be beneficial. If there is no “cake” in the 
udder, bathe occasionally with cold water. If 
there is a lump or “cake,’' rub daily with com¬ 
pound tincture of iodine diluted in two or 
three parts of water. The cow ought to re¬ 
cover in a few days if there is no general 
trouble. 
2. The horse is evidently badly out of con¬ 
dition, but whether due to worms or some 
other cause we cannot say defimtly from your 
description. We suspect, however, that in¬ 
testinal worms may bo the trouble in part at 
least aud the auimal might safely be treated 
accordingly. Food sparingly and give a large 
bran mash every uight for a week to loosen 
the bowels. Then continue the same light 
diet and mashes for another week, and in ad¬ 
dition give two drams each tartar emetic, sul¬ 
phate of iron and aloes and one dram carbolic 
acid in a pint of linseed gruel every morning 
before feeding. Following the last dose give 
three to five drams Barbadoes aloes accord¬ 
ing to the condition of the bowels. Omit the 
aloes if the bowels become too loose. 
Also give two or three injections during the 
week of two or three quarts each of a strong 
solution of quassia, to remove the worms from 
the lower colon and rectum. The solution 
should be milk-warm and slowly injected, so 
as to be retained for a few hours. As a tonic 
to be given after the above treatment, give 
the following powders night aud morning: 
One-half ounce each powdered gentian, ginger 
and sodium bicarbonate. On alternate weeks 
replace the soda by two drams of sulphate of 
iron. Allow but very little exercise during 
the second week of treatment-. The head 
symptoms, with the discharge from only one 
nostril, may indicate glanders: if not gland¬ 
ers, then a tumor or abscess inside of nose or 
face from which the discharge comes. A de¬ 
caying upper molar tooth may be the fault, 
in which case the tooth must be removed. 
Take the horse to a competent veterinarian to 
ascertain the cause of the nasal discharge; 
because if a case of glanders (and glanders is 
becoming quite prevalent throughout the 
couutry) it should be recognized at once, if 
possible, and the animat should be destroyed, 
since it would lie very dangerous, not only to 
your other horses, but to yourself or other per¬ 
sons in charge. 
HOW TO RIPEN PEARS. 
P. D. K ., Yarmouth. Nova Scotia. —With 
me the Anjou pear wilts or begins to decay 
before it is ripe; what is the best way to ripen 
it up quickly? 
Ans. —Pack the fruit in dry buckwheat or 
wheat bran, or some other entirely inodorous 
substance. If first wrapped each separately, 
in soft paper, all the better. This will prevent 
shriveling. PJace the package in a cool room 
free from frost, till about the natural period 
of ripening, which in Nova Scotia, will per¬ 
haps be as late as December. If then brought 
into a warm room, they will probably ripen 
off nicely. Possibly in that climate they may 
not have reached the proper degree of matur¬ 
ity when picked, in which case, like some other 
very late pears, it may prove impossible to 
satisfactorily mature them. If when picked, 
they were so far matured as to part easily 
from the tree, there should be no difficulty in 
this respect. 
TREATMENT OF “HOOKS.” 
J. T., Tawny, IF. Va. —The membrane in the 
eye of my colt is enlarged causing what my 
neighbors call “hooks.” They say the colt 
will not thrive until it is either cut or pulled 
out. To me it looks barbarous to do either: 
what is a humane mode of treatment? 
Ans. —The removal of the membrane is not 
only “barbarous” but injurious. The haw or 
membrana nietitaus.isa very useful provision, 
for as it passes over the eye, it cleans it of for¬ 
eign matter. “Hooks” is an inflammation of 
this membrane. Clive an animal troubled in 
this way one pound of Epsom salts and apply 
to the affected part with a camel’s hair pen¬ 
cil the following solution: one dram of sugar 
of lead and ten grains ot morphia in half a 
pint of water. Protect the eye from strong 
light, and use the lotion freely. 
REGISTERING JERSEYS. 
T. II 7 '. IF., Johnstown, Pa. — 1 . Who is sec¬ 
retary of the American Jersey Cattle Club? 
2. W hat is the charge for registering a bull 
two years old or over? 
Ans. —1. T. W. Wicks, 1 Broadway, New 
York. 2, Section 10 of the bylaws of the 
American Jersey Cattle Club reads as follows: 
The fees for animals dropped in this country 
shall be: Entries of males or females under 
two ycais owned by members of bho club, 
$1 each. Entries of males or females under 
two years owned by non-members, $3 each. 
Entries of dead ancestors to complete pedi¬ 
grees, $1 each. Entries of animals over two 
years old, double fee. Transfers presented 
within 90 days from date of delivery, free. 
Transfers presented after 90 days from date 
of delivery, $1 each. 
Miscellaneous. 
H. G. 77., Short Creek. Ohio. —1. How are 
quinces propagated? 2. Has the Rural 
fruited the Carman Raspberry? Is the claim 
correct-that it is earlier than either Tyler or 
Souhegan? 3. Name two or three varieties of 
the best very late-keeping winter apples for 
this section—Central Ohio. 
Ans. — Quinces can be readily propagat¬ 
ed from seed, layers or cuttings. The quince 
from seed, however, like roost other seedlings, 
varies, sometimes turning out to be the apple- 
shaped and sometimes the pear-shaped sort. 
Cuttings prepared in the autumn, heeled in 
and protected duriugthe winter, and planted 
iu a shady location in early spring, root 
easily. This is the best mode of propagation. 
2 Yes. It is of fine quality. The berry is 
large, though not quite as large as the Gregg. 
It is a very prolific variety aud as hardy as 
any other, so far as we know. We do not 
think it is earlier than either Tyler or Souhe¬ 
gan. 3. Ben Davis, Bentley’s Sweet, Grimes's 
Golden, Jonathan, Red Canada (Richfield 
Nonesuch), Rhode Island Greening, Smith’s 
Cider, Willow Twig, Yellow Bellflower. 
IF. H., Sullivan Co., N. 5'.—1. I have 1,000 
chestnut trees from 12 to 14 inches in diame¬ 
ter; where cau I sell them? 2. Would a hill¬ 
side facing the north and sheltered by woods 
on the west, be suitable for an orchard; soil a 
red slate, with gravelly-clay subsoil? What 
varieties of apples would be likely to do best 
there? 
Ans —1. Chestnut lumber will sell any¬ 
where, and the logs at any sawmill. 2. The 
soil described is good for apple trees. Bald¬ 
wins aud Roxbury Russets are profitable trees. 
The soil is particularly suited to the latter. 
E. L. E., Nunda, N. ¥.— Is there any cure 
for a horse whose stifle joint was cut four 
mouths ago? lie is quite lame. 
Ans, —There may or may not be, according 
to the exact nature of the injury, which can 
not be determined from your description. 
Read “ Injury to Stifle Joint of Colt” in the 
F. C. Of October 89, page 722. The advice 
there given will apply almost equally well to 
your case. 
C. K., Almond, N. Y. —Pearce’s Improved 
Cahoou’s broadcast seed-sower is made by the 
Godell Co., Antrim. N. H. We offered it as a 
premium last year. 
DISCUSSION. 
FARMERS' INSTITUTES IN COLORADO. 
P. D. G., Loveland, Colo.— In looking 
over the articles on farmers’ institutes in the 
the. Rural of October 29, I discover an error 
as to Colorado, If the State Board of Agri¬ 
culture has charge of the work it is guilty of 
gross negligence of duty, to say the least, for 
1 have uever known one of the members to be 
present at our annual institute For six years 
the community around Loveland has held 
an annual institute aud was the first to start 
an institute in the State. Each year we elect 
our President, Secretary aud Treasurer, who 
act as a committee to call the preliminary 
meeting for the arranging of a programme for 
the annual meeting which occurs in February. 
In our programme we call upon some of the 
Agricultural College professors to furnish 
us with essays, usually allow ing them to pick 
their topics. The President- of the State Uni¬ 
versity has honored our body with an inter¬ 
esting lecture for the past four years; and the 
increased attendance from year to year attests 
the usefulness of such a gathering. I can see 
no reason why each county in our or any 
other State cannot have its own institute with¬ 
out any aid from or consultation with the 
State Board of Agriculture, and I am of the 
opinion that the people of the place where 
the institute is held would receive more good 
by running it themselves than they would by 
having any State Board of Agriculture mixed 
up in it. The expenses of the meeting at this 
place, are borne by the farmers; and the 
tw enty-five cents they contribute ure a cheap 
tuition fee for the valuable information drawn 
out during the three days it is held. 
A WORD FOR THE KIEFFER, 
O. P. R., Middleton, N. Y.—The Rural 
of November 5 reminds its readers that it had 
cautioned them against Investing in the 
Kicffer pear. At the time wheu I uotieed 
the warning I thought proper to secure one 
specimen, which I did at a cost of $2.50, and 
when it arrived I must confess my disappoint¬ 
ment was great, when it proved to be of one 
season’s growth from the butt, and that it 
"was one single shoot, about 4>.j feet high. 
T was consoled, however, by the fact that 
others who ordered it at the same time were 
treated in like manner. My tree, or whip 
rather, was well cured for, aud in the fall of 
1886 we had a few specimens of fruit. The 
tree has grown well aud is shapely, and this 
fall we gathered not less than 1 % bushel of 
very fine, sound fruit, much prized for cook¬ 
ing. For family use we consider it No. 1, 
being abundant, uniform in size, clinging 
well to the tree aud ripening at a time w hen 
most other pears are not on t.he market. 
THE KIEFFER PEAR. 
John S. Collins, Moorestown, N. J.— 
I sec l>y a paragraph in the Rural, page 740, 
in reference to the Kieffer pear, that the paper 
continues to give very poor advice about this 
variety for this latitude and further south. I 
am not so positive in regard to more norther¬ 
ly locations. I have marketed thousands of 
baskets of them this fall, aud my account of 
sales received for the last week contains items 
from which 1 quote: Oct. 28, 1887, 50 baskets 
Kieffers at90 cents each; live baskets at 85 
cents each; 32 baskets at 80 cents each; 22 bas¬ 
kets at 75 cents each. Oct. 29, 00 baskets Kief 
fere at 94 cents each: 16 baskets at 80 cents 
each. Now it seems strange that a fruit that is 
only fit to look at- should continue to sell in 
this way. 
11. N.-Y —We hope that Mr. Collius will 
favor us with a similar statement in the fall, 
say, of 1890. 
B, B,, Farmingdale, Illinois.— I inclose 
corn that brings up a curious question. The 
original seed was found in an Indian mound 
in Arkansas, sealed up in an earthen vessel 
containing about a pint. With it were remains 
of human bones, etc. The corn was planted 
in Arkansas aud grew'. The product was 
brought to this place by John Cowls and dis¬ 
tributed. I have grown it two years. This 
makes three crops since it- was exlmmed near 
Harrisburg, Poinset Co., Ark. Now for the 
curious part. The corn as found was of a 
smoky color. As raised in Arkansas it- w'as 
still the same. In Illinois the first year with 
me all the ears were smoky-colored, but with 
others there was Occasionally a red ear. The 
past summer gave quite a number of red ears 
iu fill localities as far as heard from, There 
are several interesting points, but why, if the 
original color w'as red (as seems probable) the 
corn did not come back to its supposed orig¬ 
inal color at the first planting is indeed strange. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
KnilHas. 
Parsons, Labette Co., Oet. 31.—The agri¬ 
cultural operations of the season are closing. 
Kansans have little cause for exultation. The 
western and northwestern portions raised 
very little of anything. The eastern half 
raised fair to good crops of hay aud corn and 
even wheat and apples. Still we imagined 
that they would be much better than they 
have turned out Drought is not the cause of 
the reduced crop, unless we consider that 
drought was the cause of the chinch-bugs. It 
is becoming a current opinion that wheat- 
raising in the Southwest will have to be aban¬ 
doned; but I think it will not be necessary 
to abandon wheat in order to raise corn. It 
must be understood that July and August are 
droughty months iu the Southwest, and that 
our corn suffers every year more or less from 
this cause. With our Kansas corn, the ear 
commences to form about the middle of July 
aud thence to September the weather nearly 
always is hot aud dry. The remedy lies in im¬ 
porting seed from the North—say from lati¬ 
tude 4()8 to 42 v —which will form ears about 
July 4th, and will be hard early in August. 
This is not mere theory. It has been practised, 
but has been objected to because the ears are 
very small. They are, but it must be planted 
closer between the rows and in the rows; in 
other words, if oile has small ears, he will have 
more of them and he will have sbuud corn 
nearly all t-be time. This seed has to be re¬ 
newed from the North every three years, be¬ 
cause it will become the kind we now have if 
not renewed. This mode of production will 
head off the later crop of chinch bugs aud it 
is this that cuts down the crops. We are ship¬ 
ping a great many apples to Minnesota, Den¬ 
ver, and Texas. Prices ure about 50 cents per 
bushel in the orchard. Heavy losses are in¬ 
curred from the lack of demand for the im¬ 
perfect fruit, there being neither cider mills 
uor evaporators in the vicinity. The Ben 
Davis and Missouri Pippin constitute about 
three-fourths of the product of the winter 
fruit. The fruit of those is show}', sound and 
salable. One may offer for better apples but 
people will take the showy ones. If buyers 
had a knowledge of fruit aud merchandise 
less rubbish would he brought across the Mis¬ 
sissippi and hotter fruit would be raised here. 
Land “booms” don’t boom as they were wont. 
But if the salt-strata prove true, and the 
•sugar from sorghum shall realize the promise, 
“the good time coming” will soon have ar¬ 
rived. J. B. 
Krw York. 
Middletown, Orange Co., Nov. 7.—Weare 
now having pleasant weather. No heavy 
storms, no cyclones or droughts. The past 
season upon the whole was rather wet, so 
much so that the securing of the bay and 
winter grain was quite delayed. Crops of all 
kinds good, except potatoes, of which t hero is 
some complaint us to quantity and keeping 
qualities. Fruits of all kinds and some vege¬ 
tables are deficient in flavor; it is said to he 
owing to so much wet during t he middle of 
the season. o. p r. 
The Potato a Poor Nutrient.— The pu 
tnto as a natural vegetable product is a mons¬ 
trosity, says Dr. Nichols in Science News. It 
is simply a mass of starch granules grouped 
together in grotesque aud irregular ways, so 
that protuberances of greater or less size, 
puffed up into singular forms, make up the 
structure. The potato viewed as an article of 
food has few nutrient qualities to recommend 
it, but as a table luxury it is highly esteemed 
in all lands where it has been introduced. But 
nature never intended that it should subserve 
a higher purpose iu hum iu alimentation than 
one which is strictly secondary. The high 
purpose of foods is twofold: first, to maintain 
animnl warmth; second, to supply the needed 
amount of energy which everyday labor de¬ 
mauds. The waste of the body which is con¬ 
stantly occurring, sleeping or waking, must 
be met by a supply of food which contains i he 
chemical principles fitted to replenish aud sus¬ 
tain the body. The element nitrogen which 
supplies force or energy, is the important 
agent in foods, and this the potato holds 
only in insignificant quantities. It is capable 
of supplying warmth to a considerable extent, 
but it cannot be regarded ns a carbonaceous 
food of high value. Dr. Nichols insists that 
the only people in the world who have fallen 
iuto the grievous error of striving to subsist 
almost entirely upon potatoes, ure the Irish. 
Itcauuot be doubted, he says, that nearly or 
quite all the ills that trouble unhappy Ireland 
are due to the humble potato. The Irish are 
the meanest-fed people living in a civilized 
land of which we have any knov\ ledge; they 
are iu a condition of semi-starvation, even 
when iu their highest prosperity. Every vis¬ 
itor in Ireland is struck with the “ pot-bel¬ 
lied” appearance of the natives, men and wo¬ 
men. This abnormal distention of the abdo¬ 
minal walls is due, Dr. Nichols holds, to the 
enormous amount of potatoes which they are 
compelled to consume in order to maintain a 
tolerable degree of health. If this people 
w'ould quit the cultivation of the potato, and 
supply its place with cereal grains, Ireland 
would soon become a happy and prosperous 
nation. 
The Irish problem it regarded by English 
statesman as au exceedingly intricate one. 
It is certainly of a nature which cannot be 
solved by angry debates in Parliament or by 
ministerial changes. But if the English land¬ 
owners will take the trouble to visit Ireland, 
aud remain long enough to change its soil pro¬ 
ductions from potatoes to cereal grains, Irish 
riots and discontent will soon cease. Half- 
starved men and women, Dr. Nichol contin¬ 
ues, can never be happy, and an exclusive 
diet of potatoes, no matter how large the 
quantity used, will only serve to maintain 
people iu a feeble, half-starved, revolution¬ 
ary, quarrelsome condition. William Cob- 
befc oueo wrote that the ruin of Ireland would 
result from the cultivation of the potato. 
Adam Smith declared, years ago, that Eng¬ 
land would some day have to support Ireland 
if potato-culture was not abandoned for the 
raising oi other soil products. He believed 
that the same extent of land which would 
grow food for one person in England would 
support four in Ireland. Chemical laws, 
whether those involved in the formation of a 
world or those connected with the susleuta- 
tion and healthy condition of animal life, can¬ 
not be violated or ignored without causing 
evils of the greatest magnitude, it is well to 
remember this important suggestion if we 
desire to be happy and prosperous. 
Fertile Hybrids.— The Gardener’s Month¬ 
ly says: “It Is perfectly amazing how much 
work is needed to drive the great error out of 
the world that hybrids are generally sterile, 
simply because that much-abused beast, the 
nmle, happens to be commonly (though not 
absolutely) sterile. Instances of the reverse 
are continually before us. One of the most 
useful is the success of the Editor of the 
Rural New-Yorker iu getting a productive 
race of grain, between wheat aud rye. Ho 
has also been very successful in getting the 
blackberry and raspberry to unite, though 
Mr. Wm. Saunders of London, Canada, occu¬ 
pied this part of the field before him. Latterly 
theliUHAi, has beeusuecessfully crossing differ- 
