38o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 1 
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-Cbief. 
Herbert W. Coli.inuwood, 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 l / t francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly orders 
of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “ Adv .,” 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price Only. 
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 p&y- 
able 1,0 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1895. 
When we proposed a subscription contest for nine 
premiums from May 1 to June 15, we didn’t expect a 
very big rush of subscriptions. We knew then, as we 
know now, that it was not the best season for it. We 
did it as an experiment. The first premium is a $45 
Buckeye mowing machine. Four weeks of the six 
have gone, and the largest club is 11 names. You see 
that some one is going to get a cheap mowing ma¬ 
chine, and the cash prizes promise to go to clubs of 
three or four names. Surely, some could spare a little 
time, and get well paid for it. 
O 
Bo you think that the average farmer can afford to 
spend the time and money necessary to keep his 
grounds in as good condition as the city resident ? If 
not, why not ? Will not such improvement make the 
place more valuable, more salable and more attrac¬ 
tive ? 
G 
We can’t say too much about the importance of a 
constant water supply for growing plants. If we 
could only irrigate properly, the hot and constant 
sunshine of a “ drought ” would make the best possi¬ 
ble growing season. Prof. Rane tells us this week of 
a simple plan of using tile for irrigating small areas, 
which is at least worth considering. 
O 
We are much obliged to the many friends who are 
writing us about the behavior of Crimson clover. We 
are unable to print all the reports, though we give a 
fair showing to all localities. The unpublished re¬ 
ports are valuable, because they help us make a fairer 
average as to the clover’s actions in widely separated 
places. Then, again, we learn from each one some¬ 
thing about the special needs of the plant. 
o 
While the recent freeze was disastrous in many 
cases, and its unfavorable results plainly apparent, it 
had, also, a favorable result not so apparent. Myriads 
of plant lice and other insect pests were slain, whose 
depredations, had they all survived, might have been 
as disastrous as the frosts have been. These late cold 
spells often do the fruit grower more good than he 
thinks. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good. 
O 
Of course you understand that every pound of 
freight that travels on a railroad must first be hauled 
over a wagon road ! You growl at the railroad freight 
because it must be paid in cash. The road freight is 
paid in labor, and you don’t feel the extortionate 
price of a bad road until the end of the year, when 
your accounts won’t balance. Then you charge it up 
to “bad luck” or the “administration.” The last is 
right—the administration of your own affairs ! 
O 
Local politics in every community is in bad shape, 
when an aspirant for county oflice must spend weeks 
of time begging the support of members of his party 
at the primaries that elect delegates to nominating 
conventions. Then, quite often, the one who would 
win must either spend some money on delegates, or 
submit to defeat, regardless of his qualifications and 
the popular wish. The farmer who believes in him¬ 
self and his farm, has neither the time nor the inclina¬ 
tion for much of this work, and too often the result 
is that the men who fill the offices in the county seat 
and wield the political influence of the county, are 
wholly out of sympathy with the interests of the bona 
fide farmer. So long as offices are frequently obtained 
by unclean methods, the clean man has little chance, 
knows the fact, and stays out of it all. An easy, 
practical cure for this state of things, is not apparent. 
Combination of clean men is not very easy or very 
practical, it would appear. 
O 
Now don’t wait until way along in the 59th minute 
of the 13th hour, before you take your haying tools 
to be repaired. Take them now, and have the work 
done. Avoid the rush ! Don’t wait and compete with 
all the neighbors for the blacksmith's time. That 
will mean extra cost or poorer work, to say nothing 
of wasted time. There may be room at the top, but 
there won’t be in that shop, and haying will stop— 
which means loss to the crop—sure pop ! 
O 
“Sparrow grass,” is the vegetable one grocer offers 
his customers. A good guesser might infer that he 
had asparagus to sell, though it is generally known 
among marketmen simply as “grass.” Its full name is 
too long for a busy vendor to pronounce in its entirety. 
But the name matters little, so long as the quality is 
good, and the article freshly gathered, something that 
doesn’t happen often as the market sees it. A rose 
by any other name would smell as sweet, though 
asparagus of greener hue than usually seen on mar¬ 
ket stands would be much preferred. 
G 
The Indiana Experiment Station people say that 
early planted corn in that State has been so seriously 
damaged by frost and cutworms that re-planting is 
absolutely necessary if farmers expect any corn. 
Many are doubtless discouraged, fearing that the 
grain planted so late will not mature a crop. Experi¬ 
ments at the station indicate that in average seasons, 
corn planted about June 1, is reasonably sure to 
mature a crop of sound grain. In the northern part 
of the State, the earlier varieties, if planted the first 
week in June, have good chances for getting through. 
While this advice applies more directly to Indiana, it 
is also worth the consideration of other farmers where 
similar conditions prevail. 
O 
A friend who has been troubled more or less with 
catarrh, has started trying that bicarbonate of soda 
and vaseline treatment suggested last week. His first 
statement is, “ Why that bicarbonate of soda seems to 
be just the same stuff that is found in So-and-So’s 
‘ catarrh cure.’ I paid $1 for a little box of it some 
years ago.” Just so! Men have supported themselves 
in good shape by tilling little boxes with five cents’ 
worth of bicarbonate of soda and selling it for $1 as 
“catarrh cure.” This is really the best substance to 
use in simple diseases of the nose. It will not “cure” 
troubles of long standing, but it will certainly relieve 
the nose and arrest the disease in its early stages. 
But don’t breathe through the mouth. 
O 
We have read reports in the newspapers about a 
very valuable load of greenhouse vegetables recently 
sent to market by W. W. Rawson of Boston. Mr. Raw- 
son sends us these facts about the load, which con¬ 
sisted of 
70 boxes of cucumbers.$700 
40 boxes of lettuce. 100 
62 dozen radishes. 31 
Total.$831 
It was one pick in two of my houses of cucumbers, and it took 
30 sashes of lettuce. The radishes were pulled in one of my 
houses. It was the best load I ever had, that is, it brought the 
most. I have often had larger loads bring over $500, but the price 
of cucvimbers was $12 per 100 for No. 1, and $8 for No. 2. 
That is certainly a remarkable showing. A good deal 
more than the average farmer’s entire yearly cash 
crop put on one load. That only shows the possibili¬ 
ties of the greenhouse, though. It doesn’t prove that 
it is the best thing for you to borrow money and put 
up a greenhouse ! According to prices recently ob¬ 
tained for cucumbers in this market, that load would 
have brought a great deal less money. 
G 
Improvement in methods of packing, handling, 
shipping and selling seems to be the watchword 
among California fruit growers. Not content with 
securing lower rates and quicker time to the East, a 
new device for packing the fruit in the cars is now re¬ 
ported, which saves space, and is lighter than the old 
packages. As described, this new invention consists 
of slatted trays 20 inches wide, six inches deep, and as 
long as the width of the car, which, at the ends, rest 
on cleats nine inches apart. This gives sufficient 
space between the trays for ventilation, and at the 
same time, the car when loaded to its full capacity, 
will carry 23,328 pounds of cherries, instead of 20,000 
pounds, the regulation car-load under the old system 
of packing. The trays, too, may be all folded up, and 
packed on the upper cleats, thus leaving the car free 
for merchandise on the return trip. The trays, too, 
weigh considerably less than half as much as the old¬ 
time boxes. So there is a great saving all around, 
and, as the greatest burden upon the fruit growers of 
the Pacific coast has been in the transportation 
charges, anything that will lessen these, must be a 
great boon to them. Meanwhile, every advance step, 
means keener competition to Eastern growers. Can 
they overcome these pushing, energetic Westerners, 
handicapped as the latter are by a 3,000-mile haul 
across the continent ? 
o 
Perhaps in no way does the agriculture of the 
plains differ from that of the prairies and further 
east, than in the matter of soil preparation for crops. 
Owing to the scanty rainfall, the soil settles and packs 
very slowly, and one plowing in two or three years is 
found to be enough to keep it mellow. As every pre¬ 
caution has to be taken to conserve the moisture in 
the soil, turning it over is avoided as much as possible, 
and weeds are killed and the surface mellowed with 
the disc harrow or the cultivator. Owing to the light 
rainfall of the past year, this condition of soil extends 
much further east than usual this spring. Observing 
how loose and mellow the soil has kept, some Iowa 
farmers who are pressed with work (and many are 
putting in extra large crops of corn owing to failure 
of grass and clover sown last year), are preparing 
their corn ground by discing it. It is double disced, 
each time across the harrow laps half on what it cut 
before. Quite a saving of time is made over plow¬ 
ing, as in this way eight to ten acres a day can be 
prepared by one man and team. The outcome of this 
experiment will be watched with interest. 
G 
BREVITIES. 
Most likely you think that your “luck” and cares 
Are like to the enemy’s crop of tares. 
He came in the night to the farmer’s field 
And ruined the chance of a good wheat yield 
By sowing the weeds in the useful grain. 
It’s quite convenient for you to explain 
That politics, beetles and bugs and blights, 
Monopolies, bankers or labor fights, 
The Supreme Court verdict or Nature’s slights, 
Have crowded you down with the other wights. 
Now look in your mirror a moment, friend, 
And see what you see there—we don’t pretend 
It’s a handsome picture—but clear and true 
It gives us a very good look at you. 
And ere you decide that the hand of fate 
Is holding you back with its crushing weight, 
The face of yourself in the mirror scan 
And see if you read there, “ Thou art the man /” 
Let the big I become wee. 
Heated words cool friendships. 
Hen bane—wet feet and feathers ! 
Who ever heard of a righteous wrong ? 
“ Birds off a feather ”—moulting hens. 
The “ Black Pepsin ” agent is af black sinner. 
Good tomato plants ought to be worth their weight in gold. 
If you practice half what you preach, you are one of a thousand. 
Better curry favor with your horse by means of a currycomb. 
When will the farmer use his vote, his own best interests to pro¬ 
mote ? 
Pet —a slight fit of peevishness. We don’t want any family 
“ pets.” 
See what you think of that plan of selling sweet potatoes— 
page 375. 
The usual crop from a scrub bovine is found in a measure of 
sourest whine. 
“ Hot and heavy.” Killing those baby weeds when they grow 
till July. Kill them now. 
How to make the Bordeaux Mixture, on page 381, under Agricul¬ 
tural Science Made Easy. 
The teeth on your mower be careful to grind, or the grass in 
your meadow will clog it and “ bind.” 
It pleases the agent—the farmer it scares. What ? W’hy, don’t 
you know ? It’s the bill for “ repairs.” 
Simple science makes appliance of the laws of life easy going; 
truth is growing—down with wordy strife. 
Mr. Chapman seems to think that the wild animals know how to 
get “ on time ” better than man does. Man has forgotten how. 
They gave that mare, page 377, a wide range of treatment from 
feeding her sugar to knocking her down with a club ! What 
would you do ? 
“ I shall try it again !” That’s what they all seem to say about 
the Crimson clover failure. We admire their pluck, and commend 
their judgment! 
Wouldn’t you like to have your children pick you out in after 
years as the best teacher and friend they ever had ? You don’t 
expect they will do that by luck, do you ? 
You never saw a man who justly claimed to have too much of an 
education when he was a boy ! They all know that they didn’t 
have enough. Young man, don’t make fool days of your school 
days. 
The weekly edition of a daily paper with its page of so-called 
“ farm notes,” is doomed. The year 1900 will see hardly one of 
them left. The agricultural papers are improving, and we are 
glad of it. 
S. S. Bailey, who recently told us about his irrigation plant 
near Grand Rapids, Mich., sends us a big bouquet of Crimson 
clover which stood the winter at that point'. Water doubtless 
made it grow large enough to endure the cold. 
Don’t buy a kernel of imported Crimson clover seed this year. 
It will be a trick of some dealers to mix a little home-grown seed 
with a large bulk of the imported and call it all “ native.” You 
don’t want a native of France or England—you want American 
clover. 
