206 
MARCH 14 
Enoch Arden’s Will. 
“An Attorney,” Toledo, Ohio.—I n 
The R. N.-Y. of February 21, page 153, is 
an article on wills by “Enoch Arden,” and a 
copy of his real or supposed will. Evi¬ 
dently he thinks he has covered the whole 
ground; but he has made a will that is 
more than likely to cause trouble to his 
children. Let me, from a lawyer’s stand¬ 
point, notice a few of its defects. 
1. He takes it for granted that his wife 
will survive him, and his whole document 
is based upon this assumption which is 
likely to prove false. 
2. If she does not survive him he has 
taken ho care for the interests of the 
younger childen, but practically orders 
his estate to be distributed at once, leaving 
a probate court to appoint guardians for 
his young children and an administrator 
for his whole estate. 
3. Perhaps he counts upon making 
another will should his wife die before 
him ? They may both be killed in the 
same accident, or die of one disease. 
4. Instances are not rare where a family 
of seven has been quickly swept away by 
death; in the present case, if this should 
happen, his property is to be divided 
amongst his living relatives, near or re¬ 
mote. Has he no choice as to these ? If 
he has, it is easy to provide for this con¬ 
tingency, but as it is, he makes no choice 
or provision beyond the one thing of giving 
his property to his wife, if she should sur¬ 
vive him. If she does not—then everything 
is left to the Probate Court. 
A Chance to Win a Prize. 
J. H. G., Bristol, Ind.— I see, hear and 
read so much about “ how to properly crop 
land ” that I get muddled. I hear and read 
so often of men who clear all the way from 
$100 to $2,500 from one acre that I am in¬ 
clined to be skeptical. I can raise $100 
worth of fruit from an acre, on an average, 
by good cultivation, care, etc. Now, I will 
give a lifetime subscription to The R.N.-Y. 
to the man who will tell me how to double 
the yield. Some say they can raise $500 
worth of strawberries to the acre, reckon¬ 
ing the price at 25 cents per quart. Now 
here we are often compelled to sell ours for 
five cents, and I have seen hundreds of 
bushels go to waste and any one could go 
in the field and pick all he or she wanted 
for two cents per quart. A certain nurs¬ 
eryman said he had raised $1,000 of straw¬ 
berries in one crop on one acre. I wrote to 
him that I would give him $100 to tell me 
how to raise half that amount, but he 
never told me. I have been raising berries 
for nearly 40 years, and I am very anxious 
to learn something about the business. 
The chief curse of fruit growing is the ly¬ 
ing descriptions that nearly all nursery¬ 
men give of their pet hobbies and novelties 
to get big prices for them. I wonder if 
the law about getting money under false 
pretence would hit them. 
R. N.-Y.—No; or if by chance one court 
out of ten should award damages, they 
would not be heavy enough to pay the 
plaintiff for his trouble and outlay. The 
courts and the laws are, perhaps, too leni¬ 
ent with such romances. 
The Jersey Cow. 
Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher, Mont¬ 
gomery County, Pa.— Whenever I see an 
attack made upon the Jersey in a news¬ 
paper, I feel like resenting it as if it were 
an unjust criticism upon a personal friend. 
We have had a purebred Jersey for 
several years and consider her worth 
any half a dozen common cows we 
ever had. Indeed, when she “goes 
dry” for a few weeks and we are 
obliged to get our daily milk from a dairy 
of common stock, we feel that our table 
supply is of the most beggarly description! 
Such miserable, white, thin, creamless 
milk in comparison with the golden yield 
of our “ Sukey,” which has more cream on 
a pint than rises on a gallon of common 
stock milk—the best we are ever able to se¬ 
cure at eight cents a quart.There is as great a 
difference between the two as between lux¬ 
ury and poverty. “Sukey” was not young 
when we bought her; she cost,I think, about 
$70; she is large and fair, registered we 
were told: but we never made any inquiries 
to establish that statement, not caring 
enough about it. She is always in good 
health and is kept as clean and as tidy as a 
lady. It costs no more to take care of her 
for feed and pasture than for any ordinary 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
cow, and she is worth, as I have said, any 
six of them rolled into one. One year I re¬ 
member, Anaximander had an account 
kept of her financial yield, over and above 
our own milk supply, which was always 
bountiful—a quart of cream for breakfast, 
milk a plenty, and a good many golden 
“pats” of butter altogether—and it 
amounted to $112!—This for the milk 
which was in excess of our own wants, 
and which a neighbor took at eight 
cents the quart 1 We always feel that 
“Sukey’s” milk Is worth, in comparison 
with what we pay eight cents for, from 16 
to 24 cents the quart 1—not only for Its ex 
ceeding richness, but also for its delicious 
taste. It is the perfection of milk, and if 
“Sukey” is any fair type of her race, it is a 
cynical churl who maligns it I A good 
Jersey is good enough for anybody, and If 
she is not as robust as a Texas steer, and 
sometimes actually dies, and her demise is 
talked about in the newspapers as if a Jer¬ 
sey ought to live to the age of Methusaleh, 
why, it is only in keeping with the old saw, 
that “the good die first,” which, however, 
is not true either of cows or human beings. 
But granting the Jersey’s delicacy of con¬ 
stitution for courtesy’s sake, and her lack 
of longevity, one might say of her as some¬ 
body said of our Mother Country: 
“ Better 50 years of England than a cycle 
of Catbay.” 
Is Petroleum a Wood Preservative? 
S. C. Bradley, Cayuga County, N. Y. 
—The answer to H. G. M. In The Rural 
of February 21, with regard to oiling 
shingles, reopens a question which I had 
considered settled. Having before me the 
necessity for rather extensive roofing oper¬ 
ations, I have sought information on the 
subject with proportionate zeal. Within 
a year the discussion of this subject was 
pursued exhaustively in some one of our 
agricultural papers, and the evidence as 
there set forth was clearly against the use 
of petroleum in any form as a preservative 
for timber. One writer adduced what, If 
true, would seem conclusive, that in the 
oil regions, about the wells, timbers sat¬ 
urated with oil are soon rotten and worth¬ 
less. The discovery of a cheap and certain 
preservative for timber is, I fear, a boon 
for which the world still waits. I would* 
be very glad to have proof of the contrary. 
An Illinois Man “ Wants to Know.” 
Benj. Buckman, Sangamon Co., III.— 
I am somewhat startled at the assertion of 
Mr. Welcher, page 131, that in “ entire 
counties in Illinois the English language is 
seldom heard outside of the large towns.” 
My curiosity is excited; if he will name the 
counties I will make a pilgrimage. Nor do 
I see, because a few hundred (very few) 
farmers have moved to the capital of 
Illinois to live, that the country must go 
to destruction. People are also moving 
from the city into the country, and per¬ 
haps this may in part atone for the move¬ 
ment in the other direction. It is fortu¬ 
nate for renters who are moving up in the 
world that there are acres to lease and 
sell; soon they will have farms of their 
own. This is the route here for the indus¬ 
trious poor man. First he works by the 
day and month until he can buy a team 
and wagon ; then he rents a few years, and, 
finally, moves on hid own little farm, to 
add acres afterward more or less according 
to the man and luck. I have lived within 
ten miles of Springfield for over 40 years, 
and am not terrified by the prospect. In 
the city they often build houses for show, 
as did the builders of the pyramids, but in 
the country they build houses to live in. 
A Question of Potatoes. 
L. H. Read, Jefferson County, Wis.— 
I see on page 146 of The R. N.-Y. an arti¬ 
cle by H. L. Wysor, in regard to the Pol¬ 
aris and Koshkonong Potatoes. I can in¬ 
form Mr. Wysor that he can be sure that 
Mr. Crane grew the Koshkonong from seed 
in 1884. I would say further that the Pol¬ 
aris was not on the market at that time; in 
fact, it had not received a name at all at 
that date, and as it originated with a 
farmer in Vermont, also a man well known 
to me, it would be utterly impossible for 
these two potatoes to have had any connec¬ 
tion whatever. Again, the two belong to 
two very distinct families, and it is a fact 
well known to all originators of potatoes 
that a sport will always be of the same 
family or class as that from which it 
sprang, and the Polaris is of the same fam¬ 
ily as the Rose, but has a white skin; while 
the Koshkonong is of the Peerless or Mam¬ 
moth Pearl family. I have seen a great 
many varieties that were originated by 
sports instead of by growing them from 
seeds and, while they are usually distinct 
in color from the parent, they have some¬ 
times the same color, but there is generally 
a difference in season ; that is, a late va¬ 
riety springs from an early one ; but they 
always retain the nature of the family 
from which they sprang. No one should 
pass judgment on an article he has never 
seen, as thereby he may do great injustice 
to innocent parties; but let him first test 
the new sort and then, If he finds two va¬ 
rieties identical, it is only right to let the 
public know it; but he should then be sure 
that he has the true stock before he pro¬ 
claims them the same. In this matter of 
the Puritan and Polaris I don’t believe that 
any potato expert, if he has the true stock 
of each and grows them side by side, will 
call them the same, although they belong 
to the same family and are very much 
alike; but the Early Puritan is not a very 
early potato and the Polaris is, there being 
fully a week’s difference in their times of 
ripening. Every one should bear in mind 
the fact that there are now over 700 known 
varieties of the potato in this country and 
new ones are constantly being grown each 
year, and, of course, among so many va¬ 
rieties there must be a family resemblance; 
but that does not make them identical. 
Pasturing Cows on Good Hay Land. 
W. C. Johnson, Ontario, Canada.— 
In Mr. Isaac Budlong’s, “ Pasture vs. Soil¬ 
ing,” on page 126 of RURAL, February 14, 
should he not have given the “soiling sys¬ 
tem” credit for all the three acres he allows 
for pasturing would produce over and 
above the land required to grow the amount 
of “ ensilage” to feed the one cow for the 
time stated—194 days—because all of the 
three acres, except what would be neces¬ 
sary to grow the ensilage crop for the one 
cow for the time stated, would be available 
for some other cropf Had Mr. Budlong 
done this, would not the showing have been 
in favor of the “soiling” system, rough and 
hilly land excepted ? Does it pay to pasture 
cows on land that will produce two tons of 
hay per acre, since at $10 a ton the soiling 
would amount to $60 for the three acres 1 
Half an acre would probably grow the en¬ 
silage crop for the one cow for the 194 days, 
2K acres would be left, say for wheat, 
which would produce 25 to 30 bushels per 
acre, and according to the quotations for 
February in The Rural of the same date, 
wheat was worth $1.10 then: at 25 bushels 
per acre, the product would realize $68 75 ; 
deduct from this Mr. Budlong’s estimate 
for soiling—$36.18—and $32.57 are left, 
minus the $10 allowed for the pasturing of 
one cow, a showing of $22.57 in favor of the 
soiling, less the cost of producing the crop 
from the 2)4 acres, say, $10 for plowing, 
seeding, harvesting and thrashing, leaving 
a net showing of $12 57 in favor of soiling, 
and if Mr. Budlong has charged the market 
value for the feed consumed under the soil¬ 
ing system, the showing will be greater, as 
no farmer should charge his feed account 
with the selling price of that fed to his 
stock, but the amount charged should be 
that which it cost to produce such feed, as 
nearly as could be'ascertained, unless he has 
to purchase, when of course the prices paid 
would be a proper charge. 
gftiSfcUanmt# §Mvfrti£ing. 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural. 
Prepare 
For Spring 
To Prevent 
That Tired Feeling 
Or Other Illness, Take 
Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
sss than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents and 
THE GREAT ENGLISH REMEDY, 
BEECHAM’S PILLS 
For Bilious and Nemos Disorders. 
Worth a Guinea a Box” bnt sold 
for 25 Cents, 
BY ALL DRUGGISTS. 
D’ye see those 
skates ? The Pitts¬ 
burgh lamp is 
ahead. It gives 
magnificent light. 
It is easy to 
but wiping. 
Send for a primer—can’t 
tell it all here. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. PITTSBURGH BRASS Co. 
NEW KODAKS 
“ You press the 
button , 
we do the rest." 
Seven New 
Style* and 
Size* 
all loaded with 
Tran*parent 
Film*. 
For sale by all 
Photo. Stock 
Dealers. 
THE EASTMAN COMPANY, ROCHESTER, N. Y, 
Send for Catalogue. 
RUCKEYE SENIOR 
.LAWN 
MoweR 
blade in 
10, 12,14, 16 
and 18 inch 
cut. Most Re 
liable Mower in 
use. Easy to woi 
Strong and Durable. 
Also Manufacturers of the Buckeye IToac Reel 
Rnd Lawn Sprinkler. Iron Turbine Wind En- 
r ines. Buckeye Foree Pumps and Buckeye 
ron Fencing. Send for Illustrated Circulars to 
THE'tPOUNDER' I HARROW 1 LEADS 
Sells best, Works best, Warranted best, 50,000 :n 
use. One at wholesale if you send now for illus¬ 
trated circularto G. H. Pounder, Ft. Atkinson,Wis. 
SCRIBNER’S 
LUMBER 
LOG BOOK 
Over One Million Sold.— Most complete book of 
its kind ever published. Gives measurement of all 
kinds of lumber, logs, planks, timber ; hints to lum¬ 
ber dealers; wood measure, speed of circular saws, 
cord wood tables, felling trees, growth of trees, land- 
measure, wages, rent, board, Interest, stave and head¬ 
ing bolts, etc. Standard book In the United States 
and Canada. Illustrated edition of 1882. Sent post¬ 
paid for S3 cents. 
G. W. FISHER, Box 238, Rochester, New York. 
I ^ Illustrated Publications, with 
Bk Iks §» M A PS .describing Minnesota, 
(I |g B North Dakota, Montana,Idaho, 
E B fo* »■ Washington and Oregon, the 
hmmm free goyeun m kn t 
AND CHEAP 
NORTHERN 
, PACIFIC R. R. . 
Best Agricultural Graz- l 
I in® and Timber Lands L 
now open to settlers. Mailed FREE. Address 
HAS. B. LAM BORN, L%nd tom. N. 1’. R. R., SL Paul, Minn. 
In the South 
along the 
line of the 
HOMES FOR ALL 
MOBILE <Si OHIO RAjLROAj). Cheap lands 
^SScnJeatth^oocrwaterHi rniiu climate, good markets 
for your products, and in fact all that conduces to 
success in Agricultural and Mechanical pursuits. You 
can purchase BOUND THII* LAND-SEEKERS’ 
TICKETS ViTTh K MOBILE <fc OHIO BAIL* 
ROAD, from ST ii JLOI^]jr”An[u^ to almost any 
PK our terrTtor^ataraoarates, GOOD FOR 
FORTY DAYS from date of sale, with privilege of 
STOPPING OFF AT PLEASURE south of the 
ftTnTFTtajrnaTaaerTnfonm^on in regard to 
rates address J. N. EBEIILE, Land and Immigra¬ 
tion Agent, No. 423 Chestnut Street, ST. LOUIS, 
MO., or G. W. KING, General Passenger Agent 
M. & O. R. R., MOBILE, ALA. Address the ALA. 
BAMA LAND AND DEVELOPMENT CO., 
or HENRY FON’DE. Pres., MOBILE, ALA., for 
circulars or other 
information in re¬ 
gard to land 
IN ALABAMA. 
