56 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Jan. 28 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A national Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Copyrighted, 1893. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1893. 
Sir J. B. and Lady Lawes have just celebrated their 
golden wedding in a quiet manner, surrounded by their 
friends and neighbors. Farmers everywhere will be 
glad to know that this good man has enjoyed so large 
a share of domestic happiness. 
* * 
In connection with Dr. Law’s interesting article on 
feeding bone meal, see page 63, we want to say that 
cattle, particularly work oxen, often suffer from gravel 
or hard formations in the kidneys. The trouble comes 
generally in winter when the animals are largely fed 
on dry food with irregular watering, and given large 
quantities of bran. Succulent food containing a large 
amount of water is always useful in such cases. Cattle 
at pasture are seldom troubled and those fed on roots 
or ensilage are reasonably sure to escape. In humans 
the treatment for this trouble is based upon the theory 
that drinking large quantities of water containing 
some alkaline solvent will prevent the formation and 
precipitation of the calculi. A daily heavy dose of 
Rochelle salts dissolved in hot water or ordinary cook¬ 
ing 1 soda, and a double allowance of drinking water 
will usually do as much good as a visit to “ the 
springs.” 
* • 
The Standard Oil Trust or Company, along with 
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, has been 
unmistakably caught in a flagrant conspiracy against 
the National Inter-State Commerce Law, to crush out 
competition. The convicting documents before the 
Inter-State Commission are the orders of the Southern 
traffic managers granting the monopoly a rate from 
Ohio to the Pacific coast three cents a gallon less than 
the rate extorted from other oil shippers. This is 
amply sufficient to give the Standard an absolute 
monopoly along the coast. Still more outrageous, the 
rate to the Pacific from its Ohio fields was made less 
to the Standard than that to others from the oil fields 
of Colorado and Wyoming ! It is in this way this 
conscienceless monster has been built up, and John D. 
Rockefeller’s multitudinous millions, a pittance of 
which he has given, with loud acclaim, for educational 
and religious purposes, have been accumulated by a 
series of similar raids on rivals. The public will be 
eager to learn whether this arch-monopoly can through 
this piece of hostile legislation “ drive a coach and six.” 
* * 
There is quite an inquiry regarding tobacco stems 
as a fertilizer. This waste product of the tobacco 
factories is often sold for a very low price. At some 
of these factories it is baled and shipped away to be 
used for making insecticides, but at others this plan 
has not yet been adopted and the product can be 
bought in bulk for a low price, and farmers and 
gardeners may well secure it whenever possible. This 
tobacco is objectionable to many insects. As explained 
elsewhere, it is excellent for use around squash or 
melon vines, as it not only serves as a mulch and fer¬ 
tilizer, but keeps off insects as well. As a fertilizer, 
the stems are valuable largely for the potash they con¬ 
tain, though nitrogen is also present in fair quantities. 
As a fertilizer for peach or other fruit trees they ought 
to give good results. In its experiments for 1891 The 
R. N.-Y. grew potatoes fertilized with ground tobacco 
or snuff alone. The yield, as compared with plots 
where chemicals were used, was very fair and the 
tubers were remarkably smooth and handsome. 
* * 
About three years ago Texas passed an anti-alien 
land ownership law so wide in its scope and drastic in 
its enactments that it caused so serious a stagnation 
of general business and threatened such a withholding 
and withdrawal of outside capital not only in Europe, 
but in other States in the Union, that a clamorous de¬ 
mand was made on the Governor to call an extra ses¬ 
sion of the legislature to repeal the obnoxious 
measure. The courts declared the law void, however, 
and its advocates, who could easily have secured legis¬ 
lation of a moderate and constitutional nature on the 
subject, were left without any change in the old law. 
As a result, an association of foreign capitalists is just 
concluding negotiations for the purchase of 1,500,000 
acres of excellent cotton lands in three adjoining 
counties in the State, with the intention of raising the 
staple on a large scale. If successful, doubtless simi¬ 
lar enterprises will be undertaken not only in the Lone 
Star State, but in several of the other Southern States 
also. The strongest promoters of the objectionable 
legislation were the farmers ; it is to be hoped that 
the fiasco will teach them that even aliens and invested 
interests generally have some rights secured by 
treaties or the National and State Constitutions, which 
cannot be violated by hasty and intemperate legis¬ 
lation. # * 
Statistics show that since the civil service system 
went into force in the Post-Office Department, there 
have been more mail robberies than ever before in 
proportion to the number of men employed. The 
arrests made of late years among the employees of the 
Department have been out of all proportion to those 
made in other walks of life. The record of official dis¬ 
honesty has been so astounding as to call public atten¬ 
tion to the system under which it has been made. Can 
the competitive system distinguish between honesty 
and dishonesty ? The service is, quite possibly, more 
efficient than formerly. But, alas ! a man’s efficiency 
has little to do with his honesty, and while education 
undoubtedly develops the intellectual faculties, and 
tends to render men more efficient in any calling, 
doesn’t it also stimulate and develop the evil principles 
in a person naturally dishonest and vicious, while 
enabling him to gratify his natural bent to evil with 
greater real or aoparent safety ? Shouldn't more 
attention at home and in our educational institutions 
be given to the development of moral principles even 
at the cost of less assiduous attention to the develop¬ 
ment of the intellectual faculties ? 
* * 
The potato crop seems likely to follow the wheat 
crop in the fact that the bulk of it is to be grown on 
larger areas and by the use of improved machinery for 
planting and digging. The notes printed on another 
page give an idea of what can be saved by machine 
planting. It is quite evident that in almost any com¬ 
munity an enterprising man can find outside work 
enough for his planter to pay its cost in a few years. 
When it comes to planting so as to avoid “ missing 
hills,” a well-regulated planter will beat a hired man 
who has little or no interest in his work. As to 
cooperative buying of machinery, the evidence here is 
mostly against it, because of the difficulty most 
farmers have in agreeing. In a wet and backward 
season when, as soon as the weather clears, there is a 
rush to put in the crop, the members of the partner¬ 
ship all want the machine at once. It is probably 
more satisfactory for one man to buy the planter and 
do work for his neighbors. Another troublesome 
thing about potato growing is cutting the seed. This 
is a tedious and expensive job—unsatisfactory when 
left to careless hands. We shall soon give the expe¬ 
rience of men who have used a machine for this purpose. 
* * 
When, a few years ago, the proposition to elect 
United States Senators by the direct votes of the 
people instead of by those of the members of the legis¬ 
lature of the several States, was brought prominently 
before the public by the farmers’ organizations 
throughout the country, it was at first scouted as al¬ 
most revolutionary, then discussed with ever-increas¬ 
ing toleration and finally with more or less general 
approval. The other day the lower House of Congress 
passed a joint resolution proposing an amendment of 
the Constitution providing for such a change, in spite 
of the strenuous opposition of the Republicans, not to 
the substance of the measure, but to a clause giving 
the various State legislatures the power to prescribe 
“ the times, places and manner of holding elections 
for Senators and Representatives.” This they regarded 
as an abdication of the rights of the Federal govern¬ 
ment, which they maintain should hold jurisdiction 
over the election of our National legislators. The 
subject is being discussed in the Senate also, but as 
such a change in the Constitution would inevitably 
lead to the relegation of most of the present plutocratic 
members of that body to private life, it is hardly likely 
to meet with cordial favor there. But even the Senate 
must finally yield to the pressure of public sentiment 
in this matter, all the more effective and impressive 
on account of its slow but steady development. 
* * 
The price of pork has been steadily advancing re¬ 
cently. Why ? Short supply of hogs is the reason 
usually assigned, but the fact is published in a promi¬ 
nent trade paper that three Chicago men stand in the 
position of practically controlling the prices of pork 
products. Yet the same paper calls it, “ the most far- 
seeing, legitimate deal ever displayed before the Board 
of Trade.” Hogs are scarce; there is no doubt of it. 
These men were far-seeing enough to realize this 
earlier than their fellows, and hence have profited by 
it by forestalling the market. Now they are selling. 
One is said to make from $ 35,000 to $50,000 on every 
10,000 barrels he sells, and to have been selling that 
amount hourly during business hours for some time. 
Another of the three is close behind, while the third, 
dealing in lard, has increased his wealth by at least 
half a million. What is the gain to the country at 
large by these transactions? How much more have 
the hog raisers received than they would have done if 
the traffic from producer to consumer had not been in¬ 
terrupted by these harpies? How much more must the 
consumer piy ? Ask the poor man who buys his 
provisions from hand to mouth. And then remember 
that these transactions are nothing but dealing in 
options, and thatthese few individuals are enormously 
enriched at the expense of a vast number of their 
fellows. Isn’t it about time to down the whole 
business ? 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
Uncle Daniel loved to fish, an' next he loved to eat ’em. 
He'd a wav o’ tellln' folks jeet how ter cook an" treat ’em. 
Bed fish orter swim three times afore Its fit fer chewin’. 
That air recipe I guess was sum o’ his own doin', 
Here’s the rule he give, as he rubbed out his stummlck wider: 
•‘Onct in water, onct in fat an’ onct agin in cider.” 
Onct in water! That’s all right—why that’s the place fer swimmln’. 
Uncle Daniel had that right, it don’t need any trimmin’. 
Onct in fat! Now what's the use a-raakin’ things so greasy? 
That's jest what the cider's fer—ter make it go down easy, 
Hev ter make the cider jug cure sickness in the spider. 
Onct in water! Swim in fat jest makes ye call fer cider. 
I’m so glad that times hev changed an'now we hev the broiler. 
That won’t hold up fat enough on yer good fish ter spoil her, 
All them little broiler holes jest lets the heat up through it. 
Fat can't toughen up yer fish so holler teeth can’t chew it. 
Into Uncle Daniel’s grave let’s sling his fat an’ spider. 
Onct in water let that go—no more of fat an’ cider. 
Look out for Number 2—your wife! 
How long do you serve as dry nurse for a cow every winter? 
The only way to keep any business of your own Is to mind it. 
You had better eschew the things that you cannot chew without 
hurting you all through. 
Don't growl at the snow. Growling won’t remove it. and there is a 
power of good in it for your grass. 
Parties who have fed wbat is called Red Dog flour are requested to 
give us their experience as to its value for feeding. 
On for a million types to print what all our good friends write. Free 
coinage from farm wisdom’s mint is surely now in sight. 
What a fraud a man is who provides himself with all the labor- 
saving tools and makes his wife still use the “ old-timers.” 
A good tank-heater may stop some of that bellowing in the barn 
these cold nights. Don’t let a spank-heater start more of it in the 
house. 
How can we best weigh a ration of hay in experiment feeding ? Tie 
it up or crowd it into a basket? The experiment station of New Hamp¬ 
shire has made this matter the subject fora part of the bulletin. 
What we said three weeks ago about Southern farmers selling 
whole cotton seed and buying back meal calls out protests from many 
such farmers who say the whole seed should be kept at home. 
In the fight against the Option Bill made by the Boards of Trade, 
Both producers and < onsumers they seek the right to raid. 
’Tie sly Middleman contending for the power, with all his might, 
To fleece sellers with his stout left hand and buyers with his right. 
Think how big The Rural’s family is! Some of them have been 
snowbound for weeks and will not see bare ground until May. Others 
are now enjoying ripe strawberries and vegetables taken from the 
open garden. 
The chances are that Mr. Grundy’s farmer—who saved his pile—will 
get back at his critics soon and show them a thing or two they over¬ 
looked. It appears that he has raised six children four of whom are 
now on the farm. 
Can’t you remember when the man with the mowing machine 
worked for the neighbors about as those potato planter men do ? It 
was thought then that the small farmer could not afford to own a 
mower. What about it now ? 
We would like to have 10 discontented farmers sent to the town or 
city without capital to support their families, and 10 salaried city 
men sent to the farm to see what it is to get along without cash. How 
many of the 20 would be worse off for the change ? 
Can the farmer who works three seasons and loafs one keep up with 
the one who provides work for all four ? Yes and no. Yes, if he loafs 
rather than do winter work that costs more than it comes to, and no if 
his neighbors pick up a new class of work that yields a profit. 
I hear the tale of a foolish man who sold every spear of his clover 
hay and fed his cows on choice Timothy; of course such business 
failed to pay. For he sold the muscle that worked bis farm, and tried 
to work on a store of fat; you know there's nothing but wreck and 
harm can ever come from a game like that. 
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will endeavor 
to have the New York State Legislature pass a law making the dis¬ 
horning of cattle a crime. This seems to us like misapplied zeal, The 
opposition to dishorning comes almost entirely from those who never 
saw the operation performed. Those who have practiced it are 
almost unanimous in its favor. 
On page 54 Mr. Halladay and others tell us how that “Tufted turkey” 
of Mr. Chapman's may leave the world with more tufts after he passes 
into a Thank giving dinner. The study of breeding, so far as it relates 
to the fixing of “freak” or “ sport ” characteristics, is interesting 
enough for anybody, and with no stock can it be so readily and 
cheaply practiced as with poultry: 
A feeding test was recently made In England to determine the re¬ 
lative profits in using home-grown or foreign food. One lot of cattle 
was fed on a mixture of beans, oats and barley grown on the farm, 
while the other lot had Imported linseed cake. The home-grown food 
proved cheaper. Many a farmer pays a big grain bill when clover, 
peas and oats on his own farm might cut it down by half. 
The R. N.-Y. Is published first of all for American farmers. Farmers 
in foreign lands often commend it, as witness this note from Aus¬ 
tralia: “I continue to be greatly pleased with The Rural New- 
Yorker, as Us contents are good, live reading, comparing favorably 
with any of the papers I receive, and, as to paper, get-up and price, it 
beats all of our European publications of the same class. I sincerely 
desire that all farmers should respond to the boon offered them by the 
cut in price, and thereby help to maintain The Rural in the leading 
position it so deservedly holds and merits.” 
Why go to the “ Wild and Woolly West” for fraudulent land booms 
and their dupes? A land association which proposed to build up a 
splendid suburban park full of desirable residences out in New Jersey, 
only a few miles from New York city, is being sued for $1,200 by a 
woman who paid that price, a year ago, for 12 building lots of barren 
sand among the New Jersey pines. As a lure, she was told that Grover 
Cleveland had bought several lots, and she selected hers just opposite 
what were pointed out as his on a gorgeous map laid before her. 
There was no Presidential purchase, however; her lots would be dear 
at $12 for the whole, and naturally she wants her money back with a 
slim chance of recovering it. 
