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4i7 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
potash passes a little further into the soil before it is fixed 
by the silicates than the other soluble forms of potash do. 
For many years it has been known that potash, when 
used in the alkaline form, as in ashes, was beneficial to 
most crops; but for only about 25 years has it been much 
used in commercial fertilizers, and as used in this way, in 
the neutral forma in which it is added to fertilizers, its 
beneficial influence is not so positive or well known as that 
of either the phosphoric acid or the nitrogen, and the 
farmer will do well to pay more attention to the amounts 
of these latter elements present, and not be blinded to 
these by a showing of a high per cent, of potash. On an 
average, soils contain about three per cent, of potash, and 
a foot and a half of soil over an acre of ground will contain 
a vast amount of potash, but on some soils this may be¬ 
come available too slowly; if so, its availability may be 
hurried up a little by adding common salt to the soil in 
crops which would not be injured by the chlorine of the 
salt. It is safest, however, to buy complete fertilizers or 
those that contain some potash as well as other important 
elements ; for the potash does not add much to the cost of 
the fertilizer. When nitrogen and soluble phosphate alone 
are added, not only is the amount of the crop increased ; 
but the season of its growth is also shortened, so that 
where, if no fertilizer were added, the potash in the soil 
might become available fast enough for ordinary growth, 
it may not become available fast enough for this increased 
growth in a shortened period of time, and if potash is not 
added the nitrogen and phosphoric acid fail to do all the 
good they might. From two to three per cent, of potash 
(KiO) has been found by experience to give the best results 
for grain crops; while possibly tobacco and potatoes may 
give good showings in the use of still more potash, which 
can be added directly by the use of sulphate or nitrate of 
potash or wood ashes; if the latter are used care must be 
exercised in not adding it directly to the fertilizer, else the 
ammonia of the latter may be set free. w. L. SNYDER. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Black or Yellow Locust for Dry Regions. 
A. B. C., Rockville, Ind.—l want to set out 10 acres, 
in Eastern Colorado, with Catalpa and Black Locust, by 
planting the seed. Which would be the better, and how 
should the seedH he prepared and when aud how planted ? 
ANSWERED BY ROBERT DOUGLAS, WAUKEGAN, ILL. 
The Black or Yellow Locust—Pseudacacia—will endure 
a very dry climate better than Catalpa speciosa; indeed, I 
might say, better than any tree ** to the manor born,” for 
I have noticed it. particularly in Western Kansas and 
Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, aud 
California, making a better growth without irrigation, on 
dry lands, than any native tree under similar conditions. 
In all the places named, as far as I have noticed, it was free 
from the borer, which infests it throughout the West to or 
about the 95th meridian. We tested this tree with many 
others, on a large scale, for a syndicate in the Panhandle 
of Texas, west of the 100th meridian, and it made a better 
growth than any others we tested.The seeds are prepared for 
planting by pouring scalding water over them and letting 
it stand on them overnight, when they will be swollen to 
over four times the usual size ; they should then be sown 
while wet, in drills, and transplanted when one year old. 
Catalpa seeds may be sown dry, or be soaked 24 hours before 
sowing. Neither of these seeds should be sown early, at 
least not earlier than corn-plunting time. 
Cotton-Seed Hulls as Feed for Dairy Cows. 
j. R , Tixarkana, Tex .—How should cotton-seed hulls 
be fed to milch cows ? 1 do not use hay. Cattle seem to do 
better on hulls, and are fonder of them. I have been feed¬ 
ing hulls, 25 pounds; bran, 12 pounds; cotton seed meal, 
four pounds, daily, for the past four months, and my cattle 
are in fine condition (fat). I want to get the most milk 
from the above-mentioned foods. Would feeding corn- 
meal give an increase ? Cotton seed meal is worth $16 per 
ton; cotton-seed hulls, $2; bran, $18; corn chop or meal, 
generally, $16. 
AN8WERED BY 1IENRY STEWART. 
Cotton seed hulls are more nutritious than is generally 
supposed. They contain from five to 5*^ per cent, of nitro¬ 
gen compounds, 38 to 50 per cent, of carbohydrates, and 2X 
to 4K per cent, of oil. This is half as much nitrogenous 
nmtler, oue fifth more carbohydrates, and twice as much 
fat as in the best quality of grass hay. But the deficiency 
of nitrogenous matter is easily made up by feeding bran 
with them in about an equal quantity. The hulls procured 
at the cotton-oil mills, however, vary considerably in com¬ 
position in proportion to the amount of broken kernels 
among them, and I have seeu, at the mills, piles of hulls 
in which there was quite five per cent, of broken kernels. 
These, of course, add largely to the nitrogen and fat, and 
render the hulls a more valuable rough food for cattle. 
The mixture above mentioned would be improved most by 
the addition of four or five pounds of cow-peas, which 
would give a more exactly balanced food for the produc¬ 
tion of milk. The excellent feeding qualities of cotton¬ 
seed hulls, which are mostly wasted or burned as fuel in 
the mills, should receive more attention from Southern 
farmers. The actual feeding value is, at least, five times 
that mentioned as the cost. A wise selection of cows for 
larger milk product might be more useful than any change 
in the feed. Holstein cows have been introduced into the 
Southern States with much satisfaction, aud have done 
excMioK 1 ? well on the common feed otMlimble ifcere. A 
dairy of these cows, near one of the large Southern cities, 
has given, the past year, an average of nearly 30 quarts a 
day each, for the whole year, and as milk sells from seven 
to 10 cents a quart in the cities, keeping a dairy of the best 
kind of cows is a very profitable business. Feed alone, 
while an indispensable condition, will not produce itB best 
results without breed. 
Feeding Sour Milk to Cows. 
C. F., Potsdam, N. Y .—Is there any law in this State 
prohibiting the feeding of sour milk to dairy cows ? The 
man who took the milk from my cows last summer said it 
was against the law to feed sour milk to them. 
COMMENT BY PROF. E. F. LADI). 
9 
I can not say whether there is any statute prohibiting 
the feeding of sour milk to cows when the milk produced 
is to be sold for consumption. There is, I believe, a law 
that reads as follows : “ No person shall keep cows for the 
production of milk for market, or for sale or exchange, or 
for manufacturing the same, or cream from the same, into 
articles of food, in a crowded or unhealthy condition, or 
feed the cows on food that is unhealthy or that produces 
impure, unhealthy, di«eased or unwholesome milk.” The 
questiou is this; Does sour milk fed to a cow produce im¬ 
pure, unhealthy, diseased or unwholesome milk ? If so, 
then those who feed it are amenable to the laws of New 
York to the extent of $25 to $200, or one to four months’ 
imprisonment, for the first offense. As to the danger from 
the practice, I will not attempt to make a statement on the 
matter as an authority or expert; but I will take a practical 
view of the matter based upon observation rather than ex¬ 
perimentation. I do not think the feeding of sour milk to 
a good, strong, healthy cow will of necessity result in dis¬ 
eased milk: but I should expect to find the milk more 
susceptible to taint, souring quickly, and putrefying early. 
If the animals were continuously fed sour milk, I should 
look for them to be more liable to disease and expect that 
ultimately the milk would become unwholesome. The 
practice is to be discouraged and not commended. I would 
not recommend the milk from such cows as suitable for 
young children or invalids; nor would I patronize a milk¬ 
man who to my knowledge practiced such feeding, even 
though I knew his cows were perfectly healthy Again, 
the dairyman can not afford to allow his skim-milk to be¬ 
come sour before feeding it. So soon as fermentation (sour¬ 
ing) sets in, the milksugarand caseine are being destroyed 
and the food value of the milk is much reduced, until, 
finally, all is destroyed. Feed your milk first and thus se¬ 
cure its full feeding value; produce milk that will be un¬ 
questionably wholesome and then you will run no chances 
of causing your cows to become weakened and finally 
diseased. This I should consider a practical view of the 
question, and its embodiment in practice will certainly 
keep us on the safe side and, in the long run, yield us the 
greatest returns. 
Feed for Mare and Colt. 
Subscriber, Muncy, Pa .—My mare foaled a large colt 
on May 23. What should have been the feed of the dam to 
insure the best results ? 
ANSWERED BY DR. F. L. K1LBORNE. 
This query is too indefinite to receive a very satisfactory 
answer. Space will not allow us to enter into all the pos 
sible conditions of a case of this kind. In general, there is 
nothing better than good, fresh grass for both mare and 
colt. If possible, we would say, turn the mare on a good 
pasture where there is shade to which the animals may go 
during the beat of the day : or they may be stabled when 
the weather is hot or stormy. If the mare is in good con¬ 
dition and is a good nurse, little or no other feed will be 
required. If she is thin or if it is desired to increase the 
flow of milk, a ration of equal parts of wheat bran and 
ground oats may be given. When six or eight weeks old 
the colt may receive a handful of the bran and oats at 
each feeding, and gradually increase to a pint or quart, ac¬ 
cording to the size and condition of the colt and the state 
of the pasture. 
Preparing Coarse Manure for Top-Dressing 
Wheat. 
O. IF. C., Hau'kinstown, Va .—How shall I prepare as a 
top dressing for wheat the coming fall, a lot of straw and 
corn stalks which have been well tramped in the barnyard 
during the winter and spring ? I have a manure shed into 
which I could cart the stuff if desirable. 
Ank —As the manure for top dressing wheat should be 
fine, it would be judicious to make a compost of this 
coarse material and add some lime to it. If the coarse 
stuff is piled up in a flat, broad heap, and fresh air-slaked 
lime is well sprinkled through the mass, it will be well 
decomposed by the time it is wanted for use. It would be 
better to keep it in the open as it will need all the rain that 
will fall on it. If it should heat injuriously it may be 
turned over; the labor thus expended will not be lost, as 
the manure will be made more valuable; but unless there 
is a considerable proportion of horse manure in it, it will 
not be likely to ferment and heat injuriously, and being 
absorbent, the rain will not waste it. 
Buhach for Rose-chafers. 
J. D. IF., Savannah, Ga .—How should Buhach be used 
to kill Rose-chafers on grape-vines ? 
Ans.— Make a paste of two table-spoonfuls of Buhach by 
adding water. Stir this in two gallons of water. Spray 
through a Cyclone or other nozzle. When the rose-bugs 
exist in great numbers it will be necessary to spray daily. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
S. M. A., Burlington County, N. J .—I own a farm 
left me by my grandfather, who built the house ou it in 
1832. Since that time the farm ha-, been constantly occu¬ 
pied either by my grandfather or his descendants On* 
recent investigation, however, I ciu find no record of any 
conveyance of the land to my gnmdi'atner, and according 
to the public records it still stands in the name of its 
former owner. The only papers in the case in my posses¬ 
sion are two canceled mortgages on the land given by the 
last recorded owner, together with several receipts for in¬ 
terest, all acknowledging payments from my grandfather. 
No claim of ownership has ever been made by others, and 
we have enjoyed peaceable possession for 55 years. How 
can I obtain title to the property that will enable me to 
sell it ? 
Ans. —The New Jersey law of March 2, 1K70, provides 
that any person in peaceable possession of lands, claim¬ 
ing to own them, may bring suit in Chancery to settle the 
title. If any other person claims to own them or any part 
of them, notice is to be given to each person whom it is 
desired to piake a defendant, instructing him that if he 
claims any title to the lands he is required to answer 
but not otherwise. The final determination and decision 
in the suit, “ shall fix and settle the rights of the parties 
on said lands and shall be binding and conclusive on all 
parties to the suit.” It is quite possible that our inquirer’s 
grandfather may have inherited the lands, and that no 
record was made of the fact. If this be so, the fact of in¬ 
heritance may be ascertained and put on record, complet¬ 
ing the title. 
R. G. B., Paterson, N. J. —The insect, specimens of 
which were inclosed in your communication, is the Rose 
chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus.) There are but two 
remedies, viz.: hand-picking and the application of pyre- 
thrum or Buhach. 
IF. K., Marlboro, N. Y. —Is there a machine called a 
Strawsonizer, for applying Paris-green to potato vines ? 
If so, who makes it, and what is its price ? 
Ans. —As we have stated many times, this is an English 
machine not yet for sale in this country. From what we 
can learn it is an excellent device for distributing fertil¬ 
izers or poisons. 
H. 0., New Canaan . Conn.— Owing to the demoraliza¬ 
tion of labor last year and the year before, my asparagus 
bed was neglected, and this spring, before any work could 
be done on it, grass was so firmly rooted that we got only 
a small amount of asparagus, although a man spent a day 
in trying to pull up the grass without injuring the shoots. 
The grass is growing fast again. What should be done to 
save the bed for another year ? 
Ans. —In such a dilemma you have two methods of pro¬ 
cedure. First, run the cultivator through now, destroy¬ 
ing the tops and, of course, greatly weakening the roots. 
Second, wait until fall and do it then. 
R. J. B., Bremen, Ohio. —Has the use of sewer pipes 
ever been tried in a well instead of walling it up with 
stone ? Should the joints be cemented ? 
Ans. —Yes. Yes, the joints ought to be carefully ce¬ 
mented. 
HORSE BREEDING. 
Perhaps no branch of live-stock breeding is receiving 
more attention at the present time than the breeding of 
horses. The farmer, to make a success of breeding any 
kind of live stock, must strive to produce the best, and in 
no branch of breeding must he be more in earnest or use 
better judgment than in that of raising horses. To begin 
with : if We wish to succeed we must like to work with 
hotses; we must have control of our temper; we cannot 
teach a dorse to have a good disposition and be the faithful 
and trusty servant that we would have him to be, by giv¬ 
ing him a kick and lick over the head with a club or 
the first thing we can lay our hands on. If we are handy 
with the reins, so much the better; we can do our own 
driving. 
In selecting our brood mares great care and good judg¬ 
ment should be used. We should take no animal that 
hasn’t good feet, good pasterns and good bone, a well¬ 
shaped body, good eyes, and, last but not least, a good dis¬ 
position and good action. Some farmers are too careless 
about the disposition of their breeding stock. Don’t use 
for breeding purposes a mare that has auy vices. I remem¬ 
ber a balky mare my father owned, and from which he 
raised a number of colts. The result was that the most of 
these seemed to know how to balk from the time they 
could stand up. One of them, in particular, we never 
could break thorougnly. Don’t breed a mare that is not 
perfectly sound. It matters not what the defect is, don’t 
breed her; to do so would be one of the worst mistakes 
you could make. How often do we see a colt foaled with 
a curb, spavin or a crooked foot ? If we will only take the 
pains to inquire into the matter we will surely find that 
either the colt’s sire or dam, or some of its ancestors not 
very far back, was blemished. In selecting a stallion, 
equally great care should be exercised. 
There are several styles of horses that sell well at present, 
in the raising of which, farmers, under favorable circum¬ 
stances, may engage with a fair prospect of success. 
First in the scale of prices come the very fast trotters 
and runners. The next is the large, stylish, high-stepping 
carriage horse. Horses of this style may be bred to a good 
degree of certainty by coupling large, stout mares with a 
good-sized, high-stepping, trotting-bred, stallion, or a large, 
stylish Thoroughbred. Another class produces the blocky 
compact,low but quick-stepping and active draft horse. The 
price for this class will increase in proportion to his size, 
from 1,100 founds up to 1,700 pounds. I think the general 
farmer will be more successful if he will confine himself to 
the breeding of the last two classes. The breeding of fast 
horses had better be left to gentlemen of means. 
I cannot see anything in the future to discourage the 
breeder of first-class stock. The difference in value between 
a “scrub” and a well-bred horse is gradually growing 
larger; aud at no time has this been demonstrated more 
than in 1889. Besides the ordinary market rates, some ex¬ 
traordinary prices have been obtained {qr horses of superior 
excelleuce aud breediutf, g, K, PAVW, 
