i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
201 
water supply. 3. The United States Fish 
Commissioner, Washington, D. C., will 
send a pamphlet on the subject. Milton 
P. Pierce, of Philadelphia, also publishes a 
book that is said to be authentic. 4. There 
are still a number of men in the country 
who make a living out of bees, while 
thousands of farmers make honey enough 
to pay two-thirds of their sugar bills. 
JAPAN CLOVER. 
W. A. JET., Northumberland, County, 
Va. —Last year my neighbor had 10 to 12 
acres of Japan Clover on his poorest land, 
and kept sheep on it all summer, and they 
were fat and in fine condition for market. 
What does the E. N.-Y. know about this 
sort of clover ? 
Ans. —Lespedeza striata, the so-called 
Japan Clover, was introduced in the South 
about 1845, and has spread in all direc¬ 
tions, in some cases crowding out Bermuda 
Grass. North of Virginia it will prove of 
little value. The writer has seen fields of 
it growing naturally in North and South 
Carolina, and it appears to thrive mod¬ 
erately well where no other forage plant 
will. Stock fed on Red Clover do not take 
to it readily, but they soon learn to like it 
when deprived of the clover. On good land 
jt grows over a foot high and gives a good 
yield of hay which is thought to be equal 
to Timothy. 
CORN AND POTATOES ON MUCKY LAND. 
F. B. O., Qarrett, Ind. —I want to plant 
corn or potatoes on a piece of new mucky 
land; should it be plowed deep, and, if 
so, would it stand a drought ? How would 
it do to work it with a spring-tooth harrow 
and mark it out shallow ? 
Ans. —It is not best to plow mucky 
ground deep. The trouble will be, if it has 
been properly relieved of the water, that it 
will become too light and loose. If the 
ground is of this character, the cultivation 
should be shallow and the roller should be 
frequently used. Any kind of a harrow 
that will smooth and fit the surface soil is 
admissible. Both corn and potatoes on such 
soil should be planted rather deeper than on 
ordinary soil. If the ground below is in¬ 
clined to be wet and has not been properly 
drained, then of course one will have to 
keep close to the surface. 
MR. TERRY’S SLOP CART. 
A. H. C., Bunker Hill, III.—What is a 
description and what was the cost of Mr. 
Terry’s slop barrel on wheels illustrated 
along with his other farm appliances in the 
R. N.-Y. for September 28, 1889 ? 
ANSWERED BY T. B. TERRY. 
My slop cart is a 50 gallon linseed oil bar¬ 
rel, to which are bolted cast-iron spindles 
for the wheels to run on. The braced 
handle can be understood from the picture. 
It is easily drawn and tipped over back¬ 
ward to empty it. I paint it when the 
paint Is ready for the wagons or the barn, 
and it appears just as good as new after 
several years of constant use. It is the simp¬ 
lest slop cart I have ever seen. I paid $5 or $6 
for the barrel and one dollar freight. I do 
not know whether it is patented or not. 
“water-core” in apples, etc. 
H. II. O., Northville, Tenn.—l. Are apple 
trees affected with black-knot like plum 
trees ? There are knots or warts on the 
trunks of some of mine ? 2. What causes 
some apples to have hard and watery cores 
and is there auy remedy ? 
Ans. —1. No. The knots, or warts re¬ 
ferred to may be due to the work of an 
insect. 2. “ Water-core,” is an affection 
to which many varieties are more or less 
subject. Neither cause nor cure seems to 
be known. Some prefer water-cored 
apples; but any considerable quantity of 
fruit so affected in a package would be 
likely to cause its rejection. This affection 
is most frequent in summer and fall fruit; 
but is not unknown among later keeping 
sorts. 
PLANTING PEACH PITS. 
Q. E. D., Quarruvillc, N. J.— Once for 
an experiment I cracked a lot of peach pits 
that had never been put in the ground or 
frozen; only a few of them grew ; why? 
ANSWERED BY ELI MINCII. 
I do not know why the peach pits failed 
to grow if properly cracked and planted. 
To crack them, place them on edge and 
strike a sharp, quick blow hard enough to 
part the shell but not to crush the kernel. 
If the small point which contains the 
germ on the end is broken off, the kernel 
is ruined. If the pits are properly broken 
and planted they will nearly all germinate. 
If they are planted late and in dry weather 
many will fail, for the young peach germ is 
tender. Early planting is better than late 
THE BEST RHUBARB. 
JET. O., Hamburg, Conn .—In Ellwanger 
& Barry’s catalogue among 17 kinds of 
rhubarb Myatt’s Linnceus is mentioned as 
the largest and best of all. I had always 
supposed that Paragon stood at the head of 
the list; what does the R. N.-Y. say ? 
Ans. —The Linnaeus is the best of the 
early varieties. Later varieties, like Mon¬ 
arch or Victoria, bear larger stalks of about 
the same quality, but the skin is thicker. 
Miscellaneous. 
P. W. S., Falmouth, N. S — The Breed¬ 
er’s Gazette, Chicago, Ill., is by far the best 
paper devoted exclusively to live stock. 
The Western Agriculturist of Quincy, Ill., 
is devoted to the interests of the breeds of 
draft horses. 
I. J. N., Granville, N. Y.— What is a 
practical and reliable book on the diseases 
of cattle ? 
Ans.—T he Farmers’ Veterinary Adviser, 
by Prof. James Law, Ithaca, N. Y., price 
$3, is the best work of the kind. 
W. M. K., Anacosta, D. C.— Where are 
iron houses made ? 
Ans.—W e do not know of any manufac¬ 
turers who make a specialty of building 
iron houses. The manufacturers of iron 
and steel roofing supply the material for 
these houses. Not many such buildings 
are made. 
J. P. W., Sheridan, Montana.— Does 
plaster applied to clover benefit it? If so, 
how much should be used per acre and 
when ? 
Ans.—I n many cases it does, in others it 
has no appreciable effect. Each farmer 
must try it for himself. You may sow 
from two to five barrels. Sow at any time 
between fall and early spring. 
H. B., New Albany,' Ind.—1. How far 
apart should the Asiatic plums, Botan, 
Ogan and Prunus Simonii be planted? 2. 
When will the R. N.-Y. distribute among 
its subscribers its hybrid and cross-bred 
wheats as it promised to do in its issue of 
August 11,1888, on page 524 ? 
Ans.— 1. Sixteen feet apart each way. 2. 
It is proposed to distribute them next fall 
should the crop enable us so to do. 
H. B. S., Paulina, Oregon.— What vari¬ 
ety of potatoes would be likely to mature 
most quickly here ? 
Ans.—E arly Ohio is the earliest potato. 
It is as shapely as the Early Rose, and of 
good quality. The vines are small and the 
seed-pieces may be planted more closely 
than ranker-growing kinds. It yields 
heavily in some soils and situations, and 
in others it does not yield well. Try it in a 
small way. 
M. P. M., Allegheny, Pa. —Where are 
there any agricultural schools ? On what 
principle are they run, as regards tuition, 
etc. ? 
ANS.—There is a school in your own 
State at State College, Centre County, Pa. 
Others are at Lansing, Mich., LaFayette, 
Ind., Ithaca, N. Y., and Amherst, Mass. 
Tuition is free at these schools, except 
when they are crowded with students, in 
which cases those from outside the State 
are expected to pay. 
G. H. W., Lyndon, Ky. —1. Where can 
I get seeds of the Citrus trifoliata? 2. Are 
the Botan and Abundance Plums identical? 
Are they worth planting for market? 
Ans. —1. We do not find that the seeds 
are offered in any of our collection of cata¬ 
logues. 2. We believe them to be the same. 
Mr. Lovett does not allude to the origin of 
the Abundance. Storrs & Harrison say 
that it has been named Abundance on ac¬ 
count of its wonderful bearing qualities. 
The fruit is large, early to ripen and “prac¬ 
tically curculio-proof.” We have had no 
experience with either and cannot therefore 
speak of their merits. 
N. F., Wading River, N. Y.—l. Which is 
more profitable to a poor man—to use 
nitrates, sulphates, muriates, etc., or to use 
standard mixed fertilizers? 2. What shall I 
do with my yard, hog and stable manures? 
Put them on the mowing lot, or on corn, 
oats, or what? 
Ans.— 1. Without knowing what your 
soil needs or what crops you propose to 
grow we should advise you to invest in 
complete fertilizer until you can tell by 
experiment whether your land needs an ex¬ 
tra amount of one of the elements of fertil¬ 
ity. 2. We should put the stable manure 
on corn and follow with potatoes, using 
fertilizer on them. 
F. R. F., Talla.homa, Term.—How can I 
raise second-crop potatoes in this State? 
Ans.—P lant the first crop as early in the 
spring as the weather and ground will per¬ 
mit. When the vines begin to turn (do 
not wait for the potatoes to be thoroughly 
ripe' dig them. Select the large tubers for 
market, spread the small ones on the 
ground in a cool, shady place; let them lie 
for 10 or 12 days, then cut and plant them 
in drills or trenches in the same ground as 
the first crop, very thickly at the rate of 20 
bushels of cut tubers to the acre. Cover 
very lightly, then roll or plank the ground 
so as to retain the moisture. As the land 
has been thoroughly worked with the first 
crop, the second crop requires very little 
working. 
Discussion. 
A PROPOSED TEMPERANCE MEASURE. 
H. S. H., Windham County, Conn. To 
my mind it is an easy task to manage the 
rum traffic. All that is needed is to take 
hold of the right end of the business. 
That end is the person who drinks the 
liquor and not the man who sells it. I 
believe that a person has as much right to 
sell rum as to sell kerosene or Paris-green 
neither of which is a necessary of life while 
if either is misused it will cause sure death ; 
yet both are useful articles for their proper 
purposes. Rum will be made, sold and 
drank as long as the present human family 
inhabits this globe, and there is no power 
that can stop the traffic. All legislation 
looking to that end will be futile, so we 
may as well purge our minds of the notion 
that laws can stop rum-drinking, and take 
hold of the liquor curse in a practical and 
business-like manner. As the evil cannot 
be eradicated, the'tax-payers should make 
all they possibly can out of it. Every person 
who applies for it and can pay for it should 
be gran ted a license. The number of saloons 
has no relation to the quantity of rum con¬ 
sumed; it relates only to a division of the 
profits. The license fee should be as high 
as the traffic will bear so longas it does not 
prohibit the trade or divert it from its 
proper channel. Should it do this it would 
cause smuggling. The sale of liquors to 
minors or on the Sabbath should be pro¬ 
hibited, and then we should pass the rum- 
seller, and labor with the author of all the 
evil caused by rum—the person who drinks 
it. By law drunkenness should be made a 
crime; then when a person is found drunk, 
let him be arrested, taken before a 
justice and on proof of drunkenness 
he should be sent to the State workhouse 
for one year, for the first offence; for a 
second offence the penalty should be two 
years, for a third offence three years, and 
so on for every subsequent offence. 
Under no circumstances should a money 
fine be imposed. The State should build a 
factory at some central point where the 
offenders should be put to work and get the 
same pay the same kind of work would 
command at a private institution, and all 
money over and above the expenses of the 
prisoners should go to their families or 
those depending upon them. The profit on 
the work of those on whom there are no de¬ 
pendents should go toward keeping the 
town poor and creating a fund from which 
each person at the end of his term could 
draw, say, $20 on which he could commence 
life a sober and wiser being or get drunk, as 
he might see fit. The effect of such a law 
would be to compel a drunkard to do in 
confinement what he would not do as a 
free man—to support himself and family in 
comfortable circumstances. The select-men 
in the towns where their families reside 
should have power to draw the pay of the 
prisoners and see that those dependent on 
them got it. A measure like this shou Id not 
meet severe opposition. The worst enemies 
the temperance cause has are the moderate 
drinkers, and under such a law none of the 
boasted rights of this class would be taken 
from them. A man of this sort boasts 
that he can drink rum or leave it alone, 
but as a rule he drinks, “ leaving it alone ” 
being the exception. When such a fellow 
got so far along that he could not leave it 
alone, the strong arm of the law would 
take hold of him, give him steady employ¬ 
ment, force him to be an abstainer and see 
that his family is well cared for. I invite the 
severest criticism of this plan by the read¬ 
ers of the R. N.-Y. to the end that there 
may be found some way of ridding our¬ 
selves of the rum curse. 
PLANTS BY MAIL. 
G. R. W., Lyndon, Ky. —My advice to 
parties wanting plants is to order them by 
mail. I have ordered plants, trees, and 
vines several times by mail, and never had 
occasion to complain. Somehow people 
cannot understand how they can get good 
plants by mail, and are no doubt astonished 
at the condition in which they arrive, as I 
was the first time I received any in that 
way; for they came in full bloom and were 
in as good condition as if they had been 
sent by express. I live within 200 yards of 
an express office and yet I almost always 
order my plants to be sent by mail, because 
the express charges are entirely too high, 
and if the plants are ordered from some 
reliable firm they arrive in about as good a 
condition as if sent by express. 
F. D., Webster, Mass.— I have re¬ 
ceived by mail from James Yick plants 
that were as fresh as when put up. There 
is no trouble in sending plants in this way 
if the person who receives them under¬ 
stands setting them out. But very few do 
this properly and therefore the plants do 
not live. Plants sent by mail arriva in 
much better condition than plants sent by 
express. There is no trouble in sending 
them for long distances if they are prop¬ 
erly packed. 
W. N. R., COURTLAND, Cal.—I have 
bought plants from many firms and find 
that those who make a specialty of mailing 
plants have the best success with them. 
Some firms take great pains in packing, and 
the plants arrive in fine condition after 
having generally been six or seven days on 
the way in my case. Others send out 
plants poorly packed and not In a proper 
condition and the natural result is failure. 
Firm-wooded plants in a dormant condi¬ 
tion arrive as fresh as when they were sent 
out, if wrapped tightly enough to exclude 
the air ; but soft-wooded or growing plants 
are often moldy and rotten. There is 
no reason why roses should not be shipped 
as easily as fruit trees while perfectly dor¬ 
mant ; I have rarely lost one. Geraniums 
and fuchsias do well if the wood is firm. 
Chrysanthemums generally grow right 
away. Heliotropes bear mail transporta¬ 
tion well. Verbenas generally rot worse 
than any other. Coleuses are nearly as 
bad. Petunias are a little better. Pinks 
and carnations do fairly well. Roots and 
bulbs, etc., of course always come safely. 
Some things show signs of having been 
kept very warm on the way. Improve¬ 
ments are made in packing every year. 
Wooden boxes are liable to break up in the 
mail; stout pasteboard is the best material 
for boxes and it should be well wrapped 
outside. Moss is the best thing for pack¬ 
ing; it keeps the plants in just the right 
condition. Packages should be wrapped 
closely with oiled paper to prevent drying 
out. By shaking off all the earth, using 
paper labels, and cutting off the tops the 
weight is brought down very low. I once 
received 100 peach trees, June buds, from 
Delaware, that weighed but seven pounds, 
packed in two packages, and they all grew 
finely. The only advantage in shipping by 
express for long distances is that larger 
plants can be sent, but they often decay in 
the packages. The express charges are 
more than the postage from the Eastern 
States to the Pacific coast. 
DOGS VS. SHEEP. 
J. A. L., New Alexandria, Pa.—G. W. 
D., writing in the Rural of February 1, 
appears to have more affection for dogs 
than for sheep. I agree with him that it is 
wrong to poison dogs indiscriminately; but I 
do not believe with him that dogs have not 
been the cause of many farmers giving up 
sheep keeping. I know farmers, besides 
myself, who have had to sell their flocks at 
a sacrifice on account of the damage done 
by dogs. I contend, too, that sheep hus¬ 
bandry is no more likely to be overdone 
than the raising of any other kind of stock. 
Whilst I am opposed to cruelty to animals 
of all kinds I would favor a law exterminat¬ 
ing nine-tenths of all the dogs in the coun¬ 
try and believe that such a measure would 
be a blessing not only to the farmers but to 
thousands of poor people all over the land. 
I know many families who keep from one 
to three dogs that are of no earthly use, 
but, instead, cause a considerable expense. 
If the same food were fed to fowls, the poor 
especially would be better off. Farmers 
gain in another way by not keeping dogs. 
Cats are the best traps for mice and rats; 
but cats will accomplish little in the way 
of clearing out these pests when dogs are 
about. I have not had a dog on the farm 
for 10 years, and believe I have in this way 
saved at least $100 in that time. The ques¬ 
tion of the value of dogs will bear dis- 
PisrcUancou.s 
“ Herbrand ” Fifth Wheel for Buggies. 
