574 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Sept.  3 
Joseph  Harris,  Monroe  County,  N.  Y. 
— A  fair  price  for  nitrate  of  soda  of  1G 
per  cent  nitrogen  ought  not  to  be  over 
$45  per  ton.  Sulphate  of  ammonia  con¬ 
taining  about  20  per  cent  of  nitrogen  is 
worth  $65  per  ton. — R.  N.-Y.,  page  543. 
The  above  statements  are  true,  but 
perhaps  need  a  few  explanatory  remarks. 
Nitrate  of  soda  containing  16  per  cent  of 
nitrogen,  furnishes  in  one  ton  320  pounds 
of  nitrogen.  If  we  pay  $45  per  ton  for 
the  nitrate  of  soda,  we  pay  14  cents  per 
pound  for  nitrogen.  Sulphate  of  ammonia 
furnishes  400  pounds  of  nitrate  for  $65,  or 
16>J^  cents  per  pound.  Now,  when  we  say 
that  the  nitrogen  in  nitrate  of  soda  ought 
not  to  cost  over  14  cents  per  pound,  while 
nitrogen  in  sulphate  of  ammonia  “  is 
worth”  16J^  etnts  per  pound,  it  must  not 
be  inferred  that  a  pound  of  nitrogen  in 
sulphate  of  ammonia  is  worth  more  than 
the  pound  of  nitrogen  in  the  nitrate  of 
soda.  What  is  meant  is  that  the  trade 
value  of  nitrogen  in  sulphate  of  ammonia 
is  worth  more  than  a  pound  of  nitrogen 
in  nitrate  of  soda.  In  other  words,  we 
can  buy  nitrogen  in  nitrate  of  soda  at  the 
present  time  14  per  cent  cheaper  than  we 
can  buy  it  in  sulphate  of  ammonia.  I 
simply  meant  to  tell  The  Rural  readers 
that  if  they  wanted  to  buy  sulphate  of 
ammonia  they  would  have  to  pay  $65  per 
ton  for  it,  while  they  would  not  have  to 
pay  over  $45  per  ton  for  nitrate  of  soda. 
We  were  talking  about  “trade  value”  and 
not  “agricultural  value.”  .lust  now  nit¬ 
rate  of  soda  is  very  cheap. 
Is  the  nitrogen  in  sulphate  of  ammonia 
actually  worth  more  per  pound  than  the 
nitrogen  in  nitrate  of  soda  ? 
Some  recent  experiments  were  made 
on  winter  wheat  at  the  Purdue  Univer¬ 
sity  (Indiana)  Experiment  Station  for 
the  special  purpose  of  determining  this 
point.  Prof.  Plumb,  at  the  time  Direc¬ 
tor  of  the  station,  referring  to  these  ex¬ 
periments,  says:  “  Nitrate  of  soda  is  at 
present  not  only  a  comparatively  cheap 
source  of  nitrogen,  but  in  the  Experi¬ 
ments  of  the  past  season,  it  was  the  most 
effective  form  of  nitrogen  for  wheat.” 
Prof.  Henry  A.  Hurton,  chemist  to  the 
station,  in  his  report  of  the  experiments, 
says  :  “  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  ni¬ 
trate  of  soda  gave  by  far  the  best  results, 
the  gain  being  nearly  double  that  from 
the  organic  nitrogen  and  about  one-half 
more  than  from  ammonia” — the  same 
amount  of  nitrogen  being  used  per  acre. 
The  nitrate  of  soda,  sulphate  of  ammonia 
and  dried  blood,  on  the  different  plots, 
were  all  sown  on  the  wheat  in  the  fall 
a  few  days  after  the  seed  was  sown. 
day  who  assume  to  know  so  much  and 
really  know  so  little  of  what  is  right  and 
wrong  in  these  matters.  There  has 
never  been  a  time  in  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  when  we  have  had  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  test  their  theories  by  practice, 
when  they  have  not  proved  false.  As  a 
class,  they  are  parasites  on  the  industry 
of  the  country.  They  produce  nothing 
and  fill  no  sphere  that  could  not  be  dis¬ 
pensed  with  to  the  advantage  of  the 
people  at  large.  And  yet  they  live  like 
princes,  they  accumulate  large  fortunes 
by  paper  transactions,  buying  and  sell¬ 
ing  produce  which  they  have  never  seen, 
whiehitliey  never  owned  and  which  often¬ 
times  never  existed.  When  a  man  who 
produces  nothing  lives  and  grows  rich, 
some  producer  is  giving  up  his  created 
wealth  for  this  non-creative  leech.  They 
are  leeches  in  every  sense  of  the  word 
and  their  chief  capital  is  cheek  and 
assurance. 
Double-Barreled  Hens. 
H.  Stewart,  Bergen  County,  N.  J. — 
Of  course  I  cannot  doubt  the  word  of 
Mr.  Whittemore  (see  page  539)  or  of  the 
persons  he  refers  to,  in  regard  to  the  24 
chicks  hatched  from  13  double-yolked 
eggs  laid  by  the  same  hen.  And  I  hope 
he  will  be  equally  credulous  when  I  say 
that  I  once  set  a  Gray  Dorking  hen  on  16 
eggs  and  took  out  at  intervals  42  chicks, 
and  there  were  eggs  still  left  in  the  nest, 
and  the  eggs  were  not  double-yolked 
either.  Perhaps  the  same  explanation 
might  be  given  in  both  cases. 
The  occurrence  narrated  by  Mr.  Whit¬ 
temore  is  worthy  of  record  among  the 
wonders  of  nature,  and  that  double-bar¬ 
reled  hen  should  be  highly  commended  for 
the  perfect  excellence  of  her  work.  Per¬ 
haps  she  was  actually  double-barreled 
herself  and  had  an  oviduct  formed  in  a 
different  way  from  the  ordinary  kind,  in 
which  there  is  hardly  a  thinkable  possi¬ 
bility  of  13  successive  accidental  cover¬ 
ings  of  two  perfectly-formed  yolks,  each 
with  its  set  of  perfectly-formed  albumin¬ 
ous  coverings  with  the  suspensory  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  membranes,  and  one  shell 
over  all.  There  must,  in  fact,  have  been 
two  perfectly-formed  and  complete  eggs 
included  in  one  shell,  and  the  shell 
formed  in  a  most  amazing  manner,  in  its 
usual  regular  oval  form,  over  an  irregu¬ 
larly  shaped  body — two  eggs.  It  is 
scarcely  to  be  conceived  that  this  could 
happen  unless,  as  in  my  case,  other  hens 
kept  the  nest  supplied  with  extra  eggs. 
On  the  Farmer’s  Table. 
Fred.  Grundy,  Christian  County,  III. 
— Several  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  hired 
hand  working  for  farmers  by  the  month, 
the  principal  solid  items  on  the  bills  of 
fare  were :  White  bread,  corn  bread, 
potatoes,  pork,  beans,  home-made  hom¬ 
iny  and  apples,  green  and  dried.  Wheat 
It  seems  clear  that,  so  far  as  winter 
wheat  is  concerned,  the  nitrogen  in  ni¬ 
trate  of  soda  is  worth  more  per  pound 
than  the  nitrogen  in  sulphate  of  ammo¬ 
nia,  while  at  the  present  time  it  can  be 
bought  for  less. 
Some  Option  Arguments. 
G.,  Orange  County,  N.  Y. — In  an  argu¬ 
ment  against  the  Anti-Option  Bill,  a  rep¬ 
resentative  of  the  New  York  Produce 
Exchange  is  credited  with  the  following: 
These  attacks  upon  confederated  cap¬ 
ital,  upon  aggregated  wealth,  upon  cor¬ 
porations,  upon  trusts,  upon  individual 
combinations  or  syndicates,  are  based 
upon  an  absolute  lack  of  knowledge  of 
the  essential  rules  of  political  economy, 
and  of  practical  business  principles  ; 
they  are  demagogical  ;  their  advocates 
are  at  sea,  without  icompass  or  rudder  ; 
and  desire  to  establish  laws  in  this  coun¬ 
try  without  knowing  whether  they  will 
accomplish  anything  or  not,  simply  to 
curry  favor  with  what  is  considered  to 
be  the  present  course  of  public  thought 
on  these  questions. 
The  superb  egotism  of  the  above  is 
characteristic  of  the  class  from  which  it 
emanates.  They  assume,  and  with  bound¬ 
less  impudence,  that  their  theories  of 
political  economy  are  correct  and  that 
all  who  differ  with  them  are  wrong. 
There  is  no  other  class  in  the  country  to¬ 
flour  was  made  into  light  bread  ( some¬ 
times  it  was  light)  and  saffron-hued  sal- 
eratus  biscuit.  Corn  meal  was  mixed 
with  sour  milk,  soda,  and  sometimes  a 
beaten  egg,  and  made  into  plain  corn 
bread.  Sometimes  it  was  light  and  rel- 
ishable,  and  sometimes  it  was  like  unto 
an  elm  slab.  Potatoes  were  usually 
boiled  with  the  skins  on.  Those  left 
over  were  chopped  up  and  fried  in  grease. 
Pork  was  generally  fried ;  occasionally 
a  hunk  would  be  boiled.  Beans  were 
boiled,  often  with  a  piece  of  the  fattest 
pork.  Hominy  was  made  with  lye,  and 
after  eating  some  of  it  I  often  fancied  I 
could  feel  it  gnawing  holes  in  the  walls 
of  my  stomach.  Apples,  both  green  and 
dried,  were  stewed  or  made  into  sorrow¬ 
ful  pies.  Coffee  was  “extended”  with 
essences  or  chicory,  and  tea  was  able- 
bodied. 
After  laboring  hard  six  or  eight  hours 
I  would  come  in  fairly  ravenous  and 
cram  my  stomach  with  the  above  list  of 
provisions  until  it  resembled  the  crop  of 
a  well-fed  young  Brahma  chicken.  The 
bill  of  fare  was  occasionally  varied  with 
vegetables  like  cabbage,  cucumbers  or 
beets.  Very  little  beside  coffee,  tea  and 
sugar  was  bought.  Molasses  was  made 
from  sorghum.  The  grocers  kept  very 
little  of  anything  beside  the  commonest 
staple  groceries. 
A  few  days  ago  I  took  three  meals 
with  just  such  a  farmer  as  I  used  to 
labor  for — a  man  who  works  a  farm  of 
good  size,  lives  well,  and  is  making 
money,  not  fast,  but  steadily.  For 
breakfast  we  had  nice,  light  white 
bread,  fried  ham,  crinkled  potatoes, 
boiled  eggs,  rolled  oats,  stewed  prunes, 
coffee  and  milk.  For  dinner,  light  bread, 
roast  beef,  mashed  potatoes,  lettuce 
salad,  wax  beans,  radishes,  bread  pud¬ 
ding  with  raisins  in  it,  dried  currant 
pie,  coffee  and  milk.  For  supper,  light, 
puffy,  hot  rusks,  cold  roast  beef,  fried 
mashed  potatoes  that  had  been  left  over 
from  dinner,  beet  pickles,  lettuce,  stewed 
dried  peaches,  corn  starch  pudding  and 
cookies,  and  tea  and  milk.  With  the 
above  articles  were  butter,  sugar,  mo¬ 
lasses,  Worcestershire  sauce  and  various 
other  condiments.  The  fruit  crop  is  an 
almost  total  failure  in  this  locality, 
which  accounts  for  the  absence  of  fresh 
fruits.  This  farmer  and  his  family  look 
healthy  and  rugged.  They  work  steadily 
while  they  are  at  it,  and  seemed  to  enjoy 
both  work  and  play.  They  ate  heartily, 
talked  intelligently  and  appeared  to  be 
as  happy  as  pigs  in  clover. 
In  the  real  farm  homes  of  the  present 
time  there  is  as  much  difference  in  the 
style  of  living,  compared  with  that  of 
25  years  ago,  as  there  formerly  was  be¬ 
tween  the  wash-day  and  Sunday  dinners. 
On  the  enterprising  farmer’s  table  we 
find  provisions  that  formerly  were  never 
seen  outside  of  town.  Canned  fish  of 
various  kinds,  fruits  both  foreign  and 
domestic,  fresh,  canned,  and  dried  by  the 
latest  improved  process.  Machine-pre¬ 
pared  cereals,  such  as  rolled  oats,  pearl 
barley,  corn  starch,  granula,  etc.,  etc., 
while  the  art  of  cooking  and  preparing 
these  things  for  the  table  has  made  re- 
( Continued  on  next  page  ) 
Ittij&rcUattfDUiS  gUvntisittfl. 
IN  writing  to  advertisers  please  always  mention 
The  Rural  Nkw-Yohkek. 
Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla 
Cured  me  of  Goitre  or 
swellings  in  the  neck 
which  I  had  from  10 
years  old  till  I  was  52. 
When  I  began  taking 
Hood’s  Sarsaparilla  I 
was  feeling  so  discour¬ 
aged  with  goitre  and 
rheumatism.  When  I 
Mrs.  Sutherland,  caught  cold  I  could  not 
walk  two  blocks  without  fainting.  Now  I  am 
free  from  it  all  and  I  can  truly  recommend 
IIOOIVS  SARSAPARILLA.”  MliS. 
Anna  Sutherland,  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 
H  OO  D’S  PlLLS  assist  digestion,  cure  headache. 
^  For  INTEERAL  as  EXTERNAL  use.  ** 
Originated  by  an  Old  Family  Physician  in  1810 
Could  a  Remedy 
^outreal.1*6* 
Have  Survived  for  Eighty  Years? 
Dropped  on  Sugar,  Children  Dove  It. 
Every  Traveler. should  have  abottle  of  ltln  his  satchel 
THINK  OF  IT. 
In  use  over  40  YEARS  in  one  family. 
Dr.  I.  S.  Johnson  &  Co.— It  Is  sixty  years  since  I  first 
learned  of  your  Johnson’s  Anodyne  Liniment;  for 
more  than  forty  years  I  have  used  it  In  my  family. 
O.  H.  INGALLS,  Dea.  2d  Baptist  Church,  Bangor,  Me. 
Euon,  IWI  r.+  ko  r  Should  have  Johnson’s 
VCiy  IVIULfier  anodyne  Liniment  in 
the  house  for  Croup,  Colds,  Sore  Throat,  Catarrh, 
Tonsilitis,  Colic,  Nervous  Headache,  Cuts,  Bruises, 
Cramps,  Pains,  Soreness  in  Body  or  Limbs.  Delays 
may  cost  a  life.  Relieves  Summer  Complaints  like 
magic.  Sold  everywhere.  Price,  85  cts..  6  bottles  $2. 
Express  paid.  I.  S.  JOHNSON  &  CO.,  Boston,  Mass. 
The  High  Speed  Family  Knitter 
•  . i— a.  ^'*1  knit  a  stocking  heel  and 
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market.  A  child  can  operate  it. 
<d  Strong,  Durable,  Simple,  Rapid. 
,S2  Satisfaction  guaranteed  or  no  pay. 
A"  Jl- V’Wy  I  Agents  wanted.  For  particulars 
/  and  sample  work,  address. 
J.  E.  GEARHART,  Clearfield,  Pa. 
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MANUFACTURED  BY 
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Waltham,  Utaii.  r 
gknuiniY  “GALE”  REPAIRS 
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