THE CULTIVATOR. 
April 
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110 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES. 
Spring Wheat. —“A Farmer,” (Stockholm, N. Y.) 
We should think the Black-Sea would suit the situation 
you mention best. 
Poland Fowls. —W. R. W., (Clark eo., O.) Mr. 
Bateham, of the Ohio Culivator, Columbus, can tell 
you whether these fowls can be had near that city. 
Poland and Dorking Fowls. —A. H. M., (San¬ 
dusky, O.) We should prefer the Dorking to the Poland, 
if we wished to keep one kind of fowls, “simply for 
furnishing eggs and chickens for the table.” 
Dorkings and Malays. —J. A., (Le Roy, N. Y.) 
These varieties are rather scarce in this neighborhood 
just now, but we presume can be had in the course of 
the season at about $2.50 per pair. 
Oats. —A. M. D., (Greene co., Tenn.) “If oats be 
sown for years in succession, on the same ground, and 
pastured after heading, by hogs, will the crop and the 
ground improve?” We cannot tell—if the land was 
quite natural to oats, and no part of the crop was taken off 
except what the hogs would pick, it might improve, as 
there would be a good deal of straw left, and the hogs, 
while feeding, would leave considerable manure. 
Soils that “run” and “bake.” —A. M. D. “If 
you had soil that would run, like melted lead in a wet 
time, and bake as hard as a brick when dry, what would 
you do with it?” We confess this question is “too 
bard” for ws, and must refer it to some one who can 
speak from experience with such a soil. 
Galloway Cattle. —G. W. J., (Milton, N. C.) We 
know of none of this breed of cattle in the country. 
There are 'polled or hornless cattle, derived, probably, 
from different stocks, but they do not show the marks 
or points of the Galloway. Many of them appear to be 
a degenerate off-spring of the Suffolks—are sometimes 
good milkers, but of ugly shape, and are great consu¬ 
mers. The Galloways, are a hardy race, thrifty, and 
good for fattening, but have not latterly been bred for 
milk. 
Agricultural Chemistry. —S. B. (Orange county, 
N. Y.) Johnston’s Lectures on the applications of Che¬ 
mistry and Geology to Agriculture would be very suita¬ 
ble for you. The work may be had of Wiley & Putnam, 
New-York, in one volume, for $1.25, or in two volumes 
for $1.50. 
Rings for Hogs. —Common wire is the material 
generally used. It may be a sixteenth of an inch in 
diameter, or somewhat larger. The operation of putting 
it in the hog’s snout is simple enough to those who have 
seen it, but is not so easily described in a small space. 
The closer the ring is to the snout, after it is done, the 
less likely it is to be torn out. A hole is made through 
the rim of the snout at the most central or pointed part, 
with an awl, and the wire run through and twisted at 
the ends so as to form the ring. We have seen a ring 
made of iron, flattened, something like a horse-shoe 
nail, with an eye in the head, through which the point 
was run and clinched. This answers well, and is not 
likely to tear out. 
Lime lo kill wire worms.—“Wayne.”— We have 
witnessed no experiments where a dressing of lime on 
the soil had resulted in the destruction of these insects. 
We should like to hear from any one who has proved 
the efficiency of lime for destroying worms of any kind. 
Charcoal.— W. H. T. (Pittsfield, Mass.) No doubt 
the “fine charcoal made by the engines on our rail¬ 
roads,” would be valuable for agricultural purposes; 
particularly as an obsorbent of urine and the liquids of 
stables and barn-yards. 
Tobacco. —T. A. (Walpole, N. H.) The information 
you ask for may be found on page 89 of the Cultivator 
for 1844. 
Cheese. —D. R. (Ellisburgh, N. Y.) In the Cultiva¬ 
tor for 1844, pages 165, 166, you will find an excellent 
article in reference to the manufacture of the celebrated 
English Gloucestershire cheese. In the Cultivator for 
1843, pages 114, 129, 147, you will find the details of 
the management of Mr. Fish, of Herkimer eounty, N. 
Y. The queries propounded to dairymen by a com¬ 
mittee of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, will undoubtedly 
draw out new and useful facts. 
Hay Press. —O. G. W.—Dedrick’s press, described 
in the Cultivator for 1843, page 172, is well recom¬ 
mended. Price $100 to $120. Van Hosen’s, described 
in Cultivator for 1842, page 66, appears to be a good 
article. The former is, or was made by L. Dedrick, 
Kinderhook, and the latter by by W. S. Jacks, Catskill. 
Plaster—Lime. — W. H. C. L. (Princess Anne C- 
H., Ya.) Plaster is usually applied to corn by scattering 
it around the stalks when they are from four to six 
inches high. The best mode of using lime is thought 
to be, to spread it on the surface and harrow it in before 
sowing the seed. 
Carrots. —J. L. K. (Sing Sing.) We cannot account 
for the want of taste in your horses that they should refuse 
carrots. We have often fed carrots to horses, and never 
found any difficulty in inducing them to eat them. We 
suggest that the carrots be cut in pieces an inch square 
and mixed with oats, and fed to the horse at first when 
he is quite hungry. It is only necessary for the horse 
to fairly taste the carrots, to like them. 
Machine for dressing and breaking Flax.— 
Information is wanted in regard to a machine for dress¬ 
ing flax and hemp, said to have been presented at the 
exhibition of the American Institute last fall by Mr. 
Billings, of New Hampshire. 
Peat and Marl. —W. A. (Yates county, N. Y.) 
The qualities of peat and marl vary so much, and ope¬ 
rate so differently on various soils, that it is impossible 
to answer your question without knowing more of the cir¬ 
cumstances. Your best course is to make trial of a small 
quantity of it at first in such a way as to demonstrate its 
value. 
Wood Ashes. —H. C. B. (New Lisbon, N. Y.) Ashes 
generally do best on rather light soils, and are particu¬ 
larly beneficial to grass, clover and grain crops. The 
difference in the value of leached and unleached ashes is 
not easily told. The statement of Mr. Crispell, pub¬ 
lished in our last volume, page 87, indicates that in 
some cases there is little or no difference. We have 
often been told that the Long Island farmers consider 
the leached as good as the unleached, provided they are 
not used for some time after being leached. Some suppose 
they attract valuable properties from the atmosphere 
after coming from the leach-tub. Is it so? and if any, 
what are the properties acquired? Will chemists tell? 
Bones for Manure. —J. L. C. (Zanesville, O.) 
Bones are used largely in England and Scotland by be¬ 
ing dissolved in sulphuric acid. Our correspondent, 
Mr. Norton, (see last vol., page 266,) states that this 
mode is by some preferred. Twelve pounds of acid, 
diluted with once or twice its bulk of water, is used to 
a bushel of bones. The bones, he says, may be placed 
on a heap of ashes, and the acid slowly poured over 
them. The outside of the bone will soon become soft, 
I when they should be turned inside, and in a short time 
the whole will become soft and fine. From 25 to 30 
bushels of bones per acre, is the quantity applied. 
Madder Seed. —We cannot tell where this seed may 
be procured. 
Game Fowls. —R. M. (Geneva.) We must refer you 
to the various English treatises on poultry for the infor¬ 
mation you want—particularly Boswell, Dickson, and 
Main. These works could probably be had'of Wiley & 
Putnam, N. Y. 
MATERIALS FOR MANURE. 
Wm. Todd, of Utica, Md., writes— “I have long 
been of the opinion that every man who is the ownei 
of an hundred acres of land, (especially if it requires 
improvement,) ought to keep a man with a yoke of 
oxen, collecting matters for manure into the barn-yard, 
for six months in the year. These matters should be 
leaves, sods (particularly when the grass is long,) from 
the fence rows, scrapings from the streets or roads, 
collections from ditches and ponds. He should use 
sand where the land to be improved is heavy clay, 
and clay where the land is sandy. No money expended 
on a farm will pay so well as that laid out in making 
compost in the barn-yard, where the contents of the 
stables are collected and made up in one great pile.” 
