4887 
a mulch for the balance of the season. I 
would prepare my land more thoroughly than 
ever before seeding, I would get my crops in 
just as early as possible, and give them all 
more thorough cultivation than usual: in 
fact, just all I could. To corn and potatoes I 
would give a thorough barrowing just after 
planting. This beeps the surface mellow and 
kills all weeds that otherwise would get a 
start. Potatoes I would mulch lightly after 
the second cultivation if possible. 
Iu substance the drought has taught us that 
the richest ground stands dry weather the 
best. The earlier a crop is got in the better. 
Spring plowing, except sod, is better in a dry 
seasou. Drainage is a very important matter. 
Four times more of corn fodder can bo grown 
on an acre thau of hay. A feed cutter is more 
valuable than we thought. Rye straw run 
through a cutter makes fair horse feed. A 
dry season is a poor season for raising poultry 
and water fowl, but a good one for turkeys. 
A variety of crops pay best. We will have to 
stop standing on the street, cornel’s Saturday 
afternoons and read, study and think more or 
go under To the man who intends to be a 
practical farmer, to make it a life work, and 
whose motto is to “live and learn” this sea¬ 
son’s drought has not been a dire calamity but 
merely a practical lesson iu agriculture. 
Winnebago Co., Ill. 
FROM S. W. HUTTON. 
The dry season has taught that rich land re¬ 
sists a drought more successfully than poor 
laud. Lands that are well tile-drained suffer 
less than those that are insufficiently drained. 
Early planting favors earlv maturity, and 
some crops may by early planting ripen be¬ 
fore the hot, dry season arrives. Frequent 
cultivation is beneficial in dry weather, pro¬ 
vided the plants are not disturbed by it. Deep 
plowing near to corn, potatoes or any other 
crop in time of drought is detrimental. 
Mulching prevents evaporation from the earth 
and is highly beneficial in time of drought. 
Did I know that uext year would be as dry 
as this has been I would enrich my land as 
much as possible. I would plant as early as 
the season would permit. I would put a larger 
area to small grains, as wheat, oats and rye 
made average crops with us. I would raise 
fewer acres of corn, as it has made only one- 
third of an average, T would plant my pota¬ 
toes in deep furrows, cover with two inches 
of earth and as they came up would fill the 
trenches with rotten straw—a la It N.-Y.'s 
trench-mulch system. The corn would be 
planted iu April if possible, harrowed as it is 
coming up, cultivated as close as possible 
without injuring the plants, to a depth of four 
to six inches until it would lie 12 inches high, 
after which it should have shallow cultiva¬ 
tion. 
Madison Co., Ind. 
SUGAR FROM SORGHUM. 
EX. COM. GEN. WILLIAM G. LE DUC. 
Memories revived; bygone earnest labors; 
subsequent culpable ind ((fere nee; brain¬ 
less ridicule; nothing new except improve¬ 
ments in machinery; the future of tea cul¬ 
tivation ; valuable investigations sup¬ 
pressed. 
The Rural asks me what I think of the 
success iu making sugar from sorghum at 
Rio Grande, N. J., and Fort Scott, Kans. And 
the inquiry revives recollections of days and 
nights of earnest, patient and sometimes im¬ 
patient labor, in the thankless, ill-paid service 
of the Gov't, of file United States; of the many 
carefully considered plans for the protection, 
improvement and diversification of our agri¬ 
culture, some of which have struck root and 
taken so strong a hold on the soil and iu the 
minds of our people that neither malevolence, 
indifference nor stupidity can eradicate them. 
It reminds me of efforts persistent and final¬ 
ly successful to interest Congress in the 
encouragement of sugar from whatever 
plants would give us a home supply of this 
necessary and most expensive of all food 
supplies; of the careful sift ing of the record¬ 
ed experience of funnel’s and manufacturers 
in all parts of the Spites from the introduc¬ 
tion of fane into Louisiana and sorghum into 
New York down totheyear 1880; of thousands 
of careful chemical analyses made uuder the 
personal supervision of that eminent chemist, 
Dr. Peter Collier, to make sure of the position 
assumed in reference to the ability of the 
American farmer to produce profitably the 
entire amount of sugar demanded for home 
consumption. auil to compete with the Euro¬ 
pean beet.su nr, aud the cane sugar of tropical 
lands on favorable terms and conditions. It 
recalls the careful examination of the proba¬ 
bilities of successful competition with the beet 
sugar production iu the United States, under 
the direction of the learned and thorough 
chemist and scientist, Dr. Win. McMurtrie. 
Memories spring up of years of indignation 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
at the insolent and willful waste of public 
moneys appropriated to advance this su¬ 
premely important agricultural interest, but 
wantonly misapplied, and yet unrebuked by 
Congress; of years of contempt as I read the 
inane utterances of agricultural Turveydrops 
or political dudes, or brainless reporters, 
ridiculing what they were unable to com¬ 
prehend; of years of hope deferred, but not 
weakened, that the day of triumph must in¬ 
evitably come as it lias come to verify every 
prediction I made as to the value of sorghum 
and the production of our home supply of 
sugar from the growth of our own fields. 
And let it be noted that the morning of that 
day that is now here should have beamed up¬ 
on us certainly not later than 1882 (five years 
have been lost and $500,(KM),000 owing to the 
delay); for every fact now known about sor¬ 
ghum and sugar production from it, was 
known and published in my reports for 1878, 
’70 aud ’80. Not one single step forward in 
knowledge of the plaut from the time it is 
planted until it is separated into seed, ba¬ 
gasse, sugar and molasses,has been made. Im¬ 
provements in machinery for handling the 
crop have been and are being made annually, 
but all else, even the fact that practically all 
the sugar in the stalk could be recovered by 
diffusion, was proven and published before I 
turned over the Department of Agriculture 
to my successor. That the sugar content of 
many of the varieties of sorghum was fully 
equal to that of Louisiana cane was proven by 
cumulative testimony. It was also demon¬ 
strated that the co-efficient of purity was, un¬ 
der proper cultivation and treatment, equal 
to that of the average of Louisiana cane; that 
the.available sugar contained in a ton of sor¬ 
ghum cane was fully equal to that iu a ton of 
Louisiana cane; that the same process of ex¬ 
tracting sugar was equally efficacious; that 
the planting of sorghum was much less expen¬ 
sive; that the same number of acres would 
produce, with less labor, more tons of cane: 
that the crop of seed from sorghum was a 
very important factor iu estimating the cost 
of the production of sugar, as it was 
worth about as much, leaving the cane 
nearly clear profit; that it was entirely rea¬ 
sonable to expect that from 100 to 150 ponnds of 
sugar besides several gallons of molasses, 
could bo obtained from a ton of caue; and, fi¬ 
nally, that it was reasonable to expect that 
sugar could be made from sorghum for not 
much over a cent a pound, and possibly for 
less. 
These facts were all of record when I turned 
over the Department aud its work to my suc¬ 
cessor, and 1 eudeavored to impress him with 
the importance of continuing the work.which 
Cougress by that time so well appreciated 
that it voted a large sum of money, against 
bis expressed wishes, to be expended in aiding 
and establishing this by far the most import¬ 
ant movement in the industrial development 
of our national agriculture that has ever been 
proposed. 
The question also suggests memories of 
auother industry the attempt I made at estab¬ 
lishing which did not find favor with my 
successor; but the tea plants from that little 
South Carolina farm have beeu widely dis¬ 
tributed; the leaves are steeping, and one of 
these days the people will find themselves 
drinking American tea. 
An important examination, made under my 
direction, of the wools of high-bred sheep, 
taken from animals exhibited at the Philadel¬ 
phia sheep show, has been for years sup¬ 
pressed, until it is now’said to lie iu type. An 
exhaustive examinat ion of the grape and wine 
industry, in which much iabor and time had 
been expended, has not been beard from, aud 
probably will not be. But there may be other 
matters of more pressing importance, aiul I 
rejoice in the triumph of home-grown sugar. 
Hastings, Minn. 
florimllural. 
THE WINTER GARDEN. 
Chief requisites for house plants', most satis¬ 
factory plants ; red spider ; mealy bug ; 
mildew on roses; begonias, geraniums , 
primroses and cyclamens for the window 
garden ; plenty of light indispensable. 
When a flower lover possesses ambition 
enough to fill u big conservatory which must 
be confined within the limits of a single win¬ 
dow, the list of favorite plants must be cut 
down and weeded-out until only the most 
promising things are left. The grower must 
select with an eye to the fitness of things, 
choosing plants that will harmonize in ap¬ 
pearance, aud ulso iu hubits. 
As the Rural stated last winter, the chief 
requisites in the care of house plants are sun¬ 
shine, moisture, cleanliness, and a uniform 
temperature. The question of moisture ap¬ 
plies to the atmosphere as much as to the 
soil; more so, iu fact, for while we may very 
soon render the soil too wet, we can safely say 
that the air in an ordinary room can never 
contain too much moisture for plant growth. 
As a rule, what are known as greenhouse 
plants will he found most satisfactory in the 
house; that is to say, those requiring an aver¬ 
age temperature of about 50° at night; it will 
of course, be rather higher during the day. 
Plants requiring an average temperature of 
80° at night are not so Likely to do well in an 
ordinary room. Asa rule, plants in the house 
seem more liable to the ravages of insects and 
disease than the same varieties in a greenhouse. 
This is, no doubt, partly due to inequalities of 
temperature, together with dryness of atmos¬ 
phere. The latter condition is always the 
cause of red spider, a troublesome pest which 
will not be noticed until it has multiplied 
greatly, as it is very minute. It causes the 
leaves to turn brown, and finally to drop. The 
remedy for this insect is copious syringing, or 
careful sponging, especially on the under side 
of the leaves. 
Another pest.wtaich appears uuder the same 
circumstances as red spider is the mealy bug. 
It is a small, fiat insect, wrapped in a downy 
white blauket; it nestles in the axils of the 
leaves, and it is impossible to destroy it with 
any ordinary application. Anything strong 
enough to injure the bug will kill the plant 
too. The only remedy is to rub it off with a 
small brush. Green fly is another familiar 
nuisance. In a greenhouse, the remedy is fu¬ 
migation with tobacco stems, but this is man¬ 
ifestly impossible in an ordinary room, so a 
thorough sponging or dipping in tobacco 
water will be found effectual. 
Roses in the house are very subject to the 
attacks of a fungoid parasite—what we call 
mildew—the leaves become discolored and 
drawn out of shape, and, if not cured, will 
finally drop off. This disease is chiefly due to 
inequalities of temperature, and, for this 
reason, is very likely to occur in house plants. 
The best remedy is a sprinkliug of powdered 
sulphur, and the removal of the exciting 
cause. But the rose can hardly be considered 
a very satisfactory house plant; for one suc¬ 
cess there are a dozen failures. 
One enthusiastic window eulturist says that 
if restricted to one plant only, he would al¬ 
ways choose begonias. There is much ground 
for this assertion, too; the begonia is cleanly 
in its habits and not at all exacting about 
treatment; it possesses beauty of both flower 
and foliage. The old-fashioned Begonia rex is 
one of the things no window gardener should 
Lie without. B. rubra is extremely haudsome 
and a rampant grower, while most of the 
newer tuberous-rooted sorts are really won¬ 
derful in their beauty. MaDy of them are 
double, and they are to lie seen bright orange 
in hue, as well as many shades of red. But 
the flowers are apt to be affected in a room 
lighted by gas: indeed, this affects the major¬ 
ity of plauts. even where there is no apparent 
escajie of the gas. 
Holding a place similar to that of the be¬ 
gonias for geueral utility are our old friends 
the geraniums, both zonal and ivy-leaved. 
Blit in u cool room, nothing will be more sat¬ 
isfactory than a few varieties of primroses 
and cyclamens. Varieties of the latter ap¬ 
peared to have been running out of late years; 
one rarely saw a really vigorous strain of 
plants, but a New York firm now displays a 
lot of vigorous new sorts with very beauti¬ 
fully marked foliage aud large flowers, rang¬ 
ing iu hue from pure white to deep red. The 
primroses, too, offer an equally wide range 
of color though in raising them from seed one 
is apt to get a few rather weedy ones. 
In growing house plants, one should always 
endeavor to get light from the cast or south, 
since the early sun undoubtedly gives the 
growing rays. Give all the light, possible, 
of course, or the poor plants will suffer from 
anemia, but it is poor economy to fill up the 
only suuny window so that the human occu¬ 
pants have to give up their chance of sun- 
shiue to the plants. Then regulate the tem¬ 
perature and take care of the cleanliness, and 
the winter garden should flourish like the 
green bay tree. emily louise taplin. 
iVUscfUomcous. 
A VISIT TO THE MICHIGAN AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL COLLEGE. 
I have just returned from a visit to the 
Michigan Agricultural College, which 1 had 
seen only at commencement time since I was a 
student there myself nine years ago, and right 
gladly did I go to see my Alma Mater in her 
every-day clothes. She was hard at work and 
so were all the “children,” and I am proud of 
both. Mauy changes have been made aud 
great facilities added. Notable among the 
former are the addition of military tactics 
and drill, a thorough mechanical course and a 
year’s course in veterinary science. The ad¬ 
dition of rooms and apparatus, with the more 
complete division of labor among the Profes¬ 
sors consequent on the larger teaching force, 
has added largely to the amount of laboratory 
work provided for the students, especially in 
microscopic research. Besides the chemical 
laboratory, they now have the botanical and 
the entomological departments, where the stu¬ 
dent is given a large microscope and set at 
work to discover facts for himself. This af¬ 
fords au opportunity to shirk duty it is true; 
but if we may believe the word of the Profes¬ 
sors and the evidence of our own eyes, we 
must be satisfied they use the opportunities to 
the best advantage, for everywhere are seen 
busy students apparently following the bent 
of their own inquiring minds, hut in reality 
laboring under intelligent direction. There is 
a popular notion that a college student is a 
cross between a Pawnee Indian and a Pacific 
Islander who wants the scalp of every fresh¬ 
man in college aud the heart’s blood of every 
Professor in the Faculty. A more courteous 
and earnest body of students it would be dif¬ 
ficult to imagine than those in this college. 
Their habits of study make them critical and 
exacting of their instructors: hut while quick 
to denominate poor teaching as “slops,” they 
appreciate and respect thorough ability and 
live instruction. I heartily wish every man 
in the State might pay them a visit and see 
them as they are. He could but come away 
with the most cordial feelings toward the col¬ 
lege, its Faculty and its students. 
e. davenport. 
Change ofName of an Apple.—G. W.Robi- 
nett, of Flag Pond, Va , writes us that the 
name of his new apple has been changed 
from “ Scarlet Cranberry'’ or “Virginia Star” 
to Robinett, hy Mr. H. E. Vanderman. Chief 
of the Division of Pomology, Washington, D. 
C., because the word Cranberry, as descriptive 
of an apple, already appears on the books of 
the Division at Washington. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must he accompanied by the name 
aud address or the writer to Insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see If It Is not answered in 
our advertisintc columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Putquestionsonaseparatepleceofpaper.] 
BLOODY MILK: INTESTINAL WORMS IN A 
HORSE. 
J. If., Nunda , A T . Y. —1 . One of my cows 
has been giving bloody milk for some time. 
At first there was a slight bloody sediment in 
the bottom of the pan, but now the whole 
pailful is tinged. At times bloody clots come 
from the teats when I begin to milk. 2. A 
hor>e of mine mbs bis tail aud bites himself on 
the sides and back. His hair iu places looks 
dull. He coughs now ami then and bas a dis¬ 
charge from his nostril and there is a rattle 
in his throat. He is fond of putting his nose 
deep in the water when he drinks, and blows 
through the nose. What should lie done for 
him/ 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KILBORN. 
1. The cow may have sustained some slight 
injury to the udder, which caused more or less 
congestion and inflammation as shown b> r the 
bloody milk. Among the many common 
causes of injury ate kicks, blows, bruises from 
stones thrown by rough attendants or mis¬ 
chievous boys, lying on hard or pointed bod¬ 
ies, walking over a low fence or through 
underbrush, jumping npou a fence or other 
barrier, and running or chasing, especially 
by dogs. Riding other cows or being ridden 
when in beat is not an infrequent cause. The 
injury may be so slight as to be unnoticed on 
the surface, but the glandular structure of the 
udder of a cow in the full flow of milk is very 
sensitive to even slight bruises of any kind. 
A too sudden change of diet, as from scant to 
rich or flush feed, or over-feeding on concen¬ 
trated foods will occasionally over-stimulate 
the glands iu heavy milkers and cause bloody 
milk. Certain acrid or resinous plants assume 
of the ranuncuti, polygonums, conifene and 
others, are said to cause bloody milk. First 
try to discover the cause and remove at 
once where supposed to exist. If the cow is 
in good health give one to 1L pound Epsom 
salts with two or three ounces of ginger, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the animal, to open the 
bowels and relieve the blood pressure and 
lessen the milk secretion. The diet should be 
restricted aud laxative, for the same purpose. 
Ounce doses of niter and 15 to 25 drops tinc¬ 
ture of aconite two or three times daily a ill 
