272 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
April  23 
THE 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  S.  CARMAN.  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLING  WOOD,  Managing  Editor.G 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY ,  APRIL  23,  1832. 
The  price  of  powdered  sulphur  is  now  about  3% 
cents  a  pound  at  wholesale.  At  this  price  it  may  be 
used  with  some  liberality  as  a  preventive  of  potato 
scab.  But  will  it  prevent  the  scab?  It  was  four  or 
five  years  ago  that  The  R.  N.-Y.  first  used  it  for  that 
purpose  and  it  has  been  tried  every  year  since.  We 
are  not  prepared  to  assert  that  it  will  prevent  scab, 
but  we  have  faith  enough  to  continue  its  use. 
*  * 
Senator  Paddock  advocates  an  amendment  to  the 
Agricultural  Appropriation  Bill,  including  an  item  of 
$25,000  for  continuing  and  extending  the  efforts  now 
being  made  for  the  education  of  the  people  of  Europe 
in  the  merits  of  American  maize  as  food.  Now  that 
the  stern  teacher  Hunger  is  instructing  a  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  our  trans-Atlantic  friends  on  this  very  point, 
surely  it  is  an  excellent  opportunity  to  supplement  its 
efforts  by  less  vigorous  instructors  from  this  country. 
The  amount  asked  for  would  be  a  mere  pittance  in 
comparison  with  the  vast  advantages  to  American 
agriculture  by  the  consequent  increase  of  our  foreign 
markets  for  the  greatest  of  our  farm  products. 
*  * 
The  Rural  has  little  sympathy  with  that  class  of 
dairymen,  or  rather  cheesemakers,  who  think  that 
three  per  cent  of  butter  fat  is  all  that  can  be  put  into 
a  cheese,  and,  when  they  find  milk  showing  four  per 
cent  of  fats,  skim  a  part  of  the  cream  before  they 
make  the  cheese.  It  is  a  hazardous  sort  of  business. 
It  is  very  apt  to  damage  the  cheese — the  skimmer  may 
go  a  little  too  deep  or  a  few  times  too  often,  and  it  is 
equally  apt  to  damage  the  morals  of  the  cheesemaker. 
Of  course,  it  always  damages  the  cheese,  and  so  much 
“  monkeying  ”  of  this  kind  has  been  done  in  this  State, 
that  a  really  fine  New  York  State  cheese  is  a  raraavis. 
If  good  cheese  were  as  easily  obtained  as  good  butter, 
the  consumption  of  it  would  very  rapidly  increase.  It 
is  the  most  difficult  problem  of  city  marketing  to-day 
— where  to  get  a  good  cheese. 
*  * 
A  jockey  on  one  of  the  race  courses  near  this  city 
recently  came  to  the  start  several  pounds  over  weight. 
After  the  race,  he  was  stopped  and  the  following  de¬ 
scribed  device  was  found  upon  him: 
A  belt  about  three  Inches  wide,  with  four  cylinders  the  size  of  a 
man's  forefinger,  charged  with  electricity,  stitched  to  it,  and  wires 
leading  to  the  stirrups,  through  which  the  horse  could  be  electrified 
at  will,  was  found  under  the  boy’s  jacket,  and  the  rumors  of  the 
practice  of  putting  winning  life  into  race  horses  by  electricity  were 
verified. 
This  business  has  been  going  on  in  a  sly  way  for  some 
time.  The  same  horse  that  was  ridden  by  this  jockey 
won  a  race  a  few  weeks  ago  “  by  a  wonderful  burst  of 
speed  on  the  home  stretch,”  winning  for  those  who  bet 
on  her  at  the  odds  of  100  to  1.  It  was  this  fear¬ 
ful  shock  of  electricity  that  sent  her  on.  What  a  busi¬ 
ness  for  human  beings  to  be  engaged  in  ! 
*  * 
Competition  in  rain-making  is  greatly  lowering  the 
cost  of  timely  downpours  in  the  West.  Two  companies 
whose  promoters  profess  to  have  discovered  Mel¬ 
bourne’s  secret,  have  lately  been  incorporated  in  Kan¬ 
sas,  and  are  offering  to  make  contracts  to  supply  suf¬ 
ficient  rain  for  $600  per  county.  Moreover,  they  are 
willing-  to  sell  the  secret  for  $2,500  per  county,  so  that 
rain  can  be  produced  whenever  wanted,  but  in  such 
cases  it  is  stipulated  that  rain  must  not  be  produced  in 
adjoining  counties;  for  this  would,  of  course,  be  likely 
to  prevent  the  sale  of  such  territory.  Owing  to  glow¬ 
ing  reports  of  marvelously  favorable  results  from  ex¬ 
periments  carried  on  exclusively  in  remote,  inaccessi¬ 
ble  desert  places,  the  “companies”  are  reported  to  be 
doing  a  “  land  office”  business  in  the  sale  of  stock  at 
excellent  figures.  Oh  Lord  !  “  What  fools  we  mortals 
be!”  *  * 
Director  J.  A.  M  yers,  of  the  West  Virginia  Sta¬ 
tion,  states  that  27  per  cent  of  the  chemical  fertilizers 
sold  in  that  State  fall  below  the  manufacturers’  guar¬ 
antees  !  The  most  glaring  fraud  is  in  the  case  of  an 
“  Ammoniated  South  Carolina  Rock,”  the  manufac¬ 
turers  claiming  16%  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid  and  3% 
per  cent  of  nitrogen,  while  analysis  shows  only  9%  per 
cent  of  phosphoric  acid ,  and  less  than  one-fiftli  of  one  per 
cent  of  nitrogen !  In  figuring  the  valuations  of  fertilizers 
at  this  station,  as  in  others  at  the  South,  the  retail  selling 
price  is  not  considered.  The  valuation  is  figured  from 
the  actual  analysis — taking  the  regular  market  prices 
for  nitrogen,  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  and  then  the 
same  figures  are  used  in  estimating  the  value  of  the 
manufacturer’s  guaranteed  analysis.  A  difference  in 
such  a  statement  means  an  actual  difference  in  value, 
while,  when  the  analysis  value  is  compared  with  the 
selling  price,  the  difference  may  not  be  a  safe  guide 
to  buyers.  If  the  selling  price  is  to  be  given,  the  valua¬ 
tion  figured  on  the  manufacturer’s  guaranteed  analysis 
should  go  with  it.  *  * 
The  Lower  House  of  Congress  has  passed  the  bill 
putting  cotton  bagging,  cotton  ties,  cotton  gins  and 
hoop  iron  for  baling  purposes  on  the  free  list,  by  a 
vote  of  167  yeas  to  46  nays.  The  ties  may  be  used  for 
baling  hay,  rail  fastening  or  other  purposes.  The 
main  ground  for  passing  the  bill,  however,  was  the 
relief  of  the  cotton  growers  of  the  South,  who  pro¬ 
duced  last  year  8,700,000  bales,  mostly  the  product  of 
poor  whites  and  negroes  eminently  worthy  of  aid. 
Strong  opposition  to  the  measure  is  expected  in  the 
Republican  Senate,  not  so  much  on  account  of  any 
intrinsic  faults  in  it,  as  for  the  reason  that  it  would 
serve  as  an  entering  wedge  for  a  flood  of  other  anti- 
Tariff  bills  from  the  Democratic  House.  Many  other 
considerations  besides  the  merits  or  demerits  of  a  piece 
of  legislation  have  weighty  influence  on  its  success  in 
passing  through  our  National  and  State  Legislatures. 
*  * 
The  Cotton  Exchange  of  St.  Louis  has  unanimously 
“  resolved”  to  censure  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
for  over- stating  the  amount  of  surplus  wheat  and 
cotton  in  the  country,  to  the  injury  of  the  producers 
and  the  benefit  of  the  speculators.  Congress  is  asked 
to  protect  the  country  against  the  folly,  indiscretion 
and  bumptiousness  of  the  Department.  Complaints  of 
this  kind  have  for  years  been  of  frequent  occurrence, 
especially  during  periods  of  depression  in  the  price  of 
any  commodity.  At  present  the  low  prices  of  cotton 
and  wheat  are  attributed  mainly  to  the  large  surplus 
crops  of  both  reported  by  the  Department ;  hence  this 
complaint.  Are  the  reports  really  exaggerated?  In 
such  cases  exaggeration  always  causes  a  sad  loss  to 
producers  by  depressing  prices ;  and  the  most  careful 
precautions  should  be  taken  against  such  a  fault  by 
the  Department  whose  special  mission  it  is  to  look 
after  the  producers’  interests. 
*  * 
The  Milk  Reporter,  of  this  city,  does  not  like  the 
law  which  keeps  skimmed  milk  out  of  our  markets 
and  has  denounced  it  on  numerous  occasions.  We  are 
at  a  loss  to  understand  the  zeal  of  our  contemporary 
in  this  direction.  He  ought  to  know  that  the  dairy¬ 
men  were  practically  a  unit  in  procuring  the  passage  of 
the  law  he  so  sharply  condemns,  and  he  should  know 
that  its  repeal  would  be  most  disastrous.  Theoretical¬ 
ly,  the  honest  sale  of  skimmed  milk  would  work  no 
harm,  but  to  admit  it  to  the  markets  of  New  York 
would  simply  ruin  the  business  of  every  decent  dealer. 
It  is  hard  work  to  control  the  milk  business — so  hard 
that  it  has  never  yet  been  done ;  probably  one-lialf 
of  all  the  milk  sold  is  adulterated  when  it  reaches  the 
consumers.  Nearly  one-third  of  it,  that  which  comes 
from  many  of  the  Exchange  creameries,  is  adulter¬ 
ated  before  it  starts.  Once  admit  skimmed  milk  to 
our  markets,  and  an  honest  quart  of  milk  would  be  a 
rarity.  The  law  is  all  right — enforce  it  If  we  want 
skimmed  milk,  we  can  skim  the  cream  from  good  milk 
and  make  it.  There  is  no  need  of  importing  it. 
*  # 
The  grape  scare,  inaugurated  last  season  by  some 
blockheads  who  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
traces  of  green  on  the  stems  of  grapes  wei^i  made  by 
Paris-green  spraying,  is  not  likely  to  again  prevail, 
now  that  the  public  know  that  Paris-green  is  never 
used  on  grapes.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  need  be 
no  green  of  any  kind  on  the  fruit  stems,  if  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  our  authorities  are  noted.  Two  points  should 
be  observed.  The  first  is  that  the  Bordeaux  mixture 
is  said  to  be  equally  efficacious  when  the  quantity  of 
sulphate  of  copper  is  reduced  from  six  to  four  pounds, 
and  many  think  it  could  be  safely  reduced  to  three. 
In  other  words,  a  much  more  attenuated  solution  of 
copper  than  has  heretofore  been  used  will  destroy 
the  spores  of  the  fungi  quite  as  successfully.  In  the 
second  place,  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  early  spray¬ 
ings  are  the  most  valuable  in  combating  these  diseases, 
and  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  spray  so  late  but  that 
all  traces  of  the  copper  will  have  disappeared  before 
the  grapes  are  ripe.  If  the  ammoniacal  solution  is 
used  instead  of  the  Bordeaux  mixture,  a  correspond¬ 
ing  dilution  will  not  affect  its  usefulness. 
*  * 
Let  two  men  of  equal  strength  start  at  any  hard 
out-door  work.  Let  them  have  the  same  food  and 
shelter.  One  man  washes  and  changes  his  clothes  fre¬ 
quently;  if  he  gets  his  feet  wet  he  changes  his  stock¬ 
ings  and  dries  his  feet  at  night;  he  keeps  his  skin 
clean  and  his  clothes  well  aired.  The  other  simply 
‘  eats  to  work,”  paying  little  or  no  attention  to  keep¬ 
ing  clean  and  dry.  Does  anybody  doubt  which  man 
will  do  the  more  and  better  work  during  the  season  ? 
We  often  hear  men  say  they  feed  their  horses  well  but 
still  they  can’t  get  them  fat.  Of  course  they  can’t. 
It  needs  something  besides  dumping  hay  and  grain 
into  the  manger  and  feed  box,  and  then  leaving  the 
horse  to  enjoy  his  food.  Rubbing  and  drjdng  pay  with 
a  horse  just  as  they  do  with  a  man.  A  clean,  open 
skin  means  more  horse  power.  Even  a  steel  machine 
needs  to  be  rubbed  and  polished.  The  horse  that 
does  more  work  than  any  other  we  know  of  is  kept  by 
a  man  who  says  “When  I  have  nothing  else  to  do,  I  go 
out  and  rub  down  that  horse!”  There  ought  to  be 
some  better  way  of  spending  a  portion  of  one’s  spare 
time,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  profit  in  a 
good  currycomb  and  brush. 
*  * 
Beevitie  s. 
THE  BABY. 
Ben  a-hoppin’  out  o’  bed  ’most  all  night,  my  little  friend, 
’Long  o’  you,  an’  I  dunno  when  my  stent’s  a-gonter  end. 
Dunno  what  the  matter  is,  some  says  colic,  some  says  teeth ! 
Some  says  ear  ache;  ’pears  to  me,  like  yer  lungs  has  lost  their  sheath 
Makes  me  sorter  sad  to  hear  little  feller  holler  so, 
Can’t  speak  up  an’  tell  us  where  pain  is  prickin'  at,  ye  know. 
Some  says  let ’lm  howlitout;  maybe  that's  all  right,  but  I 
Can’t  help  bein’  tetched  to  heart  by  the  little  feller’s  cry. 
Lays  so  sorter  helpless  there— jest  can’t  help  himself  at  all, 
Guess  my  duty  is  to  make  his  life  easy  whilst  he’s  small. 
Some  day  I’ll  be  helpless  too;  old  an’  feeble,  stiff  an’  gray. 
Hope  this  little  feller  here’ll  be  growed  up  an’  stout  that  day. 
Hope  he’ll  sorter  recollect  how  I  lost  sleep  over  him, 
Mebby  so  though— I  must  say— my  own  memory’s  mighty  dim 
Bout  my  parents  losin’  sleep;  guess  1  won’t  demand  no  pay, 
Yet  awhile— his  note  is  sound— guess  I’llresk  It  anyway. 
Now  he  cuddles  up,  an'  down  drops  them  eyelids.  Now  he’s  still. 
Ain’t  he  cunnin’?  Sleep  away— I  won’t  send  ye  any  bill ! 
Get  your  screen  doors  ready ! 
Who  is  living  on  what  you  waste  ? 
Can  you  smoke  out  a  frost,  or  is  the  labor  lost? 
In  England,  the  horse  that  balks  is  called  a  “jibber.” 
Take  a  moderate  bite  of  farm  work  this  year  and  chew  It  well. 
There  is  one  thing  a  stout  hedge  will  do.  It  will  hedge  in  the  sno 
on  the  road  and  make  It  long  before  it  melts. 
Lots  of  people  are  ready  to  pay  the  Hackney  horse  a  big  price  for 
raising  his  feet  high.  That  is  one  thing  the  Hackney  is  made  for  doing 
Prof.  Fernald,  of  Massachusetts,  estimates  that  it  costs  the 
farmers  of  that  State  $75,000  each  year  to  put  Paris-green  on  their 
potatoes. 
As  to  Prof.  Alwood’s  plan  of  painting  peach  trees  to  head  off  the 
borer— see  page  275— The  R.  N.-Y.’s  remedy  of  painting  with  boiled  oil 
given  years  ago,  seems  to  serve  the  same  purpose. 
It  is  an  unlucky  man  who  has  forgotten  where  his  underdrains  are 
or  who  has  bought  a  farm  of  somebody  who  did  not  know  just  where 
he  put  the  tiles.  The  idea  of  putting  money  Into  the  ground  without 
marking  the  spot  where  it  Is  placed  ! 
One  of  the  quickest  ways  to  learn  how  agriculture  has  changed  of 
late,  Is  to  try  to  sell  a  cow  for  beef  near  one  of  the  large  Eastern 
cities.  There  Is  no  sale  for  her,  because  there  are  no  more  butchers— 
they  are  meat  cutters,  and  that  is  all. 
At  least  one  form  of  potato  scab  is  an  infectious  disease,  that  is, 
“  catching.”  It  has  been  proved  that  scabbed  potatoes  fed  to  horses— 
the  manure  being  used  on  potato  ground— will  bring  on  a  severe 
attack  of  the  disease.  The  scab  fungus  will  thrive  in  manure. 
Nip  out  the  several  terminal  buds  of  the  leading  branches  of  such 
evergreen  trees  or  shrubs  as  it  may  be  desired  to  grow  more  com¬ 
pactly.  An  evergreen  with  a  scanty  lower  foliage  will  never  make  a 
fine  specimen.  Disbudding  answers  every  purpose  of  cutting  back, 
while  the  appearance  of  the  tree  is  not  harmed. 
There  are  a  number  of  bills  before  the  New  York  State  Legislature 
designed  to  compel  manufacturers  of  patent  medicines  and  proprietary 
foods  to  print  on  the  outside  of  each  package  just  what  the  contents 
are  composed  of.  There  is  great  opposition  to  this  among  manufac¬ 
turers,  but  we  would  like  to  see  it  become  a  law  if  only  to  make  the 
patent  medicine  people  tell  us  how  much  rum  they  use  ! 
The  latest  hen  story  comes  from  Montana  where  a  miner  claims  to 
have  found  $10  worth  of  gold  nuggets  in  a  hen’s  crop.  He  at  once 
bought  50  chickens  and  turned  them  out  to  pick  up  gold.  Thirty-one 
of  them  yielded  $387!  Unfortunately  we  can’t  all  live  in  Montana,  yet 
a  White  Leghorn  hen  that  lays  200  eggs  a  year,  each  one  of  which  sells 
at  three  cents,  yields  gold  enough  to  suit  the  average  man.  Many  hens 
have  done  that. 
The  field  pea  makes  a  good  substitute  for  corn  wherever  it  is  too 
cold  for  the  latter  grain  to  mature,  and  it  makes  a  good  hog  crop  any¬ 
where.  Oats  sown  with  the  peas  will  “  hold  the  crop  up.”  Hogs  may 
be  turned  in  to  harvest  the  crop  What  they  leave  of  stubble  and 
roots  will  make  first-class  “  humus  ”  for  corn  or  any  crop.  Peas  and 
oats  cut  and  cured  for  hay  are  an  excellent  cow  feed,  but  we  think 
hogs  will  give  the  best  returns  from  them.  It  is  often  difficult  to  cut 
the  peas  properly  with  a  mower. 
The  fruit  grower  who  first  puts  large  and  finely  ripened  English 
gooseberries,  on  the  New  York  market,  attractively  packed  in  small 
baskets,  will,  we  believe,  reap  a  substantial  reward.  Crown  Bob  (red) 
and  Whitesmith  (yellowish  white)  are  both  good  varieties.  Our  ex¬ 
periment  station  has  shown  that  the  mildew  can  be  cheaply  and  suc¬ 
cessfully  resisted  by  spraying  with  liver  of  sulphur  (potassium  sul¬ 
phide)  using  half  an  ounce  to  a  gallon  of  water. 
There  are  good  arguments  in  favor  of  hauling  stable  manure  out 
in  summer  and  spreading  it  on  sod.  It  is  as  safe  there  as  it  is  in  the 
barnyard.  It  makes  the  grass  grow  better  and  thus  makes  a  heavier 
and  better  sod  to  plow  under  in  fall  or  spring.  The  fertility  that  is 
leached  out  of  the  manure  by  rains,  is  caught  and  held  by  the  roots 
of  the  grass.  Use  all  the  stable  manure  you  can  on  the  corn,  and 
haul  all  that  is  possible  in  the  summer  to  force  the  second  crop  of 
grass.  The  sun  cannot  hurt  manure! 
An  excellent  illustration  of  the  manner  In  which  the  patent  laws  of 
the  country  are  made  allies  of  rich  corporations  in  defrauding  the 
masses,  is  seen  in  the  report  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bell  Tele¬ 
phone  Co.,  held  at  Boston,  March  29.  It  was  first  decided  to  increase 
the  capital  from  $15,000,000  to  $17,000,000.  This  is  because  their  dividends 
are  growing  too  large  for  the  nominal  capital  and  the  “  dear  public  ” 
may  kick.  After  paying  all  the  expenses,  royalties,  etc.,  the  company 
reports  a  surplus  for  the  year,  of  $2,151,011— about  14  per  cent  on  the 
capital  stock  of  $15,000,000,  of  which  the  Lord  only  knows  how  much  is 
water. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  among  the  English  and  German  farmers 
basic  slag  is  gaining  in  reputation  as  a  phosphatic  manure.  We  find  a 
number  of  chemists  urging  farmers  to  use  more  slag  and  less  bone  on 
their  turnips,  A  mixture  of  bone,  slag,  ground  rock,  nitrate  of  soda 
and  nitrate  of  potash  Is  recommended  for  this  crop  in  England.  One 
patriotic  reason  why  the  English  farmers  like  slag  is  because  it  is  a 
home  product— a  waste  of  their  own  iron  manufacturing.  The  price 
demanded  for  American  slag  is  too  high  and  this  fertilizer  will  not  be 
used  as  it  deserves  to  be  until  the  price  is  reduced. 
