 cents; hay, 810 per ton; hogs, 84,50 per 
ewt. on foot; fat sheep, $5 perewt.; fat cat¬ 
tle, 83.50 to $4.50 per cwt. There u as not as 
much wheat sowed last fall as usual, but it 
was put in better and is looking splendid. 
G. K. c. 
Tennessee. 
Strawberry Plains, Jefferson Couuty.— 
We produce wheat, corn, oats, rye, Red 
Clover and all the grasses, as well us tobacco, 
potatoes in abundance aud melons and fruits. 
We are also engaged in raising stock -horses, 
mules, cattle, sheep and hogs. The iron and 
coal interests are being largely developed ami 
marble quarries are being opened and large 
quantities of marble are shipped to Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, New York and Boston. More 
population and capital are badly needed in the 
development of the natural wealth of (his 
country. The climate is splendid, and good 
homes may be purchased at reasonable prices. 
To-day the plows are turning up the fresh 
earth preparatory to sowing oats, and people 
are fixing up their gardens for early planting. 
This is a fine location for a creamery. Good 
butter sells for 20 to 4t) cents. Large quanti¬ 
ties of poultry and eggs are shipped to New 
York. We have a farmers’ organization 
known os the East, Tennessee Agricultural As 
sociation, which meets annually on the second 
Tuesday in May, in Knoxville. We welcome 
all good citizens, whatever place they may 
come from. If this county had sufficient, 
capital to open and develop its natural re¬ 
sources, it would become one of the wealthiest 
parts of our country. j. m. 
Filberts. —Orchard aud Harden gives 
some interesting items regarding hazel-nuts. 
It appears that European filberts with the 
husks on retail at fancy fruit, stores l or $1 or 
more per pouud. The different varieties of 
these nuts grow as freely here as they do in 
Europe. Why do we not raise (hern here? 
The successful cultivation of the different 
species and varieties of the filbert depends 
largely upon the training and pruning of the 
bushes and trees, for like the grape-vine, witli 
no training or pruning, results are always 
meager and unsatisfactory. One of the first 
objects in filbert culture is to suppress the 
suckers that spring up around the base of the 
main stem, unless they arc wanted for pro¬ 
pagation, anil in that case the tree should he 
kept for that purpose and no other. The 
common European filbert (Corylus ayellana), 
our contemporary continues, is naturally a 
tree growiug 20 feet high. This and all the 
tall-growing varieties of the species should be 
trained in a standard or tree form, with a 
single stein, und no branches permitted to 
grow within three to six leet, of the ground. 
Carelessness in Selecting.— Professor 
Builoy, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 
in a recent, bulletin, says that an important 
reason why apple culture does not oftener re¬ 
turn a profit is the careless manner in which 
varieties are usually selected. No amount of 
good culture or shrewd marketing can make 
poor varieties profitable. The selection of va¬ 
rieties is often a difficult task to those inexpe¬ 
rienced in orchard culture, both from the 
great number of varieties from which to 
choose, and from t he fact that the same va¬ 
riety does not thrive equally well in different 
places. The first difficulty is easily evaded, 
as out of some thousand varieties in cultiva¬ 
tion not more than 25 usually prove to be 
profitable in any locality, and even of this 
number there ure seldom more than five or 
six which can be confidently recommended. 
The second difficulty must lie overcome by a 
close attention to the apples which succeed best 
in the vicinity, 
Live Stock and Dressed Reek Ship¬ 
ments. —The trunk-line commission has issued 
a report showing tin* movement of cattle and 
dressed beef for several years. The following 
shows the tonnage of cattle and dressed beef 
received ut New York and at Boston and 
other New England points for the past, five 
years: 
-N. K. 
mnl Ronton 
New 
York 
Cattle, 
UVeil beef. 
(utile, 
ll’seil b’f, 
tons. 
tons. 
ions. 
tons. 
18S2... 
.76,411) 
3!l,15il 
866,487 
2,633 
18*1.... 
1111,741; 
8y3,oar> 
16,865 
1X84.... 
.74,wr< 
121,1171 
828 220 
84,856 
1885.... 
. 54.102 
138,876 
337,81 B 
53.314 
1886 ... 
. .52,131 
153,544 
280,184 
60,769 
The 
gain in favor of dressed beef has been 
steady, notwithstanding the fact that the 
trunk-line pool is said to have made rates 
tending to check its growth. 
Barbarous Cruelty.— A special dispatch 
to the Chicago Times last Monday from Fort 
Keogh, M. T., says that in round numbers 
there wereon January 1,200,000 head of cattle 
and 25,(100 sheep on the ruuges north and south 
of the Yellowstone River, within a radius of 
100 miles of that point. 11 p to that date stock 
had not suffered much from the severity of 
the winter, but during January and the half 
of February just closing, storms had been of 
unprecedented frequency, und the tempera¬ 
ture had averaged the lowest for fifteen years- 
The writer says that it wasn’t, possible accu¬ 
rately to estimate the losses, hut they hud 
been enormous, in some places amounting to 
practical annihilation of whole herds. A 
Tongue River stockinun who had just returned 
from an examination of his herd, says that 
ut Lignite, where his herd is located he saw 
a piteous sight. As far ils he could see up and 
down the river cattle were standing knee deep 
in the snow, utiable to obtain a blade of gl ass 
for sustenance, and gnawing the wood of the 
willow as a last resource. In a space 50 
yards square he counted 25 dead beasts, and a 
cowboy told him there were fully 1,000 dead 
between Lignite and Moon Creek, a lew miles 
above. The living cattle were almost unable 
to move, as their feet aud ankles were but raw 
masses of bleeding flesh from having been cut 
at every step from the snow. They occasion¬ 
ally got upon the ice in search of water, and 
finding an airhole tumbled into the river. 
Men cutting ice saw 30 cattle drowned in two 
hours. They could not ho driven away as 
they were mad with thirst. 
Hog Cholera —Dr. Detmers, a Western 
Veterinarian, believes that hog cholera can lie 
prevented. He states, in the Albany Cultiva¬ 
tor, that the germs which cause the disease can 
get into the hog’s system in two ways— 
through contaminated food and through 
wounds in the skiu, but cannot be introduced 
through a perfectly sound skin. Therefore, 
when the disease is in the vicinity all possible 
injuries to the skin should Ik? avoided. Sound 
hogs have been given the disease by simply 
pricking the ear, where there is almost no 
blood, aud introducing the slightest pani¬ 
cle of the infectious principle. If lice are on 
the hogs they will irritate the skin sufficient 
ly, oftentimes, for the germs to got into the 
blood. If cholera is m the neighborhood the 
hogs should not be rung, for the disease w ill 
surely be given them through the wound, if it 
is in the air. At the Mendon Farmers’ Insti¬ 
tute a gentleman in the audience gave a case 
in point. He hail 4S hogs, and put rings in 30, 
but, finding that he had no more, let the other 
IS go without ringing. Cholera was in the 
neighborhood, and 22 out of the 30 that had 
rings put in their uoses died, and uot one of 
(lie others. 
The safest plan, when the disease is known 
to he in the vicinity, Dr. Detmers says, is to 
plow a high and dry field. Remember that 
sunlight, fresh air, and dryness are the best 
preventives, and that dry earth is a great dis¬ 
infectant. Make pens eight feet by eight out 
of fence hoards, Put, from two to four hogs 
in a pen, according to size. Set the pens side 
by side across one end of the field. Each day 
move the row of pens l’orw'ard their own 
width, so as to give the hogs fresh earth. 
Feed them right on the fresh earth. If fed in 
troughs, give no more than they will eat up 
clean, aud as soon as they are through turn 
over the trough. Give water from a well. 
Draw it fresh, and as soon as they are through 
drinking, turn over the trough, as water will 
carry the germs of disease into the system as 
well as feed, lu this way one manures his 
ground all over, and the hogs need not have 
any riugs in their noses, but can root all they 
please. Having taken these precautions, see 
t hat no one who goes near the hogs, not even a 
dog. visits farms where the disease is raging, 
and of course the farmers from such farms do 
not come to see your hogs. The germs may 
easily be carried on one's hoots. This plan 
will cost some trouble and a little expense for 
lumber, but it tins saved the hogs wherever 
it was thoroughly tried. Dr. Detmers men¬ 
tions one man who had 150 hogs. The disease 
was very had all around him, but he saved all 
but one. This one looked sick, and without 
waiting a minute he killed and burned him. 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
The statistics for 1880 show that the num - 
her of swine in Great Britain declined to the 
extent of 1)4 per cent. The prevalence of 
swine diseases, and the production of pork in 
foreigu countries cheaper and better than it 
can be done on the islands, are assigned as the 
lending reasons for this decline. Bacon and 
luims from the United States stand highest in 
the estimation of the pork-loving Britisher... 
Ixcomput ing the value of various farm pro¬ 
products, the Iowa Homestead makes good 
points ns follows: Good grade Norman or 
Clyde colts four years old bring from 10 to 
12 ' ., cents per pound. Good grade steere three 
years old bring about four cents. Good hogs 
four cents, at, all country points. Which 
makes the most money for the farmer? The 
profit, Is determined by the difference iu price 
and cost of raising. We don't cure to figure 
out, this problem, preferring that, farmers 
should do it for themselves, remarking only 
tills, that a dozen of eggs, a pound of butter 
and pound of horseflesh sell oil an average the 
year round at about the same price. Which 
costs the leust in cash, in care, and sweat?. 
Mr. Huwdou, at a late meeting of the Mass. 
Hort. Society, remarked that, in the catalogue 
of Prince’s nursery at Flushing, N. Y., for the 
year 1839, designating by name 807 varieties 
of pears, there are lmt 18 that are now seen on 
our tables....... 
The degeneration of the apple, he suys, pro¬ 
ceeds more slowly than that of the pear. Out 
of H0 varieties, mostly of American origin, 
cultivated 50 years ago, more than 50 are now 
grown and esteemed.,,., .. 
Among fruits that were formerly plentiful, 
the* peach offers the best example of degener¬ 
ate tendencies, seeming less able to withstand 
the departure from its normal condition by 
engral’tiug and modern usage and the effect 
