352 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
May  28 
l'BR 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YOKE. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
BLBKKT  H.  CARMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLING  WOOD,  Managing  Edltor.C 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  MAY  28,  1892. 
Wk  begin  to  get  answers  about  the  relative  values  of 
farm  lands  as  compared  with  the  same  five  or  ten  years 
ago.  Now  we  would  like  to  have  this  question  answered  : 
If  you  could  sell  your  farm  at  your  own  valuation  how 
would  you  invest  the  money  so  as  to  make  a  Owing  on  it  ? 
*  * 
Senator  W.  A.  Peffkr,  probably  the  most  promin¬ 
ent  Alliance  public  man  in  the  country,  sends  this 
short  and  sweet  answer  to  those  mortgage  questions 
on  the  first  page  : 
1  have  your  letter  of  some  days  ago.  inclosing  a  slip  with  a  proposi¬ 
tion  made  by  a  Kansas  farmer  to  his  creditor.  You  ask  me  if  I 
think  the  proposition  a  fair  one.  Yes;  Ido. 
Yours  very  truly,  w.  A.  PEFFKR. 
*  * 
The  article  on  Prickly  Comfrey  (page  359,  this  issue) 
by  W.  H.  Hart,  is  commended  to  our  readers.  The  R. 
N.-Y.  has  raised  this  rank-growing  plant  in  a  small 
way  for  10  years,  the  plants  all  the  while  growing  in 
the  same  places  and  gradually  spreading,  without  the 
application  of  manure  or  fertilizer.  In  the  early  years, 
The  R.  N.-Y.  condemned  it  because  it  seemed  that 
the  stock  could  never  be  induced  to  eat  it.  They  now 
eat  it  in  small  quantities  with  a  seeming  relish. 
*  * 
The  subject  of  a  graduated  income  tax  is  gaining 
steadily  in  popular  favor,  especially  among  those  on 
whom  the  present  system  of  taxation  lies  heaviest — 
the  farmers  of  the  country.  Under  it  the  man  who 
gains  most  from  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  pays 
most  for  its  support ;  taxes  will  be  placed  where  they 
can  be  most  easily  borne  ;  they  will  fall  only  on  results 
accomplished,  and  will  not  embarrass  endeavor;  profits 
will  be  taxed,  wages  will  be  exempt ;  wealth  will  no 
longer  escape,  while  poverty  has  to  pay.  Is  there  a 
fairer,  more  equitable  form  of  taxation  ? 
*  * 
A  mong  the  frauds  who  labor  to  secure  free  advertis¬ 
ing  from  the  newspapers,  few  are  more  successful  than 
the  scamp  who  wants  to  tell  the  public  how  to  secure 
a  “  Colorado  wind-mill  ”  free  of  cost.  Even  the  New 
York  Tribune  printed  his  letter,  in  which  he  invited 
the  public  to  write  to  a  place  in  Washington  County, 
Colo. ,  and  secure  free  plans  for  building  a  $12  wind¬ 
mill.  Washington  County  has  only  a  few  over  2,000 
inhabitants.  It  is  a  wild,  desert  place  where  bogus 
town  lots  and  wind-mill  plans  are  the  chief  articles  of 
trade.  This  offer  used  to  be  made  from  Zanesville, 
O. — that  place  of  Bainful  influences.  It  is  a  fraud 
and  a  humbug  anyway.  *  * 
There  is  a  movement  on  foot  in  England  to  estab¬ 
lish  an  industrial  home  for  epileptic  patients.  Many 
of  the  unfortunate  people  who  suffer  from  epilepsy 
are  now  placed  in  lunatic  asylums;  in  fact,  quite  a  large 
proportion  of  the  inmates  of  these  asylums  are  victims 
of  this  disease.  Some  27  years  ago  the  Germans  es¬ 
tablished  a  colony  where  epileptic  patients  were  lo¬ 
cated  on  a  farm  and  given  regular  and  light  out-door 
work.  Starting  in  a  small  way,  with  but  four  patients, 
the  institution  now  has  1,100  patients  and  cultivates 
400  acres  of  land.  It  is  largely  self-supporting  and  is 
kept  up  by  charitable  societies.  There  seems  no  good 
reason  why  these  unfortunate  persons  should  be 
classed  with  insane  patients  and  the  proposed  indus¬ 
trial  home  ought  to  be  heartily  supported. 
*  * 
The  efforts  of  the  Agricultural  Department  to  intro¬ 
duce  Indian  corn  in  Europe  as  an  article  of  food  are 
meeting  with  considerable  success,  especially  in  Ger¬ 
many.  The  Berlin  association  of  bakers,  we  are  told, 
is  taking  an  interest  in  the  matter,  and  the  German 
Government  is  putting  up  a  corn  mill  plant  with  a  view 
to  experimenting  with  corn  as  food  for  the  army. 
Many  German  millers,  too,  are  ordering  suitable  mach¬ 
inery  for  grinding  corn.  If  this  wholesome,  nourish¬ 
ing  and  cheap  food,  capable  of  being  prepared  in  so 
many  different  ways,  shall  find  permanent  favor  in 
Germany,  the  prejudice  against  it  in  other  European 
countries  is  likely  to  steadily  decrease  and  disappear, 
and  the  market  for  this  great  American  staple  will  be 
enormously  extended.  The  possibility  of  such  a  bless¬ 
ing  to  European  consumers  and  American  producers 
amply  justifies  the  small  National  outlay  required  to 
push  the  matter  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
Governor  Flower,  of  New  York,  has  just  made  it  a 
misdemeanor  to  sell  or  offer  for  sale  as  pure  any 
diluted  or  adulterated  food,  drug  or  medicine  for  man 
or  beast.  Adulterating  maple  sugar,  honey,  beet  or 
cane  sugar  or  syrup  with  glucose  is  put  in  the  same 
category.  The  bill  goes  into  effect  on  September  1 
next.  The  offense  is  punishable  by  imprisonment  not 
exceeding  erne  year  or  a  fine  not  exceeding  $500,  or 
both.  A  national  law,  like  that  provided  for  in  the 
Paddock  Pure  Food  Bill,  which  shall  provide  special 
means  for  the  detection  and  prosecution  of  such  adul¬ 
terations,  in  every  State  and  Territory  of  the  Union, 
is  the  only  satisfactory  legislation  against  this  nearly 
universal  form  of  swindling  ;  still  this  State  law  is  a 
step  in  the  right  direction,  especially  if  it  is  properly 
enforced.  *  # 
Florida  orange-growers  have  always  complained 
that  they  could  not  find  as  good  a  market  or  as  re¬ 
munerative  prices  as  they  wanted  for  their  crop.  In 
recent  years  competition  with  the  abundant  and  cheap 
oranges  from  California  has  greatly  discouraged  them. 
This  year  they  will,  for  the  first  time,  try  the  British 
markets.  Two  fast  steamships  especially  fitted  for  the 
trade,  and  capable  of  supplying  50,000  boxes  a  month 
to  the  English  markets,  will  ply  between  Jacksonville 
and  Liverpool.  The  orange-growers  of  Florida  ought 
to  be  able  to  compete  with  those  of  the  West  Indies 
and  of  southern  Europe  ;  but  they  should  be  careful 
to  send  only  their  choice  fruit.  If  their  enterprise 
proves  successful,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  orange 
product  of  the  State  will  increase  tenfold  during  the 
next  decade.  *  * 
Southern  papers  are  calling  attention  to  several 
unadvertised  good  qualities  of  the  sweet  potato.  Not 
only  is  this  root  excellent  food  for  man  and  beast  in 
its  natural  state,  but  it  may  be  evaporated  readily. 
Sweet  potato  flour  is  also  a  possible  product — it  is  now 
in  use  to  a  limited  extent.  Both  glucose  and  starch 
may  be  made  from  sweet  potatoes  to  better  advantage 
than  even  from  white  potatoes.  During  the  war  it  is 
said  that  an  intoxicating  liquor  of  great  strength  and 
“  influence”  was  made  from  sweet  potatoes.  As  to  the 
feeding  value  of  the  root,  we  are  told  that  before  rail¬ 
roads  came  to  bring  in  Northern  grain,  farmers  in  the 
lower  Gulf  States  “  made  sweet  potatoes  their  exclus¬ 
ive  horse  feed  outside  of  the  grasses.”  With  the  sweet 
potato,  peanut  and  cow  pea  cropped  and  utilized  in  the 
best  possible  manner,  the  wealth  of  the  South  would 
be  greatly  enhanced.  *  * 
The  questions  concerning  that  Kansas  mortgage 
were  referred  to  the  leaders  of  the  Grange,  Alliance, 
Farmers’  League  and  to  prominent  Republican  and 
Democratic  statesmen  who  profess  .to  ignore  the  de¬ 
mands  of  the  various  farmers’  organizations.  It  was 
also  sent  to  officers  of  some  of  the  Kansas  mortgage 
companies.  The  Republicans,  Democrats  and  mort¬ 
gage  people  have  not  seen  fit  to  prepare  a  statement 
which  they  are  willing  should  be  printed.  The  dis¬ 
cussion  is  therefore  limited  to  the  views  of  Grange, 
Alliance  and  League  officials.  We  will  gladly  give 
the  other  side  a  fair  hearing.  We  like  to  have  our 
readers  know  just  what  the  representatives  of  farmers’ 
organizations  think  about  these  questions.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  men  who  are  dissatisfied  with  the  issues  between 
the  two  old  parties  is  legion.  Why  cannot  one  of  the 
old  parties  be  brave  and  strong  enough  to  face  man¬ 
fully  the  real  issues  of  the  day  2  If  they  will  not,  one 
of  them  will  be  ripped  in  two  and  made  over  to  suit  the 
people’s  needs.  We  do  not  indorse  all  that  is  said  in 
this  mortgage  discussion,  though  every  word  of  it  is 
worthy  of  consideration. 
*  * 
For  the  past  two  years  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  urged  the 
formation  of  Debt  Paying  Associations  on  the  basis  of 
the  loan  associations  that  have  proved  so  successful  in 
providing  homes  for  village  people.  We  are  glad  to 
see  that  Mr.  Brigham,  in  this  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y., 
advocates  this  measure  and  speaks  of  its  successful 
operation  in  his  own  county.  The  more  we  think  of 
it,  the  more  are  we  convinced  that  something  of  this 
sort  is  to  be  the  solution  of  this  much-vexed  mortgage 
question.  In  almost  anjr  community  of  farmers  we  can 
find  considerable  money  either  lying  idle  or  invested 
in  unsafe  securities.  Any  organization  of  safe  business 
men  can  borrow  money  at  five  per  cent  or  less.  An 
individual  cannot  do  it,  but  a  responsible  organization 
can.  The  farmers  of  the  country  have  more  than 
ample  funds  to  pay  off  every  recorded  mortgage  and 
those  who  lend  the  money  would  receive  as  high  a  rate 
of  interest  as  they  can  obtain  from  town  or  city  bonds 
or  other  favorite  securities.  The  Grange  and  the 
Alliance  should  take  hold  of  this  matter  and  push  it. 
Over  10  per  cent  of  the  mortgages  on  farms  could  be 
paid  by  the  saving  of  the  share  that  goes  to  middle¬ 
men — agents,  Dwyers  and  the  like — in  one  year.  This 
will  never  be  saved  until  farmers  save  it  themselves. 
We  cannot  understand  why  the  Farmers’  Alliance  has 
\ 
not  made  this  the  chief  of  their  plans  for  helping  the 
debt-ridden  farmers  of  the  West.  A  pamphlet* has  just 
been  issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  giving 
an  account  of  the  Cooperative  Credit  Associations  that 
have  been  formed  in  certain  European  countries.  We 
shall  have  considerable  to  say  about  this  matter  in  the 
future.  In  the  meantime  we  advise  our  readers  to 
study  this  pamphlet.  *  # 
BREVITIE  8. 
Dick  got  home  to-night  from  the  agercultul  college  where 
He’s  just  grady  rated.  We  found  it  pretty  hard  to  spare 
What  it  cost  to  put  him  through,  but  I  says,  “  Let’s  give  our  son 
Every  chance;  the  rest  are  dead— Dick's  the  last  an'  only  one.” 
Me  an’  mother  often  talked — what  would  college  lead  him  to  ? 
Won’t  our  quiet  life  seem  tame  on  the  farm  when  he  s  through  ? 
Won’t  he  branch  off  on  some  scheme  that  he's  jest  got  in  his  heart  ? 
Lawyer,  doctor  or  such  like  ?  Dick  was  always  bright  an'  smart. 
Dick,  he  walked  around  the  farm,  run  his  eye  o’er  everything, 
Figgered  this  an’  figgered  that,  what  the  wheat  an’  grass  would  bring. 
Then  he  spoke  up,  sorter  slow,  “  Father,  now  I’m  through  my  school. 
I  feel  just  like  workin’  hard— don’t  think  I’ve  got  time  to  fool. 
Like  to  work  for  you  first-rate,  if  on  wages  we  agree!  ” 
Then  he  sorter  raised  his  eye  kinder  cornerways  at  me. 
Somethin'  ketched  me  in  the  throat!  “Dick,”  says  I,  "we  want  vou 
here. 
Want  to  see  ye  do  first-rate  an'  the  old  farm’s  mighty  dear. 
There’s  the  case,  now  why  can’t  we  make  a  partnership  an’  run 
Things  a  little  faster  now— make  It  Farmer  True  &  Sonl 
Mother  rung  the  supper  bell;  “  John,  what  makes  ye  feel  so  gay  ?  ” 
She  says.  I  jest  roared  right  out,  Mother,  Dick’s  agonter  stay !  ” 
Scarlet  Clover  has  a  small  tap  root. 
Does  it  injure  a  horse  to  have  the  slobbers  ? 
A  surplus  rooster  may  be  called  an  unbusiness  hen. 
Thus  far,  we  need  rain  arresters  rather  than  rain  makers. 
A  rutabaga  growB  so  far  out  of  the  soil  that  it  half  pulls  itself. 
Do  you  call  the  calf  a  legitimate  milk  consumer,  entitled  to  “  stand-  . 
ard  ”  milk  ? 
Don’t  forget  that  a  light  cultivation  in  a  dry  time  is  as  good  as  a 
light  shower. 
There  are  at  least  a  dozen  patents  on  devices  for  catching  the 
clipped  grass  from  lawn  mowers. 
Try  thinning  the  fruit  on  a  few  trees  as  an  experiment.  This  is  one 
job  that  nature  cannot  successfully  handle  alone. 
The  Spanish  adage  that  water  in  May  is  bread  all  the  year  is  hardly 
likely  to  be  accepted  as  true  in  the  flooded  sections  along  the  Missouri 
and  Mississippi. 
It  is  said  to  be  almost  impossible  to  find  a  gray  driving  horse  on  the 
fashienable  driving  courses  of  London.  The  color  is  not  popular  there; 
neither  is  white. 
Some  of  the  daily  papers  are  talking  about  the  culture  of  the  rubber 
tree  in  Florida.  Experts  who  have  carefully  investigated  the  matter 
assure  us  that  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in  it. 
The  National  Convention  of  the  People's  party  will  be  held  at 
Omaha,  Neb.,  in  the  opening  days  of  July  so  that  the  nominations 
may  be  made  on  the  Fourth— a  good  day  for  patriotic  nominations. 
The  Standard  Oil  Company  is  operating  through  the  country  as  the 
successor  of  the  Standard  Oil  Trust.  It  is  now,  we  are  told,  after 
100,000  acres  of  Kentucky  oil  land.  It  has  changed  its  name,  but  not 
its  nature. 
HAS  Mr.  Hart,  page  359,  really  found  the  “  missing  link  ”  of  success¬ 
ful  dairying  in  prickly  comfrey  ?  His  cows  did  not  want  to  eat  it  at 
first— now  they  bawl  for  it.  Human  nature  and  cow  nature  have 
points  of  resemblance  ! 
Is  it  not  better  that  California  should  suppy  us  with  the  dried  and 
fresh  fruits  that  cannot  be  grown  in  the  North,  than  to  go  abroad  for 
them?  Yes,  but  how  about  the  fact  that  the  California  product  spoils 
the  sale  of  our  own  fruits? 
The  only  way  for  a  workman  to  obtain  a  substantial  advance  in 
wages  is  to  show  that  he  is  earning  more  than  he  is  paid.  If  his  em¬ 
ployer  will  not  recognize  this  somebody  else  will.  Unto  every  man  is 
given  space  to  advertise  his  improvement. 
The  Paddock  Pure  Food  Bill  will  fail  to  pass  unless  farmers  make 
their  Congressmen  vote  for  it.  Why  should  a  manifestly  .right  and 
just  measure  fail  because  a  few  scamps  want  to  sell  cotton  oil  for 
lard,  hog  fat  for  butter,  rum  for  "  medicine,”  etc.,  etc.  ? 
Many  a  man  has  been  doctored  and  dosed  for  catarrh,  ear-ache, 
liver  complaint,  kidney  diseases  and  “  general  debility”  who  had  noth¬ 
ing  the  matter  with  him  but  bad  teeth.  Many  a  man  has  died  from  a 
disease  of  the  jaw  that  spread  from  a  diseased  tooth.  The  most  ex¬ 
pert  dentists  never  fill  a  tooth  at  all— their  work  is  all  on  the  other  side 
of  the  gums— among  the  roots. 
There  are  3,990  artesian  wells  in  this  country  employed  in  irrigation. 
Most  of  them  are  in  California,  with  Utah  and  Colorado  next  in  im¬ 
portance.  The  average  depth  is  210  feet  and  the  average  cost  $245. 
The  average  area  irrigated  from  one  well  is  13  acres.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  gardeners  and  small  farmers  in  the  East  have  to  come  to 
irrigation  and  there  are  many  places  where  artesian  wells  can  be 
cheaply  sunk. 
On  Monday  May  9  at  Debtford,  England,  the  trade  in  foreign  live 
cattle  was  quoted  “extreme'y  dull  and  dragging”  yet  good  animals 
sold  at  lljfj  cents  per  pound,  live  weight.  In  New  York,  these  “good 
animals”  bring  less  than  five  cents  per  pound.  All  England  is  com¬ 
plaining  about  high  prices  for  beef.  The  people  will  continue  to  com¬ 
plain  until  the  English  Government  removes  its  restrictions  regarding 
American  live  cattle. 
An  English  woman.  Miss  Mary  Best,  who  owns  a  farm  in  Kansas,  has 
bought  the  sorghum  sugar  works  located  at  Medicine  Lodge.  Several 
car-loads  of  new  machinery  have  been  ordered  and  the  capacity  of  the 
works  largely  increased.  With  ample  financial  support  and  good  busi¬ 
ness  management  it  Is  hoped  that  profitable  sorghum  sugar  may  at 
last  be  made.  We  mean  profitable  to  all  concerned— the  farmers  who 
grow  the  cane  as  well  as  the  manufacturer. 
The  great  need  of  bread  in  Europe  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the 
last  10  months  the  exports  of  breadstuff's  amounted  in  value  to  $253,- 
005.029— an  increase  of  $155,438,870  over  the  exports  for  the  correspond¬ 
ing  period  last  year.  There  has,  however,  been  a  decline  in  the  ex¬ 
ports  of  hog  products  and  other  staple  agricultural  products  from  this 
country,  probably  mainly  because  people  over  the  ocean  have  to 
economize  so  as  to  save  all  the  more  for  the  purchase  of  the  “  staff 
of  life.” 
The  Health  Department  of  Brooklyn  recently  closed  a  grocery  store 
in  that  city  because  one  of  the  clerks  was  supposed  to  be  suffering 
from  small-pox.  It  turned  out  that  the  young  man  had  only  “measles” 
The  proprietor  of  the  store  proposes  to  sue  the  city  for  $5,000  damages 
which  he  claims  to  have  suffered.  We  would  like  to  know  to  what  ex¬ 
tent  a  municipality  is  responsible  for  such  blunders.  What,  for 
example,  should  New  York  city  pay  for  the  destruction  of  those  harm¬ 
less  grapes,  last  year? 
Those  who  cut  soiling  crops  for  their  stock  must  remember  that  it 
is  better  to  have  a  succession  of  sowings  on  a  given  area  than  to  put  in 
the  whole  at  a  single  sowing.  Ten  or  twelve  days  is  about  the  limit  of 
profitable  cutting  from  a  single  planting  of  any  fodder.  After  that 
the  crop  becomes  too  hard  and  coarse  for  the  best  green  food,  and  it 
had  better  be  cut  and  dried  for  winter  feeding.  Three  small  plots, 
planted  10  days  apart,  will  give  a  month's  good  feed  while  the  whole 
planted  at  one  time  would  give  two  weeks  of  green  food— with  the  rest 
of  the  crop  good  only  for  drying. 
