498 
THE RURAL 
YORKER. 
WAR 33 
state of tliinsg. Neighbors told me the land 
was worn out. Now how could that be? It 
certainly was not for the want of organic 
matter, for the soil was full of it. Large 
quantities of leaf mold had been used annu¬ 
ally ; cow manure, horse manure and pig ma¬ 
nure were used in abundance. The land was 
full of manure which from some cause or 
other failed to give good results. Suspecting 
the cause, I ordered a quantity of lime; 
but was met by the owner of the land 
who forbade me to use even a small 
quantity, “Lime” be said “is a positive 
injury in this district, and I have never 
allowed any lime to be brought on my land. 
Why, the crops would all burn up.” But I was 
more than ever satisfied that lime was neces¬ 
sary for mixing with the black mass of 
humus contained in the soil, not as a fertilizer 
but as a solvent for liberating the stored-up 
forms of plant-tof'd and rendering it available 
for the support of the crops. The soil was full 
to repletion of food for plants, but that food 
was sealed. I asked and at last obtained per¬ 
mission to withhold manure from a small part 
of the garden only, and to use lime instead. 
Note the results: on that part of the garden 
where the lime was used, there was an im¬ 
mense yield of large, clean potatoes instead of 
small, waxv, grub-eaten tubers previously ob¬ 
tained. The onions were the finest grown in 
that neighborhood, and when I returned from 
the local Horticultural Exhibition with sev- 
eral first premiums, my employer was forced 
to own that for once be had been mistaken, 
and he gave me free permission to use what 
kind of manure I chose in future. Next 
spring the whole garden was limed at the rate 
of 30 bushels per acre and no manure of anv 
kind was used for three years, with surprising 
results, and although I am many miles away 
from the old place now, I bear it still has the 
reputation of being the best garden in the 
neighborhood instead of being the worst. 
The land was full of unavailable plant food 
and lime was the necessary agent to render it 
available. 
I think the Rural correspondent is mistak 
en in expecting the same result from lime 
contained in bone as would be obtained from 
an application of 30 bushels of quick lime 
per acre Less would be useless. One 
thorough application should last for several 
years. My plan of applying unslaked lime is 
as follows: The ground is paced off and a 
busbelbssketful is emptied at regular dis¬ 
tances over the field. Then with a shovel I 
throw enough soil over the lime to completely 
exclude the air. The natural dampness of the 
ground will be all the moisture necessary to 
slake the lime. For the job, I always choose 
fine dry weather. Then I watch carefully 
until the lime will fall to pieces the size of 
walnuts, when I at once spread and plow 
it in hot. It is not spread faster than I can 
p’ow. The chemical action of lime used in 
this way will have an altogether different 
effect on the soil, from that of slaked lime or 
the refuse from the kilns. My advice to my 
agricultural and horticultural friends is to 
give lime a trial on a small portion of their 
land, even if they do think it already con¬ 
tains all the lime that is necessary. One 
should not by any means use lime extensively 
at first; he should use only enough for trial, 
and note the result In some land a vast 
amount of wealth is locked up and lime is 
the key to unlock it. 
RAINBOW-CHASING IN AGRICULTURE. 
E. T., Edwardsville, Kan. —Referring 
to the Manure Svmpcsium in the Rural of 
February 16, I wish to ask whether the man- 
nrial values given by Prcf Roberts have ever 
been verified by crops? He estimates the 
voidings of a l,200 r pound cow, fed a given 
ration, to he worth 16 7-9 cents a day, which 
would be $61.23 per year. Those figures are 
much above the returns of the average farmer 
from that product. I suspect they are too 
large by several diameters. An out-door test 
of their correctness on a scale large enough 
for comparison, would be interesting. Might 
one inquire how the Professor knows that 
manure for corn is best applied “ fresh,” in 
the spring? What corn-field data has he in 
support of that practice? For my part—for 
corn—I would not haul and spread in the 
spring fresh barn-yard manure if it were 
given me. He touches lightly upon the “ best 
method of treating manure:” viz, by rotting 
it iu a water-tight pit, with a cistern for 
catching the drippings, which are to be 
pumped back upon the heap now and then. 
It would be mighty entertaining reading, if, 
speaking in the past tense, be could tell ns 
bow r much wheat, for instance, 100 cords of 
manure, so treated, clid make over the yield 
produced by 100 cords of manure not com¬ 
posted, the other conditions being identical, 
giving the cost of composting, and the com¬ 
parative expense of applying the two lots ot 
manure. When a boy, I was greatly excited 
over that same scheme as set forth in “Boh- 
mer’s New Method of Making^ Man ure.” But 
my father had small faith in innovations put 
forward without a backing of fact, and dis¬ 
couraged my chasing after every rainbow that 
an agricultural writer said “might, could, 
would or should” be caught: when the writer 
himself had caught one, I bad leave to try. 
If this particular specimen has been captured, 
I hope the Rural New Yorker will give us 
all the particulars 
WATER FOR FATTENING CATTLE. 
H. Stewart, Macon Co., N. C — J. B. P. 
seems in a late Rural to object to my remark 
that fattening steers should be well supplied 
with drinking water of a moderate tempera¬ 
ture and I ital cize these two words because 
J. B. P. completely mistakes my meaning and 
very unfairly suggests an application of the 
term the very reverse of what was intended. 
“ Well supplied” is properly supplied; neither 
too little nor too much. Water of a moder¬ 
ate temperature is not ice-cold, which would 
largely increase the consumption of food, 
arrest digestion and prevent fattening cattle 
from making the most of their food. And 
then he quotes Prof. Armsby against the ex¬ 
cessive drinking of water, which is not at all 
or in any sense applicable to my remarks and 
my advice that cattle should be well supplied 
with water of a moderate temperature. If J. 
B. P. thinks it best to give his cattle ice-cold 
water to prevent them from drinking too 
much, he will very soon find his mistake in 
his cattlefhivering,with tbe:r hair standing on 
end, and wa'ting food and losing money for 
him. Possibly he will tie better satisfied if I 
explain that a moderate temperature, in my 
view and in the sense in which I used the 
word, is just that at which water comes from a 
well; (the animal will be well supplied then in 
a double sense) and not from a treugb or from a 
stream through a hole cut in the ice. Fatten¬ 
ing animals should have just w hat water they 
will drink when supplied to them twice a day, 
and they will never drink any more than is 
necessary for them. I have uow a few head 
of steers being fattened by stall feeding. 
They are fed on cut hay wetted and mixed 
with corn-meal and dry hay aud dry meal al¬ 
ternately. Th«y are supplied with water 
fresh frr m a running spring and some days 
they will not drink at all, while on other days 
they drink half a pailful, but it is offered 
them, nevertheless, and thatis what I call be¬ 
ing well supplied. 
nniNCH BUG DISEASES. 
J. R. H., Wellsville. Kan.— I tbiuk that 
all other insect pests together do not do to the 
faimerof Eastern Kansas half the damage 
done by the Chinch-bug. Hence any practi¬ 
cal plan that would destroy the pest would be 
very welcome. The disease spoken of in the 
Rural of February 9, will not, I am afraid, 
help us, because this fungoid disease (we call it 
mildew) has been here for years, and yet the 
bugs are as plentiful as ever when the con¬ 
ditions are favorable. We never fear the 
bugs in a wet season. We are told that at the 
Iowa station “ It was found by experiment 
that the disease was readily communicated 
from diseased to healthy bugs when the nec¬ 
essary conditions of warmth and moisture 
were obtained, but.in dry, exposed places the 
disease would not spread, no matter how 
abundantly the disease germs were scattered 
about.” That I think is all there is in the dis¬ 
ease. Anything will mildew if you keep it 
warm and wet long enough. The idea of pre¬ 
serving dead bugs and grass where they have 
died, I think is anything but practical, be¬ 
cause it isiVnitted that the disease will not 
spread unle J? the weather is favorable. 
Bugs do the/; damage when t he weather is 
dry; t V^'chey are very healthy. The only 
remedy I have to suggest is to burn over all 
the ground that can be burned, and where it 
can’t be burned to rake the trash, and then 
burnit. Tbis sho uld be done in the fall after 
the bugs have gone iuto winter quarters. 
The burning will not kill so many bugs, but 
it will leave them exposed to the weather 
which will kill most of them by spring. I 
think this plau will work if it is extensively 
practiced, but there is the rub. Farmers will 
not unite in an extensive plan for their own 
interest. 
ROADS AND ROAD MAKING. 
W. V., Franklin, N J.— l see on page 96 
of the Rural that the Vanderbilt University 
at Nashville, is to give free instructions in 
road-making to Tennessee county highway 
officials. This is a matter that interests most 
of us and I hope the Rural will pay atten¬ 
tion to it. It interests us as tax-payers, 
freighters and travelers. I also see by a late 
Rural that the New Jersey legislature is 
trying to have the principal roads under the 
supervision of the freeholders, which is well if 
the work is done economically. Asa taxpayer 
of New Jersey for nearly 50 years, I would 
make a few suggestions. Don’t do too much 
grading. Don’t disturb the old bed of a road 
when it can be avoided. Don’t argue that a 
road needs to be wide to prevent rutting. 
You dou’t[find^ruts where the travel.is con¬ 
siderable and wagons often meet or where the 
grade is sufficient to press the wagon against 
the team. 
Girdling Grape Vines.— On the 13th of 
September last, remarks a writer in Garden 
and Fori st, an excellent opportunity was af¬ 
forded to a committee of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society to observe the effects of 
the process of girdling the branches of the 
grape for the purpose of hastening the matu¬ 
rity of fruit. Among other vineyards, they vis¬ 
ited one situated in the south part of Concord. 
On the southern slope of a hill which runsdown 
to the river they found a plantation of several 
acres of Concords. The elevation was about 
75 feet above the level of the river. The plants 
in the eastern half of the vineyard had been 
girdled for this aud the two preceding seasons, 
while those in the western half were growing 
in their natural way. Tne girdled plants were 
more irregular and thinner in foliage, aud 
upon general viow, did not look as vigorous as 
the normal growth. A closer inspection show¬ 
ed that the girdling proof ss had been severely 
practiced upon every fruit-beat ing branch, 
producing a very marked effect iu developing 
the size ami hastening the maturity of the 
fruit. Though the season was so late and un¬ 
favorable that they found Moore’s Early, in 
this and in other vineyards, to be barely ripe, 
yet the girdled Concords were in quite as good 
condition. On the other hand, the Concords 
of normal growth were much smaller in size 
and hopelessly behind time. It was evident 
then, as the event proved, that the natural 
crop would l>e ruined by frost. Here was an 
instance of a crop saved by girdling, and of an¬ 
other, side by side, which was lost by neglect of 
this process. Without goiug further, it is then 
evident that, under some circumstances and 
with some varieties, there are decided advan¬ 
tages in the pro'ess. Such excellent va¬ 
rieties as the Iona and the Jefferson may be 
hastened to maturity by girdling But in or¬ 
dinary seasons we should scarcely think it 
worth while to be at the trouble to hasten the 
Concord, when we have equally good varieties, 
like the Worden and the Moore, which are 
early without this treatment. Yet there is a 
larger development of the fruit by the pro¬ 
cess, which is of much importance to the mar- 
ketmen. This is so material a consideration, 
that it would be likely to govern were it not 
for another consideration which must be taken 
into account. What will be the permanent 
effect upon the vineyard of a continuation of 
this process? In the instance before us the 
work had been so thorough, not to say severe, 
that the effect upon the future of the vine 
could be predicted with confidence. 
Not only were the branches above the ring 
largely developed by the arrest of the descend¬ 
ing sap and also the limbs below seemingly 
shrunk to the size of a pipe stem, but the re¬ 
newal-canes appeared to have an enfeebled 
growth. It was evident that the saving of the 
crop waslikely to prove a serious injury to the 
health of the vineyard. But this was an ex¬ 
treme practice, where the crop had evidently 
been treated as of prime importance, aud the 
renewal-canes had been neglected. But this 
by no means determines whither a judicious 
use of this method may not often prove harm¬ 
less and of great practical advantage. Our 
native grape is so superabundant in the pro¬ 
duction of foliage that checking liecomes 
necessary. The fact, also, that a large amount 
of old wood has to tie removed every autumn, 
has a bearing upon this question. Add to 
these the consideration that the renewal-canes, 
under proper encouragement, will give a large 
supply of nourishment to the roots, and it/loes 
not seem unreasonable to conclude that a mod¬ 
erate portion of the descending sap may be 
arrested just below the fruit without mate¬ 
rial injury to the vine. Indeed, the case which 
has been here cited, and many similar ones 
which are known, so far from disproving, 
rather go to prove that a well-considered ami 
moderate girdling would often result in de¬ 
cided advantage. At all event®, it is desir¬ 
able that there should be continued experi¬ 
ments in this direction. 
Copper Sulphate and Lime Solution as 
an Insecticide.— The Hans aud Bauern- 
freund, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin—a German 
farmers’ weekly—states that by accident it 
has been found that the copper sulphate aud 
lime mixture which has lately proved so use¬ 
ful against grape mildew, is also deadly to 
insects generally. F. Bascarolli, a grape- 
grower in the Tyrol, had sprinkled his vinas 
in June, but a shower washed them soon 
after. A second sprinkling was given in July. 
Grasshoppers abounded in the vineyard and 
after the copious sprinkling they were found 
hanging dead to the vines and stakes, and 
other insects with them. The common naked 
snail (sing), so injurious in garden®, dies 
directly, it is said, if touched at all by the very 
dilute solution; the proportions of which are 
given as an ounce and a-balf of sulphate of 
copper (blue vitriol), dissolved in hot water 
and then diluted with cold to four quarts; 
three ounces of lime made into a thin white¬ 
wash wi’h tour quarts of water. Mix those 
after straining, making two gallons. Apply 
with any sprinkler. This will serve for a 
trial. It is strongly recommended for use on 
potato-tops against the rot, and is said to have 
proved fatal to the beetles, also to currant 
worms. 
Value of Trees i.v Germany —In stories 
from German farm life in the same paper, the 
great value set on trees in Germany, conics to 
view. A boy, ill-treated on a farm aud burn¬ 
ing with revenge, can think of nothing that 
will secure it so well as cutting down some 
trees. The foresters are important personages 
there, and have police power. They have as 
much trouble in saving their wood and securing 
its growth as they have in guarding the game. 
Country families who work during the winter 
season at carving kitchen utensils, furniture, 
toys, etc., for sale, are closely watched, for 
they are given to taking the wood they use 
without asking or paying for it. 
The Ignotum.— The “Ignotum” tomato, ac¬ 
cording to Prof L. H. Bailey (excellent au¬ 
thority), in the American Garden for March, 
has a promising future. It may be said to be 
a sport of the German variety called Eifor- 
mige Dauer, seeds of which Prof. Bailey im¬ 
ported while be was Professor of Horticulture 
in the Michigan Agricultural College. In 
1887 one plant boro “fruits of remarkable 
beauty, solidity, size and uniformity. Among 
about 170 sorts shown that year at the State 
Fair, this was the best.” Prof. Taft, Mr. Bai¬ 
ley’s successor, is inclined to think from last 
season’s trial, that it deserves a front rank 
among tomatoes. As compared with Mikado, 
it is larger, smoother, more solid, less subject 
to rot, more productive and more desirable, 
both as an early and late variety. Prof. Taft 
has several hundred plants growing on a dry, 
sandy knoll and, although it was a dry year, 
the planks gave a very heavy crop, and con¬ 
tinued ripening until the frost destroyed them 
about the first of October. The Ignotum still 
sports somewhat, for which reason Prof. 
Bailey hopes that seedsmen will not offer it 
for sale until it becomes fixed. 
PITHS AND REMINDERS. 
Mr. Libby very appropriately calls the 
seedsmen’s catalogues “ Paper Gardens. ”, . 
President Lyon, in the Michigan Farmer, 
very sensibly objects to calling Simon’s and 
Pissard’s plums, Prunus Simonii and Primus 
Pissardii. The objection to such use of tin se 
names consists in the fact that such appel¬ 
lations are strictly botanical terms, indicating 
distinct species, the application of which to 
mere varieties is a usurpation and misuse of 
scientific terms, calculated to mislead those 
who may not have acquired a previous knowl¬ 
edge of the facts in the case. 
A writer in Popular Science News says 
that one morning he found on his plate at the 
breakfast table a boiled egg, evidently re¬ 
served tor “ papa” on account of its unmual 
size. On breaking the shell he found a 
liberal amount or albumen, but no yelk. 
Instead of the yelk was a fully-formed 
medium-sized egg, with a shell of ordinary 
hardness, containing albumen and yelk as in 
any ordinary egg. Upon inquiry, he learned 
that the egg had been procured from a 
neighbor’s poultry-yard, and that the hen 
which produced it had laid one or more other 
eggs of an abnormal character, but he was 
unable to learn in what the deviation con¬ 
sisted ... 
To kill the cabbage-worm, hot water from 
140 degrees to 160 degrees, is again coming to 
the fore as a most economical remedy. The 
trouble is, not to kill the cabbages as well as 
the cabbage-worms. 
AT.the Wisconsin Dairymeu’s Annual meet¬ 
ing, as reported in Hoard’s Dairyman, Prof. 
Robertson said he had proved there was a loss 
in eburaing cream sweet rather than slightly 
acidified. In 100 parts of butter in cream, 
97 were obtained in acid cream, while but 77 
paits were secured m sweet cream. 
Mr. John Bender asked the Professor 
how much water he would add to cream that 
ivas one-fourth butter, Itefore the cream was 
churned. Reply: from 15 to 25 per cent. 
How does he detect the sulllcieut amount of 
