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To M OTHERS^ ^ m
WE ARE ASSERTING IN THE CO f SCORIA,” AND
exclusive use OF THE WORD j mark.
“""SSS? piTCHER^ Prato, Massachusetts,
DR. SAMUEL P| TCHER^ c - > ^ ^
the originator Of PTTCh-. oti euery
h ± /wo hrrne and does now x-zy //*//; >-~sa-
11:fa 'simile signature of ™ er '
orfoiiwl ''PITCHER’S CASTOR!A, which has been
f d l the homes of the Mothers of America for oust thirty
r -s LOOK CAREFULLY at the wrapper and see that it is
. hind nou have always bought 011 e
thus the signature of wrap-
1 No one has authority from me to use my name ex-
The Centaur Company of whieh Ckas. H. Fletcher is
\sident. Z^y*^**—
{arch 8,1897. ..
Do Not Be Deceived.
, not endanger the life of your child by accepting
.heap substitute which some druggist may offer you
■cause he makes a few more pennies on it), the in
dents of which even he does not know.
The Kind Yon Have Always Bought”
BEARS THE FAC-SIMILE SIGNATURE OF
Insist on Having
The Kind That Never Failed You.
THE CENTAUR COMPANY* YY MURRAY STREET. NEW YORK CITY.
[plies to
INQUIRIES
rmation Furnished by the
Igricuitural Department.
QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED
irietio!* of Cow Peas For Uay—Meet
ir Cultivation—The Propagation of
bh Trees—Cause of IMseaso In Ctiick-
-FertIfizers For Potatoes and Cab
'S Etc.
estion.—Please give me some idea
advantages of silage over other
I for stock. Is it suited to horses
Buies ? I have never had any expe-
iiu making or using it, but if what-
of it is true, I would like to try
[another year. Please give me
lairections as to the best way of
;it up, and the best crops to plant
Do you thinx it pays for the
sand expense ?
)ni.—Silage is eaten by all farm
but is peculiarly fitted for
Tows. It pays, because it enables
?nt up a green summer crop and
ft iu condition for feeding all wiu-
ni it produces nearly equal resuits
[ei green. Animals fed on silage
jly relish it, bnt it will produce as
| milk and butter, or even more,
pie same kind cf fodder in the dry
[because the stock will have bec-
Jetites than if fed entirely on the
)od, and are consequently more
One acre iu corn will produce
cli nutritious food as several acres
Thus it is cheaper than hay
las besides the following advaut-
fit is a practically certain crop,
pay is uncertain. As the proper
fo harvest any green- crop for eu-
is at maturity, before the leaves
irowu, just whoa the water cou-
lof the plant begin to dimin-
[it follows that there is very
loss of quantity m preserving it as
while the best part of our dried
is often destroyed by unfavorable
ler before we can get it under
Ai_y of the following crops
used: Corn, red clover, rye, oats,
sorghum, the millets, soja beans
few pea9, indeed almost any green
fay be utilized, but all things con.
corn pays the best. It should
bted very thick and cut when the
[6 wed formed. The whole plant
‘cut up into short lengths anu
in the silo, tramping down
Mid firmly. Unless this precau-
observed, that is, should the
pud bits of stalk be nueveuly dis-
p°. the silage will become mouidy
“fit tor use. If there should be
r moisture when packing the
jmass will become dry and mouldy,
pould be remedied by pouring
[ 0Ver the mass during the process
ciu k Of course the silo must be
Itely water aad air tight, and the
| contents, after b- lug cured, bear some
what the same relation to our dry hay s
and fodders, as canned fruit does to
dried fruit.
The daily ration is about l cubic foor'
of silage. An experienced dairyman
says he gives his cows all .they will ear,
from 30 to 50 pounds to each cow, and has
never experienced any bad results from
it. A small. deeD silo is to be pre
ferred. Small because a greater depth
of silage can be removed each day,
which is an advantage in both warm
and cold weather. Iu warm weather
there is less loss from spoiling, and in
cold weather less injury from freezing.
The silo should be deep, because the
greater depth gives more weight, and it
is less liable to mould. At least 3 inches
should be removed for the daily feeding
in order to keep the mass iu good con
dition. On the whole we think the fol
lowing directions cover the ground for
building a well constructed sii6, and
they are the only kind that pay. A
carelessly built silo is au extravagance;
a well made one is au economy.
1. The inside walls should be smooth
and as near v vertical as possible, there
should be no uneven edges to prevent
the uniform settling of the contents.
We have already mentioned that the
silo should be narrow and deep, rather
than wide and shaliow.
2. As the moisture from the silage is
acid and tends to decay the wood, the
inside of the silo should be well pro
tected by a coat of coal tar, applied hot.
The inside of the silo should be two lay
ers of boards, the first horizontal and
placed against the studs. Over this
place a iaye: of the tarred paper, which
can be bought ready prepared, and last,
a layer of smooth dressed boards placed
vertically on close edges.
3. The floor may be of stiff clay
tramped hard, and to make it smooth,
close aud rat proof a layer of cement is
highly recommended. For ven filiation
there should be auger holes bored be
tween the studs aud openings should he
left at the top of the wall. These should
be covered with screen wire to keep out
rats and mice.
4. The studs should be very strong
to resist the great pressure to which
they are subjected, the foundation
should extend below the first line aud
■hould be 18 inches thick, the sills
should be well tarred aud should restou
a good foundation, bedded iu cement or
mortar. The roof should be close aud
should have a dormer window through
which to fill the silo.
5. The silo should be so constructed
and situated as that no water will fall
or drain into it at any time. These are
the main points, but we would advise
that if you are not acquainted with the
principles or practical workings of a
silo, you eXamiue one which is prop
erly constructed before attempting to
build for your own use.—State Agricul
tural Department.
Cause or L’isease In Chickens.
Question.—For several years I have
raised comparatively few chickeus,
though I once prided myself on my suc
cess in this line. I am careful as to
food aud water, and my coops are kept-
clean, but from the several hundred
chickens annually hatched out very
few come to* maturity, most of them
dying in the first few weeks. My neigh
bors are disposed to think that some
disease germ has trained afootho d here,
and that it is useless for me to attempt
to raise poultry. Do you think sucii
caii be the case, and if so. is there any
remedy wnicu I can «se to eradicate it?
Answ.^Hs.—Without a full knowledge
Of vour surroundings and methods it
is difficult to answer your quesciou ex
cept on general principles. It is true
that disease germs may lurk iu poultry
houses from year to year aud that thou
sands of chickens are carried off an
nually by these unsuspected agents. In
such cases the best plan is to tear down
the fowlhouse aud build iu an entirely
different location, as far removed from
the first as possible—men give the
house a thorough whitewashing wim
lime, inside aud out, in which a con
siderable quantity of crude carbolic acid
has been mixed—say a teacup of me
acid to each gallon of lime wash. Put
in new roosrs aud nesrs, and arrange
them so that they can be taken out and
c.eaned every few weeks. In cleaning
them a good plan is to carry them a
safe distance from the house, brush
them over with kerosene aud then apply
a lighted march. The fire will run over
without injuring them, aud will
destroy any lice or mites which
may be in hiding. From au expe
rience of several years we have conic
to the conclusion that these destructive
pests carry off a greater number of
chickens than actual disease. By hav
ing movable nests aud roosts which can
be taken out in a few morne its it is
much easier to give the house a thor
ough cleaning and one cannot be too
careful to go into every crack and cor
ner. A few of these vermin safely
lodged in au unnoticed crack will lay
the foundation for millions of others iu
a very short time. We have fouud
kerosene a splendid agent for checking
them, and a common watering pot for
sprinkling into the otherwise inaccessi
ble crevices answers every purpose.
The droppings should not be allowed to
accumulate and become a harbor for
these myriads of insects, which, being
almost invisible to the naked eye, will
accumulate alarmingly before their
presence is even suspected. The -drop
pings should be removed each day and
the houses kept scrupulously clean, not
only to prevent vermin, but as a sani
tary measure. Where the droppings
are allowed to accumulate from week
to week, they give off unwholesome
gases and odors, which, being inhaled,
causes mauy of the diseases from which
our chickens suffer. If a layer of pias
ter or dry earth is spread on the floor of
the coop all the fertilizing properties of
the manure are absorbed aud fixed, aud
if care is taken to remove aud store it
under shelter, we have a fertilizer ap
proaching in composition to guano,
though not so rich. Such manure com
posted with eight or ten times its bulk of
rich earth, will make a fertilizer of great
value for either field or garden crops.
Another prolific cause of the fatality
among young chickens is the wide
spread custom of feeding them on raw
cornmeal dough. It should always be
cooked. Where milk is plentiful we
have fouud it a good plan to scald the
milk and stir into it sufficient meal tu
make a soft dough, letting it stand on
the fire long euough for the meal to be
come cooked, but not scorched. If wheat
bran is convenient it adds very much to
the nutriment of the mixture, aud this
makes a splendid warm feed for the
cool spring mornings, when the little
chicks often become chilled. Besides
this they should be given any table
scraps, mea fruit or vegetable trim
mings, and if sweet milk and clabber
can be spared for them they are of in
calculable worth in giving them a vig
orous and early growth. A flock of well
kept poultry can be made the source of
a steady iuc <me, and should only enough
be raised fo home use the investment
pays better than anything else which
requires the same outlay of time and
money. — State Agricultural Depart
ment.
Treatment of Peach Orchard, Whore Last
Year’s Crop Failed*
Question. —I gave my peach orchard
a moderate fertilizing last year, bnt the
crop was almost a complete failure. I
have almost determined to leave it
alone, that is without anything further
than keeping down the weeds, until I
get some return from the fertilizer put
on last year. Do you think this wouid
be a good plan?
Answer. —The care of a peach erchard
requires the exercise of a good deal of
common sense, as well as the judgment
gained from experience aud observa
tion, and in answering a question like
the foregoing much depends on the 000-
ditiou of the land on which the tree*
stand, as well as on the age aud conui
tion of the trees themselves. If the
trees are thrifty and the soil in good
condition perhaps you may another
year reap some return from your invest
ment of fertilizer, but the general mis- •
take in fertilizing an orchard is to make
the allowance too small rather than too
large. And sometimes we may make
mistake in the kind t;f fertilizer used
For instance, old frees, which have been
in bearing a number of years, do not
need the elements in the same propor
tions as a young orchard just coming
into bearim The latter will require a
larger per cent of nitrogen, while au oid
orchard which has been well cared far
Will require iittle else chan a liberal ap
plication of potash, with perhaps a
small per cent of phosphoric acid. Your
orchard should have been well plowed
in the fail, turning under all vegetable
matter, and it pays better to fertil
ize at the same time aud with
a generous hand. Tne heavier prun
ing aiso shonld have been done in
the fall. While careful pruning is ab
solutely necessary to heaitnful and
profitable development of the trees, it is
extremely hazardous to do any severe
cutting after Jan. 1. It is too near the
time for the sap to start, aud although
too much wood is the general mistake
among our orchardists, it is too late
now to remedy an error of this kind.
Severe cutting at this season is not ouiy
fatal to the crop, bat often to the trees
also. On the whole we would say, if
your orchard is on thin land aud is
rough and overrun with weeds ana
briars and bushes, we would certainly
clean it off and plow it, if possible giv
ing it a dressing of potash, and if the
orchard is young a smali application or
nitrogen. Later on a crop of peas will
do much iu the way of humus aud ni
trogen to encourage a healthy growth,
even if the pea crop is harvested, and
thus you will not consider that your
land is entirely idle, though the peach
crop should fail.—State Agricultural
Department.
Are I'eaches Repruil uce<i From the Seed T
Question.—I have had little experi
ence in the propagation of peach trees,
but I can remember when my graud-
mother always saved and planted every
unusually fine peach which she came
across during the summer. Her or
chard was mostly from seedlings aud I
don’t think I ever saw a fiuer one. But
I am told now that seedlings cannot be
depended upon to reproduce themselves.
Is this true and is there auy assigned
reason for it?
Answer. —Formerly iu nearly every
part of this state there were good varie
ties, which were kept up from the seed,
but from neglect aud other causes they
have deteriorated, aud today if we wish
to propagate a particular variety we
must depend on budding aud graf ting
to produce certainly what we wish.-
The seeds from all cultivated or
chards have a strong tendency to
revert to the origiual wild type, which
was very inferior as to size aud quality,
being little more tiian a large seed cov
ered with a thin layer of flesh. Besides,
the blossoms from oue tree may be fer
tilized from those of another and per
haps different variety and there are al
ways these uncertainties attending the
propagation of a peach from the seed
We have tried the experiment aud suc
ceeded iu producing a thrifty young or
chard of seedlings from extra fi le
peaches, whose first crop of fruit proved
them, without a single exception, to be
utterly worthless.—State Agricultural
Department.
DiQereut Varieties of Coir Pea* For I>if-
lerent Purposed.
Question.—Please tell me what you
consider the best variety of cow peas
for hay, also for turning under, and for
the other uses to which this crop is put.
Of the 50 o<id varieties raised, I suppose
a good mauv posses the same character
istics. What I wish to know is the
principal varieties aud their uses.
Answer.—The selection of the va
riety for planting should be determined
by the use for which the crop is de
signed. If a heavy yield of hay is the
principal object, the more vigorous aud
late maturing upright varieties, such ad
clay, unknown and wiiipporwiil. should
be used. Of these the unknown is cer
tainly one <>f the best, but if to be cut
for hay should not be planted too early,
as it finally becomes so trailing as ta.be
difficult to cut with a machine, and ic
produces less seed when it has too long
a season for growth.
If the crop is to be pastured, or is to
be left to decay through the winter on
the surface of the ground, trailing va
rieties should be used; the unknown,
black and red ripper being among the
best. For this purpose they should be
planted as early as possible.
For stock peas, black, clay, speckled
crowder and unknown have given us
the heaviest yields; but it peas are
wanted for table use the large and small
lady, sugar and buckeye will be among
the best. i
And consider that iu addressing Mrs.
Pinkham you are confiding your private
ills to a woman—a woman whose ex
perience in treating woman's diseases
is greater than that of any living phy
sician, male or female.
You can talk freely to a woman when
it is revolting to relate your private
troubles to a man; besides, a man does
not understand, simply because he is a
man.
MRS. PINKHAM’S STANDING
INVITATION.
- Women suffering from any form of
female weakness are invited to promptly
communicate with Mrs. Pinkham, at
Lynn, Mass. All letters are re
ceived, opened, read, and answered by
women only. A woman can freely
talk of her private illness to a woman.
Thus has been established the eternal
confidence between Mrs. Pinkham and
the women of America which has never
been broken. Out of the vast volume
of experience which she has to draw
from, it is more than possible that she
has gained the very knowledge that
will help your case. She asks nothing
in return except your good will, and
her advice has relieved thousands.
Surely any woman, rich or poor, is very
foolish if she does not take advantage
of this generous offer of assistance.
Oue of tne common methods of grow
ing peaviues is to plant them between
the rows of corn at the time of giving
tire last cultivation. In this way a crop
is secured which costs absolutely noth
ing except for the seed aud sowing, and
which may be relied npou foi a consid
erable amount of seed aud grazing, and
at the same time will make a cheap aud
effective fertilizer for the succeeding
crop. In some cases the peas aud corn
have been planted at the same time, in
alternate hills, but we have rarely found
the practice economical. If running va
rieties are used they tie cornstalks to
gether so as to materially reduce the
yield of the grain, while if dwarf varie
ties are used they are so shaded by the
corn as to make but- little growth.
When planted between the rows in
June or July they begin their rapid
growth after the corn begius to ripen,
and the com crop is gathered before the
vines are large enough to be trouble
some. When a crop of peas is grown in
this way it cannot well he cut- for hay,
but will usually make a good yield of
seed, and will afford a large amount of
most excellent grazing for either catt-lo
or hogs. For such late grazing £h©
black and the red ripper are among tho
best varieties, as the peas will lie on the
ground a long time without injury.-^
State Agricultural Department.
Heet Jiujar.
Question.—I notice a good deal in-
the daily papers about the feasibility of
our farmers beiug successful iu the cul
tivation of beets for sugar. What is'
your opinion 011 this subject, ami would
you advise a man who has suitable laud
to go into the business of cultivating
beets for market ?
Answer.—As suitable land is only
one of the many requisites for success
ful beet culture, we would not advise
the venture, if that is the only advan
tage possessed by the owner. First anil
foremost is a suitable aud accessible
market, then a knowledge of hew to
prepare for, plaut, cultivate and sell
the crop, is absolutely indispeu.sible.
Granted these essentials we should be
able to produce our own supply of suirar,
but, as with every other new eutei prise,
it is a mistake to. rush in and undertake
to carry it through before we are thor
oughly prepared for the ■work. The
signs of the times point to this as a new
American industry, and. as the Louisiana
Planter pertinently says, we could reach
au immense development of the sugar
industry before we shonld be compelled
by the magnitude of our home produc
tion to accept the price of the world at
large. At auy rate the American
people seem determined to try
the experiment of the beet sugar
industry. The closeness of the
margins in manufacturing in almost
every district leads to the concentration
of much atteution in this one industry,
which seems to promise a profit to those
who engage iu it, or at ieasc to promise
a profit after the first losses due to bad
management shall have been made.
The industry is oue suited to our soils
aud climate, is legitimate in every re
spect, and we trust that it will be so en
couraged that in time we will be able to
fully supply our home market.—State
Agricultural Department
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