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THE RURAL WEW-YORSCER. 
MARSH'24 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to insure attention. Before 
asking a question, please see if it is not answered in 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.l 
“ STRETCHES ” OR COSTIVENESS IN SHEEP. 
S. B ., Vanceburg, Ky. —1. One of my 
yearling sheep walks a short distance, stops 
and stretches, refuses to eat and lies down a 
great deal. 2. Another has some trouble in 
the head. It makes efforts as if to ex¬ 
pel something through the nose, but fails. 
I suppose it must be the dead larvae of the 
flies that troubled the sheep during summer. 
What should be done for both ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KILBORNE. 
I. Give two ounces each of castor and lin¬ 
seed oils, and follow with occasional injec¬ 
tions of warm soap-suds until relieved. Re¬ 
peat the dose of oils in every 24 hours if the 
bowels are not moved. During the treat¬ 
ment feed only on bran mashes with roots, 
potatoes or ground flax-seed. Give no bay or 
straw. To prevent the disease give free ac¬ 
cess to salt and good drinking water, and with 
good, wholesome fodder you will rarely be 
troubled with “stretches” or costiveness in 
the sheep. A daily ration of bran, ground 
flax-seed or oil meal, or roots, in addition to 
the regular grain ration, tends to keep the 
bowels in good condition, and is especially 
valuable if the fodder is coarse, indigestible,' 
musty, moldy, or otherwise of inferior qual¬ 
ity. 2. Introduce a little snuff or a weak 
solution of tobacco into the nose to induce 
sneezing, to dislodge any foreign body if 
present. If the difficulty still remains, steam 
the nostrils fifteen or twenty minutes daily 
over a bucket of boiling water. 
CHRONIC INDIGESTION IN A CALF. 
J. H. L., Newbern, Va. —A 10-mouths-old 
calf died here yesterday. On opening and 
skinning it, the blood was found congested in 
its legs as if it had black-leg, and on its sides 
to a less extent. In its liver were found a 
number of small, white worms about three- 
quarters of an inch long and as thick as a bit 
of thread, tapering to sharp points at both 
ends. These worms were found in bunches of 
five or six at intervals of an inch on the out¬ 
side of the liver. The liver was not cut open. 
Last October the calf had the scours, and since 
then it had been constipated. The contents 
of the bowels were hard. The stomach wasn’t 
opened. The calf had not eaten well since 
November since which time it had been fail¬ 
ing in health. What caused its death? Did 
the worms have anything to do with it? 
Ans. —Your history of the case with brief 
notes of the autopsy, would indicate that the 
calf was suffering from chronic indigestion or 
other bowel trouble. The worms were prob¬ 
ably a species of round worm—Strongyli— 
which are occasionally found in the abdomi¬ 
nal cavity of cattle. We are of the opinion 
that they were not responsible for the death 
of the animal, since they would not cause any 
serious trouble unless present in considerable 
numbers. 
THE KILLING OF POTATO TOPS LESSENS THE 
YIELD. 
D. F. S., Henderson, Texas. —Does the kil¬ 
ling of potato tops by late spring frosts dim¬ 
inish the yield or deteriorate the quality of 
the crop. We plant potatoes about Feb 15 
and the tops are frequently killed by frosts. 
We get a crop, of course, but isn’t it smaller 
than it would have been had not the frost 
killed the tops? 
Ans. —There can be little doubt that the 
killing of potato tops by frost or from any 
other cause lessens the yield materially and 
«lso impairs the quality of the tuber. If the 
tops were killed a seednd time by frost, what 
would be the effect? It is true that potatoes 
may be raised from cuttings continuously. 
The cut tuber used for seed is itself a cutting. 
But the cutting must be a strong,healthy cut¬ 
ting. A plant injured by frost is weakened 
in every part. 
HARD COVERING ON TONGUES OF CHICKS. 
J. F. P., Kingston , N. C. —A thin, hard 
covering which prevents them from eating is 
growing on the tongues of my young chicks; 
Avhat is the cause, and how should it be 
treated? 
Ans. —The hard covering on tlje tongues of 
little chicks, like a horny skin is not a disease 
of itself, but is generally supposed to arise 
from a feverish condition of the chicks. 
The hot breath hardens and dries the skin. 
Give the affected chicks fine chopped green 
foorLand feed on milk qncj bread. With a pen¬ 
cil brush anoint the mouth with honey. Don’t 
scrape the tongue to hurt the chicks, if the 
the skin comes loose help it off, otherwise let 
it alone. 
THE GILLIFLOWER APPLE. 
G. W. A., Camp Point, III .—Where can I 
get the Gilliflower Apple? 
Ans. —The old Gilliflower Apple, once so 
popular in New England, has disappeared 
from nursery lots, and cions of it cannot be 
had, except, perhaps, from some old orchards 
where trees are still growing. It was a hand¬ 
some red, very conical apple, of mediumsize, 
with a marked flavor peculiar to itself. It 
was not generally productive or profitable to 
grow, and though some old people still praise 
it, and profess to long for it, we think the de¬ 
sire must be more imaginary than real, since 
the planting of it has long since ceased. We be¬ 
lieve it took to spotting at last. 
Miscellaneous. 
D. McL., McLemoresville, Tenn. —I have a 
brick building 12 feet high,the walls of which 
are 13 inches thick, and in good condition. 
Will it be safe to build another story of con¬ 
crete 14 feet high on top of this wall? 
Ans.—I t depends very much on the load 
which the building is intended to carry. If it 
is for a dwelling, the wall may be carried up 
14 feet higher without danger, if the joists or 
floor beams are built in the wall and tied by 
—I irons bolted to the beams and built in the 
wall to avoid spreading. It would not be ad¬ 
visable to build an upper story of concrete; it 
would be better to use bricks. The size of the 
building is an element to be considered, and 
if it is large and not strengthened by a cross 
wall, it would be advisable to get the advice 
of some builder, who would examine the pres¬ 
ent walls and satisfy himself as to their ability 
to sustain the large load proposed to be added. 
A. W. ./., Marino, III .—Is it safe to use 
London-purple in spraying fruit trees? Would 
it pay to buy a Dixon nozzle for the purpose? 
Ans. —Yes; we believe it-to be safe in'so far 
as any effect on the apple is concerned. There 
is considerable drip from the tree and we pre¬ 
sume that any animal that eats the grass un¬ 
der the tree after the application of poison and 
before a rain may be harmed. No doubt, 
also, birds that eat the leaves or buds will be 
poisoned. 2. The Dixon is the Climax nozzle. 
It is as good as any. We have never seen the 
pump. 
II. D. H., Audubon, la .—Where do ba¬ 
nanas grow, and do they grow on trees? 
Ans.—T he banana is a tropical fruit, now 
growing in the tropics of both hemispheres. It 
also thrives in many subtropical districts such 
as Southern Florida. Yes, the banana grows 
on a smooth tree some eight or ten inches 
thick, composed wholly of concentric leaf 
stems or petioles. The plant, however, hardly 
deserves the name of a tree in the usual accep¬ 
tation of the word, for when the fruit is ripe 
it withers and dries up if left to itself. From 
its base spring up offshoots which may be 
transplanted and if the stem is cut down as 
soon as the fruit is gathered, the round bul¬ 
bous root-stock sends up new leaves and a sec¬ 
ond plant or tree is produced, sooner than 
from the transplanted offshoots. 
E. E. B. Kemberton. R. I. —Are the White 
Belgian Oats mere profitable than the com¬ 
mon kind ? Is any of the newer kinds better 
than the Belgian ? 
Ans. —There is now no recognized variety 
called “Common Oats.” There is little choice 
between Belgian, Wide-Awake, Race-Horse. 
Clydesdale, Australian, Welcome, etc. etc. as 
we have shown. Compare catalogues and 
order of the firm that offers the greatest 
weight to the bushel and at the lowest price. 
J. A. Pittsfield, III .—Is there any system of 
short hand that I can learn in a few lessons 
and use instead of the long-hand in writing up 
a diary ? What is phosphate salt and what is 
its use ? I have seen it advertised at $7 per 
ton. 
Ans —1. An excellent system of short-hand is 
supplied by the Phonetic Depot, Tyronne, 
Pa., 2. Phosphate salt is a refuse substance 
produced at the salt works in Michigan. 
H. E., Napanee, Can. —1. Can asparagus 
be profitably grown for shipment to a distant 
market? 2. Does the Rural know anything 
of Barr’s Mammoth Asparagus? Would it be 
safe to plant it extensively? 
Ans. —We think so. 2. No. Our opinion is 
that there is essentially but one kind of aspar¬ 
agus. All supposed differences are due to 
soil, climate, manure and cultivation. 
.7. E. W., Pawtucket, R. /•—From whom 
can I purchase pink celery seed? 
Ans.—T here are many varieties of pink, or 
red celery. London Red, Major Clark’s Pink, 
Dwarf Red, Incomparable Dwarf Crimson, 
Covent Garden Red and Manchester Red are 
among the names offered in catalogues. Most 
,of these differ only in name, W. W. Raw- 
on & Co., R. & J. Farquhar & Co., Jos. 
Breck & Sons, of Boston, Mass., and J. J. H. 
Gregory, Marblehead, Mass. 
R. II. A., N. Y .— It has been often recom¬ 
mended as a safeguard against injury from the 
Elm beetle, that holes should be bored five 
inches apart in the hard wood of the trunk 
all around, and that these should be filled 
with powdered sulphur. Does the Rural 
recommend this plan? 
Ans. —It would not, in" our estimation, do 
the slightest good. 
T. McC. Dayton, Ohio .—Does broom corn 
need nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 
singly or combined ? 
Ans.—Y es, it needs all. 
Correction.—Values of Feeding Stuffs. 
—In the reply to J. C., Montpelier, Ohio (page 
145) the value of carbo-hydrates was given at 
nine cents per pound. This should have been 
.9 cent (or nine-tenths of a cent) per pound. 
A decimal point is a little thing, but it can 
make a very great disturbance. It is impor¬ 
tant that farmers should thoroughly under¬ 
stand the system by which stock foods are 
valued as a guide to estimating the values 
for themselves from the tables of constituents. 
DISCUSSION. 
“MANAGING a POOR 60-ACRE FARM.” 
I). L., Racine, Wis. —My attention was 
called to an inquiry by A. H. H. in the Rural 
of March 3d. entitled “Managing a poor 60- 
acre Farm,” and I think the answer was very 
good. One important thing, however, was 
omitted, and that is A. H. H., and every other 
Southern farmer, should be advised to stable 
their stock, for otherwise they cannot collect 
sufficient manure for fertilizing purposes. I 
have noticed that Southern farmers, as a rule, 
fail to provide stables, allowing their stock to 
ramble all over the farm; thus they not only 
lose the fertilizer, but they destroy what 
grass roots they have by treading them into 
the ground when soft and wet. The Northern 
farmer, from necessity, keeps his stock up, 
and I suppose the reason why the Southern 
people do not is because they have a milder 
climate and are not obliged to do it. If A. 
H. H. will drop his wheat crop and put in 
corn instead, he will soon be better off. If he 
can’t afford to build a silo, he can cut up his 
corn and stook his stalks carefully and cut them 
up, and also all his hay, with a feed cutter, 
and stable his cows, and feed a small ration of 
bran or shorts, or a little oil or cotton seed 
meal, or, better, a little of each. If he can 
build a silo, so much the better, for he will 
then have green food all winter. He can sow 
a small patch of Orchard Grass and Alsike 
Clover near his barn; It will afford good 
soiling feed. He can then sow Hungarian or 
millet for hay and corn, cut part green for 
late soiling; buy good cows. Holstein-Frie- 
sians are good for milk and cheese; perhaps 
Jerseys are better for butter, but let him 
select the breed best adapted to his purpose 
and stick to it, and then feed the cows well, 
and he will then be well started on the road 
to success. Butter at 30 cents will pay a big 
profit. There are also other things to be con¬ 
sidered: one is the churning and care of the 
butter. He should get some good creamery 
tools; put up ice, if he can, and make good 
butter, for it will never pay to hiake poor, 
which he will be obliged to trade off; whereas 
if he makes good butter customers will seek 
him,and he will not be compelled to seek after 
them very long. If A. H. H. will continue to 
read the Rural, as the writer does, he will be 
able to get all necessary information. 
RELATIVE VALUES OF WHEAT AND BRAN FOR 
FEED. 
S. B. H.,Crawfordsville, Ind.-Thearticle 
iu the Rural of February 11 entitled “A Ma¬ 
nure Example” was very suggestive. The 
writer should have carried out the idea still 
further and shown us the amounts of beef or 
pork that could have been gained by chang¬ 
ing the wheat for bran. 
R. N.-Y.—In regard to the amount of pork, 
beef or milk that either the wheat or the bran 
would produce, no definite answer can be 
given. That, of course, would depend upon a 
great many conditions; but there are several 
ways of arriving at the comparative feeding 
values. According to Prof. Stewart’s tables, 
wheat has a feeding value of $1.13 and bran 
$1.01 per 100 pounds. These figures would give 
the 34,800 pounds of wheat a feeding value of 
$393.48 and the 62,000 pounds of bran a feeding 
value of $626.20; or a difference of $232.72 in fa¬ 
vor of the bran. These values are based uponDr. 
Wolff’s estimates of fodder values on the basis 
of nine-tenths of a cent per pound for the car¬ 
bohydrates and four and one-third cents a 
pound for the protein and the fats. These es¬ 
timates are perhaps a little too high for the 
present time; but the proportion is the same 
and ought to carry a lesson to all who are in¬ 
terested in cattle feeding. The present price 
of bran is much higher than at the time of 
the transaction above referred to,and the price 
of wheat is somewhat lower, but any one can 
make the calculation according to the prices 
at any time by using the proportion—the 
feeding value of 100 pounds of whole wheat is 
to the feeding value of 100 pounds of bran as 
$1.13 is to $1.01. 
J. K., Union, Mo. —The Cape Gooseberry 
alone is not worth planting. 
Milk Fever and Garget.— The N. Y. 
Times says that as the season of calving ap¬ 
proaches some careful studyshould be given to 
prevalent and troublesome disorders of cows, 
viz., milk fever and garget. The first of these 
attacks cows that are iu good condition sud¬ 
denly and often fatally within two or three 
days after the calf appears. The cow is found 
down in her stall, helpless, and sometimes 
frenzied by the acute congestion of the brain. 
The causes of the disease are Immaterial: the 
point to be considered is how it can be preven¬ 
ted. There is a most effective means for se¬ 
curing exemption, which is to feed the cow 
lightly and withhold grain food altogether for 
six weeks or a month before calving, and when 
this period approaches to remove the cow from 
the stable to a roomy stall, apart, by herself, 
where she is kept in quietude until completely 
recovered from the change in her condition, 
which is when the milk has come to its normal 
character and is fit for use in the dairy. The 
other disorder, garget, is so closely allied to the 
milk fever that the same means of prevention 
are equally effective for it; but if an attack 
should occur from any unavoidable cause, it 
is quickly overcome by the copious use of hot 
water fomentations, and the application of 
camphorated soap liniment with much gentle 
rubbing. But excessive grain feeding is to be 
carefully avoided. 
Roots Better than Silos.— Mr. Collins, 
of the Elmira Farmers' Club, as reported in 
the Husbandman, has sought information con¬ 
cerning the value of silage and with this object 
visited many places to examine silos and to ob¬ 
serve the results of feeding silage freely. He 
has reached the conclusion that roots are bet¬ 
ter and that they could be produced as cheap¬ 
ly, considering the cost with reference to the 
results. He found no difficulty in obtaining 
1,000 bushels of beets from an acre of ground— 
much larger crops have been raised, Professor 
Roberts having obtained 2,400 bushels. He 
has fed roots with some grain and only five 
pounds of hay as the daily allowance for each 
cow. As a matter of belief he declared it his 
opinion that dairymen who used silage suc¬ 
cessfully, fed more grain than he with his 
roots. A month ago he gave his cows each a 
bushel of beets cut in pieces, but the milk 
supply was getting short so he began feeding 
more beets and kept increasing until the daily 
allowance was two bushels to a cow. The 
milk yield ran up twenty .quarts under this 
feeding and held up, a result that proved the 
value of his beets which, he said, he could pro¬ 
duce at a cost of four cents a bushel. 
SHORT STORIES. 
Again we say. for shaded, damp lawns 
plant Poa trivialis. It will make a velvety 
carpet under an apple tree. 
According to the last report of the Con¬ 
necticut Agricultural Experiment Station not 
less than 16,700 tons of commercial fertilizers 
were sold in the State' during the previous 
year. Of these there were about eight times 
as much “complete” fertilizer as any other. 
The next highest was bone, the next nitrogen¬ 
ous manures, the next potash. 
One of the worst enemies to lawns is the 
common Crab or Finger Grass, Panicum san- 
guinale. ,... 
The White-Fringed Hydrangia (stellata 
fimbriata). The flowers are pure white, with 
fringed petals; have a red eye. It is said to 
be hardier than Thomas Hogg. 
Joan of Arc is a new double ivy geranium. 
Its flowers are said to be white and very 
double, while the plant is a great bloomer.,.. 
There is nothing in the way of colored pic¬ 
tures that makes us feel so springy as looking 
at the pansy plates of some of the seedsmen’s 
catalogues. 
Mr. Cheever, of the New England Farmer 
is in favor of feeding cattle twice a day. For 
about 20 years he has given but two full meals 
per day winter or summer, when confined to 
the barn, and he is fully satisfied that two 
meals for average dairy stock are fully as 
acceptable to the cow and fully as profitable 
to the owner as three meals. He is also satis- 
* 
lied that when cattle are fe l late in the m >ra- 
