THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY R 
PREPARING A LAWN. 
“Haywood," Port Haywood, Fa.—How 
should a lawn l>e prepared? The ground was 
cultivated in corn last year and is now idle; 
the country is level. The lawn will be, pro¬ 
bably, an acre. The house will be built next 
spring near Chesapeake Bay. 
ANS.—We should first plow it this fall and 
harrow it level. Just as soon in the spring us 
the soil can be worked, harrow again, and 
sow Blue Grass and Red top. Then harrow 
again and sow again, using a liberal amount 
of seed each time. Finish with an inclined 
tooth harrow and roll. We are assumingthat 
the land Is sufficiently fertile. If not, use at 
the rate of one ton to the acre, of a high grade 
complete fertilizer. If you have old manure 
it would be well to plow it under this fall 
SIGNS OF RIPENESS IN WATERMELONS. 
B. G., Cookeville, HT's.—What is the surest 
indication that, watermelons are ripe? 
Ans. —There are mauy indications of the 
ripeness of watermelons, the best of which 
are, first, the dying of the first tendril; and, 
second, the turning yellow of the part in con¬ 
tact with the ground. Thumping it with the 
knuckle or nail is a quite positive test to those 
who have studied it. We cannot answer, be¬ 
cause we do uot understand, question No. 2. 
**' 
Miscellaneous. 
J. A. IF, St. Louis, Mo.— What is the 
name of the grass or weed that grows on com¬ 
mons or vacant lots. It is a low-heading, 
creeping plant and covers the whole surface 
of a bare lot in a short time, like White 
Clover, drivipg out oil other plants. Stock 
seem to like it very much. A man the Other 
day called it. Goose Grass. 
Ans.— Probably this is a knotweed belong¬ 
ing to the buckwheat family, though it looks 
little enough like the buckwheat plant culti¬ 
vated for the grain. It. is botanicaliy known 
as Polygonum avieulare. Knot-grass, Goose- 
grass or Door-weed. It is a first-rate plant 
for carpeting the ground in front, of stables, 
barns or other places where few other plants 
can be made to grow. 
S. M., Reading, Mich.— Should my 
grape-viues be cut back? They are staked 
and tied up and pruned in the fall and laid 
down. They are six feet apart each way and 
loaded with fruit, and if they are cut back I 
can get amoDg them more easily. 
Ans.— No, don’t “cut back.” It will suffice to 
nip off the tip of every shoot that has grown be¬ 
yond the stakes. Pinch out every axillary 
bud or shoot. Thai you luay do with advan¬ 
tage to the viue now and next year. 
P. B. C., Calonsville, Md.— The s-pecimen 
sent is Alsike Clover—Trifolium hybridum. 
It is not a hybrid of the Red aud White, as 
many may have thought, but is found in Eu¬ 
rope, North Africa and Western Asia. It has 
been introduced into the United States and 
found valuable uot only for pasturage, but as 
a honey plant It stands dry weather well 
aud is not apt to be winter-killed. It is super¬ 
ior to Red Clover iu feeding value; the yield, 
however, is less. 
T. IF, Malon, Can, — Yes, Wallace’s Trot¬ 
ting Horse Stud-book aud Record is a reliable 
authority on pedigrees of trotting horses; but 
not on those of Thoroughbreds. No trotter is 
a Thoroughbred, though all the best trotters 
have a good deal of Thoroughbred blood in 
them. The Thoroughbred is a race-horse—a 
running, not a trotting horse. 
W. P. B., Canterbury, Conn .—What is the 
small, greenish beetle that is destroying the 
tops of my asparagus, aud what is a remedy? 
Ans. —It is the asparagus beetle. The ouly 
remedy we know of is to dust slakc-d lime 
upon the plants early in the morning, which 
kills the grubs. There are three broods of 
this mischievous insect. 
J. F. P., Wauhon, In,— Will it injure 
asparagus to cut it in the fall before the seed 
ripens? 
Ans. —It hurts any plant to cut it before 
the leaves fall. But iu the case of asparagus, 
the stems and foliage being annual, the injury 
will scarcely ever be kuown. 
U. V. II, Biddeford, Me ,—Is the Champion 
cow milker a good device? 
Ans. —We think it worthless, and have 
therefore refused an advertisement of it. 
If. If., Mannsville, N. Y .—What is the ad¬ 
dress of the Secretary of the Berkshire Breed¬ 
ers’ Association? 
Ans.— Phil. M. Springer, Springfield, Ill. 
C. Ace—The cherries were partly decayed 
when they reached us. Wo should guess that 
the variety is Napoleon Bignrreau. 
DISCUSSION. 
ABOUT BOGUS BUTTER. 
S. H., Hackensack, N. J.—The fear of bo¬ 
gus butter mentioned by J. E. S. in a late Ru¬ 
ral, is not so much the, cause of the alleged 
falling off in the consumption of butter in fam¬ 
ilies as other circumstances. I am uot averse 
to the oleomargarine product on its own mer¬ 
its when it keeps its own place and stands on 
its own bottom, as any honest product should 
do. IVhen in Europe 30 years ago I saw in all 
the large cities of England. France and Ger¬ 
many, beef fiat exposed in shops for sale as a 
substitute for butter. It was not offered as 
butter and was purchased by the poorer peo¬ 
ple who could not afford butter. Au Ameri¬ 
can cau scarcely realize the extreme poverty 
of the poorest of the French and German peo¬ 
ple, and tins cheap substitute for butter filled 
the place not only of this food but of meat, (an 
equal rarity). No doubt there are thousands 
of people in America who would choose to buy 
oleomargarine because of its cheapness. But 
I am opposed to anything bogus in men or 
things, and hence opposed to this product as 
butter. But just now there is a crusade of 
falsehoods agaiust milk and butter, carried on 
by some persons who are evidently interested 
iu depressing the dairy industry and building 
upa trade iu bogus goods; for these injurious 
statements are all connected with favorable 
remarks about the bogus butter. The news¬ 
papers are flooded with statements to the effect 
that 150,000 people die every year of tubercu¬ 
losis, contracted from the milk of cows suffer¬ 
ing from this disease. If the cows are so 
much diseased other cattle will be, in propor¬ 
tion, for this disease is notconfined to females, 
and the fat of which the bogus butter is made 
will be au equally dangerous article of food. 
Reports of diseases among cows are got up 
aud circulated most industriously. The exist 
once of unheard-of filthy practices iu dairies, 
or, as J.,E 8. puts it, “the flavor of old boots, 
the barnyard aud the bog-pen” are constantly 
iterated and reiterated: doubtless for the pur¬ 
pose of injuring the sale of butter and of cre¬ 
ating this very fear which J. E. 8. says will 
injure the dairy business to a still greater ex¬ 
tent. There is uo war against Oleomargarine; 
but there is war, ami w ill always be against 
the fraud and deceit and false pretences upon 
which this bogus butter lives aud thrives, 
“People of strong prejudices will cliug to the 
genuine article,” asJ. E 8. says, nodoubt,for 
fortunately there is a strong popular prejudice 
in favor of truth, honesty and fair dealing, all 
of which virtues are violated by this bogus 
product, the sale of which as butter is as great 
a crime as forgery, larceny, bearing false wit¬ 
ness; and the commission of the crime is in¬ 
finitely meaner than that of the common for¬ 
ger, thief, liar or perjurer. 
BRINE-SALTING BUTTER. 
H. 8., Macon Co., N. C.— Brine-salting 
butter is one of the fails or new-faugled cus¬ 
toms of the day, without sense or reasou, like 
all other fads. If we examine the statement 
of A. L. C., page 402, we may first ask why 
is the granular butter left in. the brine two or 
three hours? Butter wou’t take up nuy of 
the salt from the brine. It is au oil, and re¬ 
pels moisture. There is but one reason for 
this, and that is that the water still in the 
butter becomes mixed with the salt of the 
brine, and this diffuses itself through the 
mass. Now, if the butter w'ere salted with 
dry salt, the very same thing would happen. 
Brine can only salt butter by diffusing itself 
urnoug the small particles, and enveloping 
each with a film of liquid. If there is no 
more moisture left in the brine-salted butter 
than in the dry-salted, there is no reuson for 
the trouble of making brine and mixing it 
with the butter. If there is more water, the 
excess of water is an adulteration. This is 
the whole point of this matter. Does brine¬ 
salting make the butter eoutain more water 
than drv-salting ? I claim that it does, and 
must, and if it does there is a fraud practiced 
upon the consumer. Batter in the granular 
form, thoroughly well washed, and then 
moderately well worked, will contain 15 to 20 
per cent, of water. Thoroughly well worked, 
without in the least injuring the grain, the 
water can be reduced to 10 or 12 per cent. It 
then appeai-s quite dry, and will not lose 
weight when exposed to the air iu a dry 
place for a week. This is what should be 
called pure butter. By adding three-fourths 
of an ounce of dry salt, to this butter it is dis¬ 
solved by the water in the butter, and forms a 
pure brine, and such butter, examined under 
the microscope, shows no salt but meroly 
minute drops of brine urrauged like strings of 
beads along the libers of the butter. But if 
this dry butter has brine poured over it aud 
stands two to three hours, by the process of 
diffusion the brine becomes mixed with this 
water, and adds more moisture to the butter. 
Cousequtntly, butter getting its salt in this 
way conta ins double the water that dry-salted 
butter would, and this water being equal to 
8 or IU per cent, extra, is a dear adulteration, 
because it. is unnecessary aud is useless. Then 
why take the trouble to fuss over brine, when 
it is so much more easy to add the salt in the 
usual way? This brme-salting is no new 
thing. I have been making granular butter 
for 10 years past, or more, and eight years ago 
put it up iu clear brine in glass jars, and tried 
to sell it iu that form, but no one wanted it 
in (bat way. There is work enough about the 
dairy without loadiug it with more iu the 
shape of brine salting. 
J. B., Ashland, Oregon.— In the Rural 
of May 28 an inquirer asks for the best treat¬ 
ment for stifle-joint lameness iu a mare, 
caused by severe injury to one of the feet 
while working in a harvester in 1883. Dr. 
Filborue advises the use of a high-heeled shoe 
to relieve the strain, and then gives a regular 
course of treatment, including wet bandages 
to reduce inflammation, and the application 
of a eartbaridcs blister to the joint, tying the 
head so that the animal cannot reach the 
blistered surface with the mouth, and then 
tying of the tail, should she be inclined to 
scratch it, Iu my opinion the high-heeled 
shoe, blistering and tying of bead and tail in 
au unnatural position will cause horrible tor¬ 
ture, and the treatment will bo as useless as it 
is needless. If the lameness is due to a strain, 
a long rest will cure it. If there is a wound 
containing foreign matter, suppuration will 
cleanse it. A life of 84 years and a close ob¬ 
servation of nature have convinced me that 
Nature is the best physician. 
R. N.-Y.—Even if this be conceded, is she 
the best surgeon too? This seems to have been 
a ease in which surgery would greatly help 
her. 
C. N. Petaluma, Cal.— Under the head¬ 
ing “ Disappearance of the Tent Caterpillar,” 
a correspondent iu a lute Rural gives his 
observations about their sudden disappearance 
in Queen’s and Ulster Counties, N. Y., at dif¬ 
ferent periods. Here they were perfectly de¬ 
stroyed one night some nine or 10 years ago 
by a sharp frost. They had in the years just 
previous become very plentiful, increasing 
very fast and threatening to become a dan¬ 
gerous pest as well as a nuisance. They were, 
however, so completely killed that night that 
I have uot seen one since. 
E. 8. M., Wading River, N. Y.—F. O. C., 
Washington, Kansas, can easily destroy lice 
and their eggs by rubbing the animal with di¬ 
luted alcohol containing larkspur (Delphini- 
utn)one ounce to one quart of alcohol. It should 
stand a few hours aud be well shaken before 
using. It is barmless, but a very liberal use 
of kerosene will take off the hair. 
Lucern or Alfalfa.—O f all crops hither¬ 
to grown in New Jersey, says Prof. Geo II. 
Cook, In his late report of the State Ex. 
Station, Lucern, sometimes kuown as Alfalfa, 
is one of the earliest to mature, aud conse¬ 
quently promises most in this respect; it 
offers, in addition, advantages which few 
other plants possess; briefly, some of these are 
as follows: Lucern when once well rooted 
withstands drought aud frost in a remarkable 
manner. In New Jersey it can bo cut three 
or four times each season, for five or six years 
in succession, yielding, under favorable con¬ 
ditions, as heavy a tonnage per acre as fodder 
corn, which it noticeably surpasses in quality. 
Testimony drawn from reliable sources iu 
Englaud, iu the United States and in South 
America, indicates that, when cut while in 
blossom and fed given, it is greedily oaten by 
working horses, and is found to be excellent 
food for them. Its value as hay is also very 
high. It resembles clover iu its preparation 
of the ground for following crops, for after a 
field has supported Lucern lor seven consecu¬ 
tive years it can then produce more grain than 
before. 
As experiments with it were made in New 
York State 00 years ago, with very flattering 
results, and as agricultural journals and re¬ 
ports for many years past contain numerous 
well-written and very favorable descriptions 
of the plant, and further, as it is now recog¬ 
nized as the main dependence in many West¬ 
ern Htates, it is difficult to understand why it 
lias not come into general use, particularly in 
certain sections of Now Jersey which are 
noted for light soils with relatively open sub¬ 
soils, and a water level perhaps eight feet from 
the surface of the ground. The explanations 
for this neglect differ with localities, one most 
frequently heard being the difficulty of secur¬ 
ing a good "catch.” For this the remedy is 
deep plowing, thorough harrowing, and seed¬ 
ing in drills instead of broadcast. Weeds and 
grasses quickly outgrow and destroy young 
Alfalfa; this renders cultivation desirable and 
makes seeding iu drills a necessity. 
Mr. G. W, Thompson, of Stolton, New 
Jersey, who has favored the Rural New- 
Yorker with some of liis Lucern experience) 
allowed Prof. Cook to stake off a square rod 
in his Alfalfa field, and also afforded him 
every opportunity for cutting, weighing and 
sampling the first, second and third crops 
from this area. Ho also fixed the dates upon 
which to cut the crop, iu order to secure t he 
most favorable results, paying due regard bot h 
to the quantity nnd quality of the product. 
For the sake of comparison with Lucern, a 
square rod of unusually fine Hover was staked 
off upon the farm of Professor Cook, near 
New Brunswick. The first, aud second ciops 
w’ere cut from this plot in each case, when this 
clover was at. its best, in the opinion of practi¬ 
cal farmers. A chemical analysis shows no 
very noticeable differences in chemical compo¬ 
sition between clover and Lucern. Three cut¬ 
tings of Lucern yielded 18.2 tons, and two cut¬ 
tings of clover yielded 15 tons per acre of 
green fodder. The production per acre, by 
each crop of carbohydrates, including fiber, 
was practically identical, the difference, 
amounting to less that two per cent., being in 
favor of the Lucern. The clover excelled by 17 
per cent, in the production of crude fat, but 
the Lucern excelled by nearly 40 per cent, in 
the production of crude protein. In their de¬ 
mands upon the soil, tbesocrops were absolute¬ 
ly identical ns regards quantity, for each con¬ 
tained 085 pounds of ash per acre, in their 
demands for phosphoric acid, clover and Lu¬ 
cern agree very closely, but Lucern, apparent¬ 
ly, can develop its crop with approximately 
25 per cent, less potash than clover utilizis. 
1 be demands for plant-food seem enormous, 
however, in both cases, aud may be expressed 
as follows. The plant-food in the crop from 
oue acre of Mr. Thompson’s Alfalfa represents 
the following weights and values of fertilizers: 
Nitrate of Soda, X,6SS5 pound?, worrli..$40.63 
Acid Phosphate. :no “ “ . 2.25 
Muriate or Potash, 410 “ “ 8.20 
$51 08 
The plant-food in Dr. Cook’s clov. r, in like 
manner, represents per acre: 
Nitrate of Soda, 1,190 pound?, worth.$29 75 
Acid Phosphate. 300 “ *• ’.25 
Muriate or Potash, 530 “ “ . 10.*0 
$42.60 
If the Alfalfa is fed to live stock upou the 
farm, it must be regarded as an extremely 
valuable agent for bringing into circulation 
the capital invested in the subsoil. If it is 
raised for market, however, it should be re¬ 
membered that a crop as heavy as Mr. Thomp¬ 
son’s contains plant-food which would cost, in 
the shape of fertilizer’s, more than $50 per 
acre, a fact which should be distinctly seen 
both in the purchase and sale of this product. 
As to the |ieriod of its growth when Lucern 
should be cut, the German investigator, Dr. 
Paul Wagner, after careful experiments con¬ 
cludes that Lucern, like clover, should be cut 
almost immediately after the blossoms have 
appeared . 
More About Ensilage.— Frof. Henry pub¬ 
lishes an article in the Farmers’ Review en¬ 
titled ‘‘Silage Against Dry Fodder." It is 
essentially what he hns written and we have 
copied before, with several interesting sup¬ 
plementary remarks. In so far as he is 
aware, there is not a single feeding trial oil 
record that shows that silage has any de¬ 
cided advantage over the same original mate¬ 
rial carefully preserved by drying. He has 
followed pretty carefully all that has been 
written on the subject, and heard some of the 
most enthusiastic friends of ensilage show up 
its advantages. We are all liable to err. 
Years and years ago, says Prof. Henry, 
when Horace Greeley was one of the leaders 
of agricultural thought in this country, sub- 
soiling was the rage in agriculture; experi¬ 
ments were reported by farmers that were 
overwhelming in proof of its advantages. 
Not only for common farm crops must wo go 
down two feet iuto the soil aud turn it up, but 
for pear orchards and vineyards we must 
trench the soil at au enormous cost, not less 
than five feet deep. Thou came the cooked 
feed craze, which lingers yet. Prof, Henry 
can refer uuyone to hundreds of pages in agri¬ 
cultural reports anil papers where the ex peri- 
men ts of scores of farmers are brought for¬ 
ward to show that the way to advance in 
farming was to cook everything that was fed 
to stock. Such names as Prof. JJapes, Prof. 
E. W. Stewart, and George Geddas are con¬ 
nected with this movement. He can bring 
forward scores of disinterested witnesses who 
showed that it doubled the value of food to 
cook it. 
Prof Henry admits the large yields of milk 
and butter produced by feeding silage—that 
no one can question. He has yet to talk with 
the first man who has fed silage, that was 
not satisfied with the returns he got from his 
feed. The point he desires to make, however, 
is that it was the magnificent crop of fodder 
corn more than the silo that made the good 
results possible. A large per cent, of those 
who use the silo had u«ver grown a crop of 
fodder eoru before the trial with the silo, aud 
in their endeavor to make the silo a success 
they have produced au immense crop of fod¬ 
der corn and packing this away for winter 
4 
