464 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 8 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts ., New York. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBEBT 8. CARMAN, Editor-ln-Chlef. 
HERBERT W. COLLING WOOD. Managing Editor 
EH WIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor 
Copyrighted 18M. 
Address all communications and make all orders payable to The 
Kura.i. Publishing Company. 
Money orders and bank drafts are the safest In transmitting money. 
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1893. 
Some men’s success is founded on a shock, which 
they receive when they begin to comprehend how 
scrub stock or methods have nearly ruined them. 
The winds of adversity have to blow hard enough to 
nearly knock the home down before the owner will 
put up the right sails to utilize the wind. 
# * 
Mr. Taber gets the foundation rock for his farm 
out of the strawberry—a substance so soft tha*i a 
toothless man can eat it. Nothing improbable about 
that. A good proportion of the rocks in our fields are 
aqueous, or deposited from water. A man can be 
washed out of sight by the water in five tons of straw¬ 
berries if he does not handle it right. It takes study, 
thought and care to get the rock of profit out of fruit 
water. 
« * 
Notice what those two sows did—page 471. Two of 
them, inside of 12 months, were responsible for over 
four tons of pork, sold or kept for home use. At five 
cents a pound, this meani $200 for each sow ! Don’t 
you know that two-thirds of the cows in this country 
don’t begin to touch that figure ? Anything wrong 
with the well-kept American hog ? No bad'symptoms 
are indicated in that record, surely. Who can match it ? 
# * 
Alluding to the trial being made at the Rural 
Grounds to determine the difference in yield between 
the trench system and the old way of furrow or drill 
planting for potatoes, our readers may be interested 
to know that the tops of the trench plants are not 
over half so large as those of the furrows. Those 
were several days later in sprouting. The early sea¬ 
son was backward, cold and i ainy, and, we fancy, the 
seed pieces of the deep trenches were retarded and 
weakened in growth. 
« # 
What is the most important element of Mr. Taber’s 
success ? We should say his careful attention to 
details and his determination to get the top price for 
everything he sells. The only way to get that is to 
have the best things to sell and the ability to make 
people see BEST standing out all over them. Mr. 
Taber at one time bred Light Brahma fowls. He 
bred them more for fun than for profit, yet they were 
so well selected and cared for that he once sold the 
birds from one sitting for over $27. Work for the best. 
* # 
A bank check is money and yet it is not. If John 
Smith sends you his check for $25 in payment for 
butter or eggs you have sent him, the piece of paper 
means that the bank will pay you $25 just so long as 
Smith has that amount on deposit. If it were cash 
you might put it in your pocket and keep it there for 
years knowing that it would be perfectly safe at all 
times. But don’t treat the check that way. Have it 
cashed at once. Get it back to the bank as soon as 
possible. In these shaky times it is not safe to assume 
that any check is as good as cash, 
* * 
A quick dry with the least handling will make the 
best hay. Grass is perfectly healthy—it does not need 
to be “ cured. 1 ’ Too much shaking and tossing about 
will only lose the lighter leaves and flowers, which 
are tbe best of the plant. Don’t wait till the grass is 
wood before you cut it. There are more milk and butter 
in early cut grass. What’s the good of cutting grass 
for hay that the stock would not eat in the pasture ? 
Old plants, like old hens, are less digestible than 
young ones. Another thing to remember—long keep¬ 
ing in bale or mow reduces the digestibility of the hay. 
* * 
The people of New Orleans are complaining that 
while the mortality among the white inhabitants is 
only 10.(58 per 1,000 per annum—a death rate which 
would give the city a right to boast of its healthful¬ 
ness—the mortuary rate among the negroes is 40.54 
per 1,000 a year. Since about one-third of the people 
are negroes, the average 1 otal mortality is raised to 
23.21. Instead of grumbling at the inevitable under 
the present conditions, why do not the whites attack 
these and improve the sanitary state of the large col¬ 
ored population as well as their surroundings ? Most 
of them live in defiance of all rules of health and 
common sense and die without medical attendance, 
while the locations where many congregate are hot¬ 
beds of disease all the year round and of pestilence in 
summer time. What have the growling whites ever 
done to improve either ? 
* * 
“I am a Prohibitionist myself,” said Mr Taber, 
“ but I’d like to have you try a little of the contents 
of that black bottle ! ” It was grape juice, as pure 
and sweet as when it was crushed out of the grapes. 
A sound and healthy drink. People would be far 
better off if they would drink more of it. Public 
morals would be better if it could be sold cheaply 
under the nose of every saloon in the city. There 
ought to be such a demand for it that all but first- 
class bunches of grapes could be kept at home and 
squeezed into juice. # * 
A good deal of The R. N.-Y.’s success as a paper is 
due to the fact that its readers are wideawake and 
thoughtful men. They seem to be alive to the im¬ 
portance of giving practical experience. Whenever a 
statement is made that needs a little shadirg or ex¬ 
planation, some reader is sure to come in with just 
the needed point to make all clear. Whenever a ques¬ 
tion is asked that requires a wide range of experience 
for answer, the experiences are sure to come in. That 
is what we like. We want this paper to be a big ex¬ 
perience meeting so that all may feel free to talk. 
* * 
If there ever was a time when farmers should save 
everything that can be used as fodder for the live 
stock, that time is this year. From all parts of the 
country come reports of droughts which have injured 
the hay crop. In many parts, the spring grain has 
also been injured so that the growth of straw is short. 
On the other hand, the hay market seems to be devel¬ 
oping as never before. In another column is men¬ 
tioned the fact of a vessel being chartered to carry a 
cargo of hay to France. This is extending the export 
business in hay at a rapid rate. Heretofore only 
small quantities have been sent abroad, but there is a 
great scarcity in other countries as well as in France, 
and American hay has been found to fill the bill. The 
small shipments previously made have created a de¬ 
mand for more. So the prospect is good for a strong 
demand and high prices for every pound of good hay. 
Not only should every precaution be taken to secure 
the hay crop in the best possible condition, but all 
other forage crops should be saved, so that as much of 
tbe hay as possible may be available for sale. The 
hay crop is a pay crop this year. 
* * 
In these troublesome days of financial uncertainty, 
the value of ready cash is clearly shown. Many a 
business concern has been wrecked because of insuffi¬ 
cient capital to carry out previously laid plans, and 
many a fortune has been made because a little ready 
money enabled the fortunate one to take advantage 
of the necessities of one less fortunate. The farmer 
who works from hand to mouth of necessity suffers 
at such times. The situation of some of the wool 
growers mentioned on another page is an undesirable 
one. Almost their sole reliance is wool. They are 
working on a capital so small that their product must 
be turned into cash at the earliest moment. On the 
other hand, the growers of the other States, whose 
farming is more diversified, and whose resources are 
not so limited, are in a position to take advantage of 
the situation and avail themselves of any possible ad¬ 
vantage. The manufacturers are safe, for they wiU 
not buy except at prices that they believe the lowest 
possible, but they anticipate a higher price, and of 
course will make the difference in price. In any case 
the advantage is with the one who has a little surplus 
cash. * , 
It is now a good many years since The R. N.-Y. gave 
up trying to please everybody. That is a useless and 
thankless task. Our efforts to be fair and impartial 
to all are evidently not fully appreciated by some 
readers. For example, this note is j ast at hand from 
a subscriber in Virginia : 
The greatest objection I have to your journal Is tbe occasional 
pandering to tbe demagogical sentiments of the Farmers’ Alliance. 
You know better, and a journal of your age and Influence ought to 
show independence by leading public sentiment and not in abject 
following. 
Almost in the same mail comes this from a man in 
Pennsylvania: 
I have made up my mind to stand by and support only such farm 
papers as represent our Interests along the whole line. There Is no 
neutrality about this. No paper can truly represent Wall Street and 
the farm. 
Now we certainly cannot champion both Wall Street 
and the Farmers’ Alliance—that is a physical impossi¬ 
bility, and it is not our business to do either. What 
we propose to do is to give a fair and free discussion 
to every matter that affects American farming. We 
try to give space to any man who has sensible ideas 
that he believes in and is ready to back up with his 
name, we don’t care whether he is a Wall Street or a 
Floor Street man. We are after the truth, and we 
know that never can be found in the ashes of any 
biased or half-suppressed discussion. 
* * 
Some of our Western contemporaries have been 
pained to see that “Eastern farm papers” are disposed 
to speak slightingly of the new Secretary of Agricul¬ 
ture “ because he comes from the great West! ’ Let 
us call their attention to the following note: 
June 22,1893. 
Rural Publishing Company, New York City. 
Gentlemen: Please accept my thanks for the marked article In The 
Rural New-Yorker of June 10, a copy of which you were kind 
enough to mall me and which I have very gratefully received. As 
this communication relative to myself Is over the signature of Ex- 
Governor Robert W. Furnas, I regard it as altogether the most com¬ 
plimentary of anything which has appeared relative to the present 
Secretary of Agriculture, and again thank you for having given It 
such prominent and Illustrated consplcuousnei>s In your very valuable 
journal. Faithfully yours, 
(Signed) .J. STERLING MORTON. 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
1 tell our folks the thing to do, Is jest ter go an’ make our home 
So happy like the whole year through, that none of us won’t hev ter 
roam 
Off to the neighbors with the fuss that cornea to every house, I say 
That while them jlnin’ farms with us Is first-rate folks ’most every 
way, 
They hez their pints o’ weakness too—take brother Smith that lies off 
East, 
I know It now ez well ez you, he’s got a temper jest like yeast, 
An’ sometimes jest a little word thet you er I might say In fun 
Will git his red-hot dander stirred an’ like enough his tongue will run 
On words that he’ll be sorry fer. An’ then off South Is Deacon Jones. 
His wife—but I won’t mention her—they git rheumatics In their bones, 
An’ all creation Is ez blue fer them ez Indigo; I hear 
Them people talk, an’ I tell you destruction does seem mighty near. 
An’ neighbor Brown lives over North. He’s higher than ole Jones 
Is low. 
Enthusiastic an’ so forth, old-fashioned ways Is all too slow. 
An’ over West Is neighbor Scott. You can’t suit him on temperature. 
It’s either sorter cold or hot—It never wuz jest right, I’m sure. 
Yes! yes! our neighbors can’t be beat, off North an’ South an’ East 
an’ West. 
I’d lend ’em cash without receipt an’ still, I say It Isn’t best 
To run off to ’em an’ discuss your family affairs an’ such. 
An’ pick up every little fuss that folks are bound ter hev—not much. 
Make home so fair an’ free, says 1, that sech things jest can’t live 
outside. 
Let love an’ hope an’ patience try sech cases an’ by them aolde. 
What about wool? 
Salt the big-sized stories. 
The Strawberry Triumphant. 
All a good man wants Is a show. 
Fill the summer boarder’s crop. 
What is the father of Invention 1 
Few mowers sigh for the old scythe. 
A match Is worth more than a patch. 
Why don’t you try feeding corn bran : 
Your boy can’t “ mind ” unless you do. 
The war is over—the South needs clover. 
How many sets of mower knives have you ? 
The grindstone does most of the hay cutting. 
Live so that no curse will follow your hearse. 
If you can’t pay anything else, pay attention. 
Green daisies are food and medicine for a horse. 
Put the best team and the best man on the mower. 
One customer well pleased Is worth a dozen teased. 
This hired man question Is not so one-sided after all. 
If you need the services of a vet., try to get a veteran. 
You will not degrade the road by cutting the grade off. 
Young man, do your parents work that you may play ? 
The coarse mesh that let's the dirt Into the milk may be called a 
lying strain. 
Who can give us facts about growing sunflower seed for poultry or 
other stock? 
Let the stock eat the wheat rather than cheat yourself by selling It 
for less than it cost. 
Scales & Churn will do a good job on your robber cows If you 
can’t afford a Babcock. 
Are you satisfied If you can get gain enough from summer grain 
feeding to pay for the grain? 
You don’t do justice to your milk customers unless you use hot 
water and soda In every vessel the milk touches. 
Mu. J. S. Woodward so ably champions his favorite farm unlmal 
that his name might well be J. Sheep Woodward. 
Two ways cows can graze through the winter; one is to eat ensilage 
and the other Is to graze against starvation. Which Is your way? 
Take If and IF and O—when In the Held they give us mow. But 
when Inside the barn somehow the self-same letters give U6 mow. 
New York State has been making a great display of strawberries 
at the World’s Fair the past week. Our Mr. Fowler had charge of the 
display. 
The screaming wheel now begs to state how much it needs a lubri¬ 
cate. Y’ou can’t expect a cheerful diction from one that suffers so 
from friction. 
WE have been soiling a horse for the past few weeks—cutting grass 
and feeding It In place of part of the hay. The horse will leave Its 
grain for the grass. 
LAST week we were told that Mr. Hallock finds only 10 barrels out 
of 12,000 bushels of carrots that are tit for seed. Such sorting gives 
seed that Is about 400 carrots fine. 
You will notice they are carrying grass to the cows at Ellerslie Stock 
Farm. Those purebred Guernseys, you see, can make harder butter 
out of their food than grades could. 
We have often warned our readers not to buy the cheap plating 
outfits so freely advertised. It appears that the plating substance 
used is a mercurial amalgam—a deadly poison ! 
There is a bill before the English Parliament to compel dealers In 
fruits not grown in Britain to label them “ foreign fruit.” All right. 
Let’s grow our upples so that their high color and tine flavor will be 
all the label they need. 
A man went Into a California store and asked the merchant to smell 
of a new hair dye. He did so and at once fell asleep—It was chloro¬ 
form. The stranger proceeded to steal the cash. When alone keep 
your nose away from strange bottles. 
