1872.] 
9 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
for 'fl'laoi*«iigli>bred S*Sgs.—H. 
(t Teas Hollars .a ©ay.” 
■ 
Advertisements like the above are very common, with 
the addition of “expensesipaid.” An investigation will 
generally (not always) §t)ow that, to-get a chance at such 
a prize, one must,first ac]v&ncatnore oiiess money, which 
is gone.-in any case,-and then lie must trust to luck in 
selling some “gimcrack ” to get his salary and expenses 
out of a commission.r^AVe think a much better opportu¬ 
nity is presented in the premiums offered on page 37. 
Ko advance money is required, and no expenses needed. 
One has only to show specimen copies of the papers (pre¬ 
sented free) to his friends andmeiglibors, explain their 
oharacter, and solicit their subscriptions. It will be seen 
that a very few names will secure a $10 article free , that 
is worth this amount of cash, either for use or for sale. 
This can usually be done evenings, and when not engaged 
in one’s regular occupation. We make no promises of 
any sure amount per day or hour, but we do know that a 
multitude of persons have realized as much as ten dol¬ 
lars a day—often much more—in canvassing for our pre¬ 
mium articles, and that there are thousands of others who 
may do the same thing, with profit to themselves, to 
the publishers, and to those they secure as subscribers. 
See pages 37 and 38. 
Prolific Ewes. —Mr. Win. Woodsell, Bath 
County, Ya,, writes that he has two ewes which are each 
two years old this spring, and the two together have given 
birth to fourteen lambs. A year ago this spring they were 
yearlings and had three lambs each, but as these came in 
cold weather they froze to death. This year the ewes 
had each four lambs, seven of which are living, of good 
size and lively. This is a remarkable case. 
Manuring a Garden.— “A. McM.” If 
.the manure is at hand haul it on whenever you can. We 
manure and plow in the fall and plow again in spring. 
“ Missionary ” Grape-Vine.— Geo.W. 
Baldock, Clark County, Ind. We know of no vine of 
this name. The Mission grape, so common in California, 
is an European variety, and if you have bought this you 
are, as you suspect, “ humbugged,” in so far as it will 
not succeed with you in out-door culture. 
I’liC Advantage of a. Pair of Plat¬ 
form Scales.—Geo. H. Bussell, Oakville, Pa., writes 
us setting f®rth' the trouble farmers labor under in selling 
their grain, both in being cheated in weight and being- 
compelled, for want of storage, to sell at unfavorable 
periods. We have impressed on farmers the advantage 
of weighing the whole of their produce accurately before 
taking it to market, and insisting on receiving the true 
proceeds. This can only be done by procuring and using 
correct platform scales—steelyards are not reliable. Safe 
bins for storing grain have been already figured and de¬ 
scribed in the American Agriculturist. __ 
Blow to Kill Morses. — “Mass.,” 
Taunton, Mass., asks how to kill an old horse most 
speedily. This is a humane proceeding, and a far more 
“ Christian work” than selling theiato draw canal-boats. 
A Indict from a rifle or Colt’s navy revolver at the base 
of the ear is the most speedy and painless mode of de¬ 
stroying an animal. But! let some person apply it that is 
free from nervousness and can do it with certainty. 
Ayes hires or Jerseys for Mutter. 
—A Massachusetts farmer asks which are better, Ayr¬ 
shires Or Jerseys, for butter ? There is no doubt but the 
Jersey cow is preferable for yielding butter in quantity 
and quality. We think the Ayrshires come ’’next. Some 
prefer Devon^to Ayrshires. In their native county — Ayr, 
in Scotland—they are considered as “butter cows” as 
well as cheese cows. We have had excellent cows of the 
Ayrshire and Jersey breeds, and could- hardly say which 
we prefenfor the ordinary uses of the farm. It is tift 
mode of preparation which makes it necessary for “ Jer¬ 
sey ” (not New Jersey) butter to be eaten fresb. Properly 
salted it will keep a year or longer. 
li ) _A if 
Age to Market Fowls .- 11 J. W. A,,” 
Kansas Qity, Mo. No precise agq can be given at which 
hens cease to he profitable.as layers. This depends oil 
breed, degree of thrift, and amount of previous laying. 
Hens forced by high feeding to lay profusely during the 
early part of their lives will lay correspondingly less 
afterwards, 
Sec Page 37. 
IC Smith, of Illinois; writes' that lie has jiist bought a 
pair, of thorough-bred Essex pigs. “I am,” lie.says, 
.“phased ,wlth thorn, i They,.are as,.quiet qa cats. I 
w.oplcl ^il^ to ask your opinion astp, how they slpmld he 
feet to produce the best results. I amnow giving a mush 
made! of'unboiled wheat and oatmeal miked with' good 
milk. I thought it best not to give too much corn while 
. young.” We can suggestfno improvement to the above 
.diet. It is very nutritious foo.d, but as. long as the pigs 
are growing rapidly it will not hurt them. The point ’ is 
to feed them as mucR ak they can digest and turn into 
flesh. If they eat more than they can digest, it will pro¬ 
duce scours. In this case reduce the -quality of the food 
by mixing bran with it. A few potatoes, parsnips, beets, 
or mangolds may be given with advantage. Let them 
have as much exercise as possible. 
ObbIojis.—“M rs. J. S.” As we can.not make 
out your locality we must answer on general principles. 
If you intend to raise onions to sell green, yon must buy 
the sets, which will cost this., year about $7 or $8 per 
bushel. Much depends on the size of the sets, hut the 
ordinary size will require 15 to 20 bushels to plant an 
acre. However, as the labor on onions so planted is 
great, though the profits are large, you had better not at¬ 
tempt more than an eighth part of an acre at most. If you 
intend to sell onions dry , then you must sow the seed. 
The red is most generally grown. Price of seed about $2 
per pound ; quantity sown with seed sower, in drills, per 
acre, two or three pounds. We can not estimate the crop, 
as all depends on the condition of the land and the care 
with which it is cultivated. The seed can be purchased 
of any of the seedsmen.adverlising in our columns. It is 
best to buy at once, before the rush of orders begins, as 
if you delay it late in the^eason you may not he able to 
get your order filled in time. The rush on our seedsmen 
is so great as the season is opening in spring that many 
orders are necessarily delayed until it is too late. 
Growing TTinaotlay Seed.—“ W. J. J.” 
asks “ if timothy seed draws heavily on the land.” Proba¬ 
bly not. The main difference between raising a crop of 
timothy hay and a crop of timothy, seed is that the nutri¬ 
ment in the one case is distributed through the bay, while 
in the other a portion of it.is taken from the hay and con¬ 
centrated in the seed. The formation' of seed draws 
heavily on the hay, but not necessarily on the land. 
t . I 
SSest Variety of "Winter Wheat for 
Illinois.—An Illinois farmer says be raises Mediterra¬ 
nean wheat, and that “ the-yield is not satisfactory—only 
twenty bushels per acre,” and be wajits a better variety. 
We shall be glad to hear from our readers on this point. 
Our varieties of wheat are better than our culture. 
$e<l lukanil Pencil. —Some people will 
write with red ink and others will use pencil. An editor 
who has much to do will usually drop communications 
written with either of these mediums into the waste bas¬ 
ket.' Blacllink if you please, 'anil leave these reds, mauv.es, 
aud all othpr colored abominations to school-girls. 
Thoms for Hedges.-" Young Farmer,” 
Opt. We do not know what you mean by “ Common 
Thorn,” without specimens. ^There are three or four 
that are common. Thorns are used for hedges, but they 
come out too late, and are too liable to attacks of insects, 
t® be popular. The seed generally remains a year iu the 
ground before germinating. 
Florida Oranges!— Mi'.Day, Jr.,Daytpnia, 
Fla!, left with us a twig hearing a cluster of 28 oranges. 
Strawberry Queries.— r"W. M.. Allen, O. 
The Wijson does not peed any ether variety to fertilize 
it. Comstock’s Pony Cultivator .lias a runner-cutter 
attachment, hut we have never feedn it in use. 
I </ -- r 
JSsnolcing- Out,- Hetra-SLice.—S. .Under¬ 
wood. Harwich, Mass., writes us that after whitewashing 
his hen-roosts and tr ying c hang e of location, both of 
which afforded "only temporary relief from vermin, lie 
smoked the roost very thoroughly, so that-the poles and 
walls were impregnated wit^i the odor of the smoke for a 
long while, and though eight years have elapsed,, no hen- 
lice have been seen in the apartment since. 
Potato-Seeds.—“ G. W; B.,V Charlestown, 
Ind. Let the seeds remain in the balls until time-to sow 
them, then treat them as you would tomato-seeds. Start 
in a liot-bed or in a warm room, and when the weather 
is suitable transplant them. 
Patent BFeodoriseer.—“ G. W. G.,” Wash¬ 
ington, D. C„ We do not see that this patent .matter is 
any better for the public than dry earth, which is not 
patented (as yet), but if the patentee thinks differently 
he will find .our advertising terms on page 2p. 
Blvcrgreem Seeds and PI sms Is.—“ J. 
M. P.,” N. H, Keep, the seeds of evergreens in the 
cones until spring. They are sown like any other seeds. It 
will he of little use to try to raise evergreens from the 
seed unless shade is provided. Hemlock and white pine 
are transplanted in spring. The precise time is not of 
so much consequence as is keeping the roots moist when, 
ever the work is 1 done. 
A SSarley Crop and WHeat a.o 
do with it.—A correspondent in Iowa says he raised 
this year 290 bushels of barley from 6 acres. He 1 can only 
get 35 cents per bushel foirdt, and asks whether he had 
better sell it at that price or feed it to his sheep. He can 
buy corn at 20 cents a bushel iu the ear. Com is as nu¬ 
tritious as barley, weight for weight. Barley weighs 4S 
pounds per bushel, corn 56 pounds. If corn is worth 20 
cents per bushel, barley is worth 17 1-7 cents. Our cor¬ 
respondent had better sell his barley and buy corn. 
Grinding Grain for Slacep.—A 'West¬ 
ern farmer says he is ten miles from mill, and asks us if 
it will pay to take his grain that distance, and pay one 
seventh toll to have it ground for sheep. Certainly not; 
grain does not need grinding for sheep. 
i 
Liuie for Wltess.it.—An Iowa - farmer asks 
when it is best to apply lime to winter wheat. Spread 
it broadcast on the land anytime during the previous 
spring or summer, or just before sowing the wheat, and 
harrow and cultivate it in. 
“Tile Cancel; Plant.”—That man or 
association of men, who calls himself or themselves, the 
“ New York Medical University,” is or are not to be out¬ 
done by the Cundnrango folks. Before these people were 
fairly ready with their South American cancer cure, 
the University ” folks were out with “their Cancer 
Plant,” ani a pamphlet, entitled a “History of the Cancer 
Plant,” is spread \roadcast. This pamphlet says : “ The 
Cancer Plant ( Plantago Cancrorum) evidently belongs 
to the natural ocdcT Plantaginacece, and sexual system 
f Tetraudio, Monogynia." It is a little remarkable that a 
Plantago should belong To tlie'order Plantaginacece, isn’t 
it ? “ ft As a small plant, having Several sea-green, jrnrple- 
veined leaves, with a centra}, upright stalk bearing dimin¬ 
utive yellow flovyers, found in the vicinity of swamps and 
in moist’ earth, on the borders of pine forests in the 
Southern ind Middle States. We may err in claiming it 
as a recent discovery, but we have shown specimen sto sev¬ 
eral physicians and botanists,who say they have never seen 
anything like it before. It is certainly not laid down in 
any medical or botanical work with'which we are acquaint¬ 
ed.” W'e do not know with what kind of botanists and 
botanical works those “ University’-’ chaps are acquainted, 
but wo <lo not know of any botanist, qven the merest stu¬ 
dent,, so utterly ignorant and stupid as not to. know that 
the figure given of this precious plant is not t.hkt of a 
Plantago, and that it “ evidently ” does not belong to the 
Plantaginacea , blit is bn undoubted CompdRitit; being a 
tolerably fair pictnre.of the very commomond well-known 
Bieracium,venosum, the. .(Rattlesnake-weed, so called be¬ 
cause It has-in common with many other native plants a 
pbpnW hipiftiAion in Some IbcrfMttlfe’W an kfilidote for 
the bites of snakes. With the medical properties of this 
plant, if it has any, we have nothing to do. The story of 
the “University,” chaps in relation- tp thein is sufficient¬ 
ly set forth and illustrated by the most repulsive engrav¬ 
ings iii the pamphlet hefoVte us. -The point we 1 wish to 
makeiis this! Hero are persons calling-themselves '> doc¬ 
tors,j” and.'blowing their; own .tiurppets.under the fqlse 
pretense that they are a “ University,”.who know notliing 
about'the plant "they profess to use. They are fools 
enoUgli t?o Suppose that' a Bieracium. is a' Plantago. - To 
he 1 sure they are both plants, and so'are a robin and a 
turkey,-bflszprd bqth birds.) 
Bee Notes for Jaftiiary.—Afr/ r M ,! 'Qilinbtf. 
This is'the : trying month for ■ bejls in the open .air. 
Such as have too mpeh honey can notp.ack cl.ose enough 
together to keep warm. The very heavy hives should be 
protected with an outside covering during the severest 
weather. The fries in those hives that have' only a mod¬ 
erate quantity of honey have empty cells- to creep into, 
and can pack close for mutual protection, but are in dan¬ 
ger of starving, even with stores in the bive. If tile 
weather does not change from extremely cold to moder¬ 
ate at least once in two weeks, so as to melt the frost iu 
