1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
74i 
(£v m\xo I) cn\ 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
SENECA, Lasalle County, October 25.—Po¬ 
tatoes are a large crop ; price 25 cents per 
bushel. Several car-loads have been sent 
from here to Eastern New York. I raise 
the Potentate for my main crop and think 
it is the best potato I have ever planted. 
D. L. c. 
Indiana. 
Angola, Steuben County, October 20.— 
Clover seed is two-thirds of a crop—from 
two to five bushels to the acre. Crops in 
general were good. We have a good supply 
of hay of which there was three-fourths of a 
crop. Corn and oats yielded about the same, 
and there was an increased crop of potatoes 
and apples, especially of the latter. Over 
100,000 barrels have been already shipped 
out of this county and more than as many 
more are still to be shipped. We have two 
large cider presses and evaporators in this 
town in addition to others through the 
county all doing a big business. Hog chol¬ 
era is very bad in the western part of the 
county. One man lost all he had except 
one pig—180 head. Another lost over 200, 
but notwithstanding all that, business is 
very lively and everything is on the boom. 
We are located in the northeast part of the 
State and this is the highest county but one 
in it. We have beautiful spring water and 
72 lakes well stocked with all kinds of fish, 
besides many beautiful resorts and a fer¬ 
tile soil, so that I can see no reason why we 
should not be a prosperous community. I 
am the originator of the Dutter Seedling 
Strawberry and it is with me the best I 
have yet found, and I have 43 varieties. I 
am a reader of the Rural New-Yorker 
and it is the best of its kind in the land. 
We have had a very dry fall. Early-sown 
wheat looks well, especially on gravelly or 
loamy soil; but later-sown wheat looks 
bad on clay soil. j. D. 
Michigan. 
Howell, Livingston County, October, 21 
—The large kind of clover seed.is turning 
out very well as reported by thrashers— 
about 20 per cent, above the average. On 
account of the drought, pure clover seed is 
a short crop, yielding only about 25 per 
cent, of an average. Wheat averaged a 
fraction over 17 bushels per acre, and was 
very badly shrunken. Oats yield is placed 
at 37 bushels per acre; though some claim 
to have raised 05 bushels. The potato crop 
was badly injured by the drought. The 
yield is about 65 per cent, of an average— 
no rot. Winter apples yielded better than 
farmers thought when they first commenced 
to pick—about 80 per cent, of an aver¬ 
age. From this town up to October 17 
9,000 barrels of winter apples were shipped, 
besides over 6,000 bushels of cider apples, 
the latter being shipped to New York State. 
One firm bought 1,200 bushels of cider ap¬ 
ples in one day. Corn is about 40 per cent, 
of an average and the ears are very short. 
The prospect does not look very favorable 
for wheat next year. Little of it has come 
up yet, though it has been sown five anil 
six weeks. Some farmers have not sown 
any wheat, the ground having been too 
dry. The drought still continues, and is 
the worst ever experienced in these parts. 
We have not had any rain to help plowing 
since June 27. c. P. J. 
Hart, Oceana County, October 20.—The 
weather is very dry and cold at night. Po¬ 
tatoes are about all dug. They were mar¬ 
keted first at 30 cents, then the price drop¬ 
ped to 25 ; and now it is only 20, though the 
quality of the crop is the best—no rot. 
Corn is a rather poor crop. I. H. F. 
New York. 
Rusheord, Allegany County, October 
24.—Farmers are feelinga little blue in this 
section. There is no fruit of any kind. 
Potatoes are about one-half a crop on an 
average; but of good quality. There was 
a fair yield on dry soil; but on river flats 
and mucky land the crop was very poor in 
quality and yield. Hay a good crop. Oats 
gave a light yield. Winter wheat was a 
failure on account of the spring frosts. 
Prices for all kinds of cattle are very low. 
The price of cheese has averaged low, and 
it has taken more milk than usual to make 
a pound of cheese. A. L. L. 
Pennsylvania. 
Evans City, Butler County, October 24. 
—In this part of the State we raise mixed 
crops. Wheat was a full crop; rye a good 
one. Oats were not extra ; they rusted. 
Corn is not half a crop ; the weather was so 
wet from planting time till harvest that 
the land could not be worked. Potatoes 
are not half a crop; they blighted and 
rotted very badly; there are fields not 
worth digging. Some don’t get more than 
the seed. Hay was a good crop and it was 
secured in pretty good order. There is a 
great deal for sale. Not much wheat has 
been sold yet; the farmers don’t thrash 
till the beginning of winter. It sells at 85 
and 90 cents per bushel. Oats 30 cents; 
corn 50 cents ; potatoes 50 cents; hay sells 
for 88 to 89 per ton delivered at the railroad. 
We can sell all of our marketing at home 
as this is in the oil country where a great 
deal of produce is consumed. j. o. C. 
Flourtown, Montgomery County, Octo¬ 
ber 28.—Wheat is a full crop. Corn, about 
being husked, will generally be good except 
where injured by excessive rains. Oats are 
good in quantity, but very light in weight. 
Potatoes with us have generally been a 
failure on account of too much rain. Hay 
has been an unusally good crox>. A great 
amount of it is hauled loose on 
wagons to Philadelphia. It is now selling 
at from 60 to 85 cents per 100 pounds accord¬ 
ing to quality. Most of the farmers in our 
locality sell milk, shipping it on cars to 
Philadelphia. The price per quart is three 
to 3 ]4 cents in summer and four in winter. 
Much of it also is sold to dealers who serve 
it through the suburbs of the city. Some 
few farmers serve their own milk to the 
families. This pays best when it can be 
rightly managed. Some farmers thrash 
their grain soon after harvest. I generally 
do my thrashing during the winter as it is 
necessary for me to keep hired help by the 
month. I feed during winter oat-chaff to¬ 
gether with cut corn-fodder and clover hay 
made wet and mixed with corn meal, bran 
and linseed-cake-meal. This gives very 
satisfactory results. s. Y. 
Wisconsin. 
DELAVAN, Walworth County.—Dry 
here; cisterns, wells and streams all low. 
This is our third dry season in succession. 
To counterbalance this will the floods 
come next year ? Among farmers there 
are bitter complaints of low prices for farm 
produce. T. K. p. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. 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. 1 
A PLUM ORCHARD. 
F. L. A., East Pepperell, Mass.—I wish 
to set a plum orchard of 200 trees ; what va¬ 
rieties for market and home use shall I set ? 
The land is level ; soil a moist sandy loam. 
I am told that for such soil the Lombard is 
best, and that in market it is as much a 
standard among plums as the Baldwin is 
among apples; is that correct ? Would a 
heavy mulching composed of equal parts 
of mulch and good stable manure, well 
mixed, and allowed to stand over winter, 
be good to apply to trees set last spring and 
next spring ; or would it be better to apply 
it only to those set last spring ? 
ANSWERED BY T. H. HOSKINS. 
The Lombard is generally regarded as the 
best market plum for Southern and Middle 
New England, and is successfully grown 
up to the Canada line (45 degrees north) in 
the Champlain Valley. It is of medium 
size and quality, and the tree bears heavily. 
It grows and bears well on medium light 
soils, if they are not too sandy and infer¬ 
tile. In such a soil manuring and mulch¬ 
ing are needed. Ashes and chemical fertil¬ 
izers, such as ground bone and potash salts, 
are well suited to plums and other stone 
fruits. Boston is an excellent market for 
plums, if the seller can keep clear of the 
middlemen, who in that city (and most 
others) want about all the profit there is in 
what passes through their hands. As for 
the substance of the mulch, if the manure 
is used I should prefer it to be pretty strawy, 
but it is better to work the fertilizing ma¬ 
terial into the soil between the rows, and 
put the mulch around the trees, over a cir¬ 
cle eight or 10 feet in diameter. The roots 
of the trees soon fill all the ground between 
the rows, and therefore whatever fertilizer 
is used ought to be applied evenly, and 
worked well into the soil. The fall is the 
best season to do this, but an application 
should be made in spring rather than none. 
SCRATCHES OR GREASE-HEEL. 
0. B., Sodus, Mich. —My six-year-old 
mare has been suffering from scratches or 
grease-heel for the last eight months, and 
no treatment giveft has done any good, 
though I employed a skillful veterinarian. 
During the summer the legs appeared now 
and then to be nearly healed, but the 
trouble would break out again. The legs 
swell over the hocks at night, but the swel¬ 
ling goes down when the animal is worked. 
She eats well, is full of life, and always 
seems to feel well. She is ■with foal. Is 
there any remedy ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. KILBORNE. 
I do not know that I can give a sure 
remedy for grease-heel or scratches, but I 
can advise a course of treatment that almost 
always effects at least a temporary cure; 
Individual cases of all chronic diseases of 
this kind often require special treatment, 
and two or more trials may be made before 
hitting upon the remedy that is adapted to 
that particular case. Because a remedy 
has proved a sure cure in one case, it is not 
certain that it will do so in another. For 
the local treatment, rub benzoated oxide 
of zinc well into the cracks once daily un¬ 
til the crusts have been all softened and 
removed, leaving a clean, healthy-looking 
surface. Then apply daily an ointment of 
equal parts of spermaceti and almond oil. 
Do not wash the limbs to clean them, but 
simply rub or brush dry. Keep the animal 
out of the wet and mud as much as pos¬ 
sible, and whenever she comes into the 
stable with wet limbs, rub them dry. In¬ 
ternally, give two table-spoonfuls of the 
following powders in the feed night and 
morning: sulphate of soda, 16 ounces, 
powdered gentian, eight ounces, iodide of 
potash, eight ounces, powdered nux vomica, 
four ounces: mix. 
ANGORA GOATS. 
E. D. *4., Buffalo , N. F.—Will the same 
care and feed given to sheep do for Angora 
goats? Is our climate too severe for them, 
and should they have better shelter than 
that which will do for sheep? Are they 
subject to any particular disease which can 
be guarded against? About how many 
pounds of “hair ” do they shear, and what 
is the best market and how much per pound 
does the hair fetch? 
ANSWERED BY MILLER & SIBLEY. 
Angora goats do not thrive well upon 
marshy ground. They should have shelter 
to which they can run in every rain storm, 
as there is no oil in their fleece, and they 
instinctively seek shelter from storms. 
They do best on hilly land and will live on 
twigs, sprouts, etc., where sheep would 
starve to death. Our flock, numbering 
about 200 head, does more towards keeping 
down sprouts on newly cleared land, (as we 
are informed by our man in charge) than 
would a force of six men constantly em¬ 
ployed. If running on wet land, they are 
liable to get sore feet, which, however, are 
easily cured up by a little attention. Our 
best billy sheared nine and one-half pounds. 
The weight ot the fleece varies greatly with 
age. We should say that five pounds 
would be a large average fleece for animals 
in their prime. At one time the price was 
one dollar per pound and upwards, but at 
present we .understand it is considerably 
less; we think 35 cents. 
ABOUT POTATOES. 
IF. a. S., Benedict, N. Y — 1. Why have 
we no potato balls now? Is it on account 
of the Colorado Beetle? 2. How do potatoes 
“ mix ” in the hill? 
Ans.— 1. It seems to be a law of nature 
that as we change plants to our needs or 
“ improve ” them as we may, they deterio¬ 
rate in other ways. Thus double flowers are 
produced at the cost of stamens and pistils. 
Many fruits—apples, pears, oranges, for 
example—as they are increased in size be¬ 
come seedless. We grow potatoes for the 
tubers and thq plants having been propa¬ 
gated by tubers through generations, their 
nature is changed. We produce larger 
tubers and more of them. The energy of the 
plant which, generations ago, was divided 
betweeu tubers and seed-balls, is now di¬ 
rected towards tubers entirely. 2. Potatoes 
do not “ mix ” in the hill. It is impossible. 
Any variation in potatoes, that appeal's in 
the product of the same seed potato, is ow¬ 
ing to bud variation—just the same as any 
green-leaved plant is liable to produce a 
colored-leaved shoot. These are called 
“sports” for want of a better word. It 
seems to the R. N.-Y. probable, as it has be¬ 
fore stated, that “sports” are really the 
cropping out of foreign blood or hybridi¬ 
zation, the effects of which, though dor¬ 
mant for years, finally become potent 
through peculiar conditions. 
NASAL DISCHARGE IN A HORSE. 
E. P. 1?., Midland, Mich .—My seven- 
year-old mare has a slight discharge from 
the nose, looking like thick, sour milk. It 
is only noticeable when she snorts or blows 
her nose. She has no cough and is in fair 
condition. She has been in pasture nearly 
all summer during part of each day. This 
discharge has continued all summer. What 
can I do to cure it? 
Ans.—F eed a hot bran mash daily at 
night, and ;fttd two table-spoonfuls of the 
following powders: sulphate of iron four 
ounces, Barbadoes aloes four ounces, nitrate 
of potash 16 ounces, powdered gentian eight 
ounces. Rub the whole region of the throat 
externally and daily with the following 
liniment until the skin is slightly blistered: 
white Castile soap and camphor gum, each 
two ounces, spirit one pint, aqua ammonia 
and sweet oil, each one-fourth of a pint. 
Mix. Shake well before using. 
ABOUT FRUIT TREES. 
G. S., Brooklyn. N. Y. —1. If a young 
fruit tree is planted in an old orchard, say 
about four feet away from where the old 
stump was taken out, will it thrive ? I 
have been told it would not grow. 2. Is it 
true that nothing in the shape of a fruit 
tree will grow within 30 feet of a walnut 
tree ? 
ANS.—1. The roots of old trees extend 
in all directions fui'ther than the branches. 
The soil becomes more or less exhausted 
unless the orchard has been well supplied 
with plant food. It is for this reason that 
young trees make a feeble growth in such 
places. The best thing to do is to enrich 
the land. 2. This is an old story. Thirty 
feet from the walnut is too close to plant a 
fruit tree. Aside from the obstruction of¬ 
fered by wide-reaching tops and roots of 
the walnut, fruit trees will grow in its vi¬ 
cinity as well as in the vicinity of other 
trees. 
FUNGOID ON RASPBERRY CANES. 
E. II., Janesville, Vt .—I send to the 
R. N.-Y. samples of the Turner Raspberry 
canes for examination. What is the dis¬ 
ease that affects them ? What is its cause 
and is there a remedy ? 
Ans. —There is no known remedy. It is 
caused by a fungus which attacks the canes 
of the current season, first attacking the 
bark, then extending deeper until the cane 
is killed. The berries wither. This dread 
disease is so rampant at the Rural Grounds 
and in many other places that the culture 
of raspberries is practically impossible. 
Unless some remedy be found raspberry 
culture will be a thing of the past. 
Miscellaneous. 
E. TF., Salem, Indiana. —W. Atlee Bur¬ 
pee, of Philadelphia, Pa., sells Scotch Ter¬ 
rier dogs. 
A Subscriber, Sussex County, N. J .— 
Our seedsmen know nothing of any corn by 
the name Rocky Mountain. It was proba¬ 
bly a local name for the old white flint. 
II. It., Waterbury, Conn .—What is the 
best way of advertising for a situation for 
a first-class butter-maker ? 
Ans. —By stating his qualifications in 
the advertising columns of the R. N.-Y. 
Subscriber, Union County, N. J . —What 
is a reliable mining paper—not so much for 
the stock quotations, but for general infor¬ 
mation concerning mining interests ? 
Ans. —Send for samples of Mining Re¬ 
view, Chicago, Ill.; Mining and Scientific 
Press, San Francisco, California ; and En¬ 
gineering anil Mining Journal, New York. 
E. A. F., Hancock . Vt .—What is the 
name of the inclosed variety of buckwheat? 
Ans. —Our seedsmen here know nothing 
of the variety, and the catalogues make no 
mention of it. The grains inclosed have 
very much the appearance of the common 
gray buckwheat, but have a deep suture 
down the center of each face. Do any of 
our readers know anything of it or its 
value ? 
D. P. R., Doumieville, Cal.— Does the 
peach yellows affect seedling trees that 
stand where the pits were planted? 
Ans.—T he disease called the yellows ap¬ 
pears to be las likely to attack untrans- 
