1873 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
85 
containing a great variety of Items , including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for want of sp>ace elsewhere. 
fficnutting' Money: — Checks on 
New Yorlc City Banks or Bankers are best 
for large sums; make payable to the order of Orange 
Judd «fc Co..Post-Ofiice Money Orders, 
for $50 or less, are cheap and safe also. When these are not 
obtainable, register letters, affixing stamps for post¬ 
age and registry; put in the money and seal the letter in 
the presence of the postmaster, and take his receipt for it. 
Money sent in the above throe methods is safe against loss. 
Postage : On American Agriculturist , 3 cents 
a quarter, in advance ; on Hearth and Home, 5 cents per 
quarter. Double rates if not paid in advance at the 
office where the papers are received. For subscribers in 
British America, the postage must be sent to this office 
for prepayment here. 
ISouud. Copies of Voltsiate T!«ir*y 
are now ready. Price, $.2, at our office • or $2.50 
each, if sent by mail. Any of tlielast fifteen volumes 
(16 to 30) will also bo forwarded at same price. Sets of 
numbers sent to our office will be neatly bound in our 
regular style, at 75 cents per vol. (50 cents extra, if return¬ 
ed by mail.) Missing numbers supplied at 12 cents each. 
Clubs can at any time be increased by remitting 
for each addition the price paid by the original members; 
or a small club may be increased to a larger one; thus: 
a person having sent 10 subscribers and $12, may after¬ 
ward send 10 more subscribers with only $8 ; making a 
club of 20 at $1 each ; and so of the other club rates. 
SOME YOUNG UAHSES Com¬ 
plain that our publishers have given premiums to 
men, to boys and girls, etc., but never offered any special 
premium for young ladies. They forget the pianos, and 
many other things in our general list, but even these com¬ 
plaints are now done away with, in part at least. The 
new $10 Sewing Machine, offered on page 88, is of spe¬ 
cial value to young ladies. They can easily collect sub¬ 
scribers enough among their friends to secure a sowing 
machine all their own. 
Mauwriiig- by Pasturing;.—“A Sub¬ 
scriber ” asks whether drove cattle pastured on grass land 
at ten cents per head, after the grass has been cut, would 
be as cheap a way of manuring the land as hauling manure 
six miles, and paying $1.50 per one-horse load. If the 
cattle are mainly full-grown and in good condition, and 
the manure left by them is well broken up and spread, 
and the money received expended in bone-dust and ap¬ 
plied to the land, it will be more cheaply managed than 
by purchasing manure as stated. 
When to Spreatl Asltes.—“ J. J. L.,” 
Crisfield, Md., asks the best time to spread ashes, and are 
coal-ashes worth saving as manure ?—Spread ashes early 
in spring on grass or wheat; for corn or potatoes throw ! 
a handful in the hill at planting. Coal-ashes are worth 
but little on light soil, and but little more on heavy soil, 
except to loosen the texture. 
Price of EEi-aia-TTile.— J. M. Hubbard, 
Middletown, Ct., thinks the cost of drain-tiles mentioned 
in January number, viz., 20 cents per rod, too low (his 
cost $25 per thousand). The cost there given was that 
actually incurred by us about three years since. Tiles, 
1(4 and 2(4 inch, are quoted at $15 per thousand by a 
dealer in New York, length 15 inches,’ which will bring 
our estimate about right. 
Uisla. Manure.—A. Hampton lives on the 
bank of a river swarming with fish, and wants to know 
how to use them on his land.—First catch them, then 
pile them in layers, with swamp muck or earth, until 
rotted, then turn over once, and when heated, once more ; 
cart ou to the land and spread broad-cast on grass, or 
plow in for corn, wheat, or roots. One cord of fish to six 
or eight of muck will make a rich manure, equal to the 
best stable-manure. It is excellent for all crops. 
Mad Stela.—“K. K.,” Caput, Mo., found one 
of his cows with swollen head and jaw, and one eye 
nearly closed. She rubbed her head violently against a 
post until the hair was taken off, and pawed the ground 
and appeared wild. He drenched her with salts and 
sulphur, and bathed her head with salt and water, but 
ineffectually. She died in a few hours. Was the treat¬ 
ment correct ?—Nothing more could have been done in 
the effort to cure. The disease was “ mad itch,” but 
possibly, had sulphur been fed regularly, an ounce once 
a week, the complaint might have been averted. The 
usual treatment is a dose of one pound of sulphur, fol¬ 
lowed in eight hours with a pound of Glauber salts. 
A E5ii4«cla of Questions.—“ Qeo. S. W.,” 
Chatham, N. Y., asks if the articles on An Egg Farm are 
based on actual experience ?—Yes. What is the best 
kind of millet for seed, average per acre, time to sow, and 
value of straw? —The true millet (Panicum miliaceum ), 
sown early in spring, produces 25 to 30 bushels seed per 
acre, on good soil; hay, when ripe, is equal in value to 
oat straw. Will copperas injure night-soil ?—No. 
EEow to Use Muck.— “C. O. B.,” Pike 
Co., Pa., asks how he shall use muck, and whatis the best 
artificial manure to mix with it? Muck should be dug in the 
winter, and exposed to the weather. The frost will reduce 
it to a fine condition, the summer’s heat will cause it to 
ferment, and then it will be in a fit state to spread upon 
grass lands. There arc many tanneries in Pike Co., Pa,, 
and the refuse from them would be valuable to compost 
with muck. Fish-guano or bone-dust might well be 
mixed at the rate of a barrel to a cord of muck. 
ESung-ariaiL Grass. —“A. J. W.,” Port 
Gibson, Miss. Hungarian grass, Hungarian and Cat-tail 
millet, arc all different names for the same plant, Setaria 
Germanica, usually called Hungarian grass. For a fodder 
crop it would be better to sow rather thickly, say twelve 
quarts per acre, in a succession, rather than depend 'on 
repeated cutting of the same sowing. When the straw is 
ripe, it is coarse and harsh, and considered poor feed. If 
the soil is not rich, a good crop can not be expected. 
Hand Thrashing-Machine.— “ J. II. 
Z.,” Lancaster Co., Pa., asks our opinion of the hand- 
power thrashing-machine. Wo have no confidence in 
what is claimed for it. No combination of machinery can 
increase the motive power of a machine, without decreas¬ 
ing, proportionately, the velocity; nor can the velocity be 
increased without an increased expenditure of power, so 
that auy way a man’s power is not added to: the only ad¬ 
vantage there can be is in the better application of the 
power than with the flail.-AT. II. Z.’s answers to puzzles 
should be sent to Aunt Sue, P. O. Box 111, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
To BEissoivc Grouml Bone. —“ S. C. 
S.,” Aiken, S. C., asks, What proportion of sulphuric acid 
is required to dissolve ground bone ? Twenty-two pounds 
of acid will dissolve one hundred pounds of bone. But 
the Charleston phosphate is not bone, and contains no 
animal matter; and a larger proportion of acid is necessary 
to dissolve it; we do not know the exact quantity, but it 
can be easily determined on trial; probably 50 pounds. 
Curias' Clover. — “Subscriber,” Richland 
Co., N. Y., asks the best way to cure clover. We cure by 
putting it in cocks, after lying in the swarth until near 
sundown, and keeping it twenty-four hours in that con¬ 
dition. It heats during the night, but in the afternoon 
of the second day it is in good condition to put in the 
barn. The exposure in loading and unloading carries off 
all excess of dampness. 
Shall BBc Go West ? — “ D. W. II.,” 
River Styx, Ohio, has twenty-five acres of land, in a good 
locality for fruit and gardening, near three railroads, and 
asks : Can he better himself by going West ?—He can get 
a larger farm, but with more land he will have less com¬ 
fort, and in ten years may be no better off than he now 
is, and less than he may possibly be, if he should stay in 
Ohio. The landless are those who should go West. 
Eas-Iy-layimsf IPnllets.—“ J.W. P.,”Goffs- 
town Center, N. II., alludes to our statement in the Feb¬ 
ruary number respecting Brahmas laying when six 
months old, and has a story to beat it, and about the 
common sort of fowls ” too. He says some of his pul¬ 
lets laid last summer before they were five months old, 
and one commenced to sit before she was five and a half 
months of age. He adds, “ It is care that brings the eggs 
along more than extra breeds.” Our correspondent’s 
case is not unexampled. Instances have been known 
where pullets have laid in fifteen weeks from the time 
they were hatched. It is pretty well agreed among poul¬ 
try-keepers tb.at the common fowls can not be as well re¬ 
lied upon to lay at the age of five or six months as the 
Brahmas. The normal time of commencing to lay is at 
the age of twelve months, and early maturity is possible 
only under highly artificial influences. 
See Page 119. 
.08 re a is. eng- Oxen. — “Subscriber,” Sandy 
Spring, Pa., wants to know something about breaking 
oxen. Any one who can drive oxen can break them, if 
he commences when they are yearlings. A light yoke 
and bows should be made, and at first the steers should 
be led around with a cord and taught to understand the 
words of command and the duties required of them. 
When this has been well learned, a light sled or cart may 
be made for them, and when three years old they will be 
found useful for light work. According to the skill and 
patience of the breaker, they will be docile and handy, 
or otherwise. 
SEaali He Improve Iiis Common 
Stock ? —“ F. R.” asks whether to improve the common 
stock would not lead to a higher system of farming?— 
Certainly, and this course is open to every farmer who 
wishes to rise in his profession and improve his condi¬ 
tion. Improved stock comes through improved ideas, 
and they result in improvements all around. 
WarWcs. —“W. S. G.,” San Diego, Cal., has 
discovered a number of small lumps along the back of 
one of his heifers, in which a grub is concealed. These 
are warbles, or the larvae of the Cattle Bot-fly. If left 
alone, the grub will escape when it is mature, and no in¬ 
jury will result. But the grubs may be discharged by 
pressing the lump between the two thumb-nails. After 
this the opening will heal. The grub should not be de¬ 
stroyed in the skin, or suppuration will take place. 
Pawlouia,— L. D. Scott, Ohio. We notice 
that some journals are helping some speculators to revive 
this tree, which had its day years ago. It grows very rap¬ 
idly when young, and is no hardier than the Catalpa. Its 
merit is in its flowers, which around Ncw-York escape 
winter-killing probably one winter in three. It will 
bloom regularly farther South, but then it lias the insu¬ 
perable objection to an ornamental tree that its large 
clusters of seed-pods remain on until beaten off by the 
winds. This much disfigures the tree, and in our eyes 
condemns it, except as a curiosity. 
Harrowing; IVIicat in Spring-.— “ D. 
W.,” Holton, Kansas, asks if it would be better to go 
through his fall wheat in the spring with a harrow, or 
with the drill. When wheat has been drilled, the drill may 
he run through in the spring with advantage, but a light 
harrow would more effectually stir the ground and not in¬ 
jure the plants. We use the Thomas harrow for wheat. 
Produce oi* IFirtecm Hens.—An octo¬ 
genarian writes that his flock of fifteen hens averaged 
one hundred eggs each from January 1st, 1871, to the 27th 
of the December following. They were the common 
breed, and were fed regularly twice a day with wheat 
bran and Indian meal, scalded with hot water or milk, 
a little pepper occasionally, and the scraps from the table, 
and a small allowance of wheat and corn in the kernel. 
SUNEERY MUMBLES. — Any man 
■wishing to spend $500 or $600, or more, in a sacrifice to 
his vanity, can bo accommodated by a “ publishing firm ’’ 
that professes to enroll ever so many distinguished men 
in a grand hook, with a steel portrait and biography of 
each one—that is to say, eacli one who will “come 
down” handsomely with greenbacks to pay a big price 
for the steel plates, and half a dozen other big prices for 
as many of the big books. From the number and kind 
of men approached by said Publishing Company, we 
judge that the chief thing necessaiy to be done to be¬ 
come distinguished, is to raise the needed greenbacks. 
This is an age of progress and improvement. To be 
ranked alongside of the “eminent" men of the nine¬ 
teenth century, one need not work, toil, study, and strive 
through a long series of years ; a lucky strike in trade, 
or speculation in vacant lots, yielding a few hundred dol¬ 
lars, will do the tiling. If the speculation yield $1,000, 
we suppose it will secure a rank in this book as the most 
eminent man of the age, unless some richer, vainer spe¬ 
culator outbids you for the place.Omaha, Neb., seems 
to bo a kind of head-quarters for the gift enterprise ope¬ 
rators. Nobody but greenhorns and very foolish people 
will bite at the several apparently tempting baits, issued 
in flaming circulars, extras of newspapers, etc., from 
Omaha, but not many of such people will read 
this journal, and we will not devote space to analyzing 
the schemes. These last remarks apply equally to the 
Magnolia, Iowa, gift enterprise, and sundry other like 
schemes in various parts of the country, especially West 
and South. One number (Vol. I., No. 1) of a paper is is¬ 
sued in the interest- of these schemes.Several 
“ queer,” or “ sawdust,” orpretended “good”counterfeit 
money operators are still at work. A majority of these 
now use Masonic or J. O. O. F. symbols as a blind. No 
member of these orders is ever allowed to use these 
