<888 
THE BUBAL (P3EW-¥©BSCEB. 
353 
tered. Repeat the application if necessary 
when the local effect has disappeared. Steam 
the tliroat every evening by feeding a hot bran 
mash from a bucket. This should be prepared 
by pouring boiling water over four quarts of 
wheat bran and allowing the horse to eat at 
it from the bucket while hot. Another 
method would be to feed the hot mash from a 
nose-bag, if such were at hand. Finally take 
one dram of solid extract of belladonna and four 
drams pulverized nitre, and mix with sufficient 
honey or sirup to form a thick paste; smear this 
dose upon the back teeth and tongue three 
times daily, to be slowly swallowed at leisure. 
GRAVEL IN A HORSE. 
.7. T. E., Sharpstown , Md. —How can I cure 
gravel in a horse? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KILBORNE. 
With no history or symptoms I cannot judge 
of the nature or location of the gravel. There 
are several kinds of urinary calculi or gravel 
due to various causes, and they may be located 
at several points along the urinary passages 
from the kidney to the bladder in the mare, 
or to the end of the penis in the horse; but 
they are usually in the bladder or along the ure¬ 
thra of the horse. Gravel already formed usual¬ 
ly has to be removed with instruments. For 
such we can only advise you to take the animal 
to a competent veterinary surgeon for exam¬ 
ination and operation if necessary. To favor 
the absorption of small gravel and prevent 
the formation of more, give one-half ounce of 
carbonate of potash in the drinking water 
twice daily. An exclusively dry diet should 
be avoided and care should be taken a] ways to 
supply some green, succulent food or grass 
in summer, and roots, silage or mashes in win¬ 
ter; give free access to salt and encourage the 
animal to drink a considerable quantity of rain 
or other soft water. 
“moon” calves. 
J. A. G., Marion, Va. —1. Will a cow that 
has been well treated and kept well have 
moon calves? If a cow has moon calves should 
they be removed, and what else should be 
the treatment? 
Ans. —What are “moon calves?” We never 
saw the name before, but suppose you refer to 
some kind of monstrosity. If our supposition 
is correct, no one can answer your query. 
Monstrosities occur occasionally, but their ap¬ 
pearance is not governed by any known law or 
condition. No treatment can be given for 
such calves, and their removal will depend 
entirely upon their usefulness. The next calf 
will probably be all right. 
Miscellaneous. 
S. J. T. H., New Lisbon , Ohio. —1. What is 
the parentage of the Everitt Potato, and who 
was the originator? 2. Do soil, climate, etc., 
materially change the color of the skin and 
flesh of potatoes? 3. Will potatoes that are 
streaked with red through the flesh continue 
to be so from year to year? 
Ans. —1. O. H Alexander, of Charlotte, 
Vermont, is the originator, we believe. Parent¬ 
age not known. 2. Decidedly as to the skin, 
less decidedly as to the flesh. 3. Not neces¬ 
sarily. This red streak in some soils becomes 
constant. 
G. McB., Bon Accord, Kan. —How can I 
protect my young apple and pear trees from 
the borers? How would binding the trees 
with muslin do? 
Ans. —This subject was fully discussed in 
the last issue of the Rural, to which we re¬ 
fer our inquirer. Offensive washes have 
served us first-rate. The muslin, if first dipped 
in lime would, no doubt, be effective. Laths 
or tarred paper may be used. It is best not to 
allow the paper to come in close contact with 
the tree. 
J. W. H., Marion, Ind. —What is the best 
late potato? What are the best early and 
medium sorts? 
Ans. —Fora late potato we prefer the Rural 
Blush. Our second choice for late would be 
White Elephant. For an intermediate, we 
know of no better potato, all things considered, 
than White Star. But Empire State, Everitt, 
Green Mountain, State of Maine are worth 
trying. For early we are not prepared to 
state which we would prefer. Try Early Sun¬ 
rise, Thorburn, Beauty of Hebron, Pearl of 
Sa voy, Downing. 
S. J. S., Emporium, Pa. —1. Has the name 
mellacgypicum been changed, or is there an-» 
other name for the drug, which is a cure for 
ringbone? 2. How can worms be kept from 
cabbages? 
Ans. —We must confess that we have never 
heard of the remedy and cannot find it in the 
dispensatory. It may have been a “trade 
mark” given to some patent medicine, or, more 
likely,a name coined for the occasion by some 
quack. 2. For a full answer to this question, 
see last issue of the Rural. 
E. G. L., Essex, N. F.—We have a regis¬ 
tered White Chester sow; will it do to use^oue 
of her boar pigs upon her, and also upon a sow 
of the same litter as himself? 
Ans. —There is little or no likelihood that 
any injury will result, provided the in-and-in 
breeding is not kept up. 
“ Subscriber ” (no address). —What are the 
name and location of the party who manufac¬ 
tures or sells such a plow as the Rural says, 
on page 287, makes potato trenches “admira¬ 
bly.” 
Ans. —Nearly all the manufacturers of 
plows make a shovel plow, which will do the 
work. The shovel plow made by the Belcher 
& Taylor Manufacturing Co., Chicopee Falls, 
Mass., will make the trenches. 
V. L., Caledonia, N. Y .—How was the sul¬ 
phur applied to potatoes at the Rural Grounds 
to prevent scab? 
Ans. —The sulphur was sown at the rate of 
about 400 pounds to the acre after the seed 
pieces were covered with an inch or so of soil. 
Perhaps 200 pounds to the acre would serve as 
well—possibly even less. 
G. A. M., Beloit, IFi.s.—The grass sent for 
name resembles Quack somewhat, but we 
must have the flower stem. Please send one 
later. All cattle are very fond of Quack. If 
you will put your infested fields in hoed crops, 
preferably corn, and cultivate shallow during 
the hottest days and driest weather, it will 
kill this grass. 
■-»■»« 
DISCUSSION. 
THE MORTGAGE QUESTION. 
C. H., Pine- Valley, Ind.— While the 
“mortgage question” is being agitated, I wish 
to present my mite, hoping, little as it may 
be, it may restrain some unfortunate from 
taking the first step into financial uncertainty. 
It has been my lot to wander through parts 
of several of the Western States and Terri¬ 
tories, and in every instance this “mortgage 
question” has been obtruded upon my obser¬ 
vation. I must say I have made no minute 
researches, nor do I wish it to be understood 
that the state of things which I shall attempt 
to portray is the general condition of the West. 
1 hope it is not. My pei sonal knowledge is 
of small localities, and was gleaned from the 
farmers and ranchmen while living among 
them. And one is surprised at the similarity, 
as relating to mortgages, existing between 
these places, though hundreds of miles apart. 
A description of one will fairly describe all. 
As the “mortgage question” centers upon 
Kansas at present, I will call attention to La¬ 
bette County, from which S. B. wrote in the 
Rural of January 28. I do not wish to an¬ 
tagonize his statements. I understand them 
to be general, while mine refer to local condi¬ 
tions. In the Southwestern part of the sec¬ 
tion to which he referred there are farms not 
mortgaged; but they are the exceptions, and 
not the rule, and from the number of banks 
and loan agencies to be seen in every little 
town, and their thriving appearance, it would 
be no more than natural that a stranger 
should suspect the greater part of the county 
to be in a similar condition. Upon the fron¬ 
tier the first building is said to be a saloon. 
When civilization comes marching westward, 
along come loan agencies and mortgage com¬ 
panies. In number they soon outrival their 
infamous colleagues. The farmer takes to 
mortgage much like the drunkard does to 
strong drink. At each successive step his ap¬ 
petite becomes more depraved. He removes 
one mortgage, only to renew it with another 
for a larger amount. His land increases in 
value, but in the same ratio his mortgage 
grows. The week ending January 21st saw 
families quitting Southeastern Kansas with 
barely money enough to take them to their 
destination, leaving their farms in the hands 
of the mortgage companies to be disposed of 
as the latter saw fit. 
S. B. says, “the amount of the mortgage* 
where it does exist, is not more than one-third 
the present value of the land.” If this 
be true, I am heartily glad of it: yet, in 
the locality before mentioned, I have grave 
reasons for thinking otherwise. There are 
too many farms for sale at but a small ad¬ 
vance upon the mortgages impending over 
them. Many are also already owned by bank¬ 
ers and loan agents, having been taken to 
liquidate the mortgages. I will illustrate the 
condition of the fanners by quoting the words 
used by a gentleman lately visiting in South¬ 
eastern Kansas, in his description of the finan¬ 
cial condition of that section. 
“M- and I rode over the surrounding 
neighborhood that I might become better ac¬ 
quainted with the inhabitants and the soil. 
On several occasions, when meeting an ac¬ 
quaintance of M-’s, the first question he 
(M-) would ask, after the customary saluta¬ 
tion and an introduction, was: ‘When are you 
going to move?’ ‘Well, I don’t know. Next 
Fall, if the mortgage company does not move 
me in the spring;’ or ‘I am waiting for the 
mortgage company to help me move,’ and 
many other similar answers. And upon in” 
quiry as to the ownership of many of the farms 
along the route, I was answered by M—saying 
‘Mr. So-and-So lives upon it, but the Western 
Mortgage Company holds a mortgage on it.” 
The prevailing idea generally is not to try to 
pay these mortgages off. People seem to have 
given payment up as a hopeless task, and the 
one leading object is to manage by “hook or 
crook” to get their mortgages increased. If 
this cannot be done, they try to carry the 
mortgage along the best way possible under 
the circumstances, waiting for a land boom 
and an Eastern buyer with more money than 
experience—Western experience. This con¬ 
dition may not prevail over the State at 
large, but it is too general for the welfare of 
the public. Whatever affects the farming 
community, affects the whole country. There¬ 
fore it would be well to strike some decisive 
blow at the “mortgage question,” and while 
it is being discussed pro and con through the 
agricultural journals, why should not the 
farmers’ institutes, and other farmers’ organ¬ 
izations take up the cry and keep the ball 
rolling until we become more economical, and 
wait till we can walk before we try to fly. 
Cmijtwfym. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Iowa. 
Alden, Hardin Co., May 8.—Iowa’s drought 
is broken. This is the fourteenth consecutive 
day on which it has rained more or less. Most 
of the days it has been more. The ground 
now is thoroughly filled with water. Oats 
were all sown before the rain came, and most 
of the ground is ready for corn, but none has 
been planted yet. Not much, if any, can be 
put in this week, even if we have no more 
rain. Grass is about two weeks later than 
usual. Hay is very scarce, and cattle are 
looking very thin. We are confident that the 
rains insure our crops against the chinch 
bugs. E . c. R. 
Woodbine, Harrison Co, May 8th.- 
This Missouri slope is emphatically a corn 
belt, being more natural for corn than any 
other crop, though any crop does well that 
can stand hot sunshine and droughty spells. 
Oats are quite a sure crop and yield heavily. 
If the season is wet, they lodge badly on all 
the thinnest soils. Spring wheat is an uncer¬ 
tain crop, and the ground lies bare too much 
in winter to risk winter wheat. Beets and 
onions yield heavy crops without manure. 
Rutabagas and peas do not thrive as well as 
further north or east. Potatoes in cool and 
moist seasons yield enormously, and when 
hot and dry, sometimes very lightly. Timothy 
does very well, and clover grows very luxur¬ 
iantly except in an extreme drought. Sor¬ 
ghum is at home here as much as corn. The 
worst dry spells we have had in the two past 
exceptionally dry seasons do not prevent its 
vigorous growth. Hardy grapes do finely, but 
need some protection, especially when young. 
Plums luxuriate. Only the hardy iron-clad 
apples succeed; but with them we will have a 
fine supply in a few years; they are abundant 
now in places. 
To an Eastern man, brought up to economy 
and thrift, on the thin soils of New York, and 
used only to Eastern methods, there are many 
contrasts—many strange and interesting 
things to see and learn. Among these I 
might mention the depth and richness of the 
soil, with it exceeding fineness, uniformity, 
and perfect drainage and entire absence of 
stones; the exuberance of weeds and of grow¬ 
ing crops; the amount of land that one man 
and team can till (40 to GO acres of corn with 
30 to 40 of small grain in addition); the free 
and easy and extravagant methods of farm¬ 
ing; the cosmopolitan character of the inhabi¬ 
tants (the rich are not tony), and the lack of 
farm buildings and good shelter for stock; and, 
most curious of all, the neglect and non appre¬ 
ciation of manure. This needs more than a 
passing notice. It is as it was on the Mohawk 
River two or three generations ago. Manure 
is hauled to fill gullies. Barns are moved to 
get away from it. It is a little different now 
to what it was when I first came here. I have 
seen enormous quantities of it used for grad¬ 
ing; have had a market gardener, in town, 
offer to help me load his manure, if I would 
haul it away, and he was raising onions and 
cabbage and such crops as needed the richest 
Pisrdlattcoujs guU-misinfl, 
MAKE HENS LAY 
S HERIDAN'S CONDITION POWDER is absolute¬ 
ly pure and highly concentrated. It is strictly 
a medicine to be given with food. Nothing on earth 
will make hens lay like it. It cures chicken chol¬ 
era and all diseases of hens. Illustrated book by 
mail free. Sold everywhere, or sent by mall for 
26 ote. In stamps. 2X-lb. tin cans, $1; by mall, 
$1.20, Six cans by express, prepaid, for $6. 
1,8. JoSmsoa * Co., P. O. Box 2118, Boston, ftfcwj**. 
WHAT ARE THESE IMPURITIES? 
The report of the Ohio State Dairy and 
Food Commission on baking powders shows a 
great amount of residuum or impurity to ex¬ 
ist in many of these articles. The figures 
given by the Commission are as follows: 
Name Impurities 
, ,, OR RESIDUUM. 
Cleveland’s. 10.18 per cent. 
Zipp’s Crystal. 11.99 “ 
Sterling.12.63 “ 
Dr. Price’s. 12.66 “ 
Forest City. 24.04 “ 
Silver Star. 31.88 “ 
De Land’s. 32,52 “ 
Horsford’s. 36.49 “ 
The question naturally arises in the minds of 
thoughtful consumers. Of what does this im¬ 
purity or residuum consist? In the case of 
the first named powder there has been recent¬ 
ly given the result of an analysis made by 
Prof. C. F. Chandler, of Columbia College, 
late member of the New York State Board^of 
Health, which partially supplies the missing 
information, and as the manufacturers of 
this particular powder are continuously call¬ 
ing for the publication of all the ingredients 
used in baking powders, there can be no ob¬ 
jection to its statement here. Among the 
impurities Prof. Chandler found Cleveland’s 
powder to contain a large amount of Rochelle 
Salts, 5.49 per cent, of lime, with alumina, 
starch and water, in quantities not stated. 
Alum is a substance declared by the highest 
authorities to be hurtful. If the balance of 
this residuum in all the powders named is mado 
up largely of alum, as it is known to be in 
some, the public would like to know it. An¬ 
other official test that shall go quite to the 
bottom of the matter seems to be demanded. 
390 £ unn y Selections, Scrap Pictures, etc., and nice 
00U Sample Cards for 2c Hill Pub.Co., Cadiz, Ohio. 
land. Now a few are beginning to appreciate 
its worth, and to haul it from the towns as well 
as to get out their own. Town people used to 
have to pay for getting it taken away. That 
is about done with now, but not entirely. I 
never saw a soil where manure would do more 
good or be more lasting in its effects than on 
the rolling upland here. But, what is singular 
to me is, that ashes do not seem to be beneficial 
on anything. I have tried them on almost all 
crops, and on prairie sod, without any appre¬ 
ciable effect. Lime and plaster I have not 
tried. Lime is very abundant in the soil in 
the form of crumbly lime pebbles. Stock is 
mostly well graded up with Short-horns. A 
few Holsteins and some Angus and Galloway 
muleys will be found here and there. Scarcely 
any scrub stock is to be found here. Dehorn¬ 
ing is performed to some extent, but not very 
extensively. Fattening steers and hogs is a 
leading business here, less and less corn being 
shipped away, though still the shipping of 
corn out of the country is a wonderful sight 
to an Eastern man, with 100 teams unloading 
and waiting to unload at one time in a town 
of 500 inhabitants, as I have known in a cold 
windy day in winter. 
There is no use to prophesy or even guess 
what the weather will be here, but crops can 
be raised with less rain than in any place I 
ever saw, on account of the peculiar fineness 
and perfect drainage of the soil. And the 
rolling upland will stand abundant rains as 
well as drought. The two last years have been 
almost one protracted drought here, there 
having been only about half the normal pre¬ 
cipitation of both rain and snow. 
For two weeks, however, there has been only 
one fair day. Rain has fallen gently almost 
every day, mostly so as to soak in and not wash 
away into the streams as is often the case, es¬ 
pecially in June. Deep wells are beginning to 
feel the effects of it, which was very much need¬ 
ed on many farms. It is making corn-plant¬ 
ing very late; but no one ought to find fault. 
The extreme drought last summer gave 
chinch bugs a great chance to multiply, but we 
hope this wet spell will be disastrous to them. 
No fair weather yet. All is mud and cool north¬ 
east wind. j • M Y 
Vermont. 
East Poultney, Rutland Co., May 10—The 
spring is very late; cold rains with some snow, 
but this week has been warmer. Grass looks 
green and nice and the prospect is good for a 
big crop of hay. Trees are budding and leaf¬ 
ing fast and the fruit buds look as if there 
would be a good crop of apples. Market re¬ 
port of Rutland market to-day: Hay, $12 to 
$14 per ton: potatoes, 75 to 90 cents per bushel; 
butter, 20 to 26 cents per pound; chickens, 12 
to 15 cents per pound, dressed; eggs, 14 to 18 
cents per dozen; maple sugar, 8 to 15 cents per 
pound; maple sirup, 75 to 90 cents per gallon; 
cheese, 12>£ to 15 cents per pound. The mar¬ 
ket day is largely patronized by the farmers 
of Rutland County. It is managed by the 
Business Men’s Association of Rutland; they 
furnish room for buyers and sellers and the 
farmers get cash and good prices for all their 
produce. E . T . L> B< 
