636 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 21 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
Joiin J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10J4 francs. 
ADVERTISING KATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly orders 
of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.," 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price Only. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
office and State, and what the remittance is for, appear in every 
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 , SEPTEMBER 21, 1895. 
Read the statement made on- page 640 about the 
present subscription contest. You will see that the 
regular agents are not yet fully awake. Thus far, 
we have about 6,000 new names. These have come in 
small clubs. They represent the neighbors and friends 
of our best readers. We like this, because it is a prac¬ 
tical illustration of the fact that The R. N.-Y. pleases 
its readers. These names are sent by busy people who 
can seldom afford time for outside work. We appre¬ 
ciate the work done by these friends, but really ex¬ 
pected more names on the short-term offer, because 
we thought the agents would take hold of it. Still 
there is fully a week left yet, and the number of 
names received to date can easily be doubled, if each 
one who appreciates the paper himself, would make 
an effort to send at least one name. The leader for 
the $50 prize, has sent us, as yet, only $11.55 for 77 sub¬ 
scriptions for the rest of the year. At least 1,000 
people have written us during the past year, that 
they would willingly pay $2 a year for The R. N.-Y 
Some of these have expressed their appreciation by 
sending in a club. Why not all do it? 
G 
It is a singular thing that, while the Louisiana 
sugar planters are pouring their waste molasses into 
the ponds and streams to get rid of it, 2,804,554 gal¬ 
lons were imported last year from foreign countries ! 
It is made into rum. This molasses was put on the 
free list of the last tariff law to accommodate a dis¬ 
tilling company. There’s pure politics for you ! 
G 
Three weeks ago, we described the new plan of 
grinding hay and grain together for horse feed. Since 
then several farmers have informed us that they use 
this feed with success. The ground hay is very satis¬ 
factory, and often enables a farmer to sell his long 
hay for enough to buy equal weights of ground hay 
and grain. That is like getting a present of the grain. 
G 
Not long since we saw a New England farmer 
plowing. His fields were small and surrounded by 
big stone walls. His team barely got started before 
they were stopped by a big wall that marked a wide 
lane or street running through the farm. At least 15 
per cent of time and force were wasted in turning. 
Now that man is suffering from the “ curse of Wall 
Street” if ever a man was. Oh, if his ancestors had 
only been Dutchmen and used those stones to make 
farm buildings! 
a 
The R. N.-Y. agent at the Williams Grove farmers’ 
meeting lost a book in which were the names of 11 
persons who had subscribed for The R. N.-Y., and 
which he had not reported to us. These people paid 
their money, and we now desire to fill their orders, 
but cannot do so until we find that book. We will pay 
$1 to any one who will forward it. Of course the 
moment these parties complain of not receiving their 
papers, we shall have their addresses ; but we don’t 
like complaints, and want to cover this unfortunate 
loss as soon as possible. 
G 
Farmers are not the only ones who suffer from 
droughts. It is said that the past dry season has so 
reduced the demand for rubber shoes, that many fac¬ 
tories have been obliged, either to reduce their work¬ 
ing force, or to suspend operations altogether. Many 
of the operatives in these goods are out of employ¬ 
ment temporarily, and are probably as fervently pray¬ 
ing for rain as the drought-stricken farmer. Thus we 
see that the farmer is not the only one whose prosper¬ 
ity, bread and butter, even, depend upon the varying 
seasons and the fickle weather. 
G 
Prof. Phelps (page 631), makes a strong point out 
of that dairy test at the Bay State Fair. The premium 
was offered for the cow that could get the most but¬ 
ter fat out of her food. It was not for the men who 
could churn most of this fat into the form of butter— 
yet the premium was really awarded to such a person. 
The cow was not “in it”—though her butter fat was. 
What is the ob-ject of such tests ? To select the. best 
butter cows for future breeding. To breed cows on 
the basis of some man’s proficiency with a churn, is a 
poor way to develop future dairy animals. 
O 
For several years past, The R. N.-Y. has kept track 
of that fine hay field which Mr. Geo. M. Clark of Con¬ 
necticut rescued from an old swamp. We hoped to 
see the hay cut this year, but were prevented by cir¬ 
cumstances. On page 631 Mr. Clark tells us what he 
has learned from this grass culture. It is but fair to 
say that the tool which has done such good service is 
the Cutaway revolving plow. We believe this old 
swamp to be about the best hay field in the country. 
Many sections of this country are dotted with such 
swamps. For centuries they have received the drain¬ 
ings of the surrounding hills. Their very richness 
has made them sour and useless. Once drained and 
limed they will make the best hay fields on the farm. 
They provide moisture for the grass, and still receive 
the fertility that is washed from the hills. There’s 
gold in your swamp. “Let me dig it out!”—is the 
first epistle from Timothy hay. 
O 
A certain road in a New Jersey township was 
noted for its bad condition. It was dust, mud or 
frozen ruts, according as the season changed. People 
living off the road always spoke disparagingly of the 
neighborhood, because it was so inaccessible. The 
road question became a vital issue, and finally, after 
much debate, the township decided to raise the neces¬ 
sary money by bonding, and put the main roads in 
good repair. This road was carefully Macadamized. 
The writer rode over it the other day for the first 
time since its improvement; one could hardly imagine 
a greater change in travel. Instead of the great 
bumps and stretches of sand and stones, was a smooth, 
hard roadbed, over which the carriage easily rolled. 
It was a striking contrast to one who remembered the 
inconvenience of the old road. 
G 
There was something besides convenience about 
it, too—an added money value. “ Why,” said one 
man, “1 am eight minutes nearer the station than I was 
last year. With the same horse and the same distance 
to go, I can save that time, because now I can safely 
trot at good speed all the way.” Farmers living on 
the road mostly haul their produce by wagon to New 
York. Over the new road they can haul as much 
with two horses as they could with three on the old 
one. In fact, there is easily a saving of from 30 to 50 
per cent in time or force in all road trafiic. Nor is 
that all. Where in former times, one bicycle or car¬ 
riage went through the neighborhood, there are now 
at least half a dozen. The place is becoming adver¬ 
tised. It is easier of access, and outsiders begin to 
understand and appreciate its advantages. The result 
is sure to be in a few years, an increase in the value 
of property along this road. No wonder one man 
said with great earnestness, “ If we had only done 
this thing 20 years ago, how much better off we all 
would be now !” There is no use talking, a smooth, 
hard road is the best investment any country town¬ 
ship can make. It is the greatest civilizing business 
agent of the day. 
G 
Mr. Cottrell, of Ellerslie Farm, has some original 
ideas about the care of dairy cattle. He says that, if 
he were to run a barn full of cows for the best profit, 
he would keep them in a one-story barn or shed in 
roomy box stalls. The heifers would be put into the 
stall with their first calves, and, if they proved useful, 
would never be taken out till they were 15 years old 
—or too old to milk profitably. Of course, there 
would be improved devices for bringing in food and 
water and taking out the manure. The hay, ensilage 
and grain would all be kept in another building, but 
the cows would never leave the stalls till they left for 
good. This plan will not meet the approval of dairy¬ 
men who believe in plenty of outdoor exercise for 
cattle ; still it is the plan of a practical man of long 
experience in feeding. 
G 
Mr. Hale is enthusiastic over the prospects of Japan 
plum culture at the South. In southern Mississippi 
already this beautiful fruit makes a profitable market 
crop. There is every prospect that within a few years 
these Southern plums will be found on every Northern 
fruit stand. California cannot compete with the 
South in this industry. But who is to eat all this 
fruit ? “ The working people of the North,” says Mr. 
Hale. But most of them eat all they can now—how 
are they to find room for these plums? “They will 
eat less pie and cake and other ‘ knickknacks’ and 
learn to live on fresh fruit!” That will be a national 
blessing if it be brought about. It will upset some of 
our scientific theories to learn that fresh fruit can 
take the place of meat in a “balanced ration” for 
summer ; but we can stand such an upset— if we can 
sell the fruit ! 
O 
We get some good facts about the work of a wind¬ 
mill this week—on page 630. Mr. Engle, of Kansas, 
who describes his mill, adds the following “suggestive 
theory” to his experience : 
Unless a man understands how to handle machinery, he will, 
no doubt, be disappointed if he expect near full work from a 
mill. If a man must be with his team in the field, it will not pay 
to tinker much with a sheller and grinder, providing he has no 
good building in which to operate his machinery. One great ad¬ 
vantage in my arrangement was, that in rough, cold and stormy 
weather, I could shell and grind, or could give the hands work. I 
could sometimes make 50 to 100 bushels of ground feed when we 
could not work at anything else. I often wished for more power, 
but on the whole I think we did well. 
Mr. E. writes of what he used to do, because last fall 
all his buildings were destroyed by fire. His experi¬ 
ence certainly gives us an idea of the wasted force 
that is blowing over our farms. 
G 
Many acres of Crimson clover have been seeded this 
summer. The dry weather has kept much of it back; 
yet where there has been sufficient moisture, the 
clover is generally promising. Our own small plots 
are thriving well. Mr. A. I. Root, of northern Ohio, 
sends this note about his clover experience : 
In regard to Crimson clover, my experience a year ago was 
mostly a failure ; first, because I didn’t sow it early enough, and, 
second, because of the severe winter. I now have it, however, 
growing finely in all stages, some of it almost a foot high, and I 
feel sure that it will winter if any clover will. A near neighbor 
has just given me a pointer that we had not known before. He 
sowed Crimson clover last season in August, in fields of Red and 
Alsike, where the stand was poor, and the protection given it by 
the other clovers seemed to enable it to stand the winter. The re¬ 
sult was that he had a fine show of bloom mixed in with the Red 
and Alsike but, of course, a little ahead of the others. I am try¬ 
ing this quite extensively, and to help make it a success, have 
scattered with the manure spreader fine manure all through just 
after sowing the Crimson clover seed. With the recent abundant 
rains, it is looking just grand, but I didn’t get hold of this plan 
until along the last of August. 
One is likely to learn a good deal about the habits of 
this clover as he goes along with it. 
G 
BREVITIES. 
Dunraven’s Valkyrie came over the sea, 
Blown stoutly by winds from the far British Isle, 
To measure her pace with the Yankee and see 
If fortune for once on her sails would not smile. 
For over and over has Johnny Bull come 
To carry the trophy away from our land, 
And over and over he’s sailed away home, 
And left the cup still in Columbia’s hand. 
Now old Uncle Sam, at the nation’s appeal, 
Sat down with his jackknife and whittled his boat, 
Defender! She showed to Valkyrie her heel, 
The daintiest, speediest racer afloat. 
Hurrah for Defender ! Sail back o’er the sea, 
Dunraven, and build a new yacht if you will, 
Yet Old Uncle Sam. with his jackknife, will be 
A match evermore for your best British skill. 
Pen us that pent up thought. 
Be pure! Endure—sure cure! 
It takes know to say no right! 
The selfish man is rich in means. 
Push the potted strawberry plants. 
Millet and potatoes in the same field—page 632. 
“ After you with a sharp stick”—the mosquito. 
Aerate your ideas, even though they are not rated A. 
Some “strains” of Jerseys have been strained too hard! 
Don’t run your work under a full head of (self es) team. 
Don’t try to “mold public opinion” with moldy old ideas. 
A list of popcorn varieties might be called a pop you list. 
“Primer Science” article on greenhouse construction—page 633. 
They need more scrubs at the New York State Fair—scrub 
brushes. 
Did dishorning injure that cow—page 643 1 Who can add any 
real experience ? 
Trouble has often caught those who fought a thought fraught 
with the trouble they sought to have taught. 
Here’s some good advice from Dr. Hoskins. “ Advise all fruit 
growers to buy Thomas’s American Fruit Culturist —and study it.” 
Insect Life— the entomological publication of the Department 
of Agriculture—is to be discontinued “for administrative rea¬ 
sons,” whatever that means. 
We want to tell now that there is fertility in frost. No, not 
exactly that—but frost frees fertility. You must do your share 
by plowing the sod up straight, late in the fall. 
You will notice that Japan plums reach the market in poor 
shape unless they are wrapped in paper. Same with lots of your 
ideas. Wrap them in paper—and ink. The R. N.-Y. is a good 
package for them. 
Three parts fine bone to one part muriate of potash, will make 
a tiptop mixture for grass. For Timothy, we would add to that 
at least 250 pounds nitrate of soda—applied in the spring. For 
clover, do not use the nitrate. 
