1894 
477 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE PROSPECT. 
Hkrk’s a good illustration of the reliability of agri¬ 
cultural reports that are furnished the daily papers. 
Some weeks ago it was reported that buyers were in 
western New York securing thousands of small, green 
plums which were to be used for making imitation 
“olives.” These reports even went so far as to state 
that John F. White, the well-known fruitman, had 
sold 250,000 plums I This would be a great boom for 
plum growers, if true, but it is not. Mr. White blackens 
the face of this report as follows : 
I have seen the reports to which yon refer, and have frequently 
heard that green plums were used for olives, but have never been 
able to hnd out where or by whom they w re so used. We have a 
very large crop of plums, but have not had any offers from any one 
wanting them for such purpose. In fact, diligent Inquiry has failed 
to establish It as a fact that plums are used. If at any time you find 
that they are, 1 would be very glad If you will let me know of It, and 
who uses them. JOHN' f. whitk. 
That is about the way many of these wonderful stories 
turn out. “ The truth is not in them.” 
if 
The more one learns about the culture of Alfalfa on 
the plains west of the Missouri River, the greater is 
the admiration for this truly wonderful plant. The 
experiment station of Nebraska gave Alfalfa a careful 
trial by the side of other clovers and grasses. In 1893, 
it gave four cuttings or over 6 3^ tons of cured hay per 
acre, while ordinary clover gave less than 1}^ ton. 
The Alfalfa, too, left the soil in excellent condition 
for any following crop. There is no crop that will 
yield more forage and the agricultural value of 
Nebraska would be greatly increased if every farm 
had 10 acres in Alfalfa. Where the crop can be irri¬ 
gated, the yield is truly enormous and it gives just the 
food needed to supplement the great yields of corn for 
which the State is famous. Corn and Alfalfa make a 
perfect fattening ration. Next week we hope to give 
some facts to show how an Alfalfa pasture aids in 
making cheap pork and how it is changing the beef 
business in Colorado. ^ 
The following note comes from a well-known West¬ 
ern implement manufacturer: 
Do you reco llect stating some four years ago that the Eastern 
farmers wonid have to adopt the use of the Improved machinery for 
harvesting potatoes or their more enterprising Western brothers, who 
had already caught on to Its Importance, would control the market 
and make the money while the Eastern growers would have to raise 
something else? We believe that note was ipell sounded and equally 
as well heeded, for to-day we can say our trade In the East Is propor¬ 
tionate with that In the West, and the South alone now remains to 
learn the lesson. 
The R. N.-Y. has always held that the only oatlet for 
the Eastern farmer is to decrease the cost of produc¬ 
ing a pound or bushel of his product. The time has 
gone for expecting high prices. The chief items of 
expense are plant food and labor. Fertilizers and a 
judicious use of green manuring crops, are solving the 
plant-food problem, and improved machinery must 
master the latter. Without a clear understanding of 
these two features of agriculture, the Eastern farmer 
will be driven to the wall. Let him master them 
and he can defy the world. 
« 
While the recent railroad strikes have proved more 
or less injurious to farmers everywhere by delaying 
shipments of goods and destroying property, the 
greatest trouble has fallen upon the California farm¬ 
ers, who have been unable to make shipments of 
fruits. By tying up the lines using Pullman cars, the 
strikers brought the fruit traffic to a standstill as 
there was no outlet for the surplus which must go to 
distant markets for its sale. The strike in California as 
in Chicago was made out of sympathy for the Pullman 
workmen. It was proposed to stop the running of Pull¬ 
man cars, but no objection was made to other cars— 
in fact the strikers claim to have been willing to pass 
fruit trains which contained no Pullmans. As to the 
position held by the farmers, the following from the 
Pacific Rural Press shows how at least a part of them 
felt: 
The railroad company has had It In Its power any time these live 
days past to break the blockade-to send its trains forward—but It 
has declined to do It, because of Its engagements with the Pullman 
Company. Strange, It seems to us, that It should hold such an engage¬ 
ment as superior to and more binding than Its obligations to the peo¬ 
ple of California! Its managers see the malls stopped, they see tratlic 
of every sort at a standstill, they see our fruit rotting In their cars 
and In our orchards, but they stubbornly declare that not until the 
men will agree to haul the Pullman cars shall the transportation 
service be resumed. They will have the whole loaf of their conten¬ 
tion or the people shall have no bread. 
The point made by the railroads was that they bad a 
contract with the Pullman Company and could not 
break it. It was much easier for them to break any 
contract with the people though to the generous gifts 
of the latter they owe their very existence. The pith 
of the whole matter is that the railroads feared to 
give up an inch to the men, because such action would 
establish a precedent and would only mean the loss 
of more and more of the privileges now held by the 
roads. In fact, each succeeding strike seems to show 
the weakness of our system of permitting great public 
interests like the railroad and telegraph to remain in 
private hands. The public cannot be well served 
while it is possible for some railroad magnate or some 
irresponsible labor leader to dictate terms on which 
traffic is to be conducted. The farmers of this country 
cannot afford to sit by and see labor and capital fight 
for the possession of railroads. If the Government 
must at last be appealed to for protection, why not let 
the Government run the business and save further 
chances of riot and disorder ? 
We will suppose a man having 15 cows starts out to 
make an accurate milk record for a year. Each milk¬ 
ing is to be weighed. He puts up a spring balance 
and the milkers are to hang their pails on it and re¬ 
cord the figures. Suppose in the 15 pails there are 
six different weights, and each milker is left to sub¬ 
tract the weight of the pail from the weight recorded 
on the balance. What sort of a record would that 
show ? In the course of a year it might vary over 100 
pounds per cow. The proper thing to do is to bring 
every pail to a standard weight—add solder or lead 
until they all weigh, say two pounds each. Then set 
hack the marker on the balance two pounds, and thus 
see at a glance the exact weight of your milk. It is 
easy to see how that will save errors in the count. 
In our plans and work on the farm, we often make 
errors of calculation because we cannot fairly esti¬ 
mate the force of the drawbacks and the cost of farm 
operations. We often deceive ourselves with a finan¬ 
cial result that is wrong, because we have not put the 
right value on the cost. In other words, we guess 
where we ought to know. 
A PAPER like The R. N.-Y. is sure to receive all sorts 
of questions and propositions. We get them of every 
style and kind; but one of the most remarkable is 
contained in the following letter sent by a man in 
Washington (State); 
If known to you, will you kindly Inform me of the exact process of 
transformlni; equal or nearly equal portions of roll butter and new 
milk Into a homOKeneous substance nearly resembllnK ordinary butter, 
but of llKbter Kravlty—shorter consistency. I desire to obtain this 
recipe solely for home use, butter being dear here, and on the score 
of economy, having a number of hands to board. The knowledge of 
this process would be of value, and the Information greatly appre¬ 
ciated. I have tasted the article In question as made by a certain 
party on the Sound, who uses It In his own family of 17 persons ex¬ 
clusively In place of ordinary butter. It tastes like what Is known as 
fresh cream butter, and Is palatable and economical, they say, for 
family use. 
What this man proposes doing is to make use of the 
old “Black Pepsin” humbug which was worked so 
successfully last year, that the Department of Agri¬ 
culture felt called upon to issue a bulletin denouncing 
it. When equal parts of warm new milk-and soft but¬ 
ter are churned together in the presence of sufficient 
rennet, alum or bicarbonate of soda, the result is a 
thick, pasty mass, containing the butter and all the 
solids of the milk. It is really a mixture of butter 
and pot cheese, and if well colored and salted might 
pass for butter on the home table. If a farmer wants to 
eat this and sell his real butter there is no law to pre¬ 
vent it, but it will add mighty little to his reputation. 
* 
The new Anti-Option Law has been changed so that 
there is very little of the “ Anti ” left in it. As at 
present prepared, we do not see how it can accomplish 
any of the results that the original law was designed 
to bring about. There seems to be no use trying to 
get any measure through the present Congress that 
would injure the business of trusts or speculators. 
The rights of these gentry must evidently be pre¬ 
served at all hazards, and so the Anti-Option Bill, 
which was originally planned to kill grain gambling, 
must now be made a “ revenue measure,” with chief 
regard for the public money it can raise. They used 
to do such things differently in olden times. The 
Mark Lane Express copies an old statement printed 
in 1759. One Wm. Margetts offered (53. for wheat 
when only 5s. 9d. were demanded, llis object evi¬ 
dently was to get hold of a large quantity of gram, 
and hold it until by reason of scarcity people would 
be forced to pay him more than his 63. On a small 
scale, that is just what our modern grain gam¬ 
blers tried to do, but the English authorities did not 
fool with any anti-option bills. The magistrates con¬ 
victed Margetts at once, and forced him to pay 8500 
to the poor for the heinous crime of trying to “ bull” 
the local wheat market. What we need in this coun¬ 
try is a little application of that sort of justice. In¬ 
jury is done the grain trade by the fictitious prices, 
which mean nothing more than the bets of gamblers. 
If this feature of the grain trade could be driven out, 
farmers and legitimate buyers would all be better off. 
it 
We are glad to see in the article on Produce Commis¬ 
sion Merchants, on page 471, that many of the facts 
that The R. N.-Y. has been trying for years to im¬ 
press on farmers, are substantiated by one of their 
own number. Mr. Agee says that there are honest 
commission merchants, that farmers themselves are 
often to blame for the low prices received because of 
the poor shape in which their goods are shipped, or 
because they ship on a falling market and then ex¬ 
pect full prices. He speaks of Western commission- 
men making quotations higher than the market price. 
That is the practice of dishonest commission mer¬ 
chants in New York, but no reputable firm does it. 
If anything, the tendency is the other way, for the 
quotations they send out are for large lots, and one 
must pay more for small lots. It thus often happens 
that the shipper receives more than the quoted mar¬ 
ket price. 
“ On the other side it may be said that they are mis¬ 
leading, but not unjustly so, because made for strictly 
choice goods, and probably half our farmers do not 
realize how good a strictly choice article is.” That 
sentence ought to be printed in big letters, framed 
and hung up before every shipper. It is at the bot¬ 
tom of a large part of the misunderstandings between 
shippers and receivers. It is a fact that nearly every 
farmer thinks his products the best. The writer has 
seen butter that was shipped as choice, that was so 
rank that it was hardly fit for cooking butter. Still 
the shipper expected highest quoted prices. Another , 
point made by Mr. Agee that should be emphasized, 
is that it is folly for a farmer to undertake to educate 
the tastes of city people It will prove a losing busi¬ 
ness every time. The last paragraph of his article 
also deserves careful reading, as well as compliance 
with its teachings. ^ 
All through the country west of the Missouri River, 
many schemes are being tried to utilize water for 
irrigation. Thousands of wind and steam-power 
flumps are lifting the water from wells, ponds or 
rivers, so that it may run back upon the land. Most 
of this is being done by private enterprise—each 
farmer trying to secure a supply of water for his own 
farm. This is different from the company or com¬ 
munity plans of building a large irrigating system 
with a fund contributed by many stockholders, and 
dividing the cost among those who use the water. On 
many of the wide and shallow streams of the West, 
this cooperative building of irrigating canals has been 
considered the best method because it was con¬ 
sidered the most feasible plan for the water to 
distribute itself. Of late years, some successful ef¬ 
forts have been made to use the water power for 
pumping. Most of these streams run almost level 
for half a mile or more, and then flow down a “riffle” 
or short incline of two to five feet. The plan nowa¬ 
days is to locate a pump at one of these “riffles.” A 
low dam of stones is built across the stream so as to 
give additional head of water. Wing dams are then 
built so as to form a letter Y with the end down 
stream. The water is forced through this with in¬ 
creased power and turns a water-wheel which works 
a pump and elevates the water. This power is con¬ 
stant, as the wheel can be raised or lowered to corre¬ 
spond with the height of the water. This is working 
satisfactorily on many far Western farms. There are 
many streams running through Eastern farms that 
might be utilized in like manner. Surely in seasons 
like this, when crops are nearly parched to death 
from lack of moisture, the water would be far more 
useful on the fields than in the bed of the stream. 
* 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Those automatic corn binders save lots of labor In blndlnK corn. 
The Tie Co.. Unadllla, N. Y., will tell you all about them. 
The UiTHAh New-Youkeu has a little business bit of Its own this 
week. See the chances of winning a nice and valuable pri/.e offered 
on page 481. 
It never pays to use poor seed. There are Just as many dollars In 
pedigree seed as In pedigree stock. John W. Crosier, Halls Coiners, 
N. Y., Is using The Ruhai. as a middleman to sell his pedigree seed. 
Mu. G. E. Kephart, of Carey, Ohio, writes us that he takes the ad¬ 
vice of The R. N.-Y., and will sell his tine lot of onion sets to custom¬ 
ers direct. “ If,” as he adds, “they will buy llrst-class sets at one- 
half, or less, the price charged by seed dealers.” 
PUKE water Is a pretty good thing to drink; and we do not always 
get It pure from every kind of pump used. Ross Bros., of Worcester, 
Mass., have a pomp that purities water by aeration. It would save 
doctors’bills If all the water used could be aerated. Ross Bros, will 
send descriptive circulars of this pump If you are Interested. 
Through an error a Y was substituted last week for a J in the ad¬ 
vertisement of U. W. Doughten, Moorestown, N. J. It appears with 
correct address this week. If any one wrote to the address given last 
week, and gets no reply, let him try again, and If he Unally gets one of 
those King of the Eleld potato diggers, he will be satisfied and happy. 
Have you had a set of those wide tires for the farm wagon ? The 
farmers who use them praise them highly. They fit right on over the 
narrow tires, and can be put on or off at pleasure. E. K. Whipple, St. 
Johns, Mich., Is the Inventor and maker, and will be glad to tell all 
about them. He Is pretty well known as the undownable fighter of 
the harrow trust. 
A subscriber, whose address we have lost, asks If Ellwanger & 
Barry of Rochester, N. Y., are a responsible firm. He must be a new 
subscriber, because old readers have become familiar with the firm 
through the frequent references to them In The R. N.-Y. They are 
perfectly reliable, and, what’s more, their goods will be found just 
what Ellwanger & Barry say they are. 
The proof In favor of ensilage for economic feeding of stock has 
been so conclusive In the editorial columns of The Rural, that every 
stock owner has no doubt considered the erection of a silo, and the 
purchase of ensilage machinery. This machinery should be substan¬ 
tial and durable, as breakdowns during the time of filling the Mlo are 
always attended with serious delays and losses. Mr. Mlnard Haider, 
of Coblesklll, N. Y., Is the Eastern headquarters for the Justly cele¬ 
brate! Smally cutters and other ensilage machinery, and his reputa- 
tatlon Is sufficient guarantee of the quality of the goods that he turns 
out. His 72-page catalogue will be sent free to readers who mention 
The R. N.-Y. 
