782 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 26, 
provided that it is in careful hands and used at 
the right time. That it is safe to use indiscriminately 
and at the time and in the proportions advised by some 
people I very much doubt. If anyone wants to be 
convinced of this, I think he can find the proof in the 
Hudson Valley. That anyone has yet used this oil 
long enough to say positively that it is harmless, I have 
yet to learn. In regard to practical demonstration in 
the application of lime and sulphur, I know of at least 
six orchards where the inspector of this district has 
personally superintended and helped to apply the lime 
and sulphur wash. As to the statement that farmers 
do not have the appliances to make the lime and sul¬ 
phur wash, and do not know enough to make it if they 
did, that may hold good in regard to farmers, but 
speaking of fruit growers in the Hudson Valley, it is 
a very different proposition. We have at least seven 
public boiling plants in this section, and nearly every 
large grower has a plant of his own. I have used the 
lime and sulphur for three years, and the Scalecide for 
two, and have been successful with both, but for the 
peach tree lime and sulphur is the spray. I have been 
looking for testimony from some practical man, not 
interested in the sale of Scalecide, who could say that 
he had used Scalecide for a term of years without in¬ 
jury to his trees, and could also show that it was eco¬ 
nomical except for small orchards. I am spraying some 
15,000 trees and am quite willing to find a better way. 
FREDERICK W. VAIL. 
I have read with much interest the articles on page 
699 by Messrs. Powell and Van Alstyne in answer to 
my inquiry in regard to San Jose scale and the matter 
of planting new orchards. I cannot help but smile, 
however, at the widely divergent views expressed by 
these two eminent fruit growers in regard to the use 
of Scalecide, and it seems that Mr. Van Alstyne does 
not agree with you in the matter. “Doctors do dis¬ 
agree.’ My own conclusions are in favor of Scalecide 
for the simple reason that it is within my reach to ap¬ 
ply, while lime and sulphur is not. j. s. B. 
THE WEEK'S PICTURES. 
“THE BEST CROP.”—The little picture at Fig. 389 
shows the leading crop on a Canadian berry farm. Mr. 
M. J. Kerr sends the picture and writes: “That old 
horse has been our driving horse and general standby 
for over 11 years, and is a great pet with the family. 
The youngsters got her out of the stable yesterday, 
and with two of our neighbor’s children, had a great 
time with four of them on her back, the oldest only 
eight and our oldest boy of six leading her.” Of course 
these youngsters had “a great time,” and they will re¬ 
member their childhood all their days. 
SOME NEBRASKA PRODUCTS.—From far out in 
Douglass County, Nebraska, comes the following note: 
“I send a picture of a two-year-old and Southport Red 
Globe onions. The onion crop here will make from a 
half to two-thirds of a crop, some fields almost a fail¬ 
ure—too dry in fore part of season and too wet through 
the latter part. In this community no commercial fer¬ 
tilizers are used to my knowledge, but I decided to 
try experiments with the help of The R. N.-Y. These 
onions are still growing, and you can judge about 
their size. Two fields, one on each side of mine, one 
planted on sod and one on ground just cleared of trees, 
are ready to harvest, and neither one will make more 
than one-half as large a crop as mine, and are smaller 
in size. Such helps as this will pay for the paper for 
years to come.” a. d. ferguson. 
THE FUEL SUPPLY.—The wood-sawing pictures 
won first prize in one of our photograph contests. The 
scene is laid in Niagara County, N. Y., and the fol¬ 
lowing note is a pleasant reminder: 
“These pictures were taken in our yard. I have 
read The R. N.-Y. as long as I have read anything, and 
expect to do so for the remainder of my life, be it long 
or short. Ever since my father was assistant editor 
with Moore in Rochester in the early fifties, The 
R. N.-Y. has been a constant visitor in our home. 
Even after Father’s untimely death in 1863, and 
Mother was left with four small children, she never 
gave up The R. N.-Y., although it was hard to spare 
the price of the paper sometimes. A few years ago I 
spent three years in the city but I still stuck to the pa¬ 
per, and now I am back tilling the soil again. I enjoy 
it more than ever. Long may it flourish.” 
albert f. bix by. 
We print that picture early in the year that farmers 
may be thinking about that good supply of dry fuel 
early. Sometimes it takes a lot of thinking to put 
wood in a convenient shed. 
September 18 we had a good rain, which put the land in 
good order for seeding. The tobacco crop was good. The 
potato crop is light in some parts of this county; the corn 
is ripe and cutting has begun. There are a few corn cutters 
here, but they do not prove very satisfactory. We had two 
light fro&ts, September 26 and 27, but they did not injure 
anything. v jo. v. k. 
York Co., Pa. 
NITRATE OF SODA POISONS STOCK. 
I have just had an experience that is likely to come to 
anyone, and can easily be avoided if we are a little more 
careful. Three years ago I bought a bag of nitrate of soda, 
used it all and put the bag with other sacks and fertilizer 
bags in a barrel, and set it in an icehouse in the end of 
barn. At about that time I had a three-year-old heifer drop 
dead in the field. There seemed to be no reason except 
that the heart stopped beating. A week ago a neighbor 
wanted to put a nice cow coming fresh in November in my 
pasture a few weeks, so he brought her over. Last Wednes¬ 
day I set this barrel outside of the barn. Saturday morning 
my neighbor's cow lay dead out by the fence. I sent for 
SOME SOLID NEBRASKA PRODUCTS. 1-Yu. 3*8. 
the owner and he looked her over, said he could see nothing 
to cause death, so just called it heart failure. We skinned 
her and buried her. Sunday night when I went after my 
cows I found one big red cow due in November dead in one 
place and about five rods from her a three-year-old dead. 
I thought I was getting experience pretty fast. I had a 
veterinarian cut one open in the morning and he could not 
find anything definite. The lining of the cow’s paunch 
peeled off and seemed inflamed. He asked me if I used any 
nitrate of soda and I told him I had not for three years, 
but after he was gone I hunted around and found that old 
hag that had contained nitrate, half chewed up, and am sat¬ 
isfied that those three cows came to their death from suck¬ 
ing that bag. There was no nitrate in it. and it had lain in 
that barrel three years. I think the heifer that died three 
years ago must have got some in some way. There was no 
sickness, no symptoms of anything wrong; the animals sim¬ 
ply dropped down and never moved a muscle. I presume 
that there are a great, many farmers who are using nitrate 
of soda who do not realize how much trouble a little care¬ 
lessness may cause, and I hope my experience will put them 
on their guard, and cause them to use it carefully and not 
leave any around where cattle could get it, and destroy the 
bag when they are through with it. I have two other cows 
that seem to be all right that could have had access to it. 
All the nitrate there was in that bag was what the bag had 
absorbed : it was down in the middle of the barrel and the 
BEST CROP ON A CANADIAN FARM. Fin. 389. 
neighbor’s cow laid out at night, so she pulled those bags 
over at her leisure, and got what she wanted. Mine got it 
afterward, but could not have had it very long, as we drove 
them out of the barn pasture a quarter of a mile to another, 
and they had merely the time that it took to untie the 
others to get at it. I explain at length to show how little 
it takes to kill a cow, and how very careful we ought to be. 
It Is a sad experience to me, especially as a friend lost a 
good cow by my unintentional carelessness, although I did 
not suspect the nitrate was capable of so much damage in 
its crystal form, much less in a bag that had merely con¬ 
tained It. h. d. w. 
Concord, N. H. 
While it is a well-wtablished fact that nitrate of 
soda is poisonous to cattle when taken in sufficient 
quantity it seems highly improbable that such an amount 
could be derived from a sack that so long before had 
contained the nitrate. Still, the experience seems to 
■point plainly to the sack as the possible source of poison 
in the case of the neighbor’s cow and the correspond¬ 
ent’s two cattle. There is no evidence, however, that 
the first cow died from nitrate poisoning. Where cattle 
in recorded cases have been poisoned by nitrate of soda 
the losses followed the drinking of water in which 
nitrate sacks had been washed, and in such instances the 
quantity of nitrate taken must have been considerable. 
In a few instances poisoning also has followed the 
immediate pasturing of grass heavily dressed with the 
nitrate, but we never before have heard of poisoning 
from the chewing of a nitrate of soda sack. Nitrate 
of potash (saltpeter) is far more poisonous to cattle 
than is the nitrate of soda, it having been proved by 
experiment that six to eight ounces may cause death, 
but horses have to take the large dose several times 
before fatal results occur. In both instances nitrate 
poisoning may cause death suddenly, as if from apo¬ 
plexy, the effect apparently being upon the heart, but 
usually the effect is acute irritation, and in such a con¬ 
dition one would likely see diarrhoea as a prominent 
symptom. In the apopleptic form death might occur 
in a few minutes; in the other form it might happen 
inside of 12 hours. Chloride of soda (common salt) 
also is poisonous when taken in large quantities, acting 
first as a purgative, and causes irritation when consumed 
in fatal quantities. 
Reverting to the poisonous qualities of nitrate of 
potash (saltpeter) it may interest many readers to know 
that poisoning is alleged to have occurred at certain 
places in the Far West where cattle fed on corn plants 
which had prematurely died and withered, and in the 
joints of which saltpeter was found to have formed 
in considerable quantities as the result of evaporation. 
Animals have also been poisoned in many instances by 
drinking meat brine made of salt and saltpeter. The 
moral apparently is that all nitrate sacks should be 
ivashed thoroughly when emptied and that the wash 
water should -be disposed of by sprinkling upon the 
manure pile, so that the fertilizing element may not be 
lost. Cattle should be kept off grass recently dressed 
with nitrate of soda, and all animals should he kept 
from drinking meat brine. In this connection it may 
he added that lye also is poisonous to stock if taken in 
considerable quantities, and so must be avoided as much 
as the other salts mentioned. a. s. Alexander, v. s. 
HOW TO KEEP CABBAGE. 
I would like to know how to keep cabbage from rotting. 
I put the heads on high land, laid straw down first and then 
cabbage on top, and threw a big lot of sand on them. They 
have rotted for the last three years. I think the warm 
weather has affected them. It thaws and freezes, and that 
makes them rot. n. l. 
Vineland. 
It would be hard to say just why H. L.’s cabbage 
rotted, not knowing any more than he states in his 
inquiry. It may be from several causes; for one, a 
fungus disease that had established itself during late 
growth and not gone far enough to cause rot in the field, 
but that went on developing after being buried. It 
may be that his cabbage was too ripe, or not ripe 
enough. It is also probable that it was huried too early, 
before weather was cold enough to warrant its keeping 
properly, and last but not least, my belief is it was cov¬ 
ered too deeply. If both the last named, buried while 
weather was still warm, and covered as he says with 
lots of sand, it would surely rot; at least that has been 
my experience. I had a farm hand bury my Winter’s 
supply some few years ago; he dug a trench about 10 
or 12 inches deep, put in the cabbage and covered them 
nearly or quite a foot deep. The consequence was 
that fully 90 per cent rotted. I have found this the 
case almost universally. If H. L. will pull his cabbage 
when at its best, turn upside down for a day to drain 
out and dry some, then place them on high dry ground 
not more than three inches below the surface, and in 
a single straight row, heads down, stems and all, scat¬ 
ter some straw or any litter that may be at hand thinly 
alongside the heads; cover with three or not over four 
inches of soil, leaving his row like an inverted V and 
not hury it till quite cold, I venture the guess that it 
will keep, and keep well, all other conditions being right. 
I have seen cabbage keep well that was stood heads 
down between two rows where it grew, and nothing 
more than two plow furrows thrown against each side, 
and left in that condition. I do not want to be under¬ 
stood, however, as advocating this slipshod method, but 
wish to show that too much covering is the cause of 
more rot in this method of storage than too little. There 
is another method of keeping cabbage for Winter use, 
where only small amounts are kept, that is quite popu¬ 
lar in some localities. Take one or more sugar barrels, 
bury them in well-drained soil two-thirds their length, 
banking up around the top. Cut the heads from the 
stalk, leaves and all, pack in barrels and cover; as 
severe weather approaches add more covering. Person¬ 
ally I have not used this method, but I know a number 
of people who habitually do it with entire success. It 
has the advantage of being able at all times to get a 
supply oiit for use, which is not the case whfen bu»ietl in 
the soil. c. c. hulsart. 
