8 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
January  2 
THK 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
*  * 
ELBERT  8.  CARMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY ,  JANUARY  2,  1892. 
Whew!  what  Christmas  weather!  Mud,  fog,  drizzle 
and  stick.  Nothing  out  of  doors  to  be  “  merry”  over, 
but  there  was  a  mighty  big  screw  loose  somewhere  in 
the  home  that  could  not  show  “  something  to  be 
thankful  for.”  *  # 
In  a  few  weeks  we  shall  begin  the  publication  of  a 
“  Milk  Department”  which  will  be  of  great  value  and 
interest  to  those  of  our  readers  who  send  milk  to  the 
city  markets.  This  department  will  be  placed  in  charge 
of  an  expert,  who  has  made  a  long  and  careful  study  of 
the  matter.  *  * 
A  strange  country  is  Russia  with  queer  social  con¬ 
ditions.  The  government  recently  proposed  to  begin 
building  railroads  in  order  to  provide  work  for  the 
starving  peasants.  This  is  obj'ected  to  on  the  grounds 
that  the  railroads  while  temporarily  relieving  the 
peasants,  will  ultimately  ruin  them,  because  they  will 
kill  the  hauling  and  freighting  trade  at  which  so  many 
of  the  peasants  make  a  living.  In  other  words,  a 
national  economy  will  mean  private  ruin.  Every  rail¬ 
road  that  has  been  built  in  the  West  has  thrown 
hundreds  of  men  out  of  work;  while  the  general 
public  gained,  the  individual  lost.  In  America  men 
may  recover  from  such  a  change — in  Russia  apparently 
not.  *  * 
The  President  of  the  Guernsey  Cattle  Club  makes  a 
bold  proposition  on  page  4.  It  is  sensible  and  busi¬ 
ness-like  in  its  boldness  too.  The  advocates  of  the 
“churn  test”  may  argue  for  years,  but  the  time  is 
surely  coming  when  dairy  cows  will  be  sold  on  the 
basis  of  a  guaranteed  analysis  of  their  milk  !  If  the 
members  of  the  Guernsey  Cattle  Club  will  carry  out 
this  plan  of  printing  a  sworn  monthly  milk  test  for 
every  cow  registered  in  their  hei*d  book,  they  will 
make  their  cattle  the  most  uniformly  popular  daily 
animals  in  the  country.  Suppose  we  Americans  had 
some  such  form  of  government  as  they  have  in  Russia 
and  our  rulers  should  issue  a  “  ukase  ”  to  the  effect  that 
every  cow’s  milk  should  be  tested  and  where  it  fell 
below  the  legal  standard  the  animal  should  be  knocked 
in  the  head  ;  then  if  the  farmer  kept  another  counter¬ 
feit  cow  he  should  be  dealt  with  as  he  would  be  if  he 
passed  counterfeit  coin.  Would  such  a  measure  make 
the  American  farmer  richer  or  poorer  ? 
*  * 
A  graduated  income  tax,  which  the  farmers  of  this 
country,  as  a  nile,  urgently  demand,  goes  into  effect 
in  Germany  on  January  1.  The  rate  of  the  tax  is 
scaled  from  six  marks  on  an  income  of  900  marks  to 
100  marks  on  an  income  of  100,000  marks  and  200  marks 
on  each  5,000  in  excess  of  100,000.  The  principle  of  the 
law  is  right ;  but  the  application  begins  too  low.  The 
wage-earners  and  the  people  with  small  salaries  or  fixed 
incomes  inevitably  pay  more  than  their  equitable 
share  of  the  taxes.  The  poor  family  of  four  members 
requires  for  absolute  need  almost  as  much  clothing, 
fuel,  sugar  and  other  articles  of  every-day  use  as 
a  rich  family  of  the  same  size,  and  whether  the  taxes 
on  these  commodities  are  levied  dii-ectly  by  internal 
revenue  taxation,  or  indii-ectly  by  a  tariff,  taxing 
the  same  amount  on  both  classes  is  unequal  and 
unjust.  A  graded  income  tax  should,  therefore,  begin 
on  incomes  not  less  than,  say,  $5,000.  If  those  with 
larger  incomes  pay  a  just  proportion,  a  large  addition 
will  then  be  made  to  the  public  revenues  without  a 
shadow  of  oppression  to  anybody. 
*  * 
Every  now  and  then  some  man  or  set  of  men 
comes  to  the  front  with  an  act  of  such  true  and  loyal 
devotion  to  the  public  interests  that  it  is  deserving  of 
the  widest  advertisement.  No  institution  in  the  coun¬ 
try  is  more  worthy  of  consideration  than  the  public 
school.  Nothing  will  give  our  boys  and  girls  a  truer 
idea  of  their  duties  as  American  citizens  than  the 
American  flag  raised  over  the  school  house.  When  the 
scholars  combine  and  secure  the  flag  themselves,  they 
take  a  deeper  and  kinder  interest  in  it.  We  would 
gladly  see  such  a  flag  waving  over  eveiy  school  house 
in  the  land,  for  we  believe  it  would  teach  the  children 
lessons  of  patriotism  that  seem  needed  now  more  than 
ever  before.  The  children  of  a  certain  American  town 
planned  a  coxirse  of  cheap  and  popular  lectures,  the 
proceeds  from  which  were  to  go  towards  putting  a 
clock  on  the  main  building  and  raising  a  flag  on  every 
school  house  in  the  district.  If  any  educator  can  detail 
a  more  laudable  enterpi-ise  than  this  or  one  more 
worthy  of  encouragement  we  will  give  him  full  space 
to  describe  it.  But  the  “  Board  of  Education  ”  of  this 
town  stepped  in  and  killed  the  whole  thing,  the  lec¬ 
tures,  the  clock  and  the  flag  raising,  and  for  reasons  so 
small  and  trivial  that  one  can  hardly  see  them.  Where 
was  this  place?  Off  in  some  Southern  forest  where  they 
haven’t  heard  yet  that  the  war  is  over?  No,  it  was  up 
in  Duluth  a  “  queen  city”  that  has  boasted  loudly  of 
its  progress  and  patriotism.  In  our  judgment  that 
“  Board  of  Education”  should  quit  active  business  and 
go  to  some  primary  school  where  they  can  learn  the  A. 
B.  C.  of  patriotism. 
*  * 
On  Janury  1,  the  Weather  Bureau  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  will  make  an  excellent  change  in  its 
system  of  publishing  weather  forecasts.  As  now  given 
out,  the  pi'edictions  are  somewhat  belated,  those  pub¬ 
lished  in  the  morning  papers  being  for  a  period  which 
has  nearly  half  expired,  and  those  appearing  in  the 
evening  papers  being  still  less  valuable.  This  is  on 
account  of  the  hours  at  which  observations  are  made — 
8  A.  m.  and  8  p.  m.  From  January  1  the  predictions  in 
each  case  will  cover  the  time  until  midnight  of  the 
next  day,  so  that  the  px*edictions  in  the  morning  papers 
will  appear  early  in  the  day  to  which  they  apply,  and 
those  in  the  evening  papers  will  be  for  the  day  after. 
Thus  the  public  will  be  informed  of  the  expected 
weather  on  the  evening  before  and  an  improved  forecast 
will  be  given  the  next  morning  if  an  improvement  is 
needed.  Long-range  predictions  will  also  be  encour¬ 
aged  more  than  heretofore  whenever  it  is  thought  the 
state  of  the  weather  will  justify  them.  The  Weather 
Bureau  costs  the  country  a  good  deal  of  money  and 
we  hail  with  satisfaction  this  effort  to  render  it  of  more 
practical  use,  especially  to  the  hard-working,  deserving 
class  for  whose  benefit  it  is  more  especially  designed. 
*  * 
The  man  who  makes  the  least  preparation  for  a  fight 
generally  has  the  least  fighting  to  do.  A  defense  fre¬ 
quently  invites  an  attack,  and  no  fence  makes  a  neigh¬ 
bor  keep  his  cattle  back.  A  good  illustration  of  what 
we  mean  is  found  in  the  following  letter  from  a  Connec¬ 
ticut  subscriber:  “  Being  annoyed  by  cattle  dodging  in 
at  our  gates,  I  took  away  some  wire  fence  from  in 
front  of  the  house.  The  neighbors  asked  what  kind  of 
a  fence  I  was  going  to  have  ?  I  said  none  at  all.  The 
bother  from  cattle  has  really  stopped,  which  is  all  the 
more  remarkable  as  I  use  my  front  yard  for  storing 
apples  in  the  fall,  dumping  them  on  straw  and  boards, 
when  they  are  brought  to  my  mill  faster  than  I  can 
use  then.  Several  neighbors  having  seen  the  success 
of  my  work,  have  taken  down  their  fences.  If  you  are 
troubled  by  street  cattle  take  your  fences  away  and 
the  drivers  will  be  on  hand  to  see  to  the  creatures.  If 
you  are  building  a  new  house,  instead  of  building  a 
front  fence,  make  your  wife  a  Christmas  present  of 
what  it  would  cost,  and  see  if  it  wasn’t  the  better  in¬ 
vestment.  ”  We  are  very  certain  that  the  result  would  be 
the  same  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  where  men  pay  the 
cost  and  repairs  on  big  fences  in  order  to  keep  out  stray 
stock.  #  # 
The  public  should  be  warned  against  the  ‘ 1  Mutual 
Poultry  Co.,”  which  appears  to  be  a  new  alias  for  .the 
notorious  J.  M.  Bain.  That  fraud  has  been  so  fre¬ 
quently  exposed  that  advertisements  of  “great  bar¬ 
gains”  dated  from  Zanesville,  O.,  do  not  “take”  as 
they  formerly  did.  Business  being  dull,  the  humbug 
takes  up  a  new  dodge.  Some  benevolent  woman  in 
Chicago  has  written  long  letters  to  all  the  papers  tell¬ 
ing  of  the  wonderful  chances  offered  by  this  “  Poultry 
Co.”  It  is  the  same  old  game — you  pay  $5  for  a  setting 
of  eggs  and  the  “  Poultry  Co.”  will  guarantee  to  buy 
all  the  chickens  you  hatch  out  at  $1  each,  or  to  sell  you 
hens  and  buy  all  the  eggs  they  lay  at  50  cents  per 
dozen.  This  “Co.”  is  located  at  a  little  town  near 
Zanesville.  These  letters  from  the  Chicago  woman — 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  already  received  four  copies  exactly 
alike — have  been  printed  by  many  of  the  city  papers  as 
a  matter  of  news.  It  is  about  the  most  cunning  fraud 
of  the  year,  and  many  poor  people  will  be  caught  by 
it.  Nine-tenths  of  the  eggs  that  are  received  by  the 
trusting  dupes  who  answer  this  letter  have  been  bought 
in  the  city  markets  at  20  cents  a  dozen,  and  are  either 
boiled  or  so  old  that  they  never  could  hatch.  The  “  Co.” 
can  thus  easily  guarantee  to  take  all  hatched  chickens. 
*  * 
Although  at  the  outset  the  principle  of  reciprocity 
adopted  by  the  government  did  not  promise  many  ad¬ 
vantages  to  our  farmers,  because  its  application  was 
confined  almost  entirely  to  the  South  American  Repub¬ 
lics  whose  impoi-t  trade  from  this  country  is  compara¬ 
tively  small,  the  latest  developments  of  it  foreshadow 
enormous  benefits.  A  treaty  has  lately  been  concluded 
between  the  United  States  and  the  British  West  India 
Islands  and  British  Guiana.  Under  its  provisions  the 
islands  will  reduce  the  duties  on  breadstuffs,  and 
canned  goods,  and  a  large  increase  in  trade  in  these 
products  is  expected  from  the  measure.  Better  still  is 
a  treaty  with  Gex-many  just  announced.  Under  it  there 
will  be  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent  in  the  duty  on  wheat; 
37%  per  cent  in  that  on  oats;  25  per  cent  on  pulse:  11 
per  cent  on  barley;  30  per  cent  on  corn  or  maize,  and 
10  per  cent  on  malt.  The  rate  on  hogs  will  be  reduced 
30  per  cent,  and  that  on  butter  15  per  cent.  The  duty 
on  mill  products  of  pulse  and  grain  is  reduced  a  little 
over  30  per  cent,  and  there  are  also  reductions  on  game, 
horses  and  cattle.  To  this  country  the  great  importance 
of  the  treaty  lies  in  the  reductions  made  in  the  duties 
on  cereals  and  meat  products  in  connection  with  the 
recent  removal  of  the  prohibition  of  our  pork  products. 
This  country  is  placed  on  precisely  the  same  terms  oc¬ 
cupied  by  Austria-Hungary,  Italy  and  Belgium  by  the 
treaties  they  have  just  concluded  with  Germany  for  a 
zollverein  or  “customs  union,”  and  these  countries  will 
certainly  ere  long  grant  the  same  concessions  to  the 
United  States.  France,  too,  has  just  announced  to  our 
government  that  she  is  prepared  to  negotiate  a  similar 
treaty  with  this  country,  and  Minister  Whitelaw  Reid 
will  remain  in  Paris  to  expedite  matters,  instead  of 
making  a  projected  tour  of  Europe.  It  looks  as  if  the 
American  farmer  may  really  henceforth  hurrah  for 
reciprocity.  *  * 
BREVITIES. 
A  happy  man  was  Uncle  Jay— It  mattered  not  how  foul  the  day 
Might  be,  or  how  the  cruel  sting  of  trouble  pushed— or  how  the  ring 
Of  want  and  trouble  compassed  him,  his  cheerful  faith  could  never  dim 
When’er  you  passed  the  time  of  day,  with  smiling  face  he’d  alwavs 
say— 
No  matter  what  sharp,  biting  pain,  gnawed  at  his  heart— “  I  can't  com¬ 
plain’" 
With  troubles  that  might  try  a  saint  he  went  his  way  without  com¬ 
plaint; 
Though  oft  deceived  and  wronged  he  smiled  at  trouble  like  a  little  child. 
He  never  reached  gunshot  of  fame,  but  poor  folks  blessed  his  very 
name, 
And  when  one  summer  day  he  died,  the  children  and  the  weak  ones 
cried. 
Yet  could  not  wish  him  back  again,  we  knew  he’d  say —“I can't  com¬ 
plain!' 
Of  course  some  people  had  to  scoff,  and  say  “  he  had  been  better  off 
To  fight  for  rights— life  had  contained  more  for  him  if  he  had  com¬ 
plained.” 
Perhaps!  And  yet  sometimes  I’d  give  a  good  big  slice  of  life  to  live 
As  peacefully  as  Uncle  Jay,  so  that  with  truth  1  now  might  say, 
Right  in  the  teeth  of  strife  and  pain,  I  fear  you  not!  I  can't  complain! 
EitK  you  stir  up  anger’s  mud,  stop  and  chew  your  mental  cud. 
Corn  sells  this  week  In  the  London  market  at  $1.58  per  100  pounds. 
Take  good  care  of  the  breeding  mare— give  her  a  share  of  the  grain 
and  some  to  spare. 
Crowd  sheep  and  feed  only  dry  hay,  the  poor  wretches  will  show 
unmistakable  symptoms  of  “  stretches.” 
Does  Mr.  Harris  answer  the  question  put  by  Mr.  Taylor  ?  Is  there 
any  profit  In  the  work  required  to  ferment  manure  '! 
SEE  that  wife’s  thoughts  can  aspire  higher  than  the  kitchen  fire.  Lots 
of  housewives  seldom  move  10  steps  from  the  kitchen  stove. 
The  world  is  growing  better,  friends,  it’s  rising  up  to  nobler  ends.  If 
you’ll  take  hold  and  help  us  lift,  we’ll  call  it  square  on  “  Christmas 
fflft.” 
Pigs  can  catch  ’most  every  trick,  but,  poor  things  !  they  cannot 
“  kick,”  so  as  to  show  the  way  they  feel,  when  abused  they  have  to 
squeal. 
The  horse  eaters  of  Berlin  feel  proud  of  the  fact  that  they  have  con¬ 
sumed  6,099  of  these  animals  in  the  last  nine  months— 421  more  than  in 
the  corresponding  time  last  year! 
Farmer,  farmer,  how’s  your  road  ?  Can  you  carry  half  a  load  ?  No, 
a  wagon  full  of  air,  pulls  so  hard  the  horBes  tear  harness  all  to  rags. 
We’ll  sing  “  Home  Sweet  Home  ”  until  the  spring. 
The  shipments  of  flour  and  wheat  from  the  Atlantic  ports  have  lately 
been  equivalent  to  1,000,000  bushels  per  day.  What  a  glorious  blessing 
for  empty  European  stomachs  and  slim  American  pocket-books! 
Hurrah  for  Uncle  Jerry  !  The  seizure  of  75  barrels  of  salt  horse 
meat  at  this  port  the  other  day  on  its  way  to  Belgium  by  the  officials  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  was  one  of  the'best  moves  yet  made  in 
the  Interest  of  our  growing  commerce  In  food  stuffs. 
Since  writing  about  the  cost  of  asphalt  pavements,  on  page  5,  we 
have  received  further  facts.  In  Montreal  the  cost  of  such  pavement 
was  from  $3.43  to  $3.97  per  square  yard  ;  In  London  the  cost  was  about 
$2.75  ;  in  Paris,  $3.36,  and  in  Frankfort,  Germany,  $2.94J^.  The  price 
varied  with  the  depth  of  the  layer  of  asphalt  and  the  character  of  the 
soil. 
Kansas  farmers  are  going  into  the  banking  business  with  a  capital 
of  $1,000,000,  mainly  to  aid  each  other  to  lift  their  mortgages,  or  lower 
the  rates  of  interest  on  them.  The  capital  is  to  be  supplied  in  great 
part  by  notes  given  by  venturesome  farmers  in  different  parts  of  the 
State.  The  object  is  excellent,  but  the  fate  of  the  farmers  who  gave 
their  notes  to  start  the  Alliance  stores  at  Dallas  and  elsewhere  In 
Texas  should  be  a  caution  as  to  the  proposed  means. 
AN  appreciative  reader  in  the  State  of  Guanajuato,  Mexico,  writes 
as  follows  :  “  I  expect  to  be  a  subscriber  to  The  Rural  as  long  as  1 
live.  To  any  man  devoted  to  agriculture,  the  paper  is  an  inexhausti¬ 
ble  source  of  the  most  useful  knowledge,  and,  therefore,  of  success 
and  happiness.  Any  number  is  worth  many  times  the  whole  subscrip¬ 
tion  price.  I  cannot  write  good  English,  but  I  can  read  it  and  appreci¬ 
ate  it.”  We  wish  to  say  that  such  English  is  decidedly  “  all  right.” 
As  predicted  in  The  Rural  over  six  months  ago,  the  Texas  Allen 
Land  Law  has  been  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  State  Supreme 
Court.  This  measure  was  passed  under  pressure  from  the  farmers’  or¬ 
ganizations  of  the  Lone  Star  State,  chiefly  the  Alliance.  From  the 
amount  of  abortive  legislation  enacted  in  other  States  under  similar 
pressure  it  would  seem  as  if  enemies  of  our  agricultural  associations 
had  treacherously  urged  the  passage  of  unconstitutional  laws  with  the 
object  of  bringing  them  into  disrepute. 
As  far  as  the  government  is  concerned  there  are  only  two  kinds  of 
Imported  tobacco— technically  known  as  “fillers”  and  “wrappers.” 
The  duty  on  the  former  is  35  cents  and  on  the  latter  $2  per  pound.  It 
has  just  come  to  light  that  in  the  heart  of  hundreds  of  bales  of  “  fill¬ 
ers  ”  many  pounds  of  wrappers  have  been  snugly  stowed  away,  so  that 
the  importer  has  just  saved  $1.65  per  pound  on  them.  One  importer 
compromised  the  other  day  for  his  smuggling  by  paying  $70,000  to  the 
government  There  appears  to  be  no  such  thing  as  conscience  in 
cheating  Uncle  Sam. 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  open  Farmers'  Alliance  of  Ohio,  what  is 
known  as  the  Farmers’  Progressive  Reading  Circles  have  just  been 
started.  They  are  to  be  conducted  in  all  parts  of  the  State  and  are  de¬ 
signed  to  be  more  comprehensive  than  even  the  farmers’  institutes. 
The  latter  last  only  a  few  days  in  each  locality,  but  it  is  proposed  that 
the  reading  circles  should  have  frequent  meetings  in  each  local  ity  and 
do  very  much  more  for  mutual  culture  in  rural  districts.  It  is  proposed 
that  school  teachers  should  cooperate  in  every  district.  These  will  evi¬ 
dently  be  of  nearly  the  same  nature  as  the  Women’s  Clubs  described 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  but  they  will  embrace  all  ages  and  sexes 
Instead  of  being  confined  to  the  adult  fair  sex. 
