1894 
365 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE PROSPECT. 
The courts have often been invoked to decide what 
rights bicycle riders possess on the highways. The uni¬ 
form decision has been that they have the same rightsias 
other vehicles, and any driver ignoring this right will 
be held liable for damages. But if they have the 
privilege of the highway, they have, strictly speak¬ 
ing, no right on the sidewalks. Much trouble has re¬ 
sulted in some places from the persistent and careless 
use of the space reserved for pedestrians by reckless 
riders. Many people have been injured by such. In 
some cases, there may be no objection to the use of 
the sidewalks by riders who are careful not to trans¬ 
gress the rights of others, but they should understand 
that they are there by sufferance, not by right, and 
should govern themselves accordingly. 
Some men start out bravely to breed quality into 
their work, but become discouraged at the slow pro¬ 
gress they make. Some of them quit because they 
can’t do all they desire in a season or two. That 
won’t do. In the analysis of quality there is a high 
percentage of “hang on.” When a man starts out to 
develop a new fruit, do you suppose he hits it the 
first time ? What a difference between the flavor of 
the wild grape and the Concord. Do you suppose 
Ephraim W. Bull was able to bring this improvement 
about in one season ? How many worthless varieties 
of potatoes do you suppose were thrown away before 
the R. N.-Y. No. 2 was perfected ? It requires time 
and energy to put quality into goods ; in fact, patience 
and perseverance are the two most important things 
in quality. ^ 
Advocates of the breeding of English mutton bheep 
often tell us that, to be successful, we must follow the 
system pursued by English farmers. It is true that 
we can profitably grow many crops like roots, rape, 
vetches, etc., that are comparatively new to American 
farming, but we can have at best but a modification of 
the great foundation of English agriculture. That is, 
the famous permanent pastures and meadows that 
yield grass and hay year after year without the plow. 
In most parts of this country, we lack the moisture 
and humid atmosphere that make the English grass 
land possible. American sod needs the plow oftener, 
and the American farmer must understand that all 
imitation of English methods should include the 
frequent breaking of sod and the planting of a crop 
like corn. ^ 
Some months ago The R. N.-Y. told its readers of a 
contract made with a large corporation to furnish 
electric power and light along the line of the Erie 
Canal. During the winter the legislature passed a 
bill repealing the law which empowers the superin¬ 
tendent of public works to make such a contract as 
this one. The objection to the contract was that it 
gave a very valuable privilege for a very small return. 
While such legislative action could not annul that con¬ 
tract, the design was to prevent the making of others 
like it. Governor Flower has vetoed this bill on what 
seem to us very weak and insufficient grounds. Why 
make it as easy as possible for a corporation to secure 
valuable franchises from the State? What business 
house will give an employee full power to go ahead 
and arrange an important bargain? That is about 
what New York State is doing. 
We have told our readers about the experiments of 
Prof. Snow of Kansas in killing chinch bugs by scat¬ 
tering diseased bugs about the fields. The same thing 
was tried in Nebraska last year. The facts are given 
in Bulletin 34 of the Nebraska Station (Lincoln.) 
First, large quantities of live bugs were secured and 
placed in breeding cages. The next step was to obtain 
a supply of dead bugs that had been killed by a disease 
bearing the playful name of sporotrichum glooulifer- 
um. This disease was spread among the healthy bugs 
and the latter were sent all over the State, the object 
being to spread the disease in the fields as it was 
spread in the breeding cages. The manner of pro¬ 
ceeding is about as follows : The infected bugs come 
from the station in a tin box—a baking powder box 
will answer. The farmer then takes a shallow 
wocden box, places in it green wheat or corn, and 
sprinkles in the infected bugs, alive or dead. He then 
places with them a pint or so of healthy bugs, and 
covers all up for a day or so. Then, half these 
“ starters ” are to be scattered over the field where 
the bugs are thickest, another dose put in the box 
and so on through the season. At the end of the sea¬ 
son, some of the dead bugs are put aside in a tin box 
to be kept till another season. This, in brief, is the 
latest and probably the most effective method of 
fighting the chinch bug on large farms. Last season 
the station distributed the bugs to 164 different farm¬ 
ers. Out of 91 who gave the matter anything of a 
trial, 61 reported more or less success. Would that 
some one could discover a similar disease affecting 
potato and flea beetles and grasshoppers. 
« 
Many and curious stories are told about the trade in 
Western dressed beef, which is now almost universally 
eaten. The National Provisioner says that it recently 
received the following note: 
Would you please tell me whether or not the Western beef Is em¬ 
balmed, as I have been told very recently by Kood authority that all 
of the Western beef that we get Is embalmed at the time of slaugh¬ 
tering, and, if so, does embalming hurt the beef 7 
The R. N.-Y’’. has always taken the ground that this 
dressed beef trade has been injurious to the Eastern 
farmer because it has ruined his home market and 
driven him into direct competition with cheap Western 
lands. It is now next to impossible to sell a fat cow 
or steer to the local butcher. At the same time we 
have no sympathy with those who attempt to show 
that the dressed beef is “ embalmed ” or otherwise 
unfit for food. So far as we know, the beef is simply 
“ killed and chilled” and is perfectly healthful. 
* 
We hear a good many complaints about the hard¬ 
ships of white laborers in California. They are said 
to have been “ruined by Chinese cheap labor,” and the 
large farmers and fruit growers are accused of foster¬ 
ing the Chinese for the purpose of “ freezing out ” the 
whites. The Paciflc Rural Press has this to say about 
the matter: 
It 18 due to the fruit growers of California who have been blamed 
for •• fostering ” the yellow man at the expense of the white man. that 
it be said plainly that the tramps who go about the country crying 
that they have been crowded out by Chinese cheap labor, are persons 
whom It is not profltable to employ at any price. They are slovenly 
and indifferent In their work, vicious and beastly in their personal 
habits, and shamefully unreliable at critical times. 
The time has gone by in this country when wages are 
to be paid to a man simply because his skin was once 
white. The call is now for persons with clean hands 
and face, a polish on their brains and faithfulness in 
their hearts. There will be less and less respect for 
the unreliable man. ^ 
Many are the schemes of dishonest commission 
merchants to secure shipments. A reputable dealer 
related an incident recently, which, while not new, 
illustrates one method of working the too confiding 
shippers. It was in the early strawberry season, and 
the fruit had just begun to arrive from North Caro¬ 
lina. The regular price at that time for choice berries 
was 30 to 35 cents, and they were so quoted. This 
man wired the shippers in one locality that berries 
were 65 cents per quart. He received a few crates 
which sold for about 35 cents, but he made returns at 
65 cents. Reputable dealers made returns at the fig¬ 
ures actually received. In a few days the latter re¬ 
ceived almost no berries, while the former was nearly 
swamped with fruit. The next step in the game will 
be failure to remit, or a remittance at a low price 
under various pretexts. No one supposes that any 
commission merchant will make returns at prices far 
beyond those actually received for goods, without 
intending to make it up in some way on later ship¬ 
ments. ^ 
Those familiar with market quotations have doubt¬ 
less noticed the recent high prices prevailing for 
evaporated apples. Extreme high prices always 
indicate one of two things—sometimes both—extreme 
scarcity or extra demand. In this case, the former 
is the cause of the unusually high prices. We are 
told that stocks are extremely low the world over. 
The evaporators throughout the country have prac¬ 
tically no stocks on hand. New York dealers have 
very light supplies, and those of other cities are in 
about the same position. Great Britain has almost no 
stock on hand. With the world’s markets thus bare so 
early in the season, the outlook is extremely favorable 
for the disposition of the coming crop. It should 
also help the prices for other fruits, as a scarcity of, 
or extra demand for, one kind, increases the call for 
others. Most people have their preferences, but the 
high or low price of this or that variety o^ten decides 
the choice. It would seem that it will prove profitable 
this year to save the fruit and make the most of 
whatever kinds one may have. 
* 
A Pittsburgh barkeeper is authority for the state¬ 
ment that buttermilk is becoming a formidable rival 
of beer in the saloons. The latter keep it simply be¬ 
cause there is a demand for it, and not because they 
wish to do so, for the profit is less than on beer. Some 
saloons are said to sell as much as 10 gallons a day. 
This is good news. If the demand continues to in¬ 
crease, it will be in order for some one to get up a 
pure and healthful article to drive out the fraudulent 
stuff made by the churn. In this city, many if not 
most restaurants serve buttermilk at five cents a glass, 
the price of sweet milk. During the summer, numer¬ 
ous wagons sell milk and buttermilk on the street 
corners, and they seem to do a thriving business. 
These sell sweet milk for five cents and buttermilk 
for three cents per glass. Genuine buttermilk is con¬ 
sidered more nutritious as well as better to quench 
thirst than the former. It certainly is much to be 
preferred to beer. May the trade increase. There is 
big profit in “buttermilk” too. Much of the sub¬ 
stance sold under that name is skim-milk soured and 
churned like cream for about 20 minutes. 
* 
Uncle Sam insists that the butter he furnishes the 
navy shall be of the best quality and manufactured 
from American products. It is said to be made on 
Iowa dairy farms. It is advertised for the same as 
other supplies, and certain specifications must be com¬ 
plied with. The butter must be extra creamery made 
in June or October, and packed directly into three- 
pound tins at the place of manufacture. The tins are 
packed in sawdust in substantial wooden boxes, one 
dozen in each, with two hoop-iron straps around each 
box, one at each end. Each tin is carefully wrapped 
in paper, the tops of the boxes fastened with screws, 
and tins and boxes marked with the name of the con¬ 
tractor and the date of packing. Contractors must 
also guarantee that the butter will keep two years in 
good condition. While the butter is made in Iowa, 
the contractor lives in Boston. Why shouldn’t these 
contracts be secured by the creameries, without the 
intervention of a middleman ? This seems like a case 
in which the middleman serves no good purpose. 
« 
Modern science seems capable of bringing good out 
of most unpromising materials. The report now 
comes from ancient Rome that a French physician 
there has discovered a cure for tuberculosis by the 
subcutaneous use of a mixture produced by the fer¬ 
mentation of beer and honey. He has been experi¬ 
menting with it for a year, and, during that time has 
cured 90 per cent of the patients in the first stages of 
the disease, and 65 per cent of those in the second 
stage. The composition of this new remedy and its 
method of application are not secrets with its origi¬ 
nator, but are made public and placed at the disposal 
of all medical men, many of whom in France are said 
to be successfully using it in their practice. The name 
of the new remedial agent is backerine, and when it 
is injected into the blood it destroys the tuberculous 
bacteria contained therein. It is likely that we shall 
soon hear more of this method of treating consump¬ 
tion. Meanwhile beer will go on killing more than 
consumption ever did or ever will. 
* 
The managers of the life and fire insurance com¬ 
panies doing business in this city are making a strong 
protest against the proposed income tax. It is claimed 
that the tax would injure the business of these con¬ 
cerns and to some extent hurt the prospects of those 
who hold tontine life insurance policies. Managers 
of savings banks also oppose the bill. In fact there is 
a growing belief 1, that with the changes made in the 
tariff bill by the Senate the income tax is not neces¬ 
sary and, 2, that a tax on inheritances would be far 
more useful and just. In England it is proposed to 
tax inheritances on the following scale : 
Estates valued at Tax 
ItOO to 12,600 . 1 per cent. 
2,500 to 5,000 .2 
5,000 to 50,000.3 “ 
60,000 to 250,000.4 
250,000 to 500,100 . 4H to 5^ per cent.. 
600,000 to 5.000.000 . 0 to 7 
Above 6,000,000 . 8 per cent. 
It is becoming recognized more and more that “ the 
dead hand” has fewer rights to property than the 
live one. A man who has been able to accumulate 
property owes society a debt for the protection afforded 
that property, and at his death society has a right to 
demand a share of it. That is the principle recognized 
by those who believe in the inheritance tax. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Mu. G M. VoouHEES, Vpsilantl, Mich., wants to soli some Shropshire 
lambs from a reKlstered Imported sire. 
Those InqnlrinK about canning goods and machinery should address 
David G. Trench & Co., 31 Lake St., Chicago, 111. They carry a full 
line, and will send catalogues on application. 
We have visited the harness factory of King & Co., of 85 Church 
St., Owego, N, Y., and know tt* at they are turning out exceptionally 
good harnesses for the money. They trade direct with customers, 
and send free catalogues. 
Westehn readers who desire to purchase fertilizers will make no 
mistake in dealing with the Cleveland Dryer Co., of Cleveland, O. 
This concern is well-known through the West. Their goods are llrst- 
clasB and they understand their business. 
The .Sandwich Mfg. Co., of Sandwich, Ill., undertake to make a 
“clean sweep” in the hay Held. Their list of hay Ing tools is very com¬ 
plete, and it will pay any of our readers to send and get the set of 
catalogues offered by this house. They make a hay loader that is 
highly spoken of. 
The Pope Mfg. Co., have arranged to run a special limited train of 
Wagner vestibule cars from Boston to Denver and return, on the 
occasion of the League meet which will be held in that city August 13 
to 18. The party will be limited to lUU persons and Is rapidly illllng 
up. The excursion will be accompanied by Col. Pope and other 
officers of the company and is sure to be a pronounced success. 
Pantasote closely resembles leather In appearance, and is used 
chleUy for buggy seats, furniture covering and cnsblons. It is said to 
have greater durability than most leather, is wateiproof, contains no 
rubber and has no smell, will not crack or peel off, and costs about 
half as much as leather At the Columbian Exposition it received 
the highest award for its great endurance, for imperviousness as to 
heat or cold, for its great strength, and for Its superior appearacce 
and general utility. Samples of this material wi 1 be sent un appli¬ 
cation to The Pantasote Leather Co., 3'J J.eonard St., New Vork. 
