5l2 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Aug.  6 
T  H  B 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  • 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Hones. 
ELBERT  8.  CAllMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. 
CopyrighUd  1H»2. 
SATURDAY,  AUGUST  0.  1892. 
One  of  the  many  interesting  results  of  crossing 
tomatoes  at  the  Rural  Grounds  is  what  promises  to  be 
a  “  Peach”  tomato  of  perfect  form  as  large  as  ordin¬ 
ary  tomatoes.  Though  still  quite  green,  the  downy 
skin  is  well  developed.  Should  they  when  ripe  prove 
to  be  as  solid  as  other  tomatoes,  the  variety  may 
prove  a  valuable  acquisition. 
*  * 
The  hot  weather  of  last  week  produced  great  ac¬ 
tivity  in  the  milk  trade,  increasing  the  demand  and 
slightly  reducing  the  supply.  With  milk  worth  about 
ft  1.20  per  can  in  the  city,  according  to  the  schedule  of 
the  Exchange,  any  surplus  on  Wednesday  of  that 
week  found  eager  customers  at  $2.50  and  $3  per  can. 
This  is  the  time  when  sharp  inspectors  would  have  no 
difficulty  in  finding  plenty  of  adulterated  milk.  Some 
of  our  dealers  have  a  method  of  stretching  milk  when 
it  is  scarce.  #  * 
Up  in  little  Rhode  Island  a  new  labor  movement 
has  started,  which  seeks  to  engraft  on  the  protective 
tariff  policy  of  the  country  the  profit-sharing  princi¬ 
ple  in  the  interest  of  labor,  along  with  international 
reciprocity  in  the  interest  of  everybody.  If  adopted, 
tho  plan  would  change  the  present  tariff  system  to  “a 
national  industrial  cooperative  system,  in  which  Amer¬ 
ican  labor  would  be  under  the  protection  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  itself.”  Great  is  the  grafting  process,  in 
politics  as  well  as  in  horticulture. 
#  * 
The  Babcock  milk  tester  does  not  show  how  much 
butter  a  sample  of  milk  will  make — it  indicates  the 
amount  of  pure  fat.  Ordinary  butter  contains  about 
six-sevenths  of  pure  fat,  the  rest  being  water,  salt 
and  curd.  With  the  per  cent  of  fat  known,  the  follow¬ 
ing  rate  is  sufficiently  accurate  for  all  practical  pur¬ 
poses.  Increase  the  butter  fats  by  one-sixth  and  the 
sum  will  be  the  number  of  pounds  of  butter  in  100 
pounds  of  milk.  Thus,  if  the  milk  showed  six  per 
cent  of  fat,  we  add  one-sixth  to  that,  which  makes 
seven,  the  number  of  pounds  of  butter  100  pounds  of 
that  milk  would  make. 
*  * 
In  the  now  rather  improbable  event  of  the  Anti-Op¬ 
tion  Bill  becoming  a  law  in  the  near  future,  it  is  pro¬ 
posed  by  the  speculators  to  transfer  their  gambling 
operations  in  agricultural  products  to  Hamburg, 
where  an  Exchange  for  that  purpose  has  been  already 
established.  To  meet  this  case,  a  new  bill  has  been 
introduced  into  Congress  providing  heavy  penalties 
for  any  American  citizen  or  resident  who  shall  engage 
in  the  forbidden  speculation  through  foreign  firms  or 
Exchanges.  The  authors  of  the  measure  do  not  pro¬ 
pose  to  allow  the  speculative  rascals  “  to  whip  the 
devil  round  the  stump.” 
*  * 
In  a  recent  issue  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  we  referred  to  the 
reorganization  of  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College. 
From  information  which  we  consider  in  every  way  re¬ 
liable,  we  believe  that  the  change  has  given  the  col¬ 
lege  about  the  hardest  blow  it  ever  received.  The  in¬ 
stitution  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  lot  of  politicians 
who  have  turned  it  away  from  agriculture.  Languages, 
“  higher  mathematics,”  gymnastics  and  other  similar 
studies  have  been  arranged  for ;  in  fact,  the  new 
spirit  of  the  school  is  not  by  training  or  inclination  in 
sympathy  with  the  farmers.  We  said  two  weeks  ago 
that  many  agricultural  colleges  needed  reorganizing. 
So  they  do,  but  for  the  good  of  agriculture,  don’t  let 
them  be  reorganized  as  this  one  has  been. 
*  * 
Elsewhere  in  this  issue  will  be  found  a  description 
of  the  milk  business  inaugurated  and  carried  on  in  the 
ci  y  of  Philadelphia,  by  George  Abbott.  The  sketch 
will  be  found  most  interesting,  and  it  points  a  moral 
which  should  be  carefully  noted.  Aiming  at  excellence 
first  of  all.  he  has  not  felt  the  necessity  of  grinding 
down  producers  to  starvation  rates.  He  reasoned  that 
there  were  plenty  of  people  who  wished  the  best  and 
who  were  willing  to  pay  for  it,  and  he  wisely  deter¬ 
mined  that,  to  secure  the  best,  he  should  pay  liberally 
for  it.  This  he  has  done,  and  to-day  George  Abbott  is 
at  the  head  of  a  most  successful  milk  business,  and 
has  no  firmer  friends  than  the  owners  of  the  dairies 
from  which  he  draws  his  supplies.  The  contrast  be¬ 
tween  his  methods  and  those  of  the  New  York  Milk 
Exchange  is  as  wide  as  the  sea — “  it  could  no  farther 
go.”  The  Rural  profoundly  wishes  there  were  more 
George  Abbotts.  #  # 
Of  late  great  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and 
especially  of  grapes,  has  been  given  in  Mexico,  and 
many  of  our  exporters  of  cuttings,  fruit  trees,  etc.,  have 
found  a  growing  market  among  our  Southern  neighbors 
Three  years  ago  one  nursery  established  an  agency 
in  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  during  the  first  year  ex¬ 
ported  1,000,000  grape  cuttings.  The  second  year 
there  was  an  increase  of  30,000,  and  so  far  this  year 
upwards  of  900,000  have  been  sold.  The  American 
sorts  are  considered  great  improvements  on  the  na¬ 
tives,  being  of  as  good  or  better  quality  and  much 
more  productive.  Hardly  enough  attention  has  been 
given  to  the  development  of  trade  in  our  horticultural 
and  agricultural  products  in  the  land  of  Montezuma. 
*  # 
A  Rural  representative  occasionally  takes  a  walk 
through  the  Metropolitan  markets  with  his  eyes  wide 
open.  A  few  days  since  he  noticed  a  consignment  of 
about  20  barrels  of  early  (red)  sweet  potatoes,  which 
were  the  worst-looking  invoice  he  had  ever  seen. 
They  were  literally  covered  with  scab — a  most  re¬ 
volting  lot;  one  that  an  east-side  wagon-boy  would  not 
take  as  a  gift.  The  commission  man  to  whom  they 
were  sent  will  never  get  enough  for  them  to  pay  the 
freight  bills  and  the  producer  will  lose  the  barrels 
and  the  crop.  There  is  no  sense  in  sending  such 
stock  to  this  market — it  is  not  wanted  and  the  shipper 
generally  finds  that  out,  to  his  sorrow.  They  should 
have  been  kept  at  home  and  fed  to  stock.  The  moral 
is  obvious.  #  # 
We  have  made  a  careful  estimate  of  the  amount  of 
water  sold  from  the  Hallock  farm  in  the  crops  of  1891. 
We  make  it  a  little  over  1,270,000  pounds  or  G35  tons. 
The  average  price  for  this  water  could  hardly  have 
been  less  than  one  cent  a  pound.  They  didn’t  have 
to  pay  a  dollar  for  it  all.  It  “  fell  upon  them  ”  and 
probably  would  have  done  the  same  had  they  been 
unjust.  All  they  had  to  do  was  to  watch  and  nourish 
the  plants  that  collected  and  held  the  water.  Their 
success  is  due  to  the  way  they  handled  this  free  gift. 
Tho  fact  is  that  the  success  of  any  man  will  depend 
upon  the  way  he  handles  the  things  that  are  given  to 
him.  This  great  crop  of  water  gives  a  good  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  free  opportunities  that  come  to  the  hands 
of  every  person.  #  # 
The  manufacturers  of  shoddy  have  lately  found 
several  defenders.  It  is  known  that  the  chief  materials 
used  in  the  composition  of  this  product  are  ineffably 
filthy  and  diseased  rags  collected  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  ;  but  the  apologists  say  that  before  these  are 
used  they  are  subjected  to  purifying  and  disinfecting 
processes  that  render  them  perfectly  clean  and  sound, 
and  that  the  man  who  takes  a  waste  product  and 
treats  it  so  as  to  become  serviceable  is  a  public  bene¬ 
factor.  The  great  evil  in  this  case  is  that  shoddy  is 
never  sold  as  shoddy  except  to  those  who  intend  to 
pass  it  off  for  wool.  The  manufacturer  knows  this, 
and,  like  the  maker  of  counterfeit  money  or  bogus 
butter,  must  share  the  culpability  and  odium  of  those 
who  palm  off  the  imitation  for  the  real. 
*  * 
The  miserable  anarchists  who  plotted  to  kill  Mr. 
H.  C.  Frick  because  they  considered  him  an  enemy  of 
“organized  labor,”  have  failed  to  accomplish  their  pur¬ 
pose,  and  have,  instead,  given  labor  unionism  a  blow 
that  will  be  long  felt.  In  the  early  part  of  this  Home¬ 
stead  contest  public  sentiment  was  decidedly  with  the 
strikers  and  Mr.  Erick  was  regarded  by  many  as  a 
hard  and  cruel  taskmaster.  The  lawless  acts  of  the 
strikers,  their  disregard  of  property  rights  and  their 
cruel  treatment  of  non-union  workmen  changed  this 
sentiment  somewhat,  and  when  the  anarchist  shot  at 
Mr.  Frick  the  latter  became  the  one  to  be  pitied  and 
the  strikers  lost  ground  that  they  never  can  recover. 
Only  one  side  of  this  controversy  has  been  given  in 
full.  The  workmen  say  that  it  is  their  labor  that  has 
created  this  great  wealth.  In  one  sense  that  is  true, 
yet,  without  careful  business  direction  and  manage¬ 
ment  their  labor  would  have  failed  to  return  a  profit. 
There  is  no  man  or  set  of  men  among  the  strikers  who 
pretends  to  be  able  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the 
Carnegie  Company.  Just  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Frick 
was  needed  to  control  and  direct  the  operations  of 
these  workmen.  It  was  a  benefit  to  every  man  in 
these  works  to  have  such  a  manager  at  the  head.  Any 
one  who  has  ever  worked  under  a  helter-skelter,  care¬ 
less  management  in  farm,  factory  or  trade  knows  that 
this  is  so.  Expert  managers  are  as  scarce  as  great 
generals,  and  when  they  make  a  business  succeed  they 
are  entitled  to  a  big  share  of  the  proceeds.  For 
example,  suppose  such  a  farmer  as  Mr.  Hallock  were 
given  complete  control  of  150  farms— the  owners  to  do 
just  as  he  directed.  Does  any  one  doubt  that,  under 
his  direction,  each  one  of  the  150  men  would  make 
\ 
more  money  than  he  did  working  as  an  individual  ? 
And  yet  lots  of  them  would  probably  claim  that  Mr. 
Hallock  still  made  more  than  he  ought  to  out  of  their 
labor.  Head  work  will  always  be  worth  more  than 
hand  work  and  the  manager  is  worth  more  than  the 
managed.  #  # 
Brevitie  8. 
In  yonder  farm  house — over  on  the  hill. 
There  sits  a  woman  with  a  darkened  mind, 
Who  through  the  tireless  hours  goes  searching  still, 
For  old-time  happiness  she  cannot  find. 
At  times  she  sits  with  head  bowed  low,  and  hands 
That  Unger  carelessly— at  times  a  cry 
Breaks  from  her  as  she  tries  to  tear  the  bands 
That  compress  her  and  fright  her  frenzied  eye! 
How  came  she  thus?  Who  starved  that  hungry  soul? 
Who  crushed  that  mind  as  one  might  crush  a  flower? 
What  wretch  all  grudgingly  refused  to  dole 
The  love  and  help  she  craved  from  hour  to  hour? 
Who  chuckled  when  she  saved  a  servant’s  hire, 
While  pale  disease  with  bony  hand  stood  by? 
Starved  of  the  hope  to  which  sad  souls  aspire! 
Fear  not  that  In  the  mighty  book  on  high; 
The  whole  sad  story  has  been  written  down 
With  woman’s  tears  tor  Ink.  I’d  rather  be 
That  wretched  creature  than  the  brutal  clown, 
Who,  selfish,  drove  her  to  insanity. 
Are  you  your  own  keeper? 
A  baby's  stomach  makes  a  good  clock. 
Man  did  a  poor  lob  when  he  “  made  the  town.” 
The  thermometer  sings  “  The  Ninety  and  Nine  !  ” 
Hot  bread  and  hot  weather  never  should  go  together. 
Why  bother  another  about  what  you  can  do  yourself? 
White  Is  the  emblem  of  purity  in  everything  but  milk. 
Ann  the  files  getting  more  than  their  share  of  your  home  ? 
We  believe  that  consumption  is  often  carried  about  by  cats. 
Sterilize  the  milk  of  human  kindness;  don't  let  it  get  sour! 
One  little  touch  of  kidney  trouble  may  fit  a  man  for  murder. 
Nobody  but  a  fool  or  a  glutton  ever  repents  of  having  eaten  too 
little. 
It  will  be  written  on  the  grave  of  Anti-Option— “This  bill  was  talked 
to  death!” 
Mark  yon  poor  family,  how  sad  their  lot,  no  beets  or  sweet  corn  to 
go  in  the  pot. 
How  many  graduates  of  the  Gulf  States  agricultural  colleges  be¬ 
come  farmers  1 
Think  of  the  poor  little  things  that  are  stewing  away  In  these  hot 
tenement  houses  ! 
July  25.  Clark’s  Early  Is  now  In  bloom,  and  a  few  second-crop  straw¬ 
berries  are  ripening. 
We  water  horses  the  first  thing  In  the  morning— before  they  are  fed 
-  -and  believe  It  pays  to  do  so. 
EASTERN  farmers  must  get  on  a  fertilizer  bag  in  order  to  compete 
with  the  West  at  grain  raising. 
Which  causes  the  more  unhappiness— the  private  evils  that  haven’t 
happened  or  those  that  have? 
The  more  head  work  the  less  heel  work,  and  the  more  heel  work  the 
less  head  work.  Head  work  Is  profit  and  heel  work  is  loss. 
The  well-fed  cow  will  do  her  part  to  give  the  butter  an  honest  start, 
but  'twlxt  her  udder  and  the  tub  the  maker  often  makes  it  “  scub  !  ” 
Many  a  farmer  goes  to  smash  because  he  puts  too  much  hard  cash 
on  things  he  should  have  grown  himself.  The  little  extras  eat  his 
pelf. 
We  are  getting  very  near  a  modern  miracle  when  we  can  aerate  the 
bitter  taste  out  of  Southern  milk,  quinine  may  have  its  uses,  but  Its 
taste  has  no  use  in  our  milk. 
On  smooth,  hard  roads,  the  wide-tired  wagon  will  make  little  If  any 
easier  work  than  the  narrow-tired.  On  muddy  and  rough  frozen  roads 
the  wide  tire  saves  because  It  ruts  less  and  does  not  slide  and  bump 
over  rough  places. 
Lots  of  people  are  testing  the  plan  of  growing  celery  explained  at 
length  by  Mr.  Nivens  in  The  R.  N.-Y.  We  want  reports  from  all  who 
give  it  a  careful  trial.  To  those  who  ask  if  they  had  better  risk  their 
whole  crop  In  this  way  without  previous  experiment,  we  say,  “  Don’t  do 
it!  Try  a  small  patch  first.” 
What  vegetable  shall  we  have  for  dinner?  That  is  a  hard  question 
to  answer  at  our  house,  with  onions,  beets,  turnips,  lettuce,  carrots, 
beans,  sweet  corn,  potatoes  and  cabbage  growing  within  20  steps  of 
the  kitchen  stove.  Within  a  week  we  may  add  tomatoes  and  Lima 
beans,  with  egg  plant  and  late  peas  to  follow. 
The  poor  hatching  season  has  not  been  confined  to  country  poultry 
by  any  means.  The  keeper  of  the  animals  in  Central  Hark  says  he  has 
never  known  a  worse  season  for  hatching  the  eggs  of  curious  birds. 
Lots  of  men  have  become  disgusted  with  poultry  keeping  this  year  sim¬ 
ply  because  It  Is  an  off  year  for  hatching. 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  made  quite  a  feature  of  writing  up  some  of  the 
farms  of  men  who  have  dug  success  out  of  the  soil.  Most  that  has 
been  thus  far  written  has  applied  to  the  financial  side  of  the  story. 
There  is  another  and  better  side  to  all  this  that  we  now  propose  to  talk 
more  about.  We  will  try  to  dessribe  a  few  successful  farm  homes. 
The  Scotch  are  crafty  farmers  and  get  the  last  value  out  of  feed. 
For  years  It  was  their  practice  to  give  horses  a  “  boiled  supper,”  a 
cooked  mess  of  turnips  and  barley.  Lately  this  has  been  given  up  and 
there  are  fewer  cases  of  colic  since  the  “  boiled  supper  ”  went  out  of 
date.  The  Scotch  seldom  feed  whole  oats— they  are  bruised  or 
crushed. 
The  people  of  the  New  York  Milk  Exchange  (Limited)  don’t  seem  to 
like  The  R.  N.-Y.  One  of  them  recently  said  to  our  subscription 
agent:  “  The  paper’s  no  good  anyway.  Send  me  the - thing  so  I 
can  see  what  fool’s  talk  they  give  us  next.”  We  start  his  subscription 
with  one  of  our  milk  cartoons,  and  hope  we  may  be  able  to  make 
things  Interesting  for  him. 
The  other  day  Senator  l’lllsbury,  the  great  flour  mill  owner  of  Min¬ 
neapolis,  testified  before  the  House  Committee  on  Agriculture,  that  for 
the  last  10  years  the  millers  had  paid  more  for  their  wheat  than  they 
had  got  for  the  flour  made  from  it.  Still  nearly  all  have  made  money, 
some  a  great  deal.  What  a  profit  there  must  he  in  bran,  middlings 
and  other  by-products  of  the  milling  business! 
In  the  11  months  ending  May  31,  1892,  our  exports  of  oatmeal  sur¬ 
passed  those  In  the  corresponding  period  last  year  by  12,872,152 
pounds,  the  figures  being  respectively  20,387,941  and  7,515,789  pounds. 
In  the  same  time  our  Imports  of  oatmeal  declined  from  659,009  to 
459,720  pounds.  There  has  long  been  a  notion  that  Scotch  and  Irish 
oatmeal  was  the  best  In  the  world,  but  Americans  and  foreigners  are 
beginning  to  find  out  that  that  made  in  this  country  suspasses  all 
others. 
The  packers  of  American  pork  are  urging  the  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture  to  Increase  the  Inspection  facilities  provided  by  the  National 
law  of  March  3, 1891,  to  enable  them  to  Increase  their  shipments  of  In¬ 
spected  meats  to  Great  Britain  and  other  European  countries.  Ex¬ 
perience  has  shown  that  meats  bearing  the  Department’s  certificate  of 
soundness  command  half  a  cent  more  per  pound  than  other  sorts  in 
our  own  markets,  and  from  two  to  three  shillings  per  100  pounds  more 
In  those  of  Europe.  Are  not  the  efficiency  of  the  inspection  and  the 
excellence  of  the  law  well  attested  by  this  increase  everywhere  In  the 
price  of  the  Inspected  product? 
