THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 21 
them? During six years I have been planting 
the ground to potatoes and tomatoes. 
ANSWERED BY J. H. HALE. 
1. Chemical manures, rich in phosphoric 
acid and potash, and containing but little ni¬ 
trogen, are the best for peaches. These may 
be had in various forms; but from some years’ 
experience with 12,000 trees, and the purchase 
of from 20 to 40 tons of fertilizers annually, I 
am fully satisfied that pure fine ground bone 
and the highest grade of muriate of potash 
are the best and cheapest fertilizers for the 
peach, applying annually from 300 to GOO 
pounds of the potash and from 800 to 1,500 
pounds of the bone per acre, the quantity va¬ 
rying with the natural fertility of the soil and 
condition of the trees. 2. Trim as early in 
the spring as possible, unless there are but few 
live fruit buds on the trees. Then hold off 
till the buds begin to swell, so as to be able to 
distinguish the live ones, and thus save as 
many of them as possible by a judicious selec¬ 
tion in the branches cut off or shortened 
in for trees with an abundance of 
live fruit buds. Thin out the top well* 
so as to leave a broad, open head, 
after which shorten all the new growth 
all over the outside of the trees at least one- 
half. 3. The best things in a peach orchard 
that one wants to get profit out of are men, 
horses, plows, cultivators, and harrows. In 
other words, give the orchards clean culture, 
and do not try to grow any other crop among 
the trees after the first two years from plant¬ 
ing. Then you may expect fine fruit that 
will sell at paying prices, especially if you 
will thin the fruit after all danger of the sum¬ 
mer drop is over. Two hundred big peaches 
will bring twice as much money as 500 me¬ 
dium to small ones, and they will not exhaust 
the tree one-half as much. 
PORK-MAKING FEED. 
F. O. C., Washington , Kans. —Can I pay 
33 cents per bushel for corn, 30 cents per 
bushel for oats, $1 per bushel for flaxseed and 
$12 per ton for bran an 1 middlings, and raise 
pork and sell it for $4.50 per 100 pounds, 
when I have plenty of milk that would go to 
waste? How would you mix the ration and 
what care would you give the pigs? Or would 
you buy stock hogs at 75 to 125 pounds weight, 
at $4.50 per 100 pounds to feed for profit? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
Corn meal and skimmed milk make the 
cheapest and most healthful food for making 
pork. In some experiments made at the Mass¬ 
achusetts Agricultural College six pigs fed 
upon this food made 1,100 pounds of live 
weight for 2,250 pounds of meal and 1,500 gal¬ 
lons of skimmed milk. At 33 cents per bushel 
this corn would cost $13.20, making a little 
more tlian 1 % cent per pound of live weight 
for the corn. The remainder of the value of 
the pork will go to pay for the milk aud pro¬ 
fit. In my own feeding of pigs I have found 
four pounds of corn meal with whatever 
skimmed milk and butter-milk would be eaten 
would make a pound of live weight. The 
meal was put into a barrel with the milk,each 
day’s ration being added daily and the whole 
stirred when taken for feeding. But there 
was not as much milk used as in the Massa¬ 
chusetts experiment, and water was added to 
make a thin mush. When bran was mixed 
with the meal in equal porportions, less than 
four pounds made a pound of live weight, 
taking the pigs from the weaning up to nine 
months old, when they averaged about 300 
pounds live and about 200 pounds dressed 
weight. Pork can be made for $4.50 per 100 
pounds with good profit on the feeding sug¬ 
gested. The pigs will be most thrifty if kept 
in clean, dry pens and well littered, but will 
make more weight on less feed if they have a 
run on a clover lot. If potatoes can be pro¬ 
cured, a few mixed with the meal and milk 
will be a desirable addition; but at 25 cents a 
bushel they are dearer feed than corn and 
bran at the prices mentioned. 
REDUCING BONES WITH ACID AND ASHES. 
A. C., Knox , Pa.—How much can sulphuric 
acid be weakened by water without depriving 
it of the power of “reducing” bones? Are 
they reduced as well by acid as if they were 
ground into meal? Will the acid also reduce 
the meat, fat, gelatine, etc. of the bones, and 
are these as valuable as the bones? Should 
the bones be entirely covered with the acid? 
I have bought some bones from the butcher 
at $8 per ton. Most of them are heads, legs, 
horns and hoofs, with a considerable quantity 
of meat on them; are they cheap enough? In 
burning such bones I think they would lose 
about one-half or two-thirds of their weight. 
Ans. —The method of “dissolving” bones by 
means of sulphuric acid for the production of 
superphosphate is to break up the bones 
finely, wet them thoroughly with water and 
then pour in the acid. It is very dangerous 
to mix water directly with sulphuric acid, but 
when the finely broken bones are quite wet, 
there is no danger if the acid is poured on 
carefully. Still the greatest caution is needed 
to avoid very serious damage to the person by 
an accidental contact with the acid. The 
common commercial acid contains a consider¬ 
able quantity of water, sufficient with that 
added to the bone to supply the moisture 
required to complete the reduction of the bone 
to superphosphate. The superphosphate is 
more soluble than bone-meal, hence it is a 
more available fertilizer. By treating flesh, 
shells and bones together the resulting ferti¬ 
lizer will contain a good deal of nitrogenous 
matter which will add to its value. To make 
the operation, you may procure a strong, 
oaken, water-tight, flat box or vat. The 
bones, etc., are heaped in this vat, keeping 
room enough to work them over with a 
shovel. They are then wetted with water 
and the acid is poured over the heap until it 
is saturated and seme begins to flow away 
from it. The heap is then shoveled over to 
mix it and bring the acid into contact with 
the whole of it. There will be a strong effer¬ 
vescence and much heat will be produced, dur¬ 
ing which the bone will be changed in part to 
sulphate of lime and phosphoric acid set free, 
and made soluble. In burning such bones 
you would lose half their fertilizing value. 
As you can probably procure fresh wood 
ashes in your locality it would be better for 
you to use these to soften the bones instead of 
tbfe acid and so make a more valuable ferti¬ 
lizer. To do this mix the bones and meat 
with three times their bulk of fresh ashes and 
an equal bulk of fresh lime in a round heap. 
Wet the whole thoroughly with water and 
cover the heap with earth. Leave it, with 
occasional .watering to keep it moist, for two 
months, when it may all be mixed up and 
used on the land, making a complete and a 
very rich fertilizer. 
slug-shot: a dust bath. 
H. B. S., Paulina , Oregon. —1. How can I 
make Slug-shot as an insecticide? Is it used 
as a liquid or powder, and will it kill lice on 
cattle? 2 How can I make a dust bath for 
poultry? 
Ans. —1. Slug-shot is a proprietary insecti¬ 
cide, and is used in the form of a powder. 
The Rural quoted from an article in the 
Michigan Parmer to the effect that it had 
been used to kill lice on cattle. The proprie¬ 
tor, Mr. Hammond, gives the following as his 
personal experience. “Lice on cattle harbor 
on the auimai, whether steer, cow or calf, be¬ 
hind the horns, between the shoulders, along 
the back-bone to the tail and over the hips. 
These parts are headquarters, and animals in¬ 
fected with the pests will rub and worry 
amazingly. I take a handful of Slug-shot 
and rub it in the hair from the horns to the 
tail and very often one can see the vermin 
skip out. For fowls that are sitting throw a 
handful into the nest, or if an old hen is so 
lousy that she is likely to be driven off, rub 
the Slug-shot right among the feathers. 2. 
Take a large box about eight inches deep and 
fill within two inches of the top with two 
thirds sand and one-third coal-ashes well mix¬ 
ed. Dry road dust is also good. Put in a 
sunny place aud keep It perfectly dry. We 
have seen wood-ashes used for the bath, but 
there are objections to this practice. The 
most serious one is the tact that the wood- 
ashes take the gloss from the feathers. Hens 
that dust in it are sure to look dingy and 
faded. 
FEED FOR MILK. 
J. W. M., Brighton, Pa. —What would be a 
perfect milk ration for a large cow—1,200 
pounds—along with corn-fodder. We do not 
make butter, but ship the milk. Should a 
grain ration be fed wet or dry? By ration I 
mean sufficient for one feed. 
Ans. —Here is an answer by one of the best 
dairymen of Orange County, R. Y.: “The 
writer of the above question neglects to state 
the prices at which the various kinds of feed 
can be bought at his market. But we will 
take for granted that corn and cotton seed 
meal will cost $20, wheat-bran $23, and bar¬ 
ley-sprouts $18 per ton. I would feed four 
quarts of sprouts, or brau with two quarts of 
corn meal and one of cotton seed, at each 
feeding. The difference in price makes the 
sprouts rather cheaper to feed than bran, and 
I never could see much difference in the flow 
of milk after changing from one to the other. 
Of course, this feed is for cows giving 12 or 15 
quarts of milk daily, and unless the intention 
is to sell the cattle for beef, as they become 
dry or nearly so, I would feed less of the corn 
meal. I would never wet feed. The old cus¬ 
tom of making feed into a slop, or even wet¬ 
ting it, is fast going out of practice in Orange 
County. Many farmers have tried both ways 
and found that cows would give as much 
milk on dry feed as wet. They therefore save 
time and considerable work, by letting their 
cows drink what water they need. 
A HOME-MADE BUTTER-WORKER. 
C. B. S., Cooperstown, N. Y. —1. Where can 
I get seeds of the Early Orange Squash? 2. 
How can I make a good butter-worker? 
Ans. —1. From any prominent seedsman 
advertising in the Rural. 2. Take a piece of 
hard wood, two feet long, 10 inches wide at 
one end and four inches at the other. Nail 
sides three inches high. Leave the broad end 
open. For a “worker” take a stick two inches 
in diameter and dress it off to eight sides. 
Make a large knob at one end and a handle at 
the other. At the narrower end of the board 
put a board with a hole in it large enough to 
sit down over the knob of the worker. This 
holds the worker in place and it can be 
moved about and pressed down upon the but¬ 
ter as desired. Put the butter on the board, 
take hold of the worker, and move it up and 
down, working the butter by pressing it. 
-*♦« — 
Miscellaneous. 
C. C. G., St. Louis. —My pigs have been 
suffering from a disease of which the follow¬ 
ing are the symptoms: A bloated condition 
of the body, protrusion of the bowels from the 
fundament followed with death. They have 
been fed on distillery slops and mill feed. 
Their bedding has been wheat straw, and 
farmers hereabouts attribute the trouble to 
this cause. What is the trouble? 
Ans.— An autopsy would probably be neces¬ 
sary to determine the cause of the disease. 
We suppose the difficulty is due either to the 
feed or to hog cholera. Make a post mortem 
examination of two or three of the dead or 
dying animals, and carefully examine the 
spleen, lymphatic glands, and upper half of 
the large gut—ccecum and upper colon. If 
the spleen and lymphatics are enlarged and 
deeply congested, and there are more or less 
extensive ulcers or sores and congestion in the 
coecum and upper colon (seen when present by 
opening the gut and washing the foecus from 
the surface) the disease is hog cholera. In the 
absence of any such lesions we are of the 
opinion that the disease is due to the feed. 
The wheat straw should not be responsible for 
the trouble. 
R. II. A., N. Y. —What are the compara¬ 
tive merits of the old-fashioned white plaster 
and the new brown laud plaster as absorbents 
of stable manure and as fertilizers in field ap¬ 
plication? 
Ans.— Plaster, when pure, contains 32}4 
parts of lime, 46}^ parts of sulphuric acid aud 
the rest water. It is often mixed with carbon¬ 
ate of lime and sometimes with silica and as 
its value as an absorbent and a fertilizer de¬ 
pends upon its purity or the sulphuric acid 
contained in it, an impure kind has a reduced 
value. The white and blue Nova Scotia 
plaster is about 97 per cent pure, but 
some other kinds are not so pure. The brown 
plaster generally contains iron pyrites. 
L. B., Bridgport. —I have about four acres 
of land that I have cultivated for a few years, 
and 1 wish to turn it into meadow, and as I 
have plenty of stable manure I thought I would 
sow Hungarian seed on it about the first of 
May and in the fall sow rye with grass seed. 
Would it be a profitable way? Will the Hun¬ 
garian grass make good hay for cows? 
Ans.—W e see no objection to the plan. 
Hungarian makes good hay if cut early. 
West Troy , N. Y. —I have about four acres 
of currant bushes. I have no stable manure 
to apply in the spring; what kind of fertiliz¬ 
ers should I use? 
Ans.—W e should use kainit and raw-bone 
* 
flour in about equal parts as to bulk. It 
would be well in this case to mix the fertil¬ 
izers with five times the bulk of coal ashes. 
R. R. R., New London, Wis. —Will a twin 
heifer born with a bull ever breed? 
Ans.—S uch a heifer is called a “free mar¬ 
tin.” A few instances are recorded where a 
“free martin” has bred; but in all, except a 
few cases phenomenally rare, she is sterile. 
M. W. T., West Leyden, N. Y .—Where can 
I get a book printed and ruled for keeping 
farmers’ accounts? 
Ans. —The nearest we can come to it is Af¬ 
fleck’s Farmer’s and Planter’s Record and 
Account Book, published by Fairbanks, Pal¬ 
mer & Co., Chicago, Ill. It is quite a com¬ 
plete book. 
J. W. R., North Webster, Ind .—When and 
how should wood ashes be applied to straw¬ 
berries? 
Ans.— The application had better be made 
to the land before the plants are set. The next 
best thing is to sow it broadcast before the 
new growth starts in the spring. 
A. C. J., Himrods. N. Y .—Is the North¬ 
western Fertilizing Company, of Chicago,Ill., 
a reliable concern* 
Ans.—W e do not know the firm. 
W. C. K., White Lake, N. Y .—Are any of 
the hand wheel hoes, cultivators or plows of 
practical use in the garden? 
Ans. —The Planet Jr. implements, made by 
S. L. Allen & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., do excel¬ 
lent work in almcst any soil that can be 
worked at all. G. W. Cole, of Canton, Ill., 
also makes a good hand plow, etc. 
J. II., West Granby, Conn. —For informa¬ 
tion about sweet potato culture, see last issue. 
DISCUSSION. 
THE “DAIRY CARTOON” AGAIN. 
Four weeks ago Mr. O. M. Tinkham, of Ver¬ 
mont,criticised the picture on the first page of 
our Creamery Special. The R. N.-Y. replied 
to the criticism. Mr. T. prints both his letter 
and our reply and adds the fellowing: 
“All we have to add, in view of the editors’ 
remarks, is that we still think the cartoon un¬ 
fair, in that the pictures do not fairly repre¬ 
sent the two classes. They give no hint of 
any possibility of a good individual dairy or 
of a poor creamery, and both are possible and 
probably exist. We do dot believe in “patting 
the farmer on the back,” or in indr criminate 
condemnation. What we do believe in is the 
plain truth, and we have no particular fault 
to find with the Rural’s articles to which he 
refers; it was the cartoon,and as a comparative 
representation of dairy and creamery meth¬ 
ods, it was conspicuously unjust.” 
There are various ways of looking at the 
same matter. For example, here is a sample 
of many letters we have received. 
“O. M. Tinkham,on page 133, takes the Dairy 
Cartoon too much to heart. If another cat 
or two more children, and in many cases a 
dog as well were thrown in, it would fit ex¬ 
actly a large numbei\of cases in'Connecticut 
to day, and as for the store trading, it goes 
on to-day around here, and includes eggs, 
apples, potatoes and other vegetables. Even 
here the manufacturing concerns bring in lots 
of truck and undersell the farmer, or make 
his goods unsalable, or salable at a greatly re¬ 
duced price, as the men wont buy of them 
first as I have found to my cost, aud further 
the employes have to buy the firm’s potatoes 
or make room for those who will. I have to 
pass two manufacturing villages before I can 
sell my truck for cash. There may be very 
much more said on those things with perfect 
honesty. A . w. s. 
Nepaug, conn. 
THE BRIGHTON GRAPE. 
E. P. P., Clinton, N. Y.—Anent the refer¬ 
ence which Mr. Gunn makes to me in the Ru¬ 
ral for March 31, I take square issue with 
him as to the Brighton Grape not being one 
of the three best red grapes for all the North¬ 
ern grape belt—with rare exceptions. As I 
never sell vines, and have never sold a pound 
of Brightons in my life, I am not open to the 
charge of booming. But booming is not an 
unknown quantity in the nursery business. I 
appreciate all efforts to accumulate data to 
enable people to judge about what is best to 
plant. I merely wish that answers to the Ru¬ 
ral’s questions might always leave the boom¬ 
ing out. No one can persuade me that Adi¬ 
rondack is one of the three best for vineyard 
or general amateur planting, and that 
Brighton is not. I agree with Mr. Gunn, 
“Notwithstanding if I should plant three reds 
for market, Brighton would be one!” What 
does his criticism amount to with such a final 
confession? The fact is, about one-half the 
planting that goes on is a sad and wicked fail¬ 
ure. Poor men are induced to plant useless 
varieties, and so sink their money. I say get 
the catalogues of honest dealers; carefully 
study the subject; compare their comments; 
get their wholesale figures; plant few varie¬ 
ties at first—then feel your way along. I 
have 4G varieties in bearing, and for my soil 
nearly all are doing finely. I have never had 
black rot, except on two vines of Massasoit; 
but my location is superfine. Out of these 46 
I could make a select list for this locality; but 
when I form an opinion of grapes for general 
value, it is from the best authorities from all 
quarters. So far 'as the Rural can give us 
them, I heartily rejoice in them. 
A. F. W., Lenawee Co., Mich.—There are 
17 patents on imitation butter. The Letters 
Patent state that the following ingredients 
are used in making oleomargarine, namely: 
sugar of lead, bisulphate of lime, saltpeter, 
borax, boracic acid, salicylic acid, orris root, 
cotton-seed oil, vegetable oils.butyric acid, bi¬ 
carbonate of soda, nitrate of potash, glyce- 
ine, capsylic acid, cupaic acid, alum, capsic 
acid, sulphate of soda, cows’ udder, commer¬ 
cial sulphuric acid, pepsin, sal-soda, tallow, 
lard, sea salt, farinaceous flour, butyric ether, 
caustic potash, carbonic acid, castor oil, chalk, 
slippery elm bark, caul, oil of sesame, oil of 
sun-flower seeds, olive oil. curcumine, turnip- 
seed oil, broma chloralum, chlorate of potash, 
niter, oil of sweet almonds, oil of peanuts, 
peroxide of manganese, stomach of pigs, sheep 
or calves.'nitrate of soda, bennic oil, gastric 
juice,'mustard-seed oil, nitric acid, dry blood, 
albumen,"sugar, butyric acid, bicarbonate of 
potash, chloride’of sodium,Yaustic^soda,’corn 
tarch, coloring‘ matter. 
