4889 
THi RURAL WIW-YORKIR. 
497 
escape so well. I fed from this moldy place 
this morning on purpose to see if the stock 
would eat it. The sheep sniffed at it rather 
daintily,but the cows ate it as well, seemingly, 
as any part of the mow. Along the front of 
the mow it is discolored somewhat, but on the 
back side and ends it looks as fresh almost as 
when it was placed there. I am thoroughly 
pleased with this way of managing corn fod¬ 
der, and shall never handle it in bundles 
again. I had a few loads husked by hand be¬ 
fore the machine came, and it seems more of 
a nuisance than ever after feeding this pre¬ 
pared fodder. 
TREATMENT OB’ GULLIED, LEACHY HILL-SIDE: 
A HOME-MADE HAY PRESS. 
J. W. F., Pike Co., III. —1,1 have just taken 
a hilly piece of land on which the hill-sides 
have been washed imo big ditches some of 
them 20 feet deep. Some of them are close 
together. The soil is a light clay very easily 
washed. Brush and straw are very scarce; 
what is the best way to bring the field into 
grass, or make it tillable. The land has been 
abused till the life seems to have been knocked 
out of it. 2. Is there any hay press for $25 or 
under for farm use ? 
Ans. —1, Deep plowing will prevent)washing 
by affording sufficient absorbent soil to take 
in the water. The land in such a case should 
be plowed across the slope to avoid making 
channels for the water to gather. A plan 
that would no doubt put the land in question 
in good order again would be as follows. 
Plow the gullies from top to bottom, begin¬ 
ning at the middle and finishing at the sides. 
One horse may be used by employing a light 
hill-side or swivel plow and going back md 
forth. When the sides are reached the pro¬ 
cess is repeated until the hollows are fined as 
nearly as may be; then the other land should 
be plowed with the same plow, beginning at 
the bottom and going back and forth. Then 
sow clover, with oats or millet or buckwheat, 
to afford some resistance to the heavy rain 
until the clover has taken a stand. After the 
clover has stood a year or two, the land 
should be plowed again wholly across the 
slopes, if possible, and sown to Orchard grass 
and clover and Blue-grass seed may be sown 
with these; Red-top would make a substitute 
for the Blue grass if thought more desirable. 
Such lana should be kept in grass, and 
Orchard grass and Blue grass are the most 
permanent varieties for this kind of soil. 2. 
No hay press in the market can be bought for 
$25, but a very good one can be made by any 
carpenter, to be worked with a lever with 
pawl and ratchet-wheel to raise the bottom of 
the press. The sides of the press must have open¬ 
ings in the proper places to put in the wires 
for biuding ; strong tarred strings may be 
used, that could be saved for another season 
and are not dangerous as wires are. 
WHEAT BRAN AND BUCKWHEAT BRAN FOR 
MILCH COWS. 
W. W. S., Denton, Mich. —Which is the 
cheaper feed for milch cows—wheat bran at 
$15 per ton or buckwheat bran—with mid¬ 
dlings—at $13 ? My coarse feed is drilled corn, 
some of which is heavily loaded wiih ripe 
ears, run through a cutting box and mixed 
with a little cut straw. I also give one feed a 
day of bright hay. I am feeding from six to 
eight pounds of bran per day. Is that amount 
enough for a 1,000-pound cow giving a full 
flow of milk, cream being the object? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
Buckwheat bran is a nutritious feed and so 
are the middlings of this grain; but this feed 
makes a poor quality of butter. Wheat bran 
is a better food for cows although it bears a 
less proportionate value than buckwheat bran 
in the ratio of $1.01 to $1.15 per 100 pounds 
for its nutritive elements; but it has better re¬ 
sults in regard to the quality of the butter, 
this being of a better color and texture. With 
the corn in the fodder, six to eight pounds of 
bran per day are quite sufficient, if the corn— 
which is whole—is all digested. This, how¬ 
ever, is doubtful, judging from experience in 
feeding such fodder or whole corn. Whatever 
com passes through the animal is, of course, 
wlisted; hence I would suggest that four 
pounds of corn-meal and four pounds of bran 
should be given rather than eight pounds of 
bran. Under similar circumstances I have 
found this the best feeding for cows kept for 
cream and butter. The coarse food is excel¬ 
lent except for the objection in regard to the 
escape of some of the grain in it from diges¬ 
tion. 
GRASSES FOR PERMANENT PASTURE: OAT 
CHAFF AS FEED. 
if. K. A., New Providence, Pa. —1. I want 
to plow a piece of ground and sow on it oats for 
a permanent pasture. Clover soon freezes out 
and Timothy soon dies out. A part of it is up- 
laud, and a part of it sometimes wet. 2. Wil* 
oat chaff injure a horse if mixed with chop 
and made wet. 
Ans. —1. For permanent pasture mixed 
grasses are more desirable than any one kind. 
But as some of the best grasses do not reach 
their best stage the first year it is better to 
sow some clover—say, six or eight pounds with 
six of Timothy, 18 of Orchard grass and 12 of 
Red-top, which would make a good mixture for 
both dry and moist land. From the fact that 
this land freezes out the clover and most prob¬ 
ably the Timothy, it evidently needs drainage. 
This might bo afforded by plowing it in flat 
lands four rods wide, with open furrows be¬ 
tween them; these furrows should be plowed 
twice, and deepened, and made broad so that a 
wagon would pass over them easily, and they 
would, if'plowed right as to the slope, carry off 
the surface water. 2. Oat chaff is more nu¬ 
tritious than any other kind of chaff, being 
softer and more digestible. It has no in¬ 
jurious properties, and horses eat it very 
readily; but it would be better eaten if a little 
cut hay were mixed with it. The only objec¬ 
tion to its use as mentioned is that when wet 
and mixed with chop, or coarse grain feed, it 
would be swallowed without sufficient masti¬ 
cation, and ferment in the stomacffand cause 
indigestion and a fit of colic. 
SEEDING TO GRASS ON AN “OLD FIELD.” 
Subscriber, Elva, Va. —How can the best 
grasses and clover be grown on an “old field” 
without plowing and sowing with a grain 
crop ? Will it do to harrow the existing coarse 
grass thoroughly,sow 400 pounds of bone-dust 
per acre, then sow the grass and clover seed 
and roll ? 
Ans. —Grass and clover require as good 
preparation of the soil as any other crop, if 
not a better one. We consider grass and 
clover, or either alone, the most important 
and valuable of all crops, and for this reason, 
if not for the fact that they insist upon it, the 
best preparation should be made for them. 
It is impossible to get a satisfactory stand in 
the manner suggested. Our plan would be to 
plow the land, turning under the present 
coarse growth, make the soil fine and com¬ 
pact by thorough harrowing with a light 
sloping-tooth harrow, or one that cuts rather 
them tears the surface, so as to avoid disturb¬ 
ing the sod; and sow a peck o clover seed 
and the same of Timothy or two bushels of 
Orchard-grass seed, without any grain crop. 
This should be done as early as possible. A 
plank drag to smooth the surface and cover 
the seed, or the light sloping-tooth harrow 
would finish the work. In the fall there 
would be a good growth that might be pas¬ 
tured down and a full crop of hay the next 
season. Orchard grass would make a meadow 
that would last many years with an occasion¬ 
al top-dressing of manure and a little fresh 
seed now and then. 
WOOL WASTE FOR BEDDING AND MANURE. 
P. G., Oswego Falls, N. P.—Is wool waste 
good bedding for horses and cows? What is 
the best way to use it, and with what 'should 
it be mixed to make a complete fertilizer? 
top of the mercurial column. The pressure of 
the atmosphere, being greater than the 
weight of the mercurial column, it has pushed 
the latter up and holds it in its present 
position. It can be set right only by an ex¬ 
pert implement maker. Guiseppe Tagliabue, 
302 Pearl St., New York City, can do the job 
in first-rate style. 
HOW TO FIND THE NUMBER OF BUSHELS OF 
CORN IN A CORN CRIB. 
L. H. W., Welcome, W. Va. —How many 
bushels of corn in a crib 25x6x6 feet? 
Ans. —361 shelled or 722 unshelled. A rule 
is to find number of cubic inches in the crib 
and divide by the number of cubic inches in a 
bushel. In this problem we would have 25x6 
x6xl ,728 = 1,555,200, divided by 2,150.4 = 722. 
It is customary to allow one-half for the cobs, 
so that to find the bushels of shelled corn we 
would divide by the number of cubic inches 
in two bushels-4,300.8. Another rule some¬ 
times used is to multiply the number of cubic 
feet in the bin by four and mark off the right- 
hand figure. This gives the number of bush¬ 
els of shelled corn. 
THE NEW QUEEN POTATO. 
S. M. B., North Cohocton, N. Y. —Is G.W.P. 
Jerrard’s New Queen potato so much better 
than the Early Beauty of Hebron as to justify 
an ordinary farmer in paying the difference 
in price for seed for a field crop this year? 
Ans. —Here is the R. N.-Y.’s report not 
hitherto published:—New Queen; from Geo. 
W. P. Jerrard, Caribou, Maine. Two pieces 
gave a yield (in two hills) of 10 pounds in our 
rich garden soil, which is at the rate of 1,210 
bushels to the acre. There were 21 large; 
four small tubers. Light skin, medium in 
length, cylindrical, shapely. Eyes not deep. 
Quality not tried. 
SODA ASH AS A FERTILIZER. 
E. S. L., Buffalo, la.— Has soda ash any 
value as a fertilizer ? 
Ans —Professor Collier, Director of the 
New York Experiment Station, at Geneva, to 
whom this question was referred for an an¬ 
swer, writes us: “We are at present experi¬ 
menting with soda ash, and hope to be able to 
speak concerning it from results of personal 
experience soon. It is not unlikely that 
through a chemical action upon the soil con- 
stitutents it might prove a very valuable in¬ 
direct fertilizer.” 
GLUTEN MEAL. 
W. S. H., Easton, Pa. —What is gluten 
meal? 
Ans. —Gluten meal is the refuse from starch 
or glucose factories. It contains the hull and 
germ of corn with a portion of the starch. 
As the hull contains all the fat of the grain 
and the germ contains most of the nitrogen, 
it will be readily seen that gluten meal is a 
nutritious and healthful food for stock. 
Miscellaneous. 
J. B. D., Eldred, Pa.— Last year I seeded 
about five acres to clover and Timothy with 
oats, using fertilizer at the rate of 300 pounds 
to the acre. The land being somewhat run 
down, I got a very poor stand. I have cov¬ 
ered it with stable manure and intend to sow 
more grass seed; had I better sow it now on 
the snow or wait until the ground dries, and 
run the harrow over it. 
Ans.—W e would prefer the latter. 
D. L. O., Logansport, Ind. —1. What is the 
best practical work on carp culture? 2. What 
is the best work of moderate cost on the dis¬ 
eases of domestic animals and their treatment, 
for non-professional use? 
Ans. —Send to the United States Fish Com¬ 
missioner for the pamphlets printed by the 
Government. 2. Law’s Farmers’ Veterinary 
Adviser; price $3. To be obtained from Pro¬ 
fessor James Law, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y. 
A. L. R., Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. —Will 
the Agricultural College of Michigan accept 
students residing outside the State ? If so, un¬ 
der what conditions ? Though a surveyor and 
engineer, I am a great lover of farm life. I 
was reared on a farm and have one of my 
own. There is a great opening here for true 
farming. There is too much haphazard farm¬ 
ing all through tbe great West. I now seek a 
place where I can prepare myself for the work 
and better management of a farm ? 
Ans.— Agricultural College P. O., Ingham 
Co.. Michigan, is the address of this college. 
Students are admitted from any State or 
country. The examinations are alike for all. 
J. W., Sand Lake, N. Y .—I have 60 hens 
in a hennery 13x14 feet. In spite of warmth 
and good care 1 can get only from three to 
eight eggs a day. The hennery is cleaned 
twice a week,warm water is given to the hens 
each day, and they get warmed corn for the 
first meal, and boiled potatoes mixed with 
meal at 4 p. m. Oats and bone-dust are some¬ 
times fed, and a dust-bath is provided. The 
birds look in fine health; but a couple of weeks 
ago they had cholera, when I fed lime and 
salt with the feed,and they are now all right. 
My neighbor gets 28 to 30 eggs a day, feeding 
corn and loppered milk. Is tar-paper a good 
lining for a hen-house ? 
Ans. —The food given is too exclusively car¬ 
bonaceous causing a tendency to fatten. Vary 
the diet lessening the gram one half, and al¬ 
lowing a plentiful supply of clover, chopped 
fine, and scalded, in the morning, with butch¬ 
ers’ meat—a pound to 15 hens—three times a 
week. The tarred paper will be found ex¬ 
cellent. 
J. W. (no address). —Is crude petroleum a 
fertilizer for grass or any crop? During last 
haying season I mowed with a scythe a very 
heavy crop of grass on land at the bottom of 
which was a small hollow at the head of which 
was a fine spring of water. The hollow was 
very wet and on the surface of the water was 
a “ scum ’’that looked like crude petroleum. 
After working all day in the water, my boots 
used to be completely soaked, and next morn¬ 
ing they looked as if they had been oiled— 
why? 
Ans. —Neither petroleum nor any other oil, 
or fat, is a fertilizer, as none of such things 
contain any essential elements of plant food. 
It is most probable that the oily matter re¬ 
ferred to is a very common product of decom¬ 
position of vegetable substance of which 
swampy groimd contains a large quantity. It 
is quite common to see this oily matter spread 
on pools of stagnant water in marshes, giv¬ 
ing brilliant iridescent colors similar to those 
afforded by crude petroleum, and this quite 
common occurrence sometimes affects people 
with the old-fashioned “oil fever.” But this 
is not petroleum, though it is so often decep¬ 
tive. Marshes abound in hydrocarbon 
products, as marsh gas, and this is probably 
a condensation of it. 
DISCUSSION. 
IN FAVOR OF LIME. 
H. T., Erie, Pa. — I was very much inter¬ 
ested in an article, in a recent Rural, on lime 
as a soil improver. It recalls to my mind my 
own experience with lime. About 15 years 
ago I took charge of an old garden, and was 
told by my gardening friends, that I had 
struck, a poor place that I need not expect to 
grow good fruits and vegetables in that gar¬ 
den, for the land was worn out. It was 
strawberry-sick, raspberry-sick and every- 
thing-else-sick. I speedily found that the soil 
was very unproductive; peas were all vines; 
potatoes were all tops; onions invariably ran 
to scallions, and on inquiry I found that this 
had been the case for years, not a good pros¬ 
pect for a vouner and amiGHous gardener. 1 
set about at once to find the cause ot this 
Ans. —Yes, it is excellent for bedding. This 
is one of the best ways of utilizing this valu¬ 
able material. Wool waste is rich in nitrogeD, 
sometimes containing as much as 12 per cent. 
The trouble is that it decomposes so slowly, 
when left to itself, that its nitrogen is not 
readily available and consequently its value is 
rated below that of other substances contain¬ 
ing less nitrogen in a more available form. 
When stock are kept on hard floors, the wool 
waste may be used to absorb the urine. This 
it will do exceedingly well. It may then be 
composted with horse manure, or it may be 
composted with wood ashes. We have been 
trying a small experiment in this line the 
past winter. A quantity of old rags were 
to be “ reduced.” A part of them were placed 
in a box with horse inanuro, first a layer of 
manure, then a layer of rags and so on. The 
rest were placed iu a large barrel with layers 
of ashes in the place of the manure. Liquid 
manure from the stable is poured over the tops 
of the two receptacles from time to time. To 
the ashes and rags we should add bone meal 
in the spring. 
DISARRANGED BAROMETERS. 
E. B. S., (No address). —What is the mat¬ 
ter with my mercurial barometer ? After a 
faithful service for 16 years, last summer the 
mercury all of a sudden began to rise and in 
about six horn's it had all climbed into the top 
of the tube where it has remained ever since. 
The barometer is firmly fixed to the house, 
and has never been meddled with since it was 
fixed there. What is the. matter with the 
mercury ? 
Ans.— After 16 years of service probably 
the cistern of the barometer got disarranged 
and admitted air, after allowing some of the 
mercury to escape, the air taking its place. 
The remaining portion of the mercury is held 
in the position described, by the pressure of 
the^atmosphere, there being a vacuum.at the 
J. S., Drysdale, Canada. —We think you 
can obtain the peas from any of the leading 
seedsmen. 
H. F. S., Ceres, N. m ,Y. —Potato boxes like 
those used by Mr. Terry, can be procured of 
A. I. Root, Medina, Ohio. 
J. B. T., Whiting, Maine. —Bulletin L., of 
the New Jersey Experiment Station, can be 
obtained from Prof. G. B. Hulst, New Bruns¬ 
wick, N. J. 
J. A. B., Butler Center, N. Y. —I have a 
flock of hens that have scales on thqir legs; 
what shall I do for them? 
Ans.—M ix equal parts of lard and kerosene 
oil, warm slightly, and apply for several 
nights after they have gone to roost. 
L. O. Q., Goshen, N. F.—What varieties 
of strawberries are best for a rather heavy 
soil for family use? 2. What muskmelon is 
best for home use? 
Ans. —Try Prince, May King, Charles 
Downing, Miner, Bubach and Louise. 2. 
Emerald Gem. It is small but delicious. 
J. E., Warren, Conn. —Are pumpkins of 
different sexes and, if so, how can the sexes 
be distinguished? From which should seed be 
selected? 
Ans. —Yes, each vine bears both female 
and male flowers. Now, as only the female 
flowers can form fruit, it doesn’t matter as to 
selection. 
H. C. B., Westet'nville, N. Y. —Is it worth 
while to get a wheel cultivator and seed drill 
for a family gardon of about half an acre? 
Which would the Rural recommend? 
Ans —There are a dozen different kinds. 
The Planet Jr. Combined will suit you as 
well as any. Yes, indeed, this implement in 
such a garden will soon pay for itself. See 
any of.the catalogues announced. 
