186 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 16 
Tflt 
Rural New-Yorker. 
TIIE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Cinef. 
Herbert W. Colli no wood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
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of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “ Adv .,” 75 cents per 
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Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
office and State, and what the remittance is for, appear in every 
letter. Money orders and bank drafts on New York are the safest 
means of transmitting money. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay- 
a,ble 10 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1895. 
“To subscription agents!” page 190. 
o 
This is the way a Maryland subscriber puts it: 
I am a new subscriber, but have already derived a great deal of 
profit as well as pleasure from The It. N.-Y. If I could get as much 
for every dollar spent as I do for the one your paper costs, I 
could afford to raise wheat for 50 cents j>er bushel. 
The question is, why can’t he get the same value for 
every 100 ceuts that he invests ? There is a chance 
for some hard thinking. 
O 
While several of the European countries are send¬ 
ing us potatoes, an order has been received here from 
London for 800 sacks of Early llebrons for seed pur¬ 
poses. That's the kind of reciprocity that American 
farmers can stand. The imported potatoes are gen¬ 
erally considered worthless for seed, but ours seem to 
be highly valued for this purpose, On March 1, pota¬ 
toes sold in the London market at $21 to $28 per ton. 
o 
By the use of dynamite, it cost our friend, page 179, 
less than five cents to prepare a big hole for setting 
trees, flow much would it have cost to dig these holes 
by hand? That matter of comparing the value of 
labor with a cash expense, is the hardest problem 
about the farm finances. What measure do you have 
for the value of your labor ? What is that measure 
based on ? Ilow do you make a balance between 
work and cash ? 
O 
Apropos of the danger incurred in using dynamite, 
a report from Pennsylvania tells of some boys who 
were trying to make life a burden to a woodchuck, by 
means of dynamite exploded in his burrow. As it 
failed to explode from the fuse, they began to drill it 
out, with the result of some very much battered, 
though probably wiser, boys. It is said that the wood- 
ehuck escaped unharmed. Too much caution cannot 
be used in handling such explosives. 
O 
Much has been said about live-stock insurance. The 
last census report shows than in 1890, there were in 
this country 110 recorded companies that insured live 
stock. Of these, 44 were in Pennsylvania and 17 in 
Ohio. The total receipts for the year were $685,081, 
and the disbursements $378,772, of which only $220,346 
were to pay losses and claims. Considering the great 
value of our live stock, this seems like a ridiculously 
small business, and indicates that this form of insur¬ 
ance is not popular with farmers. 
O 
Here is a man selling 100 quarts of milk at four 
cents a quart—an income of $4 per day. There is one 
chance in ten that the price will be increased to five 
cents. There are nine chances in ten that he can, by 
skillful breeding and care and the use of a well-bal¬ 
anced ration, secure 125 quarts per day from the same 
value of feed he now buys. That again makes an in¬ 
come of $5 per day. It will cost some money to bring 
about either result. In which line do you think money 
will prove the better investment? 
O 
The Tennessee Experiment Station (Knoxville) is 
engaged in the worthy enterprise of encouraging 
farmers to improve the quality of their potatoes. It 
urges farmers to send samples of seed potatoes and 
the crop grown from them for aualysis. These 
analyses, with facts about the soil, culture and fer¬ 
tility, will, it is hoped, show how to produce tubers 
of the best quality. In 17 analyses of potatoes, the 
per cent of water varied from 74ka to 84 }4, and the 
per cent of actual starch from 11 to nearly 16. A sugar- 
beet grower grows beets only for the sugar there is in 
them. A dairyman looks upon milk only as a medium 
for providing butter fat. A potato grower, to follow 
their example, should look upon a potato simply as a 
package containing starch. What else in the potato 
does the customer want ? To increase the per cent of 
sugar, or fat, we go to the “mother” beet and cow 
and pick out the best to breed from, and then give 
them the best food and care. The same with the 
potato. The best market demands quality. Rice is 
cheaper and better than “ soggy ” potatoes, and the 
public know it. 
O 
You doubtless see that some worthy people are brag- 
gingabout the big crops they are able to raise with the 
aid of irrigation. They paid money to get the water on 
their land. Now, may be there is a swamp on your 
farm. For nobody knows how many years it has been 
sucking the fertility out of the surrounding hills. If 
you can get the water out of it, it will be as valuable 
for hay as some of that land they worked so hard to 
get the water on. Ditch that swamp. Lime it and 
start good grasses all over it. Feed the hay, and use 
the manure on the upland fields. You might call that 
working on shares with Nature. 
O 
In using cotton-seed meal as a fertilizer, you must 
remember that it supplies “ organic nitrogen ”—the 
same as is found in blood, tankage or bone. This is 
slowly available, and to give the best results, should 
be used with some nitrate of soda. On page 126, we 
gave the difference between “ decorticated” and “ un¬ 
decorticated ” meal. We are asked what difference 
should be made in price between the two grades for 
fertilizer purposes. We regard the “ decoi’ticated ” 
meal as worth from $8 to $10 per ton more than the 
other, and would always buy it, as the difference in 
selling price is usually very slight. Use the simple 
test given on page 126. 
O 
A California “good-roads” scheme, is for the State 
to furnish crushed rock to the counties that will pay 
the bare cost of crushing and transportation. The 
State prison is located in a stony district, and water 
power is abundant near it. By employing this water 
power and convict labor at crushing rock, the cost of 
stone roads within 100 miles can be greatly reduced. 
Railroads ought to carry the crushed rock cheaply, be¬ 
cause good roads leading to their stations, will be sure 
to increase the traffic on their lines. By employing 
convicts at such work, there is little interference with 
the work of free laborers, and the saving is in public 
money—to reduce taxation. It seems to us that this 
is an excellent solution of both “ good-roads ” and con¬ 
vict-labor questions. 
O 
A recent Australian steamer brought to London 
900 tons of butter, equal to 35,000 of our creamery tubs 
—more than the New York market usually receives in 
a week. The butter is said to have been of very fine 
quality, and the price is also below that of American 
goods of equal quality. Moreover, the shipments, 
already large, are likely to increase, and the demand 
for our butter is likely to be correspondingly re¬ 
duced. It is not improbable that Australian butter 
may yet be sent to this market. The dairy situation 
is a peculiar one. Oleomargarine seems to be pretty 
well knocked out, but the demand for the cheaper 
grades of butter is very small, and the price is below 
cost of production. The cooperative creamery, or the 
private dairy with a first-class private trade, must 
solve the problem. 
O 
Last week we spoke of the advantage of having 
tools that will do several kinds of work well. The 
example given was the potato planter. By putting- on 
a pair of discs, an entirely new job was performed, 
and a new tool saved. This seems to be the spirit of 
the age. The following note from a New York State 
man, is in the same line : 
I feed sheep, and last fall, instead of dipping as usual, I used 
Persian insect powder, putting it on with a Paris-green gun. I 
am done with dipping, for I can kill the ticks better than by dip¬ 
ping. I can use it at any time during cold weather, which I can¬ 
not do when dipping. 
There is a new use for a tool that will save time and 
money. Lots of implements are worked for a few 
days, and then left to rest and rust for the rest of 
the year. We want to lengthen their time of service 
by making them perform new jobs. 
G 
A bill for enforcing the destruction of the San Jos 6 
scale, is before the New York State Senate. It pro¬ 
vides that whenever the State Entomologist shall 
learn of the existence of this scale within the State, 
he shall notify the Commissioner of Agriculture, who 
is to appoint experts to examine the infested locality. 
If it is found, the owner of the grounds where it 
occurs, after proper notification, must within 10 days, 
take steps to destroy the scale and prevent its distri¬ 
bution. In case the owner will not act, the agent of 
the department is empowered to enter upon any 
or all premises and employ reasonable means to 
destroy the scale. The sum of $5,000 is to be appro¬ 
priated to be used in enforcing this law. There are two 
sure things about this scale. It is the easiest of in¬ 
sects to exterminate if taken in time, it is one of the 
most dangerous orchard pests if permitted to obtain 
a footing. 
O 
The first spring report on Crimson clover is given 
below. It comes from Bloomsburg, Pa., latitude 41 
degrees—a little above New York City. We shall be 
glad to hear from other localities : 
I sowed Crimson clover at the rate of six quarts to the acre, on 
a two-acre field of sweet corn. The seed was not brushed or har¬ 
rowed in. It came up late and uneven because of the drought. It 
grew and thickened considerably until winter began in earnest 
(which was late here). The entire field is now nearly bare of 
snow, and the clover seems thriftier than when snow came. It is 
as green as a wheat field. We have had the coldest winter known 
here for many years, the thermometer registering 16 degrees below 
zero a number of times. The only natural condition that might be 
construed as favoring this patch of clover, is that the ground 
slopes slightly toward the south. I have another patch, however, 
on level land, in a very much exposed location. This is reported 
to be in equally fine condition. I have not seen it. 
It needs but a thought to understand how valuable 
such a crop as this can be made. Think of growing 
clover between two other crops at a time when other¬ 
wise the land would be bare ! Don’t stick to a single 
grain standard, but let's have free sewage of Crimson 
clover. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
(SEE FIRST PAGE.) 
There were a score of farmers, so they say, 
No matter where they lived—and day by day 
They toiled to grow the products of the farm 
And happy in the uneventful calm 
Of country life, they rested and they toiled 
Unmindful how their interests were spoiled, 
Because they worked as 20 not as one. 
They had the work while others had the fun. 
One of these farmers had a dream one night, 
Within the town he saw—oh wondrous sight! 
A big fat figure of monopoly 
Built up of good farm products such as lie 
Had dug from out the soil ; with startled face, 
He saw it standing in the market place 
A monument which he had helped to build 
To help along the middleman’s fat guild. 
The 20 men had each thrown in a share 
To build this fellow in the public square. 
While had they worked with singleness of aim 
That cash would line their pockets. Who's to blame? 
To “ beat” is to cheat. 
The barn cellar must go ! 
What about those hens—page 194 ? 
Don’t work on shares with the devil. 
Don’t feed your head mental “shorts.” 
The hens will respond to “ fussing,” but not to “cussing.” 
A plant that won’t stand shallow cultivation—the human mind. 
The manufacturer is a friend of hard knocks—his pi-ofit comes 
in “repairs.” 
Who can succeed when inclination and employment are always 
ready to fight ? 
Any fish die in dry brooks and ponds near you ? Why not use 
them as described on page 180? 
Now is a good time to read over what The R. N.-Y. said last fall 
about improved chestnut culture. 
The R. N.-Y.’s comment on that first-page article is found in 
Luke X. 37 : “ Go and do thou likewise ! ” 
“ I am one of your staying subscribers,” writes a Kansas friend. 
Thank you—far better a stay than a stray. 
If our friend on page 179 wishes to carry dynamite in his boots, 
he can do so legally—but “ please excuse me." 
You bait a nuisance by putting an old slop barrel at the back 
door. You abate it by putting wheels on the barrel. 
Don’t buy imported Crimson clover seed, you will get only the 
leavings of foreign farmers. Patronize American growers. 
What shall it profit a man if he permitteth suckers to use the 
fertility that should make fruit—or to sell him shares in a white 
elephant creamery ? 
If you have been wise enough to make a wife out of your sweet¬ 
heart, now see whether you can make her a sweetheart again. 
There’s a profitable job for you. 
The Massachusetts Experiment Station tells of a herd of cows 
that were fed, by mistake, nitrate of soda in place of salt. Twelve 
out of 15 were killed by the dose. 
We learn of a Kansas farmer who, by mistake, left his potato 
seed in the corrosive sublimate solution 20 hours. It sprouted fairly 
well—but 1)4 hour is the safe limit. 
The fruit which last July you jammed comes handy when 
health’s door is slammed by stomachs that have long been 
hammed, and with salt pork and taters crammed. 
If you have a poor seeding of common clover and need all the 
clover hay you can get, you might experiment by scattering Crim¬ 
son clover on it this spring. As a rule, we do not advise spring 
sowing of the Crimson. Late summer or early fall, is the proper 
time for it. It may help out the other clover, though, if it get a 
good start this spring. 
In the death of John J. Thomas, which occurred February 12, 
American horticulture has sustained a great loss. Hje was born 
in 1810, and throughout his long and busy life, was closely iden¬ 
tified with farm and fruit interests. His American Fruit Cultur- 
ist, though written 50 years ago, is still recognized as the standard 
authority. Mr. Thomas lived a life of great beauty and helpful¬ 
ness, and will be sincerely mourned by all who knew him. 
