THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
247 
All t.he fertility must be purchased, adding 
very much to the cost of the crop. Also the 
soil is in many places very stony, thus adding 
to the cost of cultivation, digging, etc. To be 
just, let the factor of cost not be considered. 
If it is. many in New England will not use as 
much fertilizer as they would like to for fear 
that if they get the biggest yield they will not 
win on account of the cost. My little girl 
wants to try and will do all the work except 
team wor* and putting on manure. She, last 
year, covered an acre of potatoes planted in 
drills one hoeful of soil to each piece and 
with her sister, put slug-shot on \% acre in 
one day. e. d. g. 
Ashburnham, 
FROM KANSAS. 
I should never presume to dictate to the 
Rural. It would seem to me as cruelly pre¬ 
sumptuous as to question the wisdom of one’s 
parents. I have been a reader of its wisely 
conducted pages since a little girl, and it has 
long since become the oracle in our family in 
all matters pertaining to the farm. Now in 
regard to the potato contest. It seems to me 
such a grand idea of the editor to allow the 
ladies a chance to show what they can do, but 
it does seem to me that to be a fair competi¬ 
tion one ought to do all the work, except, of 
course, perhaps breaking up the ground. 
Thirty-three feet is a very small space, no 
more than two good-sized rooms, only one- 
fourth the size of the garden that I have 
tended for the last 10 years. Now if brother 
or husband does the work, turning it over to 
wife, or daughter, or sister, when the work 
is done, he merely competes for the prize 
through wife or sister; such a one would 
seem to me only a fraud, not a fair and honest 
competitor. Now I expect to do all the work 
on my little plot, even to the breaking up of 
ground with the riding plow, and I would so 
hate to be beaten by some other farmer’s wife 
who only sat comfortably in a rocker glancing 
now and then out at the work being done by 
the “ hired boy.” mrs. l. f. 
Johnson County. 
In presenting my name for “membership” 
in the “Potato Club” it is needless to say that 
I do not expect one of the coveted prizes, but 
it looks to me as if there is fun ahead for all 
parties engaged in the contest, and I want a 
share of it. As has been suggested, it seems 
to me that the “National” plot should be di¬ 
vided into districts, with a grand sweepstake 
prize. Then, too,would it not be well to give 
the weight of the entire yield, as well as that 
of merchantable potatoes ? 
The funniest thing to me is the general de¬ 
sire on the part of the ladies to win the prize 
justly by “ doing all of the work myself .” I 
took the Editor’s offer to mean a prize for the 
most successful method, his aim being to as¬ 
certain the best way to grow a large crop of 
potatoes, that being what he sought in his 
famous “contest plot,” and these ladies who 
seek to earn their prize honestly have never 
inquired whether the Editor of the R. N.-Y. 
performed any or all of the manual labor, or 
simply directed the manner in which it 
should be done. In short, wasn’t that con¬ 
test, and isn’t the coming one, more a trial of 
methods than display of muscle ? 
Junction City. mrs. h. h. c. 
FROM DAKOTA. 
Many women, like myself, if they engage 
in the project at all, must do so at very little 
or no cost, and we would have a much poorer 
chance in comparison with those who can use 
uny quantity of fertilizer, than the New Eng¬ 
land woman * in her barren fields,’ as com¬ 
pared with virgin soil. The New Eng¬ 
land woman will probably have the be6t 
place in the garden, too. The pioneer has to 
wrestle with unsubdued soil and drought. 
Huron. mrs. w. a. b. 
FROM MICHIGAN. 
.1 think the potato contest a grand thing. I 
do not think it will be right for women to 
contest against men. I think we ought to do 
all the work except plowing and drawing 
the manure. Such work will suit me, I can 
watch the bees and tend my patch of potatoes 
as well as my garden. MRS. J. K. K. 
Marlette. 
FROM PENNSYLVANIA. 
I think there should be two classes. We in¬ 
tend to do all the work but plowing ourselves. 
We expect to use newly-cleared land and shall 
try the Rural’s method of plauting. We live 
on a hill where frost comes late in [spring and 
early in September. The only corn we can 
ripen is the Cory, Northern Pedigree and 
Pond corn sent by the Rural two years ago. 
MRS. R. A. CORD. 
Cameron County. 
FROM NEW YORK. 
I wish to send you my name for the Potato 
Contest. I believe it will be a help to hun¬ 
dreds of farmers’ wives who now have but 
little, if any interest in out-door farming. 
You have my hearty co-operation in anything 
which will lead to breaking up the monotony 
of cooking and washing dishes. 
Tioga Co. mrs. w. m. s. 
Experiment minds? nf the Iturat 
|JetD-!!0fke*. 
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT QUANTITIES 
OF FERTILIZERS ON POTATOES 
GROWN IN A VARIABLE SOIL. 
Plot 30—220 pounds, yielded at the rate per 
acre of. ... 
Plot 36—220 pounds. 
....205.33 “ 
“ 40-220 
it 
....172.33 “ 
“ 31—440 
u 
....298.83 “ 
“ 37—440 
41 
....253... 
“ 41—440 
it 
....253... “ 
“ 32—880 
it 
....282.33 “ 
“ 38—880 
tc 
... 227... 
“ 42—880 
tc 
... 281. . “ 
“ 33—1320 
i« 
....228.16 “ 
“ 44-1320 
ii 
....242... “ 
“ 34—1760 
ii 
....280... 
“ 89—1760 
it 
242 “ 
“ 43-000 
it 
....161.33 “ 
“ 35-000 
it 
....132... “ 
SUMMARY. 
The average crop of the plots that did not re- 
ceive any 
fertilizer was 
at tne race per 
acre of. ... 
220 pounds gave. 
....212.05 “ 
440 “ 
ii 
...268.28 “ 
880 “ 
ii 
....246.78 “ 
1320 “ 
it 
.. .285.08 “ 
1760 “ 
it 
...261... 
As has already been stated the SDil of these 
plots, naturally variable, was made exceed¬ 
ingly so by grading, the soil from the higher 
parts having been carted to the lower places. 
It is in some parts a sandy loam, in others a 
clay loam, and in still other parts a stiff brick 
clay—all impoverished by years of cropping 
without any manure of any kind. It will be 
remembered by older readers that the R. N.¬ 
Y.’s potato experiments previous to last year 
were made on plots of notably uniform soil, 
so impoverished that anything short of a 
“complete” fertilizer failed to materially in¬ 
crease tne crops, wmle it was found tbat as 
high as 1760 pounds to the acre could be prof¬ 
itably used. In the present trial it will be 
seen that 440 pounds gave more crop than 880 
pounds, and that 1,320 pounds gave more than 
1,760. To what extent this contradictory re¬ 
sult may have beea due to the flea-beetle can 
not be estimated. 
The variety planted was the Rural Blush. 
Some of the vines were greatly, some slightly, 
and a few not at all, injured by the flea-beetle. 
The fertilizer used was the Stockbridge 
Potato. 
A NEW INSECT PEST. 
J ust as diseases due to microscopic organ¬ 
isms suddenly appear and become epidemic 
among men and animals, so every few years a 
new insect appears and increases so rapidly as 
to cause great havoc in the vegetable world. 
Between 1850 and 1860 the moth called Liparis 
monacha appeared in the vast forests of East 
Prussia. In a few years the larvas of this in¬ 
sect, in spite of the collection of 300 pounds of 
eggs, or 150,000,000 single eggs, and the de¬ 
struction of 1,500,000 female moths, trans¬ 
formed over 30,000 acres of forest into a des¬ 
ert covered with lifeless trunks. At another 
time a species of grasshopper, Zabrus gibbus, 
utterly destroyed vast areas of wheat and rye 
in Bohemia and the vicinity in the space of a 
few nights. 
In the “seventies” the little pine tree borer 
(Bostrichus typographus) ruthlessly destroyed 
the finest old trees in the Bohemian forests. 
The devastation wrought by the Phylloxera 
in the vineyards of France, Hungary and 
parts of Germany is fresh in the minds of all. 
The latest pest hails from Sweden where it 
has recently created great havoc, especially 
in the barley' and rye fields. The State En¬ 
tomologist of Sweden, Holmgren, reports 
that on the island of Gothland, barley to the 
value of nearly half a million dollars was de¬ 
stroyed by the larvm of a species of fly, the 
scientific name of which is Chlorops tseniopus. 
The same insect destroyed fully a third of the 
rye crop of the province of Upland. The 
length of the perfect insect is from one and 
a-half to two lines. The general color is a 
brilliant yellow. The eyes are green, which 
circumstance suggested the name of Chlorops 
or “green-eyed.” The feelers are short and 
black and end in round knobs. On the top of 
the head is a black triangular patch with the 
apex in front and there are three longitudinal 
black stripes on the back of the thorax. 
There are various black dots and marks about 
the base of the wings and on the sides of the 
thorax, and four transverse dark brown stripes 
on the top of the short abdomen The legs 
are yellow except the extremities of the first 
pair which are black and in the male are 
crossed bv a yellow ring. 
The fly lays its eggs between the leaves be¬ 
fore the ears appear. The eggs hatch in 
about ten days and the larvae eat irregular 
furrows up the tender stalk, beginning at the 
uppermost joint. The edges of the furrows 
soon turn brown and knots and so-called 
“gouty swellings” appear. The development 
of the ear is arrested; it either remains hid¬ 
den between the leaves or struggles to the 
light and puts forth a few imperfect grains. 
The larva when full-grown is about two lines 
long. The chrysalis stage is passed on the 
stalk or concealed in the ear. The pupae 
have been found in July on barley plants 
which appeared perfectly sound, but when 
the leaves were separated, the inner ones 
were found to be dead, yellow and partly 
eaten and the stalk injured. The brown chrys¬ 
alis was hidden among the leaves about an 
inch from the top joint. The chrysalis state 
lasts from 17 to 21 davs. 
There are many other species of Chlorops, 
similar in appearance and mode of life to C.‘ 
taeniopus. Some of these have occasionally 
appeared in vast numbers and done much 
damage. In the autumn of 1857 a dense cloud 
was seen rising from the roof of a house in 
Zittau. The cloud had so much the appear¬ 
ance of smoke that energetic attempts were 
made to put out the supposed fire, but it was 
soon found that the smoke consisted of mil¬ 
lions of small fire flies issuing from under a 
broken tile The insects were of the species 
Chlorops nasuta. They were also found in 
immense numbers in other houses of the city. 
The engravings, Fig. 87 and 88, are taken 
from a German publication. Fig. 88 shows 
the natural size of the insect, a, with an en¬ 
larged picture at b, and the stem of the plant 
at c. Fig. 87 shows the appearance of the 
stem after an attack. L. b. f. 
Ulster Co., N. Y. 
TERRIERS. 
(See page 245.) 
On page 181 of the Rural a good friend in 
Canada had the following : 
“I very much admired the picture of the 
collie dogs in a late Rural, but I would like 
to speak a good w ord for the Scotch terrier. 
If a couple of them are around, one will not 
need to protect the young apple trees with 
tar, felt or wire netting to keep off the field 
mice and moles. The Scotch terriers will 
save all that work. The owner can always 
see them hunting around in the grass wher¬ 
ever rats, mice or moles are to be found. 
As watch dogs, too, they are better than a 
burglar alarm. They will not let themselves 
be tampered with or bribed.” 
The R. N.-Y. can add little to this state¬ 
ment except to say that the picture on the 
first page (Fig. 9L> are drawn from life. The 
little Scotch terrier at the bottom of this pic¬ 
ture has entirely cleared his precinct of rats 
and mice. As a watch-dog he has more than 
'once given an alarm at the approach of sus¬ 
picious characters. 
farm 0cmx0tmj. 
MONEY BY MAIL. 
While looking over some back numbers of 
the Rural New-Yorker I saw an article 
describing how silver coins could be conveyed 
by mail. I enclose herewith sketch and sample 
of a device that I have been using for 15 years. 
I have found it very convenient and by 
means of it have sent money to all partsof the 
country without loss or damage to the envelojp 
though silver will sometimes cause this when 
placed loosely in an envelop. Take a piece of 
stiff wrapping or card-board paper—the latter 
the better—cut a piece the size of the envelop, 
and set the pieces of silver to be mailed do wn 
on the card-board, one at a time. Put your 
fore finger on the center of the silver and 
with the right hand run a pencil around the 
silver marking a circle, then draw a line from 
C to A and from B to D; then take a pocket 
knife and cut through these lines; lift up sec¬ 
tions B and D; put the coin under these let¬ 
ters and your money will go anywhere safely. 
To make this little arrangement will only take 
two or three minutes. Do not cut the circle. 
w. s. B. 
A CHEAP MILKING STOOL. 
Saw off a log of some light dry wood as 
long as the stool is to be high and six or eight 
inches in diameter. Flatten one side and nail 
a strip on and let it stick up behind for a 
handle, hang it up when not in use. Nail on 
it a piece of sheep-skin for a seat. See 
Pig- 90. e, b. s. 
Hydetown, Pa. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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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. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
PARTIAL PARALYSIS DUE TO PREGNANCY 
IN A MARE. 
E. C. R., Alden, Iowa. —I have a brood 
mare due to foal April 1. About a week ago 
I noticed that she appeared stiff in one front 
leg and that she seemed weak and tbat the 
muscles of her shoulders trembled. A few 
days ago she got up with difficulty, and soon 
lay down again and has not been on her feet 
since. That day she had twinges of pain 
frequently. The local doctor called it “colt- 
fouuder” and advised giving niter, two 
ounces, ana laudanum one ounce, l gave ner 
half that amount which relieved the pain. I 
have also bathed her spine with hot vinegar 
and salt.and am feeding her good hay and bran 
mash. She does not eat much and shows no 
desire to get up. What ails her and what 
should be the treatment? 
Ans. —The weakness or partial paralysis is 
very likely due to the pregnancy, as such 
cases occasionally occur. Beyond advising 
that the mare ought to have been placed in 
slings and made as comfortable as possible, 
we can give no satisfactory course of treat¬ 
ment, because each case should be treated ac¬ 
cording to the symptoms as they develop 
from day to day. Good nursing is of prime 
importance. Keep the bowels open by feed¬ 
ing a nutritious, laxative diet. Scalded oats 
and bran are excellent. Give very little 
coarse fodder. Medicines are to be given 
only when necessary. Sweet spirits of niter 
in ounce doses for its kidneys; powdered 
gentian one-half ounce doses, quinine 10- 
grain doses, or citrate of iron and quinine, 
dram doses, two or three times daily as 
tonics, may usually be given with advantage. 
AILING SHEEP. 
C. H., Baldwinsville , N. Y. —I started in 
winter with 40 young, thrifty ewes. After 
three or four weeks I noticed that one ot the 
flock did not eat as well as usual and after a 
few days she lost control of her bind limbs 
and appeared paralyzed. Un close examina¬ 
tion I found her lungs to be covered with 
purple spots, one of them being almost entire¬ 
ly purple although she showed no signs of 
lung trouble in breathing. From a peculiar 
look of the eyes and a movement -of the head 
I thought at first the trouble was due to some 
form of staggers; but it was amenable to no 
treatment. What is the matter ? I have been 
feeding cut corn-stalks until within a few 
days, when I began feeding good Timothy. 
Ans.—T he trouble was probably due either 
to the feed or too close confinement or both. 
The cut stalks, especially if smutty, musty or 
well ripened, would not be a suitable ration 
to feed alone. Such a diet would be very 
likely to produce indigestion, impaction and 
paralysis. Confinement in close quarters with 
little or no out-of-door exercise would predis¬ 
pose the animals to disease. You did well to 
change the feed, but it would have been much 
better if you had alternated the stalks and 
hay all winter. Or a small ration of grain 
should have been given with the stalks. 
When fed upon such coarse dry fodder, free 
access to common salt and water will do much 
to keep the bowels in a healthy condition. 
