56o 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Aug.  27 
T  H  ft 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  8.  CABMAN.  Editor  In  Chief. 
HEBBEBT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY ,  AUGUST  27,  1892. 
The  publisher  says  that  the  editors  are  making  The 
R.  N.-Y.  better  than  ever  before,  in  fact,  the  best  farm 
newspaper  in  the  world.  He  says,  too,  with  becoming 
modesty  (?)  that  he  is  determined  it  shall  have  100,- 
000  subscribers  and  500,000  readers.  That  “  shall  ”  is 
a  great,  big  word,  but  his  plans  for  the  coming  cam¬ 
paign  are  big,  too,  and  we  hope  he  will  succeed. 
Meantime  we  commend  the  special  offer  under  Pub¬ 
lisher’s  Desk  this  week  for  the  three  months’  trial 
subscriptions  for  only  25  cents. 
*  * 
A  friend  out  in  Ohio  sends  us  a  new  circular  got  up 
by  the  “  green-goods  ”  men.  To  show  the  mysterious 
fear  that  goes  with  these  infamous  productions,  we 
quote  from  his  letter  :  “  My  wife  thinks  the  rascals 
may  burn  our  house  if  they  learn  that  I  have  sent  you 
this.”  The  tone  of  these  circulars  is  so  disgusting  to 
an  honest  man  that  the  farmer  who  receives  one  is  apt 
to  imagine  all  sorts  of  dangers.  We  again  assure  our 
readers  that  there  is  absolutely  no  danger  from  them. 
These  rascals  do  not  leave  New  York,  and  have  no 
personal  knowledge  of  the  people  to  whom  they  send 
circulars.  #  # 
Sib  J.  B.  Lawes  hints  of  the  time  when  he  was  able 
to  give  the  old  housekeeper  a  shock  of  electricity  by 
inducing  her  to  touch  the  jar  with  a  poker.  She 
would  not  touch  it  with  her  hand,  but  thought  the 
poker  was  safe  enough.  The  poker  was  not  safe — it 
was  a  good  conductor.  We  often  see  people  playing 
with  things  that  will  do  them  no  good.  They  don’t 
get  up  close  to  them,  but  do  business  in  a  roundabout 
way — through  a  third  party  perhaps.  Hut  it’s  a  poker 
all  the  same  and  they  get  a  shock  that  deadens  their 
moral  force  more  and  more.  Don’t  touch  a  dangerous 
thing  either  with  the  hand  or  a  poker. 
*  # 
Rubai,  readers  who  have  fruit  of  any  kind  should 
husband  it  with  care,  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  aggregate  crop  will  be  much  below  the  average 
this  season.  Evaporated  fruits  will  rule  high  and  an 
evaporator  is  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  farm  in  such  a 
season,  enabling  the  farmer  to  save  and  utilize  much 
fruit  that  would  otherwise  go  to  waste.  This  is  especi¬ 
ally  true  in  the  matter  of  berries  and  early  apples. 
Many  of  the  latter  annually  go  to  waste  for  want  of 
drying  facilities  and  because  they  are  not  wanted  in  a 
fresh  state  in  the  markets.  The  peach  crop  will  be 
especially  light,  and  evaporated  peaches  cannot  fail  to 
sell  high. 
*  # 
The  government  crop  reports  now  give  an  estimate 
of  the  condition  and  extent  of  the  clover  crop  as  com¬ 
pared  with  what  may  be  fairly  called  a  full  crop. 
This  is  a  good  idea,  for,  next  to  water,  clover  is  the 
most  important  agent  at  work  for  the  American 
farmer.  If  by  some  disastrous  blight  clover  culture 
should  be  ended,  American  agriculture  could  never 
recover  from  the  blow.  On  the  other  hand,  we  may 
look  for  improvement  in  the  farmer’s  financial  con¬ 
dition  largely  from  improvement  in  the  culture  of  this 
crop.  For  this  reason  we  are  sorry  to  see  a  decline  in 
the  clover  area  in  several  of  the  older  States.  This 
won’t  do,  farmers  !  It  is  like  flying  in  the  face  of  Provi¬ 
dence  for  you  to  neglect  this  greatest  of  all  plants. 
*  * 
The  most  successful  farmer  or  gardener  is  he  who 
can  sell  the  most  water.  This  is  because  water  is 
given  to  us,  while  Nature  does  the  work  of  mixing 
water  and  solids  into  eatable  products.  If  a  farmer 
should  say  to  his  customer,  “Here,  take  these  dozen 
crackers  and  eat  them— help  yourself  to  all  the  water 
you  can  get  out  of  the  well !”  he  might  make  one  sale  to 
some  hungry  tramp,  but  there  his  business  would  prob- 
ably  end.  et  he  would  give  a  fair  meal  as  viewed  from 
a  chemical  standpoint.  In  the  half  pound  of  crackers 
there  were  over  5%  ounces  of  carbohydrates,  .70  of  an 
ounce  of  fat  and  .80  of  an  ounce  of  protein.  That 
same  amount  of  protein  with  all  the  water  it  could 
take  from  the  soil  and  all  the  carbohydrates  needed 
from  the  air  would  make  20  pounds  of  apples,  eight 
pounds  of  grapes,  six  pounds  of  tomatoes  or  turnips  or 
cucumbers,  five  pounds  of  strawberries,  12  pounds  of 
cranberries  or  3%  pounds  of  onions.  That  is  to  say, 
our  good  friend  Aunt  Nature  will  take  the  solid  matter 
in  the  12  crackers  and  so  mix  it  with  water  that  it  will 
make  tba  articles  above  mentioned.  Almost  any  man 
would,  if  he  had  the  chance,  take  nine  of  the  crackers 
out  in  strawberries,  apples  or  tomatoes.  While  he 
would  obtain  little,  if  any  more  nourishment  out  of 
the  meal,  his  mouth  would  taste  better  and  his  general 
health  be  finer.  Given  plants  of  good  quality  and  a 
perfect  -water  supply  and  there  will  be  no  end  to  the 
combinations  that  Nature  can  make. 
*  * 
The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  now  a 
surplus  of  $15,000,000  after  meeting  all  expenses  and 
paying  heavy  dividends  on  its  monstrously  watered 
stock.  Will  it  relieve  the  public  of  some  of  the  burdens 
it  has  for  years  imposed  upon  them,  by  reducing  its 
charges  for  service  in  view  of  this  great  prosperity  ? 
No,  indeed  !  In  the  forcible,  though  rather  profane 
words  of  the  late  W.  H.  Vanderbilt,  Jt  says,  “  The  pub¬ 
lic  be  d - .”  Its  present  capitalization  is  $85,000,000, 
about  half  of  which  is  “  water,”  and  according  to  the 
most  trustworthy  authority,  it  intends  to  increase  it 
to  $100,000,000,  giving  the  new  stock  as  a  gift  to  the 
stockholders !  *  # 
One  of  the  last  measures  introduced  into  the  House 
at  the  late  session  of  Congress  had  the  same  object  as 
one  introduced  in  the  Senate  and  favorably  reported 
a  few  weeks  earlier.  Roth  provided  for  the  creation  of 
a  National  Highway  Commission,  to  consist  of  two 
Senators,  five  Representatives,  the  Secretaries  of  War, 
Agriculture  and  the  Interior,  the  Postmaster  General, 
the  Attorney  General  and  an  associate  member  from 
each  State  and  Territory,  and  its  primary  object  was 
to  investigate  the  needs  of  the  country  in  regard 
to  highways  and  to  report  to  Congress  thereon.  This 
is  the  first  step  in  an  excellent  direction  in  national 
legislation.  Doubtless  one  or  more  similar  measures 
will  be  introduced  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  and 
the  action  of  the  committees  in  charge  of  the  matter 
in  both  Houses  leaves  no  doubt  of  favorable  legislation 
on  the  subject  in  the  near  future.  The  country  has 
surely  now  reached  a  stage  of  settlement  and  prosper¬ 
ity  -when  shiftless,  semi-barbarous  highways  should 
no  longer  be  tolerated. 
*  *  * 
For  the  past  few  years  one  of  the  best  farming  dis¬ 
tricts  of  Scotland  has  been  devastated  by  a  scourge  of 
mice.  These  little  pests  have  so  completely  gnawed 
the  blades  and  roots  of  the  grass  that  sheep  and  cat¬ 
tle  have  no  food  and  must  be  driven  to  other  districts, 
leaving  the  mice  in  full  posession  of  the  farms.  The 
trouble  became  so  serious  that  a  special  agricultural 
commission  was  appointed  to  learn  why  and  how  the 
scourge  came  about.  Every  witness  who  testified 
said  that  the  chief  reason  why  the  mice  were  able  to 
become  so  numerous  was  because  the  birds  of  prey, 
like  eagles,  hawks  and  owls,  and  animals,  like  weasles 
skunks,  etc.,  had  been  killed  off.  The  natural  ene¬ 
mies  of  the  mice  were  killed  and  so  the  mice  pros¬ 
pered.  It  is  an  even  question  if  we  do  not  often  make 
enemies  of  our  friends— that  is,  if  we  do  not  hunt 
down  animals  that  as  a  whole  do  us  more  good  than 
harm.  Take  the  skunk  as  an  example.  It  has  been 
nearly  exterminated  and  yet  we  believe  it  has  done 
the  farmer  far  more  good  than  harm  and  that  agri¬ 
culture  would  be  better  off  if  for  a  year  or  two  skunks 
were  propagated  instead  of  slaughtered. 
*  * 
Of  the  65,000,000  population  of  the  United  States, 
about  20,000,000  are  wage-earners,  and  of  these  about 
12,000,000  are  engaged  in  industrial  vocations.  It  is 
among  these  alone  that  labor  organizations  exist. 
Their  membership,  in  all,  is  estimated  at  not  over 
2,000,000  at  the  outside,  so  that  there  are  10,000,000 
unorganized  wage-earners  engaged  in  the  same  indus¬ 
tries,  besides  8,000,000  in  other  callings.  Yet  the  2,000,- 
000  organized  workmen  are  trying  to  control  and  bull¬ 
doze  not  only  10,000,000  fellow-workmen,  but  the  8,000- 
000  other  wage-earners  as  well  as  their  own  employers, 
and  to  cause  embarrassment  and  loss  to  the  rest  of  the 
whole  community  unless  whatever  exactions  they  may 
seek  to  enforce  are  conceded.  At  present  the  entire 
State  of  Tennessee  is  in  uproar  and  disorder,  because 
the  demand  of  5,000  miners  for  the  withdrawal  of  con¬ 
tract  convict  labor  from  some  of  the  iron  mines  in  the 
State  has  been  refused  by  the  authorities.  Conse¬ 
quently  the  rebellious  miners  have  attacked  the  State 
troops  guarding  the  works  at  Coal  Creek  and  bade 
defiance  to  all  laws  and  constituted  authorities. 
At  Homestead,  Pa.,  4,000  turbulent  iron  workers, 
cowed  temporarily  by  the  presence  of  the  State  militia, 
are  constantly  perpetrating  cowardly  outrages  on 
workmen  willing  to  take  the  places  they  themselves 
refuse  to  fill,  whenever  they  can  do  so  with  impunity 
from  the  soldiers,  and  they  covertly  intimate  or  boldly 
threaten  war  and  bloodshed  against  all  opponents, 
when  the  troops  are  withdrawn.  At  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
the  presence  of  8,000  of  the  State  troops  is  needed  to 
prevent  the  destruction  of  millions  of  dollars’  worth 
of  the  property  of  the  different  railroads  centering 
there,  because  the  demands  of  about  400  switchmen 
have  not  received  prompt  and  favorable  attention.  Over 
$100,000  worth  of  property  has  a1  ready  been  destroyed 
by  the  rioters ;  the  freight  and  passenger  traffic  of  a 
vast  area  of  country  has  been  hindered  or  embar¬ 
rassed,  and  at  present  the  trouble  threatens  to  spread 
indefinitely,  to  the  injury  and  loss  of  millions  of  our 
fellow  citizens  who  have  had  no  connection  whatever- 
with  the  troubles.  Sympathy  naturally  flows  out  to 
all  wage-earners  overworked  or  underpaid,  who  seek 
by  all  legitimate  means  to  better  their  conditions  ;  but. 
who  can  sympathize  with  a  mob  of  arrogant,  selfish,, 
tyrranical  rioters  eager  to  gain  their  ends  by  means  of’ 
terror  and  destruction  with  the  recklessness  of  the 
most  abandoned  Anarchists?  Is  the  coming  struggle 
to  be  between  organized  labor  and  organized  society  ? 
*  * 
The  great  improvements  made  in  our  live  stock  by 
breeding  and  feeding  within  the  last  one  or  two  hun¬ 
dred  years  are  remarkable.  Records  show  that  in  the 
early  days  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  average 
weight  of  fat  steers  in  the  London  and  Liverpool  mar¬ 
kets  was  only  310  pounds  net.  Half  a  century  later 
it  had  gone  up  to  482  pounds,  and  for  the  last  decade 
it  has  been  650  pounds.  At  present  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  to  smaller  rather  than  larger  weights  of  live 
stock.  It  is  getting  to  be  recognized  that  choice 
steers  have  been  kept  too  long  and  fattened  to  an  un¬ 
profitable  extent,  and  the  tendency  now  is  to  slaugh*. 
ter  cattle  at  an  earlier  age  and  without  such  an  excess, 
of  low-priced  fat.  This  seems  the  common-sense  view 
of  the  matter. 
*  * 
Beevitie  s. 
I’m  a  mighty  small  potato— no  use  saying  I  am  not. 
Guess  I  never  will  pass  muster  so’s  to  get  Into  the  pot. 
Guess  the  cows  will  have  to  eat  me,  but  before  I  pass  a  way 
Iwould  crave  your  kind  attention  while  I  say  my  little  say.* 
I  in  a  mighty  small  potato,  but  you  surely  are  to  blame, 
You.  the  farmer,  and  not  1,  sir,  should  be  painted  thick  with  shame 
I  was  ready  to  spread  out,  sir,  and  your  profits  to  enhance. 
But  you  wouldn't  back  me  up,  sir,  and  I  never  got  a  chance. 
First  you  took  for  seed  potatoes  what  you  thought  you  oouldn't  sell. 
And  minutely  did  you  cut  them— I  declare  I  couldn't  tell 
When  my  suff'r’n  parent  started  If  he  wasn't  wholly  blind 
I  don’t  know  just  what  I  came  from,  but  1  struggled  up  to  find 
Just  a  cloddy  brlck-iike  cradle,  cold  and  damp— no  store  of  feed 
All  was  gobbled,  ere  1  reached  it,  by  some  big  and  greedy  weed.  ’ 
Still  I  struggled  on  to  serve  you,  spite  of  weed  and  soil  like  brick 
Till  those  greedy  bugs  just  gnawed  me  till  my  stem  was  but  a  stick 
I  am  little,  I’ve  no  value,  but  it's  not  my  fault  at  all. 
Weeds  and  beetles  had  a  picnic,  but  the  rest  of  us  must  crawl. 
Are  your  cows  giving  wealth  or  water? 
How  use  doth  breed  a  liking  for  tomatoes. 
No  use  to  macadamize  a  road  that  Is  not  well  drained. 
“  Lie  Tea"  is  the  very  appropriate  name  for  an  adulterated  tea. 
Nothing  sounder  than  the  lungs  of  a  baby  with  an  unsound  stomach. 
Be  so  stingy  with  your  time  that  you  hate  to  spend  It  In  a  bad  cause. 
England  wants  Bartlett  pears.  The  Bartlett  in  France  is  Bon 
Chretien. 
The  dally  digesting  of  a  good  share  of  fruit  would  save  many  men 
from  the  Instincts  of  a  brute. 
A  PASTURE  can  stand  much  of  freezing  and  thaw,  but  It  gives  up  the 
ghost  at  sharp  treading  and  gnaw. 
Any  of  our  readers  who  can  add  to  the  advice  given  the  poultry 
farmer  on  page  556  regarding  his  crops  Is  requested  to  do  so. 
“  1  suppose  It  is  superfluous  to  say  that  you  publish  the  best  farm 
paper  that  is  printed.  An  axiom  is  generally  supposed  to  be  a  self- 
evident  truth.— E.  D.  Rawson.” 
Full  many  a  cow  worth  half  her  weight  In  gold  stands  all  untested: 
with  the  common  scrubs  who  pour  great  floods  of  whitened  water  out 
while  she  tills  up  the  heavy  butter  tubs. 
A  FRIEND  who  asks  for  Information  says:  “I  am  as  green  as  the 
grass  I  should  like  to  see  waving  about  me— as  the  weeds  I  actually  do 
see.”  We  always  did  like  a  modest  man. 
Now  then,  as  the  year  swings  around  and  the  crop  gets  past  help, 
you  folks  who  have  fed  a  maintenance  ration  only,  may  find  healthy 
plants  but  not  much  crop.  No  food,  no  good. 
John  Gould  explains  that  “  cud  chewing  ”  matter  on  another  page. 
As  to  whether  tobacco  chewing  is  exercise  enough  for  a  man,  he  says 
that  it  Is  about  all  some  men  seem  to  take,  and  yet  they  keep  in  robust 
health. 
Mr.  Baker’s  scheme  of  throwing  the  Latin  and  Greek  in  our  college 
courses  “to  the  dogs”  might  be  a  good  thing  for  the  sheep  industry. 
They  have  spoiled  the  training  of  many  a  good  farmer— try  them  on 
the  curs. 
Nancy  Hanks  is  now  “  queen  of  the  turf.”  Her  record  of  a  mile  In 
2.07j£  tops  the  notch  for  trotting  horses.  Much  of  the  credit  for  this 
performance  is  due  to  the  new  pneumatic  tires  on  the  sulky  wheels, 
which  held  the  sulky  flrmly  to  the  track  and  prevented  sliding. 
Prof.  (?)  Melbourne,  the  Australian  rain  fakir,  will  have  to  leave 
for  fresher  pastures  than  the  United  States-hls  failures  have  made 
new  contracts  impossible  except  on  the  “  no  rain,  no  pay,”  principle. 
This  whole  business  of  artificial  rain-making  Is  a  fraud  there  Is  no. 
scientific  basis  for  the  work. 
The  new  Rhode  Island  fertilizer  law  compels  all  who  use  leather, 
ground,  steamed  or  roasted,  in  making  a  fertilizer,  to  state  the  fact 
plainly  and  fairly.  That  is  right.  Too  many  of  our  old  boots  and 
shoes  are  worked  up  by  unscrupulous  dealers  to  give  “  a  high  percent¬ 
age  of  nitrogen  ”  to  their  goods. 
According  to  our  friend  who  writes  on  page  556  there  Is  about  as 
much  difference  between  the  sugar  producing  ability  of  maple  trees  as 
there  is  between  the  butter  making  ability  of  cows.  Some  trees,  it 
appears,  yield  a  remarkably  sweet  sap.  We  would  like  to  know  what 
the  special  characteristics  of  such  trees  are. 
The  rules  of  the  South  Dakota  Agricultural  College  prohibit  the  use 
of  tobacco  in  any  form  in  or  about  the  buildings.  Is  not  this  the  only 
agricultural  college  with  such  a  provision  ?  We  know  of  one  such 
college  where  two-thirds  of  the  boys  group  around  the  church  steps 
after  service  on  Sundays  to  make  and  smoke  cigarettes  ! 
Apples  and  potatoes  ought  to  be  worth  money  this  year.  Both  crops 
are  far  below  the  average  in  the  country  at  large— the  apple  crop 
being  re(fc>rted  as  particularly  poor.  We  have  found  by  experience 
that  it  is  not  always  safe  to  figure  on  high  prices  for  potatoes  because 
the  government  predicts  a  small  crop.  An  immense  crop  is  reported 
in  Canada,  and  many  local  considerations  affect  the  price.  Still  the 
indications  are  that  farmers  will  receive  fair  prices  this  year. 
