480 
MATt 46 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the'whole Hand is used, it leaves an impres¬ 
sion. The swelling began for the first time to 
be tender a few days ago, but now it can 
barely be touched with the comb or brush. 
Otherwise the animal appears to be in good 
health, and she has a fine appetite. Her feed 
is wild hay morning and noon with oat straw 
at night, and about two quarts of good oats 
per meal. The left side of the bag is swollen, 
while the right is in a normal condition. The 
mare has done no work whatever since fall. 
What is the trouble, and how should it be 
treated ? 2. The same mare injured her cor¬ 
onet by calking it nearly two years ago, and 
when the hoof grew out, a ridge, like an old 
crack, appeared right down to the toe. I dare 
not drive her fast for fear the hoof would split. 
How should tnis trouble be treated ? Should 
the place be opened again to induce healing ? 
8. Which of the draft breeds of horses are 
the most profitable for crossing on other horses 
so as to produce animals weighing 1,300 to 
1,600 pounds ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KILBORNE. 
1. The swelling is of an anasarcous or drop¬ 
sical nature, and is not an uncommon occur¬ 
rence in the mare during the latter part of the 
period of gestation. It would be much better 
for the mare if you could work her a little 
daily. If this cannot be done, she should at 
least have some daily exercise in a large box- 
stall, or the run of a yard. Bathe the swell¬ 
ing daily with camphorated spirits, and rub it 
well with the hand or a stiff brush for 15 to 20 
minutes. Give one table-spoonful of the fol¬ 
lowing powders on feed twice daily: nitrato 
of potash, chlorate of potash and iodide of pot¬ 
ash each four ounces, pulverized nux vomica, 
one ounce; pulverized gentian root, eight 
ounces; mix. The swellings will probably 
disappear after foaling if not before. 2. It 
would not be advisable for you to open the 
cut again. You would be liable to make it 
worse rather than better. Such blemishes 
are usually permanent when once healed. 3. 
Read the articles which appear in the Rural 
from time to time, wherein the good qualities 
and desirable points ot each breed are in turn 
given. Compare the claims made for each 
breed by rival breeders. If possible examine 
each breed in person at the stables of such 
breeders. After looking the ground fairly 
over, you must be your own judge as to which 
breed will be the most profitable for your pur¬ 
poses. While you might prefer one breed, 
your neighbor might succeed better with an¬ 
other. And as to which would be the most 
profitable breed, more depends upon the 
breeder than upon the breed chosen. 
MORE ABOUT POTATOES. 
E. D. B., Cylon, Ind. —1. What potato now 
before the public gives the greatest yield re¬ 
gardless of quality? 2. What does the 
Rural think of the Green Mountain as re¬ 
gards productiveness and earliness? 3. What 
has been the largest yield on an acre ot pota¬ 
toes at the Rural Grounds? 4. What variety 
of potato should I plant with a view of ob¬ 
taining the $500 premium offered by a New 
York publishing concern? 5. What ferti¬ 
lizer concern sells the best fertilizer and how 
much should be used per acre on potatoes, to 
obtain the largest yield? 6. Which would 
give the best results—level culture or ridging 
the potatoes? 
Ans. —1. The R. N.-Y. cannot say. The fol¬ 
lowing have yielded most heavily: New 
Queen, G. W. P. Jerrard, Caribou, Maine; 
Minister, from the same; Tonhosks, from 
Theron E. Platt, Newtown, Conn.; Brownell’s 
Winner, from E. S. Brownell, Essex Junction, 
Vermont; Delaware, from J. J. H. Gregory, 
Marblehead, Mass.; Taylor, from E. D. Put- I 
ney, Brentwood, N. Y.; Early Puritan, from 
Peter Henderson & Co., N. Y.; Niagara, 
from O. H. Alexander, Charlotte, Vt.; 
Everitt, J. A. Everitt & Co., Indianapolis, 
Ind.; Summit, E. E. Stine, Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio; Cream of the Field, A. Williams, 
Homer, N. Y.; Corliss Matchless, T. Corliss, 
Lockport, N. Y.; Montreal, O. H. Alexander; 
Green Mountain, now offered in several cat¬ 
alogues; Hodgman’s Seedling, Horace K. 
Hodgman, Mason, N. H.; Nott’s Victor, R. I 
Nott, E. Charlotte, Vermont; State of Maine, 
Landreth & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa.; Late 
Beauty of Hebron or White Elephant, Rural 
Blush, Thorburn & Co., N. Y. The above 
are mentioned without regard to quality. 2. I 
It is a heavy yielder, of fair shape and fair 
quality. 3. We have never raised a full acre 
with the view to the largest yield. 4. We 
would advise Brownell’s Winner. But we do 
not know whether he will sell so many, as the 
potato is not yet in the market. We should 
next select any one or all of the following: 
State of Maine, Puritan, White Elephant, 
Green Mountain, New Queen, Summit. We I 
are assuming you cannot get the R. N.-Y. No. I 
2. 5. We should use not less than 1,000 I 
pounds to the acre of a high-grade potato I 
fertilizer. We prefer not to answer the I 
I question which firm supplies the best ferti¬ 
lizers. 6. In a light, well-drained soil we 
prefer deep planting and level culture. 
COLLECTION OF CANCELED POSTAGE STAMPS. 
C. S. B., Hillsboro, O. —^or some time 
there has been a craze hereabouts for the col¬ 
lection of old postage stamps. Some say 
there is a standing offer of $250 for a million 
canceled stamps; is that so? During a recent 
visit to New York I saw a bushel or more 
of canceled postage stamps in a window on 
Broadway; has that had anything to do with 
the craze? 
Ans. —There is a considerable number of peo¬ 
ple who collect curious things of little or no 
intrinsic value, and frequently the rivalry be¬ 
tween these “ c'Hectors” for the possession of 
something rare makes them willing to pay a 
high price for something of no real value. 
Some collect rare old books, others pistols, 
swords, hangmen’s ropes, etc., etc. In all 
cases the rarity of similar articles is the 
chief factor in regulating the price. Many 
are devoted to philately, or the collection of 
rare postage stamps, domestic or foreign, and 
high prices are often paid for some unique or 
extremely rare thing ot the kind. There are 
a number of dealers who supply these “ col¬ 
lectors” and who are ready to act as middle¬ 
men between them and the possessors of such 
curiosities,and doubtless that Broadway stamp¬ 
laden window belonged to one. For ordinary 
canceled postage stamps, however, there is no 
market. The belief that there is a standing 
offer of a certain sum for such things, which 
varies greatly in amount according to differ¬ 
ent reports, has absolutely no foundation. 
Neither is there any hospital or other charity 
which can be benefited by such collections, as 
urged by others. There is also a report that 
dishonest persons are ready to buy stamps 
for the purpose of *• washing” them; that is 
obliterating the Post Office stamp marks, 
and reselling them; but the risk of such a busi¬ 
ness is too great while the profits are too small 
from postage stamps, to induce shrewd rascal¬ 
dom to have anything to do with it. The 
collector of ordinary canceled postage stamps 
must be content with the pleasure of the hunt 
and the satisfaction of accumulation as pay¬ 
ment for the trouble incurred. 
“grain hay.” 
M. H. C. G., Johnson's , N. Y. —In the Ru¬ 
ral’s Special Report of February 23d, a cor¬ 
respondent from Wallowa County, Oregon, 
says : “Grain hay is in greater demand for 
milch cows than Timothy. People out here 
prefer grain hay for cows to anything else. 
I think that if Eastern farmers would try this 
kind of hay they would never use Timothy 
for milch cows.” What does the writer mean 
by “grain hay” and does the Rural agree 
with him as to its utihtyfor Eastern farmers ? 
Ans. —The correspondent referred to evi¬ 
dently meant by “grain hay” a grain crop 
cut and cured before the grain was fully 
formed. We have seen samples of rye hay, 
oat-hay and wheat-hay cured in this manner, 
that made excellent fodder. In many parts 
of the country oats are never thrashed, but 
are cut before fully ripe and fed out in bun¬ 
dles, grain and all. Indeed, in many dairy 
sections, oats are being fed largely in this 
way as the cost and labor of thrashing are 
saved. We should say that the value of this 
practice would be measured by the price of 
grain and straw. At the Rural Farm rye 
straw commands such a good price that it is 
wiser economy for us to let the rye mature, 
and to sell it as grain and straw and buy hay 
if need be. At a greater distance from mar¬ 
ket where straw has less value and grain is 
grown to feed, the practice of making “grain 
hay” might be profitable. We will get our 
correspondent to tell us more about his prac¬ 
tice. 
IMPROPERLY FED AILING PIGS. 
TV. S. P., Forrestville , N. Y. —I am winter¬ 
ing ten five-months-old pigs in three lots. 
About a month ago some of them became 
lame in the hind legs, and now they seem to 
be sore and stiff all over. They do not eat 
very well. They have been kept dry and 
warm, and have been fed boiled potatoes, meal 
and bran. Except this trouble they appear 
1 o be in good order. What’s the matter ? 
ANSWERED BY COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
These pigs have been confined too closely 
on a hard floor. They should go out upon the 
ground and have more exercise. Their food 
has been too heating and there has not been 
enough bone material in it. Leave the meal 
out and feed a smaller portion of potatoes. 
Make one-fourth of their food linseed-meal; one 
half of the balance middlings and one-half 
bran. Give a fourth of a pound of Epsom 
salts to each pig in the swill, every other 
day three times. Turn them out daily and 
drive them about for a half hour. One-third 
of the food of all pigs and hogs should be 
bran and linseed-meal; give salt/laily.J We 
cannot expect our pigs to stand the strain due 
to hard floors, and heavy bodies with feeble 
bones and delicate joints. It is against nature. 
We must feed for bones while our animals are 
growing and do it with the foods indicated. 
Their is no bone in fat. 
INFLUENZA IN A HORSE. 
M. M., Fergus Falls, Minn. —A fortnight 
ago one of my horses got a shiver just as he 
was led out to be hitched up. I put him back 
in the stable and blanketed him. The next 
day he refused feed and could not drink. He 
kept his head stiffly forward, the tendons felt 
hard ; there may have been a little swelling 
in the larynx ; the fever was not very high. 
We have no veterinary surgeon here and; I 
put some wet pack around his throat and neck 
and gave bran-mash, warm drink and carrots. 
The fever is over, the swelling has gone down 
and he drinks all right; but he does not show 
any appetite, is weak and there is a muco¬ 
purulent discharge from both nostrils and he 
has a kind of snorting cough, or may be it is 
hawking. I tried some gentian, calamus and 
sulph-ferros on his feed, but then he will 
not take the feed. Is it influenza or catarrh, 
and what should I do to Dring him in good 
condition and stop the discharge, which comes 
most after he has been led around a little. 
Ans. —The symptoms indicate influenza. 
Steam the nostrils each night by feeding a hot 
bran mash. Give as a drink night and morn¬ 
ing, one ounce each of liquor of acetate of 
ammonia and sweet spirits of nitre, and 25 
drops of tincture of belladonna. Later give 
ounce doses of powdered gentian root and 
ginger, or two-dram doses of powdered nux 
vomica if the appetite does not return. Feed 
some green food, or roots or potatoes, once or 
twice daily if convenient. 
A WEAK-LEGGED COW. 
H. A. A., Droumville, R. I. —A cow of 
mine dropped her calf over a fortnight ago, 
and since then she has been growing weaker 
in her legs, so that at times she has to be help¬ 
ed up. She seems to be well in other ways; 
except that while she eats hay and roots very 
well, she refuses grain, wet or dry. She didn’t 
eat grain well last summer so that I had to 
stop giving it to her in August and Septem¬ 
ber. She had corn stalks with corn on the 
ear while she was dry—all she would eat—and 
was in flue condition at the time of calving; 
but I.think she has been growing weak in the 
legs for months. How should she be treated? 
Ans.— Give one-half ounce each of liquor of 
acetate of ammonia and sweet spirits of niter, 
three times daily, then night and morning for 
three days give one tea-spoonful of pulverized 
nux vomica on the feed. Increase the dose 
by one tea-spoonful every three days. Con¬ 
tinue for 10 to 15 days if necessary. Reduce 
the dose if twitching of the muscles occurs. 
Perhaps you have overfed on grain. After 
the cow recovers, feed a reduced ration, which 
should consist in part of light shipstuff or 
middlings and little or no com. Feed only so 
much as she will readily eat at each feeding. 
LAMENESS IN A HORSE. 
H. S., Plainville, Conn. —One of my horses 
became lame in one foot. It kept growing 
worse. At first she appeared to be better 
after traveling some distance; later she was 
so lame that I had to keep her in the stable. 
The muscles of the shoulder appeared stiff. 
Thinking the trouble was in the foot, I band¬ 
aged the hoof and applied cold water. There 
was some heat in the region of the large pas¬ 
tern bone. Since applying cold water the heat 
has gone down into the foot, which now feels 
soft and watery at the coronet or around the 
top part of hoof. There is some stiffness in 
the loins. What should be the treatment? 
Ans. —You give no symptomsas to the posi¬ 
tion of the lame member when standing, or 
the action during movement; without a care¬ 
ful description of such symptoms we cannot 
locate or judge of the character of the lame¬ 
ness. If we attempt to do so, from the des¬ 
cription given, any course of treatment ad¬ 
vised would necessarily lie equally vague and 
general. 
FOUNDER IN AN OX. 
II. J. B., Birmingham, Conn.— My ox, 
which has been used hauling loads over a bad 
hilly road, is lame, being stiff in the fore legs 
and hardly able togetoutof the stable. Some 
say the trouble is due to “holding back” com¬ 
ing down hills ; others say he is foundered. 
What does the Rural say, and how should he 
be treated ? 
Ans.— The trouble is probably not due to 
the “holding back.” Such stiffness frequently 
occurs as the result of founder or a chill, and 
this is very likely the cause in the present 
case. Give the or a purgative to open the 
bowels—two pounds each of Epsom and com¬ 
mon salts, and two ouuces of ginger, to be 
given as a drench. Follow by a restricted, 
laxative diet and daily exercise in a box-stall 
or small yard. Rub the limbs once or twice a 
week with a mild liniment. 
THE RURAL’S WAY OF PLANTING POTATOES. 
A. C. L., Windfall, Ind. —What, in brief, 
is the Rural’s method of planting potatoes, 
and which is the better application—stable 
manure or well rotted straw? 
Ans. —We must refer our friend to previous 
numbers for a full explanation of the R. N - 
Y.’s method. Briefly, plow or spade the land 
10 inches deep. Harrow or rake level. Then 
dig the trenches a foot wide and six inches 
deep. Rake in one or two inches of soil. Set 
the pieces one foot apart. Cover lightly. 
Spread the fertilizer. Fill the trenches. This 
for garden culture. If manure alone is to be 
used, spade it under. Stable manure is far 
better than the straw. 
WEAK-ANKLED COLT. 
./. M. P., Suffolk Co., N. Y .—My two-year- 
old filly knuckles badly in her fore ankles. 
The joints slip backward and forward when 
she walks, so tnat her tore legs are of very 
little use to her. If she takes any exercise, 
she becomes lame. The short pasterns are 
very straight and the ankle doesn’t slant back 
as it generally does. What should be the 
treatment? 
Ans. —Apply the following liniment to the 
fetlock once daily. Hard soap, one ounce; 
cut up and dissolved in one pint of proof spirit 
then add one ounce of camphor gum and two 
ounces each of aqua ammonia and swtet oil. 
Shake well before using. 
JOHNSON GRASS. 
L. C. S., Bainbridge, Ohio .—Has Johnson 
grass been tested in this climate? A Southern 
friend has recommended it. 
Ans.— The Rural New-Yorker began 
testing it about eight years ago. It was also 
raised at the Kansas Agricultural College, at 
Manhattan, by Prof. Shelton. He condemns 
it as inferior to many otner torage plants. 
The roots are nearly hardy at the Rural 
Grounds with protection, The original little 
plantation is still alive. 
Miscellaneous. 
C. C. N., Cambridge, Neb .—Will different 
varieties of potatoes planted side by side 
“mix?” 
Ans.—N o; potatoes can not mix except/ 
through the blossom and true seed. 
J. A. B., Butler Center, N. Y .—At what 
time shall I cut apple tree grafts? 
Ans. —At any time when they are not froz¬ 
en, before the hud3 swell. They may he pre¬ 
served in sand m a cool cellar. 
C. N. R., Canton, Pa .—Would it injure a 
high-grade fertilizer, with S. C. rock as a 
base, to mix gypsum with it* 
Ans. —No. It would not harm the fertilizer 
in any way. Neither would it add to its 
value. 
W. F. G., Cleveland, N. Y —1. What does 
the Rural know about the Erie blackberry? 
2. If the Rural were about to set out some 
blackberries, what varieties would it select? 
Ans.— 1. It is thought to be the Lawton or 
New Rochelle. 2. We should try Agawam 
and Dorchester. 
E. M. D., Walden, N. Y. —1. When seed po¬ 
tatoes have sprouted, does it kill their vitality 
to break off the sprouts? 2. Who publishes a 
weekly or monthly paper devoted exclusively 
to horses? 
Ans.— 1. Every sprout weakens the potato. 
2. The Horseman, 1S2 State Street, Chicago, 
Ill.; weekly; subscription price, $4 per year. 
N. R., Creswell, Col. —Should potatoes in¬ 
fested with wire-worms or scabby potatoes be 
planted at all ? 
Ans. —It would make no difference. Shabby 
potatoes are just as good for seed as any others 
unless they are too much injured by the scab. 
The beetles do not deposit eggs in or upon the 
potatoes at all. 
M. L. F., New Hurley, N. Y .—What force- 
pump and nozzle will do the best work in 
spraying grape-vines with the Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture for black rot or mildew ? 
Ans. —Prof. A. J. Cook who has given care¬ 
ful Ptudy to the matter,mentions the following; 
Perfection Force Pump with Perfection Noz¬ 
zle. This runs with gearing, cost $30. Field 
Force Pump Co. (Lockport, N. Y.), Large force 
hand pump, same firm; Nixon Pump Co., 
Dayton, Ohio. He prefers the Perfection and 
Nixon nozzles. 
J. B. G., Spokane Bridge, Washington .— 
A year ago, just after a very cold snap, I 
found a one-year-old colt very lame. He was 
running on the range, so I took him home and 
placed him in a warm stable. He grew worse 
for a few days and had to be holped up and 
