768 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
.November 18 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLING WOOD. Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
JOHN J. DILLON, Business Manager. 
Copyrighted 1S93. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW YORKER. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of I'ost- 
oltice 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, NOVEMBER 18, 1893. 
Mr. C. S. Rice is always interesting. What he says 
about farm manure on page 762 is worth a careful 
study. There would be a fortune for dairy farmers in 
selling manure at $3 per ton—the fertilizer business 
would be nothing to it. In the instance given of the 
poor field, is not Mr. Rice right in saying that there 
would be more profit in using the 25 loads at once ? 
* * 
The notes on “The Cost of a Crop,” on page 766, give 
us another chance to say that no man can tell what is 
a fair price for his crop unless he knows what it cost. 
This is always a difficult thing to find out. What about 
the figures given on page 766 ? Are they fair, do you 
think ? What would be your estimate for your sec¬ 
tion ? Let us have figures for comparison. How about 
$7.50 per acre for manure on wheat? That would 
mean a big dose of commercial fertilizer. Another 
thing is the feeding of good wheat to stock. It needed 
a low price to Vreak up the habit and tradition that 
are mainly responsible for the idea that this grain was 
intended for human consumption only. 
* * 
A Y'OUNG Canadian friend writes us to know if there 
is a chance for a youDg man to get a position on a 
railroad in the Southern or Western States. As most 
railroads have been laying off many of their old, ex¬ 
perienced employees, and as the country is filled wRh 
unemployed worKingmen of every trade and occupa¬ 
tion, it would seem to be a useless undertaking for a 
stranger without influence to look for such a position. 
The cities are full of idle men who are ready to snap 
up anything that promises to afford them a bare liv¬ 
ing. If there ever was a time when the country boy 
should stay away from the city, that time is now. If 
he has a position where he can make a living, he’d 
better stick to it. If not, he’d better hustle around in 
his own neighborhood and find one. 
* * 
A reader of The R. N.-Y. at Digby, Nova Scotia, 
asks this question: 
Do you tlilnk the duty will be removed from eggs this winter? I 
think I will try hens In the spring if the duty will be off. Your corres¬ 
pondent who wrote “Hens by the Acre,” Is very Instructive. 
We know nothing about the plans of those who have 
the new tariff bill in charge, but if the proirises of 
the Democratic party are kept, we expect to see eggs 
and hay free and a heavy reduction in the duties on 
grain and potatoes. This will probably please our 
Nova Scotia friend better than it will some poultry- 
met) on this side of the line. Free trade, however, will 
never save him if he starts into “ Hens by the Acre” 
without serving an apprenticeship to a hen. The 
Business Hen means business hence to those who do 
not work under her direction. 
* * 
A very intelligent Scotchman of this city, an exten¬ 
sive importer who makes frequent trips to Europe in 
the course of his business, on a recent voyage met one 
of his countrymen, a noted horse breeder and a pro¬ 
gressive farmer. The two were farmer boys together 
in the old country 50 years ago. In the course of 
their conversation the subject of the improvements in 
tools and implements in use in Scotland was discussed. 
“We don’t have any of the clumsy, awkward hoes, 
forks, etc., with the monstrous soft-wood handles we 
used when boys,” said the farmer. “ We use the 
American tools, largely. Our manufacturers have 
been shown these goods and have been asked to make 
similar ones. But they say that the handles are too 
small—that their own are better. So the progressive 
farmers are using the American tools with their small, 
neat, but strong handles made from tough ash, which 
don’t require half so much strength to use.” Thus it 
is that the progressive American manufacturer is 
crowding out the conservative foreigner on his own 
territory. There is a field in this same direction for 
the progressive American farmer. He must furnish 
a product that is unquestionably superior, that is 
uniformly good and attractively displayed. Merit 
will win every time. 
While farmers have, perhaps, not received so much 
for their hay this year as they had hoped, fair prices 
have usually been received. But the exporters have 
had heaps of trouble. Prices paid for export hay were 
often too high. Some of the Canadian exporters who 
shipped to England are loud in their complaints of the 
treatment received. The English dealers, or some of 
them, at any rate, seem to have found all sorts of pre¬ 
texts for delaying payments, or for scaling down 
prices. They have also, it is said, refused absolutely 
to receive hay that had been shipped there on their 
cabled orders, thus leaving hay to be stored at the 
expense, and awaiting the orders of the shippers. 
This always proves expensive business to the latter 
and usually entails heavy loss. Taken altogether, the 
lot of the hay exporter this year is not altogether a 
happy one. * * 
One great expense connected with the cane-sugar 
mills at the South is that of fuel to provide heat for 
evaporation. As a rule, there are no coal mines within 
easy hauling distance of the sugar plantations. Sound 
economy pointed to the use of the wastes of the crop 
for fuel. As on the Western wheat fields, straw burn¬ 
ing engines were tried, so in Louisiana it was proposed 
to burn the bagasse or what is left of the cane after 
the juice is expressed. As methods of crushing this 
cane were improved, of course the bagasse was left 
drier and in better condition for burning. Still it has 
never given satisfaction when used alone. It has been 
found necessary to use large quantities of dry wood, 
both to kindle the fires and keep them going. Recent 
experiments in using kerosene oil in place of wood 
show that from one to two gallons of oil thrown over 
the bagasse will make a quicker and better fire than 
a cord of wood. This is a good illustration of the fact 
that bulk is of no more value in fuel than in fertilizers, 
but that what is wanted is available heat in such form 
that it can be quickly and easily distributed all through 
the mass to be fired. * # 
We are sending out the specimens of the Carman 
No. 1 potato this week. As stated awhile ago, only 
small tubers or cut tubers can be sent. This variety 
forms very few small tubers; like the “No. 2” almost 
all are of marketable size. The crop of these potatoes 
was cut short this year, so that, take it all together, we 
have had hard work to supply even the small tubers. 
We have printed some quite remaikable stories of the 
crops obtained from the single tubers of R. N.-Y. No. 2 
sent out in 1889. This note from J. B. Clark of 
Genesee County, N. Y.. is but an illustration of what 
hundreds have done : 
I raised two acres, 59M> rods of R. N.-Y. No. 2 potatoes from seed 
that I have talsed from the one you sent me some years ago. The 
amount dug from this area was 775 bushels or a fraction over 326 
bushels per acre, which we think Is good for common tleld culture, 
and which Is over 100 bushels more per acre than Empire State yielded 
right beside them. 
This all came from one little tuber sent five years 
ago. That tuber weighed two ounces, and the crop 
weighs 838,000 ounces. That is an illustration of the 
possibilities of these little tubers we are now sending 
out. We are preparing some articles on how to get the 
most out of one tuber that will probably show our 
readers how to keep and handle these potatoes to the 
best advantage. „ * 
At a meeting in Chicago, Mr. Samuel Allerton is re¬ 
ported to have made an argument in favor of country 
homes for mechanics and city workers generally. His 
figures easily showed how a man might, with care and 
hard work, make an excellent living on 40 acres— 
probably better than he could ever earn in the city, to 
say nothing of the independence arising from owning 
one’s own home. Then Mr. Allerton made this state¬ 
ment about a young man desirous of owning a farm: 
He would be sure to fall In love with some noble young woman, and. 
If he had manly courage, he would tell her how dearly he loved her: 
He would say: “ We both are poor and must make our own positions 
In life. I have saved 1500, but must gain more before I assume the 
responsibility of a husband; If my love Is returned, you must try to 
save also; go Into the country and work for some farmer's wife, where 
you will be socially her equal. This Is the self-sacrifice we must make 
for our future success.” There Is hardly a woman In the world but 
would feel that she had found a man of honor, worthy of her love and 
would be happy In doing her part. These few years of devotion and 
Industry would afford more real happiness than to own all the wealth 
of the world with Us pomp and vanity. 
In theory, that is absolutely perfect. Could it be 
carried out, there would be a third person helped, viz., 
the farmer’s wife who needs just such help as the 
young woman could give her. Is the plan practical, 
however ? In other words, has it ever really been 
carried out ? Do you know of young women who 
would do it ? * * 
The importance attached to bone as a fertilizer has 
been well shown in the past by the great numbers of 
letters from farmers who ask how to “ reduce ” bones 
to a suitable condition for use in the soil. The cost of 
crushing and grinding is so great that we are gener¬ 
ally led to say that burning the bones is about the 
only practical way for the farmer to handle them. This 
is a wasteful process and does not give the most avail¬ 
able form of phosphoric acid. The invention of bone 
cutters or machines for slicing or “ hashing ” up the 
green bone, puts a new face on the matter. We thus 
get the feeding value of the bone. That is to say, 
poultry or hogs will grow and thrive on the cut bone 
and return in their manure the substances we buy in 
bone meal. The same arguments can be used in favor 
of cutting bone that are used in favor of feeding clover 
hay to stock, that is, we thus obtain two values—a feed¬ 
ing and a manurial value ! While it may take us some 
time to become used to the idea that bones have a stock 
feeding value, it is proved that such a value exists and, 
within a few years, it will add to the price of butchers’ 
refuse. # * 
BREVITIES. 
I gut my boots jest soppln’ wet down In the swamp to-day, 
A-diggin’ in our lower ditch. I tell ye it don't pay 
Fer men that's risln’ 50 year ter let their feet git wet 
An’ cold, unless they want a touch of rhumatlz. I’ll bet 
I’m gonter set an' roast my feet here by the kitchen stove. 
Now, mother, clear them dishes up an' don't ask me ter move. 
An’ there’s them boots! Say, John, run out an' dip In that oat bln 
An' fill them boots an' shake ’em down 'till no more won't run in. 
That’s right! Now set’em over there. When mornln’comes you’ll see, 
When I turn out them oats, how dry an’ pliable tney be. 
The whys and wherefores of It Is, them oats absorb the wet. 
Yes, like enough if they was hot , they'd do It better yet; 
An’ then, them oats begin to swell an’ puff out every crease. 
That’s why them boots can’t wrinkle up an’ don’t need any grease. 
I claim that’s pretty much the wav some fellers' heads git set. 
They don’t take in no new ldees, but lest stand still an’ let 
Their heads jest dry an' thicken up ez holler ez a gourd; 
Wnereas, ef they had posted up on new ldees an’ pouied 
New thoughts inside ter rise an' swell—but 1 won’t say no more, 
Fer mother’s gut her book an’ John—he’s jest begun ter snore. 
Buttkrink Is the pard of lard. 
Don't cut yourself to a single eye. 
Tub Dorset Is a very nervous sheep. 
Some beans about that California crop. 
Better to see the point before you feel It. 
asparagus Is tough If It can thrive on gas lime. 
Can you trust your memory without getting cheated? 
Ark there any thoroughbred Americans yet, or are we all grades? 
Have you ever tried the plan of fruit growing suggested by Mr. 
Pierce? 
” I move we lay It on the table!” What? The best food your farm 
affords. 
Don’t forget the dry road dust for the hens before the ground 
freezes! 
Some men had better try the corrosive sublimate solution on their 
conscience. 
Let your poultry grow, sir, so that they can show, sir, a clean score 
to the grocer. 
You can’t find him—a man who, having dishorned his cows, wishes 
the horns were back ! 
IN nearby markets why cannot asparagus be sold In bulk—without 
tying—like peas or beanB? 
STABLE manure for wood In fruit growing. A bearing tree Is known 
by Its fruit—not Its wood growth. 
Mu. Donald thinks manure has killed many asparagus plants. 
Clean dirt Is good enough for them, he thinks. 
New York State farmers would better Institute an Inquiry as to 
what has become ot their Farmers’ Institutes ! 
The same thing that makes kalnltor muriate good for asparagus 
makes them bad for potatoes or fruit—too much Balt. 
Mr. J. C. Ogden of Kentucky says that Clapp's Favorite pear blights 
worse than Bartlett with him. Who have noticed this? 
If bedbugs ever associated with bats they would certainly have 
been found In the house of the friend who writes on page 766. 
WHO would try to grow fruit without a microscope ? Not to see the 
crop—that ought to be large enough—but to see the Utile enemies of 
the trees and fruits. 
Some of the mutton sheep must have the finest feed and the fattest 
care, or they will fall to pay. The sheep to run around and still put on 
fat, Is the South Down. 
Want to give yourself a surprise ? Begin now and give the hens 
the attention they need and no more, and thus get a glimpse of the 
real value of your care. 
When a fellow has sickness, the Doc. comes wl’.h quickness and 
puts on his glasses to spy It. Don’t take Dr. Trylt, or Dr. Applyit, but 
hire Drs. Quiet and Diet. 
What plant Is tough enough to wrestle with a *' chunk ” of manure? 
As well feed a little calf on ear corn as to expect to have plants thrive 
on small doses of coarse manure. 
Better be dead, better be dead than catch the disease known as 
Bigness of Head ! Play well your part, don’t be too tmart, but meas¬ 
ure your head by the size of your heart. 
“ Chickens come home to roost!” And they are the most home- 
loving things in the world if they can be bound by home loving ties 
to some of the places men prepare for them ! 
” Justice for the bee.” page 766. That’s right, if you think we’re 
off the track don’t hesitate to put us on again. One advantage of 
getting off the track now and then Is that we stir up the sleepers. 
In feeding dry straw or rough hay, hard and coarse, you do the 
worst thing for the heaves In a horse; but to use the same Btuff as a 
mulch, sir—you can’t dr a more worthy thing for frost-heaves In a 
plant. 
We hope we have not added fuel to the Are of that political discus¬ 
sion by printing the figures given on page 774. There Is little fat about 
those facts and we hope they will not create a fiercer heat because 
they are correct. 
Our friend who uses steam power for manure making, page 762, 
certainly has the right Idea. There Is still another "steam power” in 
the “heating up” of the c impost heap that adds to the mechanical 
value of the manure. 
Governor Flower says he recently saw a road built by lunatics 
at an Insane asylum that would shame many a highway commissioner. 
The reason he gives Is that “the lunatics had Intelligent direction 
and the highway commissioners had none!” 
BY reference to the report on the cattle test at the World's Fair, 
page 775, It will be seen that the Jerseys were way ahead. A big sur¬ 
prise Is the way the 8hort horns have performed at the pall. Let no¬ 
body think this result proves that every cow with “ Jersey blood ” In 
her veins Is tirst-class. It only proves that Jerseys must be bred and 
fed with the utmost care to make a good showing. 
