1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
56 1 
•'  -r 
* 
Any  Chance  for  a  Young  Man  ? 
How  About  Your  Section  ? 
ANSWER  THIS. 
The  following'  questions  are  asked  by  persons  who 
seem  to  be  young  men  with  a  few  hundred  dollars, 
anxious  to  secure  homes  for  their  wives,  or  for  young 
women  they  are  desirous  of  marrying. 
1.  Is  there  any  chance  for  a  young  man  of  good  habits  to  rent  or  buy 
a  small  farm  In  your  section,  and  by  economy  and  steady  work  secure 
himself  a  home  within  a  few  years  ? 
2.  Could  a  man  with  a  few  hundred  dollars  make  the  growing  of 
fruits  or  potatoes,  or  some  other  specialty,  pay  well  enough  in  your 
section  to  enable  him  to  buy  soon  a  small  farm  ? 
Now,  will  you  do  us  the  favor  to  answer  these  ques¬ 
tions  as  they  refer  to  your  section,  and  also  give 
hint  as  to  what  sort  of  farming  is  best  for  these  work¬ 
men  ? 
First  Answer  from  New  York  State. 
1.  Yes,  here  in  Steelman,  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y., 
such  young  men  are  doing  well.  Indeed,  they  do  well 
anywhere.  I  know  of  no  better  place  than  this.  I  have 
some  knowledge  of  other  sections,  having  lived  in 
Pennsylvania  and  also  in  the  South  for  a  year,  and  I 
have  traveled  west  to  the  Pacific,  and  my  opinion 
is  that  a  young  man  can  do  as  well  here  as  anywhere. 
Among  my  acquaintances  there  are  several  young  men 
who  began  by  renting  farms,  and  who  are  well-to-do 
and  own  the  farms  on  which  they  now  live. 
2.  Potatoes,  small  fruits  or  grapes  are  very  profit¬ 
able  in  this  section.  Small  fruits  of  all  kinds  are  very 
sure  crops  and  yield  large,  nice  fruits,  and  there  is  a 
home  market  for  more  than  is  produced.  There  is  a 
quick  sale  for  all  kinds  of  vegetables  and  fruits  at  the 
numerous  summer  resorts  along  the  shores  of  famous 
Chautauqua.  A  neighbor  of  mine  raised  480  bushels 
of  potatoes  to  the  acre  last  season.  He  marketed  from 
this  field  600  bushels  at  50  cents  to  .$1  per  bushel.  If 
that  does  not  pay,  then  a  gold  mine  would  not.  Grape 
growing  is  also  a  great  industry  here,  and,  so  far, 
has  proved  very  profitable.  Many  young  men  have  se¬ 
cured  a  fine  home  and  a  paying  business  by  it.  Grape 
lands  have  advanced  50  per  cent  in  the  last  five  years. 
If  I  knew  the  individual  taste  of  the  party,  I  could 
give  an  opinion  better.  The  branch  of  agricul¬ 
ture  or  horticulture  that  would  pay  best  is  the  one 
liked  best.  The  question  is  about  as  hard  to  answer 
as  the  one  my  nine-year-o-d  boy  put  to  me  the  other 
day  :  “  Papa,  which  church  is  the  best  ?”  My  answer 
was  the  one  a  person  belongs  to.  A  grape  grower 
would  recommend  a  vineyard  ;  a  successful  small-fruit 
grower  would  say,  “  My  business  pays  best ;  ”  a  lover 
of  Jerseys  would  tell  a  person  to  go  dairying,  and  so 
on  through  all  the  other  branches  of  farming. 
There  are  plenty  of  farms  for  sale  and  to  rent  in 
this  locality  ;  it  was  hardly  possible  to  find  renters 
enough  last  spring.  Help  is  very  scarce.  Heirship 
property  causes  the  vacancies,  mostly.  The  children 
all  leave  home,  some  going  to  the  cities,  some  West. 
Work  is  very  hard,  and  we  have  to  send  back  East  for 
help  to  get  through  the  winter.  Good  farms  can  be 
bought  for  $15  to  $30  per  acre  in  the  dairy  sections. 
Along  Chautauqua  Lake,  $50  to  $100,  and  in  the  grape 
section,  $100  to  $300  are  about  the  average  prices. 
l.  n.  g. 
A  Sensible  Kansas  Farmer. 
As  to  renting  land  here,  in  Osage  County,  there  is 
very  little  to  be  rented,  and  there  are  already  many 
men,  with  little  or  no  money,  to  rent  all  there  is.  Ten 
years  ago  there  was  plenty  of  prairie  land  which  could 
be  bought  at  from  $4  to  $6  per  acre,  according  to  loca¬ 
tion  and  quality.  We  could  then  get  our  pasture  and 
hay  without  cost :  now  it  is  all  fenced  and  costs  from 
$20  to  $40  per  acre,  according  to  improvements  and 
quality.  This  section  lies  within  25  miles  of  Topeka, 
and  a  branch  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad  passes 
through,  connecting  Topeka  and  Fort  Scott.  Already 
gardening  enough  is  done  to  allow  a  remunerative 
price  for  the  products  in  our  little  town  of  nearly  300 
inhabitants,  as  many  raise  a  little  for  themselves. 
There  is  a  lack  of  fruit  raising  even  among  the  farmers. 
As  to  potatoes,  there  has  not,  as  yet,  been  much  money 
in  them.  Onions  have  also  been  tried,  but  prices  are 
low  ;  yet  I  think  our  soil  and  climate  well  adapted  to 
these  and  similar  products.  There  is,  from  my  expe¬ 
rience  and  observation,  more  money  in  live  stock  than 
anything  else,  and  for  the  reason  that  more  corn  is 
raised  than  of  other  grains,  as  we  are  more  sure  of 
this  crop  than  of  the  others,  and  there  is  also  a  greater 
demand  for  it.  If  a  man  will  be  satisfied  with  a  farm 
of  reasonable  size,  say  40  to  80,  or,  at  most,  160  acres, 
according  to  his  means,  and  will  not  make  himself 
land-poor,  he  can,  by  farming  less  land  in  a  better 
way,  get  better  pay  for  his  work  than  many  who  own 
many  times  his  number  of  acres.  There  would  be 
little  doubt  of  a  man’s  success  if  possessed  of  reason¬ 
able  business  qualities  and  from  $1,000  to  $15,000.  With 
less,  the  outcome  will  all  depend  on  himself  and  cir¬ 
cumstances,  but  in  any  case  he  will  have  to  do  some 
hard  scratching  to  get  along.  The  surrounding  coun¬ 
try  has  for  some  time  felt  the  need  of  a  cheese  factory 
or  creamery  and  a  canning  factory.  If  these  wants 
were  supplied,  there  would  be  a  better  chance  for  gar¬ 
deners  and  fruit  raisers,  as  the  farmers  who  have 
greater  means  would  increase  their  dairies  to  supply 
the  milk  demand  and  leave  vegetable  and  fruit  grow¬ 
ing  for  the  smaller  farms.  d.  b.  Abbott. 
In  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania. 
Farms,  both  large  and  small,  can  be  rented  or  pur- 
chased'in  this  vicinity  on  reasonable  terms,  but  whether 
a  man  could  in  a  few  years  pay  for  one  of  them  from 
the  profits  derived  from  the  place  would  depend  very 
largely  on  himself.  He  would  be  more  likely  to  suc¬ 
ceed  in  some  specialty  than  in  general  or  mixed  farm¬ 
ing.  Dairying  is  the  principal  business  of  this  section, 
milk,  butter  and  wheat  being  the  main  money  crops, 
with  enough  vegetables  and  fruits  as  side  issues,  to 
supply  the  local  markets.  A  few  are  getting  ahead, 
but  the  majority  complain  that  “farmin’  don’t  pay.” 
However,  I  think  that  the  right  kind  of  a  man  could 
work  up  a  profitable  business  in  either  of  the  special¬ 
ties  mentioned,  or  in  the  poultry  line.  I  can  cite  a 
few  instances  of  young  men  on  small  places,  who  are 
making  more  money  than  general  farmers  on  places 
four  or  five  times  as  large.  The  best  plan  for  a  young 
man  with  small  means  would  be  either  to  rent  a 
farm  in  the  locality  in  which  he  wishes  to  settle,  or  to 
obtain  a  situation  with  a  farmer  who  is  following  the 
line  the  young  man  likes  best.  Then  let  him  study 
the  business,  the  markets,  etc.,  thoroughly,  and  when 
a  desirable  chance  to  buy  a  suitable  place  is  offered, 
he  can  take  advantage  of  it,  and  if  the  home  is  not  his 
own,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  he  will  have  to  blame  himself  alone  if  it  isn’t  in  a 
few  years.  k.  e.  bush. 
An  Indiana  Grain  Farmer’s  Views. 
Many  farms  of  all  sizes  from  those  containing  only 
a  few  acres  to  others  embracing  600  acres,  more  or 
less,  are  for  rent  and  there  are  a  few  such  for  sale 
here  in  Carroll  County.  I  don’t  think  this  section 
would  be  suitable  for  young  men  who  intend  to  be¬ 
come  farmers  and  are  possessed  of  only  small  means 
and  little  or  no  experience.  The  fact  that  we  are  15 
miles  from  a  general  market  for  farm  products  would 
be  against  them,  as  we  are  too  distant  from  the  mar¬ 
kets  suitable  for  the  kind  of  farming  or  gardening 
which  would  be  the  best  for  them. 
Again,  rents  are  high  and  the  land  for  rent  here  has 
been  in  the  hands  of  renters  for  a  long  time  and  been 
so  abused  that  it  is  hard  for  an  experienced  farmer  to 
make  a  good  living  from  it ;  still  there  are  plenty  of 
men  for  all  such  farms.  I  would  not  advise  a  man 
with  a  few  hundred  dollars  and  no  experience  to  buy 
a  farm  in  any  locality.  I  think  it  best  for  him  to  rent  for 
a  year  or  two  and  learn  the  kind  of  farming  for  which 
he  is  best  fitted  ;  he  will  then  be  better  able  to  select 
the  size  and  location  of  his  farm.  My  advice  to  such 
men  would  be  to  locate  from  four  to  six  miles  from  some 
city  or  town  which  affords  a  good  market,  and  rent  a 
small  farm  or  hire  with  a  man  who  has  one  and  raises 
fruits  of  all  kinds,  as  well  as  vegetables,  corn,  wheat, 
and  all  kinds  of  grain.  When  he  has  been  employed 
a  year  or  two  on  this  kind  of  a  place,  and  he  finds  that 
it  suits  him  better  to  raise  grain,  let  him  get  further 
away  from  town  and  rent  or  buy  a  grain  farm,  as  rent 
and  land  are  not  so  high  there,  and  he  will  have  a 
good  market  near  home  for  all  kinds  of  grain.  Should 
he  decide  to  make  the  growing  of  fruits,  potatoes  or 
garden  truck  a  specialty,  he  should  not  get  too  far 
from  town,  for  he  ought  to  be  able  to  go  to  market 
with  his  produce,  and  return  home  without  being  all 
day  on  the  road.  I  can  see  no  good  reason  why  such 
men  would  not  make  successful  farmers  and  good 
citizens.  They  are  the  kind  of  men  who  are  always 
welcome  among  farmers.  j.  m.  forlow. 
Families  of  “Pickers”  Wanted. 
In  my  immediate  vicinity,  here  in  Beaver  County, 
Pa.,  I  don’t  know  of  any  good  places  to  rent,  but  I 
think  there  may  be  some  good  locations  in  the  county, 
as  there  are  a  number  of  large  towns  that  furnish 
good  markets  for  fruits  and  vegetables  and  all  other 
market  products.  Near  Industry,  which  is  a  very 
small  and  very  dead  village,  small  fruit  growing 
seems  to  be  all  the  rage  at  present,  and  is  apparently 
being  overdone,  as  there  are  not  nearly  enough  pickers 
to  gather  the  fruit  in  good  shape,  and  as  all  the 
growers  are  enlarging  their  plantations  it  looks  as  if 
there  would  be  a  poor  show  for  any  more.  A  large 
family  of  good  workers  could  make  a  good  living  at 
picking  berries  and  other  work  and  might  find  a 
chance  to  rent  or  buy  sooner  or  later.  From  what  I 
have  seen,  I  think  that  near  Greensburg,  Pa.,  there 
would  be  good  chances  to  try  small  fruit  growing,  as 
none  are  grown  near  that  place  so  far  as  I  can 
find  Out.  ENOCH  ENGI.E. 
Business  Bits. 
Eoh  the  benetlt  of  its  readers  Tue  Rural  New-Yorker  would 
like  to  know  the  name  and  location  of  parties  who  have  agrlcultura 
lime  for  sale.  Send  name  and  address  on  postal  card. 
Readers  often  ask  where  they  can  obtain  seed  of  Crimson  Clover 
at  the  South.  T.  W.  Wood  &  Son,  Richmond,  Va.,  offer  It  for  sale. 
This  tirm  claims  to  he  the  pioneers  In  the  sale  of  this  seed. 
Lots  of  dairymen  think  of  trying  a  small  patch  of  Prickloy  Com- 
frey  for  an  early  soiling  crop.  It  Is  well  enough  to  try  it  lu  a  small 
way.  Plants  are  sold  by  Alton  M.  Shepherd,  Lock  Box  55,  Minne¬ 
apolis,  Minn. 
The  Nii.es  Iron  and  Steel  Roofing  Company,  of  Niles,  Ohio, 
makes  metal  rootlngs,  sidings  and  ceilings  of  good  quality.  These 
coverings  are  very  popular  now  with  farmers  and  deservedly  so.  They 
beat  shingles  for  many  reasons. 
In  reply  to  several  parties  we  say  that  the  corn  harvester  Illustrated 
and  described  last  year  Is  a  success.  It  is  high-priced  and  suitable 
only  for  those  with  a  large  amount  of  corn  to  cut  for  themselves  or 
others.  The  makers  seem  to  be  afraid  that  they  will  sell  one,  hence 
they  do  not  advertise  it. 
The  Trenton  Agricultural  Company,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  manufactures 
a  thrasher  with  an  attachment  for  binding  rye  straw  in  straight  and 
perfect  bundles.  Rye  straw  is  worth  almost  us  much  as  hay  in  near¬ 
by  markets,  because  It  can  be  sent  in  straight  and  perfect  condition 
Heretofore  this  could  only  be  done  by  baud  thrashing;  now  this  ma¬ 
chine  will  greatly  enlarge  the  work.  Send  for  a  circular  giving  full 
facts  about  the  protit  in  rye. 
We  note  in  a  paper  published  in  Kentucky  an  advertisement  of 
“  Milk  Preservative”  from  the  Preservallne  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  New  York  city.  As  usual,  the  drug  Is  guaranteed  to  be  ‘‘healthful, 
tasteless,  odorless,”  etc.  The  concern  does  not  advertise  it  much  In 
this  part  of  the  world,  where  the  stuff  Is  known.  Its  use  In  milk  lu  this 
State  is  prohibited  and  It  should  be  prohibited  all  over.  Preservallne 
Is  practically  nothing  but  boraclc  acid,  as  has  been  shown  by  analysis, 
and  the  folly  of  claiming  that  the  habitual  use  of  that  drug  In  milk 
Is  wholesome  does  not  need  demonstration. 
A  Veteran  Mowing  Machine. — It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
how  many  years  one  mowiug  machine  was  run  mowing  25  acres,  or 
more  yearly.  Here  In  Connecticut  I  have  a  Champion  machine  that 
has  been  in  use  11  seasons  and  has  mowed,  on  an  average,  5'J  acres 
each  season  and  some  of  the  land  Is  quite  rocky  and  stony.  The 
machine  Is  In  good  order  now.  I  have  known  a  Buckeye  to  run  15 
years-  p.  k.  hoadley. 
We  would  like  to  know  more  about  this.  What  is  the  life  of  a  good 
mowiug  machine  ?  How  many  acres  of  grass  may  we  expect  to  cut 
with  a  mower  that  Is  well  cared  for  ? 
Give  the  Other  Side.— Lately  there  have  appeared  In  The  Rural 
New-Yorker  two  references  to  the  Man-Weight  tools  speaking  dis¬ 
paragingly  of  them.  It  would  have  been  fair  to  have  referred  the 
matter  to  us  before  printing  the  reports,  to  see  If,  in  these  particular 
cases,  there  was  not  something  wrong  besides  the  machine.  Never¬ 
theless  the  Man- Weight  machines  will  sell  on  their  merits,  THE 
Rural’s  report  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  j.  a.  everett  &co. 
At  the  request  of  some  of  our  subscribers,  wo  called  for  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  those  who  had  tried  this  tool.  Every  reply  wus  unfavorable; 
we  did  not  print  them  all.  We  shall  be  pleased  to  have  those  who  can 
Indorse  the  tool  to  do  so.  No  one  has  come  forward  yet. 
Invest  at  home. — A  friend  in  South  Carolina,  who  has  made  quite 
a  line  success  of  dairying  and  now  needs  cash  with  which  to  Increase 
his  business,  writes;  •*  You  might  well  ask  why  not  present  your  case 
and  figures  to  some  of  your  Southern  men  of  means.  Ah,  that  Is  It. 
This  butter  making  on  a  large  scale  by  means  of  separators  is  abso¬ 
lute  Greek  to  these  people,  and  they  cannot  see  anything  beyond  cut- 
ton-  Moneyed  men  invest  In  railroads  or  phosphate  beds,  and  then 
again,  they  are,  as  a  class,  against  lending  money  out  for  longer  than 
12  months  at  any  time,  and  then  only  in  case  of  a  business  they  claim 
to  know  something  about.”  The  country  over,  capitalists  are  afraid 
to  invest  money  at  home,  and  will  not  see  the  chances  for  investment 
next  door.  Thousands  of  dollars  are  lost  In  wlld-cat  schemes,  that 
would  have  paid  safe  interest  If  invested  on  the  town  roads  or  on 
nearby  farms! 
A  Successful  American  Potato  Digger.— Details  are  at  hand  of 
a  contest  In  Australia  between  different  potato  diggers.  Out  of  the 
15  that  started,  only  three  did  work  that  was  considered  at  all  satis¬ 
factory.  The  best,  so  far  as  we  can  learn  from  the  report,  was  the 
Hoover,  made  by  Hoover  &  Prout,  Avery,  O.  The  only  objections 
urged  against  it  were  Its  heavy  draft  and  the  fact  that  it  threw  up  so 
much  earth  that  some  of  the  potatoes  plowed  out  of  the  next  row  were 
covered.  The  draft  Is  all  right;  nobody  can  expect  heavy  work  to  be 
done  by  a  light  draft,  as  for  covering  the  potatoes,  the  proper  way  Is 
to  plow  every  second  row  and  come  back  througn  the  nnplowed  rows 
after  the  first  pototoes  have  been  picked  up.  The  Hoover  does  excel¬ 
lent  work.  It  Is  strong  and  will  work  its  way  through  thick  weeds  and 
vines  that  would  clog  and  stop  a  lighter  machine.  We  know  of  ma¬ 
chines  that  have  dug  over  100  acres  each  of  potatoes  In  one  season— 
which  Is  a  good  enough  record  for  anybody. 
Grinding  Wheat. — Here  are  two  more  answers  to  that  question 
about  selling  or  grinding  wheat: 
In  Indiana  we  always  take  our  wheat  to  mill,  and  exchange  It  for 
flour  and  bran.  We  think  It  the  better  way.  If  we  take  first-class 
wheat  we  get  36  pounds  of  flour  and  10  or  12  pounds  of  bran  per 
bushel.  By  selling  the  wheat  and  buying  flour  at  the  present  prices, 
we  would  lose  about  10  cents  per  bushel,  besides  the  bran.  8.  mills. 
Here  In  Pennsylvania  I  find  it  better  to  keep  enough  wheat  to  ex¬ 
change  for  the  flour  used  in  our  family.  The  miller  gives  us  37  pounds 
of  flour  and  14  pounds  of  bran  in  exchange  for  60  pounds  of  good  wheat. 
A  bushel  of  wheat  is  worth  85  cents  in  this  market,  and  flour  retails 
at  three  cents  per  pound,  so  that  the  37  pounds  of  flour  would  cost 
$1.11,  and  the  If  pounds  of  bran  about  12  cents,  so  that  $1.23  worth  of 
flour  and  bran,  would  be  given  in  exchange  for  a  bushel  of  85-eent 
wheat.  j.  h.  ritteniiouse. 
Debt-Paying  Associations.— Some  weeks  ago,  Col.  J.  H.  Brig¬ 
ham,  Master  of  the  National  Grange,  wrote  us  about  the  scheme  of 
forming  associations  for  cooperative  debt  paying.  Col.  Brigham  Is 
heartily  In  favor  of  this  plan,  and  In  his  last  circular  to  the  Grange 
says:  “  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  an  investment  and  loan  associa¬ 
tion  can  be  formed  within  our  order,  which  may  render  an  Important 
service  to  those  who  desire  to  make  safe  Investments  at  reasonable 
rates  of  Interest;  and  also  to  those  who  must,  for  some  years  to  come, 
become  borrowers.  The  building  and  loan  associations  in  cities  and 
villages  are  great  blessings  to  those  who  desire  to  secure  homes  and 
have  not  the  means  to  do  so.  These  associations  also  furnish  safe  In¬ 
vestment  for  the  savings  of  all  who  have  money  to  loan.  I  believe  It 
Is  feasible  to  adapt  this  system  to  the  needs  of  the  farmer  who  would 
like  to  secure  or  save  a  home  for  himself  and  family,  and  I  have  there¬ 
fore  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  this  subject,  examine  the 
methods  of  such  associations,  and  report  results  to  the  next  session  of 
the  National  Grange.”  The  R.  N.-Y.  really  first  proposed  this  plan, 
and  we  are  gladto  see  the  powerful  Grange  take  hold  of  it  so  earnestly 
