2l8 
THE RURAI NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 5 
from papers or fruit-growers’ associations. 
Will the R. N.-Y. tell us something about 
it? 
ANS.—The Downing is one of Ricketts’s 
hybrids. (Croton and Black Hamburg). The 
bunches average large, berries large, nearly 
black. Fresh, tender and somewhat 
“ meaty ” or “ breaking.” It is of excellent 
quality. This grape thrives only here and 
there. It is too late and somewhat tender. 
CASTRATION OF YOUNG PIGS. 
A. T., Ursa, Ill.—X. Is it well to castrate 
swine while they are six or eight weeks 
old? 2. Would castration at so early an 
age dwarf their development? 3. Will the 
cuts heal without blood shed at any par¬ 
ticular season of the year? 4. Which is the 
better way of castrating—in the seam or 
over each testicle? 
Ans.— l. Yes. 2. No. Four to eight 
weeks of age, or at least two weeks before 
weaning, is the proper time to castrate 
boar pigs. For sow pigs the castration, or 
spaying, should be delayed until they are 
older; say, three or four months. 8. No, 
except that in general they will bleed less 
in cold than in hot weather ; but more de¬ 
pends upon the operator than upon the sea¬ 
son. 4. Make the incision well down and 
over each testicle. In warm weather it is 
advisable to apply a dressing of tar or other 
similar substance to prevent trouble from 
flies. In cold weather little or no dressing 
is necessary. 
RING-WORM IN CATTLE. 
F. G., Fort, Recovery, Ohio.— What is 
the matter with my cattle and what should 
I do for them? Firstthe hair falls out around 
the eyes and in other parts of the head. 
The naked spots rise up white looking like 
warts. They are itchy and the cattle rub 
them till they bleed freely. This lasts 
about three months when the spots dry 
up. The animals are in poor condition and 
will not fatten. 
Ans. —The bald spots about the face are 
probably due to the common ring-worm, a 
vegetable parasite (Trichophyton tonsurans) 
which lives in the hairs and hair follicles, 
cansingtheir death andshedding. Theaffec- 
tion is local and the treatment quite simple. 
Shave the hair from around each of the 
affected spots and then, paint them thor¬ 
oughly with tincture of iodine. Two or 
three applications should effectually kill 
the parasite. 
STUMBLING IN A HORSE. 
27. W. 27., Walworth, N. Y — A horse of 
mine stumbles with his front legs. I have 
urged the blacksmith to put on light shoes 
forward but he says the shoes must 
be heavy to give the horse knee action. 
Who is right? 
ANS.—In general, your blacksmith is 
right; but the same remedy will not correct 
all cases of stumbling. Why do you not 
try both light and heavy shoeing alternately 
and satisfy yourself at least in this partic¬ 
ular case? Oftentimes habitual stumbling 
can be prevented by shortening the check- 
rein, the raising of the head causing the 
animal to pick up his feet. 
WHITE HELLEBORE FOR CURRANT WORMS. 
W. F., Klickitat County, Washington.— 
How should white hellebore he used to kill 
insects on gooseberries and currants. Is it 
poison, and if so, would its application 
make it dangerous to use the fruit? 
Ans.— Be sure to buy a fresh article. 
Put two table-spoonfuls (heaped a trifle) in 
a cup of hot water. When thoroughly mixed 
add it to two gallons of cold water. Spray 
this on the bushes as soon as the worms 
appear. It may be sprayed through a noz¬ 
zle (using a little hand pump and hose) or 
sprinkled on with a whisk broom. It is 
poisonous in quantity, but will not in the 
least taint the fruit. 
Miscellaneous. 
F. 27. T., Rocky Point, L. 7.—Dorset 
sheep are sold by Woodward & Jacques, 
Lockport, N. Y. The Keystone hay-loader 
is made by the Keystone Manufacturing 
Co., Sterling, Ill. 
L. P. T., Lowell, Michigan. —Does scrap¬ 
ing the trunks of apple trees improve them? 
Ans. —Scraping them to rid the trunks of 
old bark which may shelter insects does no 
harm. We must not interfere with the 
inner bark. The outer bark which sheds 
itself in healthy trees is Nature’s protec¬ 
tion of the inner and live portions. 
G. W. W. D., Birmingham, Conn.—X. 
What is a good paint for the inside of a 
sheet-iron water tank—one that will not 
flake off? 2. The tank is 22 feet long, 11 
wide and four deep, how many gallons ol 
water could it contain ? 
ANS.—1. The red oxide of iron paint 
with boiled linseed oil will serve the pur¬ 
pose very well. 2. Nearly 11,000 gallons. 
C. J. C., Copopa, O.—l have a spring 
about 1,000 feet from the house. It is 12 
feet below the level of the house and 20 feet 
above the bottom of the hill. In running 
it fills half an inch with pipe water. Can I 
place a hydraulic ram 10 yards from the 
spring and run the water to it at an angle 
of 45 degrees so as to force it to the house ? 
ANS.—We should say, from your descrip¬ 
tion, that the supply of water is too small 
to run a hydraulic ram. Let us know how 
much water you can depend on and we will 
try and advise you. 
- < i»- 
Discussion. 
MORE NEW VARIETIES OF APPLES WANTED. 
L. M. L., Kalamazoo, Michigan.— New 
varieties of potatoes, tomatoes, and other 
plants are multiplied rapidly and indefi¬ 
nitely, and seed catalogues are busy herald¬ 
ing to a waiting world improved strains in 
flowers and vegetables while little—almost 
nothing—is being done to improve our 
most noble fruits—the apple and pear. Our 
best samples of apples and pears are chance 
seedlings gathered here and there and 
everywhere and pronounced the best after 
years of trial. The growing ot the trees 
from seed to maturity takes many years of 
patient waiting before we can say : “ This 
is good and that is worthless,” and it is 
surprising that so many of the chance seed¬ 
lings have escaped destruction and been 
found worthy of preservation. No doubt 
many equally good have been destroyed. 
Although the multiplication of good varie¬ 
ties has been slow in the past, I think that 
apples can be grown and tested almost (if 
not quite) as rapidly as potatoes. Let each 
one interested in increasing good fruit, (all 
should be) whether a dweller in the city or 
a resident of the farm, plant 10, 15,20 or 
even 50 apple seedsthis spring in the garden 
or other suitable locality, where the plants 
can get good care and make a rapid growth ; 
though the latter is not absolutely neces¬ 
sary. In August let him take a bud from 
each seedling tree, insert it in a bearing 
tree, all through the top and in three or 
four years he can sample the fruit—at 
least I think so. If found unworthy, let 
them be cut out and let the experi¬ 
menter bud again. Tt would be an odd 
sight to see 40 or 50 varieties growing on 
one tree. An old fruit-grower to whom I 
mentioned this plan, thought that the 
buds would not develop fruit any sooner if 
treated in this way than if left to grow on 
the original roots. I think that they will. 
What do the RullAL readers think of the 
matter ? Nearly every farmer has one or 
more trees worth more to test seedlings on 
them than for anything else It would be 
like a lottery ; all could not win a first-class 
prize, but some one would undoubtedly 
produce good fruit, perhaps better in some 
points, perchance in all, than anything we 
now have, and all would be gainers. An¬ 
other plan is to take cions from road-side 
seedlings, or from seedlings wherever 
found, and graft them into trees in the 
spring. “Full many a flower is bom to 
blush unseen ” says the poet, and I believe 
that many a road side seedling containing 
the possibilities of noble fruit has perished 
for want of careful hands to develop it. I 
grafted 25 or 30 seedling cions last season, 
but neglected to graft too long, and the 
early spring sprouted them. I intend to 
try again this spring and hope to have bet¬ 
ter success. If all who act on this sugges¬ 
tion would insert only 10 cions this spring, 
and 10 buds next August, we shall have the 
whole number multiplied by 20. If the num¬ 
ber should be 1,000 we would have 20,000 
new apples developed within four years and 
among that number there would probably 
be some that the “ world would not willing¬ 
ly let die.” Combination is a good thing; 
let us combine in an effort to produce more 
good fruit to bless our kind and kindred. 
“ The world is our home; to do good should 
be our religion.” 
THAT FERTILIZER QUESTION. 
M. C., Georgia, Vermont.— In regard to 
that question asked by an Ohio man on 
page 193 ; if his soil is adapted to clover 
and is rich enough to yield a good crop of 
wheat, he should use no fertilizer, because 
land that is in heart to give a good yield 
of wheat should produce a good crop of 
clover; but if his soil is deficient in fertility, 
then he should apply a high-grade fertili¬ 
zer well supplied with the elements of .fer¬ 
tility most deficient In the soil, providing he 
has to buy the fertilizer; but if he has stable 
manure or other fertilizers are at hand he 
should use them. If the fertilizer Is to be 
sown by hand, it should be sown just 
before the last harrowing ; but if it is to be 
put in with the drill or seeder, then it 
should be applied along with the grain. 
To realize much if any profit from the use 
of the commercial fertilizers they should 
be applied to crops that sell high, usually 
hoed crops. If used on corn and sowed 
grains which sell at low rates,one should go 
slow in the use of such expensive manures; 
but when one wishes to use them to grow 
clover to be plowed under or to be fed out, 
and the manure therefrom returned to the 
field to keep up fertility and co further en¬ 
rich the soil, it may be advisable to do so. 
Two years ago I seeded down a field to 
clover with barley, (I like barley better than 
any other grain to seed down with); I 
sowed on the field 200 pounds of high-grade 
fertilizer to the acre, leaving in dif¬ 
ferent parts strips without any, and that 
season I was unable to see anv difference in 
the crops where the fertilizer was applied 
and where there was none, nor have I been 
able to see any difference since. The field 
had been under corn and potatoes the year 
previous to the seeding. Being sod it re¬ 
ceived an application of 25 double wagon 
loads to the acre of a compost composed of 
equal parts of stable manure and muck 
plowed under, and 800 pounds of fer¬ 
tilizer in the hill. Last year I also 
seeded down to clover a field adjoining the 
one above mentioned, the soil of which is 
as nearly similar as possible; but no com¬ 
post had been applied the previous year 
the crop having been simply planted on the 
prepared sod with 300 pounds of fertilizer 
per acre in the hill and the fertilizer 
was of the same grade as that which was 
applied on the other field, and no fertilizer 
was applied the season of seeding, but one 
could tell by the growth of the barley where 
the fertilizer had been used the year previ¬ 
ous in the hill as far as the field could be 
seen. When land is in a high state of 
cultivation an application of 200 or 300 
pounds of a high-grade fertilizer per acre 
seems to make but little impression ; but 
where the soil is not so fertile such an ap¬ 
plication makes a better showing. 
LOW TRANSPORTATION RATES. 
H. C., Dalton, Iowa.— On page 132, the 
Rural in epitomizing Professor Sanborn’s 
article with regard to the “ abandoned 
farms ” of New Hampshire, says ; “ Cheap 
rail and water transportation all the world 
over puts the cultured, well fed American 
farmer at work alongside of the ignorant, 
half-starved Indian ryot, and the brutal, 
wretched Russian ex-serf.” In Mongre- 
dien’s pamphlet, ” The Western Farmer of 
America,” he says, on page 15: “ Cheap 
freights from America to Europe therefore, 
mean large profits to the farmer.” How 
does the R. N.-Y. reconcile these two say¬ 
ings ? 
R. N.-Y.—It doesn’t attempt to do so. 
Freight rates to Europe during the past 
season have been extremely low ; where are 
the consequent “ large profits ” of the farm¬ 
ers? Whatever amount may be gained 
from the transportation agencies through 
a reduction in freight charges, is either 
appropriated by *he long li«t of middlemen 
who handle the produce, or benefits the 
European consumer who gets his goods at 
a lower figure than he could if freight 
charges were high. The farmer or produc¬ 
er, as a rule, gets little or no benefit from 
the cut in rates. If the rail and water 
transportation rates to the seaboard and 
the ocean freights thence to Europe were 
much lower than the like rates in and from 
other countries, Americans would have a 
certain advantage; but that is not the case. 
In Russia the railroads are owned or con¬ 
trolled by the government, and it makes 
the transportation charges on agricultural 
produce to ports of shipment very low. 
The same is the case, to a great extent, in 
India and in other surplus-producing na¬ 
tions. There is also just as keen a rivalry 
between other steamship companies as be¬ 
tween our trans-Atlantic lines. In nearly all 
these countries the cost of labor and there¬ 
fore of production is much less than it is 
in the United States. The “ cheap rail and 
water transportation all the world over,” 
therefore, does put the American farmer at 
work alongside the cheaper and poorer 
laborers of other countries, by putting his 
products in close competition with theirs 
in the markets of the world. 
SULPHUR FOR LICE ON CATTLE. 
C. J., Cassville, N. J. — In over 12 years’ 
experience I have never found anything to 
equal dry sulphur sifted well through the 
hair as a remedy for lice on calves. It will 
not injure the calves in any way. It is 
equally effective for lice on turkeys and 
chickens when used in the same way ; but 
there will be no need of it for chickens if 
the inside of the hen-house be painted with 
coal tar. 
O. C. H., Buchanan, Michigan.— I am 
going to try some Hubbard Squashes this 
year, and may plant a few acres of potatoes. 
We have large quantities of straw here. 
We have been selling it to the paper mills, 
but they have cut the price so that that 
way of disposing of it no longer pays. T 
am thinking about planting several acres 
to potatoes and covering them with straw. 
This keeps away the bugs, generally causes 
a good yield and does away with the need 
of cultivation. Moreover, the ground is 
left richer than it was before the potatoes 
were planted. I shall keep an account of 
the cost. What is considered the best all- 
around early potato ? 
R. N.-Y. The Early Ohio is the earliest 
potato. 
Hints on Health.— The famous surereon 
Lewis A. Sayre, in the course of a lone talk 
with a New York Herald correspondent, 
made a number of statements which may 
helpfully influence our readers. In his 
opinion everybody ought to live to be 100 
years old As it is, people live from eight 
to 15 years longer than their forefathers 
did. They have learned how to eat and 
drink ; how to keep their homes ventilated 
and their sewers drained and how to 
take better care of themselves generally. 
Still they do not live anything like as 
long as thev ought to, because they do 
not yet live as they ought to. Open 
grates, he says, are far preferable to any 
other means of heating a house, for they 
help ventilation, which is an important 
factor in the prolongation of life. He never 
allows a furnace to be lighted in liis house 
except when there is danger of the water 
pipes freezing up. One of the greatest 
dangers to human life is the candy shop, 
which destroys the stomachs of children. 
Tobacco is decidedly injurious when used 
to excess, the same as liquor. A mild cigar 
smoked after dinner, however, has a sooth¬ 
ing effect, and the smoker sustains less in¬ 
jury from it than he would from rushing 
off to work on a full stomach. No injury 
will result from sleeping after a meal. Old 
people are benefited by a nap after eating. 
Actors almost invariably take supper before 
going to bed, and they are a healthy set of 
men. 
Ice water, which people generally gulp 
down in unlimited quantities, paralyzes the 
nerves of the stomach, and is one of the 
greatest causes of dyspepsia in this country. 
People should drink water at its natural 
temperature. Hot water drunk an 1 our or 
so before meals is a valuable aid to diges¬ 
tion in many instances. The majority of 
people eat more than they ought, and they 
also eat too fast. In eating it is not a 
question how much a person can devour 
but how much he can digest. Some people 
are better off on two meals a day than on 
three. The great mortality from phthisis 
or consumption is due to the varying 
temperature and the foul air breathed. It is 
contagious,and healthy persons can contract 
it. The sputum, or expectoration becomes 
dry and is converted into a powder which 
floats in the air and may be inhaled. The 
next 10 years will show a great diminution 
in deaths from phthisis. Consumption can 
be cured. The way to cure it is to put the 
patient in the mountains where the air is 
dry, and keep him away from the doctor 
and the apothecary shop. He does not need 
medicine. There is too much medicine 
used in many kinds of disease. Certain 
specifics are essential, but they should be 
used with intelligence. The great trouble 
comes from the nostrums and advertising 
quacks. Dreams do not indicate a physi¬ 
cal defect. They indicate that the dream¬ 
er’s stomach is out of order or that he is 
worried, if a person keeps his mouth shut 
he will not snore. If he cannot keep it shut 
in any other way he ought to tie a band¬ 
age under his chin and over his head. The 
nose is the proper thing to breathe through. 
But snoring will not do any harm. A 
person who appreciates humor and has a 
eood hearty laugh now and then is the 
better for it, but to be eternally giggling 
and smirking, when there is no cause for 
