their own raising that are not first-class or marketable, and sell such wine to licensed dealers without taking out or paying a license for such manufacture or sale."

The act is as follows:

"Whereas, Grape culture is becoming an important industry in many portions of the State:

And whereas, A certain portion of the grape crop is not first-class or marketable, but can be made into good wine; therefore,

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be lawful for growers of grapes in this Commonwealth to manufacture wine from grapes of their own raising which are not first-class or marketable, and sell said wine to licensed dealers without taking out or paying a license for such manufacture or sale."

This law does not permit the sale of wine to any one, but confines the sale strictly to licensed dealers. As the law does not specify what are marketable grapes the inference is that any wine made by the person who grew the grapes may be legally sold to any licensed dealer.

"What crops will give the best results from an application of barnyard manure?"

The object for which the crop is produced will at all times have some effect upon the answer. Probably no crop will give better returns in amount of feed than corn or clover. Of all farm crops corn can best utilize green manure which has been turned; the only exception being the following of a dry season by which injury is done from the large amount of vegetable matter turned under which sometimes causes injury instead of benefit.

If a large yield of potatoes is the sole object and quality is not so much of an object, the potato crop will utilize a large amount of yard manure, but the quality will be injured at the expense of quantity.

It is extremely difficult to apply green manure to the clover crop without injury from getting it too thick, smothering the clover out; where the manure is short its application directly to the clover crop during the fall or winter will give good results in hay and forage, but where both grain and fodder are fed on the farm, it is doubtful if any crop will give such good results as that of corn.

"What is the most practical manner of applying stable manure so as to give the best results?"

There is no time in the existence of a load of stable manure when it contains as much fertility as when it first comes from the stable. No matter how well cared for, it will lose more or less of its value after it is taken out of the stable. If spread upon rolling or hilly ground it is claimed that it will lose in value from washing. It then becomes a problem to decide under which train of circumstances it will lose the least and we think it will be found that the advantages, except in special cases, are in favor of spreading as fast as taken from the stable, especially during the winter when the teams can be taken into the fields.

We think that if applied to the sod for corn during the winter, it will be found that the corn will not use up more of the fertility of the manure than would have been wasted if it had been kept in the open yard all summer to be bleached by rain and injured by evaporation.

Experiments at Cornell Experiment Station seem to prove that, even under comparatively favorable circumstances, yard manure will lose over one-half of its manurial value by exposure, from the middle of April to the end of September. If the loss is this great under comparatively favorable surroundings, what will it be in the average Pennsylvania barn yard?

In special cases and with special crops this plan is not expedient or possible, but for the average crop the indications are that the loss is least the sooner the manure can be gotten on the land.

t

"Is a special examination required for the practice of veterinary surgery and medicine in this State?"

The act of May 16th, 1895, creates the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, and section 6th of the law carries with it the following provision:

"The said Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners shall examine all diplomas as to their genuineness and each applicant for a license shall submit to a theoretical and practical examination, said examination to be written, oral or both. Such examinations shall include the following subjects: Veterinary anatomy, surgery, practice of medicine, obstetrics, pathology, chemistry, veterinary diagnosis, materia medica, therapeutics, physiology, zootechnics, sanitary medicine, and meat and milk inspection."

To such as pass this examination the board is authorized to issue certificates or licenses to practice in the State, and a record of all such licenses issued is to be kept in the office of the board.

The fee for such a license is ten dollars, and in addition, all ap plicants must register at the office of the prothonotary of the county in which they expect to practice and pay a fee of one dollar.

The act exempts from its provisions all those who carry the practice of veterinary surgery no further than the castration of animals, and also exempts all who treat animals without charge.

"What is the most economical commercial fertilizer for the corn crop?"

Corn has been styled the "hog of crops," and it can probably better utilize any fertilizer which may be applied than any other crop in the usual rotation. According to the Amherst (Mass.) station, the following is the result of their experience after a number of very careful experiments:

1. It is usually not necessary to supply a large amount of available nitrogen for the corn crop, and this is explained by the fact that, growing as it does chiefly after considerable warm weather, it can depend largely upon the nitrogen of the organic matter of the soil which becomes available under the influence of natural agencies during the summer.

2. The corn crop does not make a heavy draft upon the phosphoric acid of the soil, and it is not economy to apply this element largely.

3. The yield both of grain and stover is largely dependent upon the supply of potash. This should be prominent in a fertilizer for this crop; and, even if nothing else is employed with manure, it will generally be found profitable to use some muriate of potash.

The station reports the following as the fertilizer which has given them the best results for corn, and it will be noted that its composi fie both as to phosphoric acid and nitrogen contradicts the axioms quoted:

"Might it not be profitable to use artificial heat in cow stables ?”

Possibly if the average farm stable is to be compared with the warm stable it might be, but such experiments as have been reported.

indicate that if the artificially warmed stable is compared with a properly constructed one, the gain will not pay for the cost of heating. The Hatch Experiment Station reports the following experiment which indicates the correctness of the above theory:

"This experiment was continued during he winter of 1894-95, beginning December 18th and continuing until March 8th. It will be remembered that our stable has two similar wings, one piped for hot-water heating. We aimed to maintain a temperature of 55 de gres Fahrenheit in the warm stable. The other, of course, varied with the weather; but as both stables are thoroughly constructed, even the cold side was seldom excessively cold. Six cows were used in the experiment, three on each side. We divided the time into four periods of equal length. At the close of the first period the cows changed stables. Here they were kept for two periods and were then changed again. In this way we equalized conditions for the two stables. Between periods, when the change in the position in the cows was made, we allowed an interval of one week that the animals might become accustomed to and under the influence of their new quarters before the records were begun.

The apparent influence of the stables upon milk and butter fat production was small. On the average there is rather more milk and butter fat in the warm stable. The most certain effect brought out by our experiments is the lowering of the percentages of fat in the milk in the warm stable. The increased product will not nearly pay The cost of heating the stable."

"What does it cost to feed a dairy cow one year?"

Practical dairymen feed so differently that a satisfactory answer is very difficult to give; some feed all that the cow can economically consume and pay for, while others appear to think that the smallest amount that they can get along with is the most economical.

During one of the experiments at the New York Experiment Station, a careful account was kept of the cost of everything fed to a herd of twenty cows for each year, and a careful account was also kept with each animal in the herd; the result is shown in the following table by Prof. Wing, the amount given being the total cost of the feed of that cow for the year:

The two extremes of cost are $53.38 and $36.24, the average being $45.25. It is presumed that the animals were fed all that they could consume profitably and that the amount given was varied to suit ach animal.

The cost of the food products used was as follows, per ton:

"We have been using Dissolved South Carolina Rock for mixing with potash and soda salts; in some cases the mixture was so sticky that we have been compelled to use Dissolved Bone Black instead, but this has gone up in price from seventy-five cents to one dollar per unit; which is the best?"

In all probability the stickiness was due to the form and quan tity of potash made use of; if the mixture yields more than four per cent. of potash and the South Carolina rock was not quite dry. stickiness will be troublesome. The form of potash used may also have more or less influence upon the result.

Your statement that by buying the ingredients near home you can save three dollars per ton in freight, opens up the whole question of home-mixed fertilizers, and readers the two transactions subject t the conclusion that you either are getting a lower grade of rock and