609 
THE BUBAL MEW 
. Illinois. 
Corinth, Williamson County. August 26.— 
The potato crop in our neighborhood is very 
good. I do not hear any complaints of rot as 
yet. Irish potatoes are not grown much here 
except for home use; most of the people use 
sweet potatoes altogether. Corn is an im¬ 
mense crop this year. Apples are a good crop, 
markets glutted; peaches half a crop. Small 
fruits plentiful. Wheat is the best crop in 
years. The chinch bugs gave Southern Illi¬ 
nois a rest this year. J. k. m. 
Iowa. 
Skney, Plymouth County, August 19—Po¬ 
tatoes are in splendid condition. They never 
rot here. No bugs this year. We shall have 
a 25-per-cent, better crop than usual. Not 
many potatoes are shipped from here. Prices 
range from nothing to $1.25 per bushel. 
J. p. v. 
Waterloo, Black Hawk County, August 26. 
—Potatoes are a good crop in good condition, 
though cut a little short on account of the dry 
weather. Good crops in general. s. s. 
Michigan. 
Harrisvii.le, Alcona County, August 26. 
—The crops here are just immense. Not a 
failure in any single farm crop. Fall wheat 
is a little shrunken, but the machine shows a 
yield from 22 bushels the lowest to over 37 
bushels per acre. Spring wheat is not har¬ 
vested but is plump and heavy. Oats are the 
best I ever saw, especially early sown, yield¬ 
ing, so far as tested, 12 to 15 and over bushels 
per 100 sheaves, and there are plenty of fields 
that turn 500 machine-bound sheaves per 
acre. Potatoes never looked better. No 
signs of rot. We have had just enough rain 
and at the right time. I am testing Rural 
No. 2 potatoes with four other varieties, viz. 
Early Rose, White Star, Beauty of Heb¬ 
ron and White Elephant. Present appear¬ 
ances are against the Rural No. 2, but we 
can’t decide till they are dug. I took 10 eyes 
of each and planted in a trench of 60 feet, in 
fine garden soil. Tne trench was dug eight 
inches deep, a compost of muck and hen ma¬ 
nure was placed in the bottom, then two inches 
of fine soil were raked over it; each eye was 
placed carefully and then two inches of soil 
were raked over, then a good dusting of wood 
ashes and more soil finished the job. All grew 
but one eye of Beauty of Hebron. I will send 
statement of yield when dug. I saw in a 
Rural some time since that you would copy 
into the Rural any good photograph relating 
to rural affairs. We have a picture of my 
wife feeding a flock of prize Leghorns; also 
one of our two pet deer, doe and fawn; also a 
thrashing machine at my barn with teams, 14 
men, etc. Three or four years ago 12 of us 
farmers formed a company and bought a $600 
thrashing machine direct from the manufac¬ 
turer, thereby saving $90 agency fees. One 
cent per bushel for fine and two cents for 
coarse grain have covered expenses for 
thrashing, only when some breakage occur¬ 
red. [R. N.-Y.—Send the photographs by all 
means.] w. a. 
Big Rapids, Mecosta County, August 26.— 
The dry weather will reduce the early potato 
crop in size and quantity to one-half or two- 
thirds of a full crop; late potatoes are suffer¬ 
ing from a like cause and present prospects 
are about the same; the vines are dying. Wo 
have seen no rot. We had a heavy crop of 
hay and good oats; wheat is a small yield, 
averaging 12 to 14 bushels per acre. Corn is 
suffering from the dry weather and an early 
frost. H. A. B. 
Howell, Livingston County, August 28.— 
I hear no complaiut in this section of country 
about potatoes rotting. It has been so dry 
all summer, and is still. They are about one- 
lialf of an average crop. c. p. J. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 
lEvery query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to lnsuro 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. J 
MILK FOR POULTRY. 
B, L. 2,, Bergen County, N. J,— 
Is milk a good food for poultry i I see it fre¬ 
quently recommended by farm writers; but 
an old poultryman, who has raised thousands 
of chickens, says it is bad for young chicks. 
What are the facts? 
FROM ORSON WINANS. 
As to the value of milk and butter-milk for 
poultry, I have found them very beneficial 
when fed in moderate quantities; but I would 
not advise too liberal use of the latter, as it 
would be likely to produce diarrhea in chicks, 
and even adult birds if allowed to gorge them¬ 
selves with it. Both contain a considerable 
percentage of bone-forming elements, and 
supply a good substitute for a meat ration, 
where the birds are not supplied with the 
latter. 
Oak Hill. IN. Y. 
FROM SAMUEL WILSON. 
I have always considered sour milk in¬ 
jurious to all kinds of poultry excepting ducks, 
unless it was made into curds. When made 
into curds it is the best feed for young chick¬ 
ens and turkeys. If fed otherwise, it will 
scour them and have a bad effect. It seems to 
be different with ducks. They will thrive and 
do well much better if fed sour milk or but¬ 
termilk than they will without. 
Mechanicsville, Pa. 
BAGNARD BLACKBERRY. From 
FROM C. S. COOPER. 
I have found milk unprofitable for young 
chicks. I discarded its use several years ago. 
It invariably was too loosening to the bowels 
in its free use. I have lost whole clutches 
thereby. For old fowls I have found a limit¬ 
ed quantity not injurious. I never fed the 
mature birds to excess, so that I am not pre¬ 
pared to state as a fact that it is injurious. 
Schraalenburgh, N. J. 
FROM PHILANDER WILLIAMS. 
My experience in feeding sweet or sour milk 
to chickens is that at first it does not seem to 
agree with them; but after they have become 
accustomed to it, it is good. Beef scraps act in 
the same way: at first the food makes them 
scour, but after they have had it awhile they 
do well. 
Taunton, Mass. 
FROM JAMES RANKIN. 
Milk given in a liquid form is not good for 
either chicks or ducklings as they are so tond 
of it that they will stand and gorge them¬ 
selves with it until it runs out of their bills. 
But when it is used as a mixture with their 
ration it is the best food extant. I canuot 
give enough of it. 
South Easton, Mass. 
FROM P. H. JACOBS. 
For fowls I find milk, butter-milk and curds 
excellent jf renewed daily, but for chicks 
fresh milk only ^should be weed, Milk.soou 
undergoes decomposition, and if kept where 
chicks have free access to it, or if the vessel 
containing it is not cleaned daily it will cause 
bowel disease in chicks. Like everything 
else, it should be given in a proper condition, 
and not remain for days in vessels unused by 
the chicks. The best results are obtained 
when the milk or butter-milk is used as a mix¬ 
ture in food that is to be cooked or scalded. 
The residuum of all food should be removed 
when the meal is finished. 
Hammonton, N. J. 
FROM O. K. LANE. 
Too much is many times expected of milk 
for poultry as with roots for stock. The do¬ 
mestic fowl is not like the woodcock—it can¬ 
not subsist upon suction alone. It must have 
grain, at least once a day—at night. If 
there is any one thing on the farm that de¬ 
mands a varied diet more than auotber, it’s 
the poultry. Consider the easy digestibility 
of milk in the mammalia. The same in young 
chicks. A chick when two weeks old, and a 
colt or calf when four weeks old, are about of 
the same age, and neither has use for heavy 
grain. Curd from clabbered milk with an 
occasional boiled egg is good; for young 
chicks as well as fowls have a distaste for 
sloppy feed. Never give food and drink 
mixed. I’m talking about fresh clabber or 
fresh butter-milk, not something taken from 
Nature. See page 606. Fig. 232. 
the swill barrel that’s a month old, so acid 
that it eats the tin from the dipper. To ex¬ 
pect chicks and adult fowls to thrive on this 
alone from Juue until January, would be 
folly. Both milk and roots are a light diet; 
but both are worth more than is shown by 
their analyses in feeding values, as both aid 
digestion, and tone the system. Both are ap¬ 
petizers that counteract fever, etc. Curd 
slightly seasoned is best for young chicks. 
Indianola, 111. 
BUTTER FROM CENTRIFUGAL CREAM. 
L. B. S., East Spring field, N. Y .—Can the 
best quality of butter—as good as the well- 
known Darlington or Philadelphia butter— 
be made of cream raised with a centrifugal 
separator? 
ANSWERED BY T. D. CURTIS. 
I know of no reason why “ the best quality 
of butter—as good as the well-known Darling¬ 
ton or Philadelphia butter”—cannot “be made 
of cream raised with a centrifugal separa¬ 
tor.” There is nothing about the mechanical 
operation to in any way injure the cream or 
depreciate the fat in it. The quality of the 
butter does not depend in the least on the 
mode of separating cream from the milk, but on 
its quality and condition when churned. The 
quality depends on three things: 1 , the 
breed or characteristics of the individual 
cow; 2, the feed—including air and water, 
which are really elements of nourishment and 
production; and, 3, on the manner of baud- 
ling the milk and preparing the cream for the 
churn. There is nothing that I know of 
which will change the idiosyncrasies of the in¬ 
dividual cow. There is not only the peculiar¬ 
ity ot the breed, common in a general sense 
to all cows belonging to it, but the peculiar¬ 
ity of the individual, which is a part of its in¬ 
dividuality, and cannot be altered by any 
sort of feed or treatment. The food is that 
from which the cow elaborates the milk, and 
it determines its quality and flavor so far as 
not varied*by the individuality of the cow. 
As surely as we do not gather figs from 
thistles or grapes from thorns, we do not get 
the best of milk from the poorest of food, no 
matter what kind ot cow-machine we may 
use in its manufacture. Tne cow must be 
right, and the food of the proper kinds, in due 
proportions, in order to get the most and best 
milk for butter, or other purposes. The cow 
and the food beiDg right, the milking done in 
a cleanly and expeditious manner, and the 
milk subsequently kept free from taints, 
odors, the germs of microscopic life, and all 
uncleanness, the centrifugal separator—if 
also clean and sweet—can do it no harm. The 
cream may be afterward injured by improper 
handling, but this will be no fault of the ma¬ 
chine, which will deliver it all right, although 
any injury done to the cream or butter from 
improper handling may be attributed to the 
machine. Such errors are much too common, 
and should be carefully guarded against. But 
if the cream is properly ripened and prepared 
for the churn, there is no good reason 
why the perfection attained up to the 
delivery of the cream by the separator 
may not be continued into the butter, 
and a perfect article, humanly speaking, 
may not be the result. But it may 
be overchurned, it may not be properly freed 
from butter-milk or caseous matter, it may 
be imperfectly salted, poor salt may be used, 
it may be over-worked, it may not be proper¬ 
ly packed or prepared for market, and it may 
be injured by exposure after it is made. All 
these points depend on the dairyman, and not 
on any mode of cream separation. And then, 
when made in the perfection of the art, it 
may not suit the taste of the customer! 
Tastes vary—they are educated and whim¬ 
sical. Butters, like cows and men, have their 
individuality. No two cows, no two herds, 
no combination of herds, will turn out butter 
exactly alike. An article superior to the 
Darlington in all its details of production and 
manufacure, might not please the palate of 
one of the Darlington customers. Some 
actual imperfection in their butter, to which 
their patrons have become accustomed, may be 
the one thing essential to please their palates! 
A well-authenticated case showed that the 
presence of a large amount of butter-milk in 
the butter was indispensable to please the cus¬ 
tomers. Yet this is not a characteristic of 
perfect or of even good butter. It is a sad 
defect that would soon bring ruin to the 
butter, and its effects, even with those who 
prefer it, can be avoided only by delivering 
the butter daily in small quantities that will 
be at once entirely consumed. So it is, many 
men with many tastes as well as many minds, 
and what is perfection to the palate of one 
may not be so to that of another. The judge 
as well as the quality of the butter has to be 
taken into consideration, and people are not 
always reasonable about this. A case in 
point will illustrate, although it pertained to 
cheese, instead of butter. I was called upon 
at a State fair to pass upon some cheese, 
in accordance with a standard and scale fur¬ 
nished by the society. A noted manufac¬ 
turer got no premium and complained. I 
showed him the defect in his cheese. He said 
I ought to have taken into consideration the 
fact that he made it soft and weak for home 
consumption! So butter may be loaded with 
butter-milk—just what the maker’s patrons 
want in it—but an expert, judging of butter 
for the general market, would have to com- 
demn it for this very reason. But, to con¬ 
clude, there is nothing about the centrifugal 
separator or its work, when properly done, 
that need to injure cream, or the butter made 
from it. The quality depends on other things 
outside and independent of the mode of sep¬ 
arating the cream from the milk. 
BLACK-ROT IN TOMATOES: FIRE-BLIGHT IN 
PEAS. 
F. K. P.. Delevan, TV't's.— 1 . What is the best 
remedy for black spot or rot on the blossom 
ends of tomatoes? 2. What can be done to 
prevent fire-blight in the pear? 
This I believe to be due to sun stroke causing 
a sap ferment or poisoning of the sap, owing 
to weakness or imperfection in its constituent 
elements. The prime cause. I think, must be 
a lack of perfect sap elements in the soil. 
This supposed first cause may be aggravated 
by planting blighty varieties in extra blighty 
soil or location and by wrong management. 
What we want is some simple preventive or 
corrective of this blighting predisposition. 
