4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN. 4 
add cream-of-tartar, one ounce and Bay 
salt, four ounces. Dissolve the whole in 
two quarts of water, and apply a little of it 
with a small piece of sponge wherever the 
lice or ticks appear. I have used all of 
the above and find them very good. 
Columbiana County, Ohio. 
FROM STONE & HARRIS. 
As a rule, 1 never allow ticks to stay on 
my sheep till winter, as it costs too much to 
fatten tick-infested sheep; but occasionally 
in making my rounds at the fairs ticks get 
on my show sheep and I do not notice them 
until winter. Then I wait until a nice sun¬ 
shiny day comes and we dip them, using 
Little’s Chemical Sheep Dip. As this is a 
cold-water dip it can be soon got ready, and 
if the sheep be dipped early in the morning 
and as much as possible of the water 
be pressed out of the fleece by the hands 
they will soon become dry and no bad ef¬ 
fect will occur from the dipping; but the 
sheep will show the effects of the dip in a 
few days by lying down and chewing 
their cuds contentedly, as they will have no 
blood-suckers on them. 
Stonington, Ill. 
MORE ABOUT “ABANDONED” NEW HAMP¬ 
SHIRE FARMS, ETC. 
D. C. S., Jasper, N. Y. —I have been 
thiuking of selling a farm of mine and 
buying a cheaper one. I am 34 years old, 
have always farmed, am now $1,000 in 
debt, and one of my farms should sell for 
$5,000. It contains 115 acres, 80 of which 
are cleared and the buildings alone cost 
$3,000. I think I am making as much 
money as my neighbors ; but cannot make 
enough to pay for my work and interest 
on the investment. The products I sell do 
not bring more than $600 a year. Would 
it be advisable for me to change my pres¬ 
ent farm for one of those cheap “ aban¬ 
doned ” farms in New Hampshire or Ver¬ 
mont? 
ANS. —It must be remembered that the 
parties who wrote about the “ abandoned 
farms ” are the ones who want to sell them. 
Naturally they gave the best showing they 
knew how. The R. N.-Y. went to them 
first so as to find out just why they wanted 
to sell. Their statements will be sifted 
and criticised by other correspondents un¬ 
til the exact truth comes out. So far as 
we can learn, most of these farms are not 
“worn out” by any means. They are not 
given up just because they will not support 
a farmer’s family. Here is a letter from 
one of our subscribers, a reliable man, for 
whom we can vouch: 
“I live in one of the deserted districts 
and have only a few neighbors. When I 
came here, 14 years ago, things were not so 
bad; since then seven places have been 
abandoned. One school-house that was in 
the district beyond ours where are good 
houses was moved away lately. The last 
school was kept there in 1862; since that 
time that district has been joined to ours 
as there have been no children there, and 
no family is living in the district and only 
two houses remain out of seven. In these 
two school districts which are one now, 
there are 17 deserted farms with buildings 
on nine of them. There are only two men 
in the district that were born there and 
who have always lived there, and one of 
them wants to sell badly. He is getting 
lonesome. No wonder, for inside of five 
years there have been six funerals at his 
place. His buildings are within 10 rods of 
mine and they are in a healthful place on 
high land. Before the war there used to 
be over 60 scholars at our school, not count¬ 
ing those in the other district which has 
been added to it. Now in summer there 
are only seven. This winter there are 11. 
I send three and another family four— 
more than half of the school attendance 
comes from two families. I like the place 
much and do not want to sell. Our land is 
rocky and good. There is no money in 
farming, as we farm here; but we manage 
to live. I do not sell milk but most farmers 
in our town do. We live within three miles 
of a creamery ; but I am not satisfied with 
the prices or the way of doing business there, 
so I have no dealings with it; but I sell what 
butter we make at the store, and with ber¬ 
ries, etc., we manage to live and enjoy our¬ 
selves perhaps more than the milk-farmers 
who have to be up very early to get their 
milk in on time. My farm is only 50 acres; 
but I can keep eight head of cattle and 
one horse, besides hens, hogs, etc., etc. 
We cut most of our hay with a machine, and 
get out some boulders every fall and spring. 
I have used five pounds of Giant powder 
this fall and the farm is improving every 
year. Now if the young men would only 
stay at home with the old folks, it would be 
much better, but, no; they do not like 
work on the farm, so the old folks put a 
mortgage on the farm to get money to help 
the young men in town. Then the young 
men do not do as well as they expected, 
and, instead of getting rich, they get poor¬ 
er and the poor old farm has to go. One 
word will cover the whole cause of the 
trouble— 1 laziness.’ ” 
The R. N.-Y. cannot advise you in the 
matter further than to say that changes of 
location in farming are always risky, par¬ 
ticularly in times of general depression. 
By no means go to these “abandoned 
farms ” until you have seen them. 
VALUE OF ASHES AND SAWDUST AS FER¬ 
TILIZERS, ETC. 
T. R., Elk Oarden, West Virginia. —1. 
Are leached ashes worth $5 a ton ? 2. Is rot¬ 
ten sawdust worth much ? 3. What is a 
reliable firm which deals in pure-bred swine 
and cattle ? 
ANS. —1. From an experience in making 
soft soap on rather a large scale, the writer 
concludes that the value of leached ashes 
will vary considerably! this value depend¬ 
ing upon the thoroughness of the leaching. 
In a general way it may be said that aver¬ 
age samples of leached ashes are worth not 
quite half as much, weight for weight, as 
unleached. Dr. Kedzie of the Michigan 
Station, estimates hard-wood ashes as worth 
$20 per ton while the same leached he con¬ 
siders worth $10.40. Dr. Johnson of the 
Connecticut Station, concludes from a 
number of analyses, that one ton of leached 
ashes would supply 1,100 pounds of carbon¬ 
ate of lime, 20 pounds of serviceable potash, 
60 pounds of magnesia, and 30 pounds of 
phosphoric acid—the whole worth $7.50. 
The chief effect of the leached ashes would 
come from the carbonate of lime. They 
would, therefore, be best suited to soils 
that require lime. A ton of leached ashes 
will make about 36 bushels. In the last 
bulletin from the Connecticut Station con¬ 
siderable space is given to discussion of the 
action of ashes on soils. It is stated that 
ashes, both leached and unleached, may 
benefit soils in three way's outside of the 
supplies of potash and phosphoric acid they 
may render. These benefits are due to the 
carbonate of lime which, as has been 
shown, forms the greater part of the bulk of 
the ashes. This carbonate of lime may: 
1. Bind loose soils and make them hold 
water, while, on the other hand, it may 
n ake clay soils less stiff. 2. It may cor¬ 
rect “ sourness ” in the soil. 3. It favors 
nitrification. Thus we see that the value 
of ashes does not consist wholly in the 
plant food which they contain. The bulle¬ 
tin also points out the danger of putting 
too heavy an application of unleached 
ashes on a clay soil. Such a soil might be 
injured by the alkali contained in the 
ashes. 2. If free from nails and sharp 
splinters, it makes an excellent absorbent 
for stables. An old ice-house on the R. N.¬ 
Y.’s New Jersey farm contained a large 
quantity of half-decayed sawdust. It con¬ 
tained so many old nails and bolts that it 
could not be used for bedding, so it has 
been hauled to the rye fields and scattered 
over the portions where the soil is lightest. 
In sections removed from railroads, this 
product ought to be obtained for the haul¬ 
ing. 3. What breeds of stock are wanted ? 
We gave names of breeders some weeks 
ago. 
BARLEY AS STOCK FEED. 
F. K. P., Delavan, Wis. —Barley which 
for years has been our leading small grain 
crop has declined from 42 cents or more 
after harvest till now there is no sale at 
even 15 cents per bushel. A farmer said to¬ 
day he was short of corn, but would sooner 
sell his 1,200 bushels of barley at 25 cents at 
the depot than make feed of it. We hear 
that brewers are now using but little bar¬ 
ley—is that a fact ?—and I suppose there 
is little or no foreign demand. What can 
we do with our barley ? 
Ans. —The only money market for barley 
is from brewers who use the grain for malt¬ 
ing. Barley of good quality and bright 
color is now selling in the New York mar¬ 
ket at 55 to 75 cents per bushel, and it 
should be worth considerably more than 
25 cents in the West, especially in Wiscon¬ 
sin, where the climate favors a desirable 
quality for malting. But it is strange 
that this grain is so much neglected for the 
purpose of feeding. It is one of the best 
grains for horses and hogs. Its feeding 
value may be seen from the following com¬ 
parative figures. 
Nutritive 
Composition of money 
albuminoids 
Carbohydrates 
fat 
ratio 
value 
Rye per cent. 
11.0 
6? 4 
V. 0 
1 to 7 
$1.08 
Oats 
12.0 
55.7 
6 9 
1 to 6 
.98 
Corn 
10.0 
62.1 
6.5 
1 to 8K 1 11 
Barley 
10.0 
63.9 
25 
1 to 8 
.95 
In actual money value barley is thus 
seen to be about equal to oats, while it is 
more useful for fattening and work ani¬ 
mals, according to its nutritive rates than 
oats and more healthful than corn. It 
contains 15>£ per cent, more digestible car¬ 
bonaceous matter than oats, on account[of 
the smaller proportion of.indigesti ble fibe r 
in the husk. The Arabian horses well 
known to be unsurpassed for vigor and en¬ 
durance, are fed upon barley, and it used to 
be.the main feeding grain for horses in 
England before American corn displaced it 
on account of its cheapness. We cannot see 
why it should not be turned to this use 
very profitably when its feeding value is 
about 45 cents per bushel. We should cer¬ 
tainly recommend its use in this way rather 
than its sale at half its value on a market 
in which there is no profitable, demand 
Excellent pork may be made on barley- 
meal, steeped in water and made into a 
thick slop. It is one of the best foods for 
poultry and sheep, and if it were not that 
a habit of selling it for use in brewing had 
been established, it would certainly be in 
good demand for a feeding grain. 
BRAN, MIDDLINGS AND BEANS AS FEED. 
W. L., Miller's Corners, N. Y.— Would 
it be cheaper for me to buy bran and mid¬ 
dlings at $15 per ton or cull beans at25 cents 
per bushel and cook them for pigs, not tak¬ 
ing the labor into account ? Would it pay 
to buy a steam generator for cooking feed 
and warming swill in the winter time for 
about 20 pigs ? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
Bran and middlings are cheap feeds at 
the price mentioned, and are exceedingly 
healthful food for pigs. But beaus at 25 
cents per bushel of 60 pounds are much 
cheaper and are worth more for feeding, the 
comparative values per 100 pounds being as 
follows: Middlings, $1.00; bran, $1.01; 
beans, $1.51. But beans are too rich 
in nitrogen to be fed steadily, and 
should be mixed with some other food 
having a greater proportion of carbon¬ 
aceous matter, as starch, to render them 
healthful. Beans contain 25)4 P er cent., of 
nitrogenous substance of which a large 
part is legumine, a substance precisely sim¬ 
ilar in composition to the caseiue of milk, 
hence excellent nutriment for young pigs 
if fed in moderate quantity. Potatoes con¬ 
taining 10 times as much starch as nitro¬ 
genous matters, would be a suitable food to 
mix with the beans in the proportion of 
one part by weight of beans to four of po¬ 
tatoes, considering that the potatoes con¬ 
tain 75 per cent, of water. A bushel, of po¬ 
tatoes boiled with a peck of beans would 
then make 75 pounds of food having a 
healthful ratio as regards the different ele¬ 
ments of nutrition, and if the potatoes can 
be procured at 25 or 30 cents a bushel (small 
ones are us good as large ones) this food 
would be remarkably cheap. Considering 
the fact that if potatoes and beans are fed 
they must be cooked to make [them eco¬ 
nomical feeding, it would certainly pay to 
use a steamer. Beans are not palatable in 
their raw state to any animals except 
sheep, but when cooked, are readily eaten 
and become almost wholly digestible, as 
the potatoes also are when cooked, so that 
20 pigs weighing 100 pounds each could be 
kept iD good growing condition on the 75 
pounds of the mixed feed given twice a day, 
or half as much if fed milk or other food 
for a change. If bran or middlings should 
be fed it would be advisable to mix them 
with coarsely ground oats as the mixture 
would make a more digestible food than 
either alone. Cooked food should not be 
fed warm. Animals are more partial to 
cold, or at least cooled food, but it is not ad¬ 
visable to feed it ice-cold : to warm it to 60 
degrees, or to cool it to that temperature 
before feeding it would be most desirable. 
SEA-WEED AS MANURE. 
E. P. C., Block Island, R. I— Our land 
is light and rather gravelly capable of pro¬ 
ducing in good seasons 50 bushels of corn 
and 200 to 300 bushels of potatoes and one 
to two tons of hay per acre. It lmsj been 
used for farming purposes for 100 to 150 
years. All this time sea-weed has been the 
principal manure. For a crop of corn or 
potatoes now sea weed ranks first; and 
stable manure next. Commercial fertil¬ 
izers (Bradley’s and Stockbridge’s) we can¬ 
not depend on alone, but use them, if at all, 
with the others; but our land does not re¬ 
spond to the application of the sea-weed as 
it used to. Although we use larger quan¬ 
tities, (12 to 20 cords per acre) our crops are 
smaller and it is more difficult to keep our 
