1833 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
^•38 
N. Y. Tribune: “A Pennsylvania schoolboy 
defined “barnacle” as “a tramp who sleeps in 
the barn.”-Breeder’s Gazette: “Refer¬ 
ring to the oft-quoted shibboleth, “the’horns 
must go,” the Gazette is glad to'note that they 
are mainly coming off the heads of scrubs, 
and wo are” pleased toTget rid; of even the 
smallest part^of .a’scrub. Perhaps when the 
horns have all gone the scrub himself will have 
to go. We are willing, therefore, to see his 
horns go now, in hopes that the.heads may go 
next.”- 
ESSSSiSS 
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. But questions on a separate piece of paper. 
the grape fleabettle: rust on rasp¬ 
berries. 
G. L. S., St. Remy , N. Y— 1. \7hat are 
tho insects, specimens of which are inclosed? 
They lately appeared on my grape-vines, and 
eat both leaves and the young bunches of 
grapes. They are worse than the rose-bug. 
Would it be safe to use Paris green on the 
foliage? If not, what insecticide should be 
used? 2. What causes rust on Black-cap rasp¬ 
berries, and what is a remedy? 
answered by prof. a. j. cook. 
I. These are danseters, the grubs of the 
grape FleaBeetle—-Haltica chalybea—re¬ 
ferred to in a recent number of the Rural. 
As then stated, the small, handsome blue 
beetle eats out the buds early in the spring, 
often doing serious harm. The dark grubs 
later feed on the leaves and fruit. I have 
found that either London-purple or the 
kerosene and soap mixture will kill these 
pests. The Loudon-purple is safe if used now, 
as it will all disappear from the leaves and 
fruit long before the fruit is ripe. 2. Tho 
rust on Black-cap raspberries is not due to au 
insect, and so does not come in the range 
of my studies. I think, however, that it is a 
well determined fact that this rust is one of 
the destructive fungi of the fruit garden, and 
tho vines affected with it should always bo 
cut and burned as fast as it appears. It is an 
interesting fact that bees often gather the 
spores of this fungus to use in lieu of pollen. 
preparing cucumber pickles. 
J. A. G., Marion, Pa.—How are cucumber 
pickles prepared and marketed ? 
Ans.— Cucumbers from two to three inches 
long make the best pickles. Larger than this 
they will not be first class. After being 
washed clean, the cucumbers are put in hot 
brine for 24 hours. At the pickle factories, 
large vats are prepared for this purpose. The 
cucumbers are then taken fi'om the brine, dried 
and put into hot cider vinegar to which a lit¬ 
tle salt is added from time to time. For fancy 
lots a little spice, mustard or horse radish is 
added to the vinegar. When the pickles suit 
the taste they are taken from the vats aud 
packed in kegs or half-barrels or in glass jars 
to suit more particular customers. 
EXPORTS OF CEREALS IN 1887. 
L. T., Warren , Ohio —Of the cereals raised 
in the United States what percentage was ex¬ 
ported in 1887? 
Ans. —The government returns just at hand 
give the following exports for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1887, concerning wheat and 
corn. 
Total crop, Exported Per cent, 
bushels. bushels. Exported. 
Wheat.... 457,500,400 154,104,415 33 70 
Corn. 1,665,U >30 41,308,584 2.48 
B. F. A., Charleston, S. C.—l. Is there 
any way of stopping a horse from letting his 
tongue hang out when driving? 2. What is 
the best way of removing warts from a 
man without an operation ? 
Ans.— 1. Getan uujointed bit and fix it to a 
plate of iron about two inches long aud four 
inches broad aud round at the end, so as to 
form a long, broad, ovaltshape. Have this 
fixed in the middle to the bit by a broad strap 
or ring clasping the bit, so that it will move. 
This plate prevents the horse from putting 
his tongue over the bit, and unless he can do 
that, he cannot hang it outjof his mouth. 2. 
Mercurius corroivus, two grains to a half¬ 
ounce each of water and alcohol, or of 
water and tincture of thuja, applied two or 
three times a day, will generally remove 
warts. Or cut off the tops, and apply car¬ 
bolic acid once or twice, and..they will dis¬ 
appear. 
G, W, S, t Parisville, N, Y .-Will .millet 
do well for a fodder crop on a piece of sandy 
land without manure, which was broken up 
July 1. How much seed should be sown per 
acre ?—When should it be sown ? 
Ans. —We must answer from our own ex¬ 
perience. We would not sow millet after 
June 1st, and deem that, five times in six, too 
late on account of the dry weather liable at 
that season. We should say it would not do 
well on sandy land unless it is in fine con¬ 
dition and fertile enough for a fair crop of 
corn or wheat. One-and-a-half bushel is about 
right. It should be cut when the heads 
appear. 
E. W. S., Bowling Green, Ky. —What is the 
Rural’s Trench System of raising Irish pota¬ 
toes? Some of us here do not understand it, 
aud we are anxious to do so. 
Ans. —We must refer our inquirer to back 
numbers for tho present. It has been so often 
explained that such a reference will give the 
desired information without inflicting upon 
our older readers a repetition. The particu¬ 
lars will be given in full, however, by the 
judges of the “contest” plot next fall. 
G. R., Colfax, W. Ter. —The ground here 
seems to be alive with cut-worms, and they 
are eating up everything; how can they be 
got rid of? I have found as many as 10 at 
the base of a single grape-vine. 
Ans. —The R. N.-Y. regrets that it can 
give no assistance. Our own land is infested 
with cut-worms so that in setting out tomatoes 
it is necessary to surround every stem with 
paper. Would not something of the kind 
protect your vines? 
./. C. A., Troy, N. Y. —Which of the lawn 
mowers can the Rural recommend for light¬ 
ness of draft and other advantages? 
Ans. —We are at present using the Phila¬ 
delphia. 
G. I. G., Oneonta, N. Y. —The Consular Re¬ 
port on Dairying is issued by the U. S. De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, Washington, I). C. 
Write to the Commissioner of Agriculture 
about it. 
L. B. IT., Paulding, Ohio. —You can secure 
temperance literature by addressing tho 
Secretary of, the W. C. T. U. Evanston, In¬ 
diana. 
DISCUSSION. 
SOME OF BUCEPHALUS’S NOTIONS CRITICISED. 
A. C. C., Farmington, Minn.—Bucephalus 
Brown has favored us with another batch of 
notions and ideas. The Rural’s idea of giv¬ 
ing place to the discussion of social questions 
is good—but it seems to me that it would be a 
good “notion” for B. B. to leave the defining 
of words to the dictionary-makers. His defi¬ 
nition of “luxury” is indeed peculiar—that 
kind of “luxury” might do very well for a 
“Fourth of July” dinner, pieced out with 
plenty of cold chicken and frosted cake; but 
for every-day fare the ordinary American citi¬ 
zen will require more solid food. 
But what has a “prohibition tariff” to do 
with that kind of a “luxury” any way ?• How 
much of that sort of thing do we import at 
present? And what is the rate of duty? The 
alleged fact that Bucephalus could find work 
31 years ago on account of his “broad 
shoulders,” etc., is offered as proof that men, 
and women, too, whoso shoulders are not so 
broad, can always find “plenty to do and liv¬ 
ing wages for doing it.” Such a statement, in 
the face of the fact that thousands of people 
are working themselves to death for less than 
“living wages,” aud thousands more waiting 
to take their places when they die, is indeed a 
“notion.” 
“We can all find work if we really want 
work and not pay.” This is indeed the 
essence of irony. Who wants “work and no^ 
pay.” No one need quarrel with this asser" 
tion. 
“We are fairly judged.” Indeed we are 
not I Never was a statement made with less 
truth. We may hope to be fairly judged by 
the Infinite One, but who among finite men 
dare judge his fellow man? “What’s done 
we partly may compute, but know not what’s 
resisted.” Who ever stood for improvement 
or reform without being unfairly judged— 
even Christ himself was crucified and crowned 
with thorns. Man’s judgment may be “inevi¬ 
table,” but ?t certainly is not “righteous.” 
“No employer can long oppress any man in 
a country where land is so plenty and so 
cheap.” Land rises in value, so we may in¬ 
fer that the time is coming when au “em" 
ployer can oppress a man,” and yet we are 
told that men aud women can “always have 
plenty to do and living wages for doing it.’ 
If I understand it aright, coal-miners are 
“underpaid.” But, like Chas. J. Wright in 
his reply to the Black-side of Farming, I 
can’t consider work in a coal mine “a soft 
place.” It would seem nearer correct to say 
The “soft places” are over paid and the hard 
ones uuder paid. 
If all worked, then, “all the people would 
have enough.” Then it is logical to conclude 
that when one works and still does not have 
“ enough, ” and others who do not work 
have more than “enough,” there is a flaw 
somewhere in our social or political arrange¬ 
ments. Dr. Hoskins has shown us a true pic¬ 
ture of one man’s work that was “ under¬ 
paid.” Chas. J. Wright, in reply, asks this per¬ 
tinent question: “If farming doesn’t pay 
what does ? ” and calls for tho proportion of 
men in other callings who succeed. Ah ! there 
you find the same “ black* side ’—workers 
who still have not “enough,” who are “un¬ 
derpaid.” Where are those products un¬ 
der which the workers, as B. B. truly says, 
would soon be buried if all worked ? 
The answer must be—consumed by those 
who do not work or work only to keep the 
true workers in subjection. Some one says 
our “ black-side ” farmer failed to succeed on 
account of bad calculation. I don’t see that 
the man made more than the average num¬ 
ber of mistakes. ’Tis easy to point out mis¬ 
takes afterward. The Rural seems to think 
that going into debt was the trouble. 
But the great question is still unanswered: 
Why can’t a man of average ability earn at 
farming or any other legitimate business some¬ 
thing-more than a barely respectable living? 
■Why can’t ho get out of debt after he gets 
in? I believe a brother of our “Black-side” 
farmer got rich out of the rise of land. Then 
I suppose he was soon buried under the pro¬ 
ducts, not of “his own activity”; but of some 
ether person’s. In regard to keeping out of 
debt, I wish some one good in figures would 
figure out at what age a man can start farm¬ 
ing without going into debt for land, tools, 
stock, or buildings. 
IS MUTTON PRODUCTION WITH WOOL AS AN 
ACCESSORY PROFITABLE? 
A. T. T., Franklin Park, N. J.—-The Ru¬ 
ral’s pertinent inquiry in the issue of June 10, 
page 400, asking why farmers do not bestow 
more attention on the production of mutton 
even if less is given the growing of wool, ought 
not to be difficult of reply. 
As a farmer I answer, because “there is 
nothing in it.” Farmers as a rule do not at¬ 
tempt the growing of crops with a known cer¬ 
tainty of loss. Add the present price of wool 
to the present price of mutton and the sum 
total is a relative loss in keeping sheep on fair¬ 
ly tillable land. Put your sheep on a rough 
mountain farm on which cattle or cows cannot 
graze, and while the profit may be small yet it 
is better than nothing. 
Put them on good land that is capable of 
grazing fat cattle or cows for dairying, and the 
sheep business is a failure compared with the 
other two industries. Was it so always? Let 
us see—prior to 1883 there were six million 
more sheep in the country than there are now. 
If the business could have been retained at a 
profit, is it probable so many farmers would 
have abandoned it? Farmers are not unlike 
other men—they are not going to voluntarily 
relinquish a good thing if it is a good thing. 
Dogs are reputedly destructive to sheep, but 
dogs are enemies that poison or a shot gun 
could easily vanquish if the business would 
pay to take the trouble. 
There are 12 States of tho Union that fur¬ 
nish the greater portion of sheep and wool 
grown in this country. Of a part of the land 
in those states, the topographical features aud 
quality of the soil are such as to make those 
sections naturally adapted to the natural hab¬ 
its and wants of sheep. Rugged mountain 
pastures afford a scanty but nutritious quality 
of vegetation, and sheep thrive and prosper 
thereon. Probably under the most unfavor¬ 
able political conditions much of this natural 
sheep land will remain devoted to the keeping 
of flocks of sheep. Nothing else is available 
as a means of wresting something from the 
rocky, unyielding soil. 
Strike out au appreciable price for wool, 
and sheep raising will be relegated to these 
rough pastures. It has been au opinion of the 
writer that by a large diminution of the sheep 
crop the price of mutton would rise to a fig 
ure equal to the present market prices of wool 
and mutton combined, thus leaving a profit¬ 
able revenue from the animal equal to that de¬ 
rived under the present conditions. Sheep 
men, however, both growers aud large “com¬ 
mission” men engaged in supplying Eastern 
markets with mutton, and that too regardless 
of political affiliations, say the price of mutton 
will not rise until an import figure is reached. 
South American or Australian mutton will ap¬ 
pear in our harbors, aud the price will simply 
remain at a level high enough to import aud 
too low to breed at—too high,as you suggest,to 
be within the reach of the laboring classes. It 
is no use; the flavor of the bag string was 
given when the cut in protective wool duties 
was given in 1883. The whole pudding will 
be swallowed soon in the total abrogation of 
those duties as now proposed. Six million 
less sheep since 1883; are these unpleasant facts 
in accordance with the spirit of the promises 
given t)y alleged reformers?-^" free WQOl, 
cheap clothing, cheaper living.” Which is the 
more preferable, economy on the back or in 
the stomach? “You pays your money, you 
takes your choice.” 
It is estimated that beef and pork will re- 
main'[low even if mutton should start on a 
rise—beef is good enough for any one, and 
pork and beans are good enough for common 
people, so that should silver-lined mouths de¬ 
mand high-priced mutton, other meat foods 
will be in the market at a reasonable figure 
for people with only wooden spoons. This is 
a patent fallacy, however; make a famine in 
mutton and the prices of beef and pork are 
bound to rise. Increased demand will create 
such a result. 
A summary of the answer to the Rural’s in¬ 
quiry is that exclusive mutton growing in this 
country will not pay producers or consumers, 
aud should political influences destroy the price 
of wool, the last days of the poor will be worse 
then the first. 
WHEN TO CUT OATS FOR GRAIN AND FODDER. 
J. M. R., Conway, Kan.— We have been 
accustomed to tame hay as feed, but here oat 
straw perhaps is the main dependence for at 
least one half the rough feed, and the proper 
time for cuttiug it should be taken into con¬ 
sideration. I have but little experience to 
offer, but what I have I give. Owing to a 
scarcity of machiues in the neighborhood, my 
oats were among the last cut, but they were 
stacked soon aud well, and so was the straw 
and I find stock eat it fairly well. A rick of 
straw was brought that was full of sunflowers 
and stock do not eat more than half of it. On 
renting au adjoining field, there were on it 
several loads of straw, the refuse of a large 
rick that had been cut the earliest of all in 
the neighborhood, and the crop was thrashed 
the first of all. This refuse straw was 
hauled out and scattered in tho pasture field. 
I did not think the stock would eat much of 
it, but, judge of my surprise, when it was 
eaten greedily. Now will tho Rural tell us 
the proper time to cut oats so that both grain 
and straw may be at their best, or if the crop 
cannot be cut so that both may be equally 
good, then when is the best time for most pros 
fit. When also the most profitable time to cut 
corn for both fodder aud the corn? More corn 
will necessarily be cut each year here, I judge. 
R. N.-Y.—Among good farmers the rule for 
cutting oats is to cut when the “kernel begins 
to harden from thj dough.” This means 
while most of the kernels are soft and milky, 
and the straw is beginning to turn from green. 
Some farmers cut their oats even before this 
stage of growth, aud feed straw and grain to¬ 
gether, without thrashing. In some of the 
larger towns at the South, stable-keepers use 
a good deal of this fodder for horses and mules 
it being hard to secure the best of hay. As 
regards the corn plant, the usual rule is to cut 
just as the kernels begin to glaze. There are 
many and various opinions on this subject, 
however, some good farmers cutting earlier 
than this. It must be said, however, that 
most of those who advocate very early cut¬ 
ting, raise the plant mainly for the fodder and 
not so much for the grain. Some elaborate 
experiments were conducted at the New 
Hampshire Experiment Station last year to 
determine this point. Four varieties of corn 
were used and samples were selected at four 
different dates for analyses. We give the av¬ 
erage of the analyses of the four varieties: 
Water. 
Dry Substance 
July 26, 
August 5, 
9U.I2 
9.88 
87.43 
12 57 
August 10, 
September 16, 
83.85 
16.15 
?4.86 
26.14 
The plants on September 16 averaged 25 
ounces in weight; of this the stalk averaged 
Ilfs ounces, and the ears six ounces. 
As a Drink in Fevers. 
Use Ilorsiord’s Acid Phosphate. 
Dr. Chas. H. S. Davis, Meriden, Conn., 
says: “I have used it as an accessory in cases 
of melancholia and nervous debility, aud as a 
pleasant aud cooling drink in fevers, aud 
have been very much pleased with it.”— Adv. 
lUisunaumtsJ gutwrtijsiing. 
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