784 
November 25 
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 8. CARMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLING WOOD. Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER. Associate Editor. 
JOHN J. DILLON, Business Manager. 
Copyrighted 1H93. 
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 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, NOVEMBER 25, 1893. 
The attention of our readers is this week specially 
called to the leading article under Ruralisms, page 783. 
* # 
The “Baby” cream separators are supposed to run 
by hand power, but it gives a stout man plenty of 
work to keep one going. Not only that, but it takes 
a man away from milking, for the milk should be run 
through the separator at once. An enterprising 
manufacturer has made a “ Baby” tread-power to do 
just such work as that of running the separator. A 
young bull in this power can do lots of work too heavy 
for a dog or sheep and not heavy enough for a large 
horse. Quite a number of dairymen use a yearling or 
older heifer in this power and do not find that the 
exercise hurts her at all. 
* * 
Two weeks ago Mr. Hicks’s potato sorter taught us 
that it is cheaper to let a small potato fall through a 
hole than to pick it up with our fingers. This week 
Mr. Gould shows us that it is easier to drop a bundle 
of corn fodder than it is to lift it. One of the first 
things we learn in life is that it requires an effort to 
lift things—to take them away from the earth. Yet, 
don’t you know farmers who after half a century of 
lifting go on using high wagons, high bins and high 
tables when lower ones would save half the lift ? 
Please tell us why they do it. Why do you do it ? 
We understand from a short report from the Post 
Office Department that the present authorities decide 
that free postal delivery in small towns and in rural 
districts is not practicable. An experiment was tried 
in a number of places so selected as to give a fair 
average of the country at large. At first, every one 
was pleased and the mailage business largely increased. 
After a while, however, the novelty wore off and 
people preferred going or sending to the store or post- 
office. This is what the authorities say, and they 
agree that it would not be wise to spend the $20,000,- 
000 needed to extend the delivery system to all rural 
neighborhoods. We believe this is a jumped-at con¬ 
clusion, and jumped a long distance at that. How¬ 
ever, the best way to get a mail delivery in the country 
is to organize one with your neighbor and ca’ ry it out 
successfully. You can then show the actual amount 
of business done and the Government will take the job 
off your hands. That has been the history of many 
mail routes. * * 
Begin now and let your Assemblyman know that 
you want the office of New York State Agricultural 
Commission made an elective one. There is no more 
reason why the Governor Bhould appoint this commis¬ 
sion than there is for his appointing the Secretary of 
State, Attorney General or State Engineer. We shall 
never be able to get a man who will look after our in¬ 
terests properly until we have something to say about 
the selection of that man. In the last election in Ohio 
there was a square fight between a policy of fighting 
an<j suppressing the sale of impure foods and that of 
winking at their sale. One candidate for Commissioner 
represented the opposition to oleo and other frauds ; 
the other was supported by wholesale grocers and 
others whose interests lay in making the office a dead 
letter. That fight was possible because the two men 
were before the people asking for votes. That is what 
we want in New York State—a chance to nominate and 
elect a man for Agricultural Commissioner who will 
really represent the farmers’ interests. 
* # 
Many farmers in the great wheat-growing sections 
of the Northwest believe that the present low prices 
of wheat cannot long continue, from the fact that 
there is a shortage in the total wheat supply of the 
world. A circular entitled “ Hold Your Wheat” has 
been issued from pierre, S. D., in which it is said : 
Bogus butter his again engaged the attention of the 
New York Mercantile Exchange, and another meeting 
has been held to discuss the business. The State 
Agricultural Department was also criticised. Deputy 
Commissioner Van Valkenburgh was asked to speak* 
but refused. He didn’t like the questions that were 
asked him on his previous appearance. They were 
probably too personal and embarrassing. Meanwhile 
Commissioner Schraub has commenced actions against 
a couple of Armour’s agents in Cohoes for selling oleo¬ 
margarine as butter, has secured a temporary injunc¬ 
tion restraing further sales, and seeks to make it 
permanent. Thus the battle rolls merrily on, and 
oleomargarine is daily sold for butter in every city in 
the State. * * 
A few months ago notice was given that dairy cer¬ 
tificates had been granted 15 or more young men by 
the Wisconsin Agricultural College. These certificates 
give assurance that the holders are fully competent 
to take charge of a creamery or cheese factory. We 
have written these young men to learn their side of 
the story—what these certificates cost’ them in time, 
money and study, and what value they are in practi¬ 
cal work. The answers will show some remarkable 
things about the short agricultural courses now be¬ 
coming so popular at our agricultural colleges. As 
one dairyman puts it, the time is coming when no man 
can obtain a position in charge of a first-class Wiscon¬ 
sin creamery unless he can show a dairy certificate. 
That time may be a good way off, but it is none the 
less true that the work done by our dairy schools is 
coming to be appreciated more and more. 
* * 
✓ 
ir 
After a thorough Investigation of the conditions existing, we feel 
certain that the year 181)4 will bring much higher prices for wheat, 
and we do not hesitate to urge Northwestern producers to hold their 
wheat in hand for a few months. We may Just as well keep at least a 
part of this extra profit for ourselves as to give It to the elevators and 
millers by selling now. The conditions are such that every bushel of 
wheat now remaining In the producers’ hands can be made to bring 
$1 before another harvest If all of It would be held for that price. 
The trouble is that so much wheat has been shipped 
out of the farmers’ hands, and so much fed to stock, 
that what they can now “ hold ” will be of compara¬ 
tively little help. Wheat was the only cash com¬ 
modity these farmers had to offer, and they were 
forced to part with it in order to meet the bills that 
demanded cash payments. 
# * 
Another economy due to the use of the Babcock 
test is reported from some Western creameries. The 
night’s milk is set in Cooley creamers. In the morning 
the cream from this setting is mixed with the morn¬ 
ing’s milk and taken to the creamery. The Babcock 
test easily shows that thi9 milk contains the fat,of 
two milkings, and, as the creamery pays for the fat 
only, there is nothing lost by not carrying the full 
night’s milk. In fact, there is a gain, as one trip and 
the cost of the labor and cans needed to carry the 
skim-milk are saved. It makes no difference to the 
creamery manager whether there are 5 or 10 pounds of 
fat in each 100 pounds of milk—in fact, he would pre¬ 
fer the greater proportion. This is but a small example 
of the benefits derived from the invention of this milk 
test. It is also an illustration of the gain in any line 
of work through the ability to separate mere bulk from 
real value, and thus save the expense of handling the 
former. , * 
Somebody introduced, in the English parliament, a 
bill to compel farmers to pay their servants or hired 
help in cash and do away with the system of making 
allowance of meal, milk, rent, etc. The idea was that 
some farmers took advantage of their servants by 
charging exorbitant prices for these allowances. A 
committee was appointed to collect evidence respect¬ 
ing the present condition of the British farm laborer. 
That committee reports that, on the whole, farm 
laborers are better off than for 30 years. As to the 
proposed bill, it is found that the farmers favor it 
more than their laborers. Could such an investigation 
be made in this country, we think it would show that 
here, too, the hired man has made a better showing 
for improved condition than the average farmer. A 
good man with a reputation for faithful service is 
never out of work, and whether the crops fail or not 
he is sure of his pay 
What about ensilage for summer feed in the place 
of pasture ? It is evident from the reports printed 
elsewhere in this issue, that dairymen in various parts 
of the country have already begun ‘to “ pasture from 
the silo” while others are preparing to follow. What 
are the facts about it ? The corn plant provides a 
greater amount of stock food per acre than any other. 
It is at its best when ripe and ready to cut for husk¬ 
ing. At that time it is worth more than any grass. 
It is easy to see that ensilage is excellent for feeding 
through the winter and up to the time for green grass 
in the spring. Why ? Because it provides succulence 
or juice at a time when nothing else is growing in the 
pastures to provide it. If that is so it might just as 
well be fed after July 4 for then most pastures are 
nearly as dry and lacking in good food as they ever 
are. True, there are “soiling crops” that may be fed 
in July and August. What are they ? Mostly corn 
fodder and millet. Leaving out the cost of cutting, 
carting and feeding them, are they as valuable for 
feeding as well-matured corn ensilage ? We think 
not. The great drawback to the whole thing is that 
in the average silo the ensilage will not keep weH in 
summer and great pains are needed in ‘feeding it out. 
This is where the superiority of the Colcord patent 
ensilage or green forage is shown. 
* * 
While the women who registered in New York State 
were disappointed in not being permitted to vote, the 
late election gave the general cause of woman’s suf¬ 
frage a decided advance. In Colorado the question of 
permitting women to vote the same as men was made 
a leading issue in the campaign and both Republicans 
and Populists supported it so well that five-sixths of 
the counties gave majorities in its favor. The total 
majority in the State was about 6,000. In Colorado, 
therefore, women are to have equal suffrage at all 
elections. Wyoming started as a State by granting 
the suffrage to women, but Colorado is the first State 
to grant it by a popular vote. This vote is all the 
more important because some 15 years ago the people 
of Colorado gave a great majority against woman’s 
suffrage. It is, therefore, a complete change in public 
sentiment, and it must be said that the Populists are 
chiefly respoosible for it. The same question will 
come before the voters in Kansas next year with the 
chances in favor of success. 
# * 
BREVITIES. 
You’d better quit growling about the way 
You wasted the chances of yesterday. 
You'd better stop figuring how you’ll bt rrow 
From that big fortune you'll make to-moir^w. 
For yesterday's field Is pasture bare. 
And life’s to-morrow will never get there. 
But your life’s to-day at your service stands 
With bountiful work for your brain and hands. 
The future and past to the dreamers give, 
But work for yourself In to-day and live. 
Have a type and live to It 1 
Cancel what you can’t sell. 
A fowl blot— the scrub chicken! 
Cattle blood Is a tell-tale—at the pall. 
Is the silver dollar to be mighty or mltey? 
A colt’s revolver Is at the end ol Its hi’d leg. 
What causes "hollow heart?” We know the effect. 
What about Mr. Hales's figures on eggs and pullets ? 
“ Heroic treatment ’’—castration to cure dog roaming. 
Who can rise In the world by " holding down a chair ? ” 
BUY your coal In a dry time You thug pay for less water. 
Is your bad judgment In the pedigree ol that balky horse ? 
A “ weed ’’ hurts a breed, but weeding helps the breeding. 
The chicken likes to associate with a worm that is "down In the 
mouth 1 ” 
How many heifers must you raise each year to keep a herd of 30 
cows complete ? 
Mb. Hicks uses the quince to flav r the KelfTer pear A sort of 
mince of quince 1 
“ Fish, flesh and fowl.” We have It combined In a duck led on fish 
scrap and cut bone. 
The steel fingers on a machine can’t do half so mrch damage as the 
steal fingers on a Trust. 
Political gangs fOBter moral gangrene. Turn In with your votes, 
brothers— make the gang green. 
One good hen will pay for The R. N.-Y. next year. One gold sow 
will earn you a gold watch and chain. 
“ Say nothing, but saw wood ” Is evidently the motto of our in¬ 
dustrious little frleDd, Onclderes singulata, page 781. 
Ouu plants get long and leggy when we feed them too much nitro¬ 
gen. And so our pl;ns go oft aglee when fed on too much theory. 
If you have on your list of friends two sows that can beat the 
record given on page 791, we shall be glad to Introduce them to the 
public. 
“Make the most of a good day!” To-morrow has duties of Its 
own. Don't fill the future with grlevlngs over the leavings of the 
present. 
No team can’• back ” the weight they can pull In lots of cases 
where you know you must back the load, It would be weil to hitch be¬ 
hind and pull back. 
Roots are the plant’s mouths are they? Big, stout roots are advan¬ 
tageous? Are men with big mouths healthier and stronger? Ought 
to be If the analogy holds gcod. 
Kllwanger & Barry sent to the World’s Fair at one time 135 
varieties of pears. We do not believe there Is another firm in the 
country that can duplicate that order. 
Did you ever try to soil cattle on a rainy day, with water running 
out of the grass or fodder as you handled it ? If so, you will probably 
favor the silo for soiling. You can handle ensilage without taking a 
bath. 
Some of our readers object to what we said about Secretary Mor¬ 
ton’s recent address. Well, the fairest thing will be to print the whole 
address, and that we hope to do next week. Then we can all think it 
over. 
The best experts In children’s diseases do not enthuse much over 
’sterilized milk.” They want pure milk fron healthy cows and 
healthful food. They want the care mixed with the milk before It Is 
made—not after. 
In a hop-growing community the Prohibitionists carried the day 
and abolished saloons. The brewers try to get even by refusing to 
buy the hops grown at that place, hoping thus to starve the people 
away from prohibition. Can they do It ? 
WE are soon to tell of a Delaware farmer who has something newer 
still about silos. This man doesn’t believe In letting the silo stand 
Idle at all. As soon as It Is emptied In spring it Is filled with Scarlet 
clover which will be fed out ready for corn in the fall. Nothing like 
keeping the silo out of mischief. 
Mb. Gould, you notice, does not have to buy a cutter and carrier. 
There is enough silo work done in the neighborhood to warrant a 
man In going from farm to farm with a cutter just as he does wllh a 
thrasher. That Is one advantage of living In a place where there Is 
business enough to warrant wholesale work. 
