1895 
589 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE PROSPECT. 
Last year, in referring to the advantage of wrap¬ 
ping fine apples and quinces in paper, Mi’. E. C. Gil- 
lett stated that he thought the machines used at the 
South for wrapping oranges might he used for other 
fruits. Others claimed that machine wrapping was 
not practicable. The R. N.-Y. wanted the facts in the 
case, for this is a matter of some importance to apple 
growers. The following correspondence will, we 
think, prove interesting. The first letter is from Mr. 
Gillett to Mr. F. R. Osborn, a Florida orange grower : 
A discussion has arisen in one of our leading agricultural 
papers about orange-wrapping machines. It was started by my 
suggesting the use of them for wrapping fancy apples or peaches. 
The statement -was made that the machine was not practicable; 
that it requires so much attention and “ tinkering ” to keep it 
working that nothing is gained over hand wrapping. The editor 
of the paper wishes to get at the true inwardness of the matter 
from some one -who has operated one of them. My knowledge of 
the wrapper was derived wholly from seeing yours at work, in 
your packing house, in January, 1893. If you will kindly inform 
me what you think of the machine now, after your experience 
with it, how long you have used it, and where it can be ob¬ 
tained, cost, etc., and whether you think it would work success¬ 
fully with apples, peaches, pears and quinces, you will greatly 
oblige me, and confer a favor on several Northern fruit growers. 
Mr. Osborn’s letter follows : 
I have used the orange wrapping machines for the last three 
years. The first year the machines gave us considerable trouble; 
but changes were made in them to overcome the difficulties, and 
for the last two years the work has been entirely satisfactory, and 
much cheaper and better than hand work. Our machines wrap 
from 125 to 175 boxes of oranges per day for each machine, de¬ 
pending upon the size of the fruit. I run mine at a uniform speed, 
wrapping 50 oranges per minute, but they can be run as high as 
70 per minute. There is no doubt, whatever, that they can be 
used to wrap apples or peaches and do the work satisfactorily. 
The cost of labor of wrapping with the machines is less than one- 
fourth cent per box, while by hand it costs about three cents. 
A picture of the machine used by Mr. Osborn is shown 
at Fig. 184, which gives a general idea of the way it 
works. We think more and more of the advantage 
of wrapping choice fruit, and if it can be done by 
machinery, a vast saving in labor can be made. 
can be marketed without disturbing their roots. When 
the plant is knocked out of the pot, the ball of earth 
containing the roots may be wrapped in paper and 
thus kept moist enough to keep the plant fresh and 
green. This will be a convenience in serving local 
customers who might, even, be served with the lettuce 
growing in the pots. The R. N.-Y. will try this plan 
for house culture this year. 
O 
Last year a strong effort was made to introduce a 
new cattle food, called “ cotton-seed feed,” to North¬ 
ern dairymen. This feed is a mixture of one part 
cotton-seed meal to five parts of cotton hulls. It was 
extensively advertised, and, as we understand, quite 
a little of it was sold in small lots for experimenting. 
We advised our readers not to pay $15 per ton for it 
in spite of the fact that analysis seemed to give it 
quite a high feeding value. Cotton-seed meal used in 
moderate quantities and in proper combination, is a 
valuable stock food. Southern farmers often use the 
dry hulls to good advantage also, but we do not believe 
it will ever pay Northern farmers to pay freight and 
profit on them. That ground hay and grain men¬ 
tioned this week is a great deal cheaper and safer 
food. The Pennsylvania Experiment Station has 
given this “ cotton-seed meal ” a fair trial, and con¬ 
cludes that it is “ too expensive successfully to com¬ 
pete with the oi’dinary dairy foods of this section.” 
That is just what The R. N.-Y. claimed. 
AVOID THE FAIRS. 
It is now Fair time, and many farm papers are 
teeming with advice to the farmer to take his family 
and attend one or more of them, and above all, not to 
miss his county fair. 
“ It will be such a nice little outing for yourself 
and family,” says the oracular editor of a Western 
paper. “You will be rested, enlightened and en- 
Q 
Some years ago we had an account of the use of 
traction engines for hauling freight on the road and 
for plowing. The reports then were that on a few 
hard and level roads, in dry weather, these engines 
did fair work. We often see these engines running 
about at fairs, and we have wondered whether, beyond 
the work of hauling thrashing machines from place 
to place, they are of real service on the ordinary 
country road. The leading American manufacturers 
do not appear to be able to give a case where traction 
engines are practically useful for road work. The fol¬ 
lowing candid letter seems to state the case fairly : 
We do not recommend traction engines for either plowing or 
road purposes, and have never known a single engine to be used 
for either purpose any length of time with satisfactory results. 
Purchasers like them for the first year or two, and then they begin 
to find that they cost more than they come to. So far as our 
knowledge goes, there are no traction engines to-day in the United 
States used successfully for road work or for plowing. We con¬ 
sider our traction engine as good as, or better than, any other ; 
but we write any one who wants a traction for either road pur 
poses or plowing, that traction engines are not adapted to this 
sort of work. a. b. farquhar company, limited. 
The great interest now being taken in “ horseless” 
carriages in Europe, will most likely start some sort 
of a “boom” for steam freighting in this country. Of 
course there are many places where steam wagons for 
hauling freight would prove of immense benefit to 
farmers. It must be understood, however, that the 
country roads must be greatly improved before steam 
engines can do fair work on them. From every point 
of view the farmers are interested in better roads, 
w 
On page 541, we had something to say about “ out- 
of-season crops” to furnish winter work for some mem¬ 
ber of the farm family. In Bulletin 88 of the Geneva, 
N. Y., Experiment Station, there is described a new 
method of forcing lettuce in pots. A picture of a head 
forced in this way is shown on the first page. In this 
method, the seed is sown in boxes about 10x12 inches, 
and three inches deep. When about two inches high, 
the plants are transplanted to two-inch pots. These 
pots are then put in the benches or boxes of the glass 
house, so that the tops of the pots are covered with 
about half an inch of soil. A good potting soil is 
made of three parts of good loam, one of manure and 
one of sand. The benches are usually about six inches 
deep—the lower three inches being filled with well- 
rotted manure. The pots are usually set about 10 
inches apart each way. The roots soon fill the pots 
and grow out into the soil of the bench through the 
drainage hole. As they are buried in the soil, the 
little pots do not dry out as rapidly as they do when 
exposed to the air. The plants appear to make a more 
compact growth, and to head quicker than they do 
when grown in beds where the root system is 
unchecked. The plants, in this method, are trans¬ 
planted only once—into the pots—and thus save the 
check in growth that comes from a second transplant¬ 
ing. One advantage of this system is that the plants 
AN ORANGE WRAPPING MACHINE. Fig. 184. 
couraged to better work in the future. By all means 
attend, the fairs.” 
I would advise the farmer to do nothing of the kind. 
In this matter I would advise him to look, and look 
carefully, before he leaps. If your county fair is an 
agricultural fair, conducted for and in the interest of 
farmers, then by all means attend it, with your whole 
family, if possible. But if it is managed by, for, and 
in the interest of horse-racers and gamblers, by all 
means stay away from it. If you value the morals of 
your family, don’t take it to a gathering of gamblers 
and thieves. 
At a real agricultural fair there is much to be seen, 
much to be learned, and a real good, pleasant time to 
be had. Farmers can both see and hear much that is, 
to them, intensely interesting and instructive ; and 
they can profitably, very profitably, go into camp with 
neighbors and friends on or near the fair grounds and 
remain three or four days. If the fair be properly 
managed and policed they will not be molested in any 
manner, while they can enjoy a regular little jollifi¬ 
cation picnic among themselves, and with friends and 
relatives from distant points whom they do not have 
the pleasure of meeting very often, Such an occasion 
is an ideal one for the farmer and his family, one to 
be looked forward to with delight, and to be remem¬ 
bered ever after with genuine pleasure. 
G 
But if the fair be managed by horse racers, and rac¬ 
ing and gambling are the chief attractions, w'ith snide 
sideshows, wheels of fortune and other swindling de¬ 
vices to rob the young and gullible, how different. 
The farmer is excited by the loud-mouthed gamblers 
and lured into betting on the horses, and, of course, 
loses his money ; then he wishes he had never heard 
of the fair. Ilis children squander every penny they 
have on the devices promising great things for a little, 
and a spirit of gambling is inculcated in their sus¬ 
ceptible minds which will require years of watchful 
training to eradicate. At such a place three-fourths 
of the conversation to be heard is connected with bet¬ 
ting. What a place to take an innocent child ! 
G 
I was once exhibiting an improved farm implement 
at a so-called agricultural fair in one of the largest 
and best counties in this State, and several times took 
occasion to walk about the grounds to see what was 
going on. In one place I found a wheel of fortune in 
full blast, with an army of gulls about it. In other 
prominent spots, chuck-luck and other similar games 
were working goodly numbers, while the race track 
seemed to be the center of attraction for thousands. 
All through the fair betting and gambling were 
rampant. 
Once, while leaning against the “ grand stand” tak¬ 
ing a few observations, I noticed about six feet from 
me, a young farmer with his wife and baby beside 
him. Their dress and general appearance plainly 
indicated that they were in very moderate circum¬ 
stances. In a short time the betting fever overcame 
theii prudence, and hey invested $10 on one of the 
horses. I could plainly see that they did it with fear 
and trembling, so I remained to see the outcome. 
Their horse lost, of course, as he was one of those 
most prominently mentioned as a “sure w’inner.” 
The young man's face turned red and then white, 
while tears gathered in the young wife’s eyes. 
Neither glanced at the other, but after a few minutes 
silence, he took the baby in his arms, and she follow¬ 
ing, they slowly wended their way out of the crowd 
and toward the exit gate. 
I advise every farmer to stay away from such sinks 
of iniquity. Shun them as you would a pestilence ! 
There are places to go for an outing that are clean 
and pleasant, and the expense is no greater than at 
many of the so-called fairs. Seek them out and go. 
Spend a week in the nearest great city some time dur¬ 
ing the winter, and you will consider it a week well 
spent. 
Every farmer who owns his farm should be able to 
take a yearly outing of two or three weeks. If it is 
taken in summer he should carefully avoid the crowd, 
heat, dust and discomfort of picnics and other great 
gatherings. Seek out the quiet and cool places and 
rest and recuperate. A trip to the cool north by lake 
or river steamer is sublime ! fred grundy. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Folding crates will save space and expense of transportation. 
The manufacturer prepays freight to purchaser. Cummer Mfg. 
Co., Cadillac, Mich., will tell you all about them. 
If you have been breeding scrub sheep, just drop a line to J. E. 
Wing, Mechanicsburg, O., and ask about his Dorset ram lambs. 
The beauty of blood in a ram is that you get It in all lambs from 
native sheep next season. 
The Whiting Nursery Company, Roxbury, Mass., have a descrip¬ 
tive price list of plum, pear and peach trees that they will send 
yon in reply to a postal card request. They also have a large 
stock of asparagus plants. 
If you want a fence for any purpose whatever, the De Kalb 
Fence Co., 17 High Street, De Kalb, 111., will send you free, a cata¬ 
logue that will describe it. You are pretty sure to see something 
in their catalogue that you need. 
A New Jersey friend sends the following P. S. to his letter : 
“ Tell J. W. Newton and others who farm without a hired man, 
that the Farmer’s Handy wagon is as good as an extra man. We 
use it, and wouldn’t care to farm without it.” He’s right 1 
We learn that Mr. W. A. Bassette, Farmer, N. Y., has one of the 
best Hampshire sires in the country. His weight at birth was 17 
pounds, and he is now a very large sheep. Mr. Bassette has 
selected his breeding ewes from the Metcalf ilock, and the rams 
that he is now offering from this blood, must be just the stock 
many farmers want to cross on their native stock. 
A long, rapid stroke, and no springs or cog gearings, are super¬ 
ior and exclusive features of the Star drilling machine. From 
all the information that we can gather, we believe that this 
machine has no superior, and has many advantages over other 
drills. Aside from the design of the machine, the material used 
is first-class in every particular, which is a desirable feature in a 
machine of this kind. Send to the Star Mfg. Co., Akron, O., for 
illustrated catalogue. 
The R. N.-Y. has fought the “Creamery Shark” at all stages of 
the game. We object to him because he is a fraud and a scamp— 
promising all sorts of big things which he doesn’t expect, half the 
time, to carry out. Who, then, is honest in the dairy supply busi¬ 
ness? To this we reply that we believe the Vermont Farm 
Machine Company, of Bellows Falls, Vt., is conducted by honor¬ 
able business men who deserve a share of your patronage because 
they offer first-class goods for your money. If you need tools for 
handling milk, butter or cheese, we advise you to write for their 
catalogue. 
The manufacturers of the Buckeye grain drill fit their machines 
with a device for distributing and changing the quantity of seed 
sown to the acre. The feeders on the grain hopper are made on 
the “ double run ” principle for sowing large and small grain. 
The side of the feed cup used for sowing oats, barley and other 
coarse grain, has a larger throat and greater distributing capacity 
than the other side, which is used for sowing wheat, rye and 
other small grain. This is a positive force feed, and will handle 
all kinds of grain successfully. The quantity of seed to be sown 
to the acre is regulated by changing the speed of the grain feed. 
Better send to P. P. Mast <& Co., Springfield, O., and get a cata¬ 
logue that fully describes and illustrates this device and other 
features of the drill. 
