i7o 
THE RURAT NEW-YORKER. 
MARCH i5 
Miscellaneous. 
E. P. R., Midland, Michigan ..—The Rec¬ 
tangular chum is made by Cornish, Curtis 
& Green, Fort Atkinson, Wis. The Davis 
Swing is made by the Vermont Farm Ma¬ 
chine Co., Bellows Falls, Vermont. 
J. R. TV, Charlton, Mass :—I have the 
Downing, Sharpless, Crescent and Cumber¬ 
land Strawberries; what four other kinds 
would the R. N.-Y. recommend for trial ? 
Ans. —Parker Earle, Bubach, Louise, 
Jessie. 
A. M. T., Carden, City, N. Y.— How can 
hen feathers be cleaned? Where can they be 
sold and at what price ? 
Ans. —Read what was said about this on 
page 37. Spread the feathers in a layer in 
a dry room where the air can reach them. 
E. & O. Ward of this city will sell them. 
D. C. E., Bainbridge, Pa— Are the 
Thorburn and Lee’s Favorite Potatoes the 
same ? 
Ans. —No, they are not the same. In our 
trials Lee's was somewhat earlier and not 
quite so shapely. Both are of good quality, 
but the Thorburn is the better. Lee’s out- 
yielded the Thorburn. 
E. /). P., Oalisvlllc, N. Y.— Will the 
Buckeye Spring Tooth Cultivator adver¬ 
tised in the R. N.-Y. supply the place of the 
floating harrows and cultivators now in 
use on the average hill-side farm—soil some¬ 
what stony? 
Ans.— Yes, in a great measure. There 
may be particular situations where it would 
not. 
H. W. S., Oakland, Ohio .—My mare has 
been greatly troubled with “whites” or 
leucorrhooa for several months and cannot 
breed; what should be done for her? 
ANS.— Wash out once daily with tepid 
water and then inject one dram each of sul¬ 
phate of zinc and carbolic acid dissolved in 
one pint of water, until the discharge 
ceases. It is not probable that the mare 
will ever breed again. 
C. E. P.,Oeean Springs, Miss.— 1. What 
kind of a keeper is the Kelsey Plum ? 
2. What is a good stock for imported Euro¬ 
pean cherries ? Our wild cherries will not 
answer. 
ANSWERED BY T. V. MUNSON. 
I. The Kelsey Plum, so far as known to 
me in Texas, rots badly where early 
peaches, such as Alexander, rot, and hence 
promises to be unprofitable. But in Texas, 
west of the iJOth meridian, it promises to 
be valuable. There also the other Japan 
plums are likely to thrive best. 2. The 
best stock for the improved European cher¬ 
ries for this climate is the Mahaleb. But 
no cherry succeeds well here. It is too far 
south. 
L. M. S., St. Catherines, Ontario.—Are 
asparagus row's three feet apart too close to 
work with ahorse cultivator,and how would 
a row of asparagus do if planted between 
grapes? 
A NS.—The distance named is too close for 
the production of the best asparagus, be¬ 
sides being too close for convenience in 
cultivation. One of the growers visited at 
Oyster Bay, as reported last week, consid¬ 
ered 3>ji' feet a sufficient distance,but he was 
a beginner and several older growers said 
that he would find, as his plantation be¬ 
came older, that the rows were too close. 
We are inclined to pin our faith to the 
practices of the older and most successful 
growers. We see no reason why a single 
row of asparagus would not succeed be¬ 
tween two rows of grape vines not less than 
10 feet apart. 
Discussion. 
THE DAKOTA RED POTATO. 
L. F. A., Lew'iston, Maine.— There 
should be no misunderstanding regarding 
the above potato. It is true, as Mr. Coy 
says in the RURAL of February 15, that the 
Dakota Red is a mealy and rich potato; 
and 1 will add, as a table potato from now 
till June it is certainly preferable to the 
two varieties he names ; true, also, it is less 
liable to be affected by rot than many other 
sorts. It is not, however, a desirable mar¬ 
ket variety. Its color, shape, and unsightly, 
deeply sunken eyes are against it. It is a 
fair yielder; but in sizable, merchantable 
tubers, Inferior to the Hebron, Early Rose 
or Early Maine, which 1 have grown with 
it in experimental work. Herein there 
should be no misunderstanding among 
farmers who raise potatoes for market. The 
fact that Mr. Coy raised the premium acre 
of potatoes last year, and that the variety 
grown was the Dakota Red, will have a 
tendency to give that variety a “ boom,” 
and many unacquainted with it will use it 
largely for seed, and disappointment will 
result. 
This variety hits been before the public a 
long time—how long I do not know, but 
eight years ago I first received specimens 
from the Department of Agriculture, 
Washington. This is surely long enough 
to bring it into prominence as a marketable 
variety worthy of extended cultivation, 
and it doubtless possesses value for this 
purpose ; but it is not a favorite in any of 
our great markets. Its size is against it; 
its shape is objectionable, and its deep, 
broad eyes are unsightly, and, taken alto¬ 
gether, a fastidious market rejects it. 
No potato has held the market like the 
Rose. There are many better sorts; eveu 
the Dakota Red when well grown is prefer¬ 
able on my own table, but we can’t afford 
to put out much capital to educate popular 
taste. Farmers raise what the market calls 
for. In this particular it calls for a light- 
colored, smooth, flatfish, oblong potato, and 
the last thing it turns its nose up at is 
quality. 
My object in penning this is to say to 
farmers: “ Don’t invest largely, as a mar¬ 
ketable variety, in seed of the Dakota Red 
Potato. Plant for your own tables all you 
may desire, but if you invest further than 
that, disappointment will follow. 
HARROWING WHEAT AND RYE IN SPRING. 
A. B. A., Plainfield, N. J.—I have 
thoroughly harrowed these two grain crops 
for many years past, and have always 
found it beneficial for the increase of their 
growth. It should be done just as soon in 
the spring as the frost has softened the 
ground an inch or so below the roots. 
Then the harrow' pulverizes the ground 
well, and puts it in the best condition for 
the growth and sustenance of the roots till 
the grain is ripened. If it should be har¬ 
rowed before the surface of the ground is 
loosened, more or less of the roots W’ould be 
broken off to the injury of the crop, and, on 
the other hand, it should be done before the 
soil becomes dry or at all solid on the sur¬ 
face. 
As to the harrows to be used for this 
purpose, they must be lighter or heavier 
according to the nature of the soil, varying 
from a loose sand to a stiff clay. They 
should be heavy enough to press the har¬ 
row teeth two inches into the ground or 
more, and the teeth should be of very fair 
length, very sharp-pointed with steel, and 
set in strongly and perpendicularly to the 
arms of the harrow. Slanting teeth are of 
little use except in a very loose, sandy soil. 
What is w'anted is to stir the ground freely 
close down to the roots. In doing this, the 
stalks of the grain are more or less torn, 
but if the work is seasonably performed, it 
does no harm, as a greater growth of stalks 
rapidly follow's—enough always for a good 
crop. 
When the above plan was first practiced 
by me, the neighboring farmers on passing 
by and looking at the crops, would shake 
their heads and tell me I had ruined the 
prospect. For reply I merely asked them 
to call again and examine the crops a month 
hence up to the time of their ripening, and 
then tell me what they thought of the plan. 
The result was that every spring after this, 
all followed my example, much to their 
benefit. 
SAND FOR A MUCK MEADOW. 
F. A. 1*., Dudley, Massachusetts.— 
C. T. P., Cortland. N. Y., tells us, on page 
84, that he has a drained beaver meadow 
upon which be has been unable to make 
upland grasses grow, and he asks how he 
can get it seeded to Timothy and Red-top 
for a permanent meadow'. He says the 
soil is apparently all made from decayed 
vegetable matter and contains no stones 
or sand. I would suggest that he should 
try, as an experiment on a small area, 
spreading a few loads of sand on it, if the 
Band is obtainable, or, in lieu of sand, fine 
gravel or coarse, gritty soil, as it is just 
possible that his muck soil lacks a sufficient 
supply of silica, which is as essential to the 
growth of our upland grasses as are the 
phosphates to ourselves and to other ani¬ 
mals. Silica furnishes the material that 
forms the glaze or stiff, supporting outer 
part of corn, grain and upland grasses. In 
our upland soils there is always an abun- 
danceof it; but in C. T. P.’s vegetable muck 
it may be deficient in supply, and be the 
key to the whole trouble. The fact that 
vegetables do well on this muck while 
grasses do not, is some proof that there is a 
deficiency of silica, as vegetables do not re¬ 
quire so much of it as do the upland grasses 
and grain crops. He should try the sand 
treatment the coming season, both with 
lime and without, and report the results in 
the R. N.-Y. 
MORE MANURE MATTERS. 
T. H. S., Saxonburg, PA.—Like the 
Rural, I think that A. R. S., (page 101) 
could not improve much on his system of 
saving manure. My plan has been to wheel 
it each day under a covered shed and cart 
it on to the fields as time and the condition 
of the ground have permitted ; but as the 
manure has to be handled twice in this w r ay 
I had thought of adopting another plan 
by having box-stalls large enough for the 
cows to move around in ; then every morn¬ 
ing I would scatter the horse manure in 
these, and as much straw' as - would be nec¬ 
essary to keep the cattle clean and let the 
manure accumulate in these until it could 
betaken from the stable to the fields. I 
think R. B. need fear no loss by carting and 
spreading his manure on the fields during 
the w'inter. I have followed this plan, put¬ 
ting the manure on fields where I expected 
to put corn or potatoes in the spring. "I 
think this a much better plan than R. B.’s, 
who carts the. manure in the fall and plows 
it under. All that has accumulated during 
the summer I haul and spread on the 
meadows after the hay is taken off, and the 
results have been good. 
MILLET SEED FOR POULTRY. 
L. E. B., Camptown, Pa.— C. L. II. asks, 
in a late Rural, whether millet is valuable 
for feeding stock or poultry. I have fed it 
to my chicks and hens for the past two sea¬ 
sons in combination with other grains, and 
like it very much. I feed it on a dry, solid 
gravel bank or on a plank floor, and the 
fowls get plenty of exercise in picking it 
up. For feeding young chicks my wife 
thinks there is nothing equal to it; they 
eat it readily and thrive upon it, and by its 
use one saves the time that would be occu¬ 
pied in mixing meal three or four times a 
day. 
A few have tried the Dakota Red Pota¬ 
toes in this section ; but do not recommend 
them. When the potato crop is good we 
can not sell them to dealers at any price, as 
they w’ill buy nothing to ship but white or 
light-skinned potatoes. I tried the Green 
Mountain last season; they yielded w'ell 
but the quality was only fair, perhaps on 
account of too much wet. White seedlings 
did the best for me. 
“ LIMA BEANS WITHOUT POLKS.” 
J. S. C., Port Monmouth, N. J.—I have 
grown Lima beans for 80 years or more 
without poles more satisfactorily than 
with poles. T first plow the land and make 
a good seed-bed, furrow out the rows five 
feet apart and scatter in them some Mapes 
fertilizer and turn back tw'O light furrows 
over it; then with a hoe T make the hills 
and plant about two feet apart in the rows. 
Then I noe and cultivate until the vines 
are a foot or two long. T lay (not stick up) 
the trimmings of fruit trees or brush—clip¬ 
pings from birch trees are good—say, 20 
feet long, in every alternate space betweeb 
the rows, leaving the other spaces unob¬ 
structed for walking and picking the beans. 
Should a runner get out, put it back of the 
brush. There is no breaking of poles or 
chafing of vines or thrashing about in high 
winds ; and the beans are more abundant 
and earlier. When the ground is dry in 
spring pile up the mass and burn it, leav¬ 
ing the ground clean. 
REMOVING THE AFTERBIRTH. 
A. J. E., Belvidere, N. J.—In the R. N.- 
Y. of February 22, page 117, W. R. S., 
Mapleton. Mich., asks how a cow should 
be treated that fails to pass the after¬ 
birth. I have seldom or never had any 
trouble in that matter. As soon as the 
calf is dropped I give the cow a dose made 
up of one or two quarts of wheat bran, 
half a pint of flaxseed and half a package 
of tansy (the size sold by druggists) mixed 
with boiling water and allowed to cool. 
This will remove the afterbirth in one or 
two hours. Should it not do so in 12 
hours, a mess of parsnips (not more than 
a quart, dry measure) will have the desired 
effect. 
G. W., Willow Creek, N. Y.—In a late 
issue of the R. N.-Y. an inquiry was made 
with regard to the use of small wind-mills 
for pumping water from a well to a cream¬ 
ery tank, also some auswers were given 
by several of our practical wind-mill man¬ 
ufacturers for whose judgment I have 
much respect But I must differ from the 
opinions they expressed with regard to small 
wind-mills; for four years of experience 
with six-foot mills and those of six other 
sizes has convinced me that they are effec¬ 
tive machines when attached to a pump 
adapted to their size. For a six-foot mill 
I use a pump having a cylinder 1 y t inch in 
diameter; while for a 10-foot mill theusual 
size of the pump cylinder is three inches. 
In a six-foot wheel the propelling wind sur¬ 
face is 24 square feet, and in a 10-foot wheel 
it is 63 square feet; and while a 10-foot mill 
will pump from a GO-foot well from 10 to 20 
barrels per hour, a six-foot mill will pump 
about one-third of that amount from the 
same .well. T agree with the gentlemen 
who advise the use of a tank for storing the 
water, and if the tank is packed in sawdust 
nearly the same temperature found in the 
well can be preserved in it. 
The Largest Yield of Potatoes on 
RECORD.—The following is from the N. Y. 
Times : “ Again the record for the largest 
yield of potatoes has been broken, and the 
breaker is a woman,who has produced by 
her own labor and care over 53 bushels of 
marketable potatoes on one-twentieth of an 
acre of land, and 1}/, bushels of small ones 
besides. The smaller quantity is often not 
reached by ordinary growers, who get ns 
little as 75 bushels of smairones to the acre, 
while this crop yields 150 bushels of small 
ones and 1,061 bushels of marketable ones 
to the acre, or a total of 1,211 bushels. 
'Hiis feat places the lady at the head of the 
Rural New-Yorker’s competitive experi¬ 
ment, a position w’hich was temporarily 
lost by an accidental displacement of the 
ticket, in sorting them, on making up the 
lists. As the awards had been made to the 
other contestants, the editor liberally 
added a second $100 to the amount of the 
previous premiums. Fortune favors the 
fair as well as the bold, and these farm¬ 
ers’ wives and daughters have left the 
husbands and sons aw'ay behind so far as to 
be out of sight. The world ow'es everything 
to the women, not excluding the largest 
yield of potatoes from a garden plot. Else¬ 
where we give the account of the growth 
of this unequaled crop.” 
FINALLY. 
Mr. Crawford of Cuyahoga Falls, O., 
one of our most experienced strawberry 
growers, says of the new variety “Racster,” 
that no strawberry was ever sent out with 
better testimonials. It originated in Iowa 
five years ago Blossom perfect, plants 
vigorous, very hardy, a heavy bearer. 
Berries large, excellent, bright red. of fine 
shape, very early, a good shipper. 
The Lady Rusk is praised as an enor¬ 
mous yielder with foliage that stands the 
heat of the driest summers giving berries 
as large as the Crescent, fully as early and 
much firmer. 
Mrs. Cleveland is said to bear a large, 
firm berry, light scarlet in color, early and 
of good quality. The plants are vigorous.. 
The Yale bears a perfect flower. The 
plant is healthy, the berries of large .- ize 
and good shape. The color is a dark red 
and the plant is of good quality, but late... 
Michel’s Early is said to be as large 
and productive as the Crescent, ripening 
about 10 days earlier. The berry is coni¬ 
cal, always regular in shape, bright scar¬ 
let in color and “of the finest quality.”- 
The Tippecanoe is a selection from 
hundreds of seedlings grown from French 
seed. Plant hardy, fruit of the largest 
size. The yield from this newcomer is said 
to be fully double that of the Sharpless or 
Cumberland . 
Eureka is highly praised as a late pistil¬ 
late berry much like Bubach. 
The Manettia Vine (species not stated) 
is advertised largely in several papers. 
The advertisement does not say it is a nov¬ 
elty, but the reader is left to surmise that 
it is. They are all greenhouse climbers, 
though several do well out-of-doors, and 
have been well-known for 50 years. 
Ellwangkr & Barry inform us that 
the Windsor is the best late black cherry, 
and one of the best new fruits of recent in¬ 
troduction. 
Among gooseberries, it is thought that 
the Oneida—not yet introduced and now, 
for the first time announced, will prove one 
of the best sorts known. There is a wide 
space for the improvement of the native 
gooseberry.... 
