64o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 23 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. 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 1H93. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
office and State, and what the remittance Is for, appear in every letter. 
Money orders and bank drafts on New York are the safest means of 
transmitting money. 
SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 23, 1893. 
Mr. Newton’s article on page 638 is well worth 
thinking over just now. What is a worse state of 
things than being “out of a job?” A well-earned 
vacation is a pleasant thing, but to be thrown out of 
work with nothing to turn to is about the worst thing 
that can happen to a man. It is something that sel¬ 
dom or never happens to the farmer. 
# * 
Black and avhite are the colors in which to make a 
contract. Ink is more reliable than imagination. We 
are all prone to err in a matter of memory, but a 
written contract will contract the chances of misunder¬ 
standing. Nine-tenths of the troubles between man 
and man come through misunderstanding. We can’t 
miss understanding a written agreement. 
* * 
The “Book of Death” kept by the female suffra¬ 
gists of the Sunflower State, contains the names of 
all the politicians opposed to their demands, and 
whom, therefore, they intend to “ knife ” whenever 
they get an opportunity. Wouldn’t it be well for 
farmers generally to keep a “black list” of those 
legislators, State and National, who are in the habit 
of opposing legislation favorable to their interests, 
and use the list at the polls? Such a precaution 
would be a mere matter of prudence and self-protec¬ 
tion, rendered all the more pleasant, perhaps, by its 
slight flavor of revenge. 
* * 
What would the “tax-ridden” farmers of this coun¬ 
try think and say were they in the plight of their 
brethren in Turkey ? There the farmers’ taxes are 
thus classified: 1. One-tenth of all the crops and 
fruits ; 2, four per cent of the renting value of house 
and lands ; 3, five per cent on every transfer; 4, an 
annual tax of 64 cents on every sheep and 48 cents on 
every goat. All these taxes, mind you, are rigorously 
and rougnly collected. The condition of the Ameri¬ 
can farmer is certainly not as good as it might be ; is 
there any consolation in comparing it with that of his 
brethren in the land of the “ unspeakable Turk ? ” 
* * 
The short winter course at Cornell will open Janu¬ 
ary 3, 1894. Persons of good moral character and 16 
years old will be admitted without written examina¬ 
tion. Lack of book learning, therefore, need deter no 
young man from attending this school. At the same 
time there will open a special course in dairying 
which will continue 11 weeks. No applicants will be 
admitted to this course unless they have had already 
one season’s experience in a creamery or cheese fac¬ 
tory. At most other colleges, too, these short courses 
are being established. It is an excellent feature, and 
every farmer boy who reads The R. N.-Y. ought to 
make up his mind to attend one of them at least. 
* * 
There are several chief reasons why the work done 
at our experiment stations is not of great value to 
farmers. Unfortunately, the majority of station 
workers are at the mercy of a lot of politicians so far 
as the permanency of their positions go. Any one on 
the “ inside ” knows that this is so. The experiments 
of Sir J. B. Lawes are often spoken of as object les¬ 
sons of what our station workers should do. These 
experiments are the results of many years of careful 
work. They are valuable chiefly because they give 
the average of many trials. How many men at our 
American stations can start such work with any hope 
of being permitted to carry it out ? Positions in most 
of our stations are too insecure. People demand im¬ 
mediate results, and are not satisfied to wait for the 
slow working out of some important problem. This 
fact has led some of our investigators into the bad 
habit of starting out to prove a certain thing by ex¬ 
periment, and thus give all their operations a slight 
bias towards the desired result. This is popular but not 
accurate, and it leads to much conflict of authori¬ 
ties. There ought to be some change in the manner 
of conducting our experiment stations, or the whole 
thing will fall into disrepute. 
What is to prevent some of our engine and pump 
manufacturers from turning “rain makers” in sea¬ 
sons like the last ? Let them provide a pumping out¬ 
fit for farms where a stream or pond is found, and 
contract to raise so much water to the uplands for a 
stated price. Many farmers do not need to own the 
pumping outfit, but would be willing to hire it at a 
reasonable price. The manufacturers would find a 
largely increased use for their pumps and engines at 
a time when trade is not usually lively. Here is a 
new opening for somebody. Thousands of farmers 
are ready to pay well for a supply of water, or rather 
for the power to lift the water that stands below 
their cultivated fields. 
* * 
There is a loud outcry through the West about the 
way funds appropriated for exhibitions at the World’s 
Fair have been spent. For example, in Ohio $100,000 
were to be spent in making exhibits to show the in¬ 
dustrial progress of the State. The Ohio Horticul¬ 
tural Society were promised a reasonable share of this 
with which to make a display of fruit, but they have 
received no funds aDd have been unable to make a 
satisfactory showing in consequence. At the annual 
meeting of this society resolutions roundly denounc¬ 
ing the World’s Fair Commissioners of the State were 
passed. It is a pity such commissioners cannot be 
bounced as well as denounced, and the pity extends to 
many other “ Boards ” who have had the handling of 
public money. # * 
How may sugar beets be best kept for winter feed¬ 
ing ? This is of considerable interest to dairymen, es¬ 
pecially in seasons when it is almost necessary to 
grow beets in order to sec are a supply of succulent 
feed. At the Vermont station last year beets were 
sliced and put in the silo between layers of cut straw. 
They made fair ensilage and were well eaten by stock. 
About one part of straw to four of beets gave good 
results, and the cattle readily ate the straw thus pre¬ 
pared. On page 411 we gave an account of a German 
method of feeding mangolds. They were sliced and 
mixed with chopped hay or straw, with the grain 
added and the whole permitted to ferment and heat 
for three days. At the beet-sugar factories in Cali¬ 
fornia thousands of cattle are fed on the pulp, which, 
without grain, will fatten them for market. 
* # 
One of The R. N.-Y.’s neighbors planted potatoes 
last spring on a low piece of ground. On about half 
an acre the seed all rotted in the ground. When it 
was evident that the planting was a failure, the 
ground was worked with a cultivator and harrowed 
and then planted with Dwarf Mammoth sweet corn 
without extra fertilizer or manure. Last week they 
took from this half acre strip 3,200 ears of corn which 
happened to strike the New York market just right 
and sold at $2.25 per hundred. There are nearly 600 
more ears on the piece. Now $72 in cash for one load 
off half an acre is not bad at any time and particu¬ 
larly so when we consider that it was a makeshift 
crop put in to piece out a failure. The lesson is that 
it never does to give up and leave land idle if one crop 
fails to start. It is always possible to put in a sub¬ 
stitute. * # 
After telling our readers about the great success of 
men like Mr. Johnson and Mr. Taber on a limited 
number of acres, what excuse have we for giving the 
figures of Mr. Gottwald’s farming ? One man sells 10 
times as much as another from the same area. Both 
work hard and carefully. One might say that Mr. 
Gottwald puts too much reliance on his oxen. Are they 
too slow for quick farming ? Their walk is just as fast 
as that of a horse, and walking is the farm pace, after 
all. There must be some other reasons, and the two 
chief ones are light soil and lack of water. Land that 
can raise only scrub oaks when left to itself will have 
difficulty in raising anything but a scrub crop of any¬ 
thing else. One thing about Mr. G.’s farming is worth 
remembering : he sells $360 worth of produce and 
saves $100. This beats the man who raises $5,000 
worth and spends $5,100 on his living. 
* * 
Legislatures have often passed bounty laws aimed 
at the extermination of birds or insects, but the fol¬ 
lowing is the only case we have record of where 
recent legislatures have offered a bounty for a weed. 
In 1881 the Colorado Legislature passed this law : 
Any person who shall dig np, not less than three Inches below the 
surface of the ground, any loco or poison weed during the months of 
May, Jur e or July, shall receive a premium of 13^ cents per pound for 
each pound of such weed dug up. to be paid out of the State treasury 
aB hereinafter provided; provided, that such weed shall not be weighed 
In a green state, but shall be thoroughly dried and weighed. 
The State paid $200,000 in bounties, and the law was 
repealed in 1885. Cattle men have long believed that 
the loco weed is responsible for a terrible disease 
among cattle. The animals affected become appar¬ 
ently insane and waste away to death in terrible 
agony. Careful investigation has failed to show what 
there is in the weed that affects the cattle. The 
experiment stations of Colorado and Kansas have 
both issued bulletins on the subject. 
* * 
We have been at considerable pains to describe in 
detail the pedigree of “Certified Milk.” If there are 
still points that need further explanation, we shall be 
glad to answer questions concerning them. It is worth 
your while to make pure milk and also to take steps 
to safely guarantee its purity. That’s all there is to 
“Certified Milk.” Can you get an expert to pass on 
yours ? Suppose you can—how much better off are 
you until you advertise his guarantee ? 
* * 
What is the difference between selling your wheat 
at 50 cents a bushel and throwing your labor away ? 
Apply the same question to potatoes, fruit, hay and 
other crops. Does the “ going price ” give you day 
wages, or do you “chip in” your labor? If you 
should use a dollar bill to light the fire, you would 
know where the dollar went. You will never know 
where your labor has gone until you know about 
what your crops cost you, so that you can have some¬ 
thing to compare with the price offered. 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
THE WHITE HOUSE BABY. 
There’s a baby at the White House, yes, a couple of them now. 
With the tariff bill and silver and a-tlndlng why and how 
Money’s lost Its circulation, or the way those old Chinese 
Ate to leave, or who’s to govern sad Hawaii o’er the seas, 
Uncle Grover’s got his hands full, but the baby’ll help him out, 
For the worry and the trouble will be surely put to rout, 
When he sits down in the evening for a little quiet fun 
With the babies, like a fellow of the ordinary run; 
For the little folks will cheer him as he holds them to his heart, 
And his kinder, better nature Into happy life will start; 
And the selfish politicians wl'l be brought up with a check 
When Miss Ruth and little Esther bring their baby talk on deck. 
There’s a baby In the White House, and I'm mighty glad It’s so, 
For we common folks feel safer—just to realize, you know, 
That our President Is tethered by the string that ties us all 
To our home; we’ll trust the fingers of those babies, weak and small. 
Is your time money ? 
Keep It on file—the saw. 
Bran Is wheat’s overcoat. 
Is your backyard a mal-area? 
Read that “Alfalfa catechism.’’ 
Fresh heir in the White House. 
A “big head” means a small heart. 
Truth Is sent only through experiment. 
Are you feeding hens for eggs or pot-pie ? 
Rust Is the evidence of things uncared for. 
Bruised fruit is refused fruit. It won’t suit. 
A run on the crank—turning a hand separator. 
Don’t keep your reputation entirely behind you. 
“Selling Race” Is the latest way of saying auction! 
Get the fruit plants ready for their winter’s vacation. 
Cooling milk with a dipper may well be called ae rate. 
Who offers to beat Mr. Mapes’s Brown Leghorn pullet ? 
Can you shell a bushel of corn from 70 pounds of your ears ? 
The “ cowy odor ” poets oft have sung—analysis will prove It only 
dung. 
Should Government ever help a farmer do the things he can do 
himself? 
We have confidence In the scientific man who truthfully says, “j 
don't know.” 
Would farmers really gain or lose by substituting labor for cash In 
road taxes ? 
Come to the point ! Don’t take a roundabout way of doing the 
“ square thing ! ” 
Have you ever yet produced any milk that would pass muster as 
“ certified ? ” Just answer that. 
Foot rot in sheep has ruined many a farmer, and so has an attempt 
to make a fast foot trot in a horse. 
How useless Is a poor excuse! All honest men refuse for an excuse 
to have a use that needs to be excused. 
Mr. Dibble must remember that there are not many farmers who 
have four horses to put on a potato digger 
The same road dust that you Rave to wash out of your eyes will be 
just the thing for the hens to wash In this winter. 
Mr. Mapes writes that he gives himself three years In which to 
make a good start in the hen business. That's t ie right talk! 
Mr. Lagrange fires the first gun for the faithful old farm team. 
Better kill them than sell them into slavery. That Is knavery. 
Our friend on page P38 gives us a clear Idea of the value of sheep In 
the corn field. The point is that the sheep prefer the grass to the 
corn, and eat It off. 
Mr. Wetmore tells us of a ram lamb that “ helps milk the cows.” 
This ram milks a small heifer nearly clean—night and morning. "He 
Is fat as a cub.” Well he might be! 
Prof. Cooke tells us that ordinary sklm-milk is worth 11 cents per 
100 pounds Just to pour on the ground as a fertilizer. In other words, 
a can of skim-milk contains all the fertility there Is In five pounds of 
the hlghest-grade fertilizer! 
The Vermont Experiment Station tried mixing molasses with the 
Bordeaux Mixture on potatoes. It caused the Mixture to stick to the 
vines, but the practice Is condemned because the molasses attracts 
bees to the poisonous mixture. 
There Is Bense (and prospective dollars) In that poultry scheme 
that Mr. Mapes tells us about. If electricity can move houses, why 
should It not be used to wait on hens ? All it Is expected to do In this 
case Is to open a slide and shut a little door, yet this service saves 
many a mile of walking, and Incidentally saves many a rod of fence, 
as Mr. M. explains. 
Like their confreres on this side of the Atlantic, the Trades Union¬ 
ists of the United Kingdom are becoming strong advocates of tne form 
of Socialism known as Paternalism. At their congress held at Belfast, 
Ireland, the other day, a resolution was passed “that labor candidates 
for Parliament who receive financial assistance irom trades unions 
shall be required to pledge themselves to support the principles of 
collective ownership of land and State control of the means of pro¬ 
duction and distribution. 
