352 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Nov. 
Inquiries and Answers. 
Disease in Skin of Horses. —My father-in-law has 
a young mare that has very impure blood. For the 
last two summers she has broken out in blotches, and 
through gnawing and rubbing herself, she is at times 
nearly covered with scabs. In the winter her skin and 
hair become smooth, and she appears free from any 
disease. If you can make out what disease it is by 
this description, and know what will cure it, will you 
please inform me through your very valuable paper. 
R. J. Suffield. [Poultry-lousiness in horses is some¬ 
times extremely troublesome, but it may be determined 
by the presence of the insects on close examination, 
and it does not intermit, as described above. It may 
be the mange or itch, but more probably a mere cuta¬ 
neous eruption cf the skin from bad digestion. We 
would propose the use of the same diet in summer as 
winter, with a mixture of a tea-spoonful of sulphur in 
the food at each feeding. Daily sponging with a weak 
solution of saleratus water, in which there is a slight 
mixture of sulphur, will probably be useful, covering 
the body with cotton or linen instead of a woolen blan¬ 
ket, after the sponging. Should this treatment be 
employed, we would like to hear the result ] 
Pine Seeds, &c.—Will you or some correspondent 
inform me the proper time to gather the cones of the 
yellow pine—and how and when to plant the seed ? I 
presume there is a seed under each leaf of the cone. 
Please advise an entire novice. Is the seed for sale at 
the seed stores 1 Also as to the time to gather seed of 
the cedar and how to plant them. Isaac Dillon. 
Zanesville , Sept. 1858. [Cones are usually gathered 
late in autumn, dried in winter till the seed drop out 
and planted early in spring. To protect the young 
seedlings from the hot sun in this country, a screen or 
shade is usually necessary the first season. Seeds of 
most of the species of pine are sold by J. M. Thorburn, 
of New-York, and by Thomas Meehan, of German¬ 
town, Philadelphia. There are several quite distinct 
kinds of cedar—to which does our correspondent refer ?] 
Grapes and Peaches. —I wish to inquire the names 
of the three best varieties of native grapes for dessert 
use. I have the Catawba, Isabella and Herbemont. 
Also the best selection of Freestone Peaches for mar¬ 
ket—including the earliest to latest. J. C. Clermont 
Co , 0. [So far south as Clermont Co., where the Ca¬ 
tawba ripens well, the Isabella, Catawba, and Dela¬ 
ware will be best. Peaches —Serrate Early York, 
Early Newington, Cooledge’s Favorite, Large Early 
York, George IV, Crawford’s Early, Nivette, Red 
Cheek Melocoton, Oldmixon free, Ward’s late free, 
Crawford’s late.] 
Draining. —I wish to know the proper method of 
constructing a drain under the following circumstances: 
The Erie eanal crosses our farm. The banks are, in 
some places, six or eight feet above the surface of the 
adjoining fields. There is at some portions of the bank, 
so much leakage of water through the bank as to cause 
serious damage to land and crops. A ditch is already 
dug along the foot of the bank, leading into another 
ditch, which conducts the water across the lower por¬ 
tion of the field—there being a gradual descent of the 
surface, favorable for drainage. This, of course, car¬ 
ries off the water. Now we wish to cover the drains 
which lead the water across the field. If the drain or 
ditch which runs along the bank, parallel with the 
canal, is left an open drain emptying into a covered 
drain, will not the water in the former carry in the 
particles of soil so as to obstruct the latter I If both 
are covered, will it be likely to catch the leakage, and 
prevent its flowing, across the field 1 Others of your 
subscribers may be in a similar situation. An early 
answer will oblige, as we wish very soon to fill the 
drains. F. L. W. Reynale's Basin , Niagara Co ., 
N. Y. [We have often observed the leakage from the 
canal bank near Reynale’s Basin, but do not distinctly 
recollect the quantity of water thus escaping. If it is 
but small, it will readily find its way down through 
the soil into a tile-drain; if more copious, the drain 
should be partly or nearly filled with small stone, on 
the top of which may be placed several inches of coarse 
gravel, as the case may require. We would not, by 
any means, have an open ditch discharging directly 
into a covered one ] 
Efficacy of Under-drains. — If a wheatfield in 
our soil (principally a clay loam) is not plowed in nar¬ 
row lands, and the furrows between left open to carry 
off the surface water, and good outlets provided at the 
lower points in the field, so that the water may pass off, 
we expect that the crop of wheat will be minus. Will 
under-drains, two or three rods apart, prevent the ne¬ 
cessity of narrow lands and open furrows 1 We are 
obliged to shovel as much in clearing the furrows as 
will dig some rods of ditch. If under-drains will do 
the work, the shoveling would not need to be repeated 
for every crop. F. L. W. [Good covered drains, two 
and a half to three feet deep, and two rods apart, will 
completely obviate the necessity of the ridges and fur¬ 
rows alluded to; they will admit of earlier plowing 
and better tillage; will afford much better crops ; and 
in several other particulars be incomparably better 
than the temporary open furrows ] 
Hemlock Screens. — Z. F. A. The hemlock hedge, 
described by our correspondent, of trees varying from 
one foot to six in height, may gradually after a lapse 
of years, be made to approach a uniform screen, by 
keeping the whole well cultivated so as to hasten the 
growth, and by shortening back , (not shearing) the 
larger trees, both at the sides and tops, so as to allow 
the smaller ones to grow freely. 
Propagation of the Blackberry. —Will you please 
give a few minute directions through the Cultivator, 
in regard to the best manner of propagating the black¬ 
berry. J. H. Osborne. North Weave , N. H. [Tbe 
easiest way is to cut down the bushes very early in 
spring, which will cause suckers to spring up in 
great profusion ; these may be taken up and set out 
the following autumn or spring. The most rapid way, 
but more laborious, is to place cuttings of the roots, 
about two or three inches long, in propagating boxes, 
buried just beneath the surface of the earth, and to 
apply bottom heat—a hot-bed will do. This should be 
done very early in spring, and when well started, the 
plants are to be carefully set out, and will make good 
bushes by autumn.] 
“ Life-Everlasting.”— Will you please inform me 
what is the name of the enclosed weed, which came 
up from sowing grass seed, and is rapidly on the in¬ 
crease on my farm ? I now save my own grass seed, 
which, by the way, every farmer should. J. F. B. 
Unadilla Forks. [The plant sent is the Gnaphalium 
