£ 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
®|f Querist, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Tobacco Culture In the South. 
A Subscriber, Dalton, N- C-, being a new¬ 
comer there, asks how to cultivate and cure 
tobacco in that section. 
Ans.— The cultivation of tobacco materially 
differs in different sections of the country. In 
those States where the cigar tobacco i6 culti¬ 
vated. it is the universal practice to make as 
many pounds per acre as possible. Heavy 
manuring is the only road to success. Not so 
where the fancy Gold-Leaf is produced. Not 
more than six hundred pounds per acre can he 
made, if the color and texture are retained. If 
more than this grows, it is too coarse. Further¬ 
more, the finest tobacco of this class is grown 
on virgin soil without manure. The first step 
in making a tobacco crop of any kind, is to 
&ecnre a full supply of early, vigorous plauts. 
This can only be done by taking pains and by 
exercising judgment in the selection of the 
land and locality. The plant hods must be in 
warm places protected from cold north winds. 
The preparation of the land must also be 
done with great care. In fact no crop, and no 
tobacco crop especially, will admit of slip-shod 
work. The planting should be done by the 
first of June and the cultivation should he 
thorough at every stage. The crop should be 
topped as it comes in, to eight and ten leaves, 
as the plant will admit, taking care to prune 
off the bottom leaves some three inches from 
the ground. 
Theerop should be “suckered" and “wormed'’ 
at least ouce a week. Take care that none of 
the worms or suckers get a start. A flock of 
turkeys will earn good wages iu keeping the 
worms down. The gathering should com¬ 
mence as soon as the crop matures. Do not 
go about this in a hurry. Take pains not to 
bruise or tear the tobacco to pieces. Much is 
lost at this stage by carelessness. Handle it 
just as if it were silk. 
The different methods of curing are so numer¬ 
ous as not to admit of their being described in 
a newspaper article. The fancy Gold-Leaf is 
cured by artificial heat graded by a ther¬ 
mometer which is always kept in the house 
where the tobacco is cured. The success at 
this stage is very uncertain to onewho does uot 
know how to proceed. It is doubtful whether 
the fancy wrapper can he made further north 
than Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. This 
however, is not quite certain. The subject of 
tobacco culture and curing is too extensive to 
admit of adequate treatment in a brief article 
such as can alone find admittance here. A 
full account of the entire matter appeared on 
pages 480. 518, 538, 550 and 003 of Rural for 
1878. An excellent pamphlet of 27 pages on 
the matter will be sent gratis to our friends by 
our contributor S. C. Shelton, Ashville, N. C. 
Removing an Obstruction In n Cow’» Teat. 
B. B. K., Fort Wayne , lnd., has a fine but¬ 
ter cow, one of whose teats was useless last 
season on account of a hard obstruction there¬ 
in : and he ask6 what caused it, and how to 
remove it. 
Ans.— Obstructions in cows’ teats are by no 
means uncommon, especially among young 
animals. The trouble i6 supposed to result, in 
many eases, from an improper drying off of 
the cows iu the fall, or from neglect in milking 
clean. Particles of coagulated milk are ar¬ 
rested in the milk duct, a tissue forms about 
thi6 matter aud adheres to the walls of the 
passage, in time entirely closing the duct. 
There are probably other causes, but these are 
supposed to be the most common. The only 
remedy is to break through the obstructiou so 
as to unite the two portions of the milk duct, 
which have been separated by the obstacle. 
An instrument has been manufactured es¬ 
pecially for this purpose. It consists of a 
small, round tube, inclosing either a double- 
edged knife or four blades at right angles to 
each other. The tube, or sheath, is pushed up 
the orifice of the teat uutil it reaches the knot, 
when the blades are pushed out of the sheath, 
cutting through the obstacle and re-establish¬ 
ing a connection between the parts, for the 
passage of the milk. Care is imperative to 
avoid cutting through the walls of the milk 
duct, and thus causing inflammation of the 
teat and udder, which might permanently in¬ 
jure the cow for milk. For a few days after 
the operation it is often necessary at milking 
time to use the tube—the knife having been 
taken out—by working it gently up the duct 
of the teat and through the opening made iu 
the obstruction, in this way kcepiug it open 
until the parts are healed. Such obstructions 
are sometimes removed by using a large knit¬ 
ting-needle, with the point sharpened, to cut 
through the obstruction ; but the operation is 
a risky one, and many cows have been com¬ 
pletely spoiled for milk by an unskillful at¬ 
tempt to remove obstructions in the teats. 
Tomatoes on Trellises, etc. 
0. T., MillersviOe, Ohio, says: “Iu speaking 
of the Pin us edulis you Baid: * Plant in pots an 
inch deep and plunge into the ground as soon 
as the rosette of needle leaves appears,’ ” and 
he asks whether it is the pot, plant or seed that 
is to be plunged iuto the ground ; 2, what be¬ 
comes of the seeds raised on the Department of 
Agriculture’s Experimental Grounds at Wash¬ 
ington ; 3, will tomato vines run up a trellis 
like any running vine; 4, in a late Rural it 
was said that a yearly volume of it could be 
bound here for $1 50. and he inquires whether 
express charges are included iu that sum. 
Ans. —1. You may plunge the pot into the 
soil up to the rim and keep it watered, or 
thump its contents out aud plant the same as 
if it were a tomato. Iu the first instance, it 
would be easier to take up the plant in the fall 
if it were desired to keep it iu the house. It 
would then he already potted, without any dis¬ 
turbance of the roots. 2. The seeds are given 
to Congressmen and sent to many different 
centers for general distribution. 3. It will not 
“ run ’’ at all. The vines or stems must be tied 
to the trellis. It is best to pineli out the shoots 
so as to direct the strength of the plant to 
several main stems, which may be trained di¬ 
rectly up the trellis, which (in this case) is 
placed directly over it. We hope you will give 
the plan a good trial and let us know how it 
pleases you. 4. No. That is the bookbinder’s 
lowest price for the style of binding. 
‘Malt Sprout*. 
The explanation given as to what malt 
sprouts are, in the Rural last week, is not ex¬ 
actly correct. They are really the rootlets, and 
the plumule, or sprout, which appear in the 
first process of germination which occurs iu 
malting barley. In making malt, the barley 
is steeped in water and spread in a layer a few 
inches deep in a warm room uutil germiuatiou 
occurs. When this has advanced up to a cer¬ 
tain point, which is when the stareh of the 
grain has in large part changed to sugar—and 
this is the object of the process—the sprouted 
grain is spread to dry ou the floor of a kilu, 
which is heated from below. Here it is re¬ 
peatedly stirred and shoveled over until Bis dry, 
when the sprouts fall off! or are broken off by 
the friction. The malt Is screened and the 
sprouts become a waste product. As they con¬ 
tain much nutriment they arc a valuable ar¬ 
ticle of food for milch cows, or cwpb suckling 
lambs. They contain as follows : 
Water. 8 per cent. 
Mineral Matter. 8.8 " 
Albuminoids.23.0 " “ 
Carbohydrates.44.7 “ ** 
Woody Fiber.17.6 “ “ 
100.00 
In the carbohydrates is included 21 per cent 
of oil or fat. Linseed cake contains 28.3 per 
cent of albuminoids ^nd 41.3 percent of car¬ 
bohydrates of which 10 per cent is fat. It will 
be noticed that malt sprouts have nothing to do 
with brewing. The brewers’ waste is called 
“grains” and these are the crushed malt (and 
corn) which have been infused to make the 
wort or the liquor which becomes beer when 
fermented. 
Twin Fruit. 
W. L. B., Lebanon, Ohio, asks why half of a 
certain seedling apple tree bears twin fruit an¬ 
nually. 
Anh. —We can no more answer this question 
than we can the question why a plant bears 
frnit at all. That two apples should grow to¬ 
gether is no more singular than that two 
hrauehes, swo peduntdes, two leaves, two 
roots, two tubers, two flowers (corollas), two 
petals or two carpels should grow together. 
And examples of the above are often enough 
met with by those who search for them. The 
formation of twin apples is owing to the fact 
that two calyxes or receptacles (whichever 
theory is preferred) cohere. A longitudinal 
section shows the ovaries to he distinct. Bo- 
tanieally speaking, the edible portiou of the 
apple is not the fruit, which term is confined to 
the matured carpels, and as the ovaries are 
within the calyx tube (inferior), we do uot 6ee 
how twin apples, or any other rosaceous frnit 
with inferior ovaries, could become twins ex¬ 
cept by the coherence of the calyxes. 
Blind Staggers lit a Horse. 
J. W. L., Rocky Hill Station, Ky., asks 
about blind staggers in a horse. 
Ans.—B lind staggers is a very indefinite 
term applied to very different disorders. It 
may mean vertigo or megrims, sometimes 
caused by too rich feed aud at other times by 
the collar compressing the veins of the neck 
and hindering the return of blood from the 
head. Iu some parts of the eouutry, especially 
iu the South, a disease is generally meant 
which consists essentially of congestion of the 
brain or spinal cord, aud in regard to the 
causes of which little is known, as no com¬ 
petent practitioners have ever studied it. The 
symptoms generally mentioned iu connection 
wHh it, might result from overloaded stomach, 
from impure water, disease of the liver, Ac. 
As treatment of the latter form, give a good 
purge (five to six drachms of Barbadoes aloes) 
and follow with onc-half ounce each of bromide 
and nitrate of potassa three times a day till im¬ 
provement results. 
Applying Liquid Manure. 
A Subscriber, Keefer's Corners, N. T., asks 
how to use liquid manure in a garden, on grass 
land and about young plants ; how strong may 
it be for grass seed just sown for a lawn. 
Ans. —In applying liquid manure to large 
areas a watering-cart, like those used to water 
streets in cities, may be employed. For smaller 
areas and about plants, a watering-pot or 
other small apparatus would be more conven¬ 
ient. The liquid should he diluted to the color 
of ordinary tea before application. It is a 
trifle troublesome to liquify sheep, hen, or 
other manure, but there is no doubt but that it 
is the best form in which to apply manure to 
grass lands and iu the garden. It would he well 
to draw away the earth from about the roots of 
the plauts, apply the liquid manure, aud when 
it has soaked away, replace the earth. It should 
be used only on growing plants; for if em¬ 
ployed when plants are checked by drought, it 
will be injurious. A couple of limes a week is 
quite often cuough to apply it. 
Planting Our Corn Gift. 
II. C. B., Waldron , Ark., thinks that the 
amount of corn received by him is not large 
enough to plant thirty-three feet square of 
ground, and inquires whether lie can use his 
own judgment as regards the area to he plant¬ 
ed, or is it necessary to plant the entire plot. 
Ans. —Wc have a plan to secure justice to 
all who compete for corn prizes, that it, is best 
we should not make known. Our object is to 
be able to detect any attempt at unfairness. 
We impose the condition that the corn we send 
must he planted within a plot thirty-three feet 
square. It will uot auswer that part be plant¬ 
ed iu one place, part id another. We do not 
care how much of the plot of thirty-three feet 
pquare iscultivated—only that the seed we send 
shall be planted within that area. As we have 
said before, each competitor must write us, 
when he sends his results, how many kernels 
he received and planted. 
Abscess of the Gutternl Pouches In a Horse. 
B. G, J., Decatur, IU., asks for some cure for 
a horse that for more than a year has beeu 
troubled with a cough and often discharges 
phlegm from his nostrils, especially when 
drinking. 
Ans.—A s near as we can judge, the horse 
has what is known as abscess of the gutteral pouch¬ 
es. Turn him to grass, and always feed from 
the ground so that, the discharge will find 
its way out of the pouches. As medical treat¬ 
ment the following may prove useful; Take 
sulphate of iron aud gentian root, ot each five 
ounces, bicarbonate of soda, one ounce, iodide 
of potassa, one and one-fourth ounce. Have 
these well powdered and mixed, and divide 
into twenty powders and give one twice daily, 
ff this does not succeed, the pouches will prob¬ 
ably have to be opened by a surgical operation 
which only a first-class operator can safely 
perform. 
Keeping Horse Manure. 
A Long Island Farmer, has a large pile of 
horse manure and asks how to prevent it from 
being burnt up by overheating, until wanted. 
Ans. —Horse manure that is free from litter 
needs the most careful management to prevent 
dry rot, or what is known as fire-fauging. 
This is occasioned by the evaporation of the 
moisture by the heat of the fermentation. The 
drying up of the water carries off all the am¬ 
monia that has been formed, and has been dis¬ 
solved by it. The consequence is that burned, 
or fire-fanged, manure is nearly worthless. To 
prevent this iu jury it is necessary to pile the 
manure, iu flat heaps, out-of-doors, where it 
can receive the rain or he watered when neces¬ 
sary, and to trample or pack it down very 
tightly; it should theu he turned over occa¬ 
sionally and repacked again as solidly as pos¬ 
sible. When managed in this way the manure 
is kept in the best condition and retains all its 
valuable qualities. , 
An Injured Frog in a Horse. 
W- M. K., Washington, D. C., has a horse 
made lame iu the foot through the blacksmith’s 
ignorance or stupidity in paring away the frog, 
so that it has become hard, dry aud a little 
cracked, and he asks for a remedy. 
Ans. —The condition of the frog which our cor¬ 
respondent, mentions, would scarcely, of itself, 
produce lameness, and we presume the foot 
has sustained some injury that has escaped his 
observation. We would advise the removal of 
the shoe and a careful examination for the 
scat of the disease. A coating of warm wood 
tar, by preventing evaporation and softening 
the horn, will assist to restore the frog, hut 
this part should never be touched with the 
knife iu shoeing. It is impossible for us to 
give fuller information without a more deliuite 
description of the nature of the disease. 
Miscelliifipouf). 
L.M. P. Indianapolis, lnd., says: “The Rural 
has very kindly and satisfactorily replied to 
several of my inquiries so that I am not with¬ 
out hope that it will indulge mo In still 
another favor fit is a pleasure. Eos.) A 
friend of mine has given me a few seeds of 
what we, for want of a “ real ’’ uame, call a 
Choice Vine. She has consulted a botanist 
in the city, but the vine is a stranger to him, 
and I come to you for a name. Your circle of 
acquaintances among flowers and vines is so 
extensive that I shall be greatly pleased if the 
following description and inclosed seed be 
sufficient, to suggest, the name: The vine is 
hardy; grows to the bight of six feet or more; 
has foliage something like the Passion Vine; 
particularly arc the textures alike. The blos¬ 
som appears in July, and then follows a green 
ball, probably a half inch iu diameter, covered 
with seeds, to each of which is attached a 
plume an inch aud a half long. When the 
blossom first comes, it is small and green; as 
it approaches maturity it becomes larger and 
white; when fully ripe it is grayish-white. 
Father received the vegetable and flower 
seeds and corn package, for which we thank 
you. I say toe for the flower seeds he handed 
over to my care. I have already sowed most 
of them iu a hot-bed, all my own. Am antici¬ 
pating great pleasure from my flowers this 
summer. I shall make seedling Geraniums a 
specialty. I have a great admiration for the 
Glaueium you sent me last summer. But, un¬ 
fortunately, I have but one plant remaining. 
Your article in the Rural last fall statiug that 
it was a hardy plant, did not appear until 
after Iliad secured mine safely (as I supposed) 
in the cellar—all but the one mentioned above 
which I left in the garden as an experiment. 
Those that 1 took up all died. I shall guard 
the living one very carefully, hoping to increase 
my stock therefrom.’’ 
Ans.—T he seed is that of a Clematis—per¬ 
haps C. Virginiana. Perhaps you may desire 
to send us a flower when it blooms, in which 
case we could tell positively as to the species. 
C. Virginiana blooms July-August. We hope 
that you may have success iu your seedling 
pelargonium culture. Probably you kuow 
that the flowers are easily crossed. It is better 
to cross them thau to raise seeds indiscrimin¬ 
ately, as one can then select parents aud pro¬ 
duce a larger proportion of desirable seedlings. 
At least that has been our experience. You 
will observe that the pollen and pistil of any 
particular flower do not ripen simultaneously. 
D. H., New Milford, Pa., asks. 1. where can 
he buy Holstein cattle at a reasonable price; 
2, if apple and pear trees make along growth 
the first year, should they be cut. back before 
the next, and if so, how much. 
Ans. — 1, Smith A Powell, Syracuse. N. Y.. 
advertise Holsteios iu the Rural, aud are a 
reliable firm ; 2. it will depeud much npoD the 
natural strength of the variety, and upon the 
form iu which the trees are to be trained. As 
a general thing it is well to cut off about half 
or two-thirds of the young shoots, and always 
cut them over a bud that points in the direc¬ 
tion in which the branch is desired to grow. 
E. P. F., Farisville, Ks., asks, 1, whether the 
White Prolific corn advertised in the Rural 
by J. M. Thorburn A Co. is the same as that 
distributed by the Rural ; 2, whether hen 
manure put ou top of a eoru-hill would be 
beneficial, and if so, how much should be used 
on each hill; as corn there is planted with a 
two-horse corn-planter, the hen droppings can¬ 
not be put iu the hill. 
Ans.—Y es; as already explained in these 
pages, the Rural sold its surplus corn to the 
above firm ; 2, yes, a handful scattered ou the 
hill would be enough in most cases. 
M. S. C., Pekin, N. Y., has an English Ivy 
three yards long iu a live-inch pot, and she 
asks 1, if it should he repotted this spring ; 2, 
her purple Fusehia looks dead, except thrifty, 
little shoots which come out from the main 
stalks ; is there any cure ? 
Ans.— 1. A pot a size larger will do uo harm. 
2. There is nothing very alarming in this ease. 
Part of the top of Fuchsias often dies away dur¬ 
ing the winter rest. Give it fresh earth aud 
cut it back to the young shoots. 
E. S. McN. — no address —asks what to mix 
with harness oil to prevent mice from destroy¬ 
ing the harness. 
Ans.—B y mixing bitter aloes, or jalap in 
powder with the oil. the mice will be deterred 
from gnawing the harness or else they will be 
so physicked that they will never repeat the 
mischief. The strong, disagreeable smell of 
these drugs repels the mice. 
O. W. F., Black-atom, Mass., asks if he plant¬ 
ed pearl millet from the first to the middle of 
May, whether lie could get a crop for hay and 
another later one for seed. 
Ans. —Pearl millet will uot seed north of 
Virginia to any extent. It will not seed at all 
iu the above latitude unless planted iu the 
house or under glass. 
Mrs. II. de B. K., Philadelphia, Pa., asks 
where she cau’get “ Kiduey Potatoes.” 
Ans. — Kidney bus reference to shape only. 
A largo number of varieties are called Kidney 
Potatoes. They can he had of any seedsman. 
B. F. IF., Cambria, N. ¥., asks where can 
he obtain Norway Oats for seed. 
Ans. —From B. K. Bliss A Co., 34 Barclay 
street; J. M. Thorburn A Co., 15 John street, 
New York. 
M. W., Poquonock Bridge, Conn., has a bulb 
ftjaderia Vine and, wishing to put it out ju 
