6o4 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. September 7 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1895. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Coli.ingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1895. 
That was a cheap and simple way of planting peach 
trees—that spade planting in Georgia. We don’t know 
where else it could be done so easily, and don’t 
advise would-be peach growers to try it. 
© 
Please don’t forget to tell us what you are feeding 
hens, and how different grains seem to affect them. 
Tell us, also, whether the hens are confined or not. 
That makes a big difference in the ration ! 
o 
Lots of people are writing us to see whether they 
can buy or borrow a sample of the It. N.-Y. winter 
oats. We have none to sell or give away. Advertisers 
in Delaware and Virginia offer winter oats for sale, 
which might be tried in a small way. 
O 
Henry M. Arms, the first and only president of the 
National Dairj’nian’s Association, died suddenly in 
his carriage at Springfield, Vt., August 28. lie was 
noted as a farmer and dairyman, was a member of the 
Vermont Board of Agriculture, had been president of 
the Vermont Dairyman's Association, and had charge 
of the Vermont dairy exhibit at the Columbian Expo¬ 
sition. He was 55 years of age. 
o 
The idea seems to prevail over a very large portion 
of the country, that New York and vicinity can take 
and profitably dispose of an unlimited quantity of the 
country’s products, while local and often better mar¬ 
kets exist much nearer the grower. This idea works 
injury in a dozen ways. Not only is the individual 
shipper hurt when a glut of products is found in New 
York, but all who compete with him suffer. Often, 
too, when fruits or vegetables cannot be given away 
here, the consumers in the smaller places cannot buy 
what they want. 
Q 
Mr. Hale tells of a gang of young negro boys who 
were put at work hoeing nursery stock. They had for 
overseer an old ex-slave. One day Mr. Hale went to 
the field and found the old man following the boys 
with a big switch in his hand. “ What are you doing 
with the switch, Uncle?’ “Well, sar, when I sees 
one of dem boys bark a tree wid a hoe, I jes give him 
a switch ober de bare leg and says, ‘ When you hits 
Mr. Hale's tree, you hurt it wuss’n de switch on nig¬ 
ger’s leg. I reckon you be mo’ careful when you feel 
how bad dat tree hurt !’ ” There is a good deal in 
that. If the injury we do, in our blundering and 
carelessless, to plants and animals, could be brought 
right home to us sharply and quickly, farming would 
come a good deal nearer to “paying” than it does. 
© 
These scientists are enough to make life one long, 
severe nightmare with their investigations with 
“ptomaines.” A “ptomaine” appears to be a poison¬ 
ous substance formed in decomposition. Sometimes 
when milk sours under certain conditions, or vege¬ 
tables decay, these “ptomaines” are produced, causing 
sickness or death to those who eat the food. A whole 
picnic party is sometimes made sick by the “pto¬ 
maines” formed in ice cream. We know of one case 
where this poison came from a sour and filthy freezer 
which was not even washed before filling with the 
cream. “ Plenty of sugar and ice will kill the taste,” 
they said, but it not only killed the taste, but nearly 
killed the people as well. We started out to say that 
some scientific crank has found these deadly “pto¬ 
maines” in a mince pie ! It wouldn’t hurt our feel¬ 
ings at all if this dread information brought all pie 
eaters to a realizing sense of their danger. But what 
is to take the place of the pie ? Good, ripe fruit ! It 
is better and healthier in every way—besides the fruit 
eater serves his country by creating a market for the 
farmer’s products. 
o 
The New York State fair has been in full blast at 
Syracuse during the past week. The exhibits in the 
horticultural department were fine—probably the 
most complete in the historj’ - of the fair. The live 
stock and machinery exhibits were excellent, and 
very instructive. The managers made a great mis¬ 
take in admitting numerous side shows—many of them 
of very questionable character. Some of these were 
given the most prominent places on the grounds, and 
their “ attractions ” drew most of the crowd away 
from the legitimate exhibits. We shall give a report 
of some of the features of this fair next week. 
© 
Notice what Mr. Hale says about the condition of 
that old cotton plantation when he took it. There 
had been years of shallow plowing, so that the plant 
food down below the first few inches was as safe as 
money in a bank. Deep plowing and cultivation made 
it available for the peach trees. The man who sold 
the farm measured its fertility by the upper three 
inches. That was as far into it as he had investi¬ 
gated. He knew nothing of the wealth below that 
point. If he had, the farm would have been worth 
more to him, because it would have been made to earn 
more. Knowledge is money—not always—but it can 
be made to earn money. 
o 
The town of West Hartford, Conn., has 1? miles of 
macadamized roads laid 12 feet wide and 12 inches 
deep, and West Hartford has only a 10-mill tax ! This 
is a good record. The town has been bonded for 
$50,000 for this purpose, and the plan is to lay aside 
$1,500 annually as a sinking fund ; but this sinking 
fund is a tempting object, and needs a very plain 
sign stuck into it reading, “Hands off!” This 12- 
inch road has stood firm through frost, except in a 
few places where the drainage was deficient. West 
Hartford has clay in the hollows, but much of the 
land consists of rolling hills with a good gravel sub¬ 
stratum ; this counts, of course, in favor of durable 
stone roads. These roads have cost about $5,000 per 
mile. Part of the expense was defrayed by direct tax. 
o 
Secretary of Agriculture Morton, has closed 
all the special sugar experiment stations, and has 
had the property sold for what it would bring. It is 
said that one plant, which cost the Government 
$200,000, realized $3,000. All told, these stations have 
cost $500,000. Half of them were in Kansas, located 
in the days when it was claimed that sorghum would 
provide all the sugar needed by Americans. The two 
stations in Louisiana were very helpful to the 
sugar planters. It seems to us a mistake to close 
them. So long as we import 4,000,000,000 pounds of 
sugar per year, it seems to us well worth trying to 
develop our beet and cane sugar interests. The 
Louisiana planters claim that Secretary Morton has 
closed their stations chiefly because they have fought 
so hard to secure the bounty which they claim is due 
them, and which the present administration officials 
refuse to pay. 
O 
As though the ruinous competition of the bicycle 
and the electric motor were not enough to knock out 
the long-suffering horse, word now comes to us that 
a certain contractor, and ex-showman, is using an 
elephant in breaking up and moving the soil in mak¬ 
ing excavations, and is thus enabled to underbid 
others who use horses. It isn’t likely that elephants 
will ever come into general use in this country as 
draft animals, but one of them is equal to a number 
of horses where they can be used. Every year a great 
circus and menagerie exhibits in Madison Square 
Garden in this city, and the huge cages containing 
the animals, are quartered in the basement. From 
here to the street is a sharp incline, up which the 
cages are drawn when removed. Considerable force 
is needed for this work, and the huge elephants, 
which have been on exhibition for weeks, are utilized 
for this purpose. Taking their places behind the 
huge wagons, they place their flat heads against 
them, and push them easily up to the street. The 
otherwise waste force is thus utilized. 
© 
There was once a man who wished to start his boy 
off in life with a fair idea of what money represents. 
That boy was encouraged — not forced — to work. 
When he worked, he was paid for it, and he did what 
he liked with his money. One day, the boy saw a 
certain kind of shirt that he needed. He went with 
his mother and bought it, and on the way home he 
began to figure. Pretty soon he said : “ Mother, I 
know just how many steps there are in that shirt ! ” 
“ How many steps ? ” “ Yes ; I earned that money 
cultivating corn. I know how many steps there are 
in a row, how many rows I covered in an hour, and 
how many hours it took to earn money enough to 
buy the shirt.” Every time the boy wore that shirt, 
he remembered how many steps it represented. He 
was proud of them, and that idea taught him that 
money was nothing but the representative of labor. 
It didn’t take him long to see that to spend money 
foolishly, would be just as unwise as to work and 
get tired over some useless aD(! ridiculous labor. 
Would that we could all see it. 
© 
The rascals who adulterate milk in this city, are in 
a small panic just now. They cannot buy off the 
inspectors or judges as they did in former years, and 
when they are caught at their tricks, a fine and a jail¬ 
ing are pretty sure for them. Here is a sample ex¬ 
tract from a report of court proceedings. This 
Pakulsky claimed to have been seven years in the 
trade. He had added over one-third sltim-milk to his 
stuff : 
“I didn’t know the milk was skimmed,” said Pakulsky. 
“ I learned to tell skim-milk in one week,” said Justice Jerome, 
“ and you’ve been seven years in the business. That excuse won’t 
go. Buy a lactometer if vou haven’t got one. Your sentence is 
$50 fine and 10 days in the City Prison.” 
Dr. Lederle said that he found that the milk of the next prisoner, 
Joseph Altman of 1,225 Washington Avenue, was 17 per cent water 
and 21 per cent skim-milk. Altman pleaded guilty, adding, “I 
sold the milk as I bought it.” 
“ Oh, no, you didn’t,” said Justice Jerome. “ The man who sold 
you the milk is known to the Court as well as the kind of milk he 
sold. I think you added eight or nine per cent water as soon as 
you got the milk, and took good care that it was well skimmed. 
Fined $50 and 10 days in the City Prison.” 
There is no small rogue so mean as the one who spoils 
milk—the food of babies and invalids. Such a man 
deserves no mercy. We are glad to learn that the 
New York Board of Health will increase its force of 
milk inspectors, and push these scamps right into 
prison. In addition to that, they should be forced to 
live on the milk they sell. 
Q 
BREVITIES. 
Here is a story of Professor Blair, 
A learned crank whose hobby was fresh air ! 
He shuffled off to bed one winter night, 
His footsteps guided by a candle light. 
No time to waste, for sleep was at his head; 
Out goes the candle—but, when safe in bed, 
A sudden thought quite chills him with despair, 
He hadn’t raised a window for fresh air ! 
He knew he couldn’t sleep in that close room, 
So, out of bed and through the dismal gloom, 
He groped his way unto the window side, 
But it was glued or stuck or nailed or tied. 
He tugged and strained ; it would not move, alas ! 
He took his boot and smashed a pane of glass. 
Then back in bed in happiness he dreams, 
That pure, fresh air played over him in streams. 
But in the morning, how his feelings fall ! 
He hadn’t smashed the proper pane at all. 
For, in the dark, he had misjudged the place, 
And smashed the window in a big book case. 
But what hurt most was that, unconsciously, 
That boot had also smashed a theory. 
Farmer, take a rest. 
Spell right ! T-r-u-t-li ! 
Bait the ants—page 601. 
One daze makes a weak job. 
Pork and beans—fats and leans. 
Not -worth a scent—poor fertilizer. 
Roofing felt—a shingle well applied. 
A man with a miss shun — the bachelor. 
A good attack with Buhach will surprise the flies. 
Are you thanked or spanked by the hand of time ? 
The cider barrel works best when it’s “ bunged up.” 
A diary is all right if it doesn’t become too much of an I ary. 
There are 17 miles of avenues in that great Hale peach orchard. 
Quit paying tribute to Mr. Samuel Scrub, p. d.—(profit docker). 
What’s the sticking plaster for stable nitrogen ? Sulphate of 
lime. 
“ The Rural Knew Yorker” is the latest way we have been 
addressed. 
If you can’t say what you would like—“shame your words with 
nobler deeds.” 
That’s pole light ! said the rooster as the hen flew up to the 
ridge pole for a night’s rest. 
Don’t lose time thinking you are enough of a moral engineer to 
widen the “straight and narrow gate.” 
If the petunia will kill potato bugs (page 598) it has our vote 
for National flower. There’s utility for you. 
If we could divide the race into human have-beens, human 
going-to-bes and human beings , where would you rank ? 
You eat up horse flesh. Yes you do when you do unnecessary 
and bungling work with that team, You eat it up ! You pay 
for it. 
When some coward fellow “knuckles” when he ought to stand 
up straight, then the devil comes and buckles all his prospects 
fast to “ fate.” 
The latest dictionaries give “rocks” as a colloquial term ex 
pressing money. We might say with truth that the man who 
builds his house upon “rocks,” can’t stand much of a storm. 
The Government established an experiment station in Alaska 
for the purpose of breeding reindeer for the native Indians. The 
experiment has been almost ruined by fierce dogs that killed the 
reindeer whenever possible. The cur dog gets in his curse from 
pole to pole. 
