638 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 23 
Give the Hired Man a Home. 
P. A. P., Dudley, Mass.— In the mat¬ 
ter of the hired man, it strikes me there 
is but one way to solve it, and that is for 
farmers to do as other employers of help 
have done. First let them recognize the 
fact that, other things being equal, a 
married man is the best help, and let 
them encourage the workers on the farm 
to become family men by furnishing them 
with suitable tenements in which to live. 
Second, let them provide each man w/th 
work the year round, as no hired help 
worth having likes to work six or seven 
months in the year and then loaf the 
rest, especially if a family is dependent 
upon him for support. At the present 
time in almost all kinds of business em¬ 
ploying any considerable number of 
hands, and especially in those kinds in 
which most of the work is done by the 
“piece,” there is a class of men known as 
“tramp help,” dissolute, immoral char¬ 
acters mostly, who work for a few weeks 
in a place, then go on a spree, and if they 
escape the lock-up, usually lose their 
jobs, and, when sufficiently sobered off, 
start on another tramp in search of some¬ 
thing to do. They are not lazy and op¬ 
posed to work like the genuine tramp, 
but their drinking habits make them un¬ 
reliable and spoil what might otherwise 
be first-class workmen. People employ 
them when business is driving and they 
are short of help, but when work gets 
slack, they are the first to get their 
walking tickets while the resident family 
help is kept. Under the present too com¬ 
mon system of hiring farm help for only 
six to eight months in the year, and fur¬ 
nishing no houses for married employees, 
what else can farmers expect but “tramp 
help ” and the consequent evils incident 
thereto ? 
All through the manufacturing parts 
of New England one will find near 
every factory plant a whole village of 
“ factory tenements” graded all the way 
from the cheapest sort for the cheap for¬ 
eign help to the superintendent’s house, 
and also a boarding house for single and 
transient help. In many of the older es¬ 
tablishments are men and women who 
have worked all their lifetime for the 
concerns. If it pays the manufacturer to 
furnish tenements for his help, would it 
not pay the farmer to do likewise ? On 
most farms a cottage suitable for farm 
help could be built at a considerably less 
expense than in a village or city. Most 
farmers could get out all the timber and 
much of the other lumber the winter 
previous, and the farm help could dig 
and stone the cellar, while the land, of 
course, would call for no outlay. If built 
of sufficient size, during hurried times 
when extra help is needed, an arrange¬ 
ment could usually be made to have them 
boarded with the hired man, thus saving 
the necessity of the farmer’s wife making 
a slave of herself waiting on the hired 
men. With good business management, 
the money invested in the hired man’s 
house could be made to pay as good 
an interest as that invested in any other 
farm property. 
The late Mr. Harris, of Moreton Farm,N. 
Y., used to say that the best help he could 
get was raised on the farm, that is, that 
boys who grew up on the farm knew just 
how the work should be done, and could 
always be depended on to do all that 
was required when a spurt was neces¬ 
sary. The census shows that our popu¬ 
lation is fast centering in the cities and 
villages. Much has been written upon 
this subject, and laboring men have been 
more or less censured for flocking there 
to crowd the already overstocked labor 
markets, while the farmer has to take up 
with “ tramp help.” What else is there 
for the poor but worthy married man to 
do but to go where there is a tenement 
in which he and his family can live, if 
farmers cannot or will not provide a 
house for him and them ? Notice the 
advertisements for farm help ; a large 
proportion call for single men, or, if 
married, they must have no children ! 
Manufacturers often advertise for fami¬ 
lies to work in their mills with children 
old enough also to work there. With 
the improved farm machines of to-day a 
smart boy or girl, who can drive a pair 
of horses, can do about as much of many 
kinds of work as an able-bodied man. 
If the married hired man has such chil¬ 
dren, why not employ them at least one 
part of the year ? Until a change is 
made from the present system there will 
always be complaints of lack of farm 
help. 
A Back Corn Country. 
W. S. S., Pleasant Valley, III.— 
The practice of cutting and shocking 
corn has never been very much in vogue 
in this neighborhood. We used to be 18 
and are still eight mdes from the nearest 
shipping point and therefore seldom cut 
corn to save the hay, as we only have a 
limited local demand for it, and help is 
generally hard to get at harvest time. 
The most common-sized shocks contain 
100 hills ; but I’d prefer 144 or more if 
the crop had to stand long in the field, as 
it generally has here. We begin cutting 
as soon as the ears begin to glaze. Some 
liorse-power corn cutters are used in this 
county though I have never seen any¬ 
thing except the common corn knife. 
The stalks are generally left in the shock 
till hauled out to feed. The shocks are 
generally removed before sowing to rye 
or fall wheat. I believe properly cured 
corn fodder is the best feed obtainable 
for milch cows or indeed to keep any 
other cattle or horses in good condition. 
I have never seen ensilage fed and don’t 
know how it would compare with corn 
fodder ; but believe it would be less 
troublesome to handle. We have always 
been short of help and have always fed 
corn fodder without chopping and gener¬ 
ally on the field wheu the ground was 
frozen or covered with snow. 
Sheep In the Corn Field. 
R. W. D., Anthony, Kan. —We have 
here a nutritious, quick-growing grass 
called Sand-burr grass, which is greatly 
relished by all kinds of stock. We do 
not cultivate corn after it gets too large 
to pass easily under the arch of the cul¬ 
tivator, and the Sand-burr grass grows 
and ripens its seeds after the corn is 
“ laid by.” It is as great a nuisance as 
llag weed, but not so bad as Quack or 
Canada thistles. Having good tall corn 
and plenty of this grass growing between 
the rows and having also a flock of sheep 
very anxious to get at the Sand-burrs, I 
decided to “ give the animals a chance,” 
and turned them into the corn field, ex¬ 
pecting that they would eat considerable 
corn, but, to my surprise, they preferred 
the grass. When the latter had been 
pastured down pretty closely, they ate 
what corn they could reach, but I never 
saw one climbing a corn stalk to get at 
the ear, as I have heard stated. In fact 
they troubled the corn very little—not at 
all so far as I could see, as long as the 
Sand-burrs were plentiful. If I had a 
corn field full of Crab grass I would not 
hesitate to put the sheep in it, if I had 
any; but wool has heen so low for so 
long a time that farmers have quite given 
up sheep raising. 
The Happy Farmer. 
J. W., Newton, Vermont. —For years 
almost all other occupations have pros¬ 
pered while the farmer has been having 
a hard time. Now conditions seem to be 
reversed, for the failures, business trou¬ 
bles, panics and general depression do 
not seem to seriously affect the farmer. 
Butter has been higher than usual, pork 
has been high, and the worst off class of 
farmers are those who have debts to pay 
and only wool or wheat to sell. The 
cities have been having prosperity for a 
long time while the farmers have been 
suffering. Now th3 cities are suffering, 
while the majority of farmers are, to say 
the least, no worse off than before the 
panic, and a good many are better off 
than almost any other class. Some time 
last year the Journal of the Knights of 
Labor said that the farmers were “a 
doomed class; ” but I think a good many 
workmen would like to be as well off to¬ 
day as the farmers. 
1 was in a large manufacturing town 
in 1873 attending college, and was ac¬ 
quainted with some of the workmen. I 
got a good idea of what it was to have 
work stop. Did you ever think what a 
good thing it is to have w; rk enough to 
do ? It may not pay very well, but it is 
luxury compared with having to be idle. 
The workman has no crops or cattle 
growing, and when an opportunity of 
earning money is taken away from him, 
what suffering must follow ! Even if he 
has money laid by, it is most trying to 
have to use it up when one has health 
and strength to earn. But to be com¬ 
pelled to sit still and see one’s family 
suffer is far worse than a mortgage. The 
farmer can realize his independence and 
his advantages in such times as the pres¬ 
ent if he will only stop and think. 
The farmer of all men needs to count 
his blessings. They are many, real and 
substantial, while those of the city 
dweller are largely imaginary. Noise, 
bustle, hurry and rush are not real bless¬ 
ings most certainly. They may excite 
and give a transient enjoyment, but if 
one is poor and out of work, it’s little good 
they can do. The insufferable dullness 
of the country and farm life is a luxury 
compared with the business strife of the 
rich and the struggle of the poor in the 
crowded cities. For some time past, 
when the newspaper man could think of 
nothing else to write about, he would dis¬ 
course on the abandoned farms of Ver¬ 
mont, and people have the idea that the 
State is becoming a desert. But its farm¬ 
ers to-day are prospering better than 
nine-tenths of the working people of the 
world. The weather has been suited to 
our needs ; there have been no floods or 
droughts ; all crops, with a few local ex¬ 
ceptions, are good. We raise little wheat, 
and do not depend largely on wool, so 
that the depression in these products 
does not harm us much, while butter, our 
main money crop, is bringing a better 
price this year than usual. As things 
are now going, it will be some time be¬ 
fore geographers will have to write 
“desert” on this corner of New England. 
A great deal of unhappiness comes from 
our overlooking the mercies that are 
given us and longing for something 
■^hich we think would be better for us, 
but which is out of our reach. If the 
present hard times teach the farmers to 
be more thankful and contented, they 
will not be without value. 
Big Barn or Big House. 
Mrs. F. C. J., Nebraska. —I do not 
think it is always the case that the size 
of house and barn shows who is boss. My 
idea is that if we did not possess suffi¬ 
cient means to put up both large and 
comfortable, it would be the barn that 
would receive most attention, fora large, 
comfortable, convenient barn will secure 
the big house after a little ; but the big 
house will not secure the big barn. In 
this country the houses as a rule are bet¬ 
ter than the barns ; for stock are left to 
take care of themselves to a great extent, 
a straw stack or a barbed wire fence be¬ 
ing their only shelter from the winter’s 
blasts. 
Bed Bugs on Bats. 
T. B. P., Goldsboro, N. C. —Do bats 
bring bed bugs—page 588 ? Yes.. I have 
seen as many as half a dozen bed bugs on 
a single bat. I may be mistaken as to 
the exact number, but at any rate I have 
seen several, and on quite a number of 
bats. I presume the bugs get on the bats 
when the bats are secreted in some build¬ 
ing that is infested with bugs, and dis¬ 
tribute themselves in that way. Kero¬ 
sene oil is death to bugs; put it in every 
crevice and bugs will not bother. 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
Thousands 
Of dollars I spent trying 
to find a cure for Salt 
Itlieuiii, which I had 
13 years. Physicians 
said they never saw so 
severe a case. My legs, 
hack and arms were cov¬ 
ered by the humor. I 
began to take IIOO *>’$ 
SARSAPARILLA, 
and the flesh became 
more healthy, the sores noon healed, the 
scales fell oft, I was soon able to give up ban¬ 
dages and crutches, and a happy man I was.” 
S. G Derry, 45 Bradford St., Providence, It. I. 
Mr. S. G. Derry. 
HOOD’S Pills cure liver ills, constipation, 
biliousness, jaundice, and sick headache. Try them. 
BALING 
BESSES 
ALL KINDS. 
HORSE and 
STEAM POWER. 
Address Manuf’rs. 
PLOW CO 
1 QUINCY, ILL. 
ENGINES. „Yl w l.. 
Threshing Machines. 
Best Machinery at Lowest Prices. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., York, Pa. 
H EEBNER’S 
With SPEED REGULATOR. 
For 1,2 and 3 Horses. 
Patent LEVEL-TREAD 
Horse-Power. 
LITTLE GIANT Threshing Machined __ 
threshes Grain, Rice, Flax, Millet and Grass Seed. Fully 
Warranted. Feed and Ensilage Cutters,Feed Grinders,Ao 
UEUHN 1C It & SONS, Lansdale, li. 
ATTENTION! 
ASK FOR THIS AXE. 
USE NO OTHER. 
Wood-choppers, try the 
Kelly Perfect Rxe 
It will cut more wood 
than any other axe. 
The scoop in the blade 
keeps it from sticking in 
the wood, and makes it 
cut deeper than any other 
axe. Ask your dealer for 
it. Send us his name if 
he don’t keep it. It is the 
Anti-Trust Axe. 
Kelly Axe Mfg.Co. 
iiouisvmiiE, kv. 
FRUIT evaporator 
■ y I d THE ZIMMERMAN 
The Standard Machine 
Different sizes and prices. Illustrated Catalogue tree. 
TILE BLYMYKU IRON WORKS ('«, Cincinnati, O. 
COILSPRING SHAFT SUPPORT? 
AND ANTI-RATTLER. w 
_ > 
Fast selling; always gives satisfaction. No""^ 
weight on horse. Worth twice the cost for conven-C/5 
ience in hitching up. Agents wanted. Circulars free. X 
Order sample. Price, $1.50. State rights for sale. ^ 
THE DECATUR SHAFT SUPPORT C0.^ 
Decatur. III. 
Why Not Advertise Prices ? 
Many Inquirers ask. Well there Is so much to say 
about this fence that we can't attempt to .tell it all 
i a small ad. For years we have published a monthly 
paper, devoted wholly to Page Fence. This Is sent 
free with descriptive price list to all Inquirers. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE PENCE CO., 
Adrian, Mich. 
The Page Wire Fence Company of Ontario, Ltd. 
Walkervllle, Ont. 
