THE RURAL WEW-Y0R3CER. 
Pennsylvania. 
Hereford, Berks Co., May 20.—Crops are 
looking remarkably well. According to 
present appearances, the fruit crop will be the 
heaviest for the last ten years. Grain suffered 
somewhat last Winter, but has picked up very 
much, so that the stand now is excellent. But 
little corn has been planted as yet on account 
of the wet weather. Oats look promising. 
W. H. S. 
Vermont. 
East Poultney, Rutland Co., May IS.— 
Farmers have about finished planting pota¬ 
toes-area larger than last year. Some corn 
put in. Grass looking better than a year ago. 
Cows doing well. Horses selling high and in 
good demand. Eggs selling at 10 cents, and 
very abundant. Veal calves bring four cents 
a pound. Butter, 18 cents for dairy, and 25 
cents for creamery. Hay from 814 to 818 per 
ton. T. L. B. 
Washington Territory. 
Spangle, Spokane Co., May 7.—Our soil 
mostly rests on basalt rock which disintegrates 
and improves by cultivation, and we claim to 
excel in raising wheat, outs, barley, onions, 
peas and potatoes of extra tine quality and 
weight. It is not ttncotu rnon to raise potatoes 
here weighing from three to five pounds each 
without any cultivation whatever after plant¬ 
ing. 1 inclose a sample of wheat wbieh yield¬ 
ed 50 bushels per acre, machine measure. [It 
is kuowu as the Seven-headed Wheat.— Eds.] 
The Rural peas were splendid and the Flag¬ 
eolet beans did well. F. p. h. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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FERTILIZING SMALL FRUITS: GETTING RID OF 
SORREL. 
G. C. M., Middleton , .V. *S'.—Within three 
years, each acre of my 10-acre small fruit 
plantation, chiefly in strawberries, has received 
one ton of hone meal, half a ton of superphos¬ 
phate and 500 pounds of muriate of potash; is 
this a good combination? The fertilizers are 
sown broadcast and harrowed in. Is a ton of 
bone meul too much for two crops of straw¬ 
berries in connection withthaother fertilizers? 
2. How can I get rid of sorrel in my old straw¬ 
berry beds, to bo used again for strawberries 
next year? 
A ns, —l. As wo are ignorant of the nature 
of the soil, and therefore of the kind of plant 
food in which it is deficient, it. is difficult to 
say whether the combination is or is not a 
wise one. Clay loams usually contain potash 
enough for ordinary plant growth; yet u mod¬ 
erate application of that fertilizer will prove 
beneficial on most strawberry beds. Bone 
meal and ashes are considered special fertiliz¬ 
ers for the strawberry, and superphosphates 
have given good results; but the effects may 
vary on different soils. It was quite right to 
apply the fertilizers broadcast; but they 
might also bo applied after planting by spread¬ 
ing them around the plants, not permitting 
them to touch the foliage, a hoe or cultivator 
being relied on to distribute it more thorough¬ 
ly. There are other growers who would apply 
all the above fertilizers to an acre of straw- 
lorries, but. we think this would be beyond 
the requirements of the plants. Garden crops, 
however, are generally fertilized by the best 
gardeners beyond the needs of the growing 
crops, because in the present condition of hor¬ 
ticulture it is impossible to apply ingredients 
containing just the kind and amount of plant 
food required by the plants. Heavy applica¬ 
tions of yard manure are often made to hasten 
the maturity of early products by the action 
of nitrogen, there being an excess of other 
fertilizing elements. We feed our plants 
mueh as an inexperienced man would feed 
his horses or cattle, not knowing positively 
their likes, dislikes or necessities. 2. Sorrel 
is a terrible pest among strawberries, equaled 
only by chick weed, red-root, .June Grass, aud 
Canada Thistles. Possibly sorrel will carry 
off the honors as the worst As it apjtears to 
thrive best on cold, undrained soil, we recom¬ 
mend thorough drainage, which will be bene¬ 
ficial in any event. After draining we would 
give the soil a liberal dressing of air-slaked 
lime. There it nothing, however, that can be 
robed upon to clear the soil of foul weeds hut 
the must thorough and persistent cultivation, 
In some soils it appears to be exceedingly 
difficult to obtain a mastery over these pests. 
The more fertile the soil, aud the more desir¬ 
able for plant growth, the more difficult the 
task of extermination. 
BUTTER RATION FOR A COW; RAISING A 
CALF WITHOUT MILK. 
W. C, IT. Shreivsberry Mass. — 1. What 
is a good butter ration for a cow for Summer 
and Winter. How much and how often a day ? 
2. What is the best way to raise a calf with 
little or no milk? 
Ans.— The best butter ration for a cow in 
Summer is all the grass she will eat. When 
a cow can have this food she wants nothing 
else- and the yield from extra food in the form 
of meal Is not. in proportion to its cost, or, in 
other words, it won’t pay. In Winter give 
good hay, not over-ripe. Clover is the best, 
green Red Top next, and last, Timothy. With 
all the hay she will eat, give a pail full of 
warm water morning, noon and night, or 
more if the cow is large. According to the 
size of the cow, give a feeding of meal in the 
following proportions, feeding morning and 
night, after watering and mixing the nteal 
with cut hay. chaff, or roots—the last, the 
best;—two quarts each of linseed meal, corn, 
wheat bran, wheat middlings or ground oats. 
This makes eight, quarts, and it should be 
mixed and divided into two meals of equal 
quant ity. A peck of roots added will increase 
the return more than the analysis of the roots 
would indicate. Keep the cow always out of 
the cold. 2. Steep invert and clover hay in 
water, and give the calf, after it is a week old, 
a quart of this “hay tea’’ with two quarts of 
milk, gradually increasing the hay tea aud re¬ 
ducing the milk till the proportions are revers¬ 
ed—Up to one week old the calf must have 
milk. Stir into the food, after the little thing 
is a week old, a pinch of linseed meal, aud 
gradually increase the amount up to n gill, by 
the time it is three weeks old. After this, add 
wheat middlings—a half gill at first, and grad¬ 
ually increase, keeping up the tea with a little 
milk. An egg, stirred into the liquid, will 
help. Too much meal will give it. the scours. 
Some calves will eat more than others. When 
two weeks old, tempt it to eat grass, aud give 
it all it will cat. Put oats in a dish with it, 
and let it eat all it wilL Sprinkle a pinch of 
salt on the oats to induce it to eat them. The 
bowels must be watched to see the effect of the 
food, find changes should be made to suit the 
cow. Indigestion will produce scours, aud so 
will a cold: over-feeding and exposure to 
storms or cold drafts are the usual causes in 
both eases. 
-»4> 
Miscellaneous. 
IF. H L., Templeton. —1. How long does 
the offer of eight Jewell strawberry plants to 
subscribers, for one subscription, hold good? 
2. What’s the eol.r of the Rural Blush Potato? 
2. Would the R. N.-Y. Pea make a good field 
pea? 4. Should red raspberries Ixi cut back in 
the Spring, as recommended for black-caps? 
5. Which is the more profitable way of grow¬ 
ing strawberries—in hills with runners cut., or 
in matted rows? 
Ans. —1. June 1st. 2, It is a little darker 
than the Beauty of Hebron, often with pink 
eyes. It changes in color. 8. No better than 
any of the “First Earhea” offered by seedsmen. 
4. Perhaps we do not understand the question. 
The old canes may be cut out. in the Fall. The 
new shoots should lie pinched off when the 
canes are three feet high, aud the laterals when 
a foot long. This secures a bushy habit, and 
stakes are less needed. 5. Matted rows. As 
soon as the plants have fruited we cultivate 
between the rows, keeping the soil free of 
weeds. After the first freeze in early Winter, 
we mulch with old farm manure, and do not 
again disturb the soil until after fruiting the 
next season. 
IV. .8’., Cook Co., III. —1. There is no easy 
method of getting rid of Canada Thistles. 
Make the land very rich with manure, and 
smother out the thistles with some rapid-grow¬ 
ing crop, such as Red Clover. Plow under be¬ 
fore they seed or cut thorn off. then cultivate 
often and thoroughly for the rest of the year 
till Whiter. 2. A second growth of stumps 
eon he most economically removed with the 
grubbing hoe. There will be no such thing as 
ease in the operation. 8. Read last two num¬ 
bers of the Rural for remedies for leaf lice. 
The surest remedy for the curculio is found in 
the jarring process frequently described in the 
Rural. A sheet is spread under the trees 
and the tree js jarred, generally by striking it 
with a heavy beam, about w hich a thick car¬ 
pet or blanket has been wound. This cover 
iug protects the bark of the tree and yet the 
blow dislodges the curculio. The insects arc 
picked up from the sheet aud destroyed. This 
process, though slow and wearisome, is the 
surest of any. 
IV. II. II., Harrisburg , Pa .—Peaches do not 
grow wild in any part of Wisconsin; nor are 
they successfully grown there under cultiva¬ 
tion, except by a few amateurs who lay the 
trees dow n and bury them in Winter. Peach¬ 
es cannot be budded upon thorns; nor can 
other stone fruits. The buds of apple and 
pear will “take” upon thorn, but such budding 
is not a preventive against the borers, as the 
thorn is as subject to the pests as other trees. 
L. A. G., Vernon, N. Y .—We have used the 
kerosene emidson sprayed upon the affected 
leaves with success as a remedy for lice in cur¬ 
rant bushes. Tobacco water is also effective. 
DISCUSSION. 
SALT FOR STOCK. 
A. TV. TV., Burnhams N. Y .—Several 
times I have noticed articles in the Rural ad¬ 
vising the frequent feeding of salt to stock, 
some saying that it should be constantly kept 
where they can get it whenever they wish. 
I think the practice is injurious; that the 
taste for it is not natural, but is acquired like 
that for all other stimulants, which are known 
and acknowledged to be hurtful, such as alco¬ 
hol, tobacco, opium, and others. The habit 
becomes so fixed by indulgence, that the appe¬ 
tite gets beyond control, and the victims ere 
long find themselves almost powerless to ab¬ 
stain from the use of such things, even when 
they know them to be exceedingly hurtful. 
A justly celebrated medical writer and prac¬ 
titioner speaking of salt, says: “This sub¬ 
stance is used, even by those who have given at¬ 
tention to medical ami physiological subjects, 
more from mere habit than from any good 
reason why. ‘How unpalatable every thing 
is without it.,’ is the common expression, The 
facts In regard to the dietetic use of salt are 
these:—1 Balt is wholly innutritions; it 
affords no nourishment to any structure or 
substance of the human body. 2. It is utter¬ 
ly indigestible; it enters the body as a mineral 
substance; it is absorbed unchanged as a min¬ 
eral substance, goes the rounds of the general 
circulation as an unassimilated mineral sub¬ 
stance, and is finally eliminated from the body, 
through the kidneys, lungs, skin, etc., as 
an uuassimilaled mineral substance. 3. Its 
acrid quality is offensive to the vital sensibil¬ 
ities of the organs, always causing vital reac¬ 
tion or resistance; and this vital reaction con¬ 
stitutes the only stimulation ever provided by 
salt, and is, therefore, always attended with a 
commensurate degree of irritation and vital 
expenditure, ami followed by a corresponding 
degree of indirect debility aud atony; and 
consequently it always and inevitably tends to 
produce chronic debility, preternatural irrit¬ 
ability and disease;—the stomach, intestines, 
absorbents, veins, heart, arteries, ami all the 
other organs of the system, are always irrita¬ 
ted, exhausted and debilitated by its presence. 
4. It never, in any measure, promotes diges¬ 
tion, nor any of the assimilating functions of 
the system; on the contrary, it always retards 
these functions, and is unfavorable to all the 
vital changes.” 
One of the Rural writers says animals need 
salt, and they never can do well without it. 
My experience in cattle raising, though not as 
extensive as that of many others, is quite the 
contrary. The finest animals I ever raised 
never tasted salt. I do not by any means deny 
that very fine animals are raised which are fed 
with salt, but the superiority of such animals 
is not due to their having eaten salt. Then- 
are other reasons why they are so. in spite of 
salt eating. 
Another sentence reads; “Sometimes men 
are obliged to go without salt for a long time, 
and they say it causes them the most awful 
suffering.” Is it certain that this “awful 
suffering” is caused by the want of salt? If so, 
may it not lx* an additional evidence of the 
evils resulting from the bad habit of using 
stimulants? Deprive the inebriate, the smok¬ 
er or the opium eater of his usual indulgences 
and he becomes testy, woeful and miserable, 
if not crazy. Are these indications of health¬ 
ful habits? Dr. Graham says: “It is well 
known that sailors or others when confined 
for a considerable time to salted food, become 
attiieted with scurvy, always a very distres¬ 
sing and often a very fatal disease. We are 
informed by a physician from Paris that there 
is a certain order of convents in France where 
the inmates have been in the habit for centu¬ 
ries of abstaining w holly from salt, and also 
from animal food. This is done as a matter 
of penance, aud it is notorious that such per¬ 
sons are remarkable for permaneut health and 
long life. There are eertaiu Indian tribes 
who use no salt, and who art* yet strong and 
healthy—remarkably so; so that whatever 
may bo said by chemical physiologists aud 
others of the necessity for taking tins stimu¬ 
lant into the stomach, and thus into the cir¬ 
culation, facts plainly prove that this supposed 
necessity Is chimerical and does not exist. 
From careful and extended experience, I am 
strongly pressed to the conclusion that the use 
of salt is largely concerned iu the production 
of cancers aud other glandular diseases of the 
human system; that it exceedingly aggravates 
many chronic complaints, aud that it increas¬ 
es the liability of the body to diseases of every 
kind; that it is directly conducive to scrofu¬ 
lous, pulmonary and skin diseases and dis¬ 
orders of the mucous membrane. In short, 
there is every reason to believe that it not 
only serves to predispose the body to every 
form of disease, but also seems to aggravate 
and perpetuate every species of disease in¬ 
duced, and that it seems to hasten on a prema¬ 
ture old age, by rendering the solids dry and 
inelastic.” 
R. N.-Y.—It is doubtless true that an ex¬ 
cessive use of salt will in time prove injurious, 
yet a moderate and systematic salting will 
not, in our opinion, do an animal harm. Wild 
animals instinctively seek salt springs and 
rocks to gratify the desire for salt. Some 
waters supply a sufficient quantity for health, 
so that there is no need of extra feeding. We 
do not think it would be possible for an ani¬ 
mal to enjoy perfect health with the supply of 
salt entirely cut off. Whatever causes the 
suffering among those deprived of salt, it is 
beyond question that the suffering is real. 
The last campaign of Lopez, in Paraguay, or 
even the last year of our own war. evidence 
the fact that men miss salt and suffer when 
deprived of it. Salt is the only mineral sub¬ 
stance used as an article of food by man and 
the higher orders of animals, and among all, 
wild or tame, there is a natural craving for 
it. This is not the case with regard to the 
other stimulants mentioned, and the fact must 
have great weight in favor of its use in the 
minds of sensible men. It is a stimulant 
tonic only in small quantities, acting as a 
purgative or emetic in larger ones. Experi¬ 
ence abundantly proves that animals and 
many plants will not thrive without it; 
though, of course, too much acts as a poison. 
Whatever may be the conviction of an indi¬ 
vidual physician, however eminent, it is the 
nearly unanimous opinion of the medical pro¬ 
fession that salt is a necessary stimulus in 
health, quickly passing into the blood and 
escaping mostly through the kidneys. The 
Bible makes frequent commendatory refer¬ 
ences to its use—all sacrifices offered in the 
Temple were seasoned with it; new-born 
children were rubbed with it, and, finally, it 
is mentioned as one of the things most neces¬ 
sary to life. 
Commcxications Receded for the Week Ending 
May 29. 1886. 
S. E. V.-J. L.-M. M. W.—W. H. S.—E. L. T.—M. F.— 
A. M. C.-R. N.-M. R_ S.-S. P. & L.-L. A. R.-W. H. 
H. L.-C. B. W.-E. L. T.-T. T. L.-G. R. H. -S. G. E.. 
thanks.—L. B. A., thanks. —M. R. S.—A. C. M., seeds 
received.—M. P. W.—W. H. L.-S. C.—W. H. X.-Hired 
Man.-N. H., thanks.—J. H.—W. G. G.-T. K.. thanks. - 
L. M.— P. M. A.. thanks.—ft. W. D-— L. W. P.-C. C. McC. 
-E. B. * F. B.—F. W.—W. F. 
IHi.scfUanfau.9i gUvfftisiug. 
That Tired Feeling 
The warm weather has a debilitating effect, 
especially upon those who are within doors most 
of the time. The peculiar, yet common, com¬ 
plaint known as “that tired feeling,” is the 
result. This feeling can be entiroly overcome by 
taking Hood's Sarsaparilla, which gives new life 
and strength to all the functions of the body. 
“I could not sleep; had no appetite. I took 
Hood's Sarsaparilla and soon began to sleep 
soundly; could get up without that tired and 
languid feeling; and my appetite improved.” 
R. a. Sanford, Kent, Ohio. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $t; six for $5. Made 
only by C. I. HOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
Many persons suffering from liver Cough 
have imagined themselves victims of Con¬ 
sumption, but have been entirely restored to 
health by means of Warner's safe cure. 
TO CARMPH'v i This simple invent ton is used 
III ranmuno. | In milking cows, particularly 
where? there ta \ any soreness. Made of solid sll 
ver, and sent hy 1 mail to any address on receipt of 
the price, to et*. Address The Milking Tube Co., 102 
Friendship Street, Providence. R. I. 
SAVE YOUR BUGGIES. 
Educate the colts, and enjoy yourselves. Ask C. S 
BEEBE, Racine, Wia., about different styles of 
Carts. He makes them. 
Unused hy it Fall. 
Raymond, Miss,, Aug. 13, 1885. —Four years 
ago, from a fall from my carriage, my kid¬ 
neys and bladder became badly diseased. 
Physicians said my recovery was impossible. 
Took seven or eight bottles of Warner’s safe 
cure, aud it has saved my life.— Anna 
Carlop. 
