624 
Sept.  24 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
TEE 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBKIiT  8.  CARMAN.  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLING  WOOD,  Managing  Editor 
Copyrighted  1H92. 
SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  24.  1892. 
Our  Louisiana  correspondent  on  page  028  gives  a 
forcible  illustration  of  what  an  active  and  ambitious 
woman  can  do.  The  cows  and  the  hens  paid  for  the 
farm.  They  marched  up  with  their  butter  and  eggs 
each  year  and  ate  up  the  notes  as  they  fell  due.  All 
honor  to  such  cows  and  hens,  say  we,  and  double 
honor  to  the  woman  who  directed  their  efforts.  By 
the  way,  is  there  a  county  in  the  United  States  where 
it  would  be  impossible  to  repeat  that  operation  ?  An¬ 
swer  that,  please.  #  # 
Ponderosa. — One  day  last  week  we  saw  12  Ponde- 
rosa  Tomatoes  that  weighed  17%  pounds.  The  largest 
weighed  two  pounds  three  ounces,  or  35  ounces.  One 
of  them  was,  after  weighing,  cut  open.  We  had  never 
before  seen  so  large  a  proportion  of  flesh  as  compared 
with  the  pulp,  and  the  seeds  were  so  few  that  it  would 
scarcely  pay  a  grower  to  collect  them  for  less  than  »10 
a  pound.  These  tomatoes  were  quite  regular  in  form, 
and  their  only  imperfection  was  that  they  were  still 
green  about  the  stems. 
*  * 
Col.  James  Wood,  of  Mount  Kisco,  N.  Y.,  ex-Presi- 
dent  of  the  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society,  has 
finally  consented  to  serve  as  Director  of  the  Agricul¬ 
tural  Exhibit  of  the  State  of  New  York  at  the  coming 
Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago.  Col.  Wood  is  de¬ 
sirous  of  having  every  agricultural  and  horticultural 
feature  of  the  State  represented,  and  to  that  end  he 
will  esteem  it  a  special  favor  if  parties  interested  in 
or  being  cognizant  of  industries  or  products  out  of  the 
usual  line,  will  confer  with  him  in  relation  to  exhibiting 
them.  Let  us  all  take  a  hand  and  push  along  the 
cause.  .  * 
Beurre  Bose.  Is  this  delightful  pear  known  to  all 
of  our  readers  who  raise  pears  ?  It  is  as  distinct  in 
form  as  it  is  delicious  in  quality.  The  tree  is  healthy, 
an  early  and  regular  bearer.  The  fruit  is  always 
large,  often  very  large,  and  never  fails  to  develop  its 
distinctly  characteristic  long,  narrow  neck.  It  grows, 
too,  singly  and  not  in  clusters.  The  flesh  is  always 
juicy,  rich,  buttery,  melting  and  perfumed.  Perhaps 
it  is  a  trifle  sweet  to  suit  all  tastes,  but  its  sweetness, 
like  that  of  the  Seckel,  is  most  agreeable.  It  ripens 
from  late  September  through  October.  This  variety 
was  raised  by  Van  Mons,  in  1807.  It  does  not  thrive 
on  quince  stock,  but  the  trees  bear  so  early  that 
dwarfing  is  not  needed  to  hasten  the  bearing  period. 
*  * 
Potatoes  are  now  selling  in  the  London  (England) 
market  at  37%  to  45  cents  a  bushel,  by  the  ton  or 
wholesale  rates.  This  price  is  demanded  by  commis¬ 
sion  men.  Farmers  receive  the  above  prices  less  the 
freight  and  commission.  There  is  much  interest  among 
American  growers  to  know  what  to  expect  in  the  way 
of  probable  prices  for  potatoes.  Can  we  expect  a 
great  advance  in  prices  ?  We  do  not  think  so.  While 
the  American  crop  is  undoubtedly  the  lowest  for  many 
years  the  Canadian  crop  is  unusually  large.  Under 
the  old  tariff  of  15  cents  a  bushel  large  shipments 
were  annually  made.  The  McKinley  bill  added  10 
cents  per  bushel  to  this  tariff  and  shipments  dropped 
off  at  once,  though  this  result  was  largely  due  to  the 
low  price  here  by  reason  of  an  unsually  large  crop. 
A  difference  of  10  cents  in  the  tariff  will  not  keep  out 
Canadian  potatoes  if  the  price  should  rise  12  cents  per 
bushel.  m 
Now  that  a  few  cases  of  cholera  have  been  found  in 
New  York  city,  there  is  great  danger  that  timid  and 
nervous  people,  both  in  the  city  and  out,  will  pander 
to  the  popular  error  which  has  so  long  and  so  gener¬ 
ally  prevailed,  that  fruit  is  injurious  or  undesirable  in 
times  of  epidemic.  No  greater  mistake  could  possibly 
be  made.  There  are  no  contingencies  that  could 
possibly  arise  where  it  would  be  wise  to  eliminate 
fruit  from  our  dietary.  It  is  the  most  useful  and  best 
of  prophylactics— better  than  all  drugs,  better  than 
beef  or  pork.  One  mistake  that  is  often  made  is  the 
indiscriminate  eating  of  fruit  between  meals  and  at  all 
hours.  We  act  as  if  fruit  were  not  a  food,  but  simply 
something  to  be  enjoyed  without  reference  to  its 
nutritive  value.  This  is  not  wise.  We  should  eat 
fruit  freely  at  our  meals  and  eat  the  most  of  it  then. 
He  is  a  wise  man  who  will,  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  year,  make  at  least  one  of  his  three  daily  meals  on 
fruit,  vegetables  and  the  cereals.  In  this  connection, 
it  may  be  interesting  to  call  attention  to  a  fact  which 
was  noted  in  one  of  the  great  morning  dailies,  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  Of  the  first  five  cases  of  cholera  reported, 
four  were  intimately  connected  with  meat.  The  father 
of  Minnie  Levinger  works  in  a  slaughter-house.  Mrs. 
Beck’s  husband  worked  for  a  Fulton  Market  butcher. 
\Y  iegman  and  his  wife  were  employed  in  a  tripe  and 
pigs’  feet  factory.  Just  how  or  where  they  got  the 
contagion  is  not  known,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
all  of  these  people  were  large  eaters  of  animal  food 
and  they  were  the  first  to  succumb  to  the  disease.  So 
keep  to  your  fruit — if  you  can  make  it  a  prominent 
part  of  every  meal,  you  will  be  the  better  for  it.  Keep 
cool,  don’t  worry,  don't  dose,  and  eat  fruit  at  your 
meals. 
*  * 
This  week  we  begin  the  publication  of  a  series  of 
articles  that  we  think  will  be  of  special  interest  to  our 
readers.  We  wish  to  compare  the  prices  of  standard 
articles  of  household  necessity  as  they  are  sold  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
observe  how  flour,  meat  and  wearing  apparel  vary  in 
price.  Ihese  articles  make  up  the  greater  proportion 
of  the  cost  of  life;  how  much  of  their  cost  and  price 
goes  to  middlemen  ?  Does  his  share  increase  as  the 
distance  from  the  place  of  manufacture  lengthens  and 
to  what  extent  ?  What  is  the  difference  between 
“  ready  made  ”  and  “custom  made  ”  goods  and  is  the 
difference  wisely  expended?  These  and  other  import¬ 
ant  matters  will  be  brought  up  in  this  discussion  as 
well  as  facts  about  farm  business  that  will  be  well 
worth  studying.  The  farmer’s  profit  comes  from  what 
he  saves,  both  in  buying  and  in  conducting  his  farm. 
We  hope  the  coming  series  of  articles  will  not  only 
give  direct  saving  hints  but  also  suggest  new  ideas  of 
living  that  will  be  helpful  in  many  ways.  The  matter 
of  the  cost  of  medical  attendance  is  one  of  great  in¬ 
terest.  Sickness  money  represents  a  dead  loss.  We 
are  glad  to  see  that  most  of  our  readers,  have,  by 
means  of  proper  living,  reduced  this  cost  to  a  low 
item. 
#  * 
During  the  past  week  the  entire  country  has  been 
watching  the  troubles  of  the  unfortunate  cabin  passen¬ 
gers  brought  to  this  country  by  the  ocean  steamer 
Normannia.  This  steamer  arrived  here  early  in  Sep¬ 
tember  with  about  500  cabin  and  as  many  steerage 
passengers.  Among  the  latter  several  deaths  had  oc¬ 
curred— due,  as  the  doctors  stated  to  Asiatic  cholera. 
At  once  stringent  measures  were  taken  to  keep  the 
dread  disease  from  establishing  itself  here.  The  steer¬ 
age  passengers  were  removed  from  the  steamer  while 
the  cabin  passengers  remained  on  board  strictly 
guarded.  It  was  at  last  decided  to  remove  them  from 
the  steamer  to  Fire  Island,  a  small  island  in  Suffolk 
County,  off  the  south  shore  of  Long  Island,  about  20 
miles  from  quarantine  station.  They  were  put  on  an 
excursion  steamer  and  started  in  the  midst  of  a  rough 
sea  for  their  destination.  Blunder  after  blunder  fol¬ 
lowed  and  after  great  suffering  among  the  passengers 
the  steamer  was  forced  to  return.  In  the  meantime 
the  fishermen  of  the  south  shore  gathered  in  force  on 
hire  Island  to  prevent  the  landing  of  the  passengers, 
claiming  that  if  this  island  were  used  for  a  quarantine 
station  their  business  would  be  ruined,  as  no  one  would 
buy  their  fish  and  oysters.  When  ihe  steamer  returned 
Avith  the  passengers  these  men  successfully  resisted 
their  landing  so  that  they  were  forced  to  spend  an¬ 
other  night  in  cold  and  uncomfortable  quarters.  The 
Bay  men  had  secured  from  a  New  York  judge  an  in¬ 
junction  restraining  the  State  or  private  individ¬ 
uals  from  buying  Fire  Island  for  use  as  a  quar¬ 
antine.  Governor  Flower  of  New  York  State 
acted  with  great  decision  and  promptness.  He 
ordered  out  some  of  the  militia  and  naval  reserves 
and  sent  them  at  once  to  see  that  the  passengers  were 
landed  without  delay.  In  the  meantime,  at  a  special 
meeting  of  the  General  Term  the  injunction  was  vaca¬ 
ted  and  the  legal  obstruction  to  the  landing  thus  re¬ 
moved.  The  passengers  -were  then  landed  and  com¬ 
fortably  housed.  It  was  a  most  unfortunate  affair. 
It  is  perfectly  right  to  take  extreme  measures  to  keep 
out  such  diseases  as  cholera,  but  no  one  has  a  right  to 
subject  helpless  women  and  children  to  such  awful 
experiences  as  were  undergone  by  these  passengers. 
The  New  York  health  officials  were  at  fault  in  not 
providing  suitable  accommodations  for  cabin  passen¬ 
gers  when  they  knew  the  cholera  was  coming.  The 
sensational  papers  of  the  city  have  been  guilty  of  lit¬ 
tle  less  than  a  crime  in  frightening  the  public  by 
printing  exaggerated  accounts  of  the  danger  from 
cholera.  Above  all,  the  Hamburg-American  Packet 
Company  have  been  criminally  negligent  in  permit¬ 
ting  steerage  passengers  from  Germany  on  board 
their  steamer.  The  experience  of  the  past  few  weeks 
strengthens  the  belief  that  the  National  Government 
should  have  entire  charge  of  such  attempts  to  maintain 
a  quarantine  against  disease.  The  local  officials  here 
have  not  been  equal  to  the  emergency  and  next  year, 
when  the  danger  may  be  greater  than  ever,  there 
should  be  no  chance  for  the  blunders  and  mistakes  of 
the  past  few  weeks. 
*  * 
Bbevitie  s. 
Good  morning,  brother  dairyman,  youjre  looking  rather  blue. 
I  guess  you  think  you’re  headed  for  the  dogs. 
There  certainly  Is  nothing  In  the  business  for  you 
tl  *f  you  keep  feeding  butter  to  your  hogs. 
I  don’t  feed  hogs  no  butter!”  Ah !  Excuse  me  sir,  you  do! 
Your  sklm-mllk  and  your  buttermilk  are  fat, 
In  pan  and  churn  and  skimmer,  lots  of  cream  goes  slipping  through. 
And  piggy  gets  the  benefit  of  that. 
You  ought  to  be  In  business  for  higher,  nobler  things 
1  ban  mixing  honest  butter  with  your  swill. 
No  wonder  Mrs.  Fortune  comes  and  hits  you  with  her  wings. 
You  won’t  have  funds  enough  to  leave  a  will, 
Unless  you  stop  that  drainage  and  plug  up  that  butter  spout. 
And  If  the  pans  and  skimmers  still  will  shirk 
And  not  get  all  the  butter,  why  just  “  turn  the  rascals  out,” 
And  get  new  tools  to  give  you  better  work. 
Malt  Is  praised  as  a  poultry  food. 
Keep  the  chaff  out  of  the  hay  bale. 
It  takes  tiling  to  turn  a  natural  Timothy  farm  to  clover. 
The  mason  who  sticks  to  his  trade  may  be  said  to  court  plaster. 
Feeding  corn  is  a  costly  way  to  cure  the  effects  of  cold  weather. 
Which  do  you  prefer  in  time  of  danger,  absence  of  body  or  presence 
of  mind  ? 
A  mutton  ham,  pickled  and  smoked,  is  better,  cheaper  and  health¬ 
ier  than  pork! 
Free  trade  In  sheep  Is  a  guarantee  of  excellence.  There  is  no  tariff 
on  pure-bred  animals! 
Put  not  your  feed  into  old  steers,  but  let  the  youngsters  handle  It. 
Young  steers  to  the  front. 
Have  your  cows  ever  suffered  from  eating  smutty  corn  stalks  ? 
Would  you  be  afraid  to  feed  such  stalks  ? 
Mu.  Grundy’s  “boiled  rain  water”  simile  for  the  test  of  California 
peaches  as  we  get  them  here  is  just  about  right. 
How  about  feeding  onion  seed  to  horses— see  page  631?  Would  you 
do  it  rather  than  throw  the  seed  away?  “  If  not  why  not?” 
The  way  for  a  milkman  to  take  advantage  of  the  present  cholera 
scare  Is  to  sterilize  his  milk  and  promptly  advertise  the  fact  that  he  Is 
doing  so. 
A  growing  boy  with  a  constant  supply  of  food  before  him  and 
nothing  to  do  but  eat.  would  soon  eat  himself  sick.  Why  complain 
then  if  a  cow  or  horse  has  no  more  sense? 
Instead  of  crowding  horse  racing  out  of  the  agricultural  fair  the 
bicycle  has  won  a  racing  place  for  itself  and  taken  so  much  more  away 
from  the  purely  agricultural  features  of  these  fairs. 
I  h k  latest  delicacy  Is  half  a  small,  ice-cold  muskmelon  filled  with 
Ice  cream.  By  the  way,  it  ought  to  be  a  very  cold  day  when  a  farmer’s 
boy  has  to  go  away  from  home  to  get  a  plate  of  ice  cream. 
What  do  you  know  of  the  Soy  Bean  ?  In  a  few  weeks  we  shall  pre¬ 
sent  an  instructive  symposium  on  the  subject,  Including  The  R.  N.-Y.’s 
experience  with  three  different  varieties  during  the  past  season. 
“  Boil  your  Ice  or  throw  it  away,”  is  the  cholera  preventive  advice 
given  by  a  prominent  New  York  doctor.  Ice  Is  a  favorite  medium  for 
conveying  disease.  Put  the  Ice  around  not  in  the  drinking  water. 
Read  the  “  skims”  on  page  631.  There  is  a  good  percentage  of  fat 
left  In  these  skims— there  will  be  more  when  that  St.  Lambert  bull  has 
a  chance  to  show  what  he  Is  made  of.  Soli  when  the  pastures  spoil. 
John  G.  Whittier  was  the  most  truly  American  poet  that  ever 
lived.  Thousands  of  our  readers  regarded  him  as  a  friend  and  living 
teacher.  Happily  there  is  no  death  for  such  men.  Their  words  live  ever 
To  the  many  persons  who  ask  us  to  print  lists  of  the  experiment  sta¬ 
tions  and  officials,  we  say— write  to  the  Agricultural  Department  at 
Washington  for  a  copy  of  “  Organization  Lists,”  which  contains  full 
particulars  in  this  line. 
We  are  pleased  to  learn  that  the  dairy  school  at  the  Georgia  Ex¬ 
periment  Station  is  a  success  and  that  Georgia-made  cheese  Is  in 
active  demand  at  good  prices.  It  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  South 
when  her  people  eat  more  cheese  of  their  own  make. 
A  number  of  curious  stories  have  come  to  us  of  late  regarding  the 
effect  of  spaying  cows  and  heifers.  Theoretically  this  practice  would 
be  of  great  benefit  to  milk  dairymen.  It  Is  claimed  by  some  that  the 
milk  of  spayed  cows  Is  inferior  for  butter  making.  What  about  It  ? 
Here  are  the  sentiments  of  a  Kentucky  subscriber:  “  The  Rural  Is 
without  question  the  best  paper  of  its  kind  I  know  of.  The  article  In 
last  week’s  issue,  “  Hall  to  the  Peach  Chiefs!”  was  splendid.  Give  us 
plenty  of  fruit  culture.  Yours,  a  life-long  subscriber,  j.  j.  payne.” 
Hay  markets  differ.  In  California  Timothy  Is  hardly  quoted  and 
hay  made  of  green  wheat  or  barley  commands  highest  figures.  In 
London  clover  hay  Is  priced  at  the  head  and  is  now  bringing  *26  a  ton 
for  best  quality.  In  New  York  the  presence  of  clover  always  hurts  the 
price. 
We  seldom  hear  of  any  outbreaks  of  pleuro-pneumonla  in  this 
country  nowadays,  yet  It  is  hardly  possible  to  take  up  an  English  ag¬ 
ricultural  paper  without  reading  of  several  cases.  These  papers  were 
full  of  advice  to  our  government  officials  about  methods  of  “stamping- 
out  ”  this  disease— why  not  practice  them  at  home  ? 
In  Slam,  we  are  told,  each  soldier  in  the  royal  army  Is  compelled 
to  catch  and  kill  a  pint  of  files  each  day.  This  gives  the  soldiers  ex¬ 
ercise  and  reduces  the  number  of  files.  In  Switzerland  each  person  Is 
expected  by  law  to  kill  a  certain  quantity  of  a  bug  similar  In  many 
respects  to  our  striped  potato  pest.  How  our  army  of  the  lazy  would 
howl  at  such  a  helpful  measure  here. 
Mu.  Bell,  on  page  620,  brings  up  an  Important  matter  regarding  the 
breeding  of  grade  ewes.  The  times  demanded  a  sheep  that  can  pro¬ 
duce  both  mutton  and  wool  of  good  quality.  About  the  only  profitable 
’  special  purpose  ”  sheep  nowadays  is  the  early  spring  lamb.  How 
can  the  American  farmer  breed  so  as  to  obtain  a  larger  and  better 
mutton  sheep  with  a  good  fleece  of  wool?  We  Invite  discussion  of  Mr. 
Bell’s  article. 
What  Is  an  “authority  ”  on  any  giyen  subject  ?  As  we  use  the 
word,  we  mean  one  who  has  so  studied  and  analyzed  the  subject  that 
he  understands  it  fully.  Yet  the  wise  men  of  a  century  ago  were 
“  authorities  ”  though  time  has  tested  their  theories  and  found  them 
of  light  weight.  Fifty  years  hence  our  own  dear  “authorities” 
may  be  thoroughly  disproved.  Despise  not  the  “  crank  ”  or  the 
“  dreamer.” 
It  Is  folly,  as  every  honest  man  knows,  to  let  the  storms  of  winter 
wash  through  the  manure  piles.  It  is  folly  of  no  less  degree  to  let  the 
rust  eat  away  at  the  tools  that  will  soon  go  into  winter-quarters.  Rust 
eats  the  life  out  of  vour  metal  while  you  sleep.  Cover  the  metal  part 
of  tools  with  something  so  that  its  teeth  cannot  get  through.  Thor¬ 
oughly  clean  the  metal  and  smear  with  lard  In  which  a  little  resin  has 
been  melted  and  mixed. 
Mr.  Dodge,  Statistician  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  has 
Issued  a  pamphlet  giving  the  latest  statistics  of  our  foreign  trade  In 
agricultural  products  Comparing  the  fiscal  years  1890  and  1892,  he 
finds  that  Imports  of  eggs  have  decreased  from  *2,074,912  to  *522,240; 
live  stock  from  *0,766.932  to  **4,251,692,  and  potatoes  from  *2,797,927  to 
*180,006.  Imports  of  tobacco  dropped  from  *17,605,192  In  1890  to  *10,331,- 
174  in  1892,  while  hides  increased  from  *21,881,886  to  *26,850,218,  and  wool 
from  *15,264,083  to  *19,688,108. 
