io6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FEB. 7 
Future Farming; Old-Time Tools. 
Jonathan Talcott, Oneida County, 
N. Y —What fancies are indulged in by 
some of the writers of The R. N. Y. for 
January 17 as to what is in store fcr the 
farmer of 19151 Prof. W. J. Beal, of the 
Michigan Agricultural College, seems to 
the writer to take a common sense view of 
the possibilities of the farmer of that per¬ 
iod. He says : “ Land will be better tilled, 
and there will be a growing tendency to 
better crops. There will be mere system, 
and some fixed rotation of crops will pre¬ 
vail more universally, and more attention 
will be given to the locality, soil, taste,” 
etc. This assertion tells of an improve¬ 
ment which all farmers may aspire to and 
expect to attain by a reasonable effort on 
their part. Having attained this, with 
their lands better tilled, there will be fewer 
waste places, as Prof. Beal says, and conse¬ 
quently fewer weeds and wild plants to 
annoy the farmers of those days than those 
at the present time have to combat. 
Mr. C. S. Rice says: “ There has been no 
perceptible increase in the average yield of 
dairies in northern New York during the 
past 30 years. A dairy yielding an average 
of 5,000 pounds of milk to the cow has been 
and is the model dairy in this vicinity, 
but in 10 or 15 years’ time this state of af¬ 
fairs will be entirely changed.” 
Further on he sajs: “Carefully selected 
thoroughbred sires and comfortable quar¬ 
ters, with plenty of suitable feed for their 
progeny, will, in a few years, secure an 
average of 10,000 pounds of milk per cow.” 
Last fall I was told by a man who claimed 
to know, that in Herkimer County the 
farms that had been used longest for 
dairy purposes could not carry as many 
cows now as in jears past; if this is true in 
Herkimer County, would it not be true 
elsewhere also, and would not that fact (if 
fact it be) militate against such a large in¬ 
crease in the product of the dairy cow as 
mentioned by Mr. Rice, in so short a time ? 
Mr. A. L. Crosby shows a very fine vein 
of pleasantry in his letter. He must have 
a fanciful imagina.tion, but for a person 
like myself, who has passed the allotted 
age of man—threescore and ten—by a num¬ 
ber of years, it would seem to be folly to 
Indulge in such vagaries and fancies as he 
does in his letter. I much prefer what is' 
said in the otherlettersalluded to, as being 
more in accordance with what the future 
promises to the American farmer. 
There is one more letter I wish to notice— 
that written by F. P. Root. I am sorry Mr. 
Root wrote his letter just as he did. Had 
he lived 50 yesrsago in some sections he 
could have seen farmers riding to town or 
church in carriages and dressed in broad¬ 
cloth suits. 
In regard to farm machinery, much has 
been written and spoken that I think might 
have been written and spoken in a more 
liberal vein as regards our ancestors, 
especially when it tends to their dispar¬ 
agement. So far as my memory serves 
me, just as scon as the farmers’ fields 
were fitted for the use of machinery, es¬ 
pecially in the vicinity in which I have 
lived as boy and man for nearly all my life, 
farm implements were to be had. In re¬ 
gard to plows, I can remember seeing one 
of the discarded wooden moldboard plows 
with wrought iron point, but I never saw 
one in use. The ca9t-iron plow had come 
and the other had been laid aside before I 
had learned to plow. The horse rake also 
was used on farms before the farm on which 
I now reside was smooth enough to allow 
one to be used to advantage. The same 
was the case with regard to other machinery; 
the mowing machine was in use on some 
farms, while others were too rough to per 
mit Its use to advantage. That there hits 
been a great advance during the past 50 
years in farm implements, all farmers, both 
old and young, will gladly acknowledge, 
and it is expected that such advancement 
will continue as the conditions of farm im¬ 
provement shall seem to indicate, as the 
passing years roll by. 
It is to be hoped that some methods will 
be adopted that will give the farmer his 
just share in the proceeds of the products 
needed by the consumer, which he yearly 
raises. There are and will be certain local¬ 
ities better adapted than others to special 
crops, by soil, climate or situation near 
favorable markets, and here such crops will 
be more profitable than if raised by the 
great mass of fsrmtrs who are not so favor¬ 
ably situated. The elevation of the mass 
of farmers is in my opinion the great ques¬ 
tion of the day. If either State or National 
legislation can be secured that will be of 
benefit to the farmers at large, every effort 
should be made to obtain it. Such laws 
should be well and carefully considered, 
notin a partisan spirit, but as just and 
liberal to all whom they may concern. 
From Ihe farmers’ standpoint, the great 
wealth of some of the money kings of the 
nation does not pay anything like a just 
proportion of the taxes in comparison with 
what the farmer has to pay on his home¬ 
stead. Such an adjustment of taxes as 
would bear equally on all, seems to be im¬ 
peratively called for. One point gained 
will lead to others, but whether the legisla¬ 
tion will ever prove as satisfactory and 
beneficial as desired, is doubtful; but the 
better education of every farmer in Amer¬ 
ica in the cultivation of the soil, rotation 
of crops, etc., will be of benefit to every 
tiller of the soil, North or South, East or 
West in all sections. 
“2,000 Bushels of Onions” Again. 
T. Gkeiner, Niagara County, N. Y.— 
I cannot imagine what may have induced 
my neighbor, Mr. E. E. Summey (to whom 
I have never done an injury that I am 
aware of), to come out in even the mild 
attack on my new onion culture as he does 
in The R. N.-Y. of January 24. The read¬ 
ers of my book will find in it no exaggera¬ 
tion of facts, and only safe and conserva¬ 
tive estimates. To ordinary cultivators 
2,000 bushelsof onions per acre, like the re¬ 
cently reported large potato yields, may 
seem an utter impossibility. Yet such 
crops have been grown, and can again. The 
fact is, cultivators do not set their aims 
high enough; for they can, with practice 
and skill, reach much higher than they 
suppose. The 2,000-bushel onion crop de¬ 
pends more on management than on a rare 
combination of favorable atmospheric con¬ 
ditions ; and for this reason the recipe is 
not so simple as Mr. Summey imagines. 
The beauty of the “ new system ” is that 
even failure means a respectable and profit¬ 
able crop. No grower of ordinary intelli¬ 
gence, with ordinary good management on 
the new plan, will have less than 1 ,(j 00 bush¬ 
els per acre. The Prizetaker Onion, which 
I prefer to all yellow sorts, may not be tne 
best keeper ; but, if rightly handled, it will 
keep in good condition until spring—and 
that is all I care to have it do. The bulbs 
I sent to Buffalo la9t fall, were the finest 
domestic onions put on the market there, 
and the commission dealer gave me the as¬ 
surance that he would gladly take 1,000 
bushels of such onions next fall. I shall 
also grow the White Globe Onion in the 
same way. Still I am very far from advis¬ 
ing the green hand to grow an acre of 
onions either in the old or new way as a 
first venture. 
Maple Syrup. Cans, Covers, Mould. 
Prof. A. J. Cook, Ingham County, 
Mich.— There are a few facts regarding 
maple syrup, that should be more widely 
known in these days of griddle cakes. Often 
it is very hard to unscrew the caps of the 
ordinary tin cans which are now in such 
common use, and which are so excel¬ 
lent for holding syrup. I find that in all 
such cases if boiling-hot water is turned 
on the cap it is invariably loosened, and 
can be easily removed from the can. Again, 
we often find a little scum of mould. This 
is very thick, and may very often be re¬ 
moved entire, with a little care, when the 
can is first opened. If carefully removed, 
the syrup is in no way injured. It is always 
well to look at the syrup as we remove the 
cap, and in case this mould is present we 
should carefully draw it forth by use of a 
fork or other instrument. Again, some¬ 
times we find there is a flavor of must all 
through the syrup, which otherwise is in 
every sense first-class. In this case, if we 
add a pint of water to a gallon of syrup and 
boil the mixture down till it is again thick, 
we shall find our syrup is in every way 
first-class. I have repeatedly removed the 
musty taint by thus boiling syrup. I do 
not think that syrup sealed air-tight, in 
perfectly clean cans, will ever mould or be 
at all musty; but in case the cans are not 
perfectly sweet—a condition quite likely 
to be present in case old cans are used—or 
not sealed entirely tightly, then we may 
expect must or mould. I aim to use only 
new cans for my best syrup. 
Wives That Need Wills. 
C. M. Lusk, Broome County, N. Y.— 
'The R. N.-Y., under the date of January 2, 
1891, referring to my article entitled “I 
Have Made My Will,” asks “What does 
Mr. Lusk mean when he says,” etc. The 
R. N.-Y. then says: “If he means that a 
wife owning no property beyond her con¬ 
nubial interest in the joint property of the 
couple, dies first, the husband will come 
into full and disposable ownership of the 
entire property, he is correct.” This is just 
what I meant, for I said : “ I cannot see why 
my wife should not have the same right to 
the property she has helped to accumulate, 
in case I should die, that I would have 
should she die.” I hold that there is a 
difference in the ability of husbands and 
wives to take care of themselves should one 
or the other die first. Some wives have 
money of the! r own, but I am not arguing for 
these. Then, others own the property 
which their husbands have accumulated or 
helped to accumulate and which, through 
dishonesty, has got into their wives’ hands 
to defraud some one, or to pay all honest 
debts at one jump. I am not arguing for 
these; they must settle this matter with 
their own consciences. But the class Mr. 
Terry described is the class that needs that 
provision should be made for death, in life, 
viz : the husband and wife who commenced 
life even-handed, or nearly so, and both of 
whom helped get what they have. This 
class of wives should not be left to a one¬ 
sided law. 
The Paragon Chestnut “Mystery.” 
H. M. Engle, Lancaster County, Pa.— 
The article on page 47 of The Rural is in 
the main correct, but the writer of the 
article expresses amazement over the 
mystery that has been thrown around it. 
I received the grafts from which the Par 
agon was multiplied, from the late William 
Shaffer, but before I bad secured any trees 
or nuts from mine, Mr. Shaffer exhibited 
burrs and nuts at the horticultural ex¬ 
hibition at Philadelphia, conspicuously 
labeled “ Great American.” When wo (H. 
M. Engle & Son) put out the first of the 
trees, we, of course, gave the variety the 
name it already bore, not claiming much 
knowledge of botany. As soon as we 
found that eminent botanists decided that 
it was not an American nut, we changed 
its original name to Paragon, and an¬ 
nounced at once in our circulars why the 
name was changed without attempting to 
throw any mystery around it. After our 
trees had commenced to bear we were satis¬ 
fied that we had a good thing, and sent out 
nuts to some of the most prominent horti¬ 
culturists in the country, from whom we 
received such flattering testimonials that 
we thought it safe to make it more public, 
and to this day we have received praise 
and praise only for it. I think it is now 
popular enough to stand on its merits with¬ 
out any danger that the charge of mystery 
will make it unpopular. If there is any 
variety of chestnut that has more good or 
desirable qualities, I shall want it at once. 
A few words as to its origin: Even if 
the nut from which Mr. Shaffer’s tree was 
grown, was from a tree imported from 
Spain, who will say that pollen from some 
other variety may not have influenced it? 
The reason why we did not give Mr. 
Shaffer credit at first, was to save him the 
annoyance of being dunned for scions. 
IttisTcUanmtisi 
When writing to advertisers, please 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
Cold 
Wet Weather 
Drives the blood from the surface of the body, and 
■causes the congestion of the liver and kidneys, which 
are thus unable to fully perform their duty of elimi¬ 
nating impurities. Hence lactic acid is accumulated 
in the blood and deposited in the joints and tissues, 
res tilting in the pains and aches we call rheumatism 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla has had great success in curing 
this disease, both chronic and inflamma’ory. It puri¬ 
fies the blood neutralizes the lactic acid, and restores 
the liver and kidneys to natural action. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $5. Prepared only 
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IOO Doses One Dollar 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
less than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents and 
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post-paid. One pack. 25c. Five $1. 2 1-4 lb. can $1.20; 
6 cans $5. Express paid. Testimonials free. Send stamps or 
cash. Farmers’ Poultry Guide (price 25c.) free with $1.0* 
Orders or more. L 8. JOHNSON <k CO., Boston, Mass. 
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Who (if your druggist does not keep them) 
will mail Beecham’s Pills on receipt of price, 
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