56 
January 27 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THK 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers a/nd Pearl Sts., New York. 
A National Weakly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
KLBKBT B. CARMAN, Hdltor-ln-Chlof. 
nBUBBRT W. COLLINGWOOD, ManaRln* Editor 
BRWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor- 
JOHN J. DILLON, Business ManaKer. 
Copyrighted nm. 
Address all business oommnnloatlons and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RUR-AL 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, JANUARY 27, 1894. 
Sweet-corn growers everywhere are invited to dis¬ 
cuss what Mr. Baker has to say on page 5.5. What and 
when are you paid ? What do you average per acre ? 
If you can get only $25 an acre, and then have to wait 
for that, you might better grow common field corn. Is 
that correct ? ^ , 
Last week Mr. Geo. Bittner of Ohio made a remark¬ 
able statement about the way in which his yearly 
sales have increased. He has now prepared for us a 
statement giving details of crops and methods of cul¬ 
ture. It will prove an interesting document to other 
farmers and is a strong tribute to the value of The 
R.N.-Y. 
Colorado potatoes are of splendid quality. Well 
they may be, grown in a good soil with perfect supply of 
moisture. It is good evidence of their quality that, 
although grown hundreds of miles away from the 
great markets, most of them are carried long distances 
to be used as food—comparatively few being used for 
starch making. We get an idea this week of the way 
this crop can be poured out in Colorado. Really, have 
not Eastern potato growers more to dread from Colo¬ 
rado than from Canada ? 
« * 
“Last fall some apples were shipped me which I sold 
for $5 per barrel readily, and some others equally good 
from the same town, which 1 couldn’t get $4 for,” 
said a commission merchant the other day. “The 
only difference was in the packing. One man had 
assorted his nicely, and faced up che barrels so as to 
make them look attractive, while the other had 
dumped his into tlie barrels just as they were picked.” 
Wouldn’t a dollar a barrel have been big pay for as¬ 
sorting and nicely packing those apples ? It seems 
so to us. ^ 
Let us suppose a law to be passed prohibiting the 
sale of oat hulls mixed with other feed unless the 
dealer distinctly state what the mixture is. Then 
your feed man says, “ Here is a ton of pure corn meal 
for $25, and here is a ton containing 1,000 pounds of 
meal and 1,000 of oat hulls for $18 I ” Wouldn’t you 
take the $25 ton from choice ? Would it not give you 
cheaper meal ? It would be cheaper even if the price 
of the meal and hulls were only $12.50. If that is so, 
why is not the same thing true in buying fertilizers or 
manure ? ^ 
A SUBSCRIBER at Charleston, S. C , writes that 
potato planters there will be forced to buy almost all 
their seed from outside as the home-grown crop was 
almost entirely destroyed by the storms last year and 
none can be purchased. Where shall these growers 
go for their seed ? There is an opinion at Charleston 
that home-grown seed will stand late frosts better 
than Northern grown. We do not know that this has 
been proven. In any event these growers must go 
outside for their present season’s seed. Better go 
North for at least a portion of it. 
* * 
Another illustration of the advantages of codpera- 
tion in farming is given in Mr. Grundy’s account of 
that plan for renting a big tract of land in Illinois. 
The chances are that this land will yield much better 
returns both to landlord and tenant and keep in better 
heart, too, by this cooperative or organized farming. 
Is there not a lesson here for farmers in other com¬ 
munities who desire to rent land advantageously ? 
Can they not combine and secure some of the benefits 
of cooperation ? How dull and dreary, hard and slow 
it is to operate without the “col” 
* * 
This is an age of strainers. There is so much to be 
read and thought and tried that ordinary folks cannot 
hope to go through it all. “ Strainers ” are wanted 
to sift out the dregs and let only the useful and help¬ 
ful run into the pipe. Books, papers, teachers, parents, 
friends are all strainers with meshes of varying fine¬ 
ness. The head of a grown-up man or woman of sense 
and experience ought to be provided with a discharge 
pipe that will let off matter that should not have en¬ 
tered. Not so with the mind of a child. That must 
take and attempt to absorb whatever you let into it. 
Therefore, about the most important question we can 
ask is, what strainer are you using on your child’s 
mind? ^ ^ 
The following letter dated January 12 came to hand 
in due season: 
I send you by to-nlKht’s mall a sample of strawberries, on account 
of their earllness. The plants were set the first week In November, 
and I had ripe berries January 1, eo days after plantlcj?. I might have 
had berries by Christmas If I had not picked off the early blooms. I 
am sorry the sample Is not larger, but hope they will arrive In good 
condition and that you will enjoy them. 8. h. mitchki.i.. 
Bartow, Florida. 
The berries arrived in fair condition. Think of a 
country big enough to be frozen at one end while 
strawberries are growing on the other end 1 The 
trouble about the warm end is that it cannot make 
artificial cold as easily as the cold end can make arti¬ 
ficial heat. ^ ^ 
Mr. Howard tells us this week that at Greeley, Col., 
wheat is selling at 38 cents a bushel, while potatoes 
sell at 45 cents. Think of it! On the 35 acres in that 
potato field the crop brought $0,428. Had it been in 
wheat, the most that could have been obtained was 
$400. And yet, the feeding value of a bushel of wheat 
is at least four times that of a bushel of potatoes. In 
every bushel of potatoes there are 45 pounds of water, 
and only six pounds in tbe bushel of wheat. Reduced 
to units of human life sustaining power, the difference 
is even greater, for the wheat will sustain nearly five 
times as many people as the potatoes. This is a case 
where science seems to be upset. Why should the 
potatoes cost more than the wheat when they have 
only one-fourth the nourishing value ? 
* « 
And now an Ohio farmer wishes he hadn’t. A 
valuable blooded heifer mysteriously disappeared, and 
the farmer accused several different persons of steal¬ 
ing her, each of whom gave him a sound thrashing for 
his pains. At last he found that the heifer had eaten 
her way into the straw stack, as heifers from time 
immemorial have been in the habit of doing, and that 
the straw stack had caved in, as straw stacks often do 
under similar circumstances, imprisoning and com¬ 
pletely hiding the heifer. To set himself right, the 
owner made personal apologies to each of those whom 
he had accused, supplementing this by a public con¬ 
fession and apology in church. The moral of this lies 
in its application. Be sure you’re right and then go 
ahead, but don’t go ahead until you are sure. 
* « 
In the statement made by the committee of the New 
Jersey Dairymen’s Protective Association the follow¬ 
ing truths are tersely stated : 
We realize that a number have largely reaped the benefits of our 
Association, without having joined In the work. It Is one of the mor¬ 
tifications of upright men that so many, who scorn the thought of 
being dishonest, are unscrupulous enough to avail themselves freely 
of advantages gained by others at much expense. » » * ♦ Those 
shippers not becoming members of the Association, although profess¬ 
ing sympathy with It, are doing our cause much more harm than the 
united efforts of the dealers In active opposition. 
We commend these thoughts to your consideration. 
Do you know men who like to dance yet go out before 
the fiddler’s hat is passed around ? What proportion 
of your neighbors will come forward with a contribu¬ 
tion in help of a public service from which they receive 
a private benefit ? What name have we for those who 
on a much larger scale thrive on the labor and thought 
of others ? , , 
The war on oleomargarine carried on by the Mer¬ 
cantile Exchange, still continues. The members have 
voted an appropriation to defray the expenses of dele¬ 
gates elected to confer with the authorities at Albany 
and Washington in regard to legislation against oleo¬ 
margarine. A motion was made to appropriate $300 
to cover the expenses of delegates to a convention at 
Chicago. The Board of Trade of Elgin is the leader 
in the calling of this convention, and it was claimed 
by the members of the New York Mercantile Exchange 
that the Elgin Board is working in the interest of the 
Armours and other manufacturers of oleomargarine. 
This motion, therefore, excited great opposition and 
was defeated. Deputy Commissioner Van Vaikenburg, 
who was sent to represent the State Department of 
Agriculture at this convention, telegraphs that the 
idea sent out that the Armour interests might attempt 
to control the delegates has proven unfounded and 
that the convention will pass strong resolutions in 
opposition to the bogus butter traffic. The statement 
was also made that many asylums and penal institu¬ 
tions in New York State, wholly or partially supported 
by State money, are using large quantities of oleomar¬ 
garine, butterine, etc., in violation of the law passed 
by the last Legislature. Mr. Van Vaikenburg said 
that he was prepared to furnish proof of this, and that 
he thought the Comptroller could be prevented from 
paying the appropriations to these institutions. A 
resolution was passed asking Gov. Flower to use his 
influence in enforcing the law in regard to institutions 
^ that are wholly or partially supported by State, county 
or city appropriations. The Exchange is thoroughly 
in earnest in this matter, and the dealers in bogus 
butter have in it a strong and unrelenting foe. The 
convention mentioned above organized the National 
Dairy Union, which elected the following officers : 
President, C. W. Horr, Wellington, Ohio ; secretarv 
D. W. Wilson, Elgin, Ill. ; treasurer, C. S. Morton, 
New York City ; and the following list of vice presi 
dents: C. P. Darlington, Chadds Ford, Pa. ; F. W 
Edmunds, Sherman, N. Y., and James Hewes, Balti¬ 
more. The officers of the Union constitute its board 
of control. President Horr says that there are $800,- 
000,000 represented in the dairy interests of the United 
State, and one-half of this interest was represented 
by the men in attendance. The paramount question 
was that of bogus butter. War is declared against 
the business. A resolution was passed asking Congress 
to make the tax on oleomargarine seven cents per 
pound instead of two, and to impose a tax of two 
cents per pound on filled cheese. A bill has been 
introduced in the New York Assembly allowing the 
Commissioner of Agriculture to appoint seven addi¬ 
tional cheese experts, and appropriating $10,000 
therefor. ^ ^ 
BREVITIES. 
I've flfTKered up my year’s accounts down to a copper cent. 
I know jest what I ve made an’ paid an’ borrled, lost an’ lent; 
An’ putten all cash credits In their proper place 1 find. 
That I start off fer ’94 a leetle mite behind. 
I never see expenses count up quite so fast before. 
I swan, I hope I’ve gut ’em all—thouKh maybe I’ll find more. 
Them debits fill a pa^e or two—I kinder hate ter show 
Uow, In a humble home like this, so much cash can ko. 
But there sets mother over there with father at her side. 
An’ wife Is rockin’ baby jest as happy as a bride. 
We’ve KOt a brand new orKan an’ our house Is nice an’ neat. 
It represents the value of a jfood year’s crop of wheat. 
An’ now let’s see our credits—they are happiness and health. 
An' love an’ kindly feelln’—that’s the only sort of wealth 
This farm can find to start with In this Kood year 'lit; 
But I Kuess I’ll close the ledger and not ask fer any more. 
Don’t forKet how to lauithl 
Uow hot do the cattle want their water ? 
Uow do you like Mr. Talcott’s silo story ? 
Cows made tender with a club are never true. 
Oat smut couldn’t stand a Turkish bath, page 5.5. 
Ever know an unworked colt havlnn the heaves ? 
“ Pay me what thou owest!” says the skinned farm. 
Keep the cloak of your actions in fashion-man fashion I 
The first vote on that bone-cutter question Is for 50 hens. 
“Live within your means ’ Is no advice for the mean man. 
Don’t believe In a Trust, eh ? That’s right—pay cash, then. 
To decline the liquor business do a little declining yourself. 
The lousy cow licks her flanks because she has inaecty aidea! 
We want a big farmers’ tru»t-that Is, a trust In their business. 
Discounted work is that in which the worker takes no Interest. 
Foil a baby how much more deadly is Paris-green than a green pear? 
Wa.ntei) ! A bogus butter maker who eats the stuff he deceives 
others with I 
The best tide In the affairs of young men Is to be tied to a mother’s 
apron string. 
Manuke Is the farm’s heart ? Men die of enlargement of the heart 
but farms never do. 
Will it pay you to treat your seed oats as they were treated by our 
Michigan friend, page 55 7 
WantedI a slfcht at the business boom that was to follow the re¬ 
peal of the Sherman Law! 
We read of a new English “butter drier’’ for getting the water out 
of butter without working It. 
Now let some farmer with money to spend make a trial of that hay 
press In the corn Held—page 50. 
Let's hear from you on that matter of stunting those potatoes, page 
63. Which Is the easier-to Increase or decrease the size ? 
now about that wheat estimate—page 54? Is It right to charge part 
of the cost of plowing and harvesting to the grass? Why not? 
So.ME of our politicians would be better off perhaps If they would 
carefully read the plans for tongue-holding bits now being published. 
Thehe are too many fractional farmers—half and quarter hearted. 
You can’t possibly add them up and make whole ones as you can other 
fractions 
Do jour hens keep you In groceries? Or. let’s be fair to the hens 
and put It another way—do you give them a chance to earn your 
groceries ? 
Read Peter M. Gideon’s experience with tree blight—page 50. Uow 
about the men who are advertising “blight-proof’ trees? Let’s hear 
from them now. 
“ A TAX upon conscience ’’ Is a name they have made up for the In¬ 
come tax. On an ad valorem basis how much would your conscience 
give to tne government ? 
A FitiEND In New Fork State writes that one fruitful source of 
“ heaves ’’ In a horse Is for the driver to spend time “ warming up ’’ In 
a saloon while the horse colds up outside. 
A FKiKND In New York State asks us to lock up a commission man. 
He says: “ 1 sect two crates of eggs I think it was In July or August.” 
There are mighty few links In a chain of evidence where facts are 
based on “ thinks.” Why not know? 
There is a proposition before Congress to extend the time at which 
the wool and woolen gcods schedule of the Wilson tariff bill shall go 
Into operation, so that wool growers and wool manufacturers may be 
able to dlsocse of this year's wool clip before prices are changed. Why 
not extend the same privilege to potato, hay and barley growers 7 
No vegetable fluctuates in price as the limes are “ hard ” or other¬ 
wise more closely than cabbage. That Is the pcor man's vegetable. 
When working hard, he wants li because he believes It Is slowly 
digestible—In other words, “ stays by him.” When out of work. It is 
one of the first things he drops. 'That Is one reason why cabbage Is 
low this year. 
