662 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCTOBER 5 
pasture on the light soil of this locality. 
The ordinary Timothy and clover run out 
too soon, and I have read in the Rural 
that besides holding longer in the soil, a 
mixed grass seed yields a heavier crop. 
Ans.—T he soil around Hempstead (Long 
Island, N. Y.) requires a special mix¬ 
ture of grasses, and the following has 
succeeded very well in that locality, viz: 
six pounds of Timothy; six pounds 
of Meadow Foxtail; six pounds of Tall 
Oat Grass; six pounds of Meadow Fes¬ 
cue; 12 pounds of Orchard Grass and five 
pounds of Medium Red Clover. As almost 
all plants are sociable and produce more 
herbage when grown in company, a suit¬ 
able mixture of grasses yields more pasture 
than any one kind grown alone. But 
while this is true, it is equally true that 
this increased produce calls for proportion¬ 
ately adequate manuring and thorough 
tillage before the land is seeded. Conse¬ 
quently a light annual top-dressing should 
be given, the best season for this being the 
late fall when the pasturing is over. An 
excellent top-dressing would be 250 pounds 
of superphosphate, 150 pounds of potash 
salts and 100 pounds of nitrate of soda. 
The increased yield will abundantly repay 
the cost of it. 
FERTILIZER FOR FRUIT TREES. 
IT. E., Hamburg, Conn. —1. I have a 
small peach orchard of about 50 trees which 
were set five years ago last spring when they 
were two years old. Two years ago this fall I 
gave them a dressing of bone flour and kai- 
nit. They have given me a good crop of 
fruit this fall and 1 wish to give them an¬ 
other dressing. What will be a suitable 
amount, per tree, of the above named and in 
what proportions? 2. Would a coarser 
grade of bone costing less answer as well? 
3. I have in the same orchard a few plum 
trees of the same age; would the same treat¬ 
ment be suitable for them? 4. I wish to 
remove some asparagus roots in my garden 
this fall, what will be the bestjtime to do 
so? 
Ans.— 1. Ten to 15 pounds of fine ground 
bone, and four to five pounds of high-grade 
muriate of potash per tree are not too much 
annually per peach tree of bearing size. 
The muriate is better and cheaper than the 
kainit. 2. As peach trees at best are 
short-lived, it is best to use the fine bone 
and obtain prompt returns, as it will be some 
years before the coarse bone is likely to 
give full value. 3. Much the same fertilizer 
will answer for the plums except thatpossi- 
bly not so much potash is required. 4. As¬ 
paragus may be transplanted in Connecticut 
atalmost any time in Octoberor November. 
FEED FOR PIGS. 
I. K. B., Princess Anne, Va —What 
proportion of the following feeds should be 
given, and what is the best way to prepare 
them for young pigs ? Corn, corn-meal, cot¬ 
ton-seed meal, wheat shorts, sweet and 
Irish potatoes. I have no milk so have to 
do the best I can without. How much 
cotton-seed meal can I feed to fattening 
hogs, with corn or corn-meal ? All my hogs 
have a large range, though the pasture is 
not very good. 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
Cotton-seed meal is not a healthful food 
for pigs. In every case in which I have 
used it for this purpose it has been injur¬ 
ious even in small quantities. It is too ni¬ 
trogenous for them. In the absence of 
milk, an excellent food can be made up of 
potatoes boiled and mashed with the water 
into a thin paste and mixed wuth a suffi¬ 
cient quantity of corn-meal and bran, so 
that when it is cool it can be lifted with a 
shovel. This mixture is not only extreme¬ 
ly nutritious but. it is a well balanced and 
healthful food, for growing, as well as fat¬ 
tening pigs. The proportions I have used 
are as follows: One bushel of cleanly- 
washed potatoes; five pounds of corn-meal 
and 10 pounds of bran. For nursing sows 
I have given this mixed food boiled with 
water to the consistency of a gruel, adding 
a little salt to each feed. 
KEEPING GRAPES. 
Mrs. IT. C. A., Lansing, Mich .—How can 
grapes be packed for winter use? I tried 
packing in newspapers—a layer of grapes 
then paper, then grapes till the box was 
filled. In a few weeks all were spoiled. 
Last year I used cotton-batting with no bet¬ 
ter success. 
ANSWERED BY E. WILLIAMS. 
1 cannot tell how to do this till I succeed 
in doing it satisfactorily myself. In the 
first place, much depends on the kind of 
grape; few of our native grapes have much 
keeping qualities: Catawbas and Isabellas 
are probably among the best. Catawbas, 
with perhaps Dianas,are to be had in our city 
markets in winter in fair condition. I suc¬ 
ceeded tolerably well in keeping the Isa¬ 
bella for a few weeks or months years ago; 
but all attempts of late years with the 
present varieties by using warranted meth¬ 
ods have utterly failed. A cool, dry cellar 
or a fruit house has, I think, moreof the ele¬ 
ments of success than the mode of packing; 
but with ordinary appliances I have yet to 
learn the art of keeping any of my grapes 
much beyond the first of November. 
PUMPING FROM A DISTANCE. 
E. T., Chappaqua, X. Y .—I have a well 
20 feet deep in which it is 10 feet to the wa¬ 
ter. It is 1(50 feet of level ground to the 
house. Can the water be pumped to the 
latter? If so, what size pipe and what kind 
of pump should be used ? 
Ans. —There will be no difficulty in pump¬ 
ing water from a well under these circum¬ 
stances. One inch rustless iron pipe with 
the unions or joints cemented with white 
lead so as to be air-tight and any good suc¬ 
tion pump will answer the purpose. In 
laying the pipe it should be put Inflow the 
reach of frost and should incline downwards 
about one foot from the well to the pump; 
a check-valve should be put in the bottom 
of the pipe in the well so as to keep the pipe 
always full of water and prevent it from 
filling with air in case of any leakage 
through the pump valve. 
Miscellaneous. 
B. A. W., Genesee, N. Y. —Where can a 
trio of pure, well-bred Dorking chicks, both 
Silver-gray and White be obtained at a rea¬ 
sonable rate ? 
Ans. —From Henry Hales, Ridgewood, 
N. J. 
J. E. X., Genesee, X. Y. —The plant sent 
for name is the Swamp Rose Mallow—Hibis¬ 
cus mosclieutos. Though it is usually 
found wild on the banks or meadows of 
brackish water, it thrives better in garden 
soil, even in high, dry situations. 
J. McC. Jr., Salem, X. Y.— Are the Red¬ 
cap fowls any better than Leghorns for 
broilers? 
Ans. —The R. N.-Y. cannot answer from 
its own experience for the reason we have 
never killed any of the birds. Our eggs 
were purchased of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
“Subscriber .”—What American breeder 
raises the Black Orpington fowls ? 
ANS.—The Orpington is a new breed just 
‘■come out” in England. Birds are offered 
for sale in advertisements in English 
papers by George Weaver, Rumford, Essex 
at the rate of eight guineas for trios deliv¬ 
ered in New York. They were originally 
bred by W. Cook, of Orpington House, 
Kent, England. We do not know of any 
American dealer who handles them. 
J. A. T. A Sons, Argcnta, Ark.— Omit¬ 
ting manure, what is the best fertilizer for 
asparagus and when and how should it be 
applied? Where can rubber bands for ty¬ 
ing bunches be obtained. 
Ans. —We suggest raw bone flour and un- 
leaclied ashes. You may apply it now or 
in the spring. The R. N.-Y. decidedly pre¬ 
fers spring. Apply all the way from 500 to 
2,000 pounds of bone to the acre according 
to your aims and means. Of ashes, from 
10 to 50 bushels. As to rubber bands in¬ 
quire of any stationer. 
J. II. C., Tabernacle, X. C.—l. What is a 
good early variety of wheat suitable for 
this section ? 2. What is the best fertilizer 
for wheat, and where can it be obtained, 
and how much will it cost per ton ? 
Ans. —1. The R. N.-Y. prefers not to 
recommend any particular kind of wheat 
for localities in which it has had no ex¬ 
perience. The safest way for our friend 
would be to try a small quantity of the 
several varieties now most popular, such as 
Fultz, Clawson, Landreth, Golden Cross, 
Red Clawson, Diehl-Mediterranean, etc. 
Johnson & Stokes of Philadelphia, Pa., 
and Henderson & Co. of New York pub¬ 
lish catalogues with lists of wheat. 2. We 
cannot tell you what would be the best fer¬ 
tilizer for your land; that is, the most eco¬ 
nomical. In the absence of such informa¬ 
tion we would advise you to buy a high 
grade of complete fertilizer manufactured 
by various companies especially for wheat. 
The cost will be about $40 per ton. 
Discussion. 
ABOUT THE MONTANA BOOM. 
W. o. F., Greensburg, Indiana.— 1 am 
one of those who have been reading the fas¬ 
cinating descriptions of the Milk River Re¬ 
gion of Montana, which are now appearing 
in some of the agricultural papers from the 
pens of their editors who have been making 
tours through that region. I am also one 
of those who are looking to the West as a 
place for a future home. To me, the Ru- 
RAL’s late editorial on this subject, was 
very timely. I very much doubt whether 
all they write about that wonderful land, 
and its perfect climate, gives a true picture 
of it, the whole year round. From most of 
the descriptions it would seem to be a verit¬ 
able Eden, and though so far north, they 
say that its winter climate is so tempered 
by the Chinook winds as to be less rigorous 
than our own here in Indiana. But 
I have recently encountered a statement in 
the World Almanac for this year, which 
seems very contradictory to all the above 
mentioned writing. In a chapter entitled 
“Climate and Rainfall in the United States,” 
compiled for that publication by the Chief 
Signal Officer, I find the following: 
“ Observations were made at three points: 
Fort Assiniboin and Poplar River both on 
Milk River, and Fort Custer in the southern 
part of the Territory. The mean annual 
temperature at Fort Assiniboin was 40.8 
degrees; at Poplar River 37.(5 degrees, and 
Fort Custer 44.2 degrees. The lowest tem¬ 
perature reported from any part of the 
Territory was (53 degrees below zero.” This 
is 10 degrees lower than was reported 
from any other section of the United 
States. Montana is a very large Territory 
and has a great diversity of plains and 
mountains and valleys, but it does seem to 
me that it would hardly be safe to get any¬ 
where in the neighborhood of a place where 
the thermometer presumes such freaks as 
reported of it here. Let all the truth be 
told and then justice will be done to all 
parties concerned. Editors who accept cour¬ 
tesies and perhaps pay from railroad com¬ 
panies and town-site syndicates and in re¬ 
turn make their editorial columns advertis¬ 
ing mediums to boom the property of their 
patrons, are corrupt in morals and are be¬ 
traying a high trust. 
CORN FOR EGGS. 
Fred Grundy, Christian County, III. 
—I am aware that experts and poultry fan¬ 
ciers tell us that wheat is the best food for 
the production of eggs; but so far as my 
observation extends not one farmer in a 
hundred feeds wheat to his fowls. Quite 
often the screenings are fed to young 
chickens; but good wheat is generally con¬ 
sidered too valuable for poultry food. This 
town is quite a poultry market, thousands 
of chickens and millions of eggs being sold 
here yearly to a party who has erected a 
large establishment for the handling of 
these products, and who keeps several men 
busy dressing and packing during the en¬ 
tire fall and winter months. Much of the 
•produce is shipped direct from here to Bos¬ 
ton, Mass. It is safe to say that more than 
nine-tenths of all the poultry raised here¬ 
about are fed and fattened on corn and oats, 
with the seeds, insects, etc., they pick up 
about the yards and fields. The Plymouth 
Rock is the leading breed and such fowls 
bring the best prices. On a diet of corn, 
oats and yard pickings they lay a full 
average number of eggs per year. Early- 
hatched hens lay well in the fall, and, if 
warmly housed, most of the winter, and 
rest and molt in the summer. Some of our 
women poultry-keepers are quite expert in 
inducing their hens to lay during the win¬ 
ter. I have tried several different kinds of 
food for my own hens, and find that they 
lay as well on a diet of mixed corn and oats 
and what they pick up about the yard, as 
on anything. When allowed the run of the 
place they will eat only enough to keep 
them in good trim, even when the food lies 
before them in heaps. When yarded, how¬ 
ever, I find it necessary to feed them only a 
limited quantity or they quickly become 
too fat and lazy to lay. 
MORE ABOUT ROT IN POTATO “SEED.” 
“Farmer,” Bridgewater, Mass.—I 
should like those scientific men who do 
their farming on paper and who claim that 
our only hope of avoiding potato rot is to 
get the “ seed ” from localities where the 
tubers have not rotted,to note that which 
follows and which I stand ready to make 
oath to: It being a part of my business to 
grow choice strains of potatoes for seed, not 
only have I for years planted my own stock 
annually, but I have also received stocks 
yearly from Nova .Scotia and the Islands 
where rot is seldom known, and many of 
my neighbors will plant only foreign stock. 
Now after years of trial and observation 
and hard facts, the rot is universal here and 
shows no partiality; hence experience teach¬ 
es me that talk is cheap and facts cannot 
be disputed. No remedy has yet been dis¬ 
covered; no theory has been advanced with 
regard to rot. that is worthy of consideration 
by a practical farmer. The only way in which 
a fair crop of sound potatoes is secured in 
this section is by planting so early that the 
tops will mature and die a natural death on 
or before August 10th, the time the blight 
usually strikes. Of those raised under those 
conditions we are sure, but good potatoes 
cannot be obtained from late potatoes, and 
the fact that the blight arrived 15 days 
earlier this year, shows, of course, the above 
plan is not certain to guarantee success. 
SULPHUR FOR POTATO SCAB; FERTILIZERS 
FOR POTATOES. 
C. H. F., Forestville, N. Y.—I have 
tried the Rural’s “sulphur remedy” for 
the potato scab and found it to be exactly 
as recommended—a success. I made a test 
plot by planting every other hill with a tea¬ 
spoonful of sulphur sifted in planting time. 
The potatoes in the sulphured hills came 
out perfectly clean, while those in the other 
hills were badly scabbed. Fertilizers have 
been experimented with to some extent in 
this locality this season. Most of the ex¬ 
periments show the value of commercial fer¬ 
tilizers in a decided way. 
Here are a few of the tests: A piece of 
buckwheat was sown with a standard fer¬ 
tilizer at the rate of 250 pounds per acre. 
In the center of the plot the fertilizer was 
shut off from the drill once through. At 
harvest time the unfertilized strip could be 
plainly distinguished for some distance. It 
was not worth harvesting while the buck¬ 
wheat on either side was a splendid crop. 
Another man seeded a plot with oats, using 
fertilizers, shutting off the drill as above. 
The consequence was that on the unfertil¬ 
ized strip the oats were only half a crop 
and the seed did not catch, while that on 
the fertilized part was good. I have experi¬ 
mented some with fertilizer in my garden, 
and find that it surpasses all other kinds of 
manures in any shape. 
POTATO DIGGERS. 
F. A. B., Rising City.— I am interested 
in the reports of potato diggers in the Ru¬ 
ral of September 7, but can’t fully agree 
with some of the writers in stating that 
they can get about all the potatoes by har¬ 
rowing the ground. I use the Hamilton, O. 
digger and consider it the best that we have, 
and there are several other kinds used in this 
section, one costing $100. The trouble with 
the Hamilton digger is that it buries po¬ 
tatoes on each side and if the tubers are 
deep so that we have to run the plow deep 
to get under them, it buries lots of them 
in the furrow behind the plow. One year I 
ran the plow through the rows the second 
time and got a bushel every 25 rods. I think 
that if we could have some kind of a shaker 
attached just behind the rods, we would 
get more of the potatoes on the surface. 
Will not some of the Colorado subscrib¬ 
ers of the Rural tell us how they dig their 
potatoes, as I understand that they have 
such an arrangement to be attached to their 
potato plow. Potatoes in this section are 
good and there are lots of them. There is 
no sale for them as yet even at 15 cents per 
bushel. About every farmer has from 10 
to 40 and some as high as 100 acres. 
H. V., Union County, N. J.—The Ver¬ 
mont Dairyman’s Home, figured on page 
537, has indeed a solid, home-like appear¬ 
ance; but there are several features the Ru¬ 
ral does not mention, which have such a 
familiar look that I cannot forbear calling 
attention to them. The most prominent is 
the fence. I suppose we must call it that 
for courtesy. It looks like the inclosure 
one might expect to find around a log-cabin 
in the wilderness, rather than around a 
typical Vermont homestead. Then the 
shrubbery within the fence! How many 
times have we seen farms where the owner 
not only indulged his taste for similar or¬ 
namentation in the grounds surrounding 
the house, but has extended the growth to 
all the fences on the farm, making a beau¬ 
tiful screen to hide the otherwise unsightly 
fence I In the illustration, the cattle have 
evidently been brought into the front yard 
to have their pictures taken, but it reminds 
me of cases where the cows or horses or 
other stock have been turned loose among 
the flower-beds “for a minute, just to get a 
bite.” Unfortunately, dumb animals fail 
to discriminate and are just as likely—if 
not a little more so— to take a bite from the 
choicest shrub, or plant their feet in the 
middle of the flower-bed which the over¬ 
worked housewife has tended with patient 
care. This is likely to cause a flow of lan¬ 
guage more eloquent than elegant, and to 
ause feelings which never should be occa 
