656 
September 30 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, KdItor-ln-Chlef. 
HERBERT W. COLLING WOOD, Managing Editor 
KUWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Copyrighted 1893 , 
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- 
olllce 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 30, 1893. 
A good many of our readers experimented last 
spring with the corrosive sublimate solution to pre- 
.vent scab on potatoes. This is a very important mat¬ 
ter, and we hope those who have carried the experi¬ 
ment through will report results. Tell us how you 
used the solution—on whole or cut potatoes, in what 
soil and with what fertilizers, how long the crop was 
planted after a previous crop of potatoes had been 
grown in the same soil, and what was the prevalence 
of scab as compared with that in crops from seed not 
so treated. # # 
The season for manure-making is now opening. 
What sort of a product do you hope to manufacture ? 
The manure maker works at a disadvantage in one 
sense. He can’t possibly palm off a bogus article on 
his customers without loss. A merchant might get 
rid of a faded piece of cloth to some near-sighted per¬ 
son, but the manure-maker’s customers are plants. 
Sell them faded manure, and you have a jaded crop. 
If you can’t keep your manure covered, get it on to the 
land as soon as you can after you clean the stable. If 
it must be leached, let the leacliings go where some¬ 
thing is to grow. * # 
The English census returns show that ih 1891 there 
were in England and Wales 2,082 male and 152 
female “knackers.” A “knacker,” it appears, is one 
who slaughters old and broken-down horses, cuts the 
carcasses into suitable pieces, and peddles them about 
for feeding city dogs and cats. Many of them do 
quite an extensive business. This is a new trade to 
most Americans, yet why not a legitimate one ? Why 
should dogs and cats be fed on food that would relieve 
the hunger of human beings ? Better give them what 
would otherwise be wasted. 
* * 
There are two chief reasons why Mr. Roessle finds 
it profitable to feed hotel swill to his hogs. The stuff 
is sweet and the hogs have a good range. It may also 
be a good thing for him that he cannot get all he 
wants. We will guarantee to kill any herd of hogs by 
feeding them on this same swill. To do it we would 
put the hogs in a close, filthy pen, hold the swill until 
it was sour and fermented, and then feed all we could 
get the hogs to stuff down. That would be abuse 
rather than use of a good thing, and the same thing 
holds goods of any other food. It can easily be spoiled 
by careless feeding. # # 
When the first panic of low grain prices began to 
affect the English farmers, a band of wise men at 
once began to advocate the seeding of land to grass 
alone, leaving out the wheat crop entirely. As a 
result 3,000,000 acres of land went out of wheat—into 
grass. The argument was that the wheat crop would 
not be missed as the labor and fertilizer required cost 
more than it would bring. To-day there are thousands 
of farmers in this country who might well heed the 
same advice. Let them simply drop the greater part 
of the wheat out of the rotation for a few j r ears, and 
seed to grass and clover alone. Do you not know of 
men who would be better off for doing that ? 
* * 
Early t in the season complaints were loud and 
many of scarcity of farm help in the Northwest, and 
wages averaged $2 per day. Within a month thou¬ 
sands of men from Chicago, the Twin Cities of St. 
Paul and Minneapolis and other places as far west as 
Denver, flocked to Minnesota and the two Dakotas, 
soon affording a surplus of help, and wages rapidly 
sank to $1.50 to $1.75 per day. Even at these figures 
many of the thrashing crews were forced to remain idle, 
and some of them are now offering to thrash for one 
cent a bushel all around—a cut of over 50 per cent. 
Already the rush cityward has begun, and thousands 
of would-be farm hands will soon swell the multitudes 
of the unemployed in towns and cities. It is getting 
to be a question of deep import in political economy 
whether society is equitably and morally bound to 
provide employment for all ready to do an honest 
day’s work at wages sufficient to support them and 
those dependent on them. In the organization of 
society, have not the original rights of barbaric man 
to secure a livelihood by force, if necessary, been 
abolished for the general advantage ; and if so, is not 
every one willing and able to earn a living entitled to 
an opportunity of doing so ? Among the prominent 
socialistic problems which have of late been forced on 
the attention of the nations, this is by no means the 
least important. 
* * 
“All that machine lacks is brains!” said a man 
the other day, in trying to give the highest eulogy of 
a new implement. He was about right, too, but his 
very phrase was an argument why some men should 
not buy it. Why ? Because they do not seem willing 
to supply the brains needed to properly run it. It is 
so full of delicate and complicated mechanism that 
the closer it comes to doing complete work the more 
does it need brains. That is why a class of tools with 
few parts and few complications—requiring brawn 
rather than brains—is better suited to many farmers. 
What a tax the careless farmer pays in the “ extras ” 
needed to supply the parts he breaks on a complicated 
machine. 
# . * 
In the last report of the Department of Agriculture 
some interesting statistics about the agricultural col¬ 
leges and experiment stations of the country are given. 
In 1892 there were 62 schools where agriculture was 
taught, more or less. There were 1,159 instructors 
and 11,358 students, of whom only 3,460 were studying 
agriculture. Last year 3,311 students graduated from 
these schools. Since the Maryland College started in 
1856, 3,333 students in all have graduated. Therevenue 
for conducting these colleges in 1892 was $3,432,908. 
As to experiment stations, there were 54, with a total 
revenue of $997,244. The station with the largest in¬ 
come was the New York State, at' Geneva, which re¬ 
ceived $68,500. The Ohio Station received the most 
for farm products sold, $6,019, with Missouri next, 
$4,057. The total number of persons employed at 
these stations was 491. 
* * 
In the circular of a manufacturer of lead pencils we 
are told: 
The greatest cost In making first-class lead pencils Is not In the 
wood, even when the smoothest and stralghtest grained Florida cedar 
is used, nor In the finishing and stamping of the pencils, though the 
finest varnish and purest gold are used. The greatest cost Is in the 
time and labor spent In manipulating the materials of which the 
leads are made. 
How many farmers realize that this applies with 
considerable force to the products they sell? The 
chief cost is in the labor and time spent on the crop. 
It is also true that when the farmer receives poor pay 
for his own labor, it is generally due to the fact that 
some circumstance or other made that labor cost too 
much. Maybe he did not have good tools, the season 
was perhaps against him, he got behind and never 
caught up ; he lifted on the butt end of every job or 
did not grow the right crop. In any of these cases, 
labor costs too much, because a share of it goes for 
useless things and that labor is charged against him 
like any other. 
* * 
The Ways and Means Committee of the House of 
Representatives has just closed a hearing on the tariff 
question that was about the most one-sided affair ever 
known in Washington. In spite of the fact that the 
present Administration is pledged to reduce and re¬ 
form the tariff, and that so large a majority of the 
people voted last year in favor of such reduction, 
almost all those who came before the Committee 
argued against any reduction of duties. What does 
this mean ? Probably that those who favor reduction 
mostly kept away. Being satisfied that the tariff will 
be cut anyway, they doubtless thought that silence 
would save time and hasten action. The manufac¬ 
turers who testified generally, stated that a lower 
tariff would make it necessary for them to cut the 
wages of employees. When Congress reforms the 
tariff, we shall know whether this is a great bluff or 
a very unpleasant truth. 
* * 
Four years ago there was a mighty uprising of 
farmers through the Northwest against the exactions 
of the “Cordage Combine.” State and Federal legis¬ 
lation against it was urgently demanded. Mass meet¬ 
ings were held by counties in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 
Wisconsin and Minnesota. Among the most practical 
suggestions for relief was one urging the manufacture 
of binding twine in the State penitentiaries, to be sold 
by the State at cost. As we remember, one or two of 
the States at once embarked in the business ; but 
Minnesota refused to do so. Finally, under persistent 
pressure from the farmers, about two years ago the 
State authorities came East to buy the necessary 
machinery; but couldn’t get what they wanted, be¬ 
cause it was controlled by patents owned by the 
Trust. Ihey bought the best they could, however, 
went home and started a twine factory in the peni¬ 
tentiary. Then the Minnesota Thrasher Company, in 
order to utilize convict labor for the benefit of farm¬ 
ers, built a shop inside the Stillwater Penitentiary 
and hired all the convicts they could get to turn out 
thrashing machines for farmers. For a time the twine 
and thrasher business “boomed the State found the 
penitentiary a source of revenue and even secured a 
lot of Federal convicts to extend the business. Then 
the farmers, urged on doubtless by the labor organiza¬ 
tions, discovered that they had conscientious scruples 
about buying the products of convict labor, and 
stopped purchasing twine and thrashers made by it, 
and accordingly both the twine and thrasher enter¬ 
prises have collapsed. The farmers are again buying 
from the Trust and regular makers of thrashers and 
the State has lost its revenue from the convicts. 
Moreover, it has a lot of expensive machinery on hand 
for which it is seeking a purchaser. Sometimes it 
seems a trifle difficult—doesn’t it ?—to manage things 
so as to suit the farming population permanently. 
* * 
BREVITIES. 
There comes a touch of sadness In the air. 
The days are growing shorter, and the sun 
Goes down behind the mountain over there, 
Like some belated person—on the run 
To leave us for a warmer land—the sky 
Is overhung with haze; the smoke hangs curled 
Above the valley homes so lazily 
And full of drowsy happiness; the world 
Lies half asleep. We think of olden times, 
And down the hall of memory sof .ly ring 
Sad echoes of the long-forgotten chimes, 
Rung out of burled hopes. Reflections wring 
A sadness from the heart, and eyes are wet 
From some unknown despair tnat we must see 
Sweet Nature smiling to her death, and yet 
There comes a sense of happiness to me. 
That though fair Autumn kills, yet may she bring 
8afe from beneath the deptns of winter’s snow 
All the bright freshness and the bloom of spring. 
Thus in their ceaseless round the seasons gol 
What splint for a broken promise ? 
“ Room at the top!” In the ” big head.” 
Do you always say something when you talk ? 
Can’t you mix a ton of fertilizer for a dollar? 
There are 320 experiment stations in the world. 
The true husbandman Is both a husband and a man. 
Kvek try running the buttermilk through a separator ? 
High-priced products are well grown and well shown. 
Tobacco is the “active agent” in most worm medicines. 
There are some fertilizers that need to be dishorned and unleath¬ 
ered. 
The Idea conceived by our friend on page 051 Is as sound as his 
grapes. 
The “ weather ” dissolves rocks. It will dissolve your mower if you 
leave It outside. 
The Interest on your debt Is an out go tax. To the holder of your 
note It is In come. 
Think of Dorset lambs being born with horns as large as those on a 
slx-weeks-old calf! 
Wheat has been a special-purpose grain, but cheap prices raise it 
to the rank of general. 
We are all protectionists when It comes to a berry plant in winter. 
At least we ought to be. 
The egg crop does not exhaust the farm. They will not come from 
an exhausted hen’s crop. 
Whenever you strike a hill of potatoes where the tubers are extra 
large and fine—save them for seed. 
Another short clover seed crop In prospect. The drought caused 
many a seed crop to be cut for feed. 
“The bravest are the tenderest.” That Is why the Games are the 
best lighters and also best for eating. 
Is Mr. Shepherd’s record of 110 pullets from 334 eggs actually put 
under hens above the average or not? 
Have you ever tried that plan of cutting dry stalks into the silo— 
wetting them as they go? If so, tell us about It! 
About the only thing that Is “ strong from the ground up ” is coffee. 
Most other things are made weaker by being ground. 
When you “can’t get a statement through your head ’ don’t put all 
the blame on your head. The statement may not be sharp enough. 
In 1892 the agricultural colleges cost *3.432,107, and turned out 311 
agricultural graduates. Are these young persons worth the *11,000 
they each cost ? 
Some men spend their best efforts trying to expand seven quarts so 
they will pass for a peck. What shall it benefit a man if he stuffs his 
product with wind and pumps the life out of his reputation? 
A man might pick *5 worth of fruit from a tree and then refuse to 
put five cents’ worth of manure back. What sort of a man is that 
anyway? You ought to be able to tell, for there are plenty about. 
Does the success of the Ponderosa tomato depend upon bigness ? 
Has it anything but the novelty of a big size to carry It through? 
Does bulk alone last? That is something for you to ponder o’er, sir.’i 
The Wisconsin Agricultural College is to have a Professor of Bac¬ 
teriology In Mr. H. L. Russel, who has studied in the best laboratories 
In Europe. He will take the fermentations of milk for a special study. 
A FRIEND in Connecticut says he paid for his l arls-green gun by 
working for others—putting on “green” for *1 an acre. There Is money 
In that, and it Is just as legitimate as working out with planter or 
digger. 
There is a tide in the affairs of sheep, that floats them from the first 
hard frost till snow; when other plants fall into their deep sleep, 
there is one friend on which the sheep may grow, and put on fat to 
round its portly shape, this tide and friend alike are found in rape. 
Now J. Sterling Morton, 
That’s right, sir—just shorten 
Each Congressman's quota of seed. 
We know vou are tough, sir, 
So don’t take a bluff, sir, 
But pare them right off, sir, with speed. 
The poultry department at the Rhode Island Experiment Station 
seems to be in excellent hands. We understand that a pure wild 
gobbler has been procured for experiments In crossing. It will be in¬ 
teresting to see what this wild blood will do for tame turkeys. 
