THE BUBAL HEW 
wer for corn, it will injure the potatoes. How 
is it? 
Ans.—T he R. N.-Y. has never advocated 
harrowing a corn or potato field after the 
plants are up. In truth, we are entirely op 
posed to it. If corn is too thick, it is a poor 
way to thin it; if not thick enough, there is 
nothing gained by harrowing that would not 
be gained by cultivation. As for potatoes, it 
is our belief that any injury whatever to the 
tops will correspondingly decrease the yield 
of tubers. 
STEAM PLOWING. 
.7. 77. S, Bourbon , Ind .—Is steam plowing 
practiced in this country at all? 
Ans. —The Geiser Manufacturing Co., of 
Waynesboro, Pa., make a “steam plowing 
outfit.” This is a stout, metal frame to which 
are attached a number of plows that can be 
lowered or raised by suitable gearing. Thfe 
arrangement is attached to a traction engine 
and thus pulled over the ground. We do not 
knowhow extensively these outfits are used, 
or what they need in the way of soil or other 
conditions to enable them to do their best 
work. We are investigating the matter, and 
will lay all the facts before our readers in due 
time. 
DEATH OF DUCKLINGS. ' 
W. J. E., Far Rockaway, N. Y. —My duck¬ 
lings are dying rapidly. At first the wings 
droop and there is some difficulty in walking. 
In a day or so they sprawl, beiDg absolutely 
helpless, with wings, legs and necks extended. 
They then die, generally in 12 hours. During 
the last stages the throat and mouth become 
affected. What is the trouble ? 
Ans.—I t is probably due to damp quarters 
at night, and drinking cold water, causing 
cramps. Young ducks should always be given 
tepid water, and be kept on dry, board floors, 
and they should never be allowed to run in 
the wet grass, or become wet in any manner, 
as the down is no protection. 
KEROSENE EMULSION. 
G. A. 7?., Beaufort, S. C. —How can the 
kerosene emulsion be made not too strong for 
such delicate plants as coleus ? 
Ans. —Use one teacupful of kerosene to’two 
of sour or sweet milk. Shake in a quart bottle 
or jug until a complete emulsion is formed. 
Then add one part of this to 10 of water and 
apply. This will not injure the plants. Should 
it fail to kill the insects, you might reduce the 
proportion of water. Reduced to five parts 
of water, the mixture will not haim cabbage 
plants. Beware of free kerosene. 
DRILLING FERTILIZERS WITH WHEAT. 
S. M. B. Orleans Co., N. Y. —What are the 
Rural’s objections to drilling fertilizer in 
with wheat ? 
Ans. —It depends upon what fertilizer is 
used. We should not object to drilling in raw 
bone flour, but any superphosphate or sul¬ 
phate or muriate of potash, or nitrate of soda 
or sulphate of ammonia would injure the seed 
if in contact. We should altogether prefer to 
broadcast the fertilizer and harrow it in before 
sowing or drilling-in the seed. 
Miscellaneous. 
J. A. L. S., Fergus Co., Minn .—The grass 
is Bromus secalinus—Chess or Cheat—a 
worthless grass. 
J. 77., Accotink, Va .—What is the Rural’s 
experience with the Lucretia Dewberry? 
Ans. —Our experience is that it yields a fair 
crop of large berries of only fair quality, and 
that it is not worth growing where the stand¬ 
ards succeed. 
77. C. D., Willow Grove, Pa .—I noticed 
some time ago, in one of the farm papers, an 
advertisement of a pump something like a 
chain pump, but with cups. Who makes it? 
Ans. —Try the Gould’s Manufacturing Co., 
Senaca Falls, N. Y. 
J. 77. K., Adrian , Mich .—Does the Rural 
think that potatoes from vines injured by the 
Flea-beetle will be inferior for seed ? Mine 
are about two-thirdsof their natural size. 
Ans. —Yes ; without question. We are 
afraid that such seed, being immature, will 
rot before another season arrives. That, at 
least, is what we are anticipating with those 
of our own, the vines of which were destroyed 
by this pest. 
J. G. Monmouth, N. J .—How far apart 
should quince trees be planted to secure the 
best results and in what kind of soil ? What 
varieties are best for this section ? 
Ans. A deep, rich soil is best. In our ex¬ 
perience there is no soil which altogether 
pleases the quince as well, as a moist soil if 
only fairly-well drained. In such soil they 
should not be planted closer than 10 feet. 
Rea’s Mammoth first, Orange second. The 
rye is not known to us. 
G. S C., Clark Falls, Conn .--Has the 
Rural tried the new potato called the Queen, 
or the Carman and Everbearing Rasp¬ 
berries ? 
Ans. —We are trying the New Queen 
(Jerrard) this season for the first. The Car¬ 
man is among the earliest of black-caps; 
berry, large and of fine quality. Plant 
vigorous and hardy. The only objection we 
have to the Earhart Everbearing is that it 
seems to bear itself to death. We have now 
a plant every tip of which is laden with 
berries from green to ripe. 
W. B. C., Shippensburg, ra —1. After 
another year’s trial does the Rural consider 
the Golden Queen Raspberry' as hardy and 
productive as the Caroline and superior in 
quality ? 2. How is the Sago palm prop¬ 
agated ? 3. From whom can I procure the 
Yellow Calla Lily ? 
Ans. —1. It is decidedly better in quality 
than the Caroline. The Caroline we have 
always regarded as of fair quality only. It is 
more prolific than the Golden Queen and 
as bardy^asany raspberry we know of. 2. By 
suckers. 3. We do not find it in any 
catalogue at hand. 
G. C. R, Rixford, Fla .—What is an 
analysis of the ashes of the hulls of cotton 
seed ? I understand that they are deficient in 
nitrogen; are they suitable for application 
around fruit trees ? 
Ans. —Analyses vary greatly. Here seems 
to be a fair average: 
Potash.22 per cent. 
Phosphoric acid.8 ” 
Some analyses show as high as 42 per cent, of 
potash and 14 per cent, of phosphoric acid; some 
show as low as three per cent, of potash and 
.25 per cent, of phosphoric acid. It is hard to 
understand this wide difference. Of course 
they have no nitrogen; that is burnt out. 
We think that the ashes of the hulls of cotton¬ 
seed, whether of the highest or lowest quality, 
may safely lie used about fruit trees. 
DISCUSSION. 
poultry at experiment stations. 
P. H. Jacobs, Hammonton, N. J.—The 
suggestion by the R. N.-Y. that the directors 
of experiment stations should ^turn their at¬ 
tention to poultry for a while will be indorsed 
not only by every fancier, but also by all who 
are interested in poultry. Perhaps the direct¬ 
ors have not given a thought to the magnitude 
of the poultry interests, nor to the fact that 
poultry raising is within the reach of a class 
that cannot undertake more expensive ven¬ 
tures. I will be so bold as to call their atten¬ 
tion to the fact that though no census in this 
line has aver been taken (it being an impossi¬ 
bility), the wealth created by poultry is enor¬ 
mous. I have no facts to present as to the pro¬ 
duction, but if we estimate the sum of $5 per 
annum as the amount expended for poultry 
and eggs for each individual in the United 
States (including turkeys, eggs for pastry, 
eggs used by bakers, and in the arts, as well as 
geese, ducks, feathers, etc.) the sum total is 
$250,000,000, and I am satisfied that my esti¬ 
mate is a low one. Among the different prob¬ 
lems to be solved are the following : 1, cost 
of production ; 2, methods of feeding for eggs 
with different breeds ; 3, regulating the lay- 
iug and sitting by feeding certain foods (I 
have done it) and the difference between con¬ 
fining fowls and free range ; 4, fertility of 
eggs; 5, preserving eggs ; 6, feeding for quali¬ 
ty;?, value of fowls, with their productions 
at different ages;8, winter methods; 9, summer 
methods; 10, pure breeds; 11, crosses; 12, build¬ 
ings and soil, 13, diseases. I might extend the 
list of subjects to any length, if necessary. 
There are now over 25 papers devoted exclu¬ 
sively to poultry, which shows the interest and 
patronage in that direction. The system of 
scoring by points originated with poultrymen. 
There are nearly 100 shows every season of 
poultry alone, while at the State and county 
fairs the poultry department is always largely 
attended. The “old.hen” has more papers and 
fairs devoted exclusively to her than horses 
sheep, swine and cattle combine d. She well 
deserves consideration, for her returns are 
sure and call for cash sales. She tides over 
the winter for some, filling the egg basket and 
procuring many family necessaries when 
everything else is locked up by the frost and 
snow, and she works from January to Decem¬ 
ber. Her efforts are not confined to the farm, 
but extend also to villages and towns as well. 
In proportion to the capital and space at her 
disposal she produces more than anything else 
on the farm, and I can show town lots where 
more money has been made in poultry during 
the past year than has been produced by stock 
and crops on some farms. I trust the Rural 
will insist on its suggestion. A system of 
experiments by those who have all the oppir- 
tunities for discovery would be valuable to 
every State in the Union, and several millions 
of people would be interested in the results. 
THE FLEA-BEETLE’S WORK, PROBABLY. 
W. C. S., Harmony, R. I.—In the Rural 
of August 11 I saw the article on the Cucum¬ 
ber Flea-beetle I at once went to my pota¬ 
toes, as I had seen the day before that the 
vines had begun to turn black, which I attri¬ 
buted to “blast.” For three years all late 
potatoes have been seriously affected in Au¬ 
gust the leaves perishing fully three weeks 
before they should die. This, I believe, is a 
great injury to the potato, as I think that the 
growth of the tuber is much greater during 
the last two weeks than it is in the same 
time during any other part of the season. On 
examining the leaves I found them badly 
eaten, and turning black. On turning them 
over I found them badly infested with a small 
insect in all stages of growth, from the tiny 
egg to the little insect with small wings, about 
the size of a small birch louse. The eggs were 
in groups, like those of the potato beetle; but 
they were small and light green in color. 
There were all the way from five to 20 or 
more in the groups. Nearly every leaf was 
in the same condition. The insect seems to lie 
very different from that described on page 
541 of the Rural. I inclose some specimens 
of the insects and of the damaged leaves. 
Remarks: From an examination of the 
leaves, the perforations are no doubt caused 
by the Flea-beetle and not by the aphis ac¬ 
companying. It is quite probable the beetle 
had disappeared before our friend’s examina¬ 
tion. 
T. H. Y., Alexandria, Dakota.— In the 
Rural, of Aug. 18, page 546, the 
question is asked “ Why can not Amer¬ 
ican farmers raise potatoes as cheaply 
as they are raised anywhere on the globe.’> 
I would answer, “ Because we have not any 
of the globe’s pauper laborers to work in the 
potato field, and have to pay for the protection 
of American labor in the high tariff, and be¬ 
cause we have to fight the Cucumber Flea- 
beetle, and other enemies of the potato. By 
the way, that beetle may prove to be an 
awful pest. Would it be possible to destroy it 
by putting 20 hen-coops, each with a hen 
and 15 chicks, on an acre of potatoes? The 
little chicks always do more good than harm 
in my garden. While other persons complain 
that the cabbage flea destroys their cabbage 
plants, my chicks grow fat on the fleas and 
the plants are unhurt. 
Do skunks eat potato bugs? I saw one 
dodging from one hill of potatoes to another 
the other day, and though the bugs here¬ 
abouts have been very numerous, we have had 
but few. If skunks do eat the pests I will 
never kill another, even though he kills a 
brood of pure-bred chicks, as one did last 
year. If the skunk will take care of the 
potato bugs, I will take care of the chicks. I 
know prairie hens eat the bugs. 
MORE ABOUT THE CUCUMBER FLEA-BEETLE. 
W. E., Cohocton, N. Y.—I was much in¬ 
terested in your description of the new enemy 
of the potato, the “Cucumber Flea-beetle.” I 
have noticed the pests* for several years past 
while gathering the Colorado beetle and have 
wondered many times what caused the leaves 
of the potato vines to be punctured full of 
holes K but as little damage’wasdone, not much 
thought was given the matter. This year 
while gathering the Colorado beetle I noticed 
that these small black beetles were very nu¬ 
merous, and yet when the potato leaves began 
to shrivel up and die I did not lay the blame 
to the true cause but thought it was due to 
blight n although it did.not appear like it; but 
since reading the Rural of Aug. 11 and 18, 
and after having examined the vines carefully 
the matter has become plain. We have got 
the rogues and got them bad. On some 
pieces the tops are dying very fast; while on 
other pieces adjoining, not much harm is 
being done. Potatoes are our principal crop 
and while it is too late to make much of a 
fight this year, we shall look anxiously for 
some remedy in the future, in case they should 
continue to increase. Many thanks to the 
Rural for pointing out the enemy. Now give 
us a remedy. 
E. P. Y., Bemus Point, N. Y.—I send to 
the Rural by express a box with a branch of 
black raspberries picked on August 21, (yes¬ 
terday - ) They begin to ripen a little before 
the Gregg. They were found wild four years 
ago, and have been under cultivation from 
that time. The small black flea noticed in 
the Rural as killing the potato vine, is kill¬ 
ing them here in the same way. 
Remarks. —The branch, something over a 
foot lcng, bears 32 black-cap berries as large 
as any we have seen at this season. The Ear- 
hart berries are nearly as large but of some¬ 
what better quality. The latter variety be 
gins to ripen quite early, aud its first crop is 
nearly as plentiful as that of other black-caps. 
WHITE HUCKLEBERRIES. 
W. J. B., Ingham Co, Mich.— A rthhble 
man—once a student of this college—living bt 
Balowin, Lake County, Western Michigan, 
says he knows the location of a patch of white 
huckleberries which usually yields several 
quarts. Ex'remely dry weather this year 
prevent* d their bearing much. We may ex¬ 
pect to find most fruits this way sometimes; 
we have wild black caps and wild blackber¬ 
ries which are yellowish and not black. 
F. P., Stockport, N. Y.— Mary Wager 
Fisher is “off the hooks,” again in her corr ^ 
munication on “danger of eating grape seeds.” 
She should have advised the public not to 
swallow the seed?. #Perhaps she does not read 
the Rural New-Yorker; I think it was there 
1 learned to eat grapes by biting through the 
entire grape and then separating the seeds 
and skin from the pulp. Any one who learns 
to eat grapes in this style will not eat them in 
any other way. 
Profitable Sorghum Sugar-making a 
Failure. —Professor H. W. Wiley, Chemist 
of the Department of Agriculture, has just 
published a bulletin in which he gives many 
forcible reasons for his belief that with our 
present knowledge, methods and appliances 
the making of sorghum sugar is not only un¬ 
profitable, but must entail a loss, unless this is 
made good by national or State bounty. He 
gives a thorough review of all the chemical 
analysis of sorghum and of the history of the 
industry from the first three small vials of 
sorghum sugar made by Dr. Battey, of Rome, 
Ga.,in 1854, to the results of last season’s work 
at Fort Scott, Kansas. In 1882 the Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture made an award of 
$12,000 to concerns making sorghum sugar, 
The following parties started experiments to 
gain a part of the award: The Champaign 
Sugar and Glucose Manufacturing Company, 
of Champaign, III.; Prosessor Magnus Swen¬ 
son ; Paul Steck, San Francisco, Cal.; Nelson 
Maltby, Geneva, Ohio; Drummond Brothers, 
Warrensburg, Mo.: A. J. Decker, Fond du 
Lac, Wis., William Frazier, Esopia, Vernon 
County, Wis.; Jefferson Sugar Company. 
Jefferson, Ohio: Oak Hill Refining Company, 
Edwardsville, III.; C. Bozareth, Cedar Falls, 
Iowa. The two last made little or nothing, 
aDd, therefore, were counted out. The eight 
others made an aggregate of 116 165.5 pounds, 
so that the amount of premium or bounty 
given was as high as nearly 9.8 cents per 
pound. 
The following failures to make sorghum 
sugar upon a commercial scale are reported: 
At Crystal Lake and Hoopeston, near Chica¬ 
go, factories were built in 1879 and 1880, but 
the attempts to make sugar were total fail, 
ures and the factories have been abandoned 
and dismantled. In 1879 a factory was built 
at Faribault, Minn., but the manufacture of 
sugar was unprofitable, and the factory closed 
in 1882. A large factory was built at Cham¬ 
paign, III., in 1882, and several hundred thous¬ 
and pounds of white sugar were made in that 
and the two following seasons, but the enter¬ 
prise did not pay and the factory was aban¬ 
doned. The factory at Hutchinson, Kan.,was 
built in 1882. In 1883 aud 1884, in all, 450.000 
pounds of sugar were made at a loss. The 
factory was then abandoned. A sugar 
mill was established at Sterling, Kan., in 
1882, but after making 270,000 pounds of sugar 
in 18813 and 1884 the business was abandoned 
as unprofitable. A factory established at 
Franklin, Teun., was operated in 1883 4 with¬ 
out the production of any sugar, and, of 
course, abandoned. At Ottawa. Kan., a large 
glucose factory was converted into a sorghum 
sugar factory. Sugar was made in consider¬ 
able quantities in 1884 and 1885, and the 
house was then closed, the business having 
resulted in financial loss. 
The Professor next gives a number of figures 
showing the analysis of and the quantity of 
sugar extractable from sorghum cane by the 
best modern method. These appear to show 
beyond any question that the failure to make 
sorghum sugar profitably in this country has 
not been been due alone to defective machin¬ 
ery nor lack of skill, but chiefly to the quality 
of the cane which has been used. 
While the worker in sugar-cane and sugar- 
beets is reasonably sure of his material—that 
it will remain the same during the season—the 
sorghum-sugar maker has no such assurance. 
The same variety of cane, in the same degree 
of maturity, will show the most surprising 
differences in the sugar contents of its sap. 
The Professor is very severe on the “sorghum 
enthusiast” aud the “sorghum crank,” who 
haye been glowingly portraying the glorious 
