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THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Sept.  17 
TEI 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  8.  CABMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLIN G W OOD,  Managing  Editor 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  17,  1892. 
We  call  attention  to  a  valuable  suggestion  as  to 
naming  strawberries,  made  by  our  much  respected 
friend,  E.  Williams,  of  Montclair,  N.  J.  It  is  simply 
to  give  pistillate  varieties  female  names  and  bisexual 
varieties  male  or  neutral  names,  and  thus  avoid  the 
necessity  of  constantly  repeating  the  words  “  pistil¬ 
late,”  “bisexual”  or  “hermaphrodite.”  The  name 
will  at  once  indicate  the  sex. 
*  * 
During  the  past  season  we  have  made  65  tomato 
crosses,  a  few  seeds  of  each  cross  having  been  already 
selected,  each  lot  being  dried  and  placed  in  separate 
envelopes  with  the  parentage  written  thereon.  We 
had  200  different  varieties  to  select  from,  17  of  them 
having  originated  three  years  ago  from  the  Peach  as  a 
mother,  the  others  being  crosses  with  Ponderosa, 
Stone,  Ignotum,  etc.,  made  last  year.  One  thing  is 
evident  from  these  crosses,  viz.,  that  it  will  be  easy  to 
fix  a  variety  with  all  the  good  qualities  of  Ponderosa 
(No.  400)  without  its  imperfections. 
*  * 
We  began  crossing  tomatoes  three  years  ago  in  a 
mechanical  way,  with  little  hope  that  anything  of 
value  would  come  out  of  the  work.  But  the  results 
were  startlingly  interesting.  Last  year  crossing  was 
continued  on  a  larger  scale  and  the  results  are  this 
year  even  more  instructive.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
crossing-  during  the  present  season  has  been  continued 
on  a  still  larger  scale  and  with  greater  care  in  the 
parentage  selection,  there  being  200  crossbred  plants 
to  choose  among.  We  venture  to  express  the  opinion 
that  perfection  in  tomato  culture  has  by  no  means 
been  reached,  and  that  the  “  coming”  varieties  will  be 
the  outcome  of  careful  crossing  through  several  gen¬ 
erations.  *  # 
The  Carman  grape  vines  offered  last  season  are  now 
ready  for  distribution  to  all  subscribers  to  The  Rural 
New-Yorker  for  1892,  who  apply  for  them  at  once  and 
send  the  necessary  postage  stamps,  eight  cents,  for 
transportation,  up  to  the  limit  of  the  present  supply. 
Mr.  T.  V.  Munson  has  been  unfortunate  in  his  work  of 
propagation  by  reason  of  thousands  of  cuttings  having 
been  destroyed  by  excessive  rains.  However,  Mr. 
Munson  has  liberally  agreed  to  vigorously  push  the 
propagation  this  fall  and  next  spring,  so  that  those 
who  may  not  be  supplied  now  will  undoubtedly  secure 
their  vines  later.  And  they  will  be  well  worth  wait¬ 
ing  for,  as  this  splendid  new  variety  has  fully  kept  up 
its  early  promise  of  great  value.  None  of  the  vines 
are  for  sale,  and  they  can  be  obtained  only  by  our 
regular  yearly  subscribers.  We  believe  that  the  Car¬ 
man  will  prove  to  be  hardy  and  useful  wherever  the 
Concord  thrives.  See  Publisher’s  Desk  for  further 
particulars.  #  # 
W HATiails  the  German  government  ?  For  years  that 
government  objected  to  American  pork  on  the  score  of 
health,  and  even  now,  when  every  piece  of  pork  sent 
abroad  is  inspected  and  certified  to  by  government 
agents,  the  Germans  find  fault  with  it,  yet  they  have 
permitted  steamers  carrying  passengers  infected  with 
the  deadly  cholera  to  sail  for  our  shores  with  “  a  clean 
bill  of  health.”  The  German  officials  knew  that 
cholera  was  raging  in  Hamburg  before  those  ships 
sailed.  They  had  no  legal  or  moral  right  to  permit 
those  ships  to  sail  out  of  the  harbor.  As  for  the  Ham- 
burg-American  Packet  Company,  it  deserves  to  have 
its  property  confiscated  for  its  course  in  this  matter. 
It  crowded  the  steerage  of  the  Normannia  with  an 
unwashed  horde  right  from  the  infected  districts  and 
then  assured  the  public  here  that  no  steerage  passen¬ 
gers  would  be  taken  on  board.  All  through  the  trouble 
the  conduct  of  this  company  has  been  outrageous,  and 
it  deserves  to  be  driven  out  of  business. 
*  * 
It  is  estimated  that  nearly  2,000,000  pounds  of  beet 
sugar  were  engaged  for  shipment  from  German  ports 
to  this  country  during  the  last  half  of  August  and 
the  first  half  of  September.  Thousands  of  tons  are 
on  board  the  infected  steamers  from  Hamburg  now 
lying  at  quarantine  station  near  New  Y7ork  city.  It  is 
very  doubtful  whether  ordinary  processes  of  disinfec¬ 
tion  or  fumigation  of  cargos  will  make  that  sugar  or 
the  still  greater  quantity  on  its  way  across  the  Atlantic 
from  infected  German  ports  fit  for  distribution 
through  American  markets,  even  after  it  has  been  re¬ 
fined,  and  in  the  refining  process  it  must  be  handled 
by  American  workmen.  Shouldn’t  the  authorities 
accord  the  most  rigorous  treatment  to  all  danger  of 
infection  from  this  source.  Then  again,  the  fruit 
growers  of  California  protest  against  any  further 
importation  of  European  fruits.  American  experts  in 
Europe  have  cabled  that  the  germs  of  cholera  there 
are  “all  over”  the  continent ;  foreign  fruit  cannot  be 
properly  disinfected  here  without  ruining  it  for  food 
purposes.  Should  not  its  importation  be  altogether 
prohibited  so  long  as  there  is  any  doubt  of  its  being  a 
vehicle  of  infection  among  our  people  ? 
*  * 
They  tell  the  story  of  a  Southern  gardener  who 
drove  into  town  with  a  load  of  cabbage,  which  he 
offered  at  two  heads  for  five  cents.  The  negroes  would 
not  buy,  because  they  “  had  no  meat  to  boil  with  the 
cabbage.”  The  farmer  went  to  a  store  and  bought  a 
side  of  pork,  which  he  cut  into  small  slices.  Then  he 
put  a  slice  on  each  cabbage  and  offered  the  combina¬ 
tion  for  five  cents.  The  negroes  fell  over  themselves 
in  their  haste  to  buy,  though  they  paid  more  than  at 
the  former  price.  Here  we  have  a  practical  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  wisdom  of  supplying  what  customers  want. 
The  wise  man  finds  what  his  customers  need  and  then 
offers  it — the  unwise  man  gets  mad  because  people 
won't  buy  what  he  thinks  they  should. 
*  * 
Mr.  H.  M.  Cottrell,  manager  of  the  Ellerslie  Stock 
Farm,  found  himself  last  spring  without  manure 
enough  to  raise  the  crops  he  needed.  Should  he  buy 
chemicals  or  stable  manure  ?  We  felt  sure  that  chem¬ 
icals  used  -with  sod  for  corn  would  pay  as  well  as  the 
manure,  or  better,  but  to  learn  with  certainty  we  ad¬ 
vised  him  to  try  both — side  by  side.  Accordingly,  on 
one  part  of  an  old  meadow  he  used  fertilizers- at  a  cost 
of  $13  per  acre.  On  the  rest  of  the  field  he  used  stable 
manure  at  a  cost  of  $42  per  acre.  These  figures  repre¬ 
sent  the  cash  prices  paid  for  the  fertilizer  and  the 
manure.  The  corn  has  not  been  cut,  but  good  judges 
— those  who  protested  that  the  fertilizer  would  not 
answer  ought  to  be  good  judges — say  that,  if  any¬ 
thing,  the  corn  on  the  fertilized  part  is  better  than 
that  where  the  manure  was  used  !  But  will  not  the 
manure  prove  more  lasting  in  its  effects  ?  Perhaps  so, 
but  not  to  the  value  of  $29  an  acre  !  Fertilizer  and 
sod  make  a  perfect  meal  for  corn.  Crowd  your  stable 
manure  on  the  corn  fields  near  the  barn  and  break  up 
your  old  meadows  and  add  fertilizer  to  them. 
*  * 
We  give  our  readers  this  week  an  excellent  likeness 
of  Mr.  T.  B.  Terry  and  a  well-written  account  of  his 
method  of  farming.  Mr.  Terry  gives  us  a  fine  illustra¬ 
tion  of  what  energy,  study  and  skill  will  accomplish 
for  the  American  farmer.  Starting  with  nothing  at 
all — not  even  with  a  fair  knowledge  of  farm  methods 
— he  has  “made  farming  pay”  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word.  One  thing  we  like  about  his  method  of  doing 
business  is  the  fact  that  now  when  he  has  reached  a 
condition  of  “easy  circumstances”  he  does  not  drive  as 
hard  as  formerly,  but  takes  things  more  easy  and 
enjoys  life.  If  there  is  a  lesson  in  Mr.  Terry’s  earlier 
life  for  young  men  there  is  a  double  lesson  in  his 
present  conduct  for  older  men.  Why,  sir,  do  you  still 
grind  and  toil  away  when  you  are  well  able  to  ease  up 
and  enjoy  a  new  and  beautiful  phase  of  life  ?  We 
would  like  to  have  you  answer  that  if  you  can.  Mr. 
Grundy  also  in  this  issue  tells  us  of  the  way  some 
Western  farmers  take  an  outing.  Don’t  let  the  young 
men  take  all  the  lessons  of  life.  You  older  men  may 
well  learn  a  thing  or  two. 
*  # 
Reports  from  .Louisiana  indicate  that  a  large  pro¬ 
portion  of  the  sugar  producers  of  the  State  have  be¬ 
come  protectionists  and  bitterly  resent  the  doctrine  of 
their  old  party  that,  while  sugar  should  be  kept  on  the 
free  list,  no  bounty  should  be  paid  to  the  producers 
of  the  domestic  article.  Such  a  policy,  they  declare, 
would  utterly  ruin  their  business  and  cause  the  loss  of 
the  large  capital  now  invested  in  lands,  plants  and 
appliances.  The  Disston  Company,  which  is  bringing 
under  sugar-cane  cultivation  6,000,000  acres  of  Florida 
swamp  lands  and  which  will  produce  6,000,000  pounds 
of  cane  sugar  this  year,  is  emphatic  in  its  declaration 
that  the  bounty  on  sugar  has  been  its  main  stimulus 
to  action.  Another  gigantic  scheme  for  draining 
Florida  swamp  lands  for  sugar-producing  purposes, 
including  a  tract  82  miles  long  and  from  3  to  12  miles 
wide  along  the  St.  John  and  Indian  Rivers,  has  just 
been  started  by  Northern  capitalists  with  a  capital  of 
$4,000,000.  After  this  and  the  Disston  districts  have 
been  reclaimed  and  brought  under  cultivation,  enough 
home-raised  sugar  will  be  produced  for  American  con¬ 
sumption,  and  the  leaders  in  both  enterprises  are 
spurred  to  action  mainly  by  the  sugar  bounty.  This 
is  the  only  encouragement  of  real  importance  granted 
to  our  agriculture  by  the  McKinley  tariff,  should  it  be 
taken  away? 
We  receive  the  following  communication  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  New  Jersey  Agricultural  Society  : 
Can  you  oblige  me  with  a  copy  of  The  Rural  of  two  weeks  ago  ?  I 
am  told  that  our  State  Fair  is  named  therein  as  being  run  in  the  in¬ 
terests  of  gamblers,  etc.  This  is  hardly  fair.  No  game  of  chance, 
pool  privilege,  or  otherwise  has  ever  been  allowed  at  our  State  Fair. 
We  have  been  offered  repeatedly  very  large  sums  for  such  privileges, 
but  have  steadily  refused,  as  we  do  not  think  managers  of  agricultural 
fairs  should  entertain  such  propositions.  Our  aim  has  always  been  to 
foster  and  conserve  the  best  interests  of  the  farmer  and  breeder. 
What  we  said  was  that  the  chief  interests  promoted 
at  the  exhibitions  of  this  society  are  brewing  and 
gambling,  and  we  have  seen  no  reason  for  changing 
our  mind.  At  the  fair  held  two  years  ago  the  writer 
stood  in  one  spot  and  counted  27  places  where  liquor 
was  sold  and  20  stands  where  petty  gambling  chances 
were  offered.  There  were  no  large  gambling  enter¬ 
prises  in  sight,  but  there  were  at  least  two  dozen  places 
where  games  of  chance  and  small  gambling  devices 
were  liberally  patronized.  In  fact,  after  a  pretty 
careful  study  of  the  large  fairs  of  the  country  we 
believe  that  the  New  Jersey  State  permits  more  fakirs, 
petty  gamblers  and  saloons  upon  the  ground  than  any 
other  we  have  visited.  It  is  a  disgrace  to  the  State  of 
New  Jersey  that  these  disreputable  exhibits  are  per¬ 
mitted  on  the  grounds  ! 
*  * 
Brevitie  s. 
I’ll  picture  now  the  meanest  chap 
That  ever  drew  the  breath  ot  life. 
His  mother’s  face  he  didn’t  slap, 
Nor  did  he  strike  or  cuff  his  wife; 
He  did  not  starve  his  horse  or  kick 
A  tumor  on  the  old  cow’s  side; 
And  when  his  neighbor’s  folks  were  sick, 
He  did  not  try  to  run  and  hide, 
But  he  did  spank  his  baby. 
Poor  little  thing,  it  could  not  talk 
And  tell  folks  where  the  trouble  lay. 
It  could  not  creep,  it  could  not  walk, 
It  knew  not  how  to  work  or  play; 
And  once  the  little  fellow  cried 
And  tried  to  tell  them  what  was  wrong. 
Then  this  mean  scamp,  with  patience  tried, 
Forgot  that  he  was  big  and  strong, 
And  spanked  his  little  baby! 
Oh,  curse  him  not,  but  pity  him, 
This  meanest  of  all  meanest  men. 
His  baby  died  -  its  eye  grew  dim. 
The  weak  yoice  could  not  fret  him  then. 
Ah.  sad  and  long  the  weary  years 
That  creep  across  that  little  grave; 
And  still  that  little  voice  he  hears, 
To  haunting  memories  a  slave— 
This  man  who  spanked  his  baby ! 
Here's  the  way  we  spell  CLOVER. 
It  is  always  safe  to  put  manure  on  grass. 
He  who  always  doctors  will  always  be  sick. 
Let  the  silo  Introduce  Mr.  HI  Gestion  to  Mrs.  Con  Gestion. 
Can  chemistry  tell  us  whether  a  potato  is  raw,  baked  or  boiled  ? 
Laziness  sometimes  causes  “  gapes.”  What's  the  cure  for  it  ? 
Is  the  best  the  cheapest  or  the  cheapest  best  ?  There  Is  a  difference. 
This  is  a  year  when  it  will  pay  to  sell  your  corn  and  buy  bran  and 
linseed  meal. 
The  low  price  of  melons  this  year  is  certainly  melancholy  evidence 
of  an  overproduction. 
Will  your  grandehlld  probably  grow  the  Bartlett  pear,  the  Wilson 
strawberry  and  the  Concord  grape  ? 
Yellow-legged  fowls  may  not  be  the  best  eating,  but  tbe  public 
think  they  are  and  that  settles  it  or  ought  to. 
Take  all  the  waste  charcoal  you  can  get  vour  hands  on.  It  will  cap¬ 
ture  and  hold  nitrogen  and  warm  up  the  soil. 
The  Christmas  lamb  brings  more  money  than  the  Fourth  of  July 
sheep,  and  doesn’t  eat  one-third  of  the  food. 
That  soil  of  Mr.  Terry’s  had  a  poor  reputation.  The  soil  was  all 
right  but  the  man  who  handled  it  gave  It  a  black  eye. 
We  don’t  blame  the  introducers  of  the  Parker  Earle  strawberry  for 
protesting  when  they  think  their  proteg6  is  made  to  suffer  for  the  slus 
of  some  scrub.  'Twas  ever  thus  ! 
Long  In  many  homesteads  has  “grandfather's  way  ”  held  power 
long  enough  to  turn  the  milk  of  human  kindness  sour.  Rally  now, 
young  fellows,  and  bring  in  a  better  hour— under  the  banner  of 
progress. 
Mr  Taher  sold  something  over  25  tons  of  small  fruits  for  $2,710.04. 
Of  this  weight  over  22  tons  were  pure  water.  The  water  did  not  cost  a 
cent.  The  plants  caught,  held  and  mixed  it  in  valuable  products. 
Who  says  that  farming  is  not  a  manufacturing  business  and  a  mighty 
sclentitic  one  at  that? 
It  was  the  pig’s  worst  enemy  that  proclaimed  the  fact  that  he  is  a 
good  scavenger.  People  will  run  their  farms  to  provide  food  for  the 
cow,  sheep  or  horse,  but,  when  it  comes  to  the  pig— oh,  he  can  live 
on  the  swill.  That’s  wrong.  Run  a  part  of  your  farm  for  the  pig.  He 
will  pay  you  for  so  doing. 
Somebody  once  asked  J.  H  Hale  how  much  fertilizer  he  should 
use.  Mr.  Hale  told  him  to  put  on  as  much  as  he  dared  to,  and  then  to 
shut  his  eyes  and  put  on  as  much  more.  This  is  like  the  advice  to 
harrow  corn  until  it  is  “  nearly  ruined,”  according  to  the  neighbors, 
and  then  harrow  it  once  more. 
Mr.  Terry  says  he  makes  most  on  potatoes  when  the  crop  is  light. 
Then  the  price  is  always  high  and  the  man  who  has  a  better  crop  than 
his  neighbors  gets  a  double  advantage.  Just  as  Mr.  Lewis  says  about 
the  amount  of  fertility  left  in  the  soil,  a  40-cent  bushel  of  potatoes 
costs  as  much  to  handle  as  a  (iO-cent  bushel. 
The  failure  of  the  Canadian  pea  crop  will  bring  much  trouble  to  the 
French  Canadian  farmers  who  place  almost  their  entire  dependence 
upon  this  crop.  Tbe  only  way  to  succeed  with  “  one  crop  ”  is  to  select 
a  crop  that  pays  an  extravagant  profit  once  every  two  or  three  years, 
and  then  bank  the  extra  profits  in  good  years  to  live  on  in  poor 
seasons.  Woe  unto  the  man  who  spends  all  his  proceeds  in  time  of 
plenty. 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  tried  to  interest  its  sheep  growing  readers  in  a 
trial  of  rape  for  fall  pasturage.  Many  have  sowed  the  seed,  but  we 
regret  to  say  that  some  are  doomed  to  disappointment.  Prof.  J.  A. 
Craig  writes  from  Canada  that  owing  to  a  mistake  of  seedsmen  much 
of  the  rape  seed  sent  out  was  of  the  variety  used  for  growing  bird  seed 
instead  of  fodder.  Owing  to  this  unfortunate  mistake  many  farmers 
will  grow  a  valueless  plant  for  their  pains  ! 
J.  H.  Hale  told  us  last  week  that  Crimson  Clover  was  nicely  started 
on  his  orchards.  While  It  probably  would  not  last  through  the  winter, 
it  would  collect  nitrogen  for  him  for  two  months  anyway.  Then  if  It 
did  winter-kill  what  it  had  gained  would  not  be  lost.  Why  isn’t  that 
the  way  to  look  at  it?  Two  months’  growth  is  certainly  better  than 
none  at  all.  By  sowing  the  Crimson  Clover  early  even  the  Northern 
farmer  may  gain  something  from  this  plant. 
