320 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 6 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts ., New York. 
& feikUucuu Weekly Journal tor Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT 8. CABMAN, Edltor-ln-Chlef. 
HERBERT W. OOLLINGWOOD, Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Oopyrighted 1898. 
Address all communications and make all orders payable to The 
Bubal Publishing Company. 
Money orders and bank drafts are the safest In transmitting money. 
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1893. 
One hen is a small animal, though she can make 
more fuss than an elephant if she pleases. When you 
put 20,000 chickens together, however, you have a 
crowd. Twenty thousand broilers at $1 a pair will 
make a business that 150 ordinary cows would have 
hard work to equal. And 600 laying hens will pro¬ 
vide the eggs needed for the broilers. The hen, you 
see, is Capable of big things. Why then are so many 
of her results counted as small things? Simply because 
the human beings who try to handle the details do 
net attend to their business properly. The hen is 
all right unless some man gets in her way. 
* * 
Don’t fail to read the department headed “We 
Want To Know,” usually on the 12th page of the 
paper. This was begun as a sort of overflow meeting 
for the Farmers’ Club, but it has grown into a regular 
department of its own. No paper in the country has 
so many questions sent it for answers as The R. N.- 
Y. A study of them from week to week will show 
that they come from all over the country and are on 
all conceivable topics. These questions are very use¬ 
ful. They indicate as nothing else can what our read¬ 
ers want explained, as for every man who actually 
writes out the question there are a dozen who have 
been studying on the same thing. 
* * 
From the grain growing belt of the Dakotas comes 
the report that three times as much grain is sown 
there this spring as ever before. Similar reports of 
a great increase come from the Pacific coast. In 
other parts of the West new areas are being opened 
up. The most of this grain is wheat, which is now 
selling at a figure which is unprofitable to many of 
the growers. With the condition of winter wheat 
for the whole country but little below that of last 
year, the prospect is not an encouraging one. Under 
ruling prices of cattle and dairy products, corn, oats, 
not to speak of poultry, fruits, and other so-called 
minor farm products, doesn't it seem the part of wis¬ 
dom to devote a little more attention to these, and a 
little less to wheat? 
* « 
The greatest expense of the Eastern dairyman is 
for food containing protein. For this element he has 
been forced to depend largely upon grains brought in 
from the West. The silo has greatly cheapened the 
cost of the fats and carbohydrates because it has pro¬ 
vided a way to save all the corn crop. The growing 
of oats and peas has revived dairying on many farms 
because it has provided a cheaper supply of home¬ 
grown protein. The curing of pea-vine hay has not 
always been satisfactory, but now the silo is again 
called in to help keep the pea crop. The Minnesota 
Station people have made some exhaustive experi¬ 
ments with pea ensilage, which show that this crop 
can be preserved in a silo so as to turn out a strong 
and digestible product. With corn for carbohy¬ 
drates and peas for protein, the Eastern dairyman will 
be able to cut his grain bill directly in two. Within 
a few years the effect of Eastern pea culture will be 
plainly evident in the decreased prices for Western 
grain. 
6 * # 
On another page will be found a facsimile of an 
essay written by President Cleveland nearly 50 years 
ago. Since that time our President has learned to 
write better and more comprehensive essays, but he 
has never told a sounder truth than when at nine years 
old he said : “ If it were not for the cow we should 
have to do without many things which are considered 
necessaries of life.” “ The cow ” typifies agriculture, 
the foundation of all that makes President Cleveland 
proud of the country he represents. Doubtless the 
boyish mind of the young essayist comprehended the 
fact that the animal providing leather, buttons, milk 
and glue must be fostered and cared for or it would 
not prosper. Let us hope that this lesson was so 
well learned that the President to-day realizes that 
agriculture no less than “ The Cow ” must be fos¬ 
tered and encouraged or the country will “ go down.” 
We trust it will not be considered impertinent if we 
say that we hope the “ glutinous substance ” in the 
cow’s hoof will hold our President firmly to the rights 
of the agricultural classes. 
* * 
Whenever we write the facts about that “ One- 
Horse Jersey Farm ” of Mr. Johnson, lots of people 
start up and give us to understand that they don’t be¬ 
lieve the story. We think none the less of them for 
it, because we know how hard it is for a farmer back 
from local markets to realize the possibilities of 18 
acres of good soil within 30 miles of 4,000,000 people. 
Every word of our statement about the finances of that 
farm and its crop is correct. We might easily have 
given some details that would have made the story 
seem larger yet. To our mind such a place as that is 
a valuable experiment station, and, instead of being a 
“ sport ” or solitary example, we believe its counter¬ 
part can be found in every State of the Union. We 
mean that everywhere men can be found who have 
worked their soil so wisely and well, and studied their 
markets so thoroughly, that the afternoon of life finds 
them with the ability and inclination to enjoy their 
remaining years in comfort and happiness. That’s all 
there is about Mr. Johnson’s farm. All that he has 
came out of the soil. * * 
Even among the classes who suffer from their 
exactions there are not a few defenders of trusts and 
similar gigantic monopolistic combinations. These 
insist on the obvious advantages of union in important 
enterprises, the superiority of a single able manage¬ 
ment, the great economy of production and distribu¬ 
tion obtainable by consolidation, and the greater secur¬ 
ity of profits in the absence of competition. These 
sticklers for extortion may, however, be asked to 
whom do these advantages accrue ? Do the destroyers 
of competition share their increased profits with the 
people ? On the contrary, do they not, in nine cases 
out of ten, put up prices and increase their exactions? 
Isn’t it a fact proved by the example of all such 
combinations that they exist to prey on the people ? 
Their advantages are all for the few and at the cost 
of the many. Haven’t they in all ages and in all coun¬ 
tries been justly regarded as things of evil tendencies? 
The laws, State and National, rightfully condemn 
them as criminal conspiracies against the public wel¬ 
fare, and all good citizens should seek for the enforce¬ 
ment of vigorous and righteous laws for their sup¬ 
pression. # * 
We met a man the other day who said he would not 
use fertilizers because they stimulated the soil too 
much. The stable manure made on the farm was 
ample for him. 
“Both father and grandfather got along without 
them,” he said. 
“ Didn’t your grandfather have the ashes made 
from burning off his farm ?” 
“Yes, ashes are all right. I can see the effect to-day 
of big bush heaps burned 20 years ago.” 
“ What is the difference between ashes and a good 
commercial fertilizer ?” 
“ I don’t know. One was made at home without 
cost, and the other means an outlay of cash.” 
Did your grandfather use to buy grain to feed to 
his stock ?” 
“No. Grain was too valuable for stock food except 
for horses and a few of the best cows.” 
“Yet you buy and feed it to stock; does it pay 
you ?” 
“ Certainly, who could sell butter and milk without 
feeding grain ?” 
There is the point in a nutshell. The grandfather 
had ashes for the burning. He started the theory 
that the farm must support itself and go on paying 
out without fresh deposits. The grandson inherited 
the theory, but not the old farm and ashes. He has 
been forced to buy grain because the cows evidently 
needed it. He does not buy fertilizers, because it is 
not quite so evident that they are needed. 
* * 
An excellent bill to prevent the practice of fraud 
and oppression on farmers by country elevators, has 
lately passed the Minnesota Legislature. It puts all 
elevators on railroads owning the right of way in the 
State, under the supervision of the State Board of 
Railroad Commissioners. For years it has been loudly 
charged that the farmers were defrauded by the com¬ 
panies in the grading of wheat and by combinations 
to keep down prices at local points, and the State 
Warehouse Commissioners, to remedy these evils, 
have earnestly worked for the legislation embodied in 
this bill. Under it, if a farmer is not satisfied with 
the grading of his wheat, any wrong may be rectified 
by sending samples to the State Inspector. Indeed, 
wrongs of all sorts in marketing the grain are to be 
set right by the Warehouse Commission. To give 
farmers a choice of markets for their grain, they are 
entitled to a receipt for their wheat at the local ele¬ 
vators, less the cost of transportation and storage. 
As such receipts are salable as so much grain at dis¬ 
tant markets, the shippers can thus escape the ex¬ 
actions of any local combine. If they can get a better 
price for their grain at Duluth or Minneapolis than at 
the point of shipment, they are free to make their 
own choice of a market. For some time farmers have 
been protected against frauds at the terminal ele¬ 
vators. but have, it is charged, been outrageously 
fleeced by the local storage manipulators. How is it 
that the Western farmers secure remedial legislation 
against abuses so much oftener than the Eastern ? 
* * 
The facts about the Niagara grape growing may 
come too late to save money for those who bought 
vines at tremendous prices, but let us hope the story 
may keep those who read it out of similar schemes 
with other plants The country is full of agents who 
propose to establish some wonderful business in coun¬ 
try neighborhoods or give some farmer a special 
chance at growing a new and remarkable plant. How 
is a farmer to know the frauds from the reliable and 
helpful enterprises ? Unquestionably there are many 
new things that will prove very helpful to the com¬ 
munity if handled right. As a rule, such disappoint¬ 
ing schemes are not worked with any great success in 
communities where there is a strong Grange or 
Alliance or some other organization for cooperative 
work and action The man who works a fraud gen¬ 
erally tells the farmer that he is getting a chance 
that his neighbors never will have. It is the selfish 
side of the victim that generally absorbs the bait, and 
the best defense is a strong coSperation that will 
multiply the communities’ facilities for doing busi¬ 
ness and obtaining information. 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
We uster make our Harden In a little sorter yard. 
A great big fence around It an’ we found It mighty hard 
To git the men folks started fer ter spade or plow the ground; 
They didn’t like sech labor an’ another job was found. 
An’ so the garden languished an’ our garden sass an' greens 
Was jest about the measure of a single hill o’ beans; 
But now we take the garden right out In the open Held; 
It jest divides the labor while It multiplies the yield. 
The men folks chase the horses while they cultivate the crop, 
With plow an’ cultivator, but you couldn't make ’em stop 
To work in that yard garden, so It never hed no show. 
The men folks are too dignified to handle spade an’ hoe. 
No branch without a root. 
Introduce your horses to a ditch. 
No cow ever forgets the hole In the fence. 
“ The good die young” because they never really grow old. 
When a potato stops growing we dig It. When a man stops grow 
lng he should be burled. 
How many copies of the experiment station bulletin are taken at 
your post office ? You make It one anyway. 
As long as you're taxed for the middleman’s share, just make up 
your mind that you’ll never “ get there 1 ” 
Prof. E. B. Voorhees has been elected director of the New Jersey 
Experiment Station—an excellent selection. 
The wolf In sheep's clothing Is the scrub ram that Alls your pens 
with woolly backs that simply eat and cheat. 
The oheapest fertilizer Is the one that gives the biggest crop for a 
dollar—not the one that gives the biggest bag for a dollar. 
Which pays better, to spend 12 for nitrogen and lose 50 cents' worth 
by leaching, or to spend 50 cents and lose $5 on the starved crop? 
On the principle that you want early Interest on your money, don’t 
you like a berry plant that will “bear Itself to death" the first season? 
Farmers are satisfied to have their rights begin where those of 
others leave off, but the other fellows want to "lap over” too often. 
Sometimes our plans turn out against our will; the name for such 
a dose Is “ bitter pill;" and though the swallow makes us shake and 
shiver, it might make you and me a better liver. 
If a man believes In draining, he certainly ought to believe In Irri¬ 
gation. If there are times when It pays to take water out of the soil, 
there must be others when It pays to put It back. 
A little pinch of salt may stand between a good dinner and a 
stale, flat meal. A spoonful of soluble nitrogen or phosphoric acid 
may stand between a good ear of corn and a poor one. 
To use the corrosive sublimate solution for potato scab why not 
make a basket of fine wire? Put your potatoes Into that and wash by 
dipping Into water and then dip Into the solution. This would be a 
handy way to dip them In and out and have them drain. 
Since we told about that proposed experiment with the Slmenthal 
cattle we have received many letters from persons who are very ready 
to sell land for the venture. Our friend who writes on page 327 Is 
honest enough to say that It will be a case of the survival of the ticks 
If older cattle are sent there. 
Here’s a question from Pennsylvania : “ What does The Rural 
think of a man who takes ‘ more papers than he can read,’ but must 
go to a subscriber of The Rural to get the recipe for making the 
Bordeaux Mixture?” We should say that he falls to read the papers 
that would keep him Informed. He probably reads for amusement. 
Notice that Mr. Seeley says he must have 40,000 eggs to produce 
20,000 broilers—with average hatches and deaths In the broiler house— 
and this with every appliance for perfect work. We believe that one 
laying hen out of every five eggs set Is a good average In ordinary prac¬ 
tice. Mr. Seeley allows only 80 or less eggs per year for his laying hens 
That’s conservative certainly. 
The advantage of having a permanent hog pasture Is very evident. 
The chief point about a hog pasture Is the fence, which must be per¬ 
manent and expensive If It is to be “ hog-tlght." The advantages of 
Alfalfa In sections where It will grow are well stated by Mr. Wing on 
page 318. Happy Is the hog that has for owner a man who knows his 
pork-maker Is as much a grazer as any milk-maker. 
MR. Coggshall talks sense on page 314 when he says that what 
the fathers called the waste spots of the farms are now the richest 
for the sons. Take the water out of these low spots. The soli Itself 
Is rich enough to serve as a fertilizer for the lighter uplands, or crops 
can be grown on the drained swamps and the manure made from such 
crops put on the hillsides. Thus the fertility of the farm Is evenly- 
distributed. 
