270 
April 15 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
71MX8 BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
▲ lational Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT 8. CABMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Copyrighted 1898. 
Address all communications and make all orders payable to The 
Rural publishing company. 
Money orders and bank drafts are the safest In transmitting money. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1893. 
Certain men are trying to revive the old notion that 
soda can take the place of potash in fertilizers. They 
urge farmers to buy nitrogen and phosphoric acid and 
a cheap form of soda, and thus make a fertilizer of 
their own at a greatly reduced cost. Nothing will do 
more harm to the cause of chemical farming than such 
talk as that. « * 
It seems to The R. N.-Y. that profitable experiments 
might he made with basic slag as a source of phos¬ 
phoric acid. The Germans and French are using vast 
quantities of this product—even buying it from Eng¬ 
land. Try it in a small way at first on grain, grass 
or fruits. Its value for this country has not been de¬ 
termined yet by experiment. 
* * 
Mr. Peet s article on page 2(53 gives a striking illus¬ 
tration of the value of fertilizers in connection with 
stock growing. On land that would not support a 
sheep to the acre fertilizers gave a profit of over $70 
the first season, and the land could be seeded to grass 
and made to yield paying crops of hay without any 
more manure. How long would it take to bring the 
land into such condition by feeding stock on it ? Let 
Mr. Peet keep a dozen or more broods of young chickens 
on the acre, and the crop will be better yet. Another 
thing—where fertilizer at the rate of a ton to the acre 
was used, “ every onion was simply grand.” How did 
he learn that? By experiment! How do we learn 
anything? By the experiments of ourselves or some¬ 
body else ! Are you going to learn anything this year ? 
* * 
It is always interesting to us to observe the progress 
of Mr. Johnson’s little farm in New Jersey. Here is 
success well merited and deserved. It has all been 
done by plain, honest farming. The products have 
been sold at wholesale rates—no fancy stock or private 
customers. Why was it a success ? Because Mr. 
Johnson, when he began, thought out a certain and 
well defined plan, and has stuck to it ever since, study¬ 
ing and experimenting until he found just the right 
combination. The best part of it all is that now, 
having fairly earned his home and a modest “nest egg,” 
he can take life easier and get his share of the 
comforts and pleasures that make life worth living. 
We are sorry that we cannot give a picture of Mr. 
Johnson himself. The day was too cloudy for a good 
photograph. # # 
Whether free canals in this State are all that could 
be desired may be an open question, but it seems to 
The R. N.-Y. that there can be no doubt that it is the 
duty of the State to so arrange matters that the pos¬ 
sible benefits of free canals are made available to the 
people. The elevator combination in Buffalo is a most 
impudent organization, and, in spite of law, in spite 
of equity, and in spite of common decency, robs half 
of the people of the State at its own sweet will. There 
are 34 elevators in the city of Buffalo Not more than 
10 or 12 at the most are required to do all the work. 
When such a situation arises, in order to make their 
property profitable, a combination is resorted to, and 
this the elevators have done. About 20 of them are 
locked up, the work being done by about a dozen, 
while a rate sufficiently high is charged to pay divi¬ 
dends upon the stock of the entire lot. Of course, the 
railroads are in this pool. The New York Central owns 
two, and the Erie, another of the trunk lines, owns 
two more. If the rates can be kept very high for ele¬ 
vating grain, it reduces the aggregate of grain going 
to tidewater by canal boats very largely, and in this 
way the railroads get their special profits. It is time 
that the people were getting relief. A bill is in the 
legislature directing the State to erect elevators at 
Buffalo, which will elevate grain at about cost, instead 
of the extortionate rates now charged by the pool. 
When this bill comes to be voted upon, we shall see 
what members of the legislature are owned by the 
railroads and what members vote in the interests of 
the people. There can be no doubt of the wisdom or 
utility of the bill, and there is scarcely room for doubt 
that the railroads are opposing it in every possible 
manner. We shall see the outcome later and shall 
have something to say as to those members who betray 
the people and vote in the interests of the pool. 
Since Mr. Grundy wrote his notable account of the 
“ Ex-Farmer,” other communities have started in to 
claim the presence of the champion mean man. This 
note from Wyoming is the latest: 
We have a match for Mr. Grundy's farmer. He Is 87 years old. He 
drinks no coffee at home and eats no supper. It is said that he gave 
his daughter $35,000 upon her marriage. He started to go East cot 
long since on foot, carrying a satchel, ne lives 65 miles from the 
railroad, caught a ride part way, staid overnight with a rancher, rode 
In on a load of hay, and chuckled at getting to the railroad for 
nothing. 
“ Every man to his taste ! ” There may be fun in 
such lives, but happily most of us are not satisfied 
with such pleasures. A wise and honest economy 
should always be encouraged. It makes the home for 
young people, it makes independence, comfort and 
possibilities for doing good. There is nothing so piti¬ 
ful as a mean rich man—one who changes the neces¬ 
sary economy of his youth to the hateful meanness of 
old age. Be economical, young man, but never be 
mean. 
* * 
Ex-Statistician Dodge, of the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment, says that the no-fence laws in some Southern 
States have caused a reduction in the numbers of 
stock, “ the more worthless of the old stock having 
been sacrificed to the manifest improvement of the 
existing herds.” This seems to be the result where- 
ever no fence is the rule and law. “ No fence means 
that the owner of a crop is not forced to defend that 
crop by building a fence around it. If the crop is in¬ 
jured by another man’s stock, the latter is responsible, 
the law holding that it is his business to control his 
animals if he sees fit to beep any. The cost of keeping 
an animal within bounds will amount to considerable, 
and, as a rule, the more useless the animal the greater 
the cost of restraining it. We can thus see why a “ no¬ 
fence ” law is sure to thin out the “ scrubs,” a much- 
desired result, though not expressly aimed at in the 
law. There is no business in building a $100 fence to 
keep out a $10 cow. 
K * * 
The World’s Fair at Chicago opens on May 1; May 
Day too is the regular day for the annual inauguration 
of strikes, lockouts and other troubles between 
employers and employees—capital and labor. From 
present indications such disorders this year are likely 
to be of unprecedented extent and persistence, espec¬ 
ially among those employed in the various lines of 
passenger and freight transportation. Already both 
parties are busily engaged in preparations for the 
anticipated struggle. At all the great labor centers 
employers have agents who are pre-engaging hands 
to take the places of those who are expected to “go 
out;” while the various labor unions have been accumu¬ 
lating capital to enable them to prolong the strife 
until victory or a favorable compromise is secured. 
For over six months labor conflicts on the brink of 
breaking out have been deferred until after the open¬ 
ing of the exposition, as it is thought that the vast 
increase in transportation and other business due to 
the big show, and the consequent increase in the need 
of skilled and other labor will afford great advantages 
to the employees in all battles with their employers. 
In such conflicts the farmers of the country, though 
mere spectators, are sufferers also. Not only are 
their markets curtailed owing to the increased scarcity 
of money among the working classes, but access to 
markets is often blockaded for days or even weeks, to 
the loss of no small amount of perishable produce, and 
nearly always to the inconvenience and disturbance 
of general business. Would it not be advisable to 
bear in mind the probability of such troubles before¬ 
hand and thus escape not a little of their evil conse¬ 
quences ? 
^ * * 
Not the least remarkable point in connection with 
recent accomplished or proposed land legislation in 
the United Kingdom was a bill lately passed upon in 
the House of Lords virtually abolishing primogeni¬ 
ture, or the exclusive right of inheritance of property 
always by the eldest son, and in the absence of male 
issue, by the eldest daughter. Of course, as might 
have been expected, it failed to pass that body, but 
the surprising phenomenon was that there were 56 
votes in its favor and only 61 against it. As primo¬ 
geniture is the very foundation of British class 
privileges and distinctions, its abolition would mean a 
radical revolution. On it would gradually follow the 
distribution among the masses of the immense landed 
estates which have been held together from genera¬ 
tion to generation by the law of primogeniture. In 
the early years of the present century the same law 
remained in force, as a colonial inheritance, in New 
York and other States in this country, and wealthy 
families held territories here as large as European 
principalities, but the justice of an equal distribution 
speedily became recognized and the vast domains 
were gradually parceled out among the children and 
grandchildren, and passed slowly to outsiders, until 
the patroons have becom e only a historical memory. 
The case has been the same among the enormous 
Mexican land grants in New Mexico and the Pacific 
slope, and the same rule must soon prevail among our 
English-speaking kindred beyond the Atlantic. The 
day cannot be far distant when the slender majority 
which decided, the other day, against the abolition of 
primogeniture will be changed to a minority, and 
another immemorial hindrance to the equality of all 
the people before the law will be removed for ever. 
* * 
All seeds and plants, all communications whatever 
for the Editor should hereafter be forwarded to River 
Edge, Bergen County, New Jersey. 
« * 
BREVITIES. 
Soft soap making Is a job I don’t hanker for; 
Git yer fingers In the lye, till they’re eaten raw, 
Git so saturated full of the greasy stuff 
That you taste It fer a month—I’ve jest had enough. 
Mighty bugbear of our youth was old grandma’s leach; 
I remember even now how she used to teach 
Soft soap making, “Git yer lye, bllln’ hot ’ says she. 
“ Then jest slowly add yer grease—keep It stlrrln’ free— 
An’ remember when folks ask for the ‘how’ an’ ‘why,’ 
That the basis of soft soap is a good strong lye ! 
I hev’ found ’at other folks, ’cept them on the farm, 
Make another kind o’ soap what does lots o’ harm. 
Every feller hez one side where he’s sorter weak, 
Sorter vain of sum one thing—likes to hear folks speak 
Well about thetslde of him—likes a little praise, 
Folks 'at paint his virtues up, pleasant to his gaze 
So’s to bring his pocket book closer to their reach. 
They are jest soft-soapin’ him—like old Grandma’s leach 
Run their words of honey through—Do you ask me why? 
Well, the basis of “ soft soap ” Is a good stout lie. 
What do you know this spring ? 
Carbonaceous— constipatious. 
Use the “Johnson complete fertilizer.” 
Elbow grease makes the soap for clean culture. 
Who objects to a weed so long as It stays underground ? 
Who has noticed that onions are good for kidney diseases? 
Is a fcol ever an unwll ling pupil at the school of experience ? 
A Good way to stop the capering of fighting roosters Is to caponize 
them. 
You can easily plow land too deep, but you cannot possibly harrow 
it too much. 
Notice what Mr. Woodward says about feeding grain to ewes and 
lambs, page 268. 
Oats for green manuring for potatoes. See what Mr. Taylor says 
about It on page 264. 
If demonetizing sliver has sent wheat down, what sent pork, pota¬ 
toes. corn and apples up? 
You can’t paint life the color of the rose by liquid paint through 
stomach and then nose. 
Remember that Mr. Johnson does not have to buy birds of the “ sit¬ 
ting breeds ” to batch his Leghorn eggs. 
If your liver feels like bursting and your head Is like a stone, eat an 
apple, take a diet and let drugs and pills alone. 
Does your Congressman simply get In your way when you want to 
get books from the Agricultural Department? See page 277. 
French experiments have shown that lambs will eat blood when 
mixed with their grain. They like this war-llke food and thrive 
upon It. 
Your blood may be blue, but that fact won’t help you. If you bank 
on its color alone, sir; unless It has grit and good courage In It, you 
better not brag of Its tone, sir 1 
An English “workhouse” recently contracted to buy bread at five 
cents a four-pound loaf. This is said to be the lowest price ever 
reached In England for good bread. 
Unfortunately, the men who tell their wives to “shut up," and 
act like “ 111 mannered hogs” generally are not confined to any one 
section of the country. See page 266. 
We are waiting patiently for some of the papers that advertise that 
creamery supply fraud to stand up and defend its methods. Who 
should do this but those who obtain business for It? 
MR. Woodward has had excellent success In killing woodchucks on 
his farm. He will tell us his method next week. The ground hog is 
only valuable when he Is ground fine for a fertilizer. 
Think of 9 J ,006,000 pounds of potatoes from Greeley, Colo.. In one 
season. A score of years ago what was there to ship from that place 
but cactus and prairie dogs? Has your community developed like 
that? Why not? 
Kansas is getting to be a great potato-growing State. Two Kansas 
growers tell us how they do business this week. By the wav, our old 
friend, Edwin Taylor, Is now Senator Taylor, the Populists having sent 
him to the State capital. 
Make more of your pork into bacon. There is too much rusty side 
pork In the barrel at this season. Rust on the pork means rust on the 
liver. Half of the sides should have been smoked into good bacon. 
That Is the sort of smoke to help digest the farmer’s dinner. 
How many dairymen have prepared for a soiling crop this summer? 
Hands up! Let’s see. There Is a long, dry parch coming over your 
pastures this summer. Do you call yourself a progressive man If you 
stand Idly by and let your cows suffer for green food? We don't. 
We can’t all live In a sugar maple camp. Those who don't care to 
buy the flavor of maple might try this scheme suggested by one of our 
friends: “ A few small strips of the Inside bark of hickory dropped 
Into sugar molasses as It bolls, will impart to it a pleasant maple 
flavor.” How many good dollars have been spent for just such “pure 
maple sugar?” 
The French government has sent the chief assistant in Its agricul¬ 
tural department to Berlin to act as a permanent attach6 of the 
French Embassy there. It Is also expected that the Republic will 
send prominent agriculturists to all the leading countries to study 
and report on the agricultural doings of the world. It would be an 
excellent thing If this country would act in a similar way. In place 
of the present long-winded and uninteresting Consular reports, let us 
have practical reports on foreign agriculture. 
Here is a note from a Massachusetts friend. May The R. N.-Y 
prove a jack t© lift other wheels Into a new rut: “Last December a 
friend gave me a copy of The Rural New-Yorker and solicited my 
subscription. On turning the first page, I saw a design for a wagon 
jack that was just what I wanted, and I made one in an hour or two 
entirely from otherwise useless material that had been on hand for 
years. Thus I saved the price of a year's subscription from that first 
number, and I find in nearly every Issue information and Ideas worth 
many times Its cost.” 
