86 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
symbols for business purposes. Here arc some of the 
new and old names assumed by these swindlers: Amos 
Wainwright, 170 Broadway, Trenton, N. J., and N. T. 
City; Dennis Dunn, alias G. 0. Peck, 16 South Fifth 
Avenue, N. Y. City; John Hood, Jr., Wilmington, Del., 
and at corner Broadway and 20lh street, N. Y.; Rowley & 
Son, 176 Broadway; Albert Todd, 79 Nassau street, N. Y. 
_The jewelry prize scheme of Pardee & Co., at Bing¬ 
hamton, N. Y., has, wo believe, been shut up by legal 
process; if not, it should be at once... .Reuben Graham, 
P. O. Bos 158, Williamsburgh, N. Y., sends out circulars 
advertising obscene prints, pictures, etc., under the thin¬ 
ly disguised plea that they are exposures of tricks, etc. 
Parents and guardians should be careful that their chil¬ 
dren and wards do not receive these circulars by mail; 
and the postmaster at Williamsburg will ef course stop all 
letters coming to snehademon, whose proper address is in 
the lower regions. Such operators usually pocket the mon¬ 
ey sent them, sending nothing iu return ; or if they do re¬ 
spond with their poisonous trash, it is done from some 
out-of-the-way point. Furthermore, their patrons are not 
likely to come forward as witnesses and expose their own 
shame: this is the reason why such swindlers so general¬ 
ly escape the Stato Prison... Operators in Maine. 
Every month we have more or less complaints against 
the operations of two parties at two points in Maine, 
which indicate a good deal of sharp dealing, if not posi¬ 
tive swindling. We will be obliged to our readers if 
they will send us positive, definite accounts of what they 
know of these operators in books, papers, sewing ma¬ 
chines, recipes, agencies, and a host of implements, 
medicines, gim-cracks, etc. We only desire to get at the 
facts, in reliable, responsible form. 
A Capital Story is the “ Floosicr School- 
Master ”—or Life in the West. It is now published in a 
fine bound volume, and is so highly prized that the 
printers can scarcely keep pace with the demand for it. 
Price, prepaid, by mail, $1.25. 
WEiicIa Is tlae Best Stock?—“F. E. 
D.,” Wayne Co., Pa., asks, Which is the best stock, for 
size, beauty, beef, and butter?—For size, beauty, and 
beef, the Shorthorn is pre-eminent, next the Hereford. 
Sometimes these breeds are good at the pail. For butter 
and beauty only, the Jersey or Guernsey (the name Al¬ 
derney is dropped now, but it includes both these) are 
best. There is no one stock that can be said to be best in 
all points, under all circumstances. The Ayrshires are 
beautiful, make good beef, and are good milkers, but are 
of moderate size. Devons arc good beef and workers, only. 
Mitlncy»l¥oi-S3a«i Ixa Bloats.—“I. L. L.” 
can probably cure his hogs affected by the kidney-worm, 
which causes paralysis iu the hind parts, by giving half 
a teaspoonful of copperas daily in the feed, for a few 
days. Salt, ashes, charcoal, and sulphur, given occasion¬ 
ally in the feed, is a complete preventive. 
mnlv-.'Ka.ising -.- 11 W. J. McC.,” Reid City, 
Mich. There is no difficulty about it. First catch the 
minks. Make a tight-boarded yard, with water-tanks, 
hiding places of rock-work and dark retreats, with sepa¬ 
rate apartments, where the breeding minks can make 
their nests and be shut up when necessary. Feed on 
livers and fresh fish. Keep clean with dry-earth. Abun¬ 
dance of fresh water is required. Close observation is 
necessary to understand their wants, which must be at¬ 
tended to. We can not say if it has ever been made 
profitable, but doubt it. 
A Good Fowl-Mouse IN'eeiletl.— The 
following explains itself. “ Dear Agriculturist ; I have 
been a reader of your paper for years and enjoy it much, 
but there is one thing I regret, it does not stir my hus¬ 
band to farming up to the times. I have been coaxing 
him for years to build a hennery. I like raising fowls ; 
my children delight in helping take care of them. We 
have over two hundred light Brahmas, besides dark ones, 
and other breeds, and my greatost grievance is that they 
will freeze their feet roosting in the trees this winter. 
Now, if you will print something to induce my husband 
to build a house for them, I will continue to subscribe to 
your excellent paper so long ns I am an inhabitant of this 
planet.” We give the above in full, because sensible 
that it is better than any argument that we can make. If 
repeated home admonitions have failed, and this in typo 
does not take effect upon the lady’s husband, then we 
give him up ns incorrigible. 
IIow to Feed a. Heifer Fomins' in. 
—“ F. M.” proposes to feed a heifer soon to come in as 
follows : Hay three times a day, with 6 quarts of potatoes 
and yellow turnips, daily, until three weeks of calving; 
then change the roots to two qnnrts ofonts per day, until 
the time is up, when he will give her two quarts of meal 
with four quarts of carrots. This will be good and judi¬ 
cious treatment. If she is a large milker, the quantity 
of meal may be doubled. 
Navicular B>iseasc.—“Subscriber” asks 
for the treatment of navicular disease of long standing. 
It will most likely be found past cure. The horse maybe 
eased of the acute pain by dividing the nerve, an operation 
easily performed by a real veterinary surgeon. 
Cure for CriH»I»ing-.—J. Teackle, Balti¬ 
more, sends a cure for cribbing, which is a basket of wire 
fixed on the nose by straps over the horse’s head. This 
comes below the nose, so that the horse can not get hold 
of the crib, and the practice is prevented. We should 
like to see a drawing of this nose-basket. 
Seeding' si Nlarsli.—“E. M.,” Ilillsdale, 
wants to seed a marsh to grass; has got the ground har¬ 
rowed, but too late to sow in the fall.—Sow early in 
spring. The mixture of timothy and red-top, half and 
half, is proper for this purpose. In time the red-top will 
crowd out the timothy, unless the ground is dry. 
Haniire from Straw and Grain.— 
“ E. M.,” II., asks which is of most value, the manure 
from cattle fed on hay, or that from those fed on straw 
and grain. Either will be poor enough, unless consider¬ 
able grain is fed, when that from grain and straw will be 
the best. 
Earache in Morses.— “W. E. G.” asks, 
“Do horses suffer from earache, and what is the cure ? ” 
Doubtless. Make a sack to fit the upper part of the head, 
and apply a warm fomentation to the base of the ear. 
of an Artesian Well.—“ C. 
K. R.,” Schuyler, Neb., asks how to tell the depth neces¬ 
sary to boro for water in an artesian well. If the geolog¬ 
ical character of the country is sufficiently well marked, 
a geologist might make an estimate which might turn out 
nearly correct. But there are very few localities where 
even a guess could be hazarded. In your position (Platte 
valley) it would be safest foryour neighbors to join you in 
the expense of testing the depth of an underground 
stream, as they would be equally benefited with you. 
Salt in tlae Garden.—“ J. H.,” Mayfield. 
Your waste salt may be used to advantage upon the 
asparagus-bed, at the rate of five bushels to the acre, ap¬ 
plied before the plants start. Onions, when four or five 
inches high; arc benefited by the application of about 
three bushels to the acre. It is useful, according to 
some, as a dressing in the cabbage field. There is 
but little positive knowledge as to the fertilizing value 
of salt, but several good cultivators agree as to its utility 
in the cases above named. 
Tlae Kiglat Sort.—“R. M. T.” writes that 
“ reading the Agriculturist induced me to buy a farm 
about two years ago, and the more trouble I have the 
more I seem to like it.” That man don’t loaf at the gro¬ 
cery and complain of hard times and bad luck. 
4) siren Mo, I.aily-IBsjg-s, Borers. — 
“A. J.,” Smyrna, Tenn. “The Curculio ” is a dark 
gray or blackish snout-beetle that deposits its eggs in 
plums and other fruit. There are hundreds of species of 
Curculio, but the one called by fruit-growers “ the curcu¬ 
lio,” is the chap that makes such havoc with plums. All 
red and black lady-bugs are your friends. They are 
around your apple-trees in search of plant-lice. Apple 
and peach borers are insects; the sap-sucker, although it 
bores, is not a “borer” in the accepted term. 
Now for tliose Peach-Bmls.—This 
i3 the time when we look out for dead peach-buds. 
We don’t know how peaches grow, but we are quite 
sure that the buds are all killed every year—at least by 
those who bull or bear (we don't exactly know which) 
the peach market. Peach-buds were badly killed last 
spring, but in September loads of peaches were thrown 
away, to save the baskets. This spring every bud is as 
dead as a door-nail, yet we shall probably get our Dela¬ 
wares at a dollar a basket, or less. 
Northern E’arijic lEniltyny. — By 
the opening of the European markets to the Northern 
Pacific Railway loan, a new interest has been awakened 
in the Northern road that is now pushing out rapidly 
towards the Pacific. The mutual interests, commercial 
and political, existing between the East and West of 
our great country render it imperative that there 
bo abundant, speedy, and uninterrupted railway com¬ 
munication. There will soon bo business for several 
railways. The Northern and Southern routes are 
even more feasible than the central one; while, of 
the former two, the Northern one will have the 
advantage of passing through a rich agricultural region, 
iu nearly its whole course, that will furnish an immense 
local travel and traffic, instead of running through broad, 
arid plains. There is a popular error in regard to high 
latitude and cold climate of the country traversed by the 
Northern'route. A glance at the map will show that in 
nearly all its course it runs on a latitude corresponding 
with the north of France, Austria, and Southern Russia 
in Europe. Minnesota is one of the finest wheat sec¬ 
tions, and similarly fertile regions of country arc found 
stretching away westward towards the Pacific. All the 
inhabitants of Sweden, Norway, and much more of 
Europe, would find a warmer climate, more generous 
soil, and abundant room between Minnesota and the 
Pacific coast. The wonderful natural scenery along the 
Yellowstone River, now coming into notice, will ere long 
attract immense throngs of visitors from all parts of the 
country and from the Old World, and these sight-seers 
will pass over this road. So much for the future of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. In answer to numerous in¬ 
quiries from our readers, we will add that we do not see 
how the Bonds of this road can fail to bo a safe invest¬ 
ment, with the large business the road must ere long en¬ 
joy, and with the fifty-seven million acres of land granted, 
by Congress as an additional security. Other inquiries 
arc answered in the advertisement of Messrs. Jay Cooke 
& Co., on last cover page. 
The Trophy Tomato.—W. R. Woodard, 
of Chicago, to whom we sent, last spring, a packet of 
Trophy Tomato seeds as a premium, writes : “ I was 
rather surprised to read the account of the competition 
on the Trophy Tomato in your last. I anticipated much 
larger tilings than are there recorded. A packet of seed, 
which I received in April, as a premium, and planted in 
a box in the kitchen window, produced plants that in 
August gave me better results than any you there men¬ 
tion, and that, too, without receiving anything like pro¬ 
per care. A dozen plants, which I took the last of April, 
when three inches high, to Mercer County, gave, under 
the very good care they received, the largest and best 
tomatoes I ever heard of, the largest weighing 36 ounces, 
and those weighing 23, 30, 34, being numerous. Without 
care it has done better than any sort I ever tried, while it 
seems to me to yield better returns for extra care than 
any other, and I have for years made it a rule to try every 
new tomato that I heard of.” 
To I»i ■eserve Trees £V»iai BSal>l>Ifs. 
—“R. W. M.,” Kent, Ohio, preserves his fruit trees from 
rabbits and sheep by washing them with a mixture of fresh 
cow-dung and water. This is always available, while 
blood is not. This will do for rabbits, but sheep or 
goats should never bo permitted in an orchard. 
4iiray Squirrels anil Maple-Trees. 
—“ E. C. B.” wrote from Embarrass, Wis., last March, 
“ Why do gray squirrels gnaw the bark from the branches 
of the sugar-maple ? An army of them have lived in a 
sugar-bush belonging to my brother, the past winter, and 
on many of the trees the whole of the upper branches 
are completely denuded of their bark. Some small 
saplings are stripped from root to topmost twig. As late 
as two weeks ago ho shot one in the act of gnawing off 
fresh bark. Did you ever hear of a like circumstance ? 
There is even now a plenty of acorns near by, but they 
seemed to prefer the bark.”—We never heard of this trick 
of the squirrels. They probably do it for a change of diet. 
Frasalaerry Culture.—“ S. K. K.” asks 
if it will pay to make a cranberry meadow, where the 
preparation will cost $280 per acre, and where he can flow 
the land—but not at will—and whore frost is liable to 
affect the vines.—We fear the experiment is a risky one. 
The time for extreme high prices for cranberries is past, 
and for the future calculations must be based on an aver¬ 
age of five or six dollars a barrel, or even less. 
FiilEing's oiTjJrapes aiail Currants. 
—J. F. Herrick, Ky. Autumn is much the best time for 
making these cuttings; with currants particularly, nearly 
a year is gained. They can be made now with a fair show 
of success. As soon as possible, when the plants are 
not frozen, make cuttings of the wood of last year’s 
growth. Cut the currant wood into pieces of six inches 
and the grape into lengths of two or three buds each, as 
most convenient. Tic the grape-cuttings in bundles, 
tops all one way, and bury in the cellar, or in a place out¬ 
doors where water does not stand. If possible to work 
the ground, sot the currants at once; if not, bury them and 
set at the earliest day. Set in a trench, leaving one bud 
above surface, and crowd the earth well against their 
lower cuds. Put the cuttings four to six inches apart, 
keep free of weeds through the summer, mulch when dry 
weather comes, and in fall set where they are to grow. 
Put out the grapes when the soil is warm and mellow', in 
