38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN 18 
that the land becomes impoverished in the 
required food and filled with the roots 
which ramify in every direction. If the 
ground be thoroughly plowed, fitted and 
enriched the second orchard will succeed 
as well as the first. 2. Crescent, Miner, 
Sharpless, Downing. Try Parker Earle 
and Jewell in a small way. 
FRAUDULENT FERTILIZERS. 
D. D. M., Xenia, Ohio .—I see by a late 
issue of the R. N.-Y. that some ground- 
bone fertilizer was worth $8 per ton more 
than the price at which it was sold, while 
other samples were sold for nearly double 
what they were worth. Is there any way 
to protect the farmer from being swindled 
by fertilizer sharks ? A farmer has no way 
of finding out the value of a fertilizer ex¬ 
cept by trying it. Could not concerns that 
sell fertilizers for much more than their 
value be .arrested for swindling ? 
Ans. —The best protection a farmer has 
is to keep some record of the analyses made 
by the stations and purchase only of those 
firms whose average is the highest. Again, 
he may have samples of the fertilizers 
which he purchases analyzed by the 
chemist of his State station before they 
are used, and return them if they prove to 
be materially less than the guarantee. If 
a farmer can prove in this way, allowing a 
reasonable amount for profit, that the fer¬ 
tilizer is far below the guarantee, he could 
have the sellers arrrested as swindlers, or 
sue them for damages. 
POTATO SEPARATOR. 
13. C., Bay City, Michigan .—Is there 
such a thing as a potato separator or assort- 
er; if so, what is the address of the maker ? 
Ans.—M ost of the separators in use in 
this country, are, we believe, home-made 
contrivances. TheR. N.-Y. gave a picture 
of one last year. They all work on the 
sieve principle. The potatoes fall upon a 
sieve made of heavy wire, with meshes 
large enough to allow a small potato to fall 
through. This sieve is made flat, inclined 
at a small angle, or is in the form of a cyl¬ 
inder which revolves by means of a crank. 
The small potatoes drop through the holes, 
while the larger ones roll down to a bag 
fastened at the lower end. A separator for 
potatoes is made and sold at the Institution 
for Deaf Mutes, Mile End near Montreal, 
Canada. This is highly praised by some of 
our Canadian subscribers, and is particu¬ 
larly useful in years of mud and wet when 
the potatoes are dug in a muddy condition. 
RAISING TOMATOES. 
S. W., Waterbury, Conn .—What does 
W. P., of Kingston, mean in the R. N.-Y. of 
December 28, by transplanting tomatoes on 
two heats? What is his method of raising 
tomatoes? 
ANSWERED BY WM. PERKINS. 
I sow my tomato seed in a hot-bed the 
first of March and by the first of April I 
have good, strong plants. I transplant 
them into another hot-bed, putting 50 
plants under a 3xG-foot sash where they 
have plenty of room to make fine, large, 
branchy plants. Then I transplant again, 
the first of May, into cold-frames, putting 
three plants under a sash. Last spring I 
tried the Dwarf Champion, Beauty and 
Atlantic Prize, the former variety doing 
the best. 
QUITTOR. 
E. M., Jersey City, N. J.—My 10-year- 
old mare is troubled with quittor in one of 
the fore legs. She is able to work but is a 
little lame at starting. The trouble is 
hardly noticeable when she is kept going. 
What is the best treatment ? 
Ans.— The quittor in this case is prob¬ 
ably due to disease of the lateral cartilage 
or bone. To effect a cure it will be neces¬ 
sary to remove a portion of the hoof in or¬ 
der to scrape or cut out the diseased tissue. 
We would advise calling in a competent 
veterinary surgeon to perform the opera¬ 
tion. 
Miscellaneous. 
O. T., Gonzales, Texas .—You should be 
able to obtain hog rings at any store where 
agricultural implements are sold. H. B. 
Griffing, of this city, could send them by 
mail or express. 
P. IF., Manchester, Vt .—Is there such a 
thing as a rust-proof oat ? Where can I 
learn about it ? 
ANS.—Yes, there is an oat raised in the 
South known as the Rust-proof which is 
substantially free of rust. It was raised at 
the Rural Farm some 10 years ago. Its 
yield, however, was JigJlt £1$ the straw 
f&QFt. 
J. F. M ., Zanesville, Ohio .— What are the 
qualities of the Western Union Strawberry 
which an agent is selling hereabouts ? 
ANS.—We have never tried it and never 
heard of it. Our friend is advised on no 
account to buy fruits (new or old) of un¬ 
known parties. All new varieties, no mat¬ 
ter of whom they are purchased, should be 
tried merely in an experimental way. 
J. J. F., Wilcox, Neb .— Is there any work 
on the spaying and castration of cattle and 
hogs ? 
ANS.—The Diseases of Animals, published 
by J. H. Sanders, Chicago, Ill., has some¬ 
thing on the subject; it is by no means 
complete, however. Bulletins from the 
Missouri Station at Columbia, Mo., and the 
Arkansas Station at Fayetteville, Ark., are 
good. 
G. S.‘, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Last year I 
bought a piece of land and have on it a 
fine apple orchard which has been neglected 
for several years, and as I am building a 
new house at present to be completed in 
April, I will not have time to have the or¬ 
chard thoroughly managed ; what would 
be advisable as a top-dressing in the ab¬ 
sence of horse manure? 
Ans.—U nleached ashes and raw bone 
flour. 
S. W., Waterbury, Conn.— How can I get 
the reports of the agricultural experiment 
stations ? 
Ans. Write to Assistant Secretary Ed¬ 
win Willets, Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C , fora copy of the reports 
of the stations. This contains the most 
complete list yet made. From this list you 
can write to the various directors from 
whom you would like to receive the bullet¬ 
ins regularly. 
W. P., Kingston, N. Y. —Is it better to 
cut oats as soon as they come in head, and 
cure them as feed for horses in the place of 
hay, or to let them ripen and feed the grain 
in the straw ? 
Ans.—W e should adopt the former 
course. In fact, this is what the R. N.-Y. 
proposes to do with its oats this year. 
With us, this seems one of the best waysoE 
handling the oat crop. More will be said 
about this by farmers who have tried it. 
IF. IF., Cromwell, Conn. — What is a 
formula for making fertilizers ? 
Ans.—W hat sort of fertilizers ? For 
what crops ? For use on what kind of soils? 
If you had asked us to give a recipe for pre¬ 
venting sickness we could only say: keep 
well, never over-work, never eat food 
that does not agree with you, never expose 
yourself to danger or bad weather, never 
worry, etc., etc. No more specific answers 
could be given to your question. Send to 
Prof. S. W. Johnson, New Haven, Conn., 
and Prof. C. S. Phelps, Storrs P. O., Conn, 
for bulletins on home-mixed fertilizers. 
J. J., Toronto, Canada.— 1. I have three 
acres well adapted to melon culture; which 
is the most profitable as well as the sweet¬ 
est and best nutmeg muskmelon ? 2. I in¬ 
tend to plant 12 acres with potatoes; which 
are the best and earliest varieties ? 3. 
What is the trench method of planting ? 
Ans. —1. We should select from the fol¬ 
lowing : Emerald Gem (small but cf fine 
quality); Christina, Green Montreal. 2. 
Pearl of Savoy, Sunlit Star, Beauty of 
Hebron. 3. We make the trenches about 
six inches deep and a foot wide. Return 
two inches of soil to the bottom of the 
trench to give a mellow bed ; plant one 
foot apart, cover with soil, sow the ferti¬ 
lizer—1,000 pounds or more to the acre—and 
fill. The trenches should be three feet 
apart. Give flat and shallow cultivation. 
T. J., (no address). —1. My six-year-old 
mare never moves fast of her own accord, 
nor does she run about when loose, and her 
feet appear to be sore. Her frog is poor 
and she lies down a great deal. On going 
out of the stable in the morning she can 
hardly walk. Her feet appear to be fever¬ 
ish. What can be done for her ? 2. A 12- 
year-old horse gets colic or pains in the 
bowels very often. A horse doctor called 
the trouble inflammation of the bowels. 
Can anything be done for him ? 
ANS.—1. If the soreness is about the 
frog with an offensive discharge from the 
cleft, it is thrush. But *if the sores are 
above, it is probably scratches or grease- 
heel. See the Farmers’ Club of November 
9, 1889, for treatment of scratches and Sep¬ 
tember 21, for thrush ? 2. Without a full 
description of tliesymptons we cannot tell 
whether the horse has simple colic or in¬ 
flammation of the bowels. We can 
therefore only advise greater care in feed¬ 
ing and, ^yatfring, The diet should be 
light—oats and bran or middlings for grain 
and little or no corn. Water regularly, 
giving not over one bucketful, and before 
instead of after feeding, or not until two 
hours after feeding. 
Discussion. 
IS TOBACCO A NECESSITY ? 
J. A. W., Amesbury, Mass.—I t is not so 
much the question wflether the tax on to¬ 
bacco should be repealed or not that I wish 
to consider as the statement that “ tobacco 
is a necessity.” Mr. Blaine, who first 
made the assertion, shows how little he 
values his own opinion, in abstaining from 
the use of the weed himself. If tobacco is 
a necessity to the -working-man it is cer¬ 
tainly a necessity to Mr. Blaine; for no man 
ever worked harder than he has in his en¬ 
deavor to attain to the position he now 
holds as well as to some of those he failed 
to reach. It is surprising that a man of 
such capabilities, w'hose brilliancy is in no 
small measure due to his abstinence from 
drugs aud stimulants, should stoop so low 
as to cater to the depraved appetite of to- 
bacco-chewers in order to gain their politi¬ 
cal support. If tobacco is a necessity, how 
did people get along so well without it for 
5,000 years before it was discovered ? Peo¬ 
ple were as strong, intelligent and long- 
lived ages ago as they are now ; indeed, the 
strongest, most intelligent and longest-lived 
people of this age are those who ai-e total- 
abstainers from rum and tobacco. The 
women of the United States, as a rule, are 
not users of tobacco aud yet they are the 
most intelligent women in the world, aud 
if they were not obliged to live with men 
who are saturated with tobacco, and in 
houses fouled and poisoned by tobacco 
smoke they would be stronger. Any 
man or w oman whose sensibilities have not 
been obliterated by indulgence in the foul 
stuff cannot help knowing that working¬ 
men who do not use tobacco can do more 
and better work, are more reliable and 
healthier, and can endure more exposure 
than those who are benumbed and weak¬ 
ened by continual chew’ing and smoking. 
I know of men who will spend an hour or 
more a day in filling and lighting their 
pipes, not to mention the time they waste 
after the pipes are lighted. I have seen a 
mechanic look at a difficult piece of work for 
10 minutes without touching it, all the time 
chewing and spitting, while another in the 
same shop, whose attention was not divid¬ 
ed between his work and a quid, would pro¬ 
ceed at once to roaster the job. Doesn’t 
every farmer know that a work hand who 
uses tobacco is the biggest nuisance about 
the place ? What farmer wants his build¬ 
ings in danger of being set on fire at any 
moment by a spark from an old pipe or 
cigar ? What farmer wants his men spit¬ 
ting tobacco juice about the milk pails, 
cans, and other things, where everything 
should be scrupulously neat ? What farm¬ 
er’s wife wants a filthy tobacco-user living 
in her house and setting an example which 
her own children are likely to follow ? The 
tobacco habit is a vice which seldom ap¬ 
pears alone, it being nearly always accom¬ 
panied by selfishness, immorality and vul¬ 
garity, and often leading to drunkenness 
and crime. Tobacco may be a necessity if 
a man feels it his duty to gratify an appe¬ 
tite of his own creation. Nothing else will 
then answer, but the craving is not natu¬ 
ral. Men are not born with an appetite 
for tobacco, but acquire it after months of 
unpleasant practice. Thousands of men 
have made themselves sick for weeks and 
months in order to become slaves to tobac¬ 
co, and these very persons now expect peo¬ 
ple to consider the foul stuff a necessity ! 
It seems to me that there are some 
other things w'hich deserve to be placed be¬ 
fore tobacco in the list of necessities. How 
about food, shelter and clothing, all of 
which men will compel their families to 
suffer for in order to buy tobacco ? I sup¬ 
pose Messrs. Blaine and Windom and others 
who regard tobacco as a necessity to the 
working-man, would consider bread and 
shoes luxuries for his wife and children. 
I know of scores of hungry mouths that 
might be fed, and ragged children that 
might be clothed, if their fathers spent for 
that purpose the money which they waste 
for tobacco. This is simply the truth and 
any one with half an eye can see plenty of 
such cases in his own neighborhood. By 
all means keep up the tax on such luxuries 
as bread and clothing, but make such ne¬ 
cessities as rum and tobacco as cheap as 
possible. 
G. C. C., Lebanon Springs, N. Y.—In 
response to the R. N -Y.’s call for opinions 
on the proposed repeal of the tobacco tax, f 
would inquire if such action could be con¬ 
sistent with the avowed policy of taxing 
down an evil? If taxing is good for the 
suppression of the liquor habit, why not 
also for the suppression of the tobacco 
habit? The repeal was first suggested, I 
think, by a prominent statesman as good 
party policy on the ground that a large per¬ 
centage of voters were already addicted to 
the habit and would be glad to get their 
tobacco cheaper. This is hardly a good rea¬ 
son, at least in the interests of posterity, it 
seems to me. No! No! Let us have no 
such pandering to our vices, while the nec¬ 
essaries of life are burdened with taxation. 
We all actually need to be sweetened and 
salted, and as sugar trusts and salt monop¬ 
olies would scarcely be possible without 
the “ protection ” of a sugar and salt tariff, 
would it not therefore be more in the inter¬ 
ests of about 60,000,000 of our people to se¬ 
cure a reduction of revenue on the real nec¬ 
essaries of life? Perhaps in the growth of 
these great trusts, combines and other 
colossal fortuue-making combinations of 
our modern times, may be found some of 
the causes of the corresponding decline in 
agricultural prosperity and the consequent 
abandonment of New England farms, for 
money-getting is somewhat like playing 
see-saw in that—as there is only about a 
certain amount of money for us all—while 
some go up others must go down. Under 
existing conditions the farmer seems to be 
getting more than his share of the “go 
down.” Cheap tobacco will hardly send 
him up. 
MILK AS AFFECTED BY BREED. 
Prof. G. E. Morrow, University of 
Illinois. —For 10 years past the British 
Dairy Farmers’ Association has conducted 
milking trials at its annual shows, requir¬ 
ing analyses of the milk of the cows com¬ 
peting. In this way trustworthy records 
of the quantity and quality of the milk 
given by hundreds of cows of different 
breeds, under different conditions, have 
been collected. A summary of these re¬ 
sults has recently been published, which 
gives facts of very great value. The cows 
tested may be considered among the best 
of the different breeds in England, at least 
in the opinion of their owners, but they 
were not tested under the most favorable 
conditions. The number of each of four 
distinct breeds is so large as to give special 
value to the averages. The following table 
gives the figures for five breeds, in the or¬ 
der of the number tested: 
NO. 
BREED. POUNDS 
PERCENT. 
PER CENT. 
POUNDS 
MILK. 
SOLIDS. 
FATS 
FATS. 
119. 
Short-horns. 
. 43.13 
12 87 
8 73 
1.60 
118. 
Jerseys. 
. 27.87 
14.36 
4.56 
1.27 
49. 
Guernseys... 
29.30 
14.00 
4 77 
1 85 
13. 
Ayrshires..., 
. 34.26 
18.43 
4.15 
1.42 
7. 
Dutch. 
. 43.31 
12.11 
3 26 
1.41 
The position occupied by Short-horns 
among the dairy cows of England is well 
illustrated by the table, and the record is 
creditable for any breed. The quantity of 
milk given is large, and the quality fair. 
The cost of production, of course, is not 
considered in this table. The small num¬ 
ber of Dutch cows tested well illustrates 
the prejudice against them in England. It 
would be unfair to the breed to accept the 
results of these few tests as equaling in 
value the results from the much larger 
number of some other breeds. The records 
of both the Channel Island breeds and of 
the Ayrshires are good. The hist column 
in the table well illustrates that both yield 
and per cent, of fat are important. If pro¬ 
duced at the same cost, a large j'ield of 
milk with only a moderate per cent, of fat 
is more valuable than the smaller yield 
containing an equal quantity of fat, be¬ 
cause of the larger percentage. Inspection 
of the table shows that usually the solids 
of milk vary chiefly in the fats, the per¬ 
centage of solids other than fat varying 
only within narrow limits. Contrasted 
with the yields of a few cows at the shows 
of this association, or especially with 
yields of some cows in this country, these 
average yields are small, but they are far 
above the average yields of the dairies of 
either country. 
DEWBERRIES ON A TRELLIS. 
F. F. M.—A few weeks ago I noticed in 
the R. N.-Y. an article on the Lucretia 
Dewberry, in which the writer stated that 
if there were no other blackberry but that 
one, he would go without, on account of 
its sprawling habit, as two or three plants 
would cover a good-sized lot. Two years 
ago I would have said the same thing ; but 
a year ago last spring, I planted a row' on a 
trellis six feet high, and the vines five feet 
apart. They grew' finely, and I tied up four 
to five canes from each plant; as soon as 
they had reached the top I cut them off; 
\vfien the laterals grew I stopped them 
