544 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Aug.  20 
T  H  E 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
•  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  8.  CARMAN.  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLING  WOOD,  Managing  Editor 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  AUGUST  20,  1892. 
Two  hundred  tomato  plants  at  the  Rural  Grounds 
and  every  one  different  from  every  other  in  foliage  as 
well  as  fruit!  Most  of  them  are  the  progeny  of  the 
Peach  three  years  ago  fertilized  with  the  Stone,  Pon- 
derosa,  Ignotura  and  many  others.  Last  year  not  one 
of  the  plants  bore  tomatoes  resembling  the  Reach. 
This  year  many  of  them  have  the  Peach  skin,  though 
larger  and  firmer.  Probably  this  is  the  most  inter¬ 
esting  and  instructive  collection  of  crossbred  tomatoes 
that  has  ever  been  raised. 
#  * 
We  begin,  in  this  issue,  a  series  of  short,  simple 
articles  on  fertilizers  by  J.  W.  Newton.  Mr.  Newton 
is  an  old  school  teacher  and  has  the  faculty  of  ex¬ 
pressing  himself  in  clear  yet  forcible  language.  We 
are  constantly  asked  by  readers  to  tell  them  more 
about  the  primer  of  commercial  fertilizing.  For  the 
hundreds  who  are  using  fertilizers  intelligently  and 
profitably,  thousands  are  not  obtaining  the  best  re¬ 
sults  through  a  misunderstanding  of  the  subject.  We 
hope  Mr.  Newton’s  articles  will  help  them. 
»  *  * 
Since  Mr.  Young  wrote  his  interesting  account  of 
the  llallock  farm  at  Orient,  L.  I.,  some  of  our  readers 
have  written  to  know  if  it  is  really  a  true  account  of 
actual  farming.  It  is.  The  writer  of  this  visited  the 
farm  last  week  and  saw  it  all.  Mr.  Young  was  modest 
in  his  statements.  “  The  half  has  not  been  told.” 
The  Ilallocks  are  growing  the  biggest  crops  we  have 
ever  seen  and  we  do  not  believe  there  is  another  farm 
like  theirs  in  the  country.  It  is  indeed  a  striking  ex¬ 
ample  of  what  energy,  care  and  business  ability  will 
accomplish.  We  shall  publish  our  own  impressions  of 
this  remarkable  place  later. 
*  * 
From  various  parts  of  the  West  and  South  come 
numerous  reports  of  lawless  actions  and  outrages  by 
members  of  different  agricultural  organizations. 
True,  these  are  not  by  the  organizations  in  their  asso¬ 
ciate  capacity  ;  but  the  perpetrators  are  known  to  be 
members,  and,  as  a  rule,  most  of  the  leaders  in  the 
organizations  are  also  leaders  in  the  lawless  actions. 
Very  plausibly,  therefore,  the  latter  are  attributed  to 
the  associations.  The  great  recommendation  of  asso¬ 
ciations  of  farmers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  is  their 
obedience  to  existing  laws  and  their  desire  and  en¬ 
deavor  to  improve  them.  Pity  that  hot-headed  mem¬ 
bers  here  and  there,  chiefly  in  reckless  sections,  should 
cast  a  slur  on  the  reputation  of  all. 
#  * 
One  of  the  most  noticeable  minor  agricultural 
wastes  in  this  country  is  that  of  flax  stalks  in  some 
of  the  Western  States.  Every  year  we  import  on  an 
average,  over  $50,000,000  worth  of  linen  fabrics,  all  of 
which  could  be  made  at  home,  and  the  crude  mater¬ 
ial  for  the  greater  part  of  them  is  annually  wasted. 
Lately  some  Minnesota  flax  was  sent  as  an  experiment 
to  a  linen  manufacturer  at  Belfast,  Ireland,  and  in 
due  time  he  returned  the  manufactured  product  in  the 
shape  of  linen  towels  and  threads  some  of  which 
“  were  as  fine  as  silk.”  The  experts  in  the  largest 
wholesale  and  retail  dry  goods  stores  in  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul  have  pronounced  the  towels  ‘ 1  the  finest 
goods  of  the  kind  ever  manufactured.”  How  long 
will  it  be  till  Minnesota  is  the  home  of  a  number  of 
linen  factories  producing  the  finest  quality  of  linen 
goods  from  Minnesota  flax  ? 
*  * 
The  recent  action  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  the  city 
of  Rochester,  New  York,  prohibiting  the  sale  of  milk 
from  cows  which  have  been  fed  brewers’  grains,  is 
doubtless  right  in  intention,  but  will  need  modifying. 
These  grains,  sound  and  sweet,  are  a  wholesome  and 
valuable  food  for  dairy  cows,  and  the  milk  produced 
from  them  is  sound  and  of  high  quality.  But  how  to 
have  them  sound  and  sweet  is  the  question.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  handle  and  feed  them  in  their 
wet  condition  without  their  becoming  more  or  less 
soured  and  damaged,  and  in  just  so  far  as  the  fermen¬ 
tative  process  goes  on  is  their  feeding  value  impaired. 
In  Rochester,  where  the  farmers  get  fresh  grains  almost 
daily  and  take  them  to  their  farms,  they  are  by  no 
means  a  bad  food,  despite  the  edicts  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  who,  as  a  rule,  know  far  less  about  these  mat¬ 
ters  than  they  should  If,  however,  this  order  can  be 
enforced,  which  is  very  doubtful,  it  will  hasten  the 
advent  of  the  various  methods  for  drying  these  grains 
— methods  which  are  now  in  successful  operation  in 
many  of  our  larger  cities.  Dried  as  they  come  from 
the  mash-tub,  they  can  be  handled,  shipped  or  kept 
for  an  indefinite  time  without  deterioration.  So  well 
known  is  their  feeding  value,  that  the  dried  grains  are 
occasionally  shipped  by  the  cargo  to  Europe,  where 
they  command  a  ready  sale. 
*  * 
About  12  years  ago  the  firm  of  B.  K.  Bliss  &  Sons 
offered  a  new  rye  named  “  Thousand  Fold.”  It  was 
tried  at  the  Rural  Farm  and  found  to  be  later  than 
ordinary  rye  with  few  if  any  compensating  advan¬ 
tages.  Just  because  it  was  later  a  short  drill  of  it  has 
since  been  raised  every  year,  and  the  pollen  used  for 
crossing  wheat.  Last  year  a  “  new  rye  ”  named 
“  Challenge”  was  announced  in  one  of  our  seedsmen’s 
catalogues,  the  price  asked  being  50  cents  per  pound, 
$2  for  five  pounds,  $10  per  bushel.  Among  many  high 
claims  of  superiority  was  that  of  extra  earliness.  As 
is  our  custom,  a  small  quantity  of  the  “new”  rye  was 
purchased  and  sown  at  the  Rural  Grounds.  It  was 
found  to  be  the  same  in  all  respects — in  so  far  as  could 
be  ascertained  by  a  careful  comparison — as  Bliss’s 
“  Thousand  Fold.”  *  # 
Latest  returns  indicate  that  the  recent  Alabama 
election  was  one  of  the  most  important  political  events 
that  have  transpired  in  the  South  since  the  war.  Two 
years  ago  Jones,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  gover¬ 
nor,  received  97,000  majority.  This  year  he  has  barely 
10,000.  A  majority  of  the  white  voters  were  against 
him  and  only  the  votes  of  negroes  saved  him  from  de¬ 
feat.  As  in  the  case  of  the  South  Carolina  election, 
this  was  largely  a  contest  between  town  and  country; 
merchants,  middlemen  and  gentlemen  against  plain 
farmers.  Tillman  in  South  Carolina  won  for  the 
farmers  and  has  given  the  State  a  helpful  adminis¬ 
tration.  Kolb  in  Alabama  seems  to  have  lost  through 
very  questionable  practices  on  the  other  side.  The 
result  seems  to  indicate  that  the  so  called  “  Force 
Bill”  is  not  much  of  a  bugbear  to  Alabama  voters 
and  that  the  farmers  of  the  South  are  greatly  discon¬ 
tented  and  liable  to  surprise  people  later  on. 
*  * 
By  a  recent  decision  of  Chancellor  Allen  at  Nash¬ 
ville,  money  lost  by  dealing  in  futures  in  Tennessee  is 
recoverable.  In  this  case  the  complainant  placed  with 
the  defendants  sums  of  money  which  were  lost  in  such 
dealings,  and  brought  suit  to  recover  the  amount,  under 
the  statutes  which  give  a  right  of  recovery  in  all  gam¬ 
bling  transactions.  A  right  to  recover  the  money  ac¬ 
tually  lost  was  not  contested,  but  the  defendants 
claimed  that  the  commissions  earned  by  them  in  mak¬ 
ing  trades  were  not  money  lost,  and  could  not  there¬ 
fore  be  recovered.  The  Chancellor  held  that  the  com¬ 
plainant  could  recover  the  whole  amount,  as  all  was 
lost  in  the  game.  Now  that  the  Congressional  Anti- 
Option  Bill,  the  passage  of  which  was  so  widely  urged 
by  the  farmers  of  the  country,  has  been  for  the  present 
lost  by  the  chicanery  of  its  opponents,  greater  atten¬ 
tion  should  be  paid  to  the  enforcement  of  the  Anti- 
Option  laws  in  the  various  States,  so  as  to  minimize  the 
evils  of  option  dealings  #  # 
Articles  of  incorporation,  we  are  told,  have  just 
been  tiled  at  San  Francisco  for  a  milling  combine  or 
Trust  with  a  capital  of  $10,000,000.  It  is  to  be  called, 
for  euphony’s  sake,  the  Sperry  Flour  Company  and 
practically  includes  all  the  flouring  interests  in  Cali¬ 
fornia.  The  mills  belonging  to  it  have  an  output  of 
60,000  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  Having  the  complete 
control  of  the  business,  the  combine  has  the  power  of 
regulating,  to  a  great  extent,  the  price  of  wheat  to 
the  producer  and  that  of  flour  to  the  consumer.  Most 
of  these  monopolies  start  out  with  the  declaration  that 
their  sole  objects  are  to  lessen  expenses  and  avoid 
ruinious  competition — that  they  have  no  intention 
whatever  to  raise  prices,  that,  on  the  contrary,  indeed, 
they  expect  by  greater  economy  in  management,  to  be 
able  to  reduce  them.  In  a  short  time,  however,  they 
always  forget  their  original  promises,  and  the  prices 
of  the  monopolized  goods  invariably  go  up.  Evidently 
it  is  impossible  for  any  of  these  combines  to  feel  the 
strength  of  a  giant  without  using  it  like  a  giant. 
*  * 
When  the  Reading  Company  succeeded  in  organiz¬ 
ing  its  trust  or  combination,  in  order  that  it  might 
successfully  control  the  coal  trade,  and  the  public  had 
begun  to  protest,  fearing  an  advance  in  the  price  of 
this  indispensable  commodity,  they  were  met  by  the 
officials  of  the  combination,  who  assured  them  in  the 
most  positive  manner  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  in¬ 
tended.  They  were  only  going  to  “regulate”  the  busi¬ 
ness,  etc.,  etc.  Well,  six  months  have  elapsed  and 
coal  has,  step  by  step,  been  advanced  $1.30  per  ton 
and  current  rumor  says  we  are  to  have  another  advance 
at  an  early  date.  If  the  American  people  tamely  sub¬ 
mit  to  this  most  giinding  monopoly,  this  worse  than 
highway  robbery,  they  have  retrograded  materially 
since  the  days  of  ’76.  “  Taxation  without  representa¬ 
tion”  was  the;r  grievance  then — what  shall  we  call  the 
processes  of  the  Reading  combination  ?  Such  methods 
do  more  to  breed  anarchy  and  socialism  than  all  the 
propagandas  of  theorists  have  been  able  to  put  in  the 
field.  *  * 
Brevities. 
SPOILING  THE  BABY. 
Wife  she  went  a  visitin’;  took  the  baby  with  her  too. 
Jest  about  the  cutest  chap  that  there  is,  now  I  tell  you. 
Jest  as  cunnlu"  as  can  be— little  teeth  show  when  he  grins. 
Otter  see  him  lay  an’  crow,  kickin'  up  his  pinky  shins. 
Folks  all  loved  him  rlghtaway,  couldn't  let  the  baby  go: 
Set  an'  held  him  all  day  long— little  chap  gut  spoiled  ye  know. 
Folks  like  us  ain't  gut  much  time  to  be  totin’  babies  ’round. 
But  when  he  come  home  an’  felt  sorter  fretty.  I’ll  be  bound 
Ef  that  little  feller  don't  up  an’  jest  expect  that  we 
Orter  walk  him  like  they  done  on  his  visit.  ’*  No,  sirce  !’’ 
I  says,  ’’Now  yer  home,  young  man,  you  must  drop  yer  holiday.’ 
He  jest  puckered  up  bis  face,  started  howlin’  right  away. 
Made  me  feel  so  bad  to  see  lettle  feller  holler  so, 
Then,  thinks  I,  “  Po»  r  little  chap,  how’s  he  ever  gonter  know 
That  we  ain't  a-punishin'  him  for  somethin'  that  he’s  done 
When  it  ain’t  his  fault  at  all— little  broken-hearted  one  1  ” 
I  jest  picked  him  up  an'  he  stopped  his  cryin'  rightaway, 
Cuddled  up  so  close  to  me,  like  he’d  always  want  to  stay. 
Our  folks  sav  I’ve  spoiled  him  now;  may  be  so,  yet  'pears  to  me 
That  we  orter  bear  with  him  till  the  little  chap  can  see 
What  the  justice  of  It  Is— he’s  so  weak  an’  we're  so  strong. 
Little  Innocent  don’t  know  what  Is  right  and  what  is  wrong. 
Why  neglect  a  moulting  hen? 
Foul  water  is  not  the  thing  for  fowls. 
Who  ever  saw  a  small  snake  do  any  harm? 
A  well-marked  Wyandotte  is  a  fair  fowl. 
The  world  has  been  worse  off  than  It  is  now. 
Some  men  are  badly  afflicted  with  themselves. 
Free  coinage  of  bark  drives  bite  out  of  circulation. 
Moke  colts  are  injured  by  starving  than  by  stuffing. 
Every  day  after  that  surplus  rooster  crows  he  is  kept  at  a  loss. 
The  master  should  not  be  above  taking  instructions  from  the  man. 
Let  what  you  say  be  one  thing  and  what  you  do  just  exactly  the 
same. 
One  little  cull  In  your  basket  makes  folks  mad  and  makes  the  mar¬ 
ket  dull. 
Soil,  Atmosphere  &  Co.,  builders  of  farm  crops,  want  more  good 
farmers! 
Put  no  trust  in  the  man  who  will  not  sav  that  his  mother  Is  the  best 
cook  he  ever  saw. 
When  a  hen  pants  on  her  roost  at  night,  you  may  know  your  hen 
house  is  too  tight. 
IT’s  not  what  you  eat  but  what  you  digest  that  makes  you  take  hold 
of  your  work  with  a  zest. 
A  man  cau  get  drunk  on  milk  If  he  will  prepare  It  rightly.  Alcohol 
•  can  be  profitably  made  from  whey. 
Cabbage  is  said  to  be  a  cure  for  drunkenness.  One  remedy  sold 
largely  in  Europe  contains  cabbage  seed. 
When  business  “comes  unsaught”  it  usually  goes  to  one  whom  It 
knows  will  not  touch  It.  That  is,  unsaught  business  remains  un¬ 
caught. 
We  are  told  that  the  negroes  in  Atlanta  celebrated  the  Fourth  of 
July  by  eating  20  car  loads  of  watermelons.  This  is  a  temperance  fruit 
anyway, 
AT  last  we  have  a  man  who  is  willing  to  testify  to  the  double  hatch¬ 
ing  power  of  a  double-yolked  egg.  Why  can't  our  experiment  stations 
settle  this! 
OUR  town  pays  a  contractor  about  60  cents  a  running  foot  to  put  the 
roads  In  order.  It  is  cheaper  and  better  work  than  under  the  old 
pathmaster  system. 
As  explained  on  another  page,  this  year’s  exhibit  of  the  New  York 
State  Fair  promises  to  be  doubly  interesting.  But  why  Is  horse  racing 
introduced  for  the  first  time? 
A  black  cow’s  skin  may  hide  the  appearance  of  manure,  but  the 
“germs’’  and  odors  thereof  get  in  their  work  all  the  same.  Thus  a 
white  cow  Is  safer  if  her  owner  has  any  pride  about  him. 
The  Dutch  Belted  men  claim  that  their  cattle  have  all  the  good 
points  of  Holsteins  without  their  great  bulk,  and  that  they  are,  there¬ 
fore,  better  suited  for  milk  farms  where  the  pasturage  Is  rough  and 
hilly.  This  Is  a  sensible  claim. 
The  latest  scheme  to  induce  hens  to  lay  Is  to  get  some  of  the 
noisiest  cacklers  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  an  egg  Into  a  phonograph. 
The  machine  Is  then  started  In  the  hen  house  and  so  shames  the  Idle 
hens  that  they  proceed  to  shell  out  the  eggs.  As  an  honest  hen  can¬ 
not  cackle  until  she  has  laid  an  egg,  they  are  not  to  be  beaten  by  a 
machine! 
The  Dairyman’s  Protective  Association  met  on  the  last  Saturday  In 
July  at  their  headquarters  in  Philadelphia,  and  raised  the  price  of 
milk  for  August  to  i}4  cents  per  quart.  This  Is  the  price  the  dealers 
pay  for  it  (dry  measure)  the  farmers  paying  the  freight,  which  Is 
about  25  cents  per  can.  So  far  as  heard  from,  the  association  is 
holding  the  price  firmly.  The  short  market  In  New  York  will  prevent 
any  shipments  from  this  city,  as  has  been  made  In  former  Instances. 
The  Great  Western  Railroad  of  England  found  It  necessary  to 
change  200  miles  of  its  road  from  broad  to  narrow  guage  in  two  days. 
They  employed  5,000  men,  who  worked  17  hours  each  day.  There  was 
but  little  time  for  meals.  This  company  will  employ  no  drinking  men. 
It  was  said  their  men  could  not  do  this  work  without  stimulants  of 
some  sort.  But  no  alcohol  was  supplied— nothing  but  oatmeal  and 
water,  and  this  beat  beer  or  whisky  for  sustaining  power  and  quench¬ 
ing  thirst. 
A  new  argument  In  favor  of  removing  the  tassels  from  corn  is  fur¬ 
nished  in  the  last  bulletin  from  Cornell  University.  Careful  chemical 
analyses  were  made  to  determine  how  much  plant  food  was  blown 
away  and  lost  in  the  form  of  anthers  and  pollen.  In  one  acre  where 
the  hills  of  corn  are  feet  apart  each  way  it  Is  estimated  that  over 
six  pounds  of  nitrogen  were  lost  in  this  way  by  permitting  all  the 
tassels  to  mature.  This  is  almost  as  much  as  is  contained  In  200  pounds 
of  a  good  complete  fertilizer.  It  would  cost  over  $1  in  the  market. 
Can  you  afford  to  do  it  for  $1? 
After  an  earnest  struggle  of  five  months  England  is  congratulating 
herself  ou  having  eradicated  the  last  attack  of  foot-and-mouth  dis¬ 
ease  from  among  her  herds  of  cattle;  whereas  the  previous  Invasion, 
got  rid  of  in  1880,  lasted  six  years.  Great  credit  is  due  to  those  who 
had  the  responsibility  of  dealing  with  the  pest  for  having  saved  the 
country  from  Immense  losses,  by  thus  curtailing  Its  duration.  As 
severe  restrictions  in  the  transit  of  cattle  from  one  place  to  another 
were  In  force  during  Its  prevalence,  its  disappearance  must  be  a  great 
boon  to  cattle  owners  and  traders. 
