THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
25 
THE PROSPECT 
Although the poultry market has been glutted for 
weeks past, ^nd cold storage houses are filled with 
stock, yet there was almost, and in some cases really, 
a scarcity of just the grades wanted for Christmas and 
New Year’s. There was no lack of poultry, but the 
kinds on hand weren’t just what were wanted. Choice, 
light-weight turkeys, fine, plump chickens, and fancy 
ducks and geese. All such that were nicely dressed 
and came in fine condition, sold quickly and well. Many 
of the Western turkeys didn’t sell well, because toms 
and hens, light and heavy, were all packed together, 
and the demand was for light-weights. Capons have 
arrived in small quantities, but it is yet a little early 
for them. The prospects for the future do not indi¬ 
cate high prices, as the impression seems to be that 
there is yet considerable poultry in the country, 
especially turkeys. Much of that now in storage, and 
more that is put in from time to time, will be left for 
the spring and summer trade. 
O 
Wk often wonder how many of our readers are able 
to use ordinary tools with a fair degree of skill. The 
repair bill on an average farm amounts to quite an 
item in the course of a year, and there never was a 
time when this saving would mean more to the farmer’s 
family. Here is a report from one of our readers in 
Missouri: 
I do all of my own boot and shoe repairing, both patching and 
half soling. Also my own horse shoeing; I get the shoes fitted 
up at the blacksmith shop, and then do the rest. I save from 30 
to 40 cents per horse, and can do the nailing on as well as the 
smith can, for I have been at it for over 17 years. I fix all the wood¬ 
work about my wagon and other farm tools, and do some little 
iron work, as I have a kit of blacksmith tools. I also do consider¬ 
able work for the neighbors. I do all my own sharpening and 
save several nickels during the year, and also save the time of 
going 3(4 miles to the shop, and that is worth more than paying 
for the work. I have a few carpenter tools and can do a tolerably 
fair job at that kind of work; although I am not a first-class 
workman I can do good solid work. 
A little skill with tools you see enables that man to 
take a stitch in his expenses so that there is no rip 
when the “ two ends meet ” and lap over. Don’t you 
see that the money saved by doing these jobs will 
supply the family with a year’s books and papers ? 
Which do you lack—skill or tools ? 
O 
Do you realize what is going on in your barnyard 
this winter ? Your manure bank is out there. The 
stock are the depositors and the firm of Water & 
Drain are drawing checks on the bank, payable to the 
brook. You wouldn’t think any sane man would 
indorse such checks, yet there is a man doing so, and 
he walks around in your clothes, too. We like to get 
close down to our readers, so now we will let one of 
them out in Michigan talk : 
E. S. G., Dilley, Oreg., page 818, likes Primer Science. Who 
doesn’t? I wonder if E. S. G., has read Farmer’s Bulletins Nos. 16 
and 21 from the United States Department of Agriculture, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. ! If not, he should send for them, to the Department, 
not to his member of Congress, and read them along with Part IX 
of Balanced Rations and what is to follow. Did the readers of 
Part IX Balanced Rations stop just a moment at the bottom of the 
second column where the question was asked, “Now, how much 
of this manure is saved, for the land ?” and say—as The R. N.-Y. 
did—“ Give it up”? Every single farmer with a head on him, and 
a common school education, knew the moment he read that 
whether to say guilty or not. Ask it some more, Mk. Rural. Ask 
it in this way, How much do you save of this manure for the land? 
Chuck it right home to every reader just as it came to me. Don’t 
give a red cent how careful you are, nor how much pains you take 
to “save for the land.” If this vital matter of how much do you 
save can go through you like a shock from a live wire once in a 
while, you will be more careful and more painstaking. 
Well, there is the question—what about it, sir ? You 
are going to need every ounce of fertility there is in 
that yard before 1895 ends. You don’t help the brook 
any by draining into it ! 
G 
“Anti-toxine” is a new word that has come into use in 
discussing the proposed new treatment for diphtheria. 
Some of our readers want to know what it is and what 
may be expected from the “ new cure.” A “ toxine” 
is a poison which forms in the albumen of the blood 
and circulating through the body, causes disease. 
Certain bacteria, for example, growing in the throat 
of a child, generate a toxine which produce the mem¬ 
brane or growth known as diphtheria. An anti-toxine, 
as its name implies, is a substance that will render the 
toxine harmless. The “diphtheria cure” is obtained in 
the following manner: The growth in the throat 
starts from minute forms of life called bacteria. 
These bacteria are cultivated artificially in broth, 
where they produce the same toxine or poison that 
they do in the blood. This artificial toxine is injected 
into the blood of a horse in small quantities at first, 
but increased gradually until at the end of several 
months, the animal will stand a very large quantity 
without showing any effect. He is then said to be 
immune to the disease—that is, exempt from it, because 
the poison will not grow in his blood. Now the blood 
of that horse will not convey or generate the toxine 
or poison of diphtheria. The plan is to open a vein in 
such a horse, let out some of the blood and take some 
of its serum (which is the liquid portion) and inject 
that into the system of a human that has been exposed 
to diphtheria. Then, it is claimed, the anti-toxine 
principle in the serum of the blood from the immune 
horse will grow and spread through the blood of the 
human until the poison cannot develop, and conse¬ 
quently the growth in the throat cannot be made. In 
brief, that is the principle of the new cure. It is 
attracting much attention just now, and is being care¬ 
fully investigated in the large city hospitals. While 
many claims have been made for it, we must remember 
that some of our best physicians are opposed, both to 
this treatment and to vaccination to prevent smallpox. 
We warn our readers not to touch this treatment 
unless they know positively that the substance used 
was prepared by the proper authorities. Beware of 
unscrupulous quacks who are heartless enough to 
inject any vile substance into your baby’s veins. 
Better leave it entirely alone. 
G 
Probably you have never stopped to study over the 
thought suggested in this note from a reader in 
Illinois : 
In The R. N.-Y. of December 22, E. G. P., Dover, Del., says : 
“ Why not locate in Delaware ? It is a fact that good farms with 
fair buildings can be bought for $20 to $40 per acre, by going out 
a few miles from the larger towns. * * * Clover can be grown 
that will stop a mowing machine, Timothy five feet tall, corn 10 
feet high,” etc. Can you explain how farms can be bought for that 
price there, when farms here that are not quite as good as he 
represents these Delaware farms to be, cannot be bought for less 
than $50 to $85 per acre about the same distance from large towns? 
Our markets can hardly be as good as in Delaware, situated as we 
are about 90 miles west of Chicago. 
We are not able to answer that question. What gives 
land value ? Under our present conditions of society, 
its value is created chiefly by two things—what it will 
produce in the way of returns, and the competition 
among buyers for it. The latter, of course, more or 
less depends on the former, though any one who has 
ever watched a land boom knows that it is possible to 
stimulate competition by reports of fictitious values. 
In the present case, the chief reason for the differ¬ 
ence seems to be that land in Illinois has been adver¬ 
tised and developed with enterprise and skill, while 
Delaware people have been silent as the grave about 
the advantages of their little State. As a matter of 
fact, there are few more desirable places to live than 
on the peninsula of which Delaware forms a part— 
that is, so far as climate and soil are concerned. Land 
is low there because outsiders have not realized its 
advantages and thus have not competed for it. 
G 
The great number of inquiries from all over the 
country in regard to the practicability of engaging in 
the culture of some untried crop, betoken, not only a 
general unrest, but a desire to better existing con¬ 
ditions. This is commendable, but some of the lines of 
work suggested, do not give good promise of doing this. 
Special crops require special conditions, special im¬ 
plements, special knowledge and special markets. To 
particularize : Much money has been made in grow¬ 
ing peppermint for the oil, but the soil must just suit 
this plant, and special apparatus is required for ex¬ 
tracting the oil that render it impracticable to engage 
in the business on a small scale. Then, too, the mar¬ 
ket is limited and easily glutted. Many people think 
that they can successfully engage in the growing of 
garden seeds. Perhaps some of these can ; but cer¬ 
tain parts of the country are just suited for the pro¬ 
duction of certain seeds, and here the seedsmen have 
them grown on contract. It is a trade in itself, and 
must be well and thoroughly learned before one 
undertakes it. Before engaging in any of these new 
lines, one must be sure of his ground, and of his mar¬ 
kets. But there are lines of work more in the regular 
farm routine. There is always a good demand for 
choice butter at paying prices. The demand for strictly 
fresh eggs and good poultry, is seldom fully supplied. 
Choice fruits of various kinds find a ready sale, even— 
as some of our contributors have told us—in farm 
neighborhoods. There is better promise of success in 
some of these directions, in which most farmers are 
more at home, and which require less special outlay, 
than in some of the untried and apparently more 
promising directions. The real requirements of some 
of the latter would be enough to frighten many a 
farmer who has no idea of the extent of the knowl¬ 
edge and skill required to insure success. 
G 
The harder the times, the more the swindlers seem 
to abound. It is also a fact that the farmers seem to 
be more and more the subjects of attack. In addition 
to the bunco men, and gold brick swindlers, and light¬ 
ning-rod agents, and tree peddlers, and other more or 
less well-known specimens of the genus humbug, 
some new variety of this tribe seems to bob up daily. 
A Missouri farmer started to travel from his native 
heath, and fell in -with two strangers who were in 
sore need of a little financial assistance. To help 
them, he advanced them $25 on a $175 draft which 
was signed A. Iiussett Apple. The draft proved to be 
just as worthless as though it had been signed A 
Fresh Greening, and this farmer has $25 less for some 
other robber to take from him. In Delaware, a young 
man went about the country buying the farmers’ 
poultry. In the goodness of his heart, he gave them 
extra prices, but the checks with which he paid for 
the chicks, all turned out to be of no value. Another 
man, described as “ fine looking,” opened a commis¬ 
sion house in Pittsburgh. He flooded a large territory 
with circulars and price lists, offering better prices 
than other firms, and was soon receiving large con¬ 
signments. He was good to buyers, too, for he sold 
them goods for less than other commission houses. 
He soon had an immense trade. In two short months, 
he had received many thousand dollars’ worth of 
produce, sold it for cash, and then went somewhere 
else for his health—taking his money with him. And 
so it goes. Not a day passes, but the same old story 
is repeated with occasional variations. Barnum said 
that the people like to be humbugged, and we are in¬ 
clined to believe that he was more than half right. 
G 
Two weeks ago The R. N.-Y. suggested 8. I). Willard 
as a suitable man to represent the farmers of New 
York State, as Commissioner of Agriculture. Governor 
Morton did not refer particularly to this department 
in his message to the legislature, but since his ad. 
ministration is to be one of needed reform and pro¬ 
gress, we assume that he will in time look about for a 
suitable commissioner. Now, Mr. Willard is not seek¬ 
ing this office. As a matter of fact, he is now in Cali¬ 
fornia. The office will seek the man in this case, and 
that fact of itself is one great reason why he should 
be appointed, since the one thing desired above all 
others is that the commissioner should not be a poli¬ 
tician who has mortgaged his chances for usefulness, 
by promising offices in return for support. Mr. Wil¬ 
lard is a strong man, in the sense that he has ideas 
and opinions that he is not afraid to express and stand 
by. We do not want a man as commissioner who is 
afraid to say “ No,” or of whom it may be said “he 
always agrees with one!” Mr. Willard is a “ broad 
gauge’ man. He has made a success of farming, and 
can review agriculture from a personal experience of 
50 years. He has read, observ ed and traveled, and 
has the true interests of the farmer at heart because 
he has been ident’fied for So many years with actual 
soil culture. The movement throughout the State in 
favor of Mi-. Willard is something remarkable, and is 
a high tribute to the character of the man. He has 
been chiefly known in connection with the great fruit 
industry of this State, and yet many of the best known 
and influential dairymen and stockmen are strongly 
advocating his selection. Why? Because they realize 
that their interests would be well cared for with a 
man of Mr. Willard’s force and character at the head 
of our State Department. In our opinion, Governor 
Morton will do the farmers of New York State a real 
service by appointing Mr. Willard with as little de¬ 
lay as possible. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The price of that pantasote-covered wagon cushion lias been re¬ 
duced to $1.50. 
C. Story, 26 Central Street, Boston, Mass., is headquarters for 
all kinds of musical Instruments. 
Those looking for Cheshire pigs of superior quality will find 
them by addressing B. J. Hurlbut, Clymer, N. Y. 
Farmers who wish small power, have an opportunity to ex¬ 
amine the Caloric engines of one, three ahd five horse power, man¬ 
ufactured by Wm. J. Hallefas, 259 Front Street, New York 
Mr. T. C. Kevitt, Athenla, N. J., wants to send his catalogue that 
tells how to grow strawberrries for profit, free. He certainly 
knows how himself, and no doubt his catalogue tells the story. 
We have bought our tea and coffee for several years of the 
Great American Tea Co., 33 Vesey Street, New York, P. O. Box 289. 
They have a large out-of-town trade, and send to all parts of the 
country. 
Peel’s food seems to be used with excellent results by some large 
stockmen- and horsemen. Peel’s Food Co., Brattleboro, Vt., are 
manufacturers. Their branch house is at 428 Washington Street, 
New York City. 
A very pretty, as well as useful, calendar is received from the 
Bowker Fertilizer Co., Boston, Mass. Each page has a calendar 
for a month of 1895, and a photo-engraving of a field and crop 
grown with the Stockbridge manures, which, of course, it is in¬ 
tended to advertise. On the back of each page is a blank space 
for memoranda. We suppose that it will be sent free on applica¬ 
tion, as it is evidently intended to call attention to the firm’s goods. 
A firm that gives its undivided attention to the manufacture of 
one implement, is likely to bring it to a better degree of perfection 
than would be probable if the energies of the manufacturers were 
divided. The Roderick-Lean Mfg. Co., 16 Park Street, Mansfield, 
O., have give* their entire attention for 25 years to the exclusive 
manufacture of steel harrows. Their harrow is so constructed 
that by means of a lever it may be relieved of trash at any moment, 
without stopping the team, and when desired, the teeth may be 
adjusted to work at any angle best suited to the conditions of the 
soil, and be made suitable for harrowing all kinds of growing 
crops. -It is a most substantial harrow, being constructed entirely 
of a special quality of steel; employs no castings. The teeth are 
diamond shaped, forged and tempered. Address the makers as 
above. 
