AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
1868 .] 
broadcast. If I want it for vise in the hill or 
for application to growing plants I dry the 
paste with sifted coal ashes, dried peat, or any 
convenient absorbent. Any small pieces of 
bone left in the fertilizer will be certain to do 
good after the first year, and that which is fine 
will benefit the crops immediately. I have 
never made an accurate experiment to test the 
value of this fertilizer in comparison with others, 
but am well satisfied that I get my money back, 
and at the same time keep the land improving.” 
We have no doubt this is a very safe way for 
small farmers to work up all the old bones they 
can buy at cheap rates. For men of capital it 
would be safe to buy ground bones, if they can 
find a pure article, or the phosphatic guanos and 
make their own superphosphate. We trust 
any of our readers who make the experiment 
will report their process of manufacture and the 
results of the application to the various crops. 
- - -»-< - —--- 
, Planting Potatoes in March. 
Potatoes planted in March are usually subject 
to cold weather, great dampness of the soil, and 
a succession of checks before the sprouts reach 
the surface; and after this the young plant is 
liable to freezing and thawing and soaking to 
which it is hardly fair to expose it. It is a 
grand thing to finish up potato planting early ; 
and it is work which may frequently be done 
when nothing else can be. If we use choice 
seed and wish to make it go as far as possible, 
we are tempted to cut it in single eye pieces for 
planting. Doing this, with most varieties, we 
would be likely to lose half the seed,—perhaps 
more, early planted. It would be otherwise if 
the planting was to be done in May. Good sized 
pieces, or medium sized potatoes planted whole, 
are much the surest to give a good set if plant¬ 
ed in March. The cutting should always be 
done several days before planting, and the heap 
turned over, or spread thin, to dry somewhat. 
An incrustation of the starch and juices of the 
tuber, called healing, takes place which defends 
the piece against decay. The best results are 
obtained in planting the potatoes about three 
inches deep in drills, on dry, gravelly loam. 
Experience with Sick Poultry. 
Accounts of the successful treatment of well 
described diseases of poultry, in the present 
state of our knowledge on this subject, are very 
welcome. The troubles of a Colorado corre¬ 
spondent have brought the following communi¬ 
cation from “ A. II. T.”. of New Haven, Conn.: 
“ I once had an experience somewhat re¬ 
sembling that of Mr. Page, of Colorado, detailed 
in the January number. My hens refused 
their grain, but sought assiduously for drink. 
On examining them I found their mouths, 
tongues, and as far down the throat as I could 
see, covered with thick white spots, a yellow, 
feculent matter running from the mouth. Each 
hen that appeared diseased I took from the 
yard and tied with a string to a brick. Thus 
'she could have nothing but the grass to pick 
and no water. Not having access to an apothe¬ 
cary’s I obtained the rust from an old weather¬ 
beaten stove and some iron hoops, and making 
it into pills of the ordinary size, I gave her 
three a day. For diet she had fresh meat 
cooked with a little boiled rice, and for drink, 
milk with alum dissolved in it. And although 
I was three weeks curing my worst case, at the 
end of that time I had the gratification to find 
my lien singing, and fit to return to the yard. 
I will relate another experience of later date. 
I found two hens on the roost blind, or nearly 
so, in both eyes, their mouths and bills covered 
with hard white bunches, a thick coating in 
their throats, looking just as diphtheria in a 
human being. They were so far gone I could 
do nothing for them but to put them out of them 
misery. One after another was similarly at¬ 
tacked, until about thirty of my hens came 
under treatment. I lost twelve of this number. 
My treatment in regard to the iron was the 
same, but I removed the thick white coating 
from the mouth by dusting in finely pulverized 
loaf sugar. I washed their eyes, which in some 
cases were nearly closed, and sometimes swollen 
out as large as a small marble, with warm milk 
and water. In two cases the eye came entirely 
out, leaving the hens blind on one side. They 
were fed twice a day with bread cut in narrow 
strips and put down their throats, as not one 
could eat or drink of herself. Their drink was 
milk, warmed, and cayenne pepper put in it. 
This also had to be poured with a teaspoon into 
their mouths. The breathing of some of these 
fowls was so loud and hoarse that it could be 
heard at a considerable distance. Some of the 
hens were under treatment for a month, and 
were sick more or less all the winter. I could 
find no reason, except that, in the fall, their yard 
was rendered more damp and cold than usual, 
by frequent rains. Their food was the same 
as usual and the water in their trough renewed 
every morning. This season they have been kept 
from this yard, and no disease has appeared.” 
This disease seems very like some forms of 
Roup, for which we have known active stimu¬ 
lating treatment in the first stages very effica¬ 
cious. Bread soaked in ale and sprinkled 
with cayenne pepper, and tincture of iron in 
their drink, are usually successful remedies. 
Fixed Foothold for a Fan-Mill. 
Barn floors are somewhat uneven, and fan- 
mills have not w'eight enough to stand steadily 
when turned with a strong arm, to give a forcible 
blast, so they slide 
and dance about un¬ 
less fastened by cleats 
or otherwise. Mr. Ell- 
wood Hughes of Fow- 
lersville, Penn., who 
thinks farmers read¬ 
ing the Agriculturist 
ought to contribute 
their good ideas to its 
columns for the bene¬ 
fit of all, sends us the 
following description 
of an attachment to 
his fan-mill, which he 
finds of great service: 
“ A bar of round, 3 | 8 
iron long enough to 
turn a short handle 
above the top of the 
leg of the fan-mill, has a thread cut at the bot¬ 
tom and passes through a nut fastened at the 
bottom of the leg. The end of 
the rod is sharpened to a point 
so as to take hold in the floor, 
and the top passes through a 
staple in the top of the leg. Such 
a rod should be attached to two 
of the legs of a fan-mill, so that 
they may be turned down to take 
hold in the floor. Thus the mill 
will retain its place while in use and stand 
Fig. 1 .— FIXED FOOT FOR 
FAN-MILL. 
level, no matter how uneven the floor. When 
one has done using the mill the rods may be run 
up, and then the mill will slide smoothly over 
the floor.” Figure 1 shows a portion of the fan- 
mill with the rod attached, and fig. 2 gives the 
screw at the lower end of the rod with the nut. 
A Handy and Powerful Lever. 
In working in soft ground, whether at pulling 
stumps or moving stones, the great want is a 
firm place to set 
the lever. We ex¬ 
hibit in the ac¬ 
companying en¬ 
graving a lever, 
which requires a 
very simple base, 
and if rigged with 
a pulley,or “block 
and tackle,” as 
shown, may exert 
a great lifting 
power. For such 
lifts a crooked 
lever has many 
advantages. We 
witnessed, a short 
time since, the 
operation of such 
an one, and were 
struck with its utility. The ring to which 
the powerful inch-iron hook is attached should 
perhaps pass through the bar closer to the 
inner angle than is represented. It might 
equally well be made so as to slip over the bar 
and hold in a notch on the inner side. Such a 
lever may be seven to nine feet long, and made 
of oak or hickory. It may be operated by hand, 
by attaching the upper end of the rope to a 
stump and pulling down upon the lower end ; 
or by horses or cattle, by fixing the lower end 
and carrying the upper one off to where the 
team may be conveniently and efficiently used. 
■-«-<-—mow—-- <*--- 
Flavor and Firmness of Texture in Cheese. 
BT T. D. CURTIS. 
The chief complaint for the last two years 
against American cheese in foreign markets— 
and, indeed, against cheese everywhere—is bad 
flavor. This, more than any other subject, oc¬ 
cupied the attention of the American Dairymen’s 
Association, at its late Convention, in Utica. 
To achieve the best results the cows must give 
rich, sweet milk. They must be kept healthy 
and hearty, during the winter, on good whole¬ 
some food and pure water, and in clean, well- 
ventilated stables. By keeping the cows healthy, 
we avoid beginning the season with a flow o£ 
thin or diseased milk. During the season 
of pasturing, the cows should feed on dry upland 
pastures, free from all offensive herbage, with 
access to pure water. They should be milked 
in a clean place in a cleanly manner, the milk 
carefully strained, and deprived of its animal 
heat as soon as possible, and be constant^ ex¬ 
posed to the open air. The “milk things” 
should all be made of tin, and washed, scalded, 
and aired thoroughly, every day. If carried to a 
factory, the milk should be protected from the 
influence of the sun’s rays falling on the can by 
having some kind of awning stretched over the 
wagon. Then, after the milk producer has done 
his part of the work well, he has a right to de¬ 
mand satisfactory results from the cheese- 
maker, in whom the most scrupulous neatness 
is no less a virtue than a duty and a necessity. 
