384 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
June  11 
THK 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YOIiK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  B.  CARMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. a 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  JUNE  11,  1892. 
Some  six  weeks  ago  The  R.  N.-Y.  slated  that  Mr. 
James  Davies,  an  Englishman,  had  driven  his  cob 
horse  1,025  miles  in  19  consecutive  days,  thus  making 
a  record  for  long-distance  driving.  Mr.  Davies  has 
written  a  detailed  account  of  his  trip  which  we  shall 
soon  begin  to  print.  #  # 
Within  the  past  few  days  it  has  been  noticed  at  the 
Rural  Grounds  that  the  average  size  of  the  pistillate 
flowers  of  strawberry  plants  is  smaller  than  that  of 
the  bisexuals.  Deprived  of  one  set  of  sexual  organs, 
it  might  readily  be  supposed  that  the  reverse  would 
prove  to  be  the  fact.  #  » 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  this  year,  as  usual,  about  100  def¬ 
erent  kinds  of  strawberries  under  trial  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  which  is  the  best  early  ;  the  best  main 
crop  and  the  best  late  variety.  This  little  question 
we  have  been  trying  to  decide  for  10  years.  But 
things  change.  The  procession  is  moving  on  and  on, 
and  it  requires  a  lively  and  constant  hop,  skip  and 
jump  to  keep  up  with  it. 
*  * 
Mr.  Van  Loon  tells  us,  on  page  385,  how  he  sowed 
turnips  on  a  strawberry  sod  and  let  them  rot  down 
for  manure.  We  would  like  to  have  some  of  our  sta¬ 
ble-manure  farmers  tell  us  how  the  manure  from 
those  turnips  would  have  been  improved  by  passing 
them  through  live  stock,  instead  of  letting  the  air, 
frost,  sun  and  water  decompose  them.  We  do  not 
say  that  the  animals  would  not  have  made  milk  or 
flesh  from  the  turnips,  but  we  speak  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  gardener  who  has  not  the  room  for  keeping  live 
stock  and  who  does  not  want  to  depend  on  purchased 
stable  manure.  #  * 
Last  summer  the  seeds  of  selected  strawberries  were 
sown  in  a  little  plot  of  prepared  soil  about  four  feet 
square.  They  germinated  freely,  were  protected  by 
straw  litter  during  the  winter,  and  the  plants  were  set 
in  permanent  beds  the  past  spring.  Every  plant  is  bear¬ 
ing  now.  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  raise  one’s  own  straw¬ 
berries,  and  it  is  easy,  too,  in  this  way  to  select  varie¬ 
ties  of  as  good  quality,  as  prolific  and  thrifty  as  are 
most  of  the  new  kinds  offered  for  sale.  Select  the 
choicest  berries  from  the  most  vigorous  and  fruitful 
plants.  Crush  them  between  bits  of  paper.  The  pulp 
soon  dries,  and  the  seeds  may  then  be  separated  from 
the  paper  and  sown  at  once. 
*  * 
Weigelas  are  now  in  bloom  and  our  readers  may 
find  pleasure  in  crossing  different  varieties  for  the 
reasons,  1,  that  they  are  easily  crossed ;  2,  the  seeds 
germinate  freely  and,  3,  bloom  the  second  year.  The 
weigela  flower  is  naturally  self-fertilizing  so  that  the 
buds  must  be  unfolded,  the  anthers  removed  and  the 
flower  protected  until  the  pistil  becomes  receptive. 
Then  remove  the  protecting  material  (tissue  paper  is 
best)  and  apply  pollen  from  the  variety  with  which 
the  cross  is  to  be  effected  and  again  protect.  The 
seed  is  so  small — so  like  dust  indeed — that  it  is  natural 
to  assume  that  no  seeds  have  formed.  Sow  the  dost  in 
well  prepared  soil  and  barely  cover  with  fine,  light 
mold.  Germination  will  occur  in  two  weeks  or  less. 
*  * 
The  New  York  Tribune  has  published  a  detailed  list 
of  the  millionaires  of  32  States,  excluding  for  the 
present  New  York  city,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
making  up  the  long  list.  To  date  the  number  amounts 
to  2,218.  New  York  State,  exclusive  of  the  Metropo¬ 
lis,  heads  the  list  with  428,  and  Illinois,  including  Chi¬ 
cago,  comes  second,  with  340,  and  Massachusetts  third, 
with  259.  Of  the  total  number,  1,432  live  in  32  of  the 
larger  towns  and  cities,  including  301  in  Chicago,  175 
in  Boston,  and  1G6  in  Brooklyn.  As  to  the  sources  of 
these  vast  fortunes,  450  came  from  manufactures,  368 
from  mercantile  business,  263  from  real  estate,  and 
193  were  inherited,  the  sources  of  the  remainder  rang¬ 
ing  from  banking — 164 — to  theatrical  business — 2.  Es¬ 
timating  the  average  of  these  fortunes  at  $4,000,000, 
the  aggregate  would  amount  to  $9,000,000,000,  or  one- 
fourth  of  the  wealth  of  all  the  States  covered  by  the 
Tribune’s  report,  omitting  the  vast  concentration  of 
capital  in  a  comparatively  few  hands  in  New  York 
city.  Here  is  the  millionaire  question  in  a  nutshell, 
and  it  is  likely  to  come  prominently  forward  in  poli¬ 
tics  in  the  near  future.  While  the  wealth  producers 
are  pinched  and  impoverished  all  over  the  land,  the 
non-producing  wealth  accumulators  are  yearly  adding 
superfluous  millions  to  their  hoards. 
*  * 
In  the  first  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  for  this  year  we 
printed  an  account  of  a  “  beef  factory  ”  built  by  Mr. 
Edwin  Taylor  near  Kansas  City.  Mr.  Taylor  is  a  po¬ 
tato  grower.  His  “beef  factory”  was  started  with 
the  main  object  of  providing  manure  for  his  potato 
ground,  though  any  direct  profit  that  could  be  made 
from  the  feeding  would  be  welcomed.-  Ensilage, 
stalks,  corn,  bran  and  oil  meal  were  to  be  the  food. 
The  last  lot  of  cattle  were  sold  April  4,  and  the  “  fac¬ 
tory  ”  was  closed  for  the  season.  Mr.  Taylor  has  sent 
us  an  account  of  the  first  “  run  ”  which  will  set  people 
to  thinking  about  several  important  matters,  viz.,  the 
cost  of  making  stable  manure  as  compared  with  buy¬ 
ing  fertilizers,  and  the  increased  value  of  manure 
from  the  feeding  of  nitrogenous  stock  foods. 
*  * 
A  special  meeting  of  the  New  York  Milk  Exchange, 
Limited,  was  recently  held  in  this  city,  at  which  about 
100  stockholders,  dealers,  and  others  were  present,  in 
response  to  a  most  pressing  appeal.  It  was  a  question 
of  “  to  be  or  not  to  be  ”  with  this  famous  body  of  milk 
buccaneers.  The  concern  was  doing  no  business  and 
it  had  an  empty  treasury.  There  was  no  prospect  of 
any  better  conditions  prevailing.  The  litigation 
looking  to  the  annulment  of  their  charter,  had,  so  far 
as  it  had  progressed,  been  unfavorable.  They  were 
to  decide  what  it  was  best  to  do,  whether  they  would 
surrender  their  charter  and  disband  or  whether  they 
would  “chip  in”  and  go  on  for  a  time.  After  a 
lengthy  discussion,  they  decided  to  adopt  the  latter 
course  and  the  process  of  “chipping  in  ”  was  then  and 
there  begun.  They  propose,  it  is  said,  to  fight  the 
movement  to  annul  their  charter. 
*  * 
There  may  be  plenty  of  farmers  in  the  State  who 
feel  bad  over  Gov.  Flower’s  veto  of  the  bill  appro¬ 
priating  $100,000  for  fair  premiums,  but  they  do  not 
come  to  the  front  with  good  reasons  for  their  sorrow. 
We  wish  they  would  favor  us  with  their  views,  for  we 
want  all  sides  of  the  question.  We  find  quite  a  gen¬ 
eral  feeling  among  progressive  farmers  that  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  average  agricultural  fair  is  too  much 
towards  horse  racing,  gambling,  and  trivial  amuse¬ 
ments.  The  “education”  afforded  at  the  average 
fair  tends  to  anything  but  industrious  habits  and  good 
morals.  The  R.  N.-Y.  is  opposed  to  the  payment,  by 
the  State,  of  a  single  dollar  to  societies  that  encour¬ 
age  cheap  trotting  races  or  permit  gambling  or  im¬ 
moral  shows  on  their  grounds.  Further  than  this,  we 
would  like  to  organize  a  “  boycott  ”  against  all  such 
concerns  and  freeze  them  out  of  business.  At  the 
same  time  we  would  gladly  do  all  we  can  to  encour¬ 
age  the  few  societies  that  are  really  trying  to  pro¬ 
mote  the  real  good  of  agriculture. 
*  * 
A  joint  committee  of  the  two  houses  of  the  New 
York  Legislature  is  to  investigate  the  State  system  of 
taxation,  and  make  suggestions  as  to  the  necessary  re¬ 
vision  and  modification  of  the  tax  laws  of  the  State. 
The  New  York  farmers  should  see  to  it  that  they  are 
duly  and  ably  represented  before  this  body,  which  will 
meet  to  take  testimony  at  Albanjr  in  a  few  weeks. 
Already  corporate  interests  are  taking  vigorous  meas¬ 
ures  to  secure  in  their  favor  a  modification  of  the  ex¬ 
isting  laws  on  the  ground  that  they  are  driving  busi¬ 
ness  out  of  the  State  every  year.  Last  year  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Tax  Commissioners  of  this 
city  declared  that  of  the  $350,000,000  of  aggregate  cor¬ 
porate  capital  incorporated  during  the  preceding  year 
in  New  Jersey,  fully  20  per  cent  represented  the  cap¬ 
ital  of  New  Yorkers,  forced  by  the  excessive  burthen 
of  taxation  to  remove  their  business  across  the  river. 
These  tax  shirkers  have  always  a  formidable  array  of 
figures  at  their  command  when  advocating  legislation 
favorable  to  themselves. 
*  * 
In  the  discussion  of  the  prospects  of  the  two  great 
parties  in  the  next  Presidential  campaign  the  strength 
of  the  Prohibitionists  has  been  almost  lost  sight  of  : 
yet  the  Prohibition  party  is  likely  to  play  a  considerable 
part  in  the  contest,  especially,  of  course,  in  the  close 
and  doubtful  States.  While  there  is  little  prospect  of 
success  for  itself  in  the  near  future,  still  it  can  exercise 
a  powerful  influence  by  withdrawing-  a  large  vote  both 
from  the  Republican  and  Democratic  candidates.  In 
1872  the  total  Prohibitionist  vote  for  President  was 
only  5,607.  It  had  nearly  doubled  in  1880  ;  while  in 
1884  it  had  jumped  up  to  150,626,  and  in  1888  it  had  in¬ 
creased  to  249,942.  At  the  coming  election  it  will  cer¬ 
tainly  be  considerably  over  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
which  may  easily  determine  the  result  in  favor  of  one 
candidate  or  the  other  of  the  two  great  parties.  The 
Prohibitionist  National  Committee  will  hold  its  con¬ 
vention  in  Cincinnati  on  June  29,  and  there  appears  to 
be  a  strong  demand  for  the  nomination  of  Ex-Governor 
St.  John  of  Kansas,  the  standard-bearer  of  the  party 
in  the  campaign  of  1884.  Thousands  who  heartily 
sympathize  with  the  objects  of  the  organization  deem 
it  inadvisable  to  follow  its  independent  methods, 
believing  that  more  could  be  accomplished  for  the 
cause  of  temperance  by  bargaining  with  one  or  the 
other  of  the  two  great  parties,  and,  moreover,  there 
are  few  voters  who  like  to  lose  their  votes  merely  to 
indorse  an  opinion.  Sincerity,  however,  in  a  good 
cause  always  deserves  respect,  and  who  can  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  the  Prohibitionists  ? 
*  •* 
Brevities. 
Mary  Ellen's  gut  a  beau— came  up  Sunday  ntght  an’  so 
I  jest  thought  I'd  set  him  out,  so’s  to  see  what  he’s  about. 
Wife,  she  set  with  us  an’  talked  half  an  hour— then  off  she  walked 
Up  to  bed  an’  left  me  there,  sorter  holdin’  down  my  chair. 
Gut  so  sleepy  I  ’most  fell  off  my  chair— ashamed  to  tell. 
Mary  Ellen  up  an’  said,  “Pa,  why  don't  you  go  to  bed?” 
So  I  says  “Good  night!”  an’  quit,  looks  ez  though  I  ain’t  “  in  it.” 
Wife,  she  raked  me  with  her  tongue.  “  Don’t  ye  ’member  when  ye’s 
young 
You  gut  madder  than  a  bee  when  you  come  a-courtin’  me. 
An’  my  folks  ain’t  off  to  bed  ’fore  it’s  nine  o’clock— you  said, 
Ought  to  know  enough  to  clear  out  when  courtin’  scrapes  is  near. 
Pretty  work  ef  you  can’t  trust  your  own  daughter— guess  ye  must 
Think  more  of  her  now,”  says  she  “than  ye  ever  did  o’  me." 
Wasn’t  nothin’  I  cud  say— I  jest  let  her  talk  away, 
TUI  she  talked  herself  asleep;  but  I  thought  a  mighty  heap. 
Laid  awake  a-thinkin’  there,  till  my  girl  came  up  the  stair, 
Stopped  an’  kissed  us  both  all  round— l  felt  better  I’ll  be  bound. 
When  her  beau  asked  me  next  day,  wasn’t  nothin’  I  cud  say. 
Makes  a  big  hole  in  our  home,  but  it's  right  an’  has  ter  come. 
Live  and  help  live. 
Is  your  fowl  house  foul? 
A  Leghorn  is  a  miserable  nurse. 
Which  is  the  “mother”— the  incubator  or  the  brooder? 
Again  Michel’s  is  the  first  strawberry  to  ripen — May  30. 
Save  seeds  of  the  best  strawberries  and  sow  them  at  once. 
Health  no  truer  ally  hath  than  a  good  old-fashioned  bath. 
His  prospects  are  exceeding  dim  whose  work  is  always  pushing  him? 
You  can  kill  five  English  sparrows  in  the  nest  where  you  can  poison 
one  in  the  garden.  Destroy  the  eggs. 
There  are  loud  calls  for  a  suitable  Btone  rake  for  collecting  small 
stones.  Have  you  ever  used  one  ?  What  was  it  like  ! 
Is  there  any  profit  in  cutting  grass  for  hay  that  is  so  hard  that  stock 
would  not  eat  it  while  growing?  We  think  not.  We  want  stalk,  not 
seed,  in  hay. 
Don’t  forget  that  house  flies  can  be  killed  by  puffing  a  little  pyre- 
thrum  out  of  a  bellows  into  the  room.  Do  it  at  night  after  doors  and 
windows  are  closed. 
We  shall  probably  hear  very  little  about  the  “Billion  Congress"  in 
the  coming  campaign,  as  the  present  Congress  seems  disposed  to  spend 
more  than  the  last. 
The  potato  trial  plot  at  the  Rural  Grounds  was  filled  a  month  ago. 
We  are  unable,  therefore,  to  make  any  comparative  tests  of  varieties 
which  have  since  been  sent. 
Since  last  year’s  fine  crops  and  consequent  prosperity  were  mainly 
due  to  the  McKinley  Bill,  to  what  are  the  late  downpours,  floods  and 
washouts  to  be  attributed  ? 
It  is  stated  that  officials  at  the  Georgia  Experiment  Station  have 
succeeded  in  hybridizing  sea  Island  with  upland  cotton.  This,  if  true, 
will  make  a  great  change  in  cotton  culture. 
Prop.  Brewer  tells  of  a  breeder  of  Jersey  cattle  so  anxious  to 
breed  small  animals  for  pets  that  he  so  underfed  the  growing  calves 
that  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Animals  interfered. 
Can  bad  odors  that  get  into  a  cow’s  milk  through  her  mouth  in  the 
shape  of  rank  food  be  “  aiirated  ”  out  of  it  ?  If  the  makers  of  aerators 
can  show  that  their  machines  can  drive  out  the  evil  odors,  what  a 
boom  they  will  have! 
Irrigation  saves  manure— that  is,  less  manure  is  needed  when 
plenty  of  water  is  available.  Not  that  there  is  any  amount  of  fertility 
in  ordinary  water,  but  all  plant  food  must  reach  the  plant  in  a  liquid 
form  and  unless  there  is  an  ample  supply  of  moisture  the  plant  cannot 
eat.  It  cannot  live  without  eating. 
A  correspondent  in  New  York  State  says  he  has  used  Breed’s 
weeder  successfully  for  raking  hay.  We  think,  however,  it  is  a  mis¬ 
take  to  advocate  it  for  anything  besides  scratching  out  small  weeds 
either  alone  or  after  the  cultivator.  Stouter  or  heavier  machines  made 
in  the  principle  of  the  weeder  will  come  in  time. 
It  has  been  popular  to  compare  ensilage  to  canned  fruit  or  vege¬ 
tables,  the  heat  that  develops  in  the  silo  answering  for  the  cooking. 
Several  experiments  have  recently  been  made  with  cooking  or  steam¬ 
ing  ensilage  after  it  was  taken  from  the  silo.  The  latest  experiment 
—in  Oregon— showed  that  cooking  increased  the  digestibility  of  the 
fats,  fiber,  etc.,  and  decreased  the  digestibility  of  the  albuminoids,  the 
very  things  that  are  most  important. 
Referring  to  the  note  last  week  about  mistakes  and  delays  In  de¬ 
livering  mall  orders  for  seeds,  etc.,  a  Western  seedsman  writes  :  “  A 
bundle  of  letters,  most  of  them  containing  money,  was  dropped  be¬ 
hind  one  of  the  tables  in  the  post-office  here.  This  was  not  discovered 
until  the  following  year  in  removing  to  the  new  post-office  building. 
Meantime  we  had  received  a  number  of  very  warm  letters  denouncing 
us  in  no  mild  terms.”  A  chance  for  “  reform  ”  in  the  management  of 
that  office. 
A  Michigan  friend  gives  the  following  formula  for  fighting  the 
English  sparrow  :  “  The  best  way  to  get  rid  of  the  English  sparrow  is 
to  begin  with  the  nest.  Destroy  every  nest  as  soon  as  It  is  built  or, 
better,  wait  till  the  eggs  are  hatched  or  birds  partly  grown,  then  destroy 
them,  and  keep  on  with  the  good  work.  Let  every  man  watch  his 
premises,  and  fine  him  $5  if  he  lets  any  brood  mature  and  escape.  Ap¬ 
point  a  sparrow  commissioner  in  every  ward  and  town.”  By  all  means 
let  the  nests  be  “  picked  before  they  are  ripe.” 
Two  years  ago  we  told  our  readers  about  a  Scotch  milking  machine. 
A  rubber  cup  fitted  to  each  cow’s  teat  is  connected  with  an  air  pump 
which  latter  is  worked  by  a  series  of  short,  quick  gasps— the  closest 
possible  Imitation  of  the  “suck”  of  a  calf.  The  milk  thus  pumped  out 
runs  through  glass  tubes  into  a  closed  pail.  The  machine  does  not 
milk  the  cows  clean— hand  stripping  is  necessary.  In  a  herd  of  cows 
when  the  machine  was  first  tried  these  strippings  averaged  nearly  three 
pints  per  cow.  Later,  the  strippings  were  reduced  to  one  pint,  and  this 
is  about  the  best  the  machine  can  do. 
The  late  season  has  so  delayed  corn  planting  at  the  West  that  many 
farmers  are  doubtful  about  getting  the  crop  through.  All  the  old 
records  are  being  consulted  to  learn  the  average  life  of  the  corn  plant 
and  the  usual  date  of  the  first  killing  frost.  Prof.  Latta,  of  the  Indiana 
Station,  gives  the  average  length  of  time  required  to  mature  corn  as 
115  days  for  the  earlier  varieties  and  125  for  the  later  ones.  In  the  past 
19  years  a  killing  frost  has  occurred  at  Indianapolis  nine  times  before 
October  1,  and  only  twice  before  September  20.  The  chances  for  corn 
planted  before  June  10,  are  more  than  good.  With  a  silo  the  corn 
crop  is  all  right. 
