DEC 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
is of a light color and crumbly in texture. 
The following table gives the analyses of the 
feeding substances mentioned and relative 
money values, with corn at 25 cents per 
bushel: 
album!- carbo- 
noids hydrates fat value. 
Corn per cent, 
10.0 
(52.1 
0.5 
.45 
Oats, 
12.0 
55.7 
(5.0 
.28 
Wheat bran, 
12.9 
59.1 
8.5 
.40 
Buckwheat bran, 
17.1 
4(5.4 
4.4 
.44 
Prairie hay, 
7.5 
88 2 
1 5 
.19 
Prairie hay i? a 
poor food as regards ( 
•arbo- 
naceous matters 
which 
are spec 
•ially 
valu- 
able for use in cold weather, as they furnish 
fuel, so to sj>eak, to support the animal heat, 
and are burned in the system quite as much 
as fuel is in a stove. Hence corn would be 
useful to mix with it, and as buckwheat bran 
is much richer in albuminoids than corn, and 
these substances are required for making 
milk, it would be advisable to mix this with 
the corn in equal quantity. Thus a fair ration 
for a cow of 1,000 or 1,200 pounds live weight, 
with all the prairie hay and corn fodder she 
would eat, would be four pounds each of corn 
and buckwheat bran ground together as finely 
as possible. This feeding would provide 
sufficient nutriment for ordinary milking if 
the cows are sheltered from storms and se¬ 
vere cold. 
FEED FOR DRY COWS AND COLTS. 
L. C, S., Lucyville , Pa .—My stock consists 
of cows and a pair of colts coming three yeurs 
old. I have as feed wheat straw and corn 
fodder with corn for a grain ration. At the 
mill where I get my corn ground 1 can ex¬ 
change corn for wheat bran,pound for pound* 
how much bran had I better mix with 100 
pounds of corn meal, and how much of the 
mixture should be fed each day to an ordin¬ 
ary cow which is not giving milk, as she is 
‘•coining in” early in the spring? Will it 
pay to get the corn ground for colts? How 
much corn and bran should each have daily ? 
2. Can corn be kept too dry for germina¬ 
tion? 
ANSWERED »Y HENRY STEWART. 
In ti e table given elsewhere it is seen that 
wheat bran is worth a little less in money 
value than corn, but it has a great advantage 
over corn in the amount of phosphoric acid it 
contains, which is not taken account of in the 
estimation of the feeding values. From long 
experience in feeding bran L am satisfied that 
this element of it—which goes to make bone 
in young arimals, and is exceedingly valu¬ 
able for colts and cows giving milk—gives it 
an additional value over corn, and I am now 
buying bran largely for feeding colts and 
young cattle at a little more than corn is 
worth, so that it would be economy to ex¬ 
change corn for bran and to feed equal quan¬ 
tities of each. A dry cow should have three 
or four pounds of the ^mixed meal and bran 
daily. It will hardly pay to grind corn for 
colts, as they have good teeth and can digest 
grain vigorously. Three-year-old colts will 
usefully consume three pounds of bran and 
three quarts of corn daily with bay and straw. 
.1. Heed corn cannot be kept too dry. The 
drier it is the more perfectly dormant the 
germ will remain, until it is sown when it 
will germinate vigorously and few failures 
will occur. Freezing does not hurt anything 
that is dry and dry corn will take no harm by 
exposuroto the cold. 
CELERY CULTURE, ETC. 
W. C., Cortland , N. Y. —1, What kinds of 
early and late celery are best for the New 
York and Philadelphia markets? What kind 
of fertilizers should be used and how? In 
sowing broadcast, would 1,000 pounds {ter 
acre be enough to get a good crop of celery ? 
Would it be profitable to increase the amount 
of superphosphate to 2,000 pounds per acre? 
What is the average amount used by celery 
growers? 2, What is the address of some re¬ 
liable commission merchant, who will handle 
celery in New York City ? Who raises celery 
in Horseheads, N. Y.? 2, What is a good 
book treating of celery culture? 
Ans.— 1 ( White Plume for early and Golden 
Heart for main or late crop. Growers around 
New York usually sow about the middle of 
April. We get a good deal of our earliest 
celery from Kalamazoo, Mich., because most 
of our growers here do not find it profitable 
to have celery in the market in July and 
August on account of the crop being very 
liable to run to flower early or havo its leaves 
rusted; besides, they grow celery as a second 
crop, that is, to succeed peas, potatoes, cauli¬ 
flowers, or other early vegetables. The 
proper artificial manure and how much of it 
to use depend much upon the nature and con¬ 
dition of the soil. Better try a high-grade com¬ 
plete fertilizer in liberal quantity in the drill. 
Borne of our gardeners here use barnyard 
manure and spread it broadcast for the spring 
crop, and thou again in summer m the drill 
for the] celery. Market bunches generally 
contain a dozen roots in each; the price is 
variable. 2. B. H. & E. H. Frost, 100 
Park Place; or E. & O. Ward, 219 Washing¬ 
ton St., N. Y. 2, Peter Henderson’s Garden¬ 
ing for Profit treats of celery culture, among 
many other things, in an excellent manner. 
Price. *1.25 To be bad of Peter Henderson & 
Co., 25 and 27 Cortland St., N. Y. 
CAN OATS TURN TO RYE?' 
A. H. II ., Brooklyn, N. I.—In Vestiges of 
the Natural History of Creation, an English 
work of high authority, I find the following 
passage: “It appears that whenever oats 
sown at the usual time, are kept cropped down 
during summer and autumn, and allowed to 
remain over the winter, a thin crop of rye is 
the harvest presented at the close of the ensu¬ 
ing summer. This experiment has been tried 
repeatedly with but one result.” How does 
that agree with the experience of the Rural 
which has spent so many years and dollars in 
hybridizing wheat and rye? AVill the rye pro¬ 
duced as above described continue rye when 
sown in other years, or will it revert back to 
oats? 
Ans. Yes, the rye seed will remain true 
rye until the end of time in so far as we know 
or believe. The “light crop of rye” comes 
from the need of rye either sown or dropped 
by birds. The oats have nothing to do with 
the rye one way or the other. 
Miscellaneous. 
C. M. fi., (No address .)—Would hay from 
an orchard in which the trees were sprayed 
with Paris-green be likely to injure stock to 
which it is fed? What proportion of Paris- 
green should be used with a given quantity 
of water? 
Ans. —We havo never heard of a case whero 
stock were injured by eating such hay. 
Four ounces of the Paris-green to 40 gallons 
of water will make a mixture strong enough, 
II. A., Charlton , Mass .—What is the 
best tool to be used in transplanting small 
plants, from half an inch to an inch high? 
Ans.—A small stick like a lead pencil is 
what is commonly used. This stick may be 
large or small, blunt-ended or pointed or flat¬ 
tened, to suit the work or fancy of the work¬ 
man. Borne gardeners use the pointed end of 
a narrow wooden label, or the pointed end of 
the handle of a budding knife. There is no 
special tool for the purpose. 
M. F. R., Conhury , Ont. —1. A number of 
my apple trees are dying from the attacks of 
bark lice; what can I do for them? 2. What 
are the earliest and best sorts of tomatoes for 
market? 
Ans. —1. Beale insects, it is assumed, are 
alluded to. The best remedy is the kerosene 
emulsion sprayed on the trees in early spring 
and again later. Scrubbing the bark in 
winter with a scrubbing brush, either with or 
without an insecticide, is tedious, laborious 
work, and, ns the R. N.-Y. thinks, does not 
pay. But in the active larval stuge, the 
kerosene emulsion sprayed npon the trees 
through the Cyclone or Climax nozzle, is 
quite effective. Beale insects are often the 
evidence that the land needs draining or 
manure. 2. Perfection, Acme, and Optimus 
tomatoes are as good as any. 
G. W. S., Parisville, N. F.,—1, What is 
the method of determining the amount of fat 
in milk, devised by Mr. Short, of the Wiscon¬ 
sin, E. B.? 2. Will it pay me to draw saw¬ 
dust or shavings four and a-half miles to be 
used as absorbents behind cows? 8. Would 
broken corn-cobs from a sheller bo a good ab¬ 
sorbent as compnrod with sawdust and shav¬ 
ings? 
Ans. —1. You will fiud a very full account 
of this process on page 4fil of this year’s vol¬ 
ume cf the .Rural. The process is fully de¬ 
scribed and the implements needed are pictur¬ 
ed. The process was originated by Prof. F. 
C. Bhort, whose address is Madison, Wis., who 
issued a pamphlet on the subject, Bulletin No. 
1(5 of the Wisconsin E. B. 2. The profit will 
be determined entirely by the value to you 
of the labor and time needed to haul the saw¬ 
dust. 8. The sawdust will\make by far the 
better absorbent. 
DISCUSSION. 
HALT AS AN ANTIDOTE FOR POTATO SCAR. 
Prof. F. H. Storeii.— On page 810 a corre¬ 
spondent speaks of an experiment mudo w*ith 
spraying potato hills with brine. It is a very 
old belief that a part of the benefit sometimes 
obtained on applying common suit to crops, or 
by using saline fertilizers, should be attribu¬ 
ted to the power of these chemical substances 
to destroy insects and the grubs of insects, 
worms, slugs, and fungi. Numerous special 
instances describing such action, particularly 
as regards salt, have been reported from time 
to time by agricultural and horticultural 
writers. There can hardly any longer bo a 
doubt that some kinds of easily soluble fertil¬ 
izers, when fitly applied, may do excellent 
service by clearing the land of creatures in¬ 
jurious to vegetation; and severul observers 
have insisted—like the Rural correspondent 
—that it is best to apply the salt as a solution 
rather than to strew dry salt upon the land; 
for brine will quickly soak into the soil and so 
find opportunity to act as an inseticide before 
it has become too much diluted by the 
soil water; whereas, any particles of solid 
salt would be apt to dissolve but slowly 
and the solution thus gradually formed would 
naturally be diluted by the soil water to such 
an extent that only an extremely dilute liquor 
would pass down into the earth. But there is 
no reason for supposing that common salt has 
any peculiar merit in this regard. On the 
contrary, when salt is spoken of as a germi¬ 
cide, or as an insecticide, the question immedi¬ 
ately arises, why not use a real fertilizer in¬ 
stead of the salt, and so kill two birds with 
one stone? For example, there is every 
reason to believe that muriate of potash 
would serve as well as common salt to kill 
the pests, whilo it would act as a fertilizer 
into the bargain, and charge the land with 
potash for the use of future crops. Better 
yet, a true superphosphate, rich in soluble 
phosphcric acid, might clear the land of 
grubs as a mere incident to its use ns a fertil¬ 
izer. Of late years, attention has been re¬ 
peatedly called to the exceptionally fine ap¬ 
pearance of potatofs grown by means of 
superphosphate, potash salts, and nitrate 
of soda, without the use of any farm-yard 
manure, and it seems plain on the face of the 
matter that the smoothness of tho potatoes 
grown with artificial fertilizers is often due 
to the destruction of grubs (or fungi) which 
would have caused scab if they had been suf 
fered to remain in the land. It may also be 
true, as many persons have supposid, that tho 
hurtful grubs are often actually brought by 
the farmer to his potato field in the manure 
which he applies to it. 
sweet potatoes and the trench system. 
M. B. P., Henderson, N. C —“What do I 
think of the trench system for growing sweet 
potatoes?” Theory can carry but little weight 
unless sustained by experience. Bo far as I 
know, we as yet have only the former on 
this subject; but l purpose to put it in practice 
next year, and I will say, in advance, that 1 
have very little faith to start with. The 
sweet and Irish potatoes being in no way re¬ 
lated, and growing in ways entirely different, 
I think the trench system unproductive of 
any such grand results with the sweet. Pos¬ 
sibly an incronso in size may be obtained, but 
an increase in numbers, never. However it 
is to be hoped many Rural readers will try 
it and report. 
SCHOOL BOOKS AT LAST. 
E. K. M., Rkxford, Kans.— I think the 
Rural’s proposal in regard to the preparation 
of text books for our schools more feasible 
than any other proposition I have heard. 
Every one who has to buy school books knows 
that ho has to pay out tnore money for them 
than is of any benefit to him or any one else 
except to a host of publishers. The farmers 
growl, but don’t bite. As Kansas is right to 
the front in educational matters, let’s see if 
she won’t bo the first to indorse and profit 
by this proposition. 
The New Commissioner of Agriculture. 
—Now that the political situation is fixed for 
the next four years, the various agricultural 
journals, strongly urged thereto by a knowl¬ 
edge of tho necessities of the case, are pro¬ 
posing the names of several leading farmers 
as the next Commissioner of Agriculture. 
Reform in the Agricultural Department at 
Washington is urgently needed, says the N. Y. 
Times. The administration of the seed depart¬ 
ment is a byword and a reproach. During 
several past terras the facts known to many 
persons have been convincing as to much 
moral turpitude on the part of some ollicial 
or other in regard to tho seed business. Re¬ 
putable seed dealers cannot do business with 
the department, and respectable farmers con¬ 
sider the gift of the worthless seeds long out 
of date and of the off-scourings of the seed 
stores as a reproach upon their intelligence 
and self-respect. With a reputable, compe¬ 
tent, representative farmer filling tho office of 
Commissioner, there would certainly be no 
more dead or antiquated seeds, spoiled by 
mice and mixed with foul weeds, distributed 
to farmers; nor would sqch wretched stuff be 
purchased at four times the market value of 
good, fresh, true, and clean seeds. There 
would be no waste of public money and some¬ 
thing would be done to make the department 
practically useful. 
Ashes of Corn-Cobs for Animals.— Our 
readers have been informed of the lack of ash 
elements in the grain of corn, and how impor¬ 
tant these are for building up tho bones of 
our farm animals. Tho Breeder’s Gazette says 
that one thousand bushels of corn will yield 
something like 12,000 pounds of dry cob*, 
which if burned will give somewhat over 200 
pounds of pure ashes. Of course, if theco v sare 
not completely burnod tho charcoal in the 
ashes will increase the weight a little above 
the figures here given. Of these 200 pounds of 
ashes about three-fifths of the total weight is 
potash and five per cent, phosphoric acid. 
Tho common belief that the ashes of corn¬ 
cobs are very rich and valuable is warranted 
by chemical analysis. Now, since corn, 
which lacks ash elements, is tho common food 
for hogs in the West ought it not naturally to 
follow that tho prudent farmer should care¬ 
fully save all the ashes accumulating at this 
season and hold them in readiness to be fed 
to his swine? The alkali of ashes proves most 
valuable with fattening hogs in correcting 
acidity of the stomach, and no one can doubt 
their value who will take pains to feed them 
to such animals and observe the avidity with 
which they are consumed. This intense de¬ 
sire of growing and fattening pigs for ashes 
will bo promptly gratified by the careful 
feeder, who knows that all parts of the an¬ 
imal frame must be built up equally and si¬ 
multaneously if the best growth and gain are 
to be secured. 
Bird Slaughter. —The senseless slaughter 
of the most beautiful and useful birds to form 
ornaments for hats and bonnets still goes on. 
Thousands upon thousands of these creatures 
are slain, not as food, but merely to gratify 
female vanity. Tho extent to which this de¬ 
struction is carried on surpasses belief. It was 
well illustrated by the letter of a well-known 
naturalist which appeared in Tho Field of last 
week. Walking down one street in London 
he saw displayed in a window nearly two 
hundred birds made into what are called orna¬ 
ments for ladies’ hats. No group of birds 
was spared. Bong birds, such as the gold¬ 
finches, the blackbirds, and the thrushes, 
wore mingled with bullfinches and larks. 
Edible birds, useful for tho food of man, such 
as quails, were there; whilo numbers of terns, 
shot while in their breeding plumage, their 
young having been loft in their nests to perish 
miserably of slow starvation, wore displayed 
with rare visitants to our shoros, such as the 
beautiful hoopoe and tho wax wing. Many of 
the species had been daubed with paint or 
dyed with hideous aniline colors to make 
them more attractive to the vulgar taste of 
tho women who wear them. The greater 
part of t ie birds enumerated by the natura¬ 
list wore shown whole, but flattened and dis¬ 
torted in shape, with glaring rod eyos which 
protruded most unnaturally. In addition to 
these, there were tho parts of hundreds of 
birds. 
That animals must be killed for the food and 
covering of mankind is admitted by all, but 
that useful and beautiful creatures, which 
gratify us by their song, delight us by their 
beauty, and benefit us by tho destruction of 
injurious insects, should bo destroyed as they 
are by hundreds of thousands, merely to pan¬ 
der to inordinate vanity, is not a circumstance 
that any right-minded person is likely to con¬ 
template with satisfaction. 
Hints to Dairymen.— N. Y. Dairy Com. 
Brown, summing up the experiences of 
dairymen who met at tho Utica Conference 
last summer, says that nothing is better for 
either butter or cheese making than the nat¬ 
ural grasses of our pastures. Grass is always 
a complete food. In summer it may be sup¬ 
plemented with extra food—for instance, 
three parts of wheat bran, one of corn meal 
and one of cotton seed or linseed meal, by 
weight. Oats and corn, ground and mixed, 
make excellent food for improving tho quanti¬ 
ty and quality of milk. If peas could be mix¬ 
ed with it, the ration would bo improved. 
The first ration named is the best calculated 
to produce the richest|milk. A strong ration 
would be four pounds of bran, two of cotton 
or linseed meal and two of corn-meal. Half 
of this ration, fed daily during the milking 
season, will lie found to keep up tho flow of 
milk, increase the yield of butter, and keep 
the cows in a thrifty and fine condition, espec¬ 
ially where the pasture is reduced. When 
there is a scarcity of food in tho fields, it is 
obvious that to got a flow of milk and to keep 
up a profitable income from the cows, extra 
food of some kind must be provided. No 
perfect article of either butter or cheese can 
be madeVhen the cows driUK stale water, or 
