THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
3i3 
i89i 
Business. 
A Road-Making Outfit. 
The township in which the writer lives has just decided 
to place the entire management of the public highways in 
the hands of the “ Town Committee,” a body of threemen 
holding office for three years, one being elected each year. 
In former years the money was spent under the direction 
of road masters, the annual road-mending being made an 
occasion for neighborly visits and, generally, unsatisfactory 
work. At the same election the fund to be expended on the 
roads was raised from $2,500 to $5,000. The town commit¬ 
tee is composed of three wide-awake farmers, both politi¬ 
cal parties being represented. They now propose to go 
ahead and get the proper tools for making good roads. 
Experience in this township for the past 50 years has 
shown that a road composed entirely of dirt is a nuisance 
for a good share of the year. Water added to carbon 
makes sugar. Water added to a dirt road makes mud ; 
taking it away makes dust. Our roads have been mud or 
dust for a large part of the year, the quantity of rainfall 
determining the length of’ such periods. A few public- 
spirited citizens have given us object-lessons by buying 
car-loads of broken stone and placing it carefully on the 
road in front of their houses. We have all observed that 
these short stretches of road are never very muddy or very 
dusty, and that our horses either trot or find it unneces¬ 
sary to pull hard when they reach them. Our farms are 
covered with stones. We have no use for them except 
for draining, and we would have to drain just about 
the entire fields to use them all. Those stones be¬ 
long on the roads. They will not answer as they are 
—they must be crushed or broken up. The town must 
have a stone crusher. The one we want is the “Forster,” 
made by the Totten & Hogg Iron and Steel Co., Pittsburgh, 
Pa. This machine will break or nip up our stones and 
leave them in just the shape for road making. Many of 
the crushers on the market leave the pieces of stone so that 
they crack and crumble to dust too readily. The 
“ Forster ” gives the closest imitation of the work done by 
the stone hammer that we have. This machine will do 
more work in a day than 20 men could do with hammers 
and sledges. It can be hauled about front one part of the 
town to another, and farmers can “ work out their taxes” 
by hauling stones to the machine and from it to the roads. 
Yes, but who will dig out the roads and cart the dirt away 
—that takes the farmer’s time now ! It is proposed to get 
a road machine and let four horses and two men do with it 
more and better work than any six teams we have ever had 
before. There are half-a dozen different road machines on 
the market—any one of them good for the work. The 
stones and gravel must be packed. For this purpose a 
roller made by the Ames Plow Company, Boston, Mass., 
is excellent because it is made In sections which roll inde¬ 
pendently of each other. With these tools—stone crusher, 
road machine and roller—all of which can be bought for 
less than $500, our township will be prepared to go ahead 
and build more good roads this year than it has done in 
the past six years. Every piece of good road that is built 
will be an additional argument in favor of continuing the 
work until the whole town is covered with a network of 
highways that will enable our farmers to haul their pro¬ 
duce to market with the least possible effort. Our farmers 
are peculiarly in need of good roads as they are so near the 
great markets in New York, Jersey City, Newark, Pater¬ 
son and other places that over 90 per cent of their produce 
is hauled by horse power. There are thousands of other 
townships that need stirring up on this road question. In 
rocky sections of country the crusher and roller must be 
used. Where there are no rocks the road machine must be 
used anyway. 
“$250 Worth of Corn on a Half Rod!” 
A number of farmers, merchants and traders were dis¬ 
cussing Bro. Terry’s tale of the man who made $200 off a 
square rod of land, and while some of them rather thought 
it could be done, others were emphatic in declaring that 
it could not. 
“ Pooh I ” said a big man who carries considerable money 
in his clothes, “ I’ve done better than that myself. I once 
made $250 by raising common corn on less than half a rod 
of land, and I’m not a director of an experiment station 
nor a prize pumpkin grower, either.” Of course every one 
present was anxious to know how he did it. 
“ Well,” said he, “I’ll tell you—give you a pointer, so 
to speak. A man who had grown 60 acres of as fine corn 
as you ever saw caught the Dakota fever, and caught it 
bad. He wanted to go right out while everything was 
lovely and get rich, so quite naturally he came to me and 
offered the crop as it stood in the field for a certain sum. 
I considered it an excellent bargain and took it. Ten 
minutes afterward a big stock feeder came in and I raised 
thfe corn $250 and offered it to him, and he took it without 
winking. The whole thing was done while I remained 
seated in my chair, and it wasn’t a very big chair, either. 
Tell your uncle Terry to come again! ” fred grundy. 
Champaign County, Ill. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Small electric lights on carriages are the latest. They 
supersede the old style oil lamps, and are ornamental and 
bright. Let us have an electric lantern. 
Paper bottles are being largely made for holding ink, 
glue, shoe dressing, etc. They are strong, light, incom¬ 
bustible and unbreakable. 
A machine for canceling stamps has been invented. 
One in the New York post-office, canceled, post-marked 
and registered 187,980 letters in 12' hours, or more than 
10 men could finish. 
If you propose to get a potato digger this year, plant a 
variety that does not scatter in the hill. A digger can 
only go straight ahead—it cannot reach out between the 
rows. Plant a close growing sort. 
S. Terry Hudson, L. I., writes that the Bicycle culti¬ 
vator is having a great sale this year among potato grow¬ 
ers. He says the potato area of Long Island “ promises to 
be something enormous.” That is the report everywhere. 
The Farm Implement News, of Chicago, issues a neat 
little volume called Vehicles of All Nations, containing pic¬ 
tures of wagons used for freight and passengers in all 
countries. They are all here, from the East Indian ox¬ 
cart to George Washington’s coach. 
We are informed that the hotel and traveling expenses 
of “drummers” in the United States for 1889 were 
$267,000,000. Who paid this money and where did it go to ? 
We have never heard any denial of the statement that the 
only way for the dealer to get this money back is to add it 
to the price paid for the goods. The bulk of it goes “ into 
circulation”—that is, to the safes of railroad and hotel 
proprietors, to be afterwards paid out, in part, to work¬ 
men as wages and to dealers in exchange for produce, 
furniture, etc. The many pay an Increased price that the 
few may benefit by it. 
Babcock Milk Tester.-The R. N.-Y. Is glad to see 
that the experiment stations are striving to show the folly 
of the present system of buying milk at creameries by 
weight without regard to the amount of butter it will 
make. If they want to buy butter, let them buy butter 
paying for the butter fat contained in the milk and asking 
patrons to “ throw in” the water. There is no fairer way. 
The trouble has been for the creameries to estimate the 
value of milk in an economical way. With the Babcock 
test this can be done. The last bulletin of the Connecticut 
Station fully explains this matter. The Babcock Tester is 
furnished by Cornish, Curtis & Green, Fort Atkinson, Wis. 
What Should Good Seeds Do ?—Art in Advertising 
has the following concerning our friend, W. Atlee Burpee: 
“ Mr. Burpee has awarded his prize for a good advertise¬ 
ment to the gentleman whose composition contained the 
startling information that— 
BURPEE’S 
SEEDS 
GROW ! 
Does Mr. Burpee imagine that we expect his seeds to sing 
and dance, or, like his mail order department, get full 
every day t ” 
A Good Hay Cap. —Primeval man went without a cap 
or hat. He was tough and did not need protection from 
rain and storm. As his brains developed the thickness of 
his skull was bred away and he found a head-dress neces¬ 
sary. We think more of our hay now than we used to. 
It costs too much money to waste. Weather that will 
make rocks crumble will make an end to hay. We must 
dress it. What with ? Hay caps ! The Symes hay cap 
will put your hay in style. It is indestructible, light and 
made to fit the hay cock. It beats a duck’s back for 
shedding water. Made by Alden & Woods, Skowhegan, 
Maine, who desire to send you some interesting informa¬ 
tion. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
Breed’s Weeder in Beans.— Having ;had some experi¬ 
ence with Breed’s weeder in beans the past season, perhaps 
a word from me in answer to W. B.’s query, on page 233 of 
The Rural, would not be out of place. As beans are 
planted in much narrower rows and closer hills, the saving 
of hand labor by the use of the weeder is much greater 
than in the case of either corn or potatoes, and It will 
clean them out perfectly (deep-rooted weeds like thistles, 
quack, etc., excepted,) if used at the right time in properly 
prepared ground, with next to no injury to the plants. For 
it to work well, the ground must ba smooth. It will do no 
harm to roll it after planting, if the surface is dry. While 
its work is excellent in corn and potatoes, I consider it the 
tool in beans, and, in my opinion, the time is not far dis¬ 
tant when it will be as much of a necessity in the fields of 
the best bean raisers as it is now in Terry’s potato field. 
Aside from the work for which it Is recommended, it can 
be profitably used to follow the drill or planter where 
either has failed to cover the seed, as it will not move the 
seed like a harrow. Also in garden preparation to follow 
the harrow it will save a large part of hand raking. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. G. L. quick. 
New Use of a Windmill. 
Several inquiries have appeared in the agricultural 
papers during the past few months, as to whether some 
kind of a converter could not be made, to attach to the 
pumping rod of a windmill, to produce rotary motion. 
Nothing of the kind has ever been made, to my knowledge, 
that could be used for practical purposes to run machinery. 
After many futile attempts to invent something that would 
do, I have recently procured an attachment that runs my 
machinery to my complete satisfaction. The power con¬ 
verter is made in Cincinnati, but I have never seen it 
advertised in the papers. 
My windmill stood idle more than two-thirds of the 
time, and I wanted it to do my grinding, churning, and 
run my corn sheller. With a few carpenter tools I went 
to work, with the following result: I built a small 
platform about four feet above the pump platform, for the 
converter, and attached it directly to the pump rod of the 
windmill. Nothing thus interferes with the work of the 
pump. Then I made the pump platform about six feet 
longer on the north side, and fastened my corn sheller to 
the floor, and about seven feet from the pump. By means 
of a very ingenious arrangement of walking beam, the 
converter clutch drives a set of cog-wheels, a balance wheel 
and pulley, in one direction all the time, at a good speed 
in an ordinary wind. 
My corn sheller has a large balance wheel, and I took 
off the handle which was used to operate it by hand, and 
in its place put a sprocket wheel; then I put a sprocket 
chain over this wheel and the sprocket pulley on the con¬ 
verter. I can thus shell corn as fast as one man can feed 
the sheller, in a moderate breeze. The feed grinder is 
attached to one side of the converter, and run in the same 
way as the sheller. I built a hopper above the grinder, to 
hold corn and oats, and put a partition in the middle. 
Then I made a small spout from either side to run to the 
hopper of the grinder, with a slide to shut off the flow of 
grain, so that I could mix the corn and oats in whatever 
proportion I chose, and could have them ground together, 
or either one separately. 
The grinder has an automatic clutch connected with the 
balance wheel, so that when there is not much breeze the 
grinder is disconnected and will not run, but the balance 
wheel runs all the time, when the breeze becomes strong 
enough the grinder is again thrown in gear. We have a 
barrel churn, which we have run by hand for some time. 
I am going to put an extra sprocket wheel on it, then put 
the churn into a different frame, fastened to the platform, 
beside the pump, and let the windmill do the churning— 
when the wind blows. I am thinking of making a small 
elevator, to run from under the sheller to the top of the 
hopper, to elevate the corn as fast as it is shelled. 
Any farmer, handy with tools, can Inclose the base of Lis 
windmill tower, using matched boards or German-lap 
siding. The platform for the converter, as well as the 
hopper, spouts and elevator can be easily made, and the 
work requires but few tools. I am so well pleased with my 
arrangement, that I would not psrt with it for twice what 
it cost. j. h. BROWN. 
Kalamazoo County, Mich. 
Hurrah For The Hoover 1 —I am the friend referred to 
by Dr. Hoskins on page 213 as digging his potatoes with 
my Hoover digger. I found the land stony and very 
weedy. One crop had been mowed and the ground was 
completely covered with a sorrel-like mat, forming a better 
sward than he could get in one season from grass, and, of 
course, I could not do perfect work. But the digger could 
not be blamed for this, for no machine can do good work 
in such a case. A neighbor and myself got the Rigby 
digger for trial. We ran it a few minutes and concluded 
the Hoover would do better for us. I raised 70 acres of 
potatoes in 1890, and I find that in good, clean or reason¬ 
ably clean soil, I can do a better job with the digger than 
by average hand work. In my judgment, with the Aspin- 
wall planter, Hoover digger, Breed’s weeder and Thomas 
smoothing harrow, farmers can raise potatoes very 
cheaply and easily and at a good profit. E. B. true. 
A Netting For Fruit.—A Florida subscriber sends the 
following note: “ I Inclose an advertisement cut from an 
English newspaper ; can the article be had in this country, 
and where ?” 
P rotect your buds, or you will get no 
FRUIT.—NETTING supplied at 35 square yards 
for Is. Is oiled and dressed. Will not rot if left out 
In all weathers. Send any width. I do not require 
payment till you have received and approved of the 
Netting Commoner Netting at 50 square yards for Is. 
—H. J. Gasson, Fish Merchant, Rye, Sussex, 
We do not know where this twine netting can be secured. 
Doubtless it is made and sold on the sea coast. Who will 
tell us where ? 
NOVELTIES AND STAPLES. 
From the Catalogues. 
Dairy Goods. —Porter Blanchard’s Sons, of Nashua, 
N. H., have long been known as makers of dairy goods. 
Their reputation for fair dealing is of the best, and the 
goods they offer are made of good material in a workman¬ 
like manner. They have several new implements this 
year, and all the standard goods—churn, butter-worker, 
etc., are in stock. Send for their catalogue and see what 
they offer. 
How to Cook Vegetables is a book of 175 pages, pub¬ 
lished by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., of Philadelphia, Pa., 
and written by Mrs. S. T. Rorer, Principal of the Phila¬ 
delphia Cooking School, All the recipes have been care¬ 
fully tested by the author and are, no doubt, the best of 
their several kinds. The book is not published for sale, 
but for distribution among Mr. Burpee’s patrons as a pre¬ 
mium to any one who purchases seeds, bulbs or plants to 
the amount of $3. 
Mushrooms and How to Grow Them is the title of a 
book just issued by the Orange Judd Co., of this city. It 
is written by our valued contributor, William Falconer, 
from his own wide experience and long-continued obser¬ 
vation, and in a plain, concise, familiar way. As Mr, Fal¬ 
coner remarks in his preface, for home consumption mush¬ 
rooms are a healthful and grateful food, and for market 
they become a most profitable crop. We can have in 
America the best market in the world for fresh mush¬ 
rooms. The demand for them is increasing and the sup¬ 
ply has always been inadequate. The price is more than 
double that paid in any other country, and there need be 
little fear of foreign competition, for all attempts thus 
far to import fresh mushrooms from Europe have been 
unsuccessful. Those already engaged in growing mush¬ 
rooms appreciate the situation and are disposed to guard 
their methods of cultivation from the public. The people, 
however, are becoming alive to the fact that there is 
money in mushrooms and a lively demand has thus been 
created for reliable information. That is just what Mr. 
Falconer’s book gives. Any one may raise mushrooms if 
supplied with good materials and due attention be given 
to all the details. Women as well as men may engage in 
the industry, and it will furnish in-door employment in 
winter, while there is but little hard work attached to It. 
It may be made subsidiary to almost any other business, 
and even a recreation as well as a source of profit. 
