THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Oct.  1 
A  Western  Farmer’s 
Outing. 
now  what  care  they  for  the  lands  or 
for  posterity  ?  The  great  object  of  the 
“  business  man  ”  is  to  get  money — a  big 
pile  just  as  quickly  as  possible,  regardless 
of  all  consequences.  He  crowds  every 
avenue  of  trade  and  his  brain  is  con¬ 
stantly  at  work  under  high  pressure  on 
plans  and  schemes  for  outstripping  his 
fellows.  If  he  breaks  down,  another 
springs  into  his  place  and  the  rush  goes 
on.  The  average  “business  man”  of 
to-day  looks  like  a  chisel  and  works  like 
a  steam  drill. 
At  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  lies  the 
city  of  Duluth,  and  here  we  find  the  im¬ 
mense  elevators  that  handle  millions  of 
bushels  of  the  wheat  grown  on  the  broad, 
fertile  prairies  of  the  Northwest.  The 
last  crop  year  they  handled  over  51,000,000 
bushels.  The  grain  is  whisked  out  of 
the  cars  in  a  jiffy,  then  shot  into  the  holds 
of  large  schooners  and  steamers  to  be 
transported  to  the  great  cities  on  the 
seaboard  and  to  Europe.  The  business  is 
vast  but  it  moves  like  clockwork.  The 
prosperity — we  might  almost  say  the 
fate — of  thousands  of  farmers  and  mer¬ 
chants  throughout  the  whole  Northwest 
hinges  on  this  one  crop.  In  some  sec¬ 
tions  farmers  are  turning  their  attention 
more  to  stock  and  dairying  and  thereby 
improving  their  condition.  Dependence 
upon  one  crop,  especially  one  over  which 
so  many  uncertainties  hang,  is  the  same 
here  as  elsewhere — risky  in  the  extreme. 
“  I  had  GOO  acres  of  wheat  up  there 
this  year,”  said  a*  railroad  man  who  was 
talking  to  me  about  a  certain  locality  in 
Dakota,  “  and  I  thought  I  had  a  good 
thing,  but  I  didn’t.  Just  as  it  was  be¬ 
ginning  to  head  out  a  big  hailstorm  came 
along  and  fixed  it  !  ”  Imagine  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  that  man  if  his  whole  dependence 
for  a  living,  interest  on  a  mortgage,  etc., 
<st,c. ,  had  been  on  that  one  crop.  An¬ 
other  .'.mu,  a  merchant,  told  me  that  he 
PART  III. 
The  trip  from  St.  Paul  to  Duluth  is  in¬ 
teresting  to  a  farmer  chiefly  because  it 
lies  through  potato  fields,  pine  forests 
and  tamarack  swamps.  From  one  sta¬ 
tion,  the  most  important  on  the  road, 
over  1,200  car  loads  of  potatoes  were 
shipped  last  year  to  points  in  Illinois, 
Missouri  and  south,  and  the  production 
is  steadily  increasing  from  year  to  year. 
The  planting  is  mostly  done  with  the 
A  spin  wall  and  other  planters,  but  the  dig¬ 
ging  is  done  almost  exclusively  with  forks. 
The  growers  say  that  the  digging  ma¬ 
chines  are  not  a  success.  They  have  tried 
several  kinds,  but  in  almost  every  in¬ 
stance  have  returned  to  the  old  fork  and 
hand  power.  It  may  be  that  their  soil 
has  some  peculiarity  about  it  that  pre¬ 
vents  the  successful  working  of  diggers, 
because  I  have  met  growers  in  other  sec¬ 
tions,  who  were  loud  in  their  praises  of 
these  implements.  Digging  begins  about 
the  1st  of  September  and  continues  about 
six  weeks.  The  price  this  year  at  the 
beginning  of  the  harvest  is  35  cents  per 
bushel  delivered  at  the  station,  and  the 
yield  is  running  from  100  to  250  bushels 
per  acre. 
As  we  near  Duluth,  the  land  becomes 
too  rough  and  rocky  for  any  purpose  ex¬ 
cept  timber  growing,  and  possibly  sheep 
pasture.  Some  years  ago  this  country 
was  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  pine 
and  hard  wood,  but  the  woodman’s  axe 
has  almost  denuded  it,  and  in  many 
places  every  particle  of  fertile  soil  on  the 
hills  is  rapidly  being  washed  into  the 
narrow  valleys.  In  the  pine  forests  along 
the  railroad  fires  have  wrought  sad  havoc, 
and  for  miles  scarcely  anything  is  left 
but  tall,  branchless,  blackened  poles. 
The  rule  in  this  section  seems  to  have 
been  first  the  axe,  then  fire,  and  these 
two  have  almost  denuded  thousands  of 
acres  of  land  that  is  naturally  adapted  to 
timber  growing  and  of  little  use  for  any 
other  purpose.  Hundreds  of  men  have 
made  themselves  rich  off  these  lands  and 
are  now  living  in:luxurious  retirement. 
They  made  their  “pile”  by  ruthlessly  de¬ 
stroying  these  pnee  grand  forests,  and 
had  300  acres  at  "i&  tine  Wheat  as  ever 
grew,  in  one  of  the  upper  counties  of 
Minnesota,  and  he  took  a  great  deal  of 
delight  in  figuring  out  what  it  would 
bring  him.  The  day  before  I  left  St. 
Paul  he  received  a  telegram  saying  that 
over  half  his  farm  was  under  two  feet  of 
water  and  the  wheat  was  afloat.  I  told 
him  that  I  thought  he  was  in  hard  luck. 
“  Yes,”  said  he,  “  a  combination  of 
low  ground  and  a  three  days’  storm  would 
beat  almost  anybody.”  The  more  pros¬ 
perous  class  of  people  throughout  this 
northern  country  use  a  great  deal  of  an¬ 
thracite  coal,  and  the  low  rumble  of  a 
threatening  growl  at  the  rapacity  of  the 
coal  barons  is  heard  on  every  hand.  If 
I  am  not  mistaken  this  growl  will,  ere 
long,  become  a  mighty  roar,  and  then 
the  barons  will  learn  that  there  is  a 
power  in  the  land  greater  even  than 
theirs.  fred  grundy. 
#  *  # 
“  Abandoned  Farms.” — As  to  experi¬ 
ments  in  bringing  up  abandoned  New 
England  farms,  listen  to  what  A.  F.  Hun¬ 
ter,  editor  of  Farm  Poultry,  says: 
We  are  living  on  an  “abandoned  farm,” 
a  farm  that  was  in  the  market  for  years, 
and  no  one  wanted  it,  although  its  situa¬ 
tion  is  one  of  the  best  for  natural  beauty, 
with  a  river  in  front,  hills  and  woods 
about,  and  the  village  in  sight  less  than 
half  a  mile  away.  There  are  many  such 
farms  in  New  England,  where  an  income 
of  $600,  $800,  $1,000,  $2,000  can  be  made 
from  300,  400,  500,  1,000  fowls,  and  the 
garden,  cow,  fresh  air,  pure  water,  the 
birds  and  sunshine  can  be  enjoyed,  and 
life  enjoyed,  (not  endured,  as  in  a  city) 
if  one  lias  the  grit,  the  perseverance  to 
work  out  the  problem.  It  doesn’t  come 
of  itself.  We  haven’t  fairy  godmothers 
in  these  degenerate  days  to  “wish  us  a 
palace  for  a  home,  and  a  beautiful  prin¬ 
cess  for  a  bride,  but  we  have  what  is  in¬ 
finitely  better,  and  this  is  an  opportunity 
to  work  out  our  own  success. 
*  *  * 
Good  Winter  Wages  are  sure  for  any 
active,  intelligent  man,  woman,  boy  and 
girl,  who  believes  in  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker  and  is  willing  to  tell  their 
opinions  to  the  people  of  their  respective 
towns  and  counties, 
WALTHAM  and  ELGIN 
WATCHES 
At  Greatly  Reduced  Prices 
—  FOE  — 
Rural  New-Yorker  Subscribers  Only. 
If  your  subscription  is  already  paid 
in  advance  and  you  want  a  watcli, 
your  time  may  be  extended  or  new 
subscriptions  secured ;  or  the  watch 
alone  may  be  bought  by  subscribers  only 
at  the  prices  named.  Any  subscriber  can 
procure  from  us  any  Waltham  or  Elgin 
watch  in  any  kind  of  case  at  prices  that 
bring  good  watches  within  everybody’s 
reach.  We  describe  a  few. 
*  *  *  All  are  sent  prepaid  and  Insured, 
by  registered  mail. 
Every  watch  in  this  list  is  guaranteed 
to  be  an  accurate  timekeeper.  Money  re¬ 
funded  if  watch  is  not  satisfactory 
and  returr  c-ci  within  three  after 
receipt.  Please  write  your  opinion  of  the 
watches  received. 
Nickel  Silver  Watch,  Men’s  Size. 
No.  1  C  is  a  Waltham  or  Elgin  7-jeweled 
watch  containing  compensation  balance, 
safety  pinion,  etc.  It  is  in  a  solid  nickel 
silver,  open  face  case.  For  boys’  wear  it 
Is  especially  recommended,  because  the 
front  and  back  screw  off  and  on,  mak¬ 
ing  it  dust-tight.  This  watch  need  not 
be  opened  at  all,  because  it  is  a  stem 
winder,  and  it  sets  by  pulling  on  the  stem, 
thereby  doing  away  with  the  risk  attendant 
upon  opening.  The  crystal  is  made  of 
plate  glass  that  will  stand  a  heavy 
pressure.  This  watch  is  full  men’s  size, 
and  the  works  are  good  enough  to  go  into 
a  gold  case.  Any  person  who  gets  one  of 
these  watches  will  find  that  some  of  his 
friends  have  watches  which  cost  $15  to  $20, 
containing  the  same  grade  of  works.  Sold 
to  subscribers  only  for  $5.50;  with  a  three 
years’  subscription,  for  $8.50. 
Gold  Watch,  Men’s  Size,  Open  Face. 
No.  2  C,  Waltham  or  Elgin ;  7  jewels  and 
all  the  improvements  mentioned  above. 
The  case,  which  is  open  face,  is  made  by 
taking  two  plates  of  solid  gold  and  filling 
the  space  between  them  with  a  fine  compo¬ 
sition  metal.  If  the  filling  were  removed 
a  solid  gold  case  would  then  remain. 
This  is  more  durable  and  just  as  hand¬ 
some.  Price,  $12;  with  a  three  years’  sub¬ 
scription  for  $15. 
Gold  Watch,  Hunting  Case. 
No.  3  C  Is  the  same  as  No.  2  C,  but  in 
hunting  case,  richly  engraved  with  Ver¬ 
micelli  or  frost  work.  Price,  $14.35;  with  a 
three  years’  subscription,  $17,35. 
The  Great  Watch. 
No.  4  C.  For  those  who  want  the  best,  and 
are  willing  to  trust  our  judgment,  we  have 
selected  a  watch  which  combines  richness 
with  perfect  finish.  It  cannot  be  surpassed 
as  a  timekeeper.  It  is  full  jeweled,  the 
jewels  being  set  in  solid  gold.  It  has  the 
finest  and  simplest  patent  regulator  known, 
as  well  as  a  patent  safety  pinion,  compen¬ 
sation  balance  and  Logan’s  celebrated  Breg- 
uet  hair- spring,  which  Is  bent  to  the  re¬ 
quired  form  and  then  hardened  and  tem¬ 
pered.  It  is  thoroughly  ad j  usted  so  that  it 
will  keep  accurate  time  whether  hot  or 
cold.  It  is  made  by  the  American  Walt¬ 
ham  Watch  Company,  and  called  “  P.  S. 
Bartlett.”  Hundreds  of  people  have  paid 
as  high  as  $125  for  this  watch,  and  the  usual 
retail  price  is  now  from  $85  to  $105.  We 
offer  it  la  a  solid  14k.  gold,  twq  ounces  to 
2%  ounces  (40  to  45  dwt)  case,  hunting  or 
open  face,  handsomely  finished.  Price, 
$43  50,  with  five  years’  subscription  $47.50. 
People  who  want  this  magnificent  watch 
in  a  cheaper  case  can  have  It  in  gold  filled 
case  guaranteed  for  15  years,  for  $22  In 
hunting  case ;  and  for  $19  50  In  open  face  ; 
for  $19  50  in  three  ounce  coin  silver,  hunt¬ 
ing  or  open  face ;  for  $12.75  in  nickel  silver, 
open-face  case ;  a  year’s  subscription  In¬ 
cluded  with  each  one. 
Ladles’  Watches. 
No.  6  C.  A  genuine  Waltham  or  Elgin 
lady’s  watch  with  7  jewels,  compensation 
balance  and  safety  pinion,  stem  wind  and 
set,  in  a  handsomely  engraved,  gold  filled 
hunting  case,  guaranteed  by  the  manufac¬ 
turers  to  look  like  gold  for  15  years.  Price, 
$14.90 ;  with  two  years’  subscription  for  $17 
No.  15 — A  beau¬ 
tiful  11  jewel 
movement,  full 
nickel,  in  a 
handsome  1  y 
engraved  hunt¬ 
ing  case  made  of 
14k.  U.  S.  Assay 
solid  gold,  usual 
retail  price  from 
$50  to  $75.  One 
of  the  prettiest 
watches  for  a 
lady  that  w  e 
have  ever  seen. 
The  illustration 
shows  the  case 
in  exact  size,  and  style.  Price  $25  net. 
You  Supply  the  Horse 
“  We  do  the  rest .” 
HARNESS,  CARRIAGES,  WAGONS 
to  our  Subscribers  only,  at  LESS  than 
wholesale  prices. 
By  special  arrangement  with  a  lurge 
manufacturer,  we  are  now  prepared  to  fur¬ 
nish  our  subscribers  only  with  a  wide  range 
of  carriages  and  wagons,  harness,  saddles, 
etc.,  at  less  than  wholesale  prices. 
Send  for  large  special  premium  carriage 
catalogue. 
OUR  SPECIAL  OFFERS.  —  Any  sub¬ 
scriber  (paid  up  for  1892)  has  the  privilege 
of  a  THREE  PER  CENT  DISCOUNT 
from  the  wholesale  prices  of  these  goods, 
on  any  order  amounting  to  $10  or  more. 
A  three  years’  subscription  to  either  The 
Rural  New-Yorker  or  to  American 
Gardening  will  be  given  with  any  of  these 
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(less  discount). 
A  five  years’  subscription  as  above  will 
be  given  with  any  of  these  articles  the 
prices  of  which  aggregate  $95  net. 
TO  CLUB  RAISERS.— To  the  sender  of 
a  club  of  five  or  more  new  subscriptions, 
we  give  a  discount  of  three  per  cent  on 
these  goods ;  for  a  club  of  10  or  more  five 
per  cent  discount ;  for  20  or  more,  10  per 
cent  discount. 
We  are  not,  of  course,  manufacturers  or 
dealers  in  this  line,  but  have  made  this  ad¬ 
mirable  contract  with  a  reliable  house  for 
the  express  and  only  purpose  of  extending 
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Send  for  premium  carriage  and  harness 
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benefits  of  being  a  subscriber  to  The 
Rural  New-Yorker. 
THE  RURAL  PUBLISHING  CO., 
Times  Building,  New  York. 
