JULY IS 
4S6 THE BUBAL MEW-YOBKEB. 
but with the board aud paper wall this does 
not occur. 
When the silo is built wholly of wood the 
studding should be uot less than 2x10 inches. If 
buildiDgpaper is put on both sides of this stud¬ 
ding a dead-air space is formed that will resist 
all encroachments of frost. In building silo 
walls no sawdust should be used to (111 in be¬ 
tween the studding, as it does more harm 
than good. Several silo men who last year 
packed with sawdust 1o guard auainst frost, 
will remove it before again tilling, as the saw¬ 
dust absorbed enough moisture to freeze and 
became a conductor of frost, while those who 
used paper on both sides of the studding, leav¬ 
ing the space unfilled, report I he plan a suc¬ 
cess. 
Had E. A. L. told how his silo was to be 
built,—whether of wood or stone, the question 
could be easily settled. If all of stone, then a 
lining of boards nailed on 2x4 scantling, placed 
flat against the wall, will lie best, and on this, 
paper and one thickness of inch hoards should 
be nailed ou horizontally. It is rather difficult 
to make a silo half stone and half timber so 
that the pressure of the silage will uot open 
up a seam where the stone and timber meet, 
and so I would recommend E. A. L. to let the 
lining of the wooden superstructure go clear 
to the bottom of the silo, and at the same time 
form the dead air space. Should he lath and 
plaster t he silo on Ihe inside, as it is now very 
common iu Ohio, he can dispense w ith the in¬ 
side lining of paper, nailing the lath on to the 
hoarding. In building a silo, the bottom 
should never be below the bottom ol' I he feed- 
floors, us the labor of lifting the silage up to 
the cow's is unnecessary. Digging down into 
the ground, cellar-fashion, to start the founda¬ 
tion ol’a silo, so that it may he more nearly 
frost-proof, is not called for, and the silos 
built on the ground, not iu it, are the most 
popular yet erected A few' days since I visit¬ 
ed the silo of Henry Swan, in Kent, Ohio, the 
most perfect silo 1 haveyetseen. It is a wood¬ 
en building above ground, on a stone founda¬ 
tion that comes about four inches above the 
surface. The walls are built of 2x10 studding, 
set If. inches apart, covered on the outside with 
ship-lap siding. On the inside there is one 
thickness of inch boards on which are laths, 
and two coats of water lime or cement plaster. 
The protection against the frost was perfect. 
There was no damage by moisture forming on 
the inside walls, as is often the case with stone 
walls, and the silage kept as perfect against 
the plaster as anywhere iu the pits. A shin¬ 
gle roof, the whole being painted to match 
the barn, made it a model silo, and it will 
often serve ns a pattern iu this section. In 
feeding silage, it is best to remove all the 
cover from one pit, aud feed uniformly from 
the whole surface. The warm air in the silage 
prevents the action of frost upon the surface, 
and there will be no loss in any way from this 
system of feeding. 
GETTING BID OK TIIK ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 
H. D., Greenwich, Conn .—‘What can be 
done to get rid of the asparagus beetle? 
A ns. —The asparagus beetle (Crioeeris as- 
paragi. Linn.) is an importation from Europe, 
and it. seemed at due time as if it would min 
the asparagus industry in the East. As is 
common in such cases, a small parasitic fly 
came to the rescue, which, with the improved 
artificial remedies makes it. possible to continue 
the production of this much-esteemed vegeta¬ 
ble with profit. Paris-green or London-pur¬ 
ple can be used to destroy tills beetle the same 
as it is used to destroy the potato beetle, hut, 
of course, it can be used only on plants that 
are not to be used for food. Domestic fowls 
are very fond of this insect, and in small 
patches may bo all that is required to keep the 
plants cleared. Slaked lira© is reported by 
mauj' to bo sure death to all the growing 
larva? that it touches, besides being a benefit 
to the plant. A method practiced by Long 
Island gardeners is to cut down all plants 
except the young shoots, when the beetles first 
appear. These new shoots are cut every two 
or three days ami sold, which does not give 
time for the eggs to hatch. If this process 
could be generally adopted aud carried on 
until after the egg-luyiug season of the first 
brood is at an end, this pest would be almost 
entirely exterminated. Only the few that 
would feed on plants growiug wild could live 
to propagate their kind, 
LEAF-ROLLERS. 
J. A. P., South Bend, Ind .—The leaf-roll¬ 
ers damaged my strawberries, and are eatiug 
nearly all the foliage of my young plants. 
When and how can they be destroyed ? 
ANSWER BYC. I*. GILLETTE. 
This leaf-roller is probably the Phoxopteris 
fragarite of Walsh and Riley, although there 
are other leaf-rollers that do injury to the 
strawberry vine. If Paris green or hellebore 
were applied at the beginning of the attack 
either would certainly do much to rid the 
yines of the larvae. We would not consider it 
at all safe to apply Paris-green or any arsen- 
ite upon bearing-vines before the fruit had been 
picked. There are two broods of this insect, 
each season, the larvae of the first coming to 
maturity early in June, nnd in the fore-part of 
July the moths for the seeoud brood appear. 
This brood attain their growth lab* in Sep¬ 
tember, spend the winter iu the pupa state, 
nnd come forth as moths again in the spring. 
If the patch is smooth, ihe rolling leaves 
may be picked and burned as soon as they ap¬ 
pear, and no further remedy is needed. If 
the patch is large the fall brood may be des¬ 
troyed by scattering straw freely over the 
vines, and setting fire to it. Burning over the 
patch in this manner is thought, by many to 
be a benefit to the succeeding crop, whether 
there are insects to destroy or not, 
THE ATPLE PLANT LOUSE. 
./. S, Parkerville , Kans. —A small, green 
fly badly infested the apt le trees the past 
spring, killing some small trees and eating up 
the young shoots and leaves of others. It isn’t 
so large as a horse-fly and has a very glossy 
appearance. It appeared in great numbers 
during dry weather and just after a light 
rain. 
Ank. —This green fly is undoubtedly the 
apple plant louse—Aphis nrali. The remedies 
recommended for the Hop-plant Louse iu the 
R. N -Y. of June IS, will apply to this species 
equally well To reach the best results the 
lice should be treated us soou as or before the 
leaves put forth. We applied whale-oil soap 
to an apple tree last spring, wbou the buds 
were just opening, aud met with very satis¬ 
factory results. When the tree was treated, 
as high as 50 young Lice were counted on a 
single bud. Two days after the application a 
count of 200 lice gave hut one live individual. 
Experiments with kerosene emulsion—one to 
15 stroug—proved to be equally effective, 
RAISING KAFFIR CORN. 
C. A. D., Cremona, Va. —What is the best 
way to cultivate and handle Kaflir Corn 
for the seed ? 
Ans. —The cultivation of Kaflir is, in all 
respects, like connnou corn. Cease plowing 
when the seed-beads appear. When the 
seeds are ripe, which is indicated by their 
turning white, the beads are to he gathered 
and thrashing is easily done, either by flails 
or by a machine. As soon as the seeds are 
harvested the w'hole stalks may be cut down 
and cured for forage, or used for ensilage, be¬ 
ing, even then, not. too ripe or too hard. In 
the southern lat itudes the blade fodder can be 
pulled, and the stalks left standing, to pro¬ 
duce a new and larger crop of forage by 
shoots that appear at every joint, and also a 
smaller seeoud crop of seed-heads. 
BELLING FURS. 
Subscriber, Grand Travers, Mich. —Who 
buys furs and what prices cau be obtained? 
Ans.— Win. Macnaughton’6 Sons, 79 aud 81 
Spring St., New York, receive consignments 
throughout the year. Prices vary. All furs 
are graded into firsts, seconds, thirds and 
fourths, and each of these grades is divided 
into large, medium, small and kitt. Prices 
quoted areas follows, taking the grades medi¬ 
um firsts and medium thirds: Reaver, $7 and 
84; bear, $22, *K; cut, 20 cents, 12 cents; foxes, 
red, $1.60,75 cents; gray $1.00, fiO cents; mink, 
80 cents, 80 cents; muskrat, 20 cents, 12 cents; 
otter, $7, $4; raccoon 00 cents, 50 cents; 
skunk, 80 cents, 40 cents. 
Mtecel aneoua. 
J. M. W., Femhill, Ont.,Can. —1. Where can 
I get Giant Japan Chestnuts for planting? 
2. Will the liquorice plant thrive iu this Pro¬ 
vince? 3. What are the best late aud early 
strawberries? 4. Which is the earliest, blackber¬ 
ry? 5. How deep does the frost penetrate the 
soil at the Rural Grounds? 6. What depth of 
covering was put there on the tender roses 
last fall,and which are the hardiest, uuioug the 
monthlies? 7. What is the best dark red or 
purple rose, aud is the Polyuutha hardy? 
Ans.— 1. Of Steers, Harrison & Co., 1’aines- 
villc, O. We doubt if it will prove hardy 
with you. 2. The liquorice of commerce 
comes from the roots of Glyoyrrhiszae glabra, 
chiefly. This is cultivated in Southern Eu¬ 
rope, England, Germany, etc. G. eehinata 
is grown in the south of Russia also. Both ai u 
herbaceous perennials. We presume that they 
would not prove hardy iu Canada. 8. A hard 
question to answer. The earliest aud latest 
berries for one farm or garden are not the 
earliest and latest for another. Parry, May 
King, Ridwcll, Iron-clad for early; for lute, 
Kentucky, Cumberland Triumph, Sharpless, 
Triomphe de Guud. There uro objections to 
each. We are uot yet prepared to mention 
newer berries to take their places. 4. Early 
Harvest is the best and earliest. The berry is 
small, but beautifuly regular. It isteuder ex¬ 
cept with protection. Wilson is the next ear¬ 
liest, It nwdfj protection. 5. Sometimes 
three feet; usually 18 inches. 0. We were mis¬ 
taken as to our tender roses. Many looked to 
be alive, as the greenness of the stems was 
preserved under the mulch. The roots were 
dead, however. We have no success with ten¬ 
der roses and can not well give advice. 7. 
There is no better rose of this color than Gen. 
Jacqueminot. The Folyantha are nearly 
hardy with us without protection. 
C. M. L., Newcastle, Pa.— Is it possible for 
a building covered with corrugated iron roof¬ 
ing to be “struck” by light ning? If such a roof 
is connected with the ground l»y strips of 
sheet copper riveted to the roof nnd to au 
iron rod running to the ground, will the 
building be ligbtuing-prool ? 
Ans. —Iron ships have been struck by 
lightning, why shouldn’t iron houses? Such a 
building might be struck and torn by light¬ 
ning although the roof was connected with the 
ground by strips of copper. Copper rods or 
cables, running over the roof with points pro¬ 
jecting upwards at intervals tram the apex, 
and connected with a moist layer of earth, or 
with a large buried surface of metal at each 
corner, or oftener in a large building, would 
make the structure quite safe. 
E. E. Ji., Northville, Torn.—Is there a 
cheaper work tbau Prof. Storer’son t he same 
subjects, that would be at all satisfactory to a 
farmer who has a limited knowledge of chem¬ 
istry? 
Ans.—P rof. Storer’s book is the most com¬ 
plete work on agricultural chemistry, that 
has ever been published in this country. To 
obtain the information found in “Agriculture” 
you would be obliged to buy half a dozen 
smaller books, costing more than this one, 
J. D. I., San Antonio, Fla. —1. Where can 
I get Eames’s book ou shorthand { v, What 
is a reliable live stock insurance company ! 8. 
Who make removable covers for periodicals ? 
1. A. S Barnes &Co., New York. 2. We 
know of none that we would unreservedly 
recommend. 8. Asa L. Shipman’s Sous, 10 
Murray St., N. Y. 
E. C. J?., At den, Iowa. —Is common Red 
Clover a biennial ? 
Ans. —No; not strictly speaking. It is a 
short-lived perennial, according to our best 
information. 
C. U., Arcade, N. Y. —The grass jsent for 
name is Festuca elatior ear. prateusis—Tall 
Meadow Fescue Grass—Randall Grass—Ever¬ 
green Glass. This has long been one of the 
standard mpadow grasses of Europe, and has 
proven itself valuable in this country both 
for pasture and hay. It does well sown with 
other grasses or alone. If used alone sow two 
bushels to the acre. 
DISCUSSION. 
“Ubku,” Falls Cnuncii, Va.— I was much 
surprised to see in the Rural of June 18th 
that the Empire State Grape, “though laid 
down last fall, was killed nearly to the roots 
during the past winter at the Rural Grounds 
and will uot bear this year.” Of more than 
225 varieties iu my test grapery there were but 
few—not. a dozen—which stood the winter 
better. I have it marked 4 in a scale of 0 to 
5. It is in the same row with IVkecpsie Red, 
Ulster Prolific, Niagara, Jessica (killed to the 
ground) and Victoria, and excelled all save 
Victoria m endurance of cold. All were set 
out iu the spring of 1880 aud were purchased 
from Geo. H. Jocelyn. 1 am also astonished 
at the reply to C. M (page 417) iu reference to 
crude petroleum, wherein it is said that crude 
petroleum should uot be used as a priming for 
other paint. My experience is that a coat of 
light petroleum a week or 10 days previous to 
painting with load and oil will not only result 
iu u considerable saving of linseed oil, hut will 
so harden the wood by filling the pores that 
the oil will not he all absorbed, causing lead to 
rub oil’, ami two coats of paint will be usgood 
as three without petroleum. 
B. S., West Chester, I’a.—I read in a re¬ 
cent Rural that the Empire State grape was 
killed to the ground at the Rural Grounds. I 
have a young vine planted in 18 .SG, that made a 
fine growth but was killed the past winter; 
but it has started strong from the ground; 
it stands in a warm place protected from the 
cold winds by an arbor-vita* hedge. Pear 
trees are blighting more than for years past. 
Of several Sheldon trees in grass, a quarter or 
more are dead; Bartlett in cultivated ground 
is blighting somewhat; but not so badly as 
Sheldon, Clapp’s Favorite shows no sign of 
blight. 
F. O. C., Washington, Kans,— My Empire 
State grape vines, though laid down last full 
aud covered with earth, were killed nearly to 
the roots during the past winter. The same 
may also ho said of the Niagara. The delicate 
Delawares, of the same age aiul treated in the 
same way, are doing better this year, although 
they (lid not make half the growth last year. 
Ensti.agf. —No one has yet. proven, says 
our friend John Gould, in our excellent con¬ 
temporary the Farmers' Review, that an 
equal amount of fain water with food fills the 
same office in digestion as do the natural 
juices of the plant, but, on the other hand, 
while the chemist rates the moisture of a plant 
as water, the animal, with its more perfectly 
equipped laboratory for the digestion of food, 
very plainly indicates that it does have a 
value. That* succulent food in the winter is of 
great value has been an admitted fact so long 
as the use of roots has been in vogue. That 
they can have a very high feeding value from 
the chemist’s standpoint is not possible, and yet 
those who have made most painstaking exper¬ 
iments show conclusively that they must 
possess more than a water value. What is 
true of the roots is as true of the latest im¬ 
provements in silage. The idea of putting up 
fodder corn to feed in its succulent state is 
only another phase of the root question and is 
carried on with a material which, pound for 
pound, has much superior feeding qualities. 
If we take thinly drilled corn that has an 
abundance of corn cars, we have a ration that 
has no superior when cut and fed to stock in 
September, and if this is put in its best condi¬ 
tion into the silo, aud preserved iu its succu¬ 
lent state, it must very nearly have the same 
feeding value as when cut from the hill. 
Prof. Whichler, of N. H., who is carrying on 
careful experiments, states that he finds that 
with 50 pounds of silage and coru-and-eoh 
meal with one feed of mixed clover, hay 
and rye straw, be is wintering the college 
dairy for about one-fifth of the cost of hay 
and grain, and that they were never looking 
better, nor giving a better flow of milk. 
That the time has come when the farmer 
cannot profitably liusk uud grind the corn to 
be fed upon the farm is clear, and now 
that, the silo affords not only a safe place to 
store this fodder, corn and all. and present 
it to the stock in a palatable,appetizing condi¬ 
tion, easy of digestion and even helping to di¬ 
gest the hay and clover, no one should de¬ 
nounce it as a “delusion and a snare” until 
he has demonstrated whether or not these 
thiugsaro true. 
Prof. A. J. Cook on Ensilage.— Prof. 
Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 
says, iu the Press, that every intelligent for¬ 
mer knows that lus success is gauged by the 
amount of stock ho can keep on his farm. 
Much stock, much manure; much manure, 
bountiful harvests. The past winter he vis¬ 
ited Ohio, New York and Wisconsin, and at¬ 
tended farmers’ meetings, and dul his best to 
acquaint himself with the best practice and 
experience as to the silo. Prof. Cook was sur¬ 
prised at the unanimity of opinion among 
those who had used silage. Every man was 
enthusiastic in its praise. No one was tearing 
his silo down, but, many were building more. 
According to the best Information he gleaned 
during his visit., ho concludes that a silo can 
he made very cheaply right in the barn. Wo 
have only to make a large double-walled box 
using tarred building paper, that it may be 
practically air-tight. Two by 111 joists are 
used, so that, the walls are 10 inches apart. 
The bottom is grouted, ami it is thoroughly 
drained if necessary, against water. The 
door is double, uud made in horizontal sec¬ 
tions, so it can bo opened gradually from the 
top. It is easier and cheaper to rake the 
silage at time of feeding from the top than to 
cut down. The favorite size is about15 feet 
iu each of the three dimensions. If is better, 
he thinks, to have two or three small silos 
than one lurgo one. The corn for the silo 
should he cut, ears and all, into inch lengths 
and not put too rapidly into the silo. It is 
best to till one day, then rest a day, and so on. 
When tilling, the cut corn should be trodden 
about the edge and corners, and when full 
the building paper should be laid over the top 
and extend so as to pass up a little at the walls 
or sides; then nil covered by boards and 
weighted by grain or hay. It is believed that 
the very sweetest and best silage is thus 
secured in the easiest and cheapest manner, 
with the minimum rush und labor. 
An Enthusiast on Ensilage.— The 
Michigan Farmer publishes a long article 
on ensilage written by O. B. Potter of N. 
Y. Mr. Potter confesses that he is something 
of an enthusiast upon the subject but his en¬ 
thusiasm has grown steadily by actual experi¬ 
ence from his first experiment, made more 
than ten years ago. Ho knows no fodder 
equal to silage for keeping stock iu perfect 
health und line condition. It. increases the 
llow of milk in cows froiu 1*1 tiO 20 per cent, at 
