THE RURAL HEW-YORKIR. 
467 
of my mare, given in the Rural of May 8, and 
she improved under the treatment; but as it 
was getting late for breeding, I put her to a 
young stallion and over a gallon of malodor¬ 
ous stuff was discharged. I am still applying 
the remedy, giving little or no corn, but all 
the grass she wants, together with a little wet 
bran and nitrate of potash and sulphate of 
iron. Her stomach seems large; but she keeps 
up a continuous roaring there; what more 
should be done? 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KTLBORNE. 
The difficulty is evidently in the womb, and 
you appear to have failed to reach the seat of 
the disease. When you introduce the catheter 
or tube, introduce the right arm with the tube 
into the vagina until you reach the neck of the 
womb; then, still guiding the tube with the 
hand, pass it through the neck of the womb in¬ 
to that organ itself. Now draw off any con¬ 
tained liquid, and make the injection as di¬ 
rected May 8. If you do not succeed any 
physician can help you. It would be better 
not to attempt to breed the mare this season. 
FERTILIZERS. 
J. li. F., Smyrna, Del. —1. We buy screen, 
ings from a bone mill for *10, $15, and $20 per 
ton, and use them on potatoes with excellent 
results (mostly the $15 kind, which we con¬ 
sider the cheapest of the three for the price). 
Would it be advisable to mix this kind with 
kniuit and hen manure, and what proportion 
would be best? 2. What should be mixed with 
bone screenings and wood ashes to obtain such 
a proportion of nitrogen as would be needed 
in a well-balanced complete fertilizer? 8. 
Would it be advisable to make the mixtures 
some time before they are wanted? 4. Would 
they be as valuable as ordinary superphos¬ 
phate? 
Ans. —1. We should not mix the hen manure 
with the others, but spread it separately. The 
kainifc or bone may be mixed for potatoes in 
the proportion of 200 pounds of each. But we 
do not know what the “bone screenings” may 
consist of—that is, how much bones or how fine 
or coarse they may be. We do not know 
whether your land needs more or less of pot¬ 
ash. 2. Use 00 pounds of blood or nitrate of 
soda to 200 pounds of bone and eight to 12 
bushels of ashes, or ground fish may be used 
for nitrogen, in which case- one-third less of 
bone may be used, as the fish also furnishes 
phosphoric acid. Do not mix until ready 
to use, otherwise there will be an escape of 
nitrogen. 3. No, nothing would be gained 
by it. 4. W e cau not say. Superphosphate, 
as the word is used, unfortunately may 
mean a dozen things besides a fertilizer fur¬ 
nishing only phosphoric acid in a soluble form. 
Strictly sjleaking, a superphosphate should be 
burnt bone dissolved in sulphuric acid, which 
would furnish phosphoric acid alone. 
AILING CHICKS. 
J. W. H., Elizabeth, X. J. —What are the 
symptoms of sickness brought ou chicks by 
eating musty grain? I lost a number from 
some disease which I can attribute to nothing ] 
else. < 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KILBORNE. 1 
Musty grain is not particularly injurious to ' 
fowls, unless fed to young chickens or in large ' 
quantities, especially to fowls confined in ' 
small quarters. With the young chickens the 
only prominent symptoms will be the rapid 1 
drooping and dying. With the older fowls 
there may be ruffled and dull feathers, cold- < 
ness of the skin, weakness or paralysis of the i 
legs, constipation, general dullness or torpor, 1 
or perhaps nervous paroxysms. In many cases <■ 
there will In- merely the drooping and iteath 1 
without any market! symptoms. If your ' 
chickens are but a few days or weeks old they e 
are probably dyiug from exposure or unsuit¬ 
able food. If older, and the fowls of all ages I 
are attacked, it is more like the cholera. By c 
again referring to the late article in the Ru- fc 
ral on fowl cholera, you will find it there 
stated that any or nearly all of the common 
symptoms may l#e absent. While the symp¬ 
toms of disease in poultry are generally very 
unsatisfactory , this is especially the ease with C 
the cholera, and also diseases musing from im¬ 
proper or unsuitable feediug. 
SCRATCHES IN A MARE. 
w. //. w., Edgerton, Wis .—What is a 
remedy for scratches in a six-year-old mare? 
and one-half ounce each of powdered gentian 
and carbonate of soda, and one dram iodide 
of potassium. Confine the mare where her 
heels will be kept clean and dry. Feed mode¬ 
rately, and do not give corn or other heating 
agents. 
GETTING RTD OF SORREL. 
E. PL, Turnsburg , Ohio .—How can I get 
rid of sorrel? It hasn’t the slightest objection 
to a rich soil, so that “extra manuring” will 
do no good. 
Ans.—I t blooms in your climate in May and 
later, fruiting in Summer. It is plain that 
any treatment that will prevent seeding will 
reduce the crop. It is a perennial, however, 
and spreads by the roots also. Summer fal¬ 
lowing—the thorough cultivation of hoed 
crops will subdue it. Until of late lime has 
been recommended, but careful experiments 
show that it flourishes under lime dreasing as 
well as in poor soil. Enriching land tends to 
subdue it simply because it gives other plants 
a chance to crowd it out. 
celebrated medical writer and practitioner’’ against 
salt? He could not live without a certain per cent, of 
U in his blood. In which It Is a constant elemeut. It 
attracts water and keeps the blood fluid. In this 
respect, It undergoes more change than water does. 
Its crystals are dissolved, while water remains water 
still, from first to last. Yet one may Injure himself 
by an excessive use of water, as he may by an exces¬ 
sive use of salt; aud If he gers Into water It will 
drown the life out of bis body. Possibly he might 
smother himself In salt. But salt Is nothing like as 
dangerous an element to deal with as water.” 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KILBORNE, 
Soak the crusty or scabs with oil for a tew 
hours and remove as much as possible by wash- 
ing with tepid water aud Castile soap. Then 
apply benzoftted oxide of ziuo ointment, and 
cover with a bandage. Repeat if necessary. 
When you have a clean, beolthy-Jooking sur¬ 
face remove the bandage, and apply daily a 
spermaceti and almond oil or tor ointment. 
If the oxide of zinc does not succeed, replace it 
by a solution of sugar of lead and sulphate of 
zmc. Internally give five drams of Barbadoes 
aloes to open the bowels, aud follow twice 
daily with five grains of arsenic in solution 
I SWEENY. 
J. H., Big Mound, la. —My mare got lame 
in one leg five months ago. Her shoulder 
has shrunk away just below the top of the 
shoulder blade, on a space four inches wide 
and seven long. She is very lame, and in 
working she doesn't allow the foot to pass 
back of the center. When she eats grass she 
rests the foot on the toe. No fever, or swell¬ 
ing, or any signs of injury on frog or foot. 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KILBORNE. 
Evidently it is a severe case of sweeny, a 
sprain of the muscle tilling the posterior cavity 
on the outside of the shoulder blade. See 
late numbers of the Rural for treatment of 
mild cases of sweeny. In the present case a 
current of electricity from a galvanic battery, 
sent through the muscle for 15 to 25 minutes 
daily, would probably be the best remedy. In 
the absence of a battery, buy Spanish-fly 
blister, or, better still, place the mare in the 
hands of a competent veterinary surgeon for 
treatment. 
Miscellaneous. 
E. A. B., Talladega, Ala. —1. My horse 
was kicked on the hind leg at the fetlock joint. 
The place is swollen considerably; what should 
bo done? 2. The fore-quarters of the udder of 
one of my cows that is about to calve, fill out; 
but the teats do not; what should be done if 
she fails to give milk through any of the teats? 
Ans. —1. If no heat or tenderness remains, 
apply tincture of iodine twice a week for a 
month, or longer. You may, or may not be 
able to entirely remove the swelling, accord¬ 
ing to the extent of the injury, 2. The cow 
will not fail to give milk through these' teats 
if there is milk in the corresponding quarters, 
unless there is some stricture or obstruction in 
the duct. In this case an incision will have 
to be made to open the duct or to remove the 
abstraction. 
A Subscriber , Byron , X. Y.— An acid 
phosphate of South Carolina rock cut with 
sulphuric acid, and analyzing about 12 to 14 
per cent, of phosphoric acid, with no potash or 
uurnonia, is ottered us at New York for $28 
*>r ton. The agent says only $1 per ton is 
nude on it. Isn’t the price too high? 
Ans. —If it contains 14 per cent, of soluble 
ihosphoric acid, the price is not excessive. 
P. S. B., June grille, X. Y.— No; there is no 
luty on imported eggs from poultry. Uni¬ 
ons come in from Cauada and Europe duty- 
roe every year. Why shouldn’t the Ameri- 
au Hen l>e “protected?” Her products run 
nigh among millions of dollars every year— 
without a particle of protection. Foreign fish- 
eggs have to pay a duty of 10 per cent. 
J. 11. J., Allen, Md. —This year the May 
King Strawberry is not earlier than the Cres¬ 
cent. It is not quite so productive, but is 
better iu quality. 
J. .4. IF - ., Cecil Co., Md. —Spraying with 
tobacco tea is about the only remedy we know 
of for the “black beetles or lice” that infest 
cherry' and plum trees. 
DISCUSSION. 
THE USE OF SALT ON FOOD. 
L. C., Philadelphia, Pa.—A late Rural 
says: 
"The National Lire Stock Journal, noticing a 
recent communication In the kraxi. reKjmllng the 
feefling of salt to stock, makes the point that 
water la wholly Innutritions, adding nothing of gub 
staueo to any structure of the body, U u ut terly In¬ 
digestible, la taken aa water, goes the rounds of olreu 
latton as water, and Ls finally eliminated from the 
system as water. All that ran bo said of salt In this 
line can be said of water. But does It prove that water 
la injurious, or useless? Does It perform no Important 
omeo In the body, although not digested or assimi¬ 
lated? Water is absolutely lndespoaaable. Without 
It, neither vegetable uor animal argautwna ran exist. 
It I* a medium for dissolving all foods, aud aHalsting 
In their circulation and deposit at the points when* 
netxied. Remove the water and everything would bo 
but crumbling dust, to be blown about by the winds. 
What, then. Is the force of argumont of tho ’’Justly 
The National Live Stock Journal is, of 
L course, all wrong. There is no sense in the 
, above argument. I do not deny but that salt 
I is needed in the system, but I do believe that 
there is enough saline matter in the food we 
eat to fulfill our wants in that direction. Such 
is not the case when we eat only the starch of 
, the wheat, a.s in white bread, or when we pare 
, the potato, boil it and throw the water away. 
; Water is needed in the system, of course, and 
our food consists largely of water; and if we 
eat fruit largely’, we must not drink if we do 
not use salt. I neither eat salt nor drink 
water, and am never thirsty. The use of 
salt and sugar causes a demand for drink, as 
I have found by' experience. Animals would 
drink very little water if allowed to graze and 
were not given salt You seem to thiuk be¬ 
cause the “scientific and practical world” ap¬ 
proves of the use of tins mineral as food, 
therefore it is right to use it. But that proves 
nothing. There are much false teaching and 
practice in the world, and will continue to be 
for some time. After a while the world will 
outgrow this error as it has others. Forty 
years ago, the use of calomel was considered 
indispensable to the cure of many diseases; 
now it is scarcely ever given by physicians. 
Other drugs have gone out of use, one after 
another, from time immemorial, because found 
to be pernicious. Salt will surely takg its 
turn. I propose to think for rnyself. and not 
be tied to the opinions of old-fogyism, as the 
Rural seems to be. You seem not to value 
the opinion and experience of “one person” in 
the matter, and yet are not the opinion and ex¬ 
perience of one person who has tided doing 
both with and without salt, worth the “guess¬ 
work” of a thousand who have always used 
salt? I should say so. There are hundreds, 
aud perhaps thousands, of persons who have 
stopped the use of salt, and their uniform 
testimony is that they have been the gainers 
thereby, and I never heard of one injured by 
the abstinence. The testimony of a hundred 
such persons, it seems to me, is worth that of 
a million bigots who use the drug aud think it 
right because it is the custom approved of by 
a lot of ninnies of the “scientific” class who 
never have given a moment's attention to the 
subject, but simply have token for granted 
what they saw in their college text-books. 
There is not a particle of doubt in my mind 
that salt, as it is placed upon our tables, is a 
poisonous mineral, unfit to be used as food, 
destroying the relish for food and damaging 
the human system that is brought in contact 
with it, and ought to be abstained from; but 
that the body and all its parts may be sup¬ 
plied with its requirements in this direction, 
our food should be so selected and cooked 
that its saline constituents bo retained aud not 
thrown away. The salts of the grains, fruits 
and vegetables are in their proper conditions 
for use, and are essential to health the same as 
are the magnesia, soda, starch, potash, etc. 
These last named constituents, taken as we 
take salt from the salt-cellar, are not whole¬ 
some, but as in our food, they play an essen¬ 
tial part in our internal economy. 
K. 8 . W., Ravenna, Ohio.— As the Rural 
calls for the experience of others in the use of 
salt for stock I will give mine, I lived about 
two years on a mountain ilairy ranch iu Cal¬ 
ifornia. It is unusual to see any one there 
salting his stock, the opinion being that there 
is enough salt iu the dew (being close to the 
ocean) to supply all that is necessary. The 
maimer of milking there was rather different 
from ours. The cows were corraled, and in 
au adjoining yard were the calves. The milk¬ 
er would let one calf mto the corral at a time, 
and as soon as the calf started the cow to give 
down her milk, the calf was taken away and 
tied to the fence with a short rope used iu bail¬ 
ing hay. Unless we took good care of our 
rapes, the calves would eat them up. This 
called forth much argument betweeu the 
owner and the writer. I, being recently from 
the East, maintained that the unnatural habit 
of rope-eating was due to the want of salt, anil 
proved it to tuy entire satisfaction by feediug 
the calves salt, after which it. was perfectly 
safe to lay the ropes down, and they would 
let them aloue. Again, horses pastured in a 
field of Alfalfa would eat the top board of the 
fence, aud I always claimed it was for the 
want of salt, but I never had a chance to 
prove it. We pastured about 80 horses in the 
Fall and Winter on Alfalfa and other rank 
grasses outside of the ranch. The first season 
I was there, the horses did not put on flesh as 
they ought, and their hair did not lie smooth¬ 
ly. I, of course, said it was for the want of 
t salt, and got laughed at for saying so; but to 
t convince me that I was wrong, find that the 
0 horses would not eat salt if they could get it, 
the owner sent over a barrel of salt, and by 
f my instructions, a bag of bran. For two 
feeds I mixed two parts bran and one of salt. 
, Owing to their greediness for it. I discontinued 
r. the bran and gave them a 16 quart pail of salt 
1 twice a week. Placed out at night, it would 
, flU gone in the morning, and in a very 
short time it was apparent that salt was bene 
■ fieial to them, and we always salted our 
\ horses after that. Of course, where cattle 
‘ were close to the ocean, or where they could 
get the native salt grass, they did not need 
salt; but on rank-growing grass, such as Alfal¬ 
fa, or the native grass in the rainy season, 
they needed salt. Again, I have never seen a 
horse or stock of any kind but what likes 
more or less salt, and I give them credit for 
knowing too much to eat so much of anything 
that is not good for them. 
W. CL Tyrone, Pa.—I n May, every year, 
we see, in closely grazed pastures, luxuriant 
little mounds of tall green grass, while all 
around is pale and sere, showing only weak 
beginnings of growth. On examination we 
find that each of these verdant spots surrounds 
a little deposit dropped there last season by 
some cow or horse, and we are quick to infer 
that the vast improvement in growth is due to 
the deposit acting as manure. We feel that 
manure is everything, and that our meadow is 
worn out for want of it. Where or how shall 
we get enough of it to make the whole surface 
so productive? 
In this we are on a wrong train of reasoning, 
| and giving ourselves worry without reason. 
Manure has very little to do with producing 
this great and desirable spring of growth. 
The pile of droppings has yet become 
soluble but to a very small extent, and could 
not yet yield manurial nutriment. The 
growth is due to the cattle having avoided 
those spots while grazing so that the plants 
there had a chance to become strong in top 
and root, the latter having also the advantage 
of a partial mulct. Where any piece of soil 
is protected from cattle and from steel for a 
time it will soon show its gratitude in a boun¬ 
tiful and generous growth. This applies to 
lawns and door yards. No amount of manure 
will make up for the injury done to the plant, 
including its roots, by continual cropping, 
trampling or shading, without any chance of 
making a full growth of blades during any 
portion of the season. 
K. N.-Y—Our correspondent’s reasoning is 
partly correct no doubt, but wo think not 
wholly so. The watery portion of the deposits 
contains more or less plant food in a perfectly 
soluble condition, and this is carried into the 
soil by every rain to enrich the land under¬ 
neath and somewhat beyond the deposit. 
E. D. C., Thornyille, Mich.—What is the 
matter with the Alaska Pea-: It is a matter of 
wonder to me where the Rural could have 
got the seed to supply all its subscribers with 
a paper. It is the puniest little object you 
ever saw. I should think it would take 500 
acres of it to go around in the Free Seed Distri¬ 
bution. I inclose a specimen which was raised 
in good garden soil and well cared for. My 
market Garden Peas, which came in the Dis¬ 
tribution, are the admiration of everybody 
who sees them. Tho row is five rods long, 
planted with the hand corn-planter—four 
abreast, five seeds dropped in a place, and well 
bushed. They are covered with flowers and 
pods, and the foliage is very frugrant 
K N-Y. —Our Alaska Peas grew to the hight 
of four feet. All the seed sent out to subscri¬ 
bers was the same, so far as we know. If any 
other variety was sent, it was tho mistake of 
the originator. 
E. F. C. Ellsworth. Wis.— A poultry 
specialist in the Rural recommends lard and 
sulphur to kill lice on chicks. My wife 
anointed a brood of a dozen chicks last year 
with such a mixture, and thereby certainly 
killed every chick—aud perhaps some lice also. 
R N.-Y.—Too much was used, and too 
much of auythiug is bad in all cases and 
fatal in some. Lard stops the pores of chick¬ 
ens and lice alike, aud thereby kills the lice, 
which breathe only through the spiracles or 
pore-like vents in their bodies. The chick is 
injured also by a liberal application over 
much of the body, and where the body is 
“anointed' with the stuff, fatal results are 
likely to follow. The usual way is to rub it 
under the wings and on the baek'of the chick- 
the lice congregate cbiedy there, or in mov¬ 
ing about soon get there, and are killed. 
Communications Received ron tub Week Emdiso 
July 10. 1886. 
8. P. S.-H. S. E. Y.-R. W.-E. C. B., thanks.-F. a 
R. C. -O. F. -II. R. R.-E. W. S.—C. A. G.-H. E. C —J. 
S. R—H. R-O.-J. B. R.-W. F. J. E. S.-YY. F -J S. 
—W. L. I). B. F. W.-C. D.—\Y. E. P.-J. B. R.-F. G. 
S. A. Y». H. N.—H. B. 51.—J, H. H., thanks. 
—J. C.—W. G.—YY. H. N\—R. P. O., thanks.—J. C,—F.8. 
-M. H. A.-H. R. H.-J. 8. B.-C. W. O.—S. Y. R.—C. B. 
G—J. W. D.. thanks.—J. K. C.—J. A. S.—T. S.—S. P. & 
L.—A. M. S.—T. W. L.— E. S. G.—A. S_S, A. L.—YY, D. 
G.-D. J. F.—J. 51. D.-A. G. G. 
