428 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Juneo22 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
TUE BUSINESS FARMERS' BARER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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abItl 10 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1895. 
“ Crimson clover is running like wild-fire all over 
North Carolina,” says one of our .Southern subscribers. 
We hope so. It will burn up a lot of old-time farm 
ideas. Hut a wild fire is not economical ! That’s why 
we are trying to get all possible facts about Crimson 
clover so as to have it do the most good with its heat. 
O 
Massachusetts has just appropriated §150,000 to 
fight the Gypsy moth another year. Suppose Massa¬ 
chusetts had not cornered this pest and prevented its 
spread ! It would have caused millions of dollars of 
loss to the country. Yet we fail to hear farmers or 
townsmen blessing the old Bay State for her gallant 
bug fight ! 
0 
The three sources of water for your crops are rain¬ 
fall, overflow from surface water located above the 
crops, and the water which has sunk into the soil. 
The application of the second is irrigation. The third 
is the best to work for. It rises by its own force if 
you handle the surface of the soil properly. Cultiva¬ 
tion may be called steel irrigation. 
O 
If woman's suffrage in Colorado is productive of 
such economical ideas as are brought out on our first 
page, we move that the system be extended all over 
the country. We want some such plan adopted for 
feeding the politicians who have been feasting so long 
on patronage and political jobs. Bring them up to 
the reform ‘ grub wagon” and make them quit living 
on the sweat of those who are powerless to help them¬ 
selves ! 
O 
Read that article about a cheap telephone system 
on page 428. There’s no use talking, a telephone wire 
running from your home all around the neighbor¬ 
hood, would make a big advance in your social life. 
It would help you in business, too. The day has 
gone by when farmers can afford to hold each other 
off at arm's length. Their interests are in common. 
The telephone may be the first little thread of the 
rope which will bind your neighborhood together in 
a common cause. 
0 
Don’t fail to read what the learned men say about 
that sick soil—page 434. Bear in mind that every 
ordinary soil contains vast stores of plant food. Many 
and many a time, we are called upon to add available 
plant food in the form of manure or fertilizers, not 
because the soil actually needs it, but because the soil 
is not in condition to give up what it has. The 
mechanical condition of the soil is of great importance. 
Tillage and green manures are the great agents for 
soil sickness after all. 
0 
A young man with a good practical knowledge of the 
poultry business, but not much cash, wants to know 
whether we think it will pay him to advertise for a part¬ 
ner to provide capital for an extension of his busi¬ 
ness. We don’t know what to tell him, except to go 
ahead and try it. It is a new idea—though it ought 
not to be. We often see people advertising for capi¬ 
tal needed to develop manufacturing or other indus¬ 
trial enterprises. They seem to obtain the money 
they wish, and, in many cases, pay good interest on 
the investment. Why cannot the same thing be done 
in farming ? In spite of the prevailing general de¬ 
pression in agriculture, a good many men are making 
money out of poultry, fruit, or some other product. 
Their knowledg-e of the business is such that they can 
easily turn capital to good account. In fact, an in¬ 
vestment with them could be made far more produc¬ 
tive than the buying of Western farm mortgages 
through a city broker. A great many people have 
invested their savings in these latter securities, and 
have lost thereby. Why not furnish capital to enable 
some enterprising Eastern farmer to enlarge his busi¬ 
ness ? If such a plan could be carried out, both farmer 
and investor would be better off. 
o 
There is no use trying to produce a “hothouse” 
lamb in a cold barn. The little thing is brought into 
the world ahead of Nature’s regular programme, and 
without warmth and comfort, it will die. Such a 
lamb must be made happy with plenty of food and a 
warm shelter. Then he can be “ forced” like a plant 
in a greenhouse. A picture of lamb happiness is 
shown at Fig. 135, taken from Bulletin 88 of the Cor¬ 
nell Experiment Station. These little fellows are 
enjoying a sun bath to the fullest extent. It is all well 
enough to talk about your Dorset, Shropshire or 
Southdown blood, but warm quarters and plenty of 
food are even more important. 
O 
A borax producer in California is said to be experi¬ 
menting with this substance as a fruit preservative. 
The fresh fruit is to be packed in barrels with the 
powdered borax. A shipment of cherries packed in 
this way reached Chicago in “prime condition.” This 
is far more honest than it is to buy five cents’ worth 
of borax, mix it with a little salt, sugar, etc., name it 
“ Preservaline,” and sell it for 50 cents ; but it will 
not prove profitable. Borax should not be used on 
fruit just before it is to be eaten. While it will 
undoubtedly keep the fruit in a fresh condition, it is 
injurious to health, and the health boards in large 
cities where fruit is sold, will surely prohibit its use. 
0 
Some weeks ago, we had something to say about a 
monument to commemorate the finding of the Bald¬ 
win apple. It appears that the original tree was 
found in the woods in Massachusetts, and this monu¬ 
ment is to be placed near the original site of the tree. 
A picture of this monument is shown at Fig. 134. It 
is to be a plain granite shaft, surmounted by a large 
figure of a Baldwin of typical shape. It is a good 
thing to hunt up such things, and make much of 
them. The practical man may say that there is no 
money in it. That is true ; but there is something 
better than money. The fact is, there is too much 
dollar hunting now in horticulture and agriculture. 
If there wore less of it, some of the old veterans who 
have done so much for the cause, would not have to 
die in order to learn how much the world thinks of 
them. 
O 
We hurt the feelings of some of our susceptible 
readei’s when we refused to discuss the “scientific” 
merits of “stone meal.” We understood something of 
the situation. It was proposed to import a lot of 
powdered granite rock (which would have cost simply 
the price of crushing and freight) and sell it for a big 
price in the American market. In order to make a 
market for it, a plausible and entertaining pamphlet 
was written setting forth the extravagant claims made 
for this stuff. The promoters of this scheme wanted 
a discussion of it. Whether it was cursed or blessed, 
talkiiuj about it would prove an advertisement. That 
was the way they seemed to reason, and The R. N.-Y. 
did not feel disposed to gratify them. Those who 
wish news from headquarters, should read the note 
by Mr. Sarg on page 426. Mr. Sarg is a German 
farmer who knows this “stone meal” on its native 
heath. 
O 
A Long Island farmer came into the office the other 
day in search of information. He lives in that part 
of the Island where many of New York’s millionaires 
own large tracts of land, some of which have been 
stocked with deer for their own private shooting. 
This man owns 40 acres which he bought 20 years 
ago. He has been trying to make a living by truck 
farming, but the deer from these private game pre¬ 
serves stray away for miles during the night, and for¬ 
age on whatever pleases them. He says that it is 
impossible to grow cabbages, carrots, or any such 
crops, as they are thus completely destroyed, or so 
damaged that all profit is gone. What is he to do ? 
If these deer are domestic animals, they have no 
business running at large, and should be impounded. 
But they commit their depredations only at night, 
and then retreat to their own preserves. It would 
probably be impossible to capture them, or to drive 
them if they were found. Then, too, if they are 
considered as wild animals, the game law says that 
they may be killed only during certain limited sea¬ 
sons, and if any owner upon whose land they are 
committing depredations, should shoot one, the law 
would take him in hand. This farmer says, too, that 
it is hard, after one has worked all day, to watch his 
crops at night, and the circumstances are such that 
it is well-nigh impossible to prove to whom the ani¬ 
mals belong. The matter is a serious one to these 
small farmers. Obviously, the only right way is for 
the owners of these deer, to confine them so that they 
cannot stray away and injure others. But how are 
they to be compelled to do this ? Cooperation among 
the aggrieved parties for the purpose of protecting 
themselves, is evidently the first step, whatever the 
next may be. 
O 
Mr. Derby, as you will see (page 421), believes that 
potash is the basis of the clover crop. If anything 
were needed to make this point more forcible, we have 
it in the following note from Prof. W. F. Massey, of 
North Carolina : 
I have been watching with great interest the reports about 
Crimson clover in The R. N.-Y., and especially the facts that are 
being brought out in the paper, and in my own correspondence, 
in regard to the need of potash for this crop. It is a somewhat 
curious fact, which I have never yet seen referred to, that Crim¬ 
son clover shows on analysis almost double the amount of potash 
in its composition, that Medium clover does. This fact alone 
would seem to indicate that potash has a special value in the 
culture of this crop. I have had accounts from farmers in the 
sandy soils of the South Atlantic coast, who have failed with the 
Crimson clover, from sowing it on land that has been cropped 
with cotton for 25 years or more consecutively. Of course, they 
failed, as any crop will fail on exhausted land if not fed in some 
way. From a wide correspondence from almost every Southern 
State, I am satisfied that in nearly, if not quite every case, in the 
South, where there has been failure with this clover, it has arisen 
from a lack of fertility, especially in potash, in the soil. I have 
instances where parties failed altogether with Crimson clover, 
who at my suggestion used potash freely, and at once had bril¬ 
liant success. I have for years been urging upon our farmers the 
idea that the true method for increasing the fertility of their acres, 
is not in the heavy application of fertilizers entirely to the sale 
crops, but in the feeding with the cheaper forms of mineral plant 
food the crops that will increase the nitrogen and the organic 
matter in their soils. Chemicals and clover you have long recom¬ 
mended. Let us insist more on chemicals on clover. In other 
words, let us insist on the importance of feeding the crops that 
feed the soil. 
We believe that is very true. Use the potash on the 
clover by all means. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
You ask me for a recipe, 
How a man’s head-piece ought to be; 
How are its faculties arranged ? 
How put together, worked and changed ? 
Into the subject let us plunge; 
I’d have your head, first, like a sponge, 
So that it might absorb and hold 
Words of the good, true, wise and bold. 
Then, ere the sponge could dry all out, 
I’d have the power to spin about 
Its form a rubber syringe true 
With one small orifice pricked through 
Into the mouth for a nozzle; so 
Wnen right and wrong gave blow for blow 
About the head, the force would throw 
Through brain and mouth a perfect spray, 
To kill the errors of the day, 
Absorb the truth, both great and small; 
Hold it and spray it out—that’s all. 
Mulch for moisture. 
It is not rash to use potash. 
Those Long Island deer are dear pets. 
Go bury your biliousness in the berry patch. 
A spring halt— for water—won’t hurt the horse. 
“ Very highly manured— the key to it all !” Page 423. 
The best or worst age for a cow may be her lineage. 
Even canary-bird seed has been “cornered” by an English trust! 
Potash and bone ! Potash and bone ! Sow Crimson clover— 
then let things alone. 
Why is the creamery shark like a church ? Both will die if de¬ 
prived of prey (pray). 
It’s a pity to let soapmakers beautify their place with flowers , 
while there is no color in your yard ! 
A Massachusetts man was arrested for writing a postal card 
containing abuse of the Supreme Court. 
The man that can’t get three cents’ worth of good out of this 
issue of The R. N.-Y., is a three-cent man—that’s all. 
Steam traction engines are being tried, even in the streets of 
London, for hauling heavy trucks. Another competitor of heavy 
horses. 
The proposed constitution for the State of Utah makes a change 
in the jury system. A majority of the jury will decide civil cases. 
A good idea. 
Here’s a man, on page 423, claiming that it pays him better to 
ship celery in bulk, and let the buyers do the trimming and clean¬ 
ing. What about that ? 
Sitting on the counter at the village store declaiming about 
monopolies, won’t save the country. That’s not the counter irri¬ 
tant this country needs. 
The census tells us that there were in 1890, 22,735,661 persons in 
this country engaged in “gainful occupations.” We would like to 
know how many were truly gainful. 
About 15 years ago, somebody planted artichokes on land which 
The R. N.-Y. is now trying to make into a garden. The artichokes 
are still there—the worst weed we have to fight. 
When the potato bug was first discovered, it was such a rare 
novelty that single specimens brought $5. There is an example of 
“ lost values.” It should have been kept a novelty. 
No woman should ever drive a horse unless she knows how to 
harness ! That seems like a safe proposition. No man should 
eat a meal unless he knows how to cook one ! Anything wrong 
about that ? 
In ancient times the Israelites were forbidden by law to breed 
mules. It was thought that this cross of the ass on the horse, 
was unnatural and wicked. Without the mules, many fertile 
tracts would have remained barren. 
Those grandmother hens that now fill up their coop, are all too 
old for their place—put them right “ in the soup.” There’s no 
use a-talking, well-cooked chicken meat is better than pork in 
this season of heat. And as for the hens, they are long past their 
prime, and have come to regard laying eggs as a crime. 
