38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN. io 
"Rough on Rogues." 
LOOKOUT 
ALMANAC 
LOOKING OUT FOB NUMBER ONE. 
JANUARY 
Look out again for those bogus 
“cures” for consumption. Thus 
12. f ar th e experiments with Dr. 
Koch’s remedy promise to lead to import¬ 
ant results. As we stated a few weeks 
since, lots of unprincipled “quack” doctors 
are preparing to advertise this treatment 
in the hope of reaping a rich harvest from 
the ignorant and helpless. Let them alone. 
It is the intention of Dr. Koch to make 
this treatment free if it proves successful. 
It should be within the reach of all—the 
poor as well as the rich. Life is worth as 
much to one man as to another. Fortun¬ 
ately it is not money alone that makes life 
worth living—it is contentment, happiness 
and peace of mind. The happy poor have a 
greater treasure in life than the unhappy 
rich. By the way, did you ever know of a 
very rich man who could be said to be per¬ 
fectly happy ? I never did. 
* 
* * 
Tuesday There have been some startling 
3 developments regarding those 
J 3* divorce lawyers we spoke of last 
week. They have been captured and are 
now in jail, or released on bail. They were 
doing a wholesale business in manufactur¬ 
ing divorces, forging court seals, signatures 
and everything else that was needed. One 
of them, some years ago, was in partner¬ 
ship with a woman, who used to go about 
from court to court impersonating the “in¬ 
jured wife,” and doing it so well that the 
divorces were always granted. This is a 
very nice state of affairs, and we are glad 
these scamps have been caught. There are 
similar rascals, however, in this and every 
other large city in the country, who have 
not yet been “found out.” * * * That 
“American Export and Trading Company” 
is another desperate humbug. Most of its 
“directors” are denouncing it, and the 
whole scheme seems to be founded on some 
worthless old land grants in Mexico. 
Wednesday ^ook out tbat you ^ et a 
3 this year, my boy ; that is, if 
J 4* you live in a country where 
hills and snow make connection. Where 
can you get the sled ? Earn it. Let me 
call your attention to the following letter : 
How My 1 O-Year-Old Boy Got a 
Sled. 
A short time ago Artie asked me to buy 
him a sled. I told him that it would be far 
better appreciated if he would earn the 
money and buy it himself. He was anxious 
to know how a little boy like himself could 
earn money enough to buy a sled. I told 
him that I had a number of Rural New- 
Yorkers, and that he should take them 
and make a canvass among the neighbors 
and get trial subscriptions. He was de¬ 
lighted with the idea and started off, and 
to my own surprise he returned from 
his first trip with almost money enough; 
and after his return from the second trip, 
he had quite enough for the sled. This 
was the first business lesson for my boy, 
and, besides, he became acquainted with the 
neighbors, and I contend that his work in 
some families will have a lasting effect, as 
many of those who bought the paper never 
read an agricultural journal, and probably 
never dreamt of its contents. Now, I should 
like to know why The Rural New-Yorker 
cannot be sold at five cents per copy weekly, 
instead of the story papers which flood the 
country. 
Boys, here is a suggestion which, I think, 
if carried out, would result in many a new 
and handsome sled for many a good and 
noble boy. Is it not worth a trial ? 
Beaver Co., Pa. w. M. benninger. 
■X’ 
* * 
Thnrsdftv kook out for the “Pacific Por- 
3 trait House.” This is a concern 
1 5* with “ branches ” at New York, 
Chicago and Philadelphia. It is the old 
game of offering to make, “ free of charge,” 
a portrait from a tintype or photograph. 
You send your photograph and you get 
your picture—perhaps—when you send the 
money for an expensive frame. The police 
are after this end of the concern and will 
doubtless shut It up, but the poor folks 
who have sent pictures will hardly see 
them again. It seems as though a respec¬ 
table concern might do good business at 
enlarging pictures. Now, however, It is to 
be exclusively in the hands of scamps. 
FriddY kook out ^ or t * ie agricultural book 
r fraud. This is explained in the 
1 following note : “ I saw a notice 
recently of a standard work on fruits. It 
stated that the volume reviewed was a 
new edition. On the strength of this I 
sent for it. What was my surprise when I 
received it, to find it a book over 20 years 
old. The title page, however, bears the 
word ‘ Revised,’ and * 1889 ’; but it has 
not been revised in 20 years. Readers are 
probably aware of a custom of bookmakers 
to bind up books as needed, and to print a 
new title page every few years. I was the 
more hurt this time, because the author is 
a leading American horticulturist, and one 
who would not, I think, permit such a 
deceit.” 
• » 
Saturday Look out that you hang on 
3 to your youth. Childhood is 
* 7- the best part of old age. You 
can’t get away from it to save your life. 
When he was a boy the writer of this used 
to go down to the old pasture and listen to 
the little brook running on under the ice 
and snow. It was with peculiar pleasure 
that he read the following little poem by 
S. W. Foss. Read it and thiuk it over: 
’Way down In dad's ol’ medder, where the pussy 
willers grow, 
I used to go and lissen to the brook beneath the 
snow: 
Above I heerd the roarin’ win' an’saw the snow-gust 
whirl-. 
But the brook beneath the snow an’ Ice danced, 
singin’ like a girl. 
I’d put my ear down to the Ice, I didn’ min' the 
col’, 
An’ w’en I heerd Its music, there wuz summer In my 
soul! 
An’ we’n dad licked me, an' my heart ’ud bile an 
overflow, 
I would go and hear the music of the brook beneath 
the snow. 
An’ then my sobs ’ud change to shouts, an’ sorrer 
change to glee, 
For It strewed along Its music fnm the mountain to 
the sea; 
An’ I’d stretch my ear to hear It, an’ my heart ’ud 
swell an’ glow, 
W’en I Ussened to the music of the brook beneath 
the snow. 
Since then the wintry blasts of life have blown me 
here an’ there. 
An’ snow storms they have blocked my way an’ 
hedged me everywhere: 
But sheltered from the harrycane, within the valley 
low. 
I lissen for the music of the brook beneath the 
snow. 
For I know beneath the snow an’ ice that there is 
golden sand, 
By that glorious streak uv melody that wiggles 
through the land: 
The storm beats hard; the wind Is high; I cannot hear 
it now. 
For I lissen to the music of the brook beneath the 
snow. 
Poultry Yard. 
A Veteran Hen Dead.— A good hen of 
mine—a Brahma of the Autocrat strain— 
died last Friday morning, December 19, 
1890, aged 13 years and 8 months. She was 
not like other hens of her breed. Gener¬ 
ally they want to sit a little too often ; but 
this Biddy was in her 14th year before she 
proposed to do such a thing. When she 
did I wanted to please her by placing a 
few eggs under her, but my wife thought it 
would be best not, as she was too old. 
Then she was taken off the nest and shut 
up. But she rebelled in a very determined 
way, until she had been “broken up” 
three times, then on the approach of my 
wife she cleared out, as if conscious that 
she was in the wrong. Thus ended the first 
and last of her notions about sitting, Soon 
afterwards she joined the rest of the flock, 
over whom she has always been boss or 
queen, The old rooster and all his harem 
gathered round her, and greeted her return 
with a hearty welcome, and on hearing the 
story of her disappointment I don’t know 
all they said among themselves. Biddy 
could have said, however, that though 
she had never had a flock of young ones at 
her heels she had done more in egg laying 
than any three of them to pay her board in 
eggs. Up to her ninth year she never laid 
less than 200 each year. Since then she has 
given a much smaller number; but in her 
14th year, between June and October, she 
dropped an egg now and then. Her total 
egg record is a little over 2,200. She was 
nearly blind and a little deaf before death. 
I buried her under a Snow-ball tree on the 
front lawn. T. H. 
Goodrich, Can. 
R. N.-Y.—That old hen deserved decent 
burial and we are glad she got it. We 
would like to know if any of her chickens 
inherit her good qualities. The medal for 
Continued on next voge. 
gtttjSceUattfW ^di'crtising. 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention The Rural New- 
Yorker. 
STEAM ENGINES, 
Portable, Agricultural, Stationary, 
— AL8C — 
FOUR-DRIVER TRACTION ENGINES. 
— MANUFACTURED BY — 
WOOD, TABER & MORSE, 
Eaton, Madison Co , N. Y. 
Catalogues and Prices sent on application. 
ANOTHER HAND-BOOK FOR THE RURAL-GARDEN FAMILY. 
NTOVEIj—CONCISE—PRACTICAL. 
THE NURSERY BOOK. 
A Complete Hand-Book of Propagation and Pollination. By L. H. Bailey. Uniform in Size and Style with 
Rule-Book of 1891 Edition Profusely Illustrated. 
T 
i HIS valuable little manual has been compiled at great pains. The author has had 
unusual facilities for Its preparation, having been aided by many experts In 
many directions. The book is absolutely devoid of theory and speculation. It 
has nothing to do with plant physiology, nor with any abstruse reasons of plant growth. 
It simply tells plainly and briefly what every one who sows a seed, makes a cutting, 
sets a graft, or crosses a flower wants to know. It Is entirely new and original in 
method and matter. The cuts number almost 100, and are made especially for it, direct 
from nature. The book treats of all kinds of cultivated plants, fruits, vegetables 
greenhouse plants, hardy herbs, ornamental trees and shrubs and forest trees. 
CONTENTS. 
Chapter I.—Seedage. 
Chapter II.—Separation and Division. 
Chapter III.—Layerage. 
Chapter IV.—Cuttage. 
Chapter V.- Graft age. Including Grafting, Budding, Inarching, etc. 
Chapter VI.—Nursery Cist 
This is the great feature of the book. It is an alphabetical list of all kinds of 
plants, with a short statement telling which of the operations described in the.flrst 
live chapters arc employed in propagating them. Over 2,000 entries are made in 
the list. The following entries will give an idea of the method : 
ACER (Maple). Sapindaceoe. Stocks are grown from stratified seeds, which should 
be sown an inch or two deep; or some species, as A dasycarpum, come readily 
If seeds are simply sown as soon as ripe. Some cultural varieties are layered, 
but better plants are obtained by grafting. Varieties of native species are 
worked upon common or native stocks. The Japanese sorts are winter- 
worked upon imported A polymorphum stocks, either by whip or veneer- 
grafting. Maples can also be budded in summer, and they grow readily from 
cuttings of both ripe and soft wood. 
PHY I.I.OCACTUS. PH V 1,1.0CERECS, DISOCACTCS (Leaf Cactus). Cacteoe. 
Fresh seeds grow readily. Sow in rather sanoy soil, which is well drained, 
and apply water as for common seeds. When the seedlings appear, remove 
to a light position. Cuttings from mature shoots, three to six inches iu length, 
root readily In sharp sand. Give a temperature of about 60 degrees, and apply 
only sufficient water to keep from flagging. If the cuttings are very juicy, 
they may be laid on dry sand for several days before planting. 
GOOSEBERRY. Seeds, for the raising of new varieties, should be sown as soon as 
well cured, in loamy or sandy soil, or they may be stratified and sown 
together with the sand in the spring. Cuttings, 6 to 8 iDches long, of the 
mature wood, inserted two thirds their length, usually grow reajily, 
especially if taken In August or September and storea during wiuter. 
Stronger plants are usually obtained by layers, and the English varieties are 
nearly always layered in this country. Mound-layering is usually employed, 
the English varieties being allowed to remain in layerage two years, but the 
American varieties only one (Fig. 27). Layered plants are usually set in 
nurserv rows for a year after removal from the stools. Green-layering during 
summer is sometimes practiced for new or rare varieties. 
Chapter VII.—Pollination. 
This book is now completed, and it will be on sale promptly by January 1st. 
A FI.OWER OF “ NICOTIANA’AKFrNIS,” AND ONE PREPARKP'FOR POT.LINATI f 
Price, in library style, cloth, wide margins, $1.00; Pocket style, 
paper, narrow margins, 50 cents. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A CLEFT GRAFTING KNIFE. 
Will be ready for mailing this month. 
TW 
LEi 
Orders filled consecutively as received. 
BEGONIA UPRIGHT LEAF CUTTING. 
