384 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1) 
June 3 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
C(/r. Chambers and Pearl Sts ., 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 1393. 
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, JUNE 3, 1893. 
The decision that the World’s Fair will not be closed 
on Sundays is a black knot on the reputation of the 
managers. The cure for black knot is to cut it off. 
Thousands of people will apply this remedy by cut¬ 
ting off their visit to the fair. In our opinion Sunday 
opening is a bad business move anyway. The people 
who go to the grounds on Sunday would go on other 
days anyway, while thousands will not go near the 
fair at all if the managers break faith with the 
Government and repudiate their contract. 
# * 
A galactalogue is defined as “ an agent exciting 
increased secretion of milk.’ At some of the French 
agiicultural colleges experiments have been made 
with foods and exteri al treatments to increase the 
flow of milk from certain cows. The external treat¬ 
ment consisted of massage and light electrical treat¬ 
ment. The “ massage or thorough rubbing with the 
hand or brush was successful. That’s an argument in 
favor of currying cattle. Dried nettles or rue fed as 
forage or in the form of a medical preparation stimu¬ 
lated the flow of milk at once when added to the 
usual food. It is also believed that rue, by the way, 
is a specific for chicken cholera. 
* * 
Governor Morris, of Connecticut, has signed a 
stringent anti-oleo act, designed to drive bogus butter 
out of the markets of the State. It prohibits the 
coloring of any article not made of cows’ milk, so as 
to make it look like butter. Moreover, sellers of the 
fraud must display over the entrances t,L their stores 
a sign, “Oleomargarine Sold Here,” in black letters 
4x2 inches on a white ground. If sold from a wagon 
or other vehicle, the latter must be labeled on both 
sides. The penalty for each violation of the law is 
$100 or 60 days in jail for the first offense, and for 
subsequent transgressions the penalty is doubled. 
Just as in many other States, tbe great difficulty will 
be to secure officers who will honestly and faithfully 
enforce the law. , * 
“Talk about speculators,” said a produce dealer 
the other day; “there isn’t a greater speculator out 
than the farmer. If the price of any product goes up, 
he never wants to sell; no matter how high the price, 
he always wants more. After the price begins to go 
down, he wants to sell and usually gets a lower price 
than he might have obtained.” Unfortunately, there 
is too much of truth in this statement. The dealer in 
question cited several instances in support of his 
statement. Every seller wishes to get all possible for 
his wares. This is natural and right, but it isn’t 
always easy to tell just when the right point has been 
reached. It is generally better to sell on a rising 
than on a falling market. When an unusually high 
figure has been attained, it isn’t reasonable to sup¬ 
pose that that price will be long sustained. Extra 
high prices always tend to draw out reserves and to 
stimulate imports, so that such prices can not reason¬ 
ably be expected to last. 
* # 
The late unlamented Jay Gould paid taxes on only 
$500,000 of personal property during the later years of 
his life, and perjured himself many times over to 
secure the reduction to this amount. After his death, 
when it became necessary to make public facts con¬ 
cerning his estate in order to adminster upon it, 
the State put in a claim for inheritance tax upon $72,- 
000,000, and the City Tax Commissioners have made 
an assessment on $10,000,000 personality. The executors 
are resorting to every possible legal device to avoid the 
payment of these taxes. It is monstrous that a man 
with so much wealth that he was literally worn out 
caring for it, should thus be able to defraud the State, 
while within a few blocks of his palatial mansion 
were thousands who never knew what it was to be 
comfortably housed, clothed an! fed; and in the 
State which gave him protection thousands of farmers 
who wouldn’t be worth a dollar if their debts were 
paid, were paying burdensome taxes with their hard- 
earned dollars, a goodly pert of which should have 
been piid by him and those like him. It is to be 
hoped that the authorities will exact the last cent 
that can be legally taken. No doubt there are hun 
dreds of similar cases. Is it any wonder that the 
breach between the classes and the masses is con¬ 
stantly widening ? Isn’t it about time that the people 
asserted themselves, and not only demanded but se¬ 
cured equitable laws that should compel the wealthy 
to pay at least their just proportion of taxes? The 
R. N.-Y. believes that they should pay more than 
this ; that a graded income tax should be enforced, 
which would compel a man to pay more, proportion¬ 
ately, for the support of the government as his wealth 
increased. If this isn’t right, why isn’t it? 
■# * 
This is the way a western New York farmer puts it: 
“ I think a good many farmers made a mistake in not 
selling their potatoes sooner when they could have 
got a good price, but it seems as though the higher a 
thing goes, the less inclined we farmers are to sell. A 
good rule is to sell when a fair price can be obtained.” 
What’s wrong with that doctrine ? What is to pre¬ 
vent selling when the “ fair price ” is offered ? Simply 
the fact that not one farmer in ten knows what his 
crops cost to raise. Unless you know what a bushel 
of wheat or potatoes cost in the bin, how can you tell 
whether the “ going price ” is fair or not ? Suppose a 
merchant did not know what his goods cost, how long 
would he do business ? Can’t tell what crops cost ? 
Our answer to that is that plenty of farmers so farm 
that they do know. 
* * 
The Western Rural in an article on “ Abandoned 
Farms” in New England, after stating that farms at 
the East have been farmed too long already says : 
Now what Is to be the outcome? The sterile hill and mountain side 
farms will be abandoned to growth of timber, whether situated near 
or remote as regards railroads and markets. Tbe Inevitable aban¬ 
donment of lands where generations of influential men and women 
were born and reared, has alread} begun, and large forests of pine, 
oak, birch, beech, maple, chestnut, ash, sycamore and poplar are now 
found among the old-time rows where corn and potatoes last grew. 
There is much truth in this, no doubt, still New 
England farming is by no means doomed. Most of 
her farmers “went West” because plant-food in stable 
manure was too costly at home. With a wise use of 
fertilizers they now find farming cheaper and easier 
than before. If they raise the right crops it is more 
profitable too. 
# * 
L. R. Jones, Botanist of the Vermont Experiment 
Station, at Burlington, deserves credit for an original 
and striking device for advertising the use of Bordeaux 
Mixture for potatoes. It consists of a very heavy 
piece of card board about 15 x 10 inches, with protected 
corners and a device for hanging up. At the top is a 
large, elegant photograph of a field of potatoes show¬ 
ing a streak of dead vines where the mixture was not 
used, with sprayed portions on either side. Below, 
after giving facts about the crop, is printed in large 
letters— 
TRY IT THIS SUMMER. 
I 6 pounds of Blue Vitriol. 
Bordeaux Mixture consists of < 5 pounds of Fresh Lime. 
I 60 gallons (Barrel) of Water. 
Dissolve the Blue Vitriol in a wooden or brass vessel, slake the lime 
and dilute to a whitewash; strain these two solutions Into a clean 
barrel and mix thoroughly. Keep the mixture clean to avoid clogging 
pump and nozzles. Add Paris-green for bugs If needed. 
Then follow brief directions for spraying. A copy of 
this card is to be sent to one person at each post office 
in the State to be hung in a prominent place. Now, 
this, to use a common expression, is business. It is 
the best advertising scheme that has yet been devised 
by any of the stations. We would like to have this 
card hanging in every post office and country store in 
this land. 
* * 
While the Connecticut Legislature has just ex¬ 
empted property descending to sons and daughters 
from the five per cent direct inheritance tax, and 
appears strongly inclined to repeal or greatly modify 
the tax on even indirect successions, the Pennsyl¬ 
vania House has voted by a decisive majority to add to 
the tax on direct successions, and there is little doubt 
that the measure will become a law. Some of the 
papers, especially those owned by wealthy individuals, 
call such taxation “robbery.” Is it any more robbery 
than a tax on any other kind of property? The owner 
of it had been protected in its use and enjoyment dur¬ 
ing his lifetime; those to whom it descends have rarely 
done anything to increase its value except what they 
have been well paid for; in a majority of cases, es¬ 
pecially in regard to personal property, it has for the 
most part for years escaped its due proportion of tax¬ 
ation ; what injustice is therefore done in levying a 
moderate tax on it, when after the death of the owner 
its real character and extent are often for the first 
time made public ? Would there be much injustice, 
indeed, in levying even an exemplary tax on property 
which during the lifetime of the testator had not con¬ 
tributed its due share to the public burthens? From 
present indications it is not improbable that the next 
session of Congress will impose an income tax, and 
not unlikely of a graded character. 
We often wonder Row many people try the plausible 
but absurd suggestions which are often printed in the 
cheaper class of agricultural papers. Sometimes the 
returns come in as they do in this note : 
Referring to the paragraph about the Frenchman soaking potato 
sets, I saw It Indorsed by a farm paper and tried it, not expecting to 
get the 1,100 bushels per acre, but still hoping to give the sprouts a 
vigorous start till they could reach the fertilizer In the trench, and 
now for the result: 99 per cent rotted In the trench, and the ground 
Is to-day plowed up and planted in corn; while In the same field, with 
the same cultivation, fertilizer and seed, without soaking, 99 per cent 
came up vigorous and Btrong and promise a good crop. 
The advice was to soak potato seed in a solution of 
sulphate of ammonia. It seems to us that any one 
with a double thought would have seen that this soak¬ 
ing could add nothing to tbe food of the plant, still we 
have no doubt many tried it at a loss. It is amusing 
and instructive to test these schemes on a small scale, 
but you must expect to pay for your fun. 
* * 
Every year persons start up in various parts of the 
country offering to sell great secrets that Nature has 
been kind enough to reveal to them only. This man 
has a “ sure rule ” for determining the sex of animals, 
that man has a sure way of keeping hens laying all 
through their moult and so on. The latest of these 
schemes is the following from a New York State man : 
I am a farmer of 60 years’ experience, and by accident discovered a 
sure remedy against tbe “potato bug” or Colorado Beetle. I will 
guarantee to drive every bug from the potato field If my preventive 
is used before the eggs of the young are laid. It will not cost 25 cents 
per acre and can be put on In 10 minutes to the acre. It Is no poison. 
I will send a recipe for It for $1 or 50 for 110, and will refund the money 
If It does not do as recommended if used In season. 
There certainly ought to be a fortune in such a 
scheme. Think of killing all the potato bugs at a cost 
of 25 cents per acre and in 10 minutes ! “ There’s mil¬ 
lions in it! ” But how can this man get the millions 
out? Certainly not through The R. N.-Y., unless he 
sees fit to tell what it is and how it works. We suggest 
a patent and a big advertisement. 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
I’ve often laughed at neighbor Gray an' made my jokes about the way 
He tinkers ’round amongst his flowers a-wastln’ dollar bills an' hours 
That never bring a penny In; It 'peared ter me jest like a sin 
For grown-up folks like him ter play with flowers and fool their time 
away. 
That’s how I talked last year, yerBee— now jest look at me; here I be 
A-layln' helpless In the gloom of this here still an’ darkened room. 
8o sick an’ tortured up with pain, “ Won’t never be myself again!” 
Thinks I! When In come neighbor Gray and tiptoed ’cross the room 
to lay 
A bunch o’ roses at my side. I swan, I was so weak I cried, 
For they was somethin' I knowed well, a-sorter blessln’ In the smell 
Them roses brought; the sun an' air, the farm an’ all I loved out there, 
The memory of happy hours, was all wrapped up In them sweet 
flowerB. 
It's somethin' that I couldn't stand; I Jest reached out an' shuck his 
hand. 
There warn’t a word that we oould call, because them roses said It all. 
An’ now I reckon I'll git well; It jest beats all; l couldn’t tell 
Jest how them flowers has braced me up, an' put a sweetness In the cup 
Of life, and sorter oiled the track. You wait till I git off my hack! 
YOU must have humus. 
Now prune the Leghorn’s wing. 
The scrub brush beats the purebred. 
This world needs a human drone cage. 
A etraw-bury— plowing under coarse manure. 
Every drone has his use—all but the human drones. 
It’s the horse's walk that cuts the pace for the hired man. 
The hired men are mustering to reply to Carrie T. Meigs. 
People are willing to pay a Hackney for “ picking up his feet." 
Hats off to the bee I but get a safe distance from the hive, though. 
Lots of exalted Industries are not knee-high to a bee hive in actual 
Importance. 
You might see a part of your trouble stop If you’d try the effect of 
a double crop. 
Behold the cream that is In thy sklm-mllk and feed It not to the 
shote that Is In thy pen. 
How can you expect the mortgage to rise unless you keep the 
ammonia plastered down ? 
’ AN evidence of wealth—the ability to feed Timothy hay to cows 
when city markets call for It. 
“ All wool and a yard wide,” said the cur dog as he sneaked Into 
the barnyard among the sheep. 
Can potato vines grow so fast as to get away from the bugs? Shovel 
on the plant-food and try It once. 
YOU never hear coarse words from a refined man, but a coarse man 
uses fine words to cover his coarseness. 
Lump jaw Is bad for cattle. How about the stump-jaw that affects 
so many men whenever there Is an election? 
To grow a deoent double crop there’s one thing very sure, you’ve 
also got to double up your portion of manure. 
Folks often talk about reforming so and so. Do you reform a thing 
without knocking Its present form all out of time ? 
Some additional notes from the ” one-horse Jersey farm are printed 
on page 380. How do you like that five years’ average ? 
Pasturing young clover too early is like putting the baby at woik 
too soon. Better lose a little labor and have a flner baby. 
The pork tub hath a musty smell. We hear the farmer say, “ Oh, 
how 1 wish I'd smoked that meat and packed It safe away.” 
There’d be fewer folks with bitter mouths from swallowing life’s 
dregs, If all the barley now In beer were fed to hens for eggs. 
Which Is the wise man—he who grows a double crop between trees 
while his orchard Is young or he who gives all the space to the trees? 
The convention of Southern governors did not offer Inducements to 
a single man to go South and grow more cotton. There are cotton 
growers enough now. 
“ He who getteth himself honey, though a clown he shall have 
flies I ” So runs the old Spanish proverb. That may have been true 
when the proverb was written, but there are certainly no flies on that 
Connecticut apiary. J 
