2 
( Continued from page 205.) 
160,109 or 31 per cent., came under this head. 
New York is a good place to come to if one 
wants to be cured of self-conceit. The ablest 
and keenest men in the world are met here. { 
The ranks are crowded. Only a few ever 
reach the top,and that prominence is too often 
reached at the expense of health. New York 
life makes a man one-sided. The only way to 
succeed here is to pick out one line aud devel- 
ope it by constant study and practice. Al ter 
success has been gained, the worker finds that 
he has sharpened one side of his character and 
hopelessly blunted all others. 
NITRATE OF SODA FOR STRAWBERRIES. 
- E. B., Webb's Hill , iV. Y— 1. How should 
nitrate of soda be applied to land on which 
strawberries are to be planted in the spring— 
before or after planting, and iu what quantity 
per acre? 3. What is the cost per bag of 200 
pounds? 
Ans.— 1. We have a pretty positive opinion 
on this subject. If our friend proposes to use 
high-grade complete fertilized on his bed, 
then we should uot, use the nitrate at all. The 
complete fertilizer will, or should, furnish all 
the nitrogen needed in an available form. It 
the laud is already rich, it would scarcely pay 
to use the soda If it is to lie made rich with 
farm manure this spring, then we should use 
the nitrate of soda, say, at the rate of 200 
pounds to the acre, for the reason that the 
manuremay not furnish the nitrogen as need¬ 
ed by the plants. In this case, however, we 
should prefer to add to the nitrate of soda 
both superphosphate and potash, say 400 
pounds of the former to 200 pounds of the lat¬ 
ter per a ere. The nitrate of soda or the ferti¬ 
lizei-s should be sown immediatelg before 
planting and raked or harrowed iu. Nitrate 
of soda would discolor the lea ves wherever it 
chanced to touch them. 2. The cost would lie 
about $3.50 per DO pounds, or $5 per bag for 
a first-rate article. 
EVERGREENS FOR A LAWN. 
B. .1. G., Fayette, N. 3'.—What are the best 
evergreens for a lawn in Western New York? 
Ans.—T he size of the lawn should have been 
stated by our inquirer. We will venture to 
mention the following at any rate as, accord¬ 
ing to the Rt T RAL's experience, the best for 
the purpose: Abies orientals, Aleoequiaua, 
polita, pimgeus. Canadensis (both common 
and weeping) aud alba. We should also add 
a specimen of the White Pine which, if dis¬ 
budded, after it has begun to grow vigorously 
for several years makes a tree far more beau¬ 
tiful than is generally known. Avoid the 
Norway Spruce aud Balsam Fir. 
Miscellaneous. 
H. G. Me Lane, Pa.—1. Are muriate and sul¬ 
phate of potash cheap at two cents per pound ? 
2. Will potash help grass and clover ? 3. Are 
potash salts as good as ashes for softening 
bones? 4. Are bones worth $15 per ton? 
Ans.— 1. Yes, actual potash is low at four 
cents a pound 2. Yes, any kind of potash, 
whether in wood ashes, which also gives phos- 
phate.or in potash salts, will help grass, clover 
or anything else, provided the land stands iu 
need of potash and is also supplied with nitro¬ 
gen and bone. We would advise you to try 
on one piece of land potash aud on another 
potash and fine raw bone. 3, No, but we 
don’t believe it is profitably practicable to 
soften bone with ashes, but sec “Discussion.” 
4. Yes, unless they cost too much for grinding. 
A. M. y Preston, la .—!. What reliable firms 
in Chicago make fertilizers? 2. Does the 
Rural think it would pay' to ship fertilizers 
from New York to Western Iowa—freight 
from Chicago 97 cents per 100 pounds? 3. Are 
Williams & Clark, who make the “AineriQUS 
Brand,” trustworthy ? 
Ans,—I ra C. Darling, stockyards; Globe 
Dryer Co.,, Uliman and 35th streets; Heller, 
Hirsch & Co., 2597 Archer Street; Northwest¬ 
ern Fertilizer Co., Swift it Go., Union Ren¬ 
dering Co., all at the stockyards; Thomas H. 
White & Co., 34 Pacific Avenue. 2. We don’t 
think it would pay to ship fertilizers from 
New York to Western Iowa. Good superphos¬ 
phates can he had at Chicago, we think, for 
from $26 to $30 per ton; and other fertilizers 
proportionately. 3. Yes. 
M. L. //., Col fair, W. T.— 1. Where can I 
get nitrate of soda near here? 2. How should 
it be applied? 3, Of whom can I get a vari¬ 
ety of raspberry entirely thornless? 
Ans.— 1. The price in New York is about 23$)" 
cents per pound. It is usually put up In 200 
pound bags, but cau be procured in any quan¬ 
tity. You might inquire of druggists or gro- 
cerymen on the Pacific Coast as to where it 
can he purchased. We do not know. 2. It 
should be scattered broadcast aud lightly har¬ 
rowed in. 3. See the catalogues announced 
on page 174 of leading nurserymen. Yon 
want the Springfield or Davison’s Thornless. 
E. I). N., Scandia, Kan,— 1. Where can 
I get filberts, pecans, and Japan Chestnuts? 2- 
How can cedars be propagated from seed? 
Ans. —1. Of Storrs, Harrison & Co., Paines- 
ville, O. There may he firms further west, 
but we do not know of them. 2. Sow in the 
autumn. Avoid a seed-bed in a damp place. 
Keep the soil barely moist. Cover lightly— 
say only one-quarter inch deep. Remove the 
pulpy covering from the seeds. They may 
uot sprout until the second spring. 
.V. FI. J., Wilber, Neb .—A grayish, 
streaked, very offensive matter has been run¬ 
ning from the left nostril of a mare of mine 
for 13 months. She is iu good flesh, lively 
and works, eats and breathes well; what ails 
her? 
Ans. —We suspect you are dealing with a 
case of glanders. See “General Symptoms of. 
Glanders” in the Rural of Feb, 12, p. 101. It' 
you are still in doubf, see “Cbrouic Nasa[ 
Discharges in a Horse” in the F. C. for Jan. 1, 
The treatment there recommended should 
check the discharge of gleet m a week or two 
M. T. IF., Sandy Hilt, X. Y.—l. Peter Dur- 
yee &£o., of this city are reliable. 2. The 
Chas Downing Strawberry is a perfect-dower¬ 
ing variety. Drain tiling will help any damp 
clay soil provided a good outlet can be secured. 
Some very heavy elavs are found in a “dish¬ 
ing” formation, which permits of no outlet. 
Iu such cases a well ofteu gives good drainage, 
A hole is sunk down through t he lowest purtof 
the day to the gravel and tilled with stones. 
This often succeeds where the ground around 
the spot is too high to permit of drainage. 
G. V. it'.. Kankakee, 111,— 1. We doubt if 
you can obtain satisfactory results in reducing 
raw hones with unleached ashes ami water. 
It will pay better in the end to burn the bones. 
2. It will require six barrels of wet blood to 
make one barrel of dried blood,which sells for 
about $4.50. In this price the cost of handling, 
drying and breaking up is included. The wet 
blood could be thrown directly upon the man¬ 
ure heap. 3. E. S. Filch, Bay City, Midi., 
supplies a refuse salt which has been highly 
recommended by those who have used it. 
DISCUSSION. 
E. B. V., New Brunswick, N. J.—I notice 
in a late Rural that Dr. Hoskins recommends 
the burning of bones as the most effective 
method of preparing them for a fertilizer. 
Such a method—if 1 understand it correctly— 
would seem to be very wasteful; a chemical an¬ 
alysis of good bones shows them t o conta i n four 
per cent, of nitrogen aud 20 per cent, of phos¬ 
phoric acid. When the hones are ground fine, 
these constituents are almost as readily avail¬ 
able as nitrogen ami phosphoric acid from 
any form of organic matter furnishing them, 
and rate in the market at about 12 V cents 
per pound for the nitrogen and five cents per 
pound for the phosphoric acid. With f< im¬ 
pel- cent, or 80 pounds of nitrogen in a ton, at 
121,.cents per pound, its value would be $10; 
20 per cent, or 400 pounds of phosphoric acid 
at five cents per pound equals $20 per ton as 
the value of the phosphoric acid. Total value 
of one ton of fine ground bone $30. Bones cau 
be bought at the factories for tlieije prices: 
prices at consumers’ farms vary, of course, 
with the cost of freight, cartage, etc. In 
burning bones all of rhe nitrogen is lost; there 
remains, however, the original amount of 
phosphoric acid in the form of an insoluble 
phosphate of lime. It’s hardly probable that 
the burning has increased the value of the 
phosphoric acid: hence based upon the figures 
given above the ton of bones, which, 
when grpund is worth $30, is after burn¬ 
ing, worth just $20. The benefit derived 
fiom burning bones is therefore uot ap¬ 
parent. Your qprrespondent making the 
inquiry as to the value of bones, says that he 
can procure them for $10 per ton. Would it 
uot be wiser for him to compost his bones 
with wood ashes, thereby increasing the value 
of both nitrogen and phosphoric acid, besides 
having a manure containing all the elements 
of plant food? Rough bones cracked with an 
ax or heavy instrument into small pieces and 
then placed in alternate layers with wood 
ashes and the whole kept moist will in from 
three to five months be iu a good condition 
for handling. In order to prevent the ammonia 
from escaping, it may be well to cover the 
heap with line dry soil; for otherwise if kept 
too moist the fermentation may go on too 
rapidly and some of the material be lost. 
This method of treating bones lias given satis¬ 
faction in many eases that. 1 am aware of. 
and the cost is not greater than that recom¬ 
mended by Dr. Hoskins besides the saving of 
the most valuable constituent—nitrogen. The 
above calculations refer Only to the commer¬ 
cial value of the constituents; the agricultural 
value will vary with crop, soil, etc.; under fa¬ 
vorable conditions the agricultural value may 
equal or excel the commercial value. 
R. N. Y.—As we understand it, the question 
is whether to break up the hones as Mr. 
V. describes and thou reduce them with 
ashes will not cost more than the nitrogen of 
the raw bones is worth? Then, again, is the 
reduction of bones by composting with ashes 
practicable? 
A package of food was sent to the N. Y. 
Station for examination. The sender said 
that two of his cows had died after eating the 
same kind of food. He believed it contained 
poison, The amount fed to the cows was four 
quarts mixed with two quarts of wheat mid¬ 
dlings and cob-meal—making six quarts at 
oue feeding, and this quantity was fed twice 
a day. The first symptoms shown by the 
cows were refusal to eat, standing with their 
heads up, This lasted for 12 hours, and then 
the animals dropped as if in a spasm, and 
from that time until their death, pains were 
of the most violent kind, struggling and 
throwing their heads backward. The food 
was found to be one of the refuse materials of 
a starch factory, belonging to the class of 
feeds known as “gluten meal.” A chemical 
analysis showed no poison, and the Director 
concludes that “injudicious feeding” was the 
cause. An ordinary feeding ration contains 
about one pound or less, of albuminoid. Thu 
eight quarts of this feed under review weighed 
about eight pounds aud contained about F'q 
pound of albuminoid, while the hay, meal 
and bran fed in addition most probably con¬ 
tained at the lowest estimate a pound or more. 
We have, hence, as a probable amount fed 
regularly and for a long period about, three 
pounds of albuminoid daily, an amount which 
experience has shown is likely to produce 
sickness, and, if followed up, death. The 
feediug of grain or of a highly nitrogenous 
food is always dangerous when carried to ex¬ 
cess, the Director’s report concludes. Thus, 
we all know that if a cow gets loose iu the 
night and obtains access to the graiu bin, in¬ 
jurious effects are very likely to follow, and 
we never think of calling the meal poisonous 
iu these eases. In like manner the overfeed¬ 
ing of cotton-seed meal, one of the most valu¬ 
able foods for the dairyman to use (not to 
abuse), is apt. to be followed by injury. This 
gluten meal that we are examining seems to 
fall into the same category, of being a valu¬ 
able food in its proper use. When results 
such as these quoted follow the feeding of 
those highly nitrogenous foods, we, therefore, 
should not be too ready to suspect poison, as 
it is more reasonable to ascribe the ill effects 
which follow the feeding to injudicious feed¬ 
ing, and the blame should lie upon the 
feeder. 
WHICH MAY REMIND YOU. 
Mr. C. S. Plumb last year soaked seed oats 
iu various solutions in order to prevent smut 
in the crop. Four ounces of copper sulphate 
and one gallon of water in one trial and a half 
ounce of caustic potash in six gills of water in 
another trial hud the desired effect. Copper 
sulphate can be bought at retail for 15 cents a 
pound and its use is attended with little trou¬ 
ble. Soak the seeds from 8U to 40 hours. 
Caustic potash, a cheap substance for sale in 
most groceries, or easily obtained by leaching 
wood ashes, was effective in destroying smut, 
the oats having beeu soaked 17 1 , hours. 
Putney & Woodward, of Brentwood, N. 
Y., offer some sound advice as to small fruit 
culture iu u few words: 
All heavy crops are grown on rich soil. 
Bone dust nud ashes make fine berries. 
Careful transplanting insures superior 
growth. 
Moist earth aud a cloudy day for trans¬ 
planting. 
Drying the roots is killing t, the plant. 
Ten plants well cared for are better than 
one hundred ill-used. 
Berries well picked aud packed are half 
sold. 
The eleauer the culture the better the crop. 
Shallow cultivation for mature plants. 
“If Utile Inbur, Ullle are our galtis, 
Mans fortunes are accord Inn to his pains.”. 
President Chamberlain alludes, in the 
Ohio Farmer, to farmers whose “rotatiou” had 
been wheat till that failed, then rye, then 
corn, then buckwheat, then white bean. s, then 
nothing, then mortgage. 
It has beeu asserted by some writers that 
the lamps in passenger cars are responsible for 
many of the horrible conflagrations in wrecked 
traius. A writer iu the Mechanical News says 
this is a mistake. In most States laws have 
been passed forbidding the use in ear lamps of 
any oil which has a Hashing point below 300’*’, 
The burning point of such oil is abonl (HUE 
Fire from their use is practically out of the 
question, Such oil will ext inguish the Haine in 
the lamp as readily as water. We have seen 
a burning stick extinguished by beiug pushed 
down into it.. ,........ 
The Annual Seed Distribution “farce” is 
the way the Breeders’ Gazette, speaks of it,.. 
Improvements in breeds of animals, that 
have been effected by better care, and an 
abundance of food for many generations, may 
be lost in a comparatively short, time, by plac¬ 
ing the animals uuder less favorable condi¬ 
tions and diminishing their supply of food.... 
Hereditary disease in animals may make 
its appearance at the time of birth, when it is 
said to be ccugenital. or a considerable length 
of time may elapse before any indications of 
its presence are observed. In the latter ease a 
predisposition or tendency to the disease is 
said to be inherited, which often requires 
some external, exciting cause for its full de¬ 
velopment.... . 
Bone-spavin, curbs, ring-bone, navicular 
disease, and similar affections of the joints 
and bones in horses are frequently transmit¬ 
ted from parent to offspring. So are strain 
of the back tendons, swelled legs, grease and 
roaring, while a predisposition to rheuma¬ 
tism, malignant and non-inalignaut tumors, 
chronic cough, ophthalmia aud blindness, 
epilepsy and a great variety of nervous dis¬ 
orders is inherited by horses, in common with 
cattle, sheep aud swine... 
THERE is a solid foundation for the respect 
paid to the old blood of old families in man or 
beast. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes makes his 
•‘Autocrat of the Breakfast Table” give utter¬ 
ance to his belief in the value of pedigree when 
he says: “I always go, other things beiug 
equal, for the man who inherits family tradi¬ 
tions and the cumulative humanities of at 
least four or five generations.” . 
It has beeu said of Bakewell, the first great 
“scientific” breeder, that he regarded the ani¬ 
mals on his farm as wax iu his hands, out of 
which in good time he could mold any form 
ho desired to produce. 
Pedigree is the genealogy of an animal 
As usually understood,it consists of the names 
of the ancestors l or a greater or less number of 
generations. Its value consists not so much in 
the number of generations through which the 
ancestry eau be traced to some distinguished 
progenitor, as in the quality or character of 
the ancestry. And iu proportion as we ap¬ 
proach the “top” of the i>edigree—that Ls the 
immediate progenitors of a given animal—the 
more important does the character of the an¬ 
cestry become.. .. 
Maine 1ms levied a quarantine against cattle 
from the States of Massachusetts aud New 
York, resulting from the recent outbreak of 
lung plague near Boston among cattle received 
from New York. Illinois is also scheduled... 
Beef cattle in Chicago are 25 cents to 50 
cents lower than a year ago, 75 cents to $1 
lower than two years ago, and something like 
$2 lower than at the corresponding time in 
1884. There has been uo corresponding re¬ 
duction in the cost of beef to the consumer. 
During 1884 there was no time when extra 
beeves w ere not salable at $6.50, aud in Sep¬ 
tember of that year 87.50 were paid. 
A Lean Stock Show for the exhibition of 
animals in their natural breeding condition, 
has been lately organized in East Sussex, 
England. This indicates the beginning of a 
reaction against the excessive fatness of ani¬ 
mals at the live stock shows, aud the almost 
invariable practice of awarding prizes to ani¬ 
mals in this condition in preference to those 
in moderate' liesh, ns if abundance of tallow 
not excellence of meat were the object of prime 
importance. 
It Is one of the principles of heredity that 
when there Is a great uniformity iu a species, 
divergencies from the usual type in the off¬ 
spring are slight and rare: but when this uni¬ 
formity, 110 matter from what cause, hus been 
' broken up, divergencies in the offspring are 
frequent and great, although there is always 
a tendency, more or less powerful, to revert 
to the original type. 
In discussing breeding nearly all writers 
have maintained that the male should be 
smaller than the female. Judge T. C. Joues of 
Ohio. J. H. Sanders of Illinois, anil several 
other recent “authorities,” however, say that 
where there is u disparity the male should be 
the larger. Isn't, this following Nature’s teach¬ 
ing? Iu'all animals from the horse to tho pig, 
wild or tame, isn’t the male, as a rule, larger 
than the female of the same breed? Isn’t this 
also true of the human race?. 
In seekiug improvement iu any breed by 
crossing, one must select for the quality de¬ 
sired, independent, of other considerations. 
Thus to improve the butter producing quality 
of the Holstein cow, the use of a smaller Jer¬ 
sey bull would be legitimate; and if density 
of tleeee is desired, a small Merino rum could 
be properly crossed on a large, coarse-wooled 
Sheep. Again, largo draft mures may be bred 
to smaller Thoroughbred or trotting stallions 
if improvement in style, action and powers of 
endurance is desired... 
A whiter in the Furwer aud Breeder of 
Wisconsin has dehorned 38 of his cattle, cows 
and heifers from pirn to (fight years old, He 
