make some difference in it in that respect. The straw 
is heavier, stronger, whiter and brighter than that 
from the black kind, and brings readily from one to 
two dollars per ton more in the Philadelphia market. 
G. H. Medford, N. J. 
Wheat Midge—Ringbone. —You would oblige me 
by giving me at your earliest opportunity, answers to 
the following queries:—1. What is the midge —is it 
similar to any insect with which we of the south are 
acquainted? (1.) 2. What is the best and most cer¬ 
tain cure of ringbone in a horse? (2) W. J. Points 
Brown's Cove , Albemarle Co , Va. [1. The wheat 
midge is a very small fly or gnat, with orange-colored 
body, slender legs, and two transparent wings. It is 
seen in wheatfields where it exists, about the time the 
heads appear. During the day they conceal them¬ 
selves near the ground; in the evening they appear at 
the heads. The small larvae or maggots which they 
produce are afterwards found in the grain, and are no 
larger than a fine cambric needle, nor more than an 
eighth of an inch long. 2. An answer to this question 
will be found on p. 263 of the Country Gentleman, 
current volume ] 
The Wool-Grower. —Is there any such paper as 
the Wool Grower, printed by D. D. T. Moore of Roch¬ 
ester, or any other publisher, and at what price ? C. 
II. J. [Mr. Moore’s Stock Register was discontinued 
two or three years since ; but there is a monthly sheet 
issued at Cleveland, 0., at, we believe, (for we cannot 
find a copy of the paper,) 25 cents a year.] 
Prince Albert Potatoes. —Can I get some Prince 
Albert potatoes nearer than New-Jersey ? C. E. K. 
[They were grown to some extent in this vicinity the 
past season, and we presume will be for sale at our 
seed stores in the spring.] 
Bees. —Will you please to inform me through your 
paper, the price and postage of the best work on the 
management of bees. A Subscriber. [Qninby’s 
“ Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained” is a valuable 
work—price $1, sent postpaid.] 
A Cure for Sweeney —In answer to an inquiry in 
the Cultivator. Take equal parts of balsam of sul¬ 
phur and spirits of turpentine. Mix, apply, and hold 
a hot iron near enough to heat but not to scorch.” Ap¬ 
ply every other day till a cure is effected—usually from 
ten days to two weeks. W. DENNis. 
New Spring Wheat Wanted.— I would like to 
get a new variety of spring wheat. We have the Can¬ 
ada Club, Mammoth, Red River and Black Sea. We 
ought to have a change here. Can some one inform me 
of a better variety, and whether it is smooth or beard¬ 
ed ? C. E. K. Davenport, Iowa. 
—-O-A-o- 
Proper Age for Fattening Swine. 
Eds. Co. Gent. —In a recent article on “ Fattening 
Swine,” you invite the communication of the views of 
farmers on different branches of the subject—among 
them that of the proper age for bringing pork to the 
knife. I have my ideas on this question, and would 
submit them ih brief to your readers. 
Pigs, eight or nine months old, if properly managed, 
will make cheap and excellent pork. By fattening them 
at this age, the trouble and expense of wintering over 
is saved—performing that operation, as Allen says, 
“by the cheapest mode—in the pork barrel,” where 
they are more likely to be eaten, than to eat (as they 
often do when alive,) more than their value in the 
spring. When the object of raising swine is to make 
pork of them, that end should be kept steadily in view 
—Piggy himself should see it and eat for it. Feed a 
decent pig well from weaning until nine months old, 
and you will get 200 lbs. to 325 lbs. of pork, and you 
do not often get 50 lbs. more from those ten months 
older. This keeping swine eighteen or twenty months 
to fatten them the last three, is not often a paying 
business. There is no question that an animal must 
consume much more to produce in eighteen months only 
about the same quantity of meat made by another 
from half that time of feeding. 
Some breeds of porkers, and some specimens of the 
same breed (so far as parentage is concerned,) mature 
much earlier than others—can be fattened sooner and 
easier. Such should be selected for wintering under 
the brine, and should receive careful attention, so that 
their growth may be constant and rapid. Besides 
supplying slops from the dairy and kitchen, windfalls 
of the orchard, &c , one should save over a quantity of 
corn, rye, or barley, so as to give them one feeding 
daily of meal wet in sour milk, if it is to be had, and 
allowed to stand until fermentation commences. By 
this course, a friend who has practiced fattening spring 
pigs for family pork for twenty-five years, says he 
usually averages 225 lbs. of pork at nine months old, 
of the very best quality. He finds it advantageous, 
also, from the fact that he gets the benefit of warm 
weather for fattening, and saves the long expense of 
winter feeding, when much of the food consumed goes 
merely to support the animal heat. 
To keep a pig growing one must keep him “ comfor¬ 
table,” so that he is either eating or sleeping—allowing 
him, of course, time for exercise, but none for squeal¬ 
ing after food. To do this, there is nothing like “ change 
and variety now a little corn, then a little milk, a 
few boiled potatoes, a few raw apples, now a pudding, 
then a dish of greens—anything and everything to 
keep them eating and stuffing all they can digest, and 
no more. Anything for waste begets bad habits, and 
bad habits in a pig are as disagreeable as in higher 
animals. B. F. Niagara Co. 
- 0 - 0-0 -- 
Cures for Spavin. 
Friend Tucker & Son —Seeing an inquiry from a 
subscriber for cure for spavin in horses, I send you the 
following, which I have frequently tested, and have 
never known it to fail of effecting a cure on a young 
horse, if timely and rightly applied. 
Take the root of the common poke, (Phytolacca 
decandra)—- wash it clean, then cut it into thin slices, 
and boil it in urine till it becomes quite strong. With 
this decoction bathe the part two or three times a day, 
till a cure is effected, rubing it hard downwards with 
the hand. It should not be used so strong or so fre¬ 
quently as to take off the hair. 
Another Cure : Take camphor and dissolve it in spi¬ 
rits of turpentine, to be applied till the hair starts, but 
not to blister severely. Then let the horse rest a few 
days. Wilson Dennis. 
-*- 0-0 - 
— From a notice in the Ohio Cultivator, Tile Drain¬ 
ing seems to be increasing in that state. Mention is 
made of three establishments for tile making, all of 
which bid fair to succeed. 
