46o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 6 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PARER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. Copyrighted 1895. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Coi.lingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
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8s. 6d., or 8>4 marks, or 1054 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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Au vertlsements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
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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- 
able 40 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
SATURDAY , JULY 6, 1895. 
The Rural New-Yorker wishes to be represented 
this year at every fair and farmers’ picnic, or other 
meeting in the country. We are already making 
appointments, and, of course, will make them as 
applications are received. The majority of the fairs 
will be held from the latter part of August to about 
October 15, and during that time we shall be making 
liberal inducements in the way of subscription con¬ 
tests to club raisers, or shall make other liberal 
terms. Let us hear from you at once, so that you 
will be sure of the appointment. 
They tell of a young woman in North Carolina who 
fried an egg without a stove or fire. The heat of the 
sun flashed into a frying pan from a tin cover made 
the pan hot enough for the cooking ! Heat that will 
fry an egg, won’t do your head any good. A green 
leaf over that pan would have left the egg uncooked. 
Moral : Put a leaf in your hat! 
O 
On page 406 will be found a table showing the 
amounts of water per acre needed to mature different 
crops. Notice what an ocean of water oats require in 
their comparatively short life. Many failures with 
oats are due to a lack of sufficient water just at the 
right time. That is one reason why winter oats are 
so much more satisfactory where they endure the 
winters. They have a longer season of growth, and 
are less dependent upon an excess of moisture in spring. 
‘ Q 
Wool dealers say that the trade in domestic wools 
is picking up, and the demand increasing. Prices are 
little if any higher, and any great advance is not 
anticipated. Never before in the history of the trade, 
have prices been so low. Many factories heretofore 
closed, have been started, others have increased the 
force of operatives and the hours of labor, and busi¬ 
ness is steadily improving. Still the demand for good 
mutton is unsupplied, while many are talking of going 
out of the sheep business. There’s plenty of good 
money in growing mutton sheep, without counting 
the wool. 
G 
Mr. Woodward makes a good point about pastur¬ 
ing sheep in orchards when he advises the use of a 
good many more sheep than the land itself would 
provide food for. The orchards need more food. It 
wouldn’t help them much to have the sheep just eat 
up the grass that grew under the trees. Something 
must be added from outside the orchard. This may 
be either fertilizer, manure from the barnyard, or 
manure made by the sheep. By stocking the orchard 
heavily with sheep, and feeding large quantities of 
bran, you will obtain two values—the feeding value 
and the manurial value—besides preventing the spread 
of insects which live in fallen fruit. 
G 
Wk have some more articles on that “ Southern 
Agricultui-al Problem” coming. It is a great question 
—worthy the attention of the wisest minds South or 
North. This country cannot prosper when any large 
class of its farmers lose their independence and self- 
respect. There are two chief causes for the trouble in 
the cotton and tobacco districts of the South. One is 
that a large class of farmers were taught to do nothing 
but grow cotton. Having grown all the profit out of 
that crop, they are unable to change to another. By 
nature and education, they are not capable of quickly 
changing their methods. After the war, laws were 
fixed upon them which have been the means of suck¬ 
ing their pockets like leeches at a wound. The 
problem now is to make such men see the real agri¬ 
cultural issue so that they will not waste their ener¬ 
gies in chasing after mere political shadows in the 
hope of thus obtaining substantial benefit. 
O 
A Connecticut gas company claims to be able to 
supply a good quality of illuminating gas at a cost 
equal to kerosene oil at seven cents per gallon. It is 
proposed to run pipes all over Hartford County, and 
supply gas to farmhouses for lighting or cooking. 
Why not ? The great convenience of gas for providing 
light and heat, should not be confined entirely to the 
towns. Why not let the farmer benefit by it as well ? 
As a rule, townspeople are forced to pay an exorbitant 
price for gas because the service in most p.aces 
amounts really to a monopoly. If the cheap rate can 
be made to country people, the States should break up 
the monopolies that exist in the towns 
G 
The use of machinery for spraying potato vines is 
coming to be a regular part of extensive potato cul¬ 
ture. In what way is one machine better than 
another ? What makes a perfect spraying machine ? 
These questions may be best answered by compara¬ 
tive trials in the field. Such a trial will be held on 
July 18 at the farm of J. S. Combs, Stafford, N. Y. It 
is hoped to show there in actual operation, the various 
manufactured devices as well as some homemade con¬ 
trivances. All who are interested in trying to cure 
potato diseases, will learn something from this trial 
which will show, not only how the machines work, 
but something about their durability, simplicity and 
cost. 
G 
Farmers in southern Wisconsin report a sad condi¬ 
tion of affairs as regards the hay crop. Timothy and 
Red clover are the chief plants used for hay. Much 
of the latter was killed out by the severe winter, and 
the drought has reduced the Timothy to less than half 
a crop. In some of the dairy counties, hay has ad¬ 
vanced 85 per ton of late. Farmers are cutting green 
oats to cure as hay, though the straw is very short. 
With rain soon, a good corn crop can be made, and 
there will probably be a large area sown to corn fod¬ 
der. Some grass that will stand freezing and drought 
better than Timothy or Red clover, is greatly needed 
by Wisconsin farmers. It will be hard to find, though 
we shall obtain all possible information respecting it. 
G 
Few Northern men appear to understand what 
Georgia peach growers are doing this year. The crop 
this year is something immense, and during the first 
three weeks in July, the fruit will be poured upon the 
markets in all parts of the land. A great “ Peach 
Carnival” will be held at Macon during this time, and 
will amply demonstrate the horticultural possibilities 
of Georgia. The South is bound to be heard from as 
a fruit country. Soil, climate and cheap fertilizers ! 
What else is needed but good management, capital 
and transportation facilities ? Verily the Northern 
fruit grower must bestir himself and make use of the 
most approved methods, if he expects to keep in the 
race ! This is proved by the fact that some of the 
shrewdest Northern growers are going South to grow 
fruit. 
G 
Remembering the drought of the past few seasons, 
many of our readers are trying all sorts of experi¬ 
ments in their efforts to learn how to conserve and 
retain soil moisture. Many have followed the experi¬ 
ment suggested by Mr. Strong last winter, of covering 
the entire surface with manure and straw. There is 
nothing new about this principle, as hundreds of our 
readers raise their potatoes by simply covering them 
with straw ; yet the practice is new to the majority 
of growers. Here is one report from northern Illinois : 
The acre of R. N.-Y. No. 2 potatoes that were covered with 80 loads 
of strawy horse manure, were over a week behind the rest of the 
field in coming up; but now they have outstripped the latter in 
growth. The effect of the mulch seems to have changed their 
manner of growth to a considerable extent. I do not believe that 
the originator would recognize them. The foliage is a much 
lighter green, enough so that it is noticeable across the entire 
field (80 rods). They have given up their upright habit of growth, 
and lost much of the brown color of the stem. Much of this 
change is owing, perhaps, to the large amount of ammonia that 
the early rains washed out of the manure. We have not had a 
rain since May 6; still the soil where mulched, is very moist and 
mellow, and the growth of vines is very uniform. Alongside, 
where not mulched, a great difference is noticed between those on 
low and on high ground. dwight herrick. 
We have observed something of this habit with the 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 in our own mulched plot. The No. 2’s 
were very slow in starting, and for a time looked like 
pigmies by the side of Chicago Market, Orphan, Free¬ 
man, etc. They are now large and vigorous, and have 
sprawled over the ground earlier in their growth than 
is usual. Our mulched potatoes have grown steadily 
from the beginning. We shall see about the yield in 
due time. The mulch has certainly prevented evapora¬ 
tion of moisture. 
There are a lot of bright, sharp people reading The 
R. N.-Y. They think out new ideas, and put them 
into practice. Better than that, they sit down and 
write them out for the benefit of the rest of The R. 
N.-Y.’s family. Some of our people have told about 
their sanguinary work among the birds that eat cher¬ 
ries. These folks are not naturally bloodthirsty, but 
they don’t see any other way to keep the birds off. 
Now let them listen and save their powder : 
The R. N.-Y. asks for information about how to keep the birds 
from eating all the cherry crop, and I give you my plan that was 
successful. I had a row of trees from which the birds always 
took the cherries. I drove stakes and strung a smooth fence wire 
on the ground on each side of the row, with a swivel to each wire, 
a Shropshire ram to each swivel, and a cow bell to each ram. The 
latter were uneasy, and traveled up and down the row, completely 
scaring away the birds. Perhaps dogs would do as well, and after 
the cherries had been saved, the dogs could be planted by the aid 
of a Winchester and shovel, and help make another crop. I have 
the only sheep in this township; there are over 600 dogs here, and 
I plant lots of them. 0. J. N. 
Morantown, Kan. 
With the present depression in sheep, that is easier 
and cheaper than the traditional “ rolling off a log.” 
The only objection to the dog is, that he is naturally 
lazy, and too cute to keep on the move. He would 
soon learn to lie down and sleep, and thus fail to 
sound the alarm. The ram is too much of a mutton- 
head not to “ save ” the crop. But the dog is admir¬ 
ably suited to the proposed task of providing the 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and organic matter for next 
year’s crop. Plant him. We may be pardoned for 
saying that such dog culture will produce a “ dog 
goned ” good crop. 
BREVITIES. 
Here is a story of old Pilgrim time, 
Trace well its meaning through our halting rhyme. 
A minister out calling on his flock, 
Along at lunch-time chanced one day to knock 
At the front door of one whose matron name 
Was but a synonym of cooking fame, 
And she, with pleasure and with beaming eye, 
Suggested that he eat “a cut of pie.” 
“ Which will you have—apple or mince, dear sir?” 
He gravely said, “The mince I would prefer 
Within her pantry quickly bustled she, 
But soon returned in great perplexity 
Bearing two pies—“ I can’t tell which is which 
Although I marked ’em to prevent a hitch. 
This one’s T. M. which means 'tis mince , I know, 
And this T. M. for ’ tisn't mince , and so, 
Although I’ve got the letters nicely fixed, 
Somehow I’ve got the meanings sorter mixed !” 
Now, lots of us are like this worthy dame. 
We start experiments with sounding name. 
Yet on our work “bad failure” is affixed 
Because we get our meanings “sorter mixed.” 
Root prune the ache corn crop ! 
Is your house your wife’s prison ? 
No moisture in the reign of drought. 
Don’t chop the top off the child crop. 
A kicking mule is a “ cross ” hybrid. 
Read Mr. Marvin’s article on page 456 ! 
What varieties of strawberries stand the drought best ? 
The only tenderness you find about the average money lender 
is legal tender. 
See how tough Crimson clover proved itself in Orange County, 
N. Y.—page 458. 
What parent does the Timbrell strawberry get its mottled ap¬ 
pearance from ? 
A beer saloon affords an easy entrance to the celebration of an 
inglorious Fourth. 
Better drill in the cow peas. Leave space enough between 
drills for cultivation. 
Any cultivation that includes healthy plants of “pussley” is 
very apt to be “ cussley.” 
Some men are born with Crimson clover on their farms, some go 
out and bring it in, and others have it thrust upon them. 
Glad to see Mr. Chapman join the ranks of the corn-fodder 
brigade. It is the best late grown substitute for hay. It beats 
millet! 
Twenty years hence we don’t believe a side saddle can be sold 
for horse riding any more than for a bicycle. Women will ride 
then, too. 
Large quantities of Australian mutton tallow are coming to 
America. Prices for it are so low that beef tallow is sure to feel 
the effect of it. 
You show good brains behind your brow when, on these scorch¬ 
ing days you run, a big umbrella o’er your plow and walk pro¬ 
tected from the sun. 
Shut up Mrs. Biddy, no more may she stray through the garden 
—but mark how she squirms and fusses and flutters—no more 
will she lay when deprived of her diet of worms. 
Mr. Powell calls the Northen Spy the best apple stock on which 
to graft desirable varieties. In Delaware, Mr. Derby says that 
he prefers Red Astrachan, as it is least liable to sun scald. 
Mr. Powell doesn’t try to kill the birds that come after his 
cherries. He thinks they do far more good than harm. A row of 
early cherries is provided for the birds. They feast on this fruit 
and let the market crop alone. 
The Japanese government rewards its war heroes, not with use¬ 
less medals, but with suitably engraved watches. That’s a pro¬ 
gressive idea. If you have any heroes or friends to reward, re¬ 
member we can get the watch for you ! 
An English court has decided with owl-like wisdom, that “no 
person has a right to tempt a dog on to his land for the purpose 
of poisoning it 1” After the dog has eaten a good dose of strych¬ 
nine, it would be hard to prove whether he was tempted or came as 
a “free agent.” 
