THE BUBAL MEW- 
a 
of which is passed through the walls of the 
chest. Some very eucouraging cases are re¬ 
ported in which the improvement is so great 
as to justify one in speaking of them as cures. 
Carbolized iodiue has produced the best re¬ 
sults. 
ruling"at 11 cents. The butter market is dull 
for all but very best grades. Little Falls sold 
52 packages farm dairy at 21 cents. Farm 
dairy sells here for 21 to 25 cents. Best grades 
always wanted ?|No market for hops. R. L. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Chicago, Cook Co., Dec. 7.—The north¬ 
west still continues dry; iu fact the areas 
where the ground is thoroughly saturated with 
moisture are the exception. It might be 
fairly said that dry weather extends west as 
far as the Pacific slope. For, up to the first 
of December, the rainfall in California had 
not yet commenced. Dry weather also is re¬ 
ported iu Washington Territory and Oregon, 
and when we turn our faces eastward, we 
hear of a scarcity of water for stock purposes 
everywhere. So far the snowfall has also 
been light, and the ground iu the winter wheat 
belt, north of the Ohio River and extending 
up within 200 miles of this city, is covered 
with from three to five inches of snow. Tak¬ 
ing the country ns a whole, I call it, to-day, 
just about as dry as it was in August and Sep¬ 
tember. The absence of snow and ruin, with 
the exception of Nebraska, has enabled the 
farmers to secure their corn crop in excellent 
condition, and uew corn to-day is unusually 
dry, in fact, as dry as iu midsummer. Its 
movement, however, is disappointingly small. 
This probably arises very largely from the 
inter-State demand for corn which is being 
absorbed at so many interior points, for home 
consumption, at prices much better than are 
offered to ship to the seaboard. This is a very 
strong point of the shortage of corn. There 
has been os yet very little new com cribbed 
at railroad statiousaud the amount of old corn 
in crib of the crop of 1885 has melted away 
perceptibly during the last sixty days. In the 
spring wheat belt the severe weather which 
has prevailed during the last two weeks has 
cut off receipts considerably, but the roads are 
good and the we,ather, comparatively speak¬ 
ing, mild at present, aud with the improve¬ 
ment in prices, free receipts are looked for 
again. The hog crop continues to come along 
very freely, aud the opinion still prevails that 
we shall have our largest receipts of hogs on 
“ The winter packing during December. The 
high price and scarcity of com and the low 
price of hogs are some of the reasons which 
are causing farmers to send them in so freely 
at present. The hog crop is generally healthy, 
and disease seems to be confined this year al¬ 
most exclusively to parts in Ohio and Indi¬ 
ana. N. W. 
Kansas, 
White City, Morris Co., November25.— 
The worst season for five years, taking into 
consideration the relative condition of crops 
and prices. Wheat a failure; oats an aver¬ 
age; corn a half crop or less. This is mainly 
a grain-growing country, hut the live stock 
interest is advancing quite rapidly. Fruit 
and vegetables will do well when properly 
cared for, but they are raised to supply the 
local demand only, as yet. Prices: corn, SO 
cents; oats, 28 cents: wheat, 48 cents; hogs, 
§3.30. E. B. 
Michigan. 
Marquette, Marquette Co., December 1.— 
We had a very dry Summer here. October 
was very warm but about the middle of No- 
vembor we had some snow, and loggiug 
began in the camps. All crops were an av¬ 
erage. Hay at the mines from §15 to §20 per 
ton; potatoes45 to 00 cents per bushel; oats, 45 
Cents. w. F. McO, 
New York. 
Borodino, Onondaga Co., November 30.— 
Iu this locality crops have been good the past 
season, especially oats aud barley. Apples are 
an exception to the general rule, although we 
have enough for home use. As this was the 
bearing year with us the trees blossomed full 
but fruit failed to set well. A few orchards 
gave some surplus for shipment. Prices range 
as follows: Wheat., 85 cents;barley, 55 cents; 
oats, 35 cents; corn, 00 cents; apples, (55 cents, 
and potatoes, 35 cents per bushel. Some have 
good crops of seed from the large kind of red 
clover, while the small kind failed entirely on 
account of a midge working in the lioud prior 
to its blossoming. G. M. n. 
ITtica, Oneida County, December 6.—The 
cheese market to-day, the last meeting of the 
Board this year, had a good attendance, but 
sales were light. All the factories, however, 
will close out this week. Transactions were 
568 boxes at 10% cents; 125 boxes at 11 cents; 
136 boxes at 11% cents; 110 boxes at 11% 
cents; 386 boxes on commission. Total, 1,325 
boxes, ruling at 10% cents. Hales at 11 cents 
and up, full cream. No market at this time 
last year. „ Little^Falls this week 1,039 boxes, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one lime. Put questions oti a sepnrate piece of paper. 
STRAW AS MANURE: DRAFTS OF PLOWS. 
G. S. Vermontville, Mich, —1, I recently 
scattered a stack of straw and plowed it under. 
My neighbors laughed at me and said that if 
after having scattered it 1 had set it on fire 
the ashes would have been of more value thuu 
the whole straw: were they right, ami what is 
the manorial value of stra w 1 2. Is there much 
difference i i the draft of plows, aud if so, 
how much, and how can the difference be as¬ 
certained? 
Ans.— 1, A part of anything cannot be 
equal to the whole, so the ashes of your straw 
cannot be equal to the whole straw. In the 
ashes, if none had been lost by blowing away, 
there would have been only the potnsli, phos¬ 
phoric acid and other mineral elements; the 
nitrogen as well as the carbon would have 
been driven off; while by applying the straw 
aud plowing in you will retain all these in the 
soil, and, besides this, Lhe ratting straw will 
have a beneficial effect mechanically, und es¬ 
pecially so if the soil is at all clayey. It may 
be true that the ashes will have a more imme¬ 
diate effect and may show better results ou 
the crop this Fall, and possibly on the first 
crop; but in the end we are quite sure the 
plowing in was the wiser course. Had you 
fitted the laud, sowed the crop and after that 
applied the straw broadcast and thinly on the 
surface, it would have been better yet. It 
would then have acted as a mulch in protect¬ 
ing against the injurious effects of Winter, 
would have also aided in conserving moisture 
during next Hummer’s drought, aud, as it rot¬ 
ted, would have given the soil all its fertiliz¬ 
ing elements. We have always found this 
the most desirable method of using straw 
next to using it iu the stables. A ton of 
wheat straw contains, according to Wolff’s 
tables, about 92.2 pounds of ashes, of which 
about 12.6 pounds are potash, 4.4 pounds phos¬ 
phoric acid and 5.4 pounds litue. Besides 
these elements of plant, food, there arc about 
9.6 pounds of nitrogen, so that if we give 
the valuations adopted by the stations, the 
manuriol vatuo would be about $2.07, to Say 
uothing of any component aside from its nitro¬ 
gen, phosphoric acid aud potash. But every 
farmer should remember that, a ton of straw 
also contains 47 pounds of protein, 80 pounds 
of fat aud over 800 pounds of carbohydrates, 
aud that, by a proper system of feeding this, iu 
connection with foods rich iu protein or ni¬ 
trogenous matter, such as clover hay, bran 
and oil meal, and also with some succulent 
food, a good profit can be made, aud nearly 
all of its plant food will be left iu the manure 
as well as that) of the other foods added, so that 
doubtless the best use to make of straw is to feed 
it aud give the resulting manure to the land. 
2. I here is considerable difference iu the pow¬ 
er required to draw the various forms of 
plows. This depends upon the shape of the 
mold boards, and the hardness of the material 
of which they are made and also, to some ex¬ 
tent, on how much of the weight Of the plow, 
the pressure in turning, is carried upon t.lie 
wheels As a rule, those plows which most 
break Up and pulverize the furrow slice on its 
passage from its original position to Its final 
reversal, will draw harder than those which 
turn without, much disturbance; but this dif¬ 
ference is more than made up by the quicker 
and easier fitting of the laud after plowing, so 
that the easiest-drawing ['low is not ulways 
the most desirable. The difference can only 
be ascertained with accuracy by the use of an 
instrument called a dynamometer. This has 
a heuvy spring with graduated dials aud in¬ 
dex,und is sold by dealers in mathematical and 
engineering instruments. 
AN ICE-HOUSE. 
(!, M, C., Caldwell, N. ./.—In building an 
ice-house, how wide should the air-space be? 
How should the roof be made? In a properly 
constructed building is any covering needed 
over the Ice? 
Ans.—I n answer to the above inquiries here 
is a description of a n entirely successful ice¬ 
house, ^Tho building is 14x22 feet, studding 18 
feet, two by eigbt-ineh stuff. On each side of 
the studding paper is nailed, then a thickness 
of matched flooring, another thickness of 
paper aud again matched flooring. Ho there 
are four thicknesses of paper and four of 
boards between lhe ice and the outside. The 
roof is nearly fiat and tinned on matched 
boards. The joists are [jut ou the studs two 
feet below the roof, and there is a ceiling of 
inch boards beneath the joists The space be¬ 
tween the ceiling and roof is filled with suw- 
dust. There is a cold-storage room between 
the body of ice and the floor. To sustain the 
great weight., two beams well studded beneath 
them, run lengthwise of the house, and cross 
joists on these are placed about 18 inches 
apart. The beams slant enough to give pitch 
to the floor on which the ice rests—the floor 
being made of galvanized iron well soldered, 
so that it does not leak. Abuve the iron are 
inch boards ou which the cakes of ice rest, and 
covering about each alternate six inches of the 
floor, the theory being to have only enough of 
the iron covered to protect it from being 
bruised by the ice, leaving as much ns it is pos¬ 
sible with only the thickness of the irou be¬ 
tween the ice and the air of the room beneath 
it. The floor of the cold store room is double 
and made air-tight. The room is 15% feet, 
between the joists and floor. When the door 
of the cold store room is closed the tempera¬ 
ture of the room is at 3(5 degrees Fahreuheit. 
If such a cold store is the sole object, then if 
the door of the ice-house is not opened all 
Summer, the ice needs no covering of saw-dust. 
If, on the other hand, it is necessary to occa¬ 
sionally <>[>eii the doors to bike out ice for fam¬ 
ily use or for butter-making purposes, then a 
covering a foot deep of sawdust or (hie shav¬ 
ings should be put on, or the ice will waste 
fast. The air of such a cold store-room is dry; 
so free from moisture that a muteli can be 
lighted by scratching it against the walls. 
Fresh meat kept well in it three weeks, last 
August. If no cold store-room is wanted, the 
floor should be slanted and made as strong as 
above—for there must, be a drain from the ice 
aud the floor must be strong, so t hat no move¬ 
ment. of it takes place. A word of caution here 
in regard to having solid ice: we know of a 
partial failure in such an ice-house because it. 
was thought, that as no ice was wauted to 
use direct, a porous quality of ice would do as 
well. But it did not, as ihe house was empty 
early iu September, when one with pure, solid 
ice lusted till Winter came again. 
FEEDING VALUES OF LINSEED AND COTTON¬ 
SEED MEAL AND RYE AND WHEAT BRAN. 
.7. B. 11*., Bound Lake, N. 1*.—1. What are 
the feeding and manurial values of linseed-oil 
meal? 2. What is the same of cotton-seed 
meal? 3. Is rye bran as good as wheat bran 
as a feed for milch cows? 
Ans. —1. Taking the average analysis as 
given by Prof. Jenkins, and figuring the feed¬ 
ing value of protein, fat und the carbohydrates 
the same as used by the Hermans, would give 
the feeding value of new-process oil meal at 
about §85 per ton. And supposing that four- 
fifths of the potash, phosphates and nitrogen is 
left, by the animal iu the manure (and more 
than this projiortion is actually voided in the 
solid and liquid excrements), aud these be re¬ 
turned to the fields,and that wo estimute them 
as worth no more than the same amount of 
each would cost if purchased iu any commer¬ 
cial manure, the manurial value of a ton 
would be §21.88, This uieal can now lie bought 
at the factories at about §21 per ton by the 
car-load in bulk. 2. Cotton-seed meal, figured 
on the same basts, would lie worth for feeding 
purposes about §3:1 per ton. und its manurial 
value would be about §25 per ton. These fig¬ 
ures would seem to indicate that cotton-seed 
meal would he much the more desirable food 
to purchase, but it must not be forgotten that 
while the new-process oil meul contains only 
about two per cent, or less of free oils, the cot¬ 
ton-seed meal contains nearly 13 per cent., aud 
that this is given in the feeding tables as 
equal to 32 per cent, of carbohydrates. Those 
values are estimated chemically, and in prac¬ 
tice are found to bo very erroneous, esjieeially 
so when these produetsurc fed iu large quanti¬ 
ties, because no animul con cat and digest so 
large a quantity of free oil, aud this large [>cr- 
centage is actually injurious. Besides this,there 
is iu the cotton seed meal a principle that 
iu many cases has produced injurious effects 
upon the animals which arc fed largely on it 
These by-products of the great, oil industries 
of this country are both very valuable, both 
as food furnishers and as giving to the result¬ 
ing manure a very high vulue, aud both of 
them should he entirely consumed by Ameri¬ 
can farmers instead of being largely exported, 
as is t.lie case at present. But wo must adviso 
farmers of the North to bo very careful in 
feeding cotton seed meal until the animals 
have become accustomed to its use, and even 
ut a higher relative price new process linseed 
meal Is preferable, because sul'cr, and it. can 
bo fed in larger quantities, und this is espe¬ 
cially desirable in order to make all the man¬ 
ure possible where the salable products, such 
as butter, wool or tuilk, will buy and pay for 
the food. 3. Rye bran contains in every 100 
pounds of protein, or milk, muscle and blood- 
forming elements, 13.4 pounds; of carbohy¬ 
drates, or butter, fat and heaLforniing ele¬ 
ments. 73 pounds, including the fat when re¬ 
duced to its equivalent in these, so that it is 
worth, on the same basis as the above, §1.18 
per hundred pounds for feeding, and the re¬ 
sulting manure contains plant, food worth 53 
cents. One hundred pounds of wheat bran 
contains of protein 1(5.5 pounds, of the carbo¬ 
hydrates, including the value of the free fat, 
71 pounds, and these arc worth for feeding 
§ l .30. The resulting manure contains 76 cents’ 
worth of plant food, so that we see that the 
wheat bran is worth for both purposes 35 rents 
per 100 pounds the most. But as the nutri¬ 
tive ration ol' the wheat bran is as 1:43, or 
one of protein to four and three-tenths of car¬ 
bohydrates, while the rye bi an is as 1:6, 
nearly, for milk production, the wheat bran 
has a still greater value. 
THRUSH OR “FOOT-EVIL” IN AHORSE. 
/), A. D., Collinslrurg , La .—What is the 
cause of foot-evil iu a horse, aud is there any 
way to prevent the hoof from coming off? 
Ans. —By “foot-evil” we suppose you refer 
to the inflammation of, and foetid discharge 
from the secreting membrane of the frog, a 
disease better known as thrush, but occasion¬ 
ally miscalled “foot-evil.” This disease 
usually begins in the cleft of the frog and may 
extend to the whole organ if not checked. The 
most common cause of thrush is filth and 
moisture, as standing iu any wet, dirty stable, 
or yard, on dung and urine, or running iu 
a low very wet pasture. More commonly 
the disease appears only iu the hind feet 
from standiug iu the collected dung and 
urine of filthy stables; but animals in loose 
boxes, yards, or fields may have any foot af¬ 
fected. Dried mud or gravel in the cleft of 
the frog causes irritation and inflammation; 
also injuries to the frag, and excessive paring 
which renders the frag especially liable to 
bruises. Finally, Bathing that causes con¬ 
traction of the heels causes undue pressure on 
the parts within, in this respect acting as 
slight continued bruises which cause inflamma¬ 
tion, soon to be followed by the characteristic 
discharge. Like most other diseases, some 
animals are much more susceptible than 
others, while occasionally a horse appears to 
be almost predisposed to the disease. The 
hoof can readily be prevented from coming 
oti by treating the disease in the earlier 
stage, aud thus arresting its growth before it 
has proceeded so far ns to cause sloughing of 
the hoof. The treatment, is very simple, and a 
thrush can usually be readily cured by clean¬ 
liness and the local application of calomel or 
other dry caustic. Carefully clean the foot 
and pare away all detached diseased pieces of 
horn or frog. The caustic is then best applied 
by being placed upon pledgets ol' tow or lint 
and pressed in upon the diseased tissues, After 
the discharges cease dress with the best pine 
Dir until perfectly healed. During, and after, 
treatment the animal must be kept where the 
feet, will be clean and dnj. If the stable Is 
such that the horse must, stand in his drop¬ 
pings, u leather boot should lie worn during 
treatment when in the stable and removed 
when the animal is tukeu out. A clean, dry 
pasture is an excellent place for a speedy re¬ 
covery. 
DISTEMPER IN A HORSE. 
C. W . W, (Address mislaid ),—What is “dis¬ 
temper” iu a horse, aud how can a stable iu 
which an affected animal stood be so disin¬ 
fected that young colts will not catch the dis¬ 
ease there. 
ANSWERED BY F. L. KILBOKNE. 
“Distemper” is an indefinite general term 
popularly used to designate either influenza or 
strangles, more commonly the former, or oc¬ 
casionally simple catarrh or other nasal dis¬ 
charges. A very effective method, which is 
at once cheap, safe and of easy application, 
for the disinfection of such buildings is to re¬ 
move all stock, close the doors and windows 
so as to make the place us tight as possible and 
burn a sufficient quantity of sulphur to fill tho 
whole building with sulphur fumes. Leave 
the building dosed for 24 hours. In addition 
to the above, all wood-work and utensils that 
have been in immediate contact with the dis¬ 
eased animals should be thoroughly cleaned 
and may be washed with boiling water, a so¬ 
lution of chloride of lime, or a t wo pcr-cent . 
solution of sulphuric acid. Solutions or chlor¬ 
ide of zinc, sulphate of copper and other dis¬ 
infectants are equally effective, but more ex¬ 
pensive white-washing with freshly slaked 
quick lime is ulso nu excellent, cheap disin¬ 
fectant and deodorizer, and may be profit¬ 
ably used where there is no objection to the 
white color left, by the white wash. After 
such disinfection, if the work is thoroughly 
performed, the colts may safely be admitted 
to tho stable, But straugles and especially iu- 
