i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
know if the Adams Express cannot be induced to entei* the 
Southern States. 
The Adams and the Southern Express are the same. It 
is'known as the Adams in the North and the Southern south 
of Virginia. The cost of small packages is said to be five 
cents per pound, and none is carried for less than 25 cents. 
It is cheaper to use the mails for small packages. I have 
paid $10 freight on a 90-pound plow which I wanted in a 
hurry, from New York to N. C.; cost of plow $10. I have also 
paid $1.30 for a small package of clothing of 10 pounds. A 
box of oranges from Florida has cost me $3, or 200 per cent, 
on its original cost. There is no more outrageous monop¬ 
oly than the express companies. Congressmen who are 
interested in them make the laws by which they are em¬ 
powered to charge these exorbitant rates. Why could not 
the railroad companies be forced to carry such freight on 
passenger trains themselves without the intervention of 
these iniquitous interior rings. The Adams Express Com¬ 
pany has a capital of $10,000,fDO and does not own a car ! 
Ninety per cent, of its capitalization is water ! 
H. STEWART. 
Profit in a Side Show.— The Rural New-Yorker 
comes in the name of my father-in-law. He sorts out the 
meat and calls my attention to the articles, or he reads them 
to me when I come in from the field. We live together, two 
families, and all sit by the same fire and eat from the same 
table, and have done so for 15 years and we expect to do so 
as long as God spares us. I wish 1,000,000 farmers and 
business men of all kinds could read friend Terry’s articles 
on taking the wife in as partner in business. My wife has 
just deposited $200 in bank, besides having enough left to 
pay the hired girl and some pin-money, as her half of the 
bee business. Bees are a side show at our place. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. L. D. gale. 
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.] 
Sweeny in a Horse. 
S. M. R., Second Milo, N. Y. —A valuable young horse 
was “ sweenied” about two or three months since, causing 
an atrophied state of the muscles of both shoulders, sup¬ 
posed to have been caused by an ill-fitting collar. He has 
never been lame or stiff in the parts. I have treated the 
ailment for three weeks with a stimulating liniment and 
massage; but there is very little, if any, improvement. 
What should the treatment be ? Should he be confined to 
the stall or exercised with light driving ? 
Ans.—I f the horse is sweenied there will be a marked 
rolling outward of the point of the shoulder, best seen by 
standing directly in front of the animal as he walks 
toward you. In the absence of this characteristic gait you 
will look below the shoulder for the cause of the atrophy 
of the muscles. Any tenderness or lameness in the lower 
part of the limb may cause shrinkage of the muscles of the 
shoulder, similar to that in sweeny,'simply from disease. 
For the sweeny, push the daily use of the stimulating lini¬ 
ment to the point of slightly blistering the skin. Active 
rubbing for 20 minutes with each application will increase 
its efficiency. If your liniment fails to blister, try a lini¬ 
ment of one part of strong aqua ammoniaand two parts of 
sweet-oil, well shaken together; or blister mildly with 
cerate of cantharides ointment, reduced with equal parts 
of lard or vaseline, rubbed well into the skin over the 
wasted muscles. Repeat the blisteriug several times, if 
necessary, making a second application as soon as the ef¬ 
fects of the previous application have passed off. It may 
require several months to effect a cure. Daily walking 
exercise or light driving on smooth ground is very es¬ 
sential. 
Sheep vs. The Hessian Fly. 
J. H. C., Berrien County, Mich.— On page 552 reference 
is made to a proposed plan of preventing the ravages of 
the Hessian fly by pasturing sheep on the wheat fields. Is 
this a mere theory or is there any practical value in the 
suggestion ? 
ANS.—As stated in the paragraph quoted, the statement 
was taken from a bulletin of the Kentucky Experiment 
Station. We have never had any personal experience in 
the matter. Prof. A. J. Cook writes as follows regarding 
his experience: “I have never tried to exterminate the 
Hessian fly with sheep except once, and then I think the 
remedy was nearly or quite as bad as the disease. It will 
not do at all to turn in sheep in the spring, the time of the 
second brood. If they are made to feed off the crop in the 
fall, they must crop so closely to destroy the insects, that 
the plants will be seriously injured. I do not think they 
will ever be satisfactorily used to destroy this pest. Sheep 
may be used to eat the wind falls, and thus destroy the 
Coddling moth larvm. They are quicker than hogs, and so 
are more certain to eat the fruit before the larvm—the so- 
called worms—leave it. There is, however, always danger 
that the sheep will bark the trees. Close watch must be 
kept, and in some cases it may be necessary to protect the 
trees by the use of wire gauze. I have kept Shropshire 
sheep in my orchard for years, with no harm to the trees, 
but I have known a whole orchard to be ruined.” 
Superphosphate. 
H. M. (?., Cropsey ville, N. Y. —I have some fine ground 
bone marked: Ammonia, four per cent.; bone phosphate, 
48 per cent. What is its value ? Are a pound of phos¬ 
phoric acid in acid phosphate from S. C. rock and a pound 
of the same from superphosphate made from bone, equally 
valuable ? 
Ans.—E stimating the ammonia as nitrogen, at 17 cents a 
pound, the bone would be worth about $11 per ton ($11.22), 
The value of the phospnoric acid would be about $32. That 
is, phosphoric acid, 23 per cent., at seven cents the pound. 
The average quantity of phosphate of lime in the bones of 
animals is about 50 per cent., the rest being made up of 
gelatine, sulphate of lime and carbonate of lime. Now, the 
phosphate of lime contains about 50 per cent, of phosphoric 
acid, or one-half. Equal weights of phosphoric acid, from 
whatever sources derived, if of equal solubility, are of 
the same value. If we dissolve a pound of phosphoric 
acid in S. C. rock by the use of sulphuric acid, that pound 
is of the same value as a pound of phosphoric acid in bone, 
also dissolved in sulphuric acid. 
Some Experiment Stations. 
S. Q. N., Richmond, Ind .—Give the location and names 
of the directors of the Agricultural Experiment Stations 
in the following States: 
1. Massachusetts. 5. New Jersey. 9. Kentucky. 
2. Rhole Island. 6. Penn-ylvanfa. 10. Tennessee. 
8. Connecticut. 7. Maryland. 11 North Carolina. 
4. New York. 8. Virginia. 12. Souto Carolina. 
Ans. —The addresses are given in the order given above: 
1. Dr. C- A Uoessmann....Amnrrst, Mass. 
2. C. O. Flagg .Kingston, R. 1. 
3. S. W. Johnson .New Haven, Conn 
W. O. Atwater.storr’s P. O , Tolland County., Conn. 
4. I. P. Roberts.Ithaca, N. Y. 
Dr. Peter Collier.Geneva, N. Y 
5. E. B. Voorh es.New Brunswick, N. J. 
<i. H P. Arnisby. State College. Center County, Penn. 
7. H. E. Alvord.Agricultural College P. O., Maryland. 
8. Director .Blacksburg. Va. 
9. M. A. Scovllle.Lexington, Kj. 
10. C. W. Dabney, Jr.Knoxville, Tenn. 
11. H. B. Battle .Raleigh. N. C. 
12. J. M. McBryde.Columbia, S. C. 
Ohio Strawberry Culture. 
P. (?., Oswego Falls, N. Y. —On p. 485, under the head¬ 
ing of “ Cutaway Harrow vs. The Plow,” Mr. Terry in¬ 
cidentally says that he probably spent $20 more for labor 
on his half acre of strawberries than most horticulturists 
would deem profitable, and yet he thinks this extra labor 
yielded him $150. I would like to hear more about Mr. 
Terry’s strawberries. What cultivation does he give after 
the runners are well started? In training the runners, does 
he help them to root by covering them with a little soil or 
by pressing them gently into the earth ? After uncovering 
in the spring, does he give any more cultivation, and if so, 
what ? 
answered by t. b. terry. 
I use the one-horse cultivator with harrow teeth as long 
as will permit us to get through without much disturbing 
the runners When these have grown out so that the har¬ 
row would pull them around into “ ropes,” we stop horse 
work. Then one of us goes through, after a shower, with 
a common hoe, and stirs the surface an inch deep between 
the rows and in any large, bare space. Another takes a 
small, Y-shaped hoe and, following, mellows up any spots 
where the tool will go in. He can manage to work among 
the young plants a good deal. The soil is practically free 
from weeds at this time on account of the thorough tillage 
given before the runners were allowed to grow. This hoe¬ 
ing is done for the good of the strawberries. I was talking 
over this point with Mr. Crawford last week. He spoke of 
one of the most noted growers in this State, who always 
took the prize for size and yield, and said he did not 
manure very heavily, but trusted largely to constant till¬ 
age. This was exactly what we did. I could not spare 
much manure from the farm, so we turned under a heavy 
young clover sod (we have no trouble from white grubs: 
we make our clover grow so thick and rank that the 
beetles can not or will not go in to lay their eggs), 
manured before plowing with fresh manure, about the 
same quantity that we would use for farm crops. Thorough 
work did the rest. We do not help the runners to root by 
covering them with soil. We place them around a little, 
so they will soon cover the ground, and in doing so, if we 
disturb one so that it does not stand upright, we put a 
little earth on it to hold it in position—we would not leave 
it bottom up or on its side. On soil kept as fine and mel¬ 
low as ours, the runners root fast enough. 
We give no cultivation whatever in the spring, except 
mulching, which I believe is the cheapest spring cultiva¬ 
tion a farmer at least can give. To explain this point I 
had better begin at the beginning. We have kept the rows 
of plants from running quite together so as to mix, by 
cutting off the runners when necessary. Soon, now, we 
will draw lines through and hoe up paths 16 inches wide 
between the rows. This will leave the rows of plants 32 
inches wide. From these rows we will dig out the weak, 
young plants, and some good ones where they may be too 
thick. The Haverland, Downing, Sterling and others 
should be about six inches apart every way. The Bubach, 
Jessie and Cumberland had better have a little more room 
perhaps, or in a wet season they will be soft and rot more 
or less. Now we are ready for mulching. I put the mulch 
on about the middle of November, earlier if the ground 
should freeze. First, we drew out cut straw (in two-inch 
lengths, cut on rainy days), 100 bushels to a load, in our 
big market wagon. One man on the wagon and one to 
carry (using bushel baskets), with the boss doing the 
spreading, soon cover the half acre, say an inch or a little 
more in depth. Then we drew loads of long wheat straw 
and spread it all over just thick enough to allow us barely 
to see through. We are troubled by the late spring frosts, 
and never try to get early berries. When the earth had 
become warmed up under this double mulching so that the 
berries were bound to grow any way, we raked the long 
straw into the paths and trod it down, taking a wet day for 
the work. The next wet day we did it over. Now, what 
was the result ? Why the cut straw formed a perfect mulch 
among and around the plants where spriug cultivation 
would be impossible. Again, short-stemmed varieties, and 
those that do not hold the fruit up well, like the Haverland, 
were kept perfectly cleau. The large quantity of straw in 
the paths prevents much evaporation from beneath, keeps 
the ground cool, and I believe is better than any cultiva¬ 
643 
tion for me. it is cheaper too. i would not speak so posi¬ 
tively perhaps if I had not succeeded so well. A yield of over 
100 bushels of berries from half an acre, and most of them 
worth $3.50 or $4 per bushel, when common shipping ber¬ 
ries were not worth half that,-has a tendency to make 
one positive. But this report does not tell the whole story. 
We had some varieties that did not do well. Had the whole 
half acre been Haverlands, with just Jessies enough to fer¬ 
tilize them, we should have had 140 to 150 bushels. We 
have nothing equal to the Haverland for productiveness, 
but the quality is not the finest. The Jessie is one of our 
poorest yielders, and would not be grown except for fertil¬ 
izing. We had 1-16 of an acre of Haverlands this year that, 
taken by themselves, yielded at the rate of more than $1,000 
to the acre. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
G. A. P., Mansfield, Pa.—What are the full particulars 
as to the organization known as The White Cross ? What 
is the organization and who are its officers ? 
Ans. —The White Cross movement aims to promote per¬ 
sonal purity among men. It was organized in England in 
1883, and was started in this country in 1885. Its member¬ 
ship is open to any one who will agree to the following 
principles: 
I PROMISE BY THE HELP OF GOD 
L—To treat all women with respect, and endeavor to protect them 
from wrong and degradation. 
2. —'To endeavor to put down all indecent language and coarse Jests. 
3. —To maintain the law of purity as equally binding upon men and 
women. 
4. —To endeavor to spread these principles among my companions, and 
to try to help my younger brothers. 
5. —To use every possible means to fulfill the command, “ Keep thyself 
pure." 
There are no paid officers. Tn this city the work is car¬ 
ried on by the members of the Y. M. C. A. The address is 
White Cross Committee, 52 East 23d Street, New York. 
N. S. H., Wittman , Md .—1. Is the acid used in dissolv¬ 
ing S. C. rock injurious to the land ? 2. Would S. C. rock 
with 200 pounds of potash (kainit) to the ton be an econom¬ 
ical fertilizer for wheat, at $18 per ton ? 3. If so, would it 
be advisable to apply nitrogen in the spring, and in what 
form ; how much, and at what cost ? 
Ans.— 1. No, probably not. It would form with lime, 
gypsum; with potash, sulphate of potash, etc. 2. Yes, as 
far as it goes. 3. Yes ; 200 pounds to the acre of nitrate of 
soda at a cost of $4.50, or $45 per ton. 
W. H. B., Maine, N. Y .—How can I make first-class 
fertilizer from horse manure and the refuse from a 
slaughter-house mixed with hog manure ? What must 
be added and how should I take care of it ? 
Ans.—T he materials mentioned are first-class fertilizers 
of themselves. They are best taken care of by spreading 
them as quickly as possible on land where there is a plant 
growing or soon to grow. This is not practicable at all 
times, hence some place for storage must be provided. A 
cheap shed covering a broad, shallow, water-tight pit 
makes an ideal storage place for manure. If the horse 
manure is strawy it may be that it will furnish sufficient 
absorbents to take up the liquids of the slaughter-house 
refuse and hog manure. If it does not, enough of somo 
other absorbent must be used so that none of the liquid 
will escape. The horse manure and other material mav 
then be put in the storage pit in alternate layers and the 
whole should be packed down tightly to prevent excessive 
fermentation. If the pit is so built that one can drive 
upon it in unloading, the necessary packing is easily 
secured. Well dried swamp muck makes an excellent absor¬ 
bent. If it is not available, common land plaster or gypsum 
is as good as anything. 
J. W., Vineland, N. J. —1. What is the best way of pre¬ 
serving seed potatoes ? 2. Why do corn ears grow at the top 
when about ready to be harvested ? 
Ans.— 1. Burying them in a dry soil below frost often 
keeps them in a first-rate condition. Cold storage or a cellar, 
dark, dry and as near 40 degrees as may be, is the best 
method of preservation known to The R. N.-Y. 2. Wet 
weather, perhaps. 
E. P. N., Nichols, Conn.— 1. What currants will yield 
the greatest number of quarts per acre ? 2. In cultivating 
raspberries to keep them clean, should one use a hoe to 
clear away the trash that comes up in the rows ? 
Ans.— 1. The old Dutch when cared for is about as pro¬ 
lific as any; Fay next. 2. Yes; unless the rows are long 
enough and wide enough apart to use a shallow cultivator. 
E. T., Chappaqua, N. Y.— What is the matter with tb« 
Brighton Grape vines, specimens of which are inclosed ? 
No other variety is similarly affected except the Concord 
close by. 
Ans.— It is mildew. The Brighton is peculiarly subject 
to it in some places. It is much worse in some seasons 
than in others. The Bordeaux Mixture is the best remedy 
known at present. 
E. W. C., Binghamtoyi, N. Y— Has cotton-seed meal 
a tendency to produce abortion in cows, and is there any 
medicine that is a specific against this disease, or that i 3 a 
preventive ? . 
Ans.—N ot when used in small quantities and fed with 
other foods that keep the system in good condition. Two 
pounds per day are enough for any cow and many will not 
need so much. The danger in feeding this rich food comes 
in giving too much of it with other fcods which cause if 
they do not prevent constipation. Roots, silage a nd other 
succulent foods are excellent when cotton seed meal is fed. 
Some cows never take kindly to cotton seed meal and its 
effect on them should be noted. See article on Heavy Ft ea 
ing May Spoil a Cow, on page 513, 
