THE RURAL «EW=*;©RKER. 
465 
food-constituents does each kind of animal re¬ 
quire to secure the best results? 
Poultry Manure, —TTenrv Stewart, says, in 
the N. T. Times, that every farmer values the 
manure from the poultry house for its use on 
corn, cabbages, and other field and garden 
crons. He knows how it is immediately taken 
up by these crops, changing the pale color to 
a deep green, and starting a luxuriant growth. 
It. is one of the problems of the art of fertiliz¬ 
ing that certain manures exert an effect quite 
disnroportionate to their supnosed fertilizing 
value. Thus, in 100 pounds of poultry manure 
there are two pounds of phosphoric acid, one 
pound of potash, and 2pounds of nitrogen; 
in 100 pounds of fresh wood ashes there are 
six pounds of potash and three pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid; i n TOO rounds of plaster there are 
75 to 90 pounds of sulphate of lime in all. five 
pounds of phosphoric acid, 2 1 ?f pounds of nitro¬ 
gen. seven pounds of potash, 40 pounds of sul¬ 
phuric acid, and 45 pounds of lime. Quite a 
poor and cheap fertilizer would be as rich as 
this, but the effect of this home-made mixture 
is often superior to that of a high-grade, costly 
fertiliser. The reason is not hard to find. It 
is that, thesci substances are soluble and in an 
active condition, and furnish the crops with 
plant food suitable to their needs and readily 
available. This is a most important point 
that should be well understood, for it lies at 
the very bottom of the art and practice of 
manuring. _ 
Well-deserving of Their Fellow-men. 
—Peter M. Gideon describes, in an interesting 
letter to the Western Rural, his efforts during 
30 years in Minnesota—after a previous 30 
years of nursery and orchard experience—in 
the work of developing fruits of satisfactory 
quality, cnpahle of enduring the blizzards and 
the cold of that arctic climate. Only two 
trees remain of all his first large planting. 
These were grown from Siberian Crab seed, 
and proved a godsend. Now there are many 
sorts with enough of the Siberian Crab in their 
comimsition to render them iron-olads as to 
hardiness, vet in quality of fruit. “a match for 
the world, whether to eat. from the hand or to 
make into sanee,” and the State is likely to 
become famous for its yield of good apples. 
Long keepers are as vet scarce The known 
long keepers from further south continue their 
growth too Into then and perish. To enable 
them to produce blossoms there, to be fertiliz¬ 
ed with pollen from iron-clad sorts, Mr. G. 
sets grafts on the tops of trees which stop their 
sap-flow early, aud in that wav fruit and cross¬ 
ed seed have been produced, and entire suc¬ 
cess is in full prospect. These labors merit a 
monument. The orchards of the State will 
form one better than of marble. 
Another of these faithful, silent workers in 
the horticultural field whose labors benefit all, 
is Dr. J. Htayman, of Leavenworth, Kansas. 
He has collected the vast number of more 
thau 8,000 varieties of fruits, and has made, 
from the fruit in his own hands, cuts and 
minute descriptions of 2.140 different sorts. 
Few can appreciate the immensity of such a 
work, or the cost in time and money of mak¬ 
ing such a collection, or its value ffir horticul¬ 
tural reference when faithfully made. Besides 
these indoor labors. TV. S. has originated new 
sorts of value by crossing and otherwise, and 
is still largely engaged in cultivating seedlings 
of crosses on up to the development of their 
fruit. Mr. Gideon’s estimate as to the yield 
of such seedlings is that it takes from 300 to 
500 in his Hue of effort to produce one first- 
class apple. Often the proportion is much 
larger._ 
The Use ok Salt in Food.— Dr. T. H. Hos¬ 
kins. iu referring to several of what he calls 
“cranky notions,” in a late issue of the Ver¬ 
mont Watchman, says: “Still another piece 
of erankerv is the prohibition of salt, which 
some ill-informed person, on the authority of 
an unnamed individual whom he (or she) calls 
‘a justly celebrated medical writer,’ advo¬ 
cates in the Rural New-Yorker. The 
editor replies to the correspondent with great 
good sense, saying: ‘Whatever may be the 
conviction of an individual physician, how¬ 
ever eminent, it is the nearly unanimous opin¬ 
ion of the medical profession that salt is a 
necessary stimulus in health.’ This is entirely 
correct, but it is not one-half the truth. The 
‘justly celebrated medical writer.’ quoted by 
the Rural’s correspondent, exhibits his utter 
ignorance of physiological science iu saying 
that ‘salt, never in any measure promotes 
digestion, nor any of the assimilating func¬ 
tions of the system;’ and that it ‘goes the 
rounds of the general circulation as an uuas- 
similated mineral substance.’ The simple 
facts, as agreed upon by the best author¬ 
ities, arc that salt is essential to digestion 
and assimilation, and that these processes 
must stop when salt, aud the products of its 
digestion (muriatic acid and the organic salts 
of soda) are absent. Salt is composed of muri¬ 
atic acid (hydrochloric or chlorhydric acid, ac¬ 
cording to more modern systems of naming) 
and soda (sodium oxide), and its chemical 
name is ‘sodium chloride.’ It is unquestion¬ 
ably ‘digested’ or decomposed in the body 
the muriatic acid going to the stomach to form 
the principal acid of the gastric juice, without 
which digestion could not take place, and the 
soda, in organic combination, being found in 
the bile, where it is supposed to aid in the 
absorption of fat by the laeteals. 
Feed for Working Horse.— Dr. Stewart 
says, in the Weekly Press, that, the fast work¬ 
ing horse exerts the lungs more freely than 
the slow worker; hence the. food should be 
more concentrated l iut. yet digestible; it should 
also contain a sufficient quantity of fiber 
mixed with the finer matter to give masticat¬ 
ed food a porous consistence and prevent it 
from forming a too solid mass in the stomach. 
Oats are precisely the kind of food required to 
meet such a case. The husk of oats forms a 
large portion of the substanee of the grain, 
while the kernel is rich in nitrogenous matter 
and has sufficient carbonaceous matter to 
supplv all the needs of the lungs, which are 
stimulated by the muscular action to greatly 
increased exertion. The oats contain pre¬ 
cisely the requisite proportions of fine and 
coarse matter for the horse’s aliment in a 
sufficiently concentrated condition to avoid 
overloading the stomach, and are thus the best 
food for the fast-working horse, which needs no 
hav. But to get the best results from this grain 
it should be crushed, and should be fed four 
times a day, so that the system is never ex 
hausted for want of food. The slow-working 
horse, on the contrary, the farm horse, for in¬ 
stance. does not require a concentrated food 
nor such frequent feeding, because'its work is 
slower and the consumption of force is not so 
great. 
TooMucn Butchering.— The present; blood¬ 
thirsty call for the butcher, according to Henry 
Stewart, is altogether too absurd. If a cow 
kicks because she has been ill-trained or not 
trained at all. or if she has her lungs diseased 
by vicious management, or has been in a 
stable with a cow which has been known to 
cough at some time or another, or if the swine 
are sickened by the filth which they have 
been forced to swallow with their food, or by 
injudicious feeding, the butcher is called up¬ 
on to slaughter indiscriminately. Even the 
horn's which are diseased through breathing 
foul air of filthy staples are to be butchered, 
and every other animal which is supposed to 
have been infected by anv one which may 
have a nasal discharge which indicates some 
appearance of something similar to glanders. 
There is nothing said about a reform in the 
treatment, of these animals; of good, careful, 
kind training, of humane keeping, of clean 
lodging, of nutritious and wholesome feeding, 
of any sanitary precautions against disease. 
Nothing of this kind at all, but only slaughter 
when our live stock have been made useless 
by our gross mistakes. And agriculture lan¬ 
guishes and farming does not pay, or at least 
so it. is declared. Perhaps there is some con¬ 
nection between these, as cause and result, 
to some extent. 
Cutting Feed. —A. W. Cheever says, iu 
the N. E. Farmer, that, some years ago there 
were many stroug advocates of the practice of 
cutting hay, and,after wetting it,of mixing iu 
the meal and feed, both for cattle and for 
horses. Hay and straw cutters were among 
the most advertised of farm implements, aud 
one or more might be found in almost every 
stable wbeiv even a single animal was kept. 
But after a while it was found that it was no 
small task to cut all the hay for a large stoek 
of cattle, even with a horse power cutter, and 
many who had never fed much grain till the 
cutter came in fashion thought that whole hay 
and the same amount of grain given separate¬ 
ly might, prove quite as beneficial, aud set 
their cutters aside, until there are probably 
nine cutters stored away unused, in barn lofts 
or sheds, where there is one in daily use. 
Many who now advocate the cutting of hay 
or straw ami the mixing with it of meal, argue 
that, if fine meal is fed alone, it does not go to 
the firet stomach, but passes on to the fourth 
stomach and is washed into the intestines, 
often only partially utilized. Experiments 
have beeu made which do not confirm this 
view. Cattle have been fed fine meal just lie- 
fore being killed and the stomachs carefully 
examined. The meal was found in the first 
stomach, thoroughly mixed with the coarser 
foods. 
SAMPLES. 
There is no word of three letters in the 
English language, or any other language, that, 
is so voluminously suggestive as the word 
rum, says the Western Rural. As you value 
your happiness and honor and usefulness to 
yourselves and to the world, touch not, taste 
not, handle not the accursed stuff. 
Bulletin No. 20 of the Massachusetts Ex. 
Station gives several analyses of articles of 
feed with reference to their fertilizing consti¬ 
tuents. Wheat feed was shown to be worth 
$10.65 per ton; wheat meal, $6.05: corn cobs, 
£2,52; Vilmorin’s sugar beet, £1.25; damaged 
cotton seed meal. $14.97.. 
Prof, Goessmann says that herbivorous 
animals receive these substances directly from 
the plants; carnivorous animals indirectly, by 
feeding on herbivorous animals. We feed, at 
present, our farm stock too frequently with¬ 
out a due consideration of the general natural 
law of nutrition; to deal out our fodder crops 
only with mere reference to name instead of 
making ourselves more familiar with their 
composition and their particular quality, de¬ 
prives us even of the chance of drawing an 
intelligent conclusion from our present system 
of feediug....... 
We are. glad to see that J”. J. Thomas, one 
of our best pomological authorities, condemns 
scraning the bark of trees for the purpose of 
benefiting them by killing the insects which 
harbor under the bark. This is advocated by 
many rural journals. But Mr. Thomas sus¬ 
pects that the tree is rendered more suscepti¬ 
ble to the cold of Winter while few, if any. 
harmful insects are killed. The R. N.-Y. has 
always opposed scraping the bark from trees 
as well as slitting the bark in order to pro¬ 
mote the growth of the trunk. Pray, don't 
waste your time and strength in this way. If 
you give your trees good food to eat aud plenty 
of it. and cut out while young all the branches 
that interfere with each other, you have done 
all that you can do to promote their welfare. 
Leave the rest to nature. 
It is now about six years or more since the 
R. N-Y. sent out seeds of the Argeuteuil ami 
Red Dutch Asparagus to all of its subscribers 
who applied. At that time we urgently point¬ 
ed out to our readers that the best way to raise 
asparagus was from seeds sown in enriched 
plots where the seed was to remain, afterwards 
thinning out the plants as required. In this 
way we raised asparagus from seeds of all the 
so-called different varieties that we could hear 
of. Mr. Peter Henderson now advocates the 
same thing in a book soon to be published.... 
The Farm Journal advises that we sow rye, 
three pecks per acre, with the buckwheat in 
June. It will not make much growth, but 
will live, until the buckwheat is taken off, 
when it will soon make good faU pasture. 
Feed it off so that it does not make any 
attempt to head out, or it will winter-kill. By 
judicious treatment a fair crop may be har¬ 
vested next season. Seed with clover in the 
spring. Don’t, you see! you will have three 
crops with one preparation .. 
A railroad corporation, it says, has no 
right to discriminate- between its customers 
than has a grist mill * * * If milk were 
used more, and beer and rum less, in this 
country, times would not be so hard, and mil¬ 
lions in doctors bills and medicine would be 
saved...... 
Don’t use salicylic acid to preserve fruits or 
anything whatever, that is to be eaten. 
The N. Y. Tribune has reduced its Agricul¬ 
tural Department to four columns a»d the N. 
Y. Sun has given up an Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment altogether. 
Goodall’s Sun says: “Lettuce have peas.” 
S. K. Everett, of Cherryville, N. J., says 
theN. Y. World, one year ago sowed clover 
in his 12-vear-old orchard, where he had mu¬ 
riate of potash aud bone for four years. This 
season he plowed under the clover sod anil 
applied lime. This orchard has put on a fine 
new growth of wood and promises well for 
another seasou... 
Dr. Hoskins says, iu the Vt. Watchman, 
that we want protection that protects—not 
unconstitutional uuworfhble statutes, but a 
plain law that shall compel every ouuee of 
bogus butter to be sold as such, so that every 
person who buys it shall know just what he is 
getting. 
Sow corn for fodder now ... 
Prepare for sowing Rutabagas. Large 
crops are secured by sowing in drills 18 inches 
apart aud thinning out. One pound of seed 
to the acre.... 
Nil* off the ends of grape-vines; thin out the 
pears aud apples; remove early peas aud pre¬ 
pare the land at once and sow turnips, fodder 
corn or something else. Cut back the tall 
shoots of blackberries and raspberries, and 
pinch off the laterals....... 
Provide fresh water for the stock. If ever 
fresh, pure water is needed, it is needed now. 
Tie up the growing shoots of grape-vines. 
Pinch out all but the best shoot of young vines 
planted last Spring. Pinch out all starting 
shoots between the leaf and main shoot. Cul¬ 
tivate the late potatoes and see that the leaves 
are not injured by the beetle. Cultivate the 
corn field. Keep three inches in depth mel¬ 
low and free from weeds. To go deeper is to 
sever the roots, all of which the plant needs. 
As soon as the strawberry patch has yielded 
its fruit, cultivate between the rows or bills. 
Now is the time to do it. If in matted rows 
and the patch is to be preserved another year, 
cultivate between the rows, cutting off the 
runners. Keep free of weeds, and in the Fall 
fill the cultivated space with manure, and 
later the vines should tie mulched. Give the 
young celerv plants good attention. Do not 
allow the soil to become caked or the plants to 
suffer for water. Beans may still be planted. 
Sow beet seeds for late greens. The little 
young beets are among the sweetest and most 
tender of vegetables. 
Now, for this latitude, make the last plant¬ 
ing of sweet corn. Select a second-early 
variety, like the Concord. Taking the risks, 
it may be planted as late as July 15. 
Move the sweet potato vines. This is im¬ 
portant. as to allow them to root will surely 
decrease the yield of potatoes.. 
Cauliflower plants may be set as late as 
late July. 
For winter cabbage, set the plants now. 
There are few better kinds than the Large 
Late Drumhead..... 
For the late crop, July is early enough to 
plant celery. Plants intended for November's 
use mav be set now. Remember they must 
have rich, mellow soil and plenty of water_ 
W e would repeat our advice to farmers not 
to sleep in the same undergarments worn 
diming the day. It is more than worth the 
trouble to take off the undershirt as soon as 
day’s labor is finished, rub the body thorough¬ 
ly with a harsh towel, and put on underclothes 
which are perfectly dry. 
Young Housekeeper (timidly to the 
butcher): “ I will take some lamb to-day.” 
Obsequious Butcher: “Willyou have a 
forequarter, madam?” 
Y. H. (with more confidence): “ I think 
that is too much for our family; I will take a 
threequarter.”— Life. 
One kind of egg plant: A chicken farm.... 
Orchard and Garden is of the opinion 
that the Erie is the coming blackberry, be¬ 
cause it has the iron-clad cane of the Snyder, 
and the large fruit of the Lawton. The form 
of the berry is roundish and its quality said to 
he good. Plants at the Rural Grounds were 
set last Fall, but they were enfeebled plants 
and have made but little growth yet. 
The Farm, Field and Stockman says that if 
hens are fed but once a day. that one meal 
should be given at night. * * * The same 
journal says that there are six different breeds 
called Spanish, viz.. Black Spanish. Andalu¬ 
sian, and four kinds of Leghorn—White, 
Brown. Dominique and Black. The Leghorns 
are really of Italian origin Many prefer the 
American Dominique to the Dominique Leg¬ 
horn .... 
A great deal of complaint is made by some 
writers and speakers at farmers’ meetings 
because there are more lawyers in the Legis¬ 
latures than farmers. Recently Col. Mannard 
read a paper before the State Board of Agri¬ 
culture of Indiana in which, among other 
statements, he complained that only 12 far. 
mere were sent to the Forty-eighth Congress 
against 273 lawyers. The New York Times 
sees no reason to complain of this. It is part 
of the husiness of lawyers to make laws, for 
laws art* their stock in trade: farmers, on the 
other hand, are growing food and clothing for 
the lawyers. If the circumstances were re¬ 
versed, and 273 lawyers were put to growing 
wheat and making butter for 12 farmers who 
were busy making laws for the lawyers, the 
farmers would be starved and the lawyers 
would become insane. Let the cobbler stick 
to his last, said wise old J&sop, and let fanners 
cultivate their farms while lawyers make and 
unmake laws. A good farmer growing large 
crops is a far more necessary individual than 
a member of Congress, and should feel more 
pride in the successful management of his 
business than if he were a poor legislator. 
The Orchard and Garden has an article 
from A. 8. Fuller about the Peen-to Peach. A 
reference to the R. N.-Y.. page 432 of 1884, 
would have shown him illustrations from life 
with a full description from P. J. Berckmaus, 
who sent us the specimen engraved, and 
Charles Downing. Last summer these peaches 
were sent to the N. Y. market. The quality 
is excellent.. 
/A 
i 
Oenji’ 
Pljcrc* 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.—LVI. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Yreka; the Shasta Valley: mixing the babies; 
Mount Shasta; Butteville; a night ride; 
end of staging. 
We reached Yreka on time—a town of 1,500 
to 2,000 inhabitants, nestled in the mountains 
