3o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 29 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
TIMES BUILDING , NEW YORK. 
L. national Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT B. CABMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Copyrighted. 1893. 
Address all communications and make all orders parable to The 
Rural Publishing Company. 
Money orders and bank drafts are tbe safest In transmitting money. 
SATURDAY , APRIL 29, 1893. 
All seeds and plants, all communications whatever 
for the Editor should hereafter be forwarded to River 
Edge, Bergen County, New Jersey. 
* * 
There is quite a demand for tobacco stems and 
waste to be used in small quantities as insecticides by 
melon and squash growers. Is there not some way to 
get rid of the middleman so that growers can deal 
directly with those who need these wastes ? By the 
way, let us ask tobacco growers this question : Could 
you grow a crop and sell it all as an insecticide at a 
profit? * * 
The following extract from a private letter brings 
up a matter that we have quite often followed up: 
If I could get a young man that wanted to learn how to farm In all 
branches, and willing to work up, I would In time let him my place or 
hire him to run It and give him a good chance. 
We have often brought young city men and farmers 
together in a business way, but in almost every instance 
the arrangement has not been satisfactory. Either 
the young man “ knew too much ” or was disap¬ 
pointed in farm life. The theory of the plan is per¬ 
fect but does not work out well in practice. 
* * 
We consider the work done by the Arizona Station 
in connection with the wild plant “ Canaigre ” as of 
great value. Here is a neglected product of the soil— 
a wild plant, which, when intelligently cultivated, 
will give better returns than any other farm crop that 
can be grown in Arizona. Not only will its cultiva¬ 
tion tend to keep at home over $1,000,000 now sent 
abroad for vegetable products, but it promises to give 
an article for export trade also. All this without 
interfering with any other branch of agriculture in 
any State or section. It will be strange indeed if the 
authorities and business men of Arizona do not push 
and develop this suggested business. 
* * 
Selling skim-milk! Does anybody say that Mr. 
Potter wrongs the public by selling his skim-milk at 
2% cents per quart ? It is a cheap food, or drink, at 
that price with probably more nourishment in it for a 
cent than in whole milk at six cents or more. Why 
then is objection made to the sale of such milk in some 
quarters, and why are laws passed to make a legal 
standard for milk ? Simply because all dealers are 
not honest. When the “ skim ” is taken out of the 
name the product becomes a fraud and laws are 
passed to protect those who want the costly fat left 
in their milk. Still, if a man prefers to buy the 
skimmed article at a reduced price he ought to be per¬ 
mitted to do so. There is no sense in making him pay 
for fat that he does not want. A law might be passed 
prohibiting fertilizer makers from selling an article 
that was not “ complete” with a high analysis of 
soluble plant food. This might be a good thing, but 
it would be unjust to farmers who wanted simpler 
combinations of chemicals. The laws regulating the 
sale of milk should be so regulated that a man may 
sell what he pleases provided he will guarantee the 
product. * # 
Governor Flower has appointed F. C. Schraub, of 
Lowville, first Commissioner of Agriculture for New 
York State, and the Senate has confirmed the ap¬ 
pointment. The R. N.-Y. has several times given its 
opinion of Mr. Schraub’s fitness for such a place. He 
has certainly done nothing since to change that 
opinion. Why should a lawyer be appointed Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture ? Suppose President Cleve¬ 
land had called a lawyer to take the place made 
vacant by the retirement of Secretary Rusk ! It was 
conceded even by the politicians that a practical 
farmer should head the Department. Why not the 
same for New York State? Why did not Governor 
Flower select such a man as Geo. T. Powell for this 
position ? Why should it be made a political job any¬ 
way ? Over in New Jersey the same thing was tried, 
but the farmers killed the movement in short order. 
If we are to have a Department of Agriculture in 
New York State, the head of it should be elected by 
the people, like the Secretary of State, or Treasurer, 
ojet the farmers of this State demand the right to 
select their representative. Until they do that, the 
new Department will be of mighty little value to them. 
■*r # 
At the convention of Southern Governors held at 
Richmond, Va., Govenor Fishback, of Arkansas, 
offered a long address to President Cleveland which, 
after stating the great natural advantages of the South, 
its need of immigrants and the author’s belief that 
workmen had been kept out of the South by mis¬ 
statements and wrong ideas, concludes: 
We respectfully ask of yjou that you award to the South a larger 
share of the representation, especially In those foreign ports from 
which most of our immigration and capital come, than has heretofore 
been permitted us, to the end that the mind of mankind be disabused 
of the false Impressions of the South which have been so sedulously, 
so systematically, and so Injuriously spread abroad throughout the 
civilized world. 
While this address was afterwards withdrawn, the 
“hint” contained in it could not be mistaken. The 
idea is that Southern men should be appointed to 
represent the United States in foreign countries that 
they may attempt to divert the stream of immigration 
from the Northwest to the South. If the chief office 
of an American Consul is to act as an immigration 
agent, the proposed scheme is all right. The South, 
however, does not need the workmen and day laborers 
who make up the larger part of our immigrants, 
now could they compete with the negro ? Men with 
capital or skill in some line of industry are neefied 
there and the North is the proper place for the South 
to go in search of them. 
* # 
It would seem as though Nature had been more 
than kind to farmers in the Carolinas, Florida and 
Georgia, so far as fertilizers are concerned. With 
cotton seed or cotton hull ashes and phosphate rock 
they have all the elements of a complete fertilizer 
almost on their own farms. In what other section of 
the world can a complete fertilizer be made more 
readily ? Concerning the use of cotton-seed meal on 
potatoes, Prof. Massey writes : 
Cotton-seed meal is largely used In making a complete fertilizer 
here by mixing It with acid phosphate and cotton-seed hull ashes so 
as to give about eight per cent of phosphoric acid, of ammonia and 
two of potash. The meal has about eight per cent of nitrogen as 
ammonia and also some phosphoric acid and potash. The mixture Is 
used by our market gardeners on potatoes at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 
pounds per acre. Early potatoes seem to need more nitrogen here, 
than northward. Last year on a patch where 1,000 pounds per acre of 
the above mixture were used, a top-dressing of 100 pounds of nitrate of 
soda Increased the yield 20 per cent, but also seemed to favor rot. 
A great deal of this needed nitrogen might be sup¬ 
plied by growing clover and cow peas to be turned 
under as green manure. But with all these natural 
advantages why does Southern agriculture languish ? 
one may ask. A volume could be written in reply to 
that question, but the shortest answer is—a lack of 
nitrogen. That is why so many good farmers argue 
that a good rotation with clover and cow peas as the 
most petted crops in it, is the most hopeful thing for 
the average Southern farm. 
* * 
The American Consul at Nantes, France, thus 
speaks of the butter made for the Brazilian trade : 
It Is of a deep orange color, while the poorer quality Is colored a 
shade of red resembling very nearly the color of a ripe tomato, and Is 
sold to the negroes, who prefer It on account of Its red color. This 
butter is packed In kegs made of American black oak holding about 75 
pounds Strong white tissue paper Is put over the butter, Instead of 
cloth, and a layer of salt Is spread over the paper, the bottom of the 
keg oelng similarly arranged before packing the butter. The keg Is 
then headed and ready fOr shipment. The butter so prepared keeps 
well for from 10 to 12 months. In all cases the matter used In coloring 
Is a vegetable substance named “roucou,” Imported In the form of 
paste from Cayenne and the West Indies, and each manufacturer 
prepares It as he chooses. This Is generally done by mixing the paste 
with olive oil and adding saffron In sufficient quantity to obtain the 
right color. In all cases the salt used Is pulverized sea salt, the use 
of which Is said to be Important for the preservation of the butter. 
The oleo people have declared that no one would eat 
a substance colored red or pink. The man who would 
knowingly eat oleomargarine in preference to butter 
would certainly care little about its color. Was there 
ever such a man anyway ? We doubt it ! The harm 
that this stuff is doing to legitimate dairy industries 
is seen in the fact that while our exports of butter 
have greatly decreased, exports of oleo oil have greatly 
increased. The oil is sent abroad to Holland, where 
it is made into “hog butter” for supplying the trade 
that formerly absorbed genuine American butter. 
* * 
Agricultural land is valuable in Holland. Go 
where he will, the Hollander never can find a country 
quite equal to his native land. Any addition, there¬ 
fore, that can be made to the farm lands of Holland 
is doubly desirable. The only place to find more of 
the sort they now have is down under the sea. A 
plan for reclaiming the lands now covered by the 
Zuyder Zee has been practically accepted. A main 
dyke 18 miles long will be built from island to island 
across the mouth of the Zuyder Zee, and inside dykes 
arranged so as to leave a large lake in the center 
with canals radiating in all directions. The estimated 
cost of this work is $80,000,000, and it will require 32 
years for full completion. It will reclaim 500,000 
acres of excellent land which would add greatly to 
the agricultural wealth of Holland. Probably Gov¬ 
ernment aid will be brought in to help along the en¬ 
terprise. Scattered along the Atlantic coast of this 
country are thousands of acres of salt marsh, or low 
lands that might be reclaimed by dykes. It is far 
more feasible to keep the water out of such lands than 
to try and let it on to the deserts of the West by irri¬ 
gation. , # 
BREVITIES. 
Says the Holstein to the Jersey: “I can milk an awful mess. 
But the trouble Is it's just as white as chalk; 
And although that’s as It should be, still I can’t help but confess 
That I hear these human beings loudly talk 
All abont tbe deeper color of your mess, my little friend; 
Why should you and I make faces now and sulk ? 
Let us rather pool our Issues In a partnership—you lend 
All your color to the milk and I’ll give bulk. 
Better far cooperation than this competition tight; 
Let these human beings have the whole of that. 
Let us just sail in and capture all the trade there Is In sight, 
Selling any colored milk, both lean and tat.” 
When do you begin ? 
Who can grow rich growing culls ? 
There Is some “go” in Devon ox blood. 
Unresting is the rest caused by rain this spring. 
A waste of corn meal In that Wisconsin feeding yard, page 299. 
He who signs a contract will tlnd that he must stand by his write. 
One way to start a dairy boom—use elbow grease and currycomb. 
Have you ever killed any babies with sour brewers' grains milk ? 
Page 298. 
The “ dishorning craze ” will probably " die out’’when the horns 
are all off. 
Take stock In an Irrigating scheme by putting a watering device In 
your barn. 
“A knife for an eye,” as the potato grower said when he cut his 
choice seed Into half eye pieces. 
Unhappy Is the man who adepts a trade-mark and then puts it on 
a package of second-class goods. 
The man who starts farm operations every day at 3 A. M deserves 
success whether he gets It or not. 
The many who ask us to print a good recipe for a “ condition pow¬ 
der ” are asked to look at page 237. 
“ Why are we alike? ’ said the lump of rock salt to the spring carpet. 
I am hard to lick and you are hard to beat. 
The clerk's pay goes on during his short vacation. The hen is as 
good as the clerk—feed her well during her moult. 
Has any one tried baskets of wire netting for picking up potatoes In 
the Held? This ought to be a good way to slit out dirt. 
Read “ Memories of a City Job ” page 302, young man, and decide 
right off that such things will never be realities for you. 
We are always sorry to see a stout farm boy make a counterfeit man 
of himself by playing the counter feat In a dry goods store! 
Come forward with your evidence respecting the effects of feeding 
beets to cows, page 311. Did you ever hear of such a case before ? 
Mr. Potter Is too good a business man to kick or scold the fat out 
of his cow's milk. Fine words may not butter parsnips, but they help 
butter a cow’s milk. 
“ The coming man will be a woman” says the thinker. No, he will 
be a whoa-man—that Is, he will be better able to stop himself when 
headed for foolishness. 
If Mr. Potter dishorns his cows, why doesn’t he also take the horns 
from those steer assistants pictured on page 297 ? Perhaps because the 
yoke would slip off their heads. 
We have had a reporter among some of the New York State farmers 
who set out grapes under the direction of the Niagara Grape Company 
some years ago. Now we shall get at the facts in the case. 
Some of our Guernsey breeders object to our saying that their cow 
Is “a dignified Jersey.” We will give them full space In which to 
show that there is nothing of the Jersey, dlgnltled or otherwise, about 
her. 
The New Jersey State Board of Agriculture has issued a little 
pamphlet of formulas for home mixing fertilizers. A mixture Is given 
for each of the more prominent crops. Prof. E B. Voorhees prepared 
the pamphlet, which may be called a plant cook book for those who 
want to try home mixing. 
• 
The California prune crop promises to be something enormous 
within a few years Large plantings have been made and careful 
preparations are being made to cure and handle the product so that 
It can be marketed In first-class condition. It looks as though foreign 
Importations of this crop would be “severely pruned” by the Cali¬ 
fornians. 
Digestion experiments at the Minnesota Station showed that 95 
per cent of the nitrogen of cattle food was returned In some form. 
About one-half was in the form of urine, one-flfth In the dung and 
from one-lifth to one-fourth In the milk. You can see from this the 
advantage of saving the liquid manure, because If permitted to waste, 
one-half the nitrogen would run away with It. Nitrogen Is like a run¬ 
away boy—It must be arrested, and the policeman to do it Is piaster. 
Mr. Currier tells us, page 301, how he cultivates his potato crop. 
His own crop last year was 32.000 bushels, so his operations may justly 
be called wholesale. His wholesale work with that big light harrow 
gives about as clean culture as any retail work at the end of a hoe- 
handle. Why ? It Is done early—in time. As we have often said, a 
man of 30 years can whip a dozen boys of 10. If he waits 20 years be¬ 
fore tackling them, any one of the boys will then thrash him. Kill the 
little weeds. 
Over In New Jersey a line-looking woman called on a farmer and 
made at. offer for his farm. She was to pay $600 In cash and give a 
mortgage for the rest. She offered a $1,000 bill In payment. The 
farmer took the bill to the bank where they told him It was as good as 
gold. Thus satisfied, he drew $400 out of the bank and paid It to the 
woman receiving, as he supposed, the good bill. When he came to 
pass It, however, the same bank told him It was “ no good.” The 
woman had changed bills, keeping the one he had tested and giving 
him a bad one. Never change bills for strangers. Let them break 
them themselves. 
Ax illustration of the possibilities of our language Is found In the 
bill of fare prepared for members of the Salvation Army for the week 
of self-denial: 
Sunday—Bread and Praties. 
Monday—Potatoes and Bread. 
Tuesday—Bread and Potatoes. 
Wednesday— Pomme de terre et du pain. 
Thursday—The Staff of Life and Murphies. 
Friday—Bread and SpudB. 
Saturday—Spuds and Bread. 
The fact Is that potatoes, and bread, too, for that matter, oan be 
cooked in a multitude of different ways so that this bill of fare will 
not become tiresome. 
