332 
May 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Oor. ChamberB and Pearl StB., New York. 
Natisaal Weakly Jonrnal for Coantry and Suburban Hotnaa, 
ELBHHT B. CARMAN, Hdltor-ln-Cblef. 
HERBERT W. COU^INGWOOD. Managing Editor 
JOHN J. DILLON, Bnalness Manager. 
VopvrinhUd liS94. 
Address all business oommnnloatlons and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Bo sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post 
offloe and State, and what the remittance Is for, appear in every letter. 
Money orders and bank drafts on Now York are the safest means of 
transmitting money. 
SATURDAY, MAY 2G, 1894. 
ATTl'ENTION I 
The following’ offers are now open ; 
The Rural New-Yorker for remainder of 1891 i 
Business Hen in cloth.1-81 00 
The Rural New-Yorker f jr remainder of 1894, | 
A Fortune In Two Acres, .... |‘®^ 00 
The Rural New-Yorker for remainder of 1894, 80.50 
* 
Ik you are honest in your hatred of unjust and use¬ 
less taxation, why don’t you turn your guns on the 
fence tax ? Down with useless fences. Do you keep 
them upT as a sort of pension for the good they have 
done ? 
» 
Delaware may be a little State, but with the aid of 
Scarlet clover it can buy and sell a few such States as 
Nevada. That is what grass does for a State—grass 
and mineral fertilizers. All flesh is grass, but not all 
plant food by a long shot. 
* 
Last week we told you about the wonderful gar¬ 
dening business done in Connecticut. This week we 
have a glimpse at the sort of stock business that is 
possible in this great little State. Mr. Lyman is 
right when he says that such farming “is going to be 
the best business there is.” 
There is only one set of cream globules in milk. 
Get them out once and there is nothing but skim left. 
What do you think of a man who spends his tinre try¬ 
ing to squeeze butter out of skim-milk ? Look at your¬ 
self and see if you are doing it in any of your farm 
operations. That is one trouble with farming. 
• 
We put ourselves on record as saying that any 
farmer who lives where Scarlet clover will thrive, and 
does not make use of it in his farming, has missed an 
opportunity and has no business to complain of “poor 
luck.” But don’t take this statement as advice to 
rush in and sow Scarlet clover all over your farm. 
Take it easy. Try it flrst in a small way. 
What Mr. Stribling says about the South and the 
hay crop is not new, but is one of those things that 
seem to upset all scientific calculations. For example, 
in 1893 the home value of the hay crop of Alabama 
was 81,282,304, of Mississippi 81,302,020 and of Texas 
84,519 622, while the manufacturing and gardening 
State of Massachusetts produced a crop valued at 
812,556,538. The Northern farmer can’t afford to feel 
badly that his Southern friend provides a good market 
for surplus hay, but he can’t help wondering why on 
earth it is ever permitted to happen. 
« 
What is the matter with the United States Senate ? 
There are 88 members in that body ? It would, ap¬ 
parently take a compound microscope to discover 
half a dozen who can bring themselves to legislate 
with this line in mind : 
MY COUNTRY 'IIS OF THEE ! 
Oar modern Senators seem to forget that they are 
working for their country. Party or some private in¬ 
terest gets the benefit of their valuable time and ser¬ 
vices. It will be so just as long as Senators are elected 
as they are at present. ^ 
On page 330 a friend asks why churches shouldn’t 
be taxed. While there are some cases in which they 
undoubtedly should be, in general they should not. 
The establishment of a church or school in a com¬ 
munity is an indirect benefit to the whole community; 
to those who do not contribute to its support as well 
as to those who do, irrespective of their beliefs or 
non-beliefs. We are not now speaking of the spiritual 
benefits derived. Those who support the church are 
already paying for advantages shared by others with¬ 
out cost. Were the church property taxed, an addi¬ 
tional burden would be laid upon those already pay¬ 
ing the bills, and these, in the average country church, 
already have their hands full in meeting existing 
obligations. As to the taxing of church property 
lessening other taxes, what part of the whole taxable 
property in the town is the church property, and how 
much would the taxes be reduced in the average town¬ 
ship if the latter were taxed pro rata ? It seems to 
us that it would be more just to devise means of com¬ 
pelling the weaHhy corporations and individuals that 
now selfishly evade the payment of their just share of 
public burdens, to pay for the protection they receive, 
than it would to lay additional burdens upon benefi¬ 
cent, but often struggling, institutions. 
* 
Strawberries are no longer selling at the price of 
luxuries. On the middle day of May, the market all 
went to pieces. That morning, the Pennsylvania 
Railroad landed 9,000 crates here, mostly from Mary¬ 
land and Delaware, while the Old Dominion steamer 
brought in 3,400 crates from Norfolk. Besides these 
some came by other routes, and a few from New 
dersey. A very few of the choicest of the latter sold 
for seven to eight cents ; the best Maryland and Dela¬ 
ware brought six to seven cents, while most of the 
sales were at four to five cents and some sold for three 
to four cents per quart. New York is a great market, 
and can take care of immense quantities of produce, 
but there is a limit to its capacity. Such times as 
these enforce the lesson of the importance of having a 
good home market. 
* 
The fund for the benefit of Ephraim W. Bull was 
started by Benj, Buckman. The following note shows 
the sort of man Mr. B. is: 
I Irclose money order for $2.00 from the Sprlngfleld Horticultural 
Society, for the benert of Ephraim W. Bull, the philanthropist. Five 
thousand dollars would be a small amount to pay back as interest to 
him who has benefited the country more than live million dollars. 
1 do not regard this as a work of charity, but as a debt of honor. 
I am glad to see that you are not to be discouraged by the unprom¬ 
ising beglnnlrg, and I hope you will not stop In your efforts until the 
end sought Is accomplished. bknj. buckman. 
Karmlngdale, Ill. 
In the bright vocabulary of The R N.-Y., we never 
permit the prefix “dis” to be tacked on to our courage. 
A suitable fund must be raised for Mr, Bull, if we 
have to work at it “ all summer ” I Where is your 
mite ? 
« 
An idea of the great importance of the hay crop in 
American agriculture, is seen from the following 
figures: 
Value of the Total chop foe 1893. 
. $591,625,627 Wheat. $213,171,381 
. $570,882,872 Potatoes. $108,161,801 
In the same year we imported 8964,755 worth of hay, 
and exported 8519,640 worth. Hay is really the most 
important crop on the average American farm. While 
it does not bring in the most actual cash, grass has 
more to do with maintaining the fertility of the soil 
than any other crop. Two kinds of farming are sure 
to impoverish the soil. In one the hay is grown and 
sent away with no manure or fertilizers to take its 
place. In the other, little or no grass is grown, and 
no manure is bought. A farm without grass, either 
home-grown or imported, will soon be no farm at all. 
» 
Last summer The R. N.-Y. described the milk busi¬ 
ness established by Mr. Nathan Straus in this city, for ' 
the purpose of distributing pure^milk to the poor at a 
nominal price. The milk is sterilized, and a whole¬ 
some product is furnished to the poor at a price below 
that usually charged for an inferior, unhealthful 
article. During the winter, the site was occupied by 
Mr. Straus as a coal yard, where coal was sold to the 
poor at cost price, in any quantity desired. Here they 
could purchase a bucketful without having to pay two 
or three prices for it. The milk now supersedes the 
coal, and several additional distributing depots will 
soon be opened. This is a practical charity that de¬ 
serves recognition and wide appreciation. The work 
is educational as well as philanthropical. It teaches 
the value of pure milk. The system of dealing elimi¬ 
nates the middleman’s profits, though retaining the 
middleman. 
« 
Mr. Bancroft, whose experience with Scarlet 
clover is given this week, tells a suggestive story 
about his early experience with small fruits. Some 
25 years ago he set out several acres of strawberries. 
In the spring, as he was setting out raspberries, an 
old farmer stopped to look at the strawberries. He 
came back across the fields greatly excited. “ Why,” 
he said, “ you’ve got strawberries enough to feed the 
whole United States, and here you are planting briers, 
while I’ve been trying to kill them all my life ! ” 
Thai is a first-rate illustration of the difference be¬ 
tween farming for the future and farming in the past. 
The old farmer could not see the possibilities that lay 
in the “ briers” he had been fighting so industrious’y, 
and he had no idea of the capacity of the country’s 
maikets. The point is that the progressive man looks 
ahead and gets a share of the cream of business. The 
hang-back man gets in at the tail end of the proces¬ 
sion, and gets along as best he can on skim-milk. 
Mrs. Emery in the article about hen cholera on 
another page, tells about some hens that were dis¬ 
covered to be ailing just at night being left until 
morning because night was falling. In the morning 
some of them were dead. The successful poultryman 
can’t stop his work on account of darkness. Many of 
the operitions around the poultry yard can better be 
accomplished at night than by daylight. Moving 
sitting hens, transferring fowls and chickens, examin¬ 
ing and assorting poultry, can be better done at night. 
A good lantern is as much a necessity in the poultry 
business as—well, as The Business Hen, and no wide¬ 
awake poultryman will try toiget along without either. 
« 
In one of the screeds appearing daily in the columns 
of some of our city dailies as reading matter, but 
which are really paid advertisements admitted by the 
conscientious editors to enlighten the dear public, it 
is asserted that “ if given fair play, oleomargarine 
will, in time, drive these vile frauds (cheap butter) 
upon the public from the market.” “ Vile frauds” is 
good. But it is enough to make a cow laugh (or shed 
tears) to think of driving out genuine butter as a 
fraud, with oleomargarine, the king of all frauds ! 
That is the greasiest joke of the season. By the way, 
how much oleomargarine is sold as such in the retail 
stores of the country ? And if it is sold as butter, how 
in the world will it ever drive out the latter by “ fair 
play?” , 
BREVITIES. 
THE LAST GRAND ARMY MAN. 
I guess I won’t turn out this year, come Decoration Day. 
I’m all alone—no comrade left—since Joe ha moved away. 
I’m left alone, of all the boys who marched In ’61, 
The last Grand Army man In town—my marching days are done. 
It seems so lonesome by those graves, all white and red with flowers: 
The chaplain s voice, the old war songs, bring back forgotten hours. 
I hate to stand there all alone save for the ghostly band 
Of comrades dead, Invisible, gathered at every hand. 
Nol nol I’m better on the farm—a broken man at best. 
Let younger hearts pay tribute to the dead who lie at rest. 
Let younger hands bedeck the graves-I am too old and gray; 
Leave me alone with memories this Decoration Day. 
But raise the old flag on the farm—Us stars and stripes will tell 
To boys and girls the story that we old folks love so well. 
Let orator and singer still, with burning words proclaim 
The lesson of those silent graves while earth shall o vn a name 
But leave the lonely veteran with his sad thoughts to-day; 
Let younger generations now the debt of honor pay. 
Who works hard at a soft Job? 
A VACUU.u Is an alr-rld space. 
What yon want Is air-cured hay. 
Don’t let the hay get sun burned. 
The track shun engine Is de-ralled. 
Rye Is a mighty poor green manure. 
Better be called up than called down. 
Need a man catch poverty from his soil? 
Luckily lice do not like mutton overmuch. 
A sitting son makes a dim outlook on the farm. 
The sprayer’s motto, " No rest for Insect pestl ” 
Choose the four-legged hog to handle your wheat 
How can a hay loader compete with a 40-cent man? 
The smaller the plant, the less the shook of transplanting. 
What live stock will give better returns to the ac;e than ferrets ? 
Dr. Stubbs writes a valuable article on Southern green manuring. 
The turnip is no clod-hopper—it can’t grow until the clods are 
flned. 
“Set out’’ and “put in’’have the same meaning as applied to 
berry plants I 
WHAT’S the use of cutting grass for hay that the cow wouldn’t touch 
in the pasture? 
MANYandmany a Job has been killed by the blasting touch of a 
hand unskilled. 
Do yon men In the dry West want to go back and make hay as they 
do In Rhode Island? 
WHEN your experience Is not so wide as your observation, how do 
you piece out the former ? 
Look ahead and see the poultry making a Christmas dinner on that 
cabbage you are to raise this summer. 
In the San Francisco market, wheat hay sells at a higher price than 
clover or Timothy, with oat hay second. 
In 1890, the agricultural Implement manufacturers of this country, 
made materials costing $31,603,265 Into products worth $81,271,651. 
Full many » crank life’s gall has drank for moving the world up- 
head, but the world never stops to thank the crank till after the 
crank Is dead. 
" That cow eats her bedding, and her owner writes for the papers. 
Way are they alike?’’ Give it up? “One Is engaged In literature 
and the other In littery chewing." 
The chicken crop of Delaware Is away ahead of the wheat crop in 
value. The difference would be bigger yet if all the wheat that is 
grown In the State were fed to chickens. 
an Insect has been found in India which bores into beer kegs and 
causes the beer to leak and sour. Let our temperance friends use 
this insect against the brewing industry 1 Broadcast It I 
Here’s logic for you: The government holds distilling without a 
license Illegal. To neglect proper work on the farm is dis tillage. 
Therefore, the lazy farmer Is liable to arrest. Unfortunately, he takes 
a rest instead. 
“ Didn’t stop laying for an hour,’’ says our friend—page 330—about 
his hens that were dipped in tobacco water. Come to think of it, the 
production of an egg continues for many hours and Is not confined to 
the short time required to drop It. 
Ip the hay hath lost Us flavor. It Is thenceforth good for little but to 
be cast out and trampled under the feetof the stock for bedding. And 
yet the foolish farmer Imaglneth that he can stuff his stock with such 
stuff and cause them to bring forth moat and milk at a profit. Oh ve 
of little sense I ’ 
