WEW-YORKER. 
early. Weather im May as good as could be. 
Most of the time since June 1 it has been dry, 
hot and windy. Wheat, leaves are rusting. 
Wheat, oats and barley must be light. All 
crops are suffering for want of rain, especially 
potatoes. Alaska Peas no earlier than Ameri¬ 
can Wonder. Angel of Midnight Com now 
ready to tassel; two feet high. Dent corn 
twice as high and as forward. Corey sweet 
com silked July 39th. s. k. o. 
Nebraska. 
Rusooe Township , Buffalo Co., July 9.— 
Our Spring was very backward. We had an 
unusual fall of snow on March 37th and 28th, 
and on April 3, 3 and 4, which remained for 
two weeks. We had considerable rain in 
April, and but little in May. In June we had 
no rain worth speaking of. We arc just, pass¬ 
ing through a very severe dry spell, and unless 
we soon get rain the growing crops will be 
materially damaged, The following estimate 
of the crops iu this section Is given as com¬ 
pared with the condition at the same time last 
year:—Rye lOOpercent.; barley 90per cent.; 
wheat 80 percent,; corn 70 per cent.: hay 70 
per cent.; oats 50 per cent.; potatoes aud gar¬ 
den truck about the same as last year, except, 
that they are suffering from lack of rain. If 
we have plenty of rain this month the hay 
crop will reach 100 per cent. B. B. m. 
New York. 
Elmira, Chemung Co., July 3.—No rain to 
wet anything more than the surface since the 
first week in May here. All crops are suff¬ 
ering from drought. Corn came up very un¬ 
evenly, owing to this cause and floor seed, and 
the stand is poor. But few fields in which 
there are not a great many missing hills. The 
use of corn planters has uot proved favorable 
with me this season. That covered with a 
hr i catne up much better. Wheat, with the 
exception of grain injured by floods on the 
river bottoms, came through the Winter better 
than last, year and started finely, but has not 
done well since, and n great deal of it is very 
short.in growth. The best pieces I know of 
are of Diehl-Meditenuieat. Oats are heading 
out very short and will he a poor crop unless 
rain comes soon. Rye good; barley looks well, 
but, there Is not much of it. Early potatoes 
badly injured by drought; bugs plenty. 
Early in the season there was a gins I pros¬ 
pect for a hay crop, but it has all vanished 
and t he. crop is the poorest in many years. It 
is a rare thing to sec a heavy meadow even on 
the river ltottoms. It has been a hard season 
to set tobacco, of which there is a great deal 
sown about here. Where they have succeeded 
in getting a good stand of plants it is looking 
fairly well, and there is time enough yet to 
make a good crop if the balance of the season 
is favorable; good prospect for apples. 
J. D. M. 
North ('nroliim. 
Walnut Cove, Stokes Co,, July 7.—We 
have had almost continual rain for nearly six 
weeks. The land has not been dry enough to 
plow since May 10. Crops have been “worked 
in mud,” and ( somo of the corn has not been 
plowed the first time yet. The excessive rains 
in May almost ruined the wheat crop with 
rust and scab, reducing it at least one-half, 
and now the continued ruins since harvest have 
sprouted iu the stack not less than one-third 
of the grain, consequently our farmers are 
asking, “Where will we get seed wheat?” We 
have had more rain during May and June of 
this year than we have had since "the rainy 
Summer of 1832.” My patch of Johnson Grass 
stood a test of 10 degrees Inflow zero the last 
Winter, and is now a finer growth than last 
year. I have a nice little patch of Angel of 
Midnight Corn, and 1 am going to try for the 
premium. r. p . mca. 
Oregon. 
Amity, Yamhill Co., July 1.—Weather dry 
but pleasant. Have had a very cool, back¬ 
ward Spring. Winter wheat promises a full 
yield on over an average acreage. Rye the 
same. Spring grain of all sorts will be light 
on account of unusually dry, windy weather. 
A great deal of late potatoes are rotting in the 
ground after planting. Other garden vegeta¬ 
bles look healthy. Fruit will not be so plenti¬ 
ful as usual. Some varieties of pears and 
plums will be almost a failure, while others 
will bring a full crop. The same may be said 
of apples. Cherries are abundant. Hay will 
be short, the pastures appear good, and stock 
looks well. Wheat is worth HU cents; oats, 33 
cents; rye, 50 cents; barley, 40 cents; new 
potatoes, 50 cents. j. c. r. 
Sbedd, Linn Co., July 2.—We have had an 
unusually dry season; consequently' crops are 
a little short. Fall wheat, 75 per cent of last 
year’s crop; acreage about the same. Oats 
about the same as last year in yield and acreage. 
Barley a light crop—not much raised in this 
Part of Oregon. Not much corn raised here_ 
only for roasting ears. Only one-fourth of the 
usual crop of potatoes planted, but they are 
looking well. Gardens generally look well; 
Apples, hfllf a crop, owing to )ate frosts; pears, 
THE RURAL 
full crop; plums and prunes, short crops; cher¬ 
ries, full; small fruit, such as blackbe-ries, 
raspberries aud currants, heavy crops. 
Owing to the low price, only about a third of 
the hop yards were cultivated. Timothy hay, 
one-half crop; chess or cheat hay, a large crop. 
Grapes, very full, and looking line. Spring 
wheat, 75 per cent, acreage, 65 per cent, of 
last year’s. We are having a fine rain tonight. 
I fear it will spoil a large amount of liay if it 
continues long. * p. w, 
Walla Walla, Walla Walla Co., July 3.— 
The outlook for wheat—the main crop of 
Eastern Oregon and East Washington Terri¬ 
tory—is not nearly so good as last year at. this 
t ime, not having had sufficient rains. Many 
fields are looking fine, and. upon the whole 
there will be an average crop, but last year 
we had an extra good yield of wheat and bai¬ 
ley. Potatoes look well. Coni good—better 
than last year The Angel of Midnight is 
growing as if it had wings—it stands from 
five to six feet tall already. Fruit, prospects 
ahead of last year’s, especially for pears, 
plums, {teaches, etc. Some of the early straw¬ 
berries were injured by frost, but the later 
varieties yielded well. Raspberries and blaek- 
» berries about the same. Our Evergreen black¬ 
berry vines are loaded with fruit hbout two- 
thirds green; some of the young plants have 
made a growth of over 10 feet this season. 
c. l. w. 
Texas. 
Denison, Grayson Co., July 4. —Denison is 
the largest city north ol’ Dallas in this State, 
It has continued to grow, and has been quite 
lively all through the strike and dull times. 
It is now putting in $200,000 water works, as 
well as electric lights, and lias reeentlyBecured 
the two other long lines of railroad to lie 
speedily built across the Indian Territory, in 
addition to five trunk lines already Centering 
here. It bus gas, an ice factory, two telephone 
exchanges, and two telegraph companies, 
round houses, car factories, a cotton compress, 
foundry, machine shop, etc,, and a magnificent 
system of graded public schools. The place 
has 12,000 population, and pretty much all 
modem city airs and conveniences. t. v. m. 
Wise Oust II. 
Greenbush, Sheboygan Co., July <5,—Wo 
have not hod a good shower since April 25 
Not much wheat raised here. Oats and barley 
can’t be more than half crops. Some corn 
has uot come up yet; what was planted early 
came up well, but is now rolled up, owing to 
the dry weather. Unless wo have rain soon, 
we will not have any corn or potatoes. Frost 
killed the cherry blossoms, and thedry weather 
is injuring small fruit. Apples are dropping. 
The thermometers stand 106 in the shade; 
wind iu the east aud south most of the time. 
A. M. 8. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, 
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and address of the writer to Insure attention. Before 
ask ins a question, please see If It Is not answered In 
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A NEW INSECT ENEMY OF WHEAT. 
A.S., Level, Md .—What is the greeti,brown- 
headed worm (specimen inclosed) which has 
been devastating many fields hereabouts? It 
began its destructive work soon after the grain 
was formed and continued it till the. stalk was 
hard. It ascended the stalk to a point near 
the head, where it cut the stalk quite through, 
allowing the head to fall to the ground. Then, 
climbing until its head and half its body rose 
above the headless stalk, it waited until the 
breeze brought another stalk within reach, 
which was eagerly grasped and instantly be¬ 
headed. Thus a single worm is capable of 
doing much damage. A field of mine which 
several weeks ago promised to yield 20 to 30 
bushels, is injured probably to the extent of 
one-fourth. Our oldest farmers are unac¬ 
quainted with the insect or its work. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 
The specimen received was so blackened 
and obscured by decomposition that 1 am sure 
of only one thing—that it is a slug, or the larva 
of a Saw-fly. It is undoubtedly the same 
that is devastating the fields of Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey. It is a new enemy of the 
wheat plant. The cutting habit so well de¬ 
scribed as characterizing this larva where- 
ever it works, is the more remarkable as it is 
not a characteristic generally of Saw-fly 
larvie. As will be noticed, this is a relative of 
the currant slug, the raspberry slug, the cher¬ 
ry slug, and the pine slug; yet by all the above 
Directs the foliage is eaten, and pot airdply cut 
off. Without doubt it is this same insect that 
is referred to iu the Country Gentleman of 
June 24th by Prof. J. A. Lintner, as seriously 
injuring the wheat in Now Jersey and Penn¬ 
sylvania. It. was spoken of in a late issue of 
the Philadelphia Press us doing great dam¬ 
age to wheat in or uoar Gettysburg, Pa. It 
seems very probable that, it is an insect which 
has previously destroyed or fed upon some 
wild plant, and uow has changed its habits. 
That it will prove transient and not a perma¬ 
nent pest, is to be hoped, but not expected. 
We find such changed habits usually come to 
stay. 
RAISING A COLT BY HAND. 
7. O. L. Essex, N. Y, —In raising a colt by 
hand, how long is it necessary to sweeten the 
milk? Will skim-milk from a Moseley & Stod¬ 
dard creamer do after he is a month old? Ho 
has had a quart of new milk reduced with 
one-third water, to which is added a teaspoon¬ 
ful of sugar, six times a day. the last feed at 
9 p. in. He is in perfect health and growing 
fast now when three weeks old. I.ost. week he 
had two quarts of new and skim-milk mixed, 
with a little water added. 
Ans. —The colt will do well fed on milk from 
which the cream hits been taken, as all young 
animals will grow better on foods more nitro¬ 
genous than carbonaceous. The removal of 
t he butter fata, therefore, does not make the 
milk unsuitable for the young colt, but fits it. 
to make more bone, muscle and tissue and less 
fat. Fat is not necessarily a condition of 
health or perfect growth, mul if there lie too 
much of it, it is an evidence of a diseased or 
unnatural condition. With the skim-milk, as 
the colt has thus been fed, the sugar should be 
continued, giving less each day for a week, 
and at the same t ime teaching the colt to eat 
a gill of a mixture of wheat bran, oil meal and 
oats, three parts bran, two oats and one oil 
meal. As the colt grows older, increase this 
fooi l, to two quarts a day, fed twice a day. 
The colt should be on a grass plot where it can 
get grass to oat, or be kept on a ground floor 
with plenty of bedding—leaves or straw- anil 
be fed cut grass greeu. Colts are often weaned 
from the mothers when three mouths old, and 
left to live on grass alone, and they are con. 
sidered fit' to sell and are wearied when four 
months old. They must not be confined so as 
to be deprived of plenty of exercise. This 
promotes health and appetite. When running 
iu fresh clover or good grass, a colt will eat 
considerable, and there is no food better for It 
aside from milk, as it is adapted to all the 
wants of nature; and when the young animal 
is old enough to eat all its system requires, 
there is no need of any other food to promote 
a good growth. After four weeks, the colt 
can be fed more milk at a time, and the times 
of feeding may be reduced to throe morning, 
noon and night—and between these feedings 
it should have the grass to pick at atul the 
feedings of meal. It should not be exposed to 
rain-storms, and will do better if it has a shel¬ 
ter to go under at will, if it i'r nothing more 
than a rough shed. 
GAS LIME. 
D. M., So, Meriden, Conn .—Gas lime is not 
constant in composition and no satisfactory 
value can be placed upon an unanalyzed sam¬ 
ple. When applied fresh, even in small quan¬ 
tities, it is deadly to plants. It becomes 
harmless by exposure to the weather. Mix or 
eight months would serve to free it of the sul¬ 
phuretted hydrogen which it takes from the 
gas. It will never be as valuable as pure 
lime. The best way to use any quantity will 
be to expose it to the air, under cover, for 
several months, stirring and working it over 
occasionally. Tt can lie applied broadcast in 
the Fall, and left exposed until Spring. 
Miscellaneous. 
Subscriber, Newburg, Oat.—Kellogg’s Royal 
salt is an excellent butter preservative. It 
may not do “all that is claimed for it,”unless 
the utmost care is taken and all conditions for 
success are perfect; but it is far superior to the 
common salt used in so many of our dairies. 
We have used Kellogg’s salt with success. A 
small piece of butter salted with this prepara¬ 
tion, was placed in an ordinary cellar with a 
piece of cloth placed over the top of it. At 
the end of six weeks it was pronounced by 
three persons to be as sweet as ever. A part 
of the same churning salted with common salt 
and placed by the side of the other, was rancid. 
2. We should prefer the wooden tubs. 3. It 
is impossible to say how many pounds of milk 
“from a herd of common cows on pasture” 
ought to make a pound of butter. There are 
cows aud cows and pastures and pastures. In 
the reports of the tests of some famous Jerseys, 
it is claimod that a pouud of butter has been 
made from six pounds of milk. With the 
majority of cows the limit is much nearer 30 
pounds. A cow that will make a pound of 
butter from 20 pounds of milk is a good one, 
H, 0 M , North Hector , N, y;—9lteU Infor¬ 
mation “as a farmer’s boy ought to obtain, of 
Oregon and Washington Territory before set¬ 
tling there,” cun hardly be obtained without 
a personal investigation by visiting the section 
in which one is thinking of settling. For such 
general information as may give a person an 
idea of what part of the country it might pay 
him to visit, it would bo well to write to the 
Professor of Agriculture, State Agricultural 
College, Corvallis, Oregon. If he cannot 
supply needed information, ho will be able 
to give the uame of the person best able 
aud most likely to do so. There are cer¬ 
tainly many excellent agricultural openings in 
both Oregon and Washington Territory. 
O. IF. B\, Morrisonviltc, l it. —1. Who 
grows beaus extensively in N. Y. State? 2. 
How near together should White Navy Beans 
bo in the rows, when drilled between rows of 
coru that has been “laid by”? 3, What is the 
inclosed wild (lower? 
Ans. —1. A. B. Cleveland, Cape Vincent, 
N, Y. 3. This question is submitted to our 
readers. 3. Asclepias tuborosa. This is the 
Butter-fly Weed, a native of this country. If 
it, were a foreigner it would bo cultivated, as it 
well deserves to l>o. It. may be found in 
English gardens. 
F, ll. F., (no address), —1. The Associated 
Fanciers, Philadelphia, Pa., deal in rabbits 
and fancy stock of all kinds. 2. The Practi¬ 
cal Rabbit Keeper, price $1,50, may be ob¬ 
tained through the American News Co. 
Subscriber. —Pilling’s milking tubes are 
made of different lengths, but not of different 
sizes. The regular length is 1% inch, and 
there are special lengths from 2 1 ;, to 
Inches. 
- > »i 
DISCUSSION. 
J. M. D., Winona, Minn.— When the first 
colony settled in thisregiou there was a family 
that took the “Water Cure Journal,” and, 
like Tom Sawyer’s aunt, who changed Tom’s 
medicine, every time she received a new 
“Journal,” they tried to follow its teachings. 
Among other things they learned that salt was 
“unnecessary and even injurious to stock.” 
Of course, they believed it. The result was 
that tliuli* cattle broke into a man’s shanty 
and ate a lot of hams aud shoulders, aud into 
a house to steal a bag of salt. 
“C,” Russellville, Tenn.— “C. S.,” of 
Highland, N. C., page 418, either thinks too 
much of himself or keeps closely at home. He 
thinks the South lives from hand to mouth, 
and ho is the only man ( here with a barnful of 
liny, etc. Over here, in the East Tennessee 
Mountains, we find our bauds and mouths 
entirely independent. Our barns are full of 
hay and our cribs are full of corn. “C. H.” 
must live m a mighty poor country, and his 
“barnful of hay” must look lonesome. Ho 
had better feed his hay to some of the poor 
racks of cattle he sees aliout him, and move 
over here into a good country. 
C. H.. Bergen Co,, N. j,— L. C., in last 
Rural, admits that salt is needed in the 
system. Why should he say so emphatically 
“ I am right, but of course, you are all wrong?” 
He is like the one juryman who called his 11 
fellows “obstinate.” The only point “ L C.” 
makes is that too much salt, is bad. What in¬ 
telligent human being thinks differently? The 
great difference between “ I,. C.” and the rest 
of the world lips in his estimate of the size of 
the (lose of salt thut will produce injurious re¬ 
sults. Of what value is his experiment upon 
himself unless he can show that he is stronger, 
heavier or healthier than lie was before he 
quit using salt? He does not state this, nor 
does he state that he Is exceptionally strong 
and vigorous, as he ought to be, if his ideas 
arc correct. We do not hear that the trainers 
of athletes discard salt in moderate doses. 
Why do not our anti-salt friends attempt to 
prove that in instances where men or animals 
have performed remarkable feats of strength 
or endurance, no salt was eaten beyond what 
was contained in the food? Such evidence 
would be worth a dozen pages of the testimony 
of the “hundred persons” who will not take 
salt from the cellar. Practical cattle-men 
and feeders know well enough that stock eat 
and drink to better advantage when there is a 
constant supply of salt before them. We do 
not raise cattle for the purpose of seeing how 
little water they can drink. Wo want them 
to eat all theyjwill*and’drink all j they want. 
The object is to crowd all the food into them 
that they can digest. No man has yet known 
an animal to take too much salt when the sub¬ 
stance was placed constantly before it. 
Communications Received fob the Week Endi.no 
July 17.1886. 
T. W. L.-E. S. G.-F. J.-T. B. M.-M. E. A.-C. W. G. 
J.S.B.-W. J. C.-R.tW.-CAC.-R. B. B.-T. D. O.-S. 
G.-D. H.—8. C.-D. W.—R. P. StcA., thanks.-T. II. W. 
J.E. M.—T. H.-S. K. O.-W. H. O.-L. S.‘K,~G. W. 
W.-C. L. W.-H. C. tT.—R. S.-A. D. II. S.-S.—J. B. O., 
thanks.—T. R. W.-R. P. M. A.. thunks.-J. M. O.—R. 
S, O.-A. M. G\—B. 8.-P. P.-R. C.-W. Me, p., goose 
berry rec’d.; no letter.-R. P. V. H.—W, F,—N. A. D., 
thanks.—S. T.— F. A. E.-C. A. Me. D.—J, M .-rQ, H. A.— 
W. Me. V. S. P.-R. P, V, H.-W, Jte. £,-& S, F ( - 
Ji, V,—R..S, 
