THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 2 
146 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chicf. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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uble 1,0 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY , MARCH 2 , 1895. 
In the town of Southampton, L. I., there are grown 
each year over ICO,000 ducks, worth about $75,000. 
Who can tell of another township with a greater 
annual output of animal products from one kind of 
stock ? The duck business on the south side of Long 
Island, is something immense, and we are preparing 
to tell the story of it. 
G 
We don’t count any chickens before they are 
hatched, but if Crimson clover goes through this hard 
winter in fair condition, we are going to be modest 
enough to claim our share for the spread of informa¬ 
tion that led to the spread of the clover. If it does 
winterkill, we purpose to say, “ Try it again ! ” That’s 
the way we stand by our friends. 
o 
A numrer of statements have been made about the 
presence of the dreaded San Jos6 scale in two New 
Jersey nurseries. The two infested nurseries are 
those of Wm. Parry and the J. T. Lovett Company. 
We are assured that the former has taken every pre¬ 
caution to prevent the spread of the insect. We 
recently visited the Lovett nurseries with Prof. J. B. 
Smith of the New Jersey Experiment Station. An 
account of this visit will be given next week. We 
found specimens of the scale, but Mr. Lovett has 
agreed to use precautions which, if carried out, will 
render his stock harmless. 
G 
We are often asked to name the most practical little 
pamphlet on the home garden. We know of nothing 
better than Fred Grundy’s “ A Fortune in Two 
Acres.” For working people and those of moderate 
means who wish to know what to do with a small 
piece of ground, there is nothing better than this. It 
costs 20 cents. The R. N.-Y. sells it. All our readers 
may not know that Mr. E. S. Carman has prepared a 
second edition of “ The New Potato Culture,” which 
contains a condensed and accurate account of his 20 
years’ experimenting with potatoes. This book is 
unique. There is nothing like it in any language. It 
costs 40 cents in paper. It answers fully hundreds of 
questions that newer readers are asking. 
G 
The notes on the stability of fertilizers on page 138 
will make clear, we think, why several forms of nitro¬ 
gen are useful in a well-made fertilizer. Nitrate of 
soda is at once available if sufficient water is present 
Organic nitrogen—like that in blood, tankage or bone 
—requires heat as well as moisture to make it effective 
as plant food. Thus it is most effective in summer, 
and the two forms combined will yield a continuous 
supply. On page 145 is given the record of an experi¬ 
ment where dried blood proved a more profitable 
source of nitrogen than nitrate. That might be ex¬ 
plained by the fact that blood supplies organic nitro¬ 
gen which, during very hot weather, would decom¬ 
pose and be made available with less water than 
would be needed to dissolve the nitrate. 
G 
American consuls abroad state that large numbers 
of persons who, in former years, immigrated to this 
country, are now back in Europe seeking work. When 
work became scarce in the United States, these people 
had saved enough money to pay the cost of the trip 
over the ocean, and so they went home to wait until 
business revived here. Many of them have now spent 
all their money abroad, and are in destitute circum¬ 
stances. Some of them have the sublime “cheek” 
to apply for assistance to aid them in getting back to 
America. They say they are American citizens, and 
suppose that our government has funds available for 
the purpose of bringing them back. That is a singular 
proposition to advance at a time when our government 
is trying to borrow money to pay the interest on its 
debts. America does not need such “citizens.” Great 
patriots they are to take their money out of the coun¬ 
try and spend it abroad just at the time when it is 
most needed for home circulation ! Good judges esti¬ 
mate that Americans spend annually $100,000,000 in 
gold abroad—traveling in other lands. We also send 
$75,000,000 in gold abroad each year in paying interest 
on foreign investments. What this country needs 
more than gold bonds, is a revival of patriotic sentiment 
that will keep needed money at home. 
G 
It often takes some time to induce the buyers in 
your market town to understand that a home-grown 
article is as good as one brought from a distance. A 
reader in Humboldt, Kan., tells us how, after much 
urging, the farmers there were induced to grow pota¬ 
toes enough to supply the retail market. Then he says: 
But the grocerymen here will not buy them, as they have been 
in the habit of buying: nothing but Colorado potatoes, and ours 
were not good enough because they were home grown. So they 
bought a lot this year and got beautifully left, as they happened 
to get a lot of poor quality. They turn green and taste like soap, 
when cooked. Of course, it resulted in keeping prices low, and we 
have to peddle. It is discouraging to our growers and hard on 
our “ infant industry,” but we think that we can make it more 
interesting for them another year. 
Our advice to those growers is to go right ahead and 
produce the best quality of potatoes they can. It won’t 
take long for quality to drive out habit. The time is 
coming when the difference between good and poor 
potatoes will be made as distinct as between good and 
poor fruit. 
G 
Colorado is supposed to be a State where extensive 
farming prevails. We would naturally look there for 
great areas and operations conducted on a vast scale. 
Yet here is a statement from a Colorado farmer that 
upsets that theory : 
Does The R. N.-Y. know of a farm smaller than mine ? I have 
four acres of tillable land, the other 11 are barren, not even pas¬ 
ture. I do no other business than tend those four acres and sell 
the product. I support a family of seven, and increase my busi¬ 
ness a little every year. My first crop of strawberries four years 
ago, was sold for $75. My coming crop (estimate low) will bring 
$1,500. The first year with horseradish, four years ago, brought 
$3.50; last year $300, this present season, so far $225 with the sea¬ 
son not half over. There is every prospect of $250 more. I also 
raise bunch stuff, radishes, lettuce, onions, also currants and 
raspberries. 
We will give that farm the medal until some better 
report comes in. Some gardener near a large Eastern 
city may beat it, but few farmers can. By the way, 
what is the difference between a farmer and a gar¬ 
dener anyway ? Some farmers give as an argument 
against adopting new crops and methods —'■'■That isn't 
farming !" We want some of them to tell us why it 
isn’t. 
.This is the harvest season of the growers of hot¬ 
house lambs. High prices prevail for those which 
just suit the market. Such must be of good weight— 
not less than 35 pounds dressed—in good condition, 
well and properly dressed before shipping. The last 
is extremely important. The few shipments of live 
lambs, do not bring satisfactory prices, and injure the 
sale of the others. The manner of dressing sometimes 
makes more than one-half difference in the price. 
Any one intending to ship should get full directions 
for properly dressing and shipping before undertaking 
it. The handlers of these lambs will furnish these. 
Then it is well for a beginner to try his hand on a 
few, send those in, and await results before killing 
any more. A short time since, an Ohio man sent in a 
half dozen alive. Only one of them was large enough 
to satisfy the market demands. Dealers didn’t want 
live ones, so the receiver was obliged to have them 
killed. All but the one were so small and thin that 
they sold for low prices and the returns must have 
been discouraging. It’s too bad for the producer to 
lose like this through ignorance of the market 
demands. He should take pains to inform himself. 
G 
ing to the rules of the association, he had no right to 
do so. He did not dare to leave his samples in the 
hands of the judges, and then make his lying claims, 
because he knew that chemical analysis would show 
that they were not butterine at all. What he evi¬ 
dently did was to secure the finest possible samples of 
creamery butter, and enter them as such. They won 
on their merits, and then he sneaked them away, and 
after destroying them, came out with the claim that 
they were butterine. This lie was a safe one, because 
the samples were out of the way and could not be 
analyzed. Think of a business in which men must 
resort to such tactics in order to float a counterfeit 
and fraudulent article. 
G ( 
Counterfeiting is a mean business. Our readeis 
may differ as to the precise effect a tariff on wool may 
have upon the price, but every one can see that the 
palming off of shoddy for good serviceable wool, de¬ 
creases the demand for wool and lowers market prices. 
Those w ho have a market for shoddy, should be per¬ 
mitted to supply it in a fair way; but it is unfair, both 
to the wool grower and to the would-be consumer of 
wool, to have shoddy substituted for the genuine arti¬ 
cle. If this practice could be stopped, wool would be 
higher. We are learning how to get some counterfeits 
branded, and why not shoddy ? If it were the law 
that no goods containing shoddy could be put upon 
the market unless the word, “ shoddy,” were plainly 
branded on the inside of the goods, no one would be 
wronged by it. People could then get just what they 
want. Why is there not a general demand for such a 
law in the various States ? This would afford the 
most practical sort of protection, both to the wool 
growers and to the public. Few good things come un¬ 
sought in this world. The producers of wool can get 
such legislation if they want it, as they would be 
backed by public sentiment. There is good, plain jus¬ 
tice in it. The protectionist and free trader can com¬ 
bine in this effort, and its success would mean a sub¬ 
stantial rise in the price of wool, and a surer chance 
of getting value when the consumer buys clothing. 
Shall we have such a law in every State ? If not, 
why not ? 
Tomatoes and babies need soluble food. 
Don't pass a Jersey bull “on his shape.” 
Where does the force of habit come from ? 
What’s the difference between wool and hair ? 
Spraying helps “ keep ” apples. Page 138 for the why. ^ 
Thousands are eating flour and rice in place of potatoes. 
It’s a mistake to make any animal's manger so that the corners 
can’t be swept out. 
Winter is getting ready for its exit. It’s, time you started on 
that ex-sit by the stove. 
If you are manufacturing bitterness in your son’s heart, you are 
in mighty bad business. 
What’s the good of shape in a ram unless he has the pedigree 
that makes him transmit it? 
Mind what Mr. Kerr says, page 139, about planting varieties of 
pears that bloom with Bartlett. 
The source of the goose is the source of the gander. Why, then, 
should the gander be saucy over his sex ? 
The picture of that “cow doctor,” page 141, hunting for “worms 
in the tail” while the cow was suffering from a wire wound in the 
stomach, is very true to life. 
It takes a cross of knife—across the throat—to make bloodred 
stock out of a scrub. The beauty of such a cross is that it pre¬ 
vents an increase of their kind. 
If every man in your township would say, with true meaning, 
this spring, “I’ll never let my wagon get hub deep in mud again,” 
wouldn’t your road question be settled ? 
Imagine a man depending on seeds from a government seed dis 
tribution, to provide a garden ! You can’t suck seeds from 
Washington and turn them into success. 
The daily papers have been gloating over a report 
that samples of “oleo” won prizes as butter at the 
last meeting of the Pennsylvania State Dairymen’s 
Association. It is reported that some rogue sent to 
Chicago for samples of butterine, and entered them 
for competition—so deceiving the judges that they 
awarded several prizes to the stuff. Papers that are 
bribed to print the lying articles about bogus butter, 
tell in great glee how these judges could not tell 
butterine when they saw it! Our fiiend, A. L. Wales, 
was one of the judges. He asserts that the substance 
awarded a prize was absolutely not butterine. The 
man who entered it spirited it away immediately after 
the judgment, and got it out of sight—though, accord- 
Asiies and lime turn muck into manure. The swamp has been 
sucking fertility out of the drainage from the uplands. You can 
bring it back on a sled while the snow lasts. 
Will ducks “eat their heads off” ? Certainly, if you don’t take 
their heads off in time. Your profit comes when the ducks are 
ripe. If you don’t take it then, the ducks will. 
Coffee, sugar, rice, wheat, cotton and wool have all fallen in 
price. Except for temporary spurts, their prices cannot be ex¬ 
pected to increase much, because the world’s production is increas¬ 
ing. The decreased price demands a cheaper pound or bushel in 
production. 
The latest excuse offered by China for her whipping, is that she 
misjudged the fighting qualities of the little Japs, and did not pre¬ 
pare. That may be what you will say next summer when the 
weeds crowd out the corn. You might have killed the little onee, 
but did not think they could grow »o large ! 
