588 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 31 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
TEE BUSINESS FARMERS' RATER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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able 40 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1895. 
We hear a good deal nowadays about spraying 
whitewash paint on interiors of henhouses and out¬ 
buildings. We want to know more about it from 
those who have really tried it. What nozzle is best ? 
How thick should the wash be made ? How fast can 
it be done ? 
O 
We are always sorry to see a good road broken up 
to make way for an electric trolley line. It ruins the 
road for driving or freighting. Such a road has no 
more business on a wagon road than the steam cars. 
The trolley should be made to take to the fields along 
the roadside—and keep out of the wagon path. We 
believe farmers make a mistake when they favor giv¬ 
ing their road up to a trolley ! 
© 
Last week we had an account of a crop of Crimson 
clover in Kentucky. Mr. Reid, who grew the clover, 
sends this statement of his returns : 
X have thrashed the rest of my Crimson clover. I have not weighed 
it yet, but estimate the yield at four bushels per acre. The hull- 
ings will sell for about $6 baled, to cattle feeders at distilleries 
two miles off. It will make about 1,500 pounds of liullings per 
acre. Seed is selling at $4. 
IIow will that compare in profit with your Red clover? 
O 
Here is a case of “ intensive ” potato culture re¬ 
ported from a friend in Pennsylvania : 
My 10 Carman No. 1 potatoes that I raised last year from the 
piece you sent me, came to grief. The girl found them and cooked 
them for dinner, but I hunted up the skins and planted them, and 
if they yield as well as the tops now indicate, I shall have at least 
a bushel. 
You might call that a case of saving a crop by the 
“ skin of its tuber.” It is not always a good thing 
for the girl to make a thick paring, but it turned out 
well in this case. 
© 
Under the old political system in New York, dealers 
who sold adulterated milk got off with a light fine— 
that is, if they had a political pull. The legal busi¬ 
ness of the police courts seemed to be gauged by the 
ability of the prisoner or his friends to control votes 
or collect extortion money. This is being changed. 
A dealer caught selling adulterated milk was recently 
sent to jail for 30 days and fined $100 by one of the 
new police justices. That’s right! Send the rest to 
keep him company ! 
O 
The latest fad is the breeding of so-called thorough¬ 
bred cats. It appears that fashionable society has 
taken the cat as a new pet. Large sums are paid for 
specimens with long white hair and pink eyes ! If 
some foolish woman prefers such a monstrosity to a 
baby, it is no business of ours. The rich have de¬ 
manded broilers, hothouse flowers and vegetables and 
dozens of other delicacies, and farmers have found 
profit in supplying the demand. If they want white 
cats, by all means, let’s breed such creatures for 
them. The R. N.-Y. will soon have an interview with 
a cat-breeder and then we shall know more about it. 
O 
The most popular machine of the year is the corn 
harvester. The successful handling of a big corn 
crop has always been a worrying job for the farmer. 
The chances are now that he will be able to sit on 
his machine and cut and bind at the rate of an acre 
per hour. Mr. Cottrell, of Ellerslie Farm, says he has 
already cut 30 acres of soiling corn with such a ma¬ 
chine. It averages an acre an hour, and picks up the 
corn in good shape. When silo filling begins on that 
farm, they expect to cut 200 tons per day. The har¬ 
vester must run day and night to keep up the supply. 
Every three minutes a ton of corn yv ill be crowded 
through the cutter and carried up to the silo top. It 
cost $250 last year to cut the corn ready for the 
wagons. This year, the machine will do it for less 
than half that amount, and leave the bundles in better 
shape for handling. That is the way these inventions 
work. They give increased power and saving to the 
great enterprises and take more or less manual labor 
away from the ordinary workmen. How is the 
latter to live in the future ? 
O 
The most remarkable thing we notice this year is 
the great increase in the use of the bicycle on the 
farm. There are a number of farms that we make it 
a point to visit at least once a year to see what prog- 
t ress is made as the seasons roll around. On these 
places we find dozens of people riding the wheel who 
never dreamed of doing it three years ago. On larger 
farms the bicycle is getting to be a positive necessity 
and saves the use of two or more driving horses. This 
bicycle business is going to help solve the problem of 
bringing people back to the country—there’s no doubt 
about that. 
O 
Mr. Francisco, who sells the “Certified Milk,” which 
The R. N.-Y. has often told about, recently showed 
us how he is able to feed 200 cows one week on the 
product of one acre. The first crop is oats or rye. 
They are cut green and hauled to the barn for feed¬ 
ing. When all are fed, the ground is plowed and 
drilled to fodder corn. This is cut in August or early 
September and fed green. The two crops from the 
acre give the herd of 200 head all the roughage they 
need for seven days ! Of course this land must be 
heavily manured to grow such crops ! The rye makes 
fair feed until the heads begin to form, but the oats 
are much better. Winter oats would, of course, be 
much more suitable for such fodder cropping. These 
crops are grown close to the barn so that there are 
short hauls both for manure and crops. The barn is 
placed on the highest point so that all manure rides 
downhill. It is not impossible to use a portable 
trolley so that the manure can be slid down almost to 
the spot it is to fertilize. 
o 
The time to select a seed crop is at hand. It is 
easy to see the advantage of doing it now when the 
plant which produced the seed can be seen and com- 
paied. “ Seeds are plants packed for transportation,” 
each one having the brand of the plant that produced 
it. How much better to go to the field for our corn 
and potato seed than to wait till winter and select 
at random from the bin. Mr. W. W. Tracy gives the 
following illustration of the advantage of having an 
ideal seed and working for it: 
I know of an instance where a man sat down and wrote out a 
description of the ideal corn plant—the size of the stalk, the 
breadth of the leaves, the character of the husk, the ear, the 
grain. Then he went out to find it. He spent a whole day and 
found only a few ears which were up to the minimum excellence 
he decided he would accept. These were planted and carefully 
bred, with the result that, five years later, he was enabled to show 
12 plants in a continuous row, all of which werea 3 good as,or better 
than, the best of those it took him a day to pick out five years be¬ 
fore. Are our best animal breeders able to show any better or 
more reliable results of their work ? 
What is to prevent your doing that this fall ? Why not 
make up your mind just what you want in the way of 
corn, and then hunt through the field for plants and 
ears that come as near it as possible ? I)o it now— 
right away—that is if you really want to improve 
your corn. 
O 
Last spring Prof. Goff, of Wisconsin, gave us a 
simple test for quality in potatoes. In pure water 
potatoes will sink. That is because they contain 
starch and other solids which are heavier than water. 
The greater the proportion of starch, the heavier 
proportionately will the potato be. By adding salt 
to the water you change its specific gravity until it 
finally reaches a point where the potatoes will float 
instead of sink. Naturally, those with the least starch 
will float before those with a greater percentage of it. 
The salt test consists in putting average specimens of 
potatoes into pure water and gradually adding salt. 
As the salt is dissolved you will find that first one 
potato and then another begins to rise to the surface. 
Those that remain at the bottom longest will be found 
best for cooking. They contain more starch than the 
others, and bake or boil into a dry, or “ mealy” con¬ 
dition. We have been trying the salt test on the 
potatoes dug from that mulched plot described on 
page 582. Average tubers of Orphan, R. N.-Y. No. 2, 
and New Queen, well washed, were put in a pail of 
water together. Salt was gradually added and stirred 
in. New Queen first rose to the surface and floated. 
More salt brought R. N.-Y. No. 2 up, and still more 
caused Orphan to float. A cooking test showed that 
this separation was a fair one. Different specimens 
of the same variety showed varying percentages of 
starch, which may have been due to the fact that 
many of the tubers were unripe when dug. This 
salt test is an excellent indicator of quality in potatoes, 
but as Prof. Goff told us, it is not so useful in select¬ 
ing seed, as the proportion of starch is largely deter¬ 
mined by methods of culture. 
O 
During the past few years, the most interesting 
problem of agricultural science that has been brought 
home to farmers, is the fact that certain plants, like 
clover and peas, are “ self-fertilizing,” in the sense 
that they leave the ground richer than they found it. 
By their ability to obtain nitrogen from the air, these 
plants promise great gifts to agriculture by saving a 
large part of the money that is now paid for this 
costly element. Is this principle of obtaining cheap 
fertility to stop with these nitrogen-gathering plants? 
May it not be found that other plants, at present 
neglected, have under certain conditions, the power 
of securing large quantities of available potash and 
phosphoric acid from the soil itself ? The common 
ragweed, for example, contains an immense per cent 
of potash in its ash. Speaking somewhat in this line, 
Sir J. B. Lawes is reported to have said : 
Will the day come when seeds are sent out furnished with the 
appropriate organisms to supply the deficiency in our fields ? The 
last half century has seen the rise of artificial manures and their 
establishment upon a secure basis ; the next generation must 
take up a new line of inquiry, and what line is likely to lead to 
more important results, or to be more beneficial to the farmer, 
than an inquiry into the habits of the leguminous plants ? 
The immense interest taken in Crimson clover shows 
how eager the farmers are for any cheap, home-grown 
substitutes for manure or fertilizers. It also shows 
that farmers understand, more and more, that fields 
may be manured by the very crops that support the 
farm. 
BREVITIES. 
There was a picture at the great world’s fair; 
A simple scene called “ Breaking the Home Ties,” 
And day by day the people gathered there 
Spellbound, with husky throat and moistened eyes. 
A country boy, leaving the old home place, 
Stands in the kitchen for the last “ good bye.” 
Easy to read on his keen, eager face, 
How prospect dulls regret. With watchful eye, 
Grandmother sits; while, with both toil-worn hands 
Thrown on his shoulders, and her eyes aflame, 
With holy memories his mother stands, 
Looking the love her lips could never frame. 
It was heart-breaking—that sad, patient face, 
Sublimely beautiful—that mute appeal ! 
No wonder that it left a haunting trace 
On worldly hearts that long had worn a seal 
To shut out sentiment. Their ill-spent years 
Fell from them at that mother’s silent pain; 
And through the mist of long-neglected tears, 
The old home in the valley rose again. 
Last call on that vacation ! 
Don’t forget to name your farm. 
Start a small bank account for the baby. 
Let’s hear from the lime burners—page 586. 
Want to make that child deaf ? Box his ear ! 
Don’t make a “ cold ” storage room of your nose. 
Selfishness in the boss is magnified in the workman. 
There’s a big difference between “hands off” and “hands oft." 
If you your dairy stock would “ soil,” then be prepared for lots 
of toil. 
Keep away from the county fair, if the gamblers do all the 
counting. 
How the old cow would blush if she could see some of her milk 
when the dealers get done with it ! 
The R. N.-Y. can stand trials with great fortitude when they 
come in the form of trial subscriptions. 
The way to “save the manure” is to get the place it is to occupy 
water-tight—before the manure goes into it. 
The w-orst dice to gamble away your life’s chances with is 
prejudice. It kills reason and spoils justice. 
Do you notice that the men who cut their ensilage corn while 
green and watery have to feed more hay than those who let the 
stalks mature ? They do. 
Is it true that adding water to clover as it is put into the silo 
will aid in making good ensilage of it ? Who can tell anything 
definite about clover ensilage ? 
When a fruit or a man has a tender skin, you ruin their value 
by “ rubbing it in.” For that operation should only be tried on the 
man or the fruit with a tough, hard hide. 
Had all the potatoes in that mulched potato plot been R. N.-Y 
No. 2, the yield would have been at the rate of 466 bushels per 
acre. That is the variety for close planting. 
Rogues get into office in the cities and grant franchises to tele¬ 
phone or railroad companies who rob the people. Who gives the 
farm scrub a license to eat hay and grain without profit ? 
What lies “Preservaline” hath told, how it can save and steril¬ 
ize our milk from sourness or from flies—as well as neatness, 
heat or cold. It is a grand good thing, I hold, that folks see 
through such deviltries and know these lies are sterile lies. 
California fruit is being sold at auction in England and 
France. It is said that cases marked with women’s names bring 
the highest prices. The women fruit growers of California pack 
enough sentiment with their fruit to make John Bull part with 
extra cash ! That’s doing more than any man ever did ! 
At a recent meeting of Louisiana sugar planters, the fact was 
brought out that the prevailing custom formerly was to feed work 
mules only once a day—a large feed was given at evening, and 
the mules were expected to eat all night and work all day. That 
must have made business good for the mule breeders in Kentucky. 
