684 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 12 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PARER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1805. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Oolllngwood, Managing Editor. 
Joiin J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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able THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1895. 
We have been able to secure some interesting facts 
about making clover ensilage which we think will 
help those who prefer a silo to a hay mow. There are 
many such, and the number will increase. 
© 
“ Belligerent rights” or a fighting chance for 
Cuba. That’s all very well, but it would have been 
better for you this past summer if you had exerted 
yourself to secure a fighting chance for tuber. With 
weeds, bugs, blight, hard soil and lack of manure, 
many a potato crop was held down in a worse slavery 
than the Cubans ever knew. 
0 
It is said that phosphorus and sweet oil will cure 
corns. With this simple statement, one might rub 
the phosphorus of a lighted match over the corn, and 
apply the oil afterward. It might cure, but it would 
nearly kill, as well. Yet, is not that a fair statement 
of the way some excellent advice is put into practice ? 
Many a truth is killed in the application. 
©• 
At the Hale’s nursery, in Connecticut, the writer 
saw a new or improved blueberry bush, the fruit of 
which is remarkable for size, color and flavor. Thus 
far, efforts to propagate it rapidly have not been suc¬ 
cessful. Some of our leading botanists are experi¬ 
menting with it. If they succeed in perfecting an 
easy method, a real acquisition will be added to our 
list of fruits. 
O 
It will do any farmer good to follow his produce to 
market and see where it goes, who sells it, and how 
it is sold. A week in New York among the markets 
will be an education to any farmer. He will see how 
goods should be packed and shipped, what people do 
not want, and a host of other things. Above all, it 
will give him a chance to look at the men who do his 
selling for him. That ought to be worth a good deal 
to any man. 
O 
That’s a good educational exhibit they had at the 
Queens County Fair (page (579 and 680). There were 
plant diseases to be seen under the microscope, insects 
of all sorts to be examined and the complete machin¬ 
ery for fighting them. Above all, men were on hand 
to answer questions and explain the points that were 
hard to understand. That is a good thing for any 
fair. It was an excellent idea and might well be 
widely copied. 
© 
Years ago, men now living used to haul their crop 
of wheat by ox teams over miles of rough roads to 
market. We would like to take some of them on that 
peach train that runs down to Hartford every morn¬ 
ing from the Hale orchard. What a contrast ! What 
possibilities for the future ! As things are now devel¬ 
oping, it will be but a few years before Connecticut 
and southern Massachusetts will present a perfect 
net-work of light electric roads. The larger railroads 
are fighting this extension, but it is sure to come 
sooner or later, and if it comes in the right way the 
people will be better off for it. These roads must 
carry freight as well as passengers. That peach train 
is the first freight service we have heard of, but it 
shows what may be done in the future. That night 
train does not interfere in the least with passenger 
traffic. During the hours between 10 p. m. and 4 a. m., 
freight trains might be run up and down these coun¬ 
try roads taking produce from regular stations and 
hauling feed, fertilizer or what not back from the 
town. This would almost double the business of the 
roads, save time and money for farmers and facilitate 
business in every way. This is one of the changes 
that must come with time, and farmers within reach 
of electric lines should be prepared for the change. 
© 
The latest advertising scheme is gotten up by a 
medical company. Patriotic resolutions in favor of 
freedom in Cuba are sent out in the form of a blank 
petition and all who favor liberty are requested to 
sign them and forward to a certain address. Those 
who wish to show their hatred of Spanish rule sign 
the petitions and forward them as requested. They 
soon begin to receive big packages of circulars describ¬ 
ing various medicines. That’s all the liberty there is 
about it—liberty to scatter medicine literature at you. 
The whole thing is a shrewd scheme to obtain a list 
of good addresses. Don’t sign strange petitions. 
O 
Dr. IIalsted, of New Jersey, had a very interesting 
exhibit of potatoes at the Trenton Fair. The object 
was to show the effect of flowers of sulphur in check¬ 
ing or reducing potato scab. The results were strik¬ 
ing. Where the seed was rolled in sulphur, and a 
quantity of the substance was scattered in the drills, 
the potatoes were remarkably free and clean. Where 
sulphur was not used, they were badly scabbed. Dr. 
Halsted obtained much the same results with sulphur 
in preventing sweet potato rot. The It. N.-Y. tried 
sulphur carefully years ago, and found that it largely 
prevented scab and kept wireworms in check. 
O 
Here is our idea of a model letter. It was written 
in reply to a request for information of experience : 
Yours in reference to clover ensilage is at hand.' My answer 
to questions is, I do not know. Absence from home prevented an 
earlier reply. 
That is a model because the question is answered 
courteously and in a few words. Above all is the 
valuable fact that this man says right away, “I do 
not know ! ” He doesn’t attempt to say what might 
be, or what some one else thinks, but he says squarely, 
“ I do not know.” Needless to say, we do not regard 
this man as a “ hack ” writer. 
O 
Some of our older readers may well ponder the 
article by Mr. Pierce, on page 690. Why should a 
man sit dow n and fold his hands when his hair be¬ 
comes white ? The world is still full of needed work. 
There are waste places to be cleared, new industries 
to be started, young men to be encouraged, and hope¬ 
less ones to be started anew. Surely it is better for 
a man to keep on a light harness and continue to do 
his share of the world’s work than to “go to grass ” 
and loaf away the most thoughtful years of his life. The 
world needs just such work. It wants the thought and 
experience of these older men worked out into practi¬ 
cal example. What nobler monument can man ask for? 
© 
There is a chance for some dairyman near every 
town or city to build up a good trade in ice cream. 
We believe that it might be shipped from the farm to 
New York City with profit. Manufacturers here now 
supply all the trade for miles around. A careful 
dairyman can beat them out of sight in quality. If 
he can get ice cheaply, he can make more profit on 
ice cream than on plain cream or milk. In Phila¬ 
delphia, the surplus of the Farmers’ Creamery Com¬ 
pany is now made into ice cream, which gives a 
greater profit than butter making. There is nothing 
about ice cream that should make it such a luxury. 
It might be made cheaply enough to render it a hot 
weather necessity. There would be more profit in it 
than in three-cent milk. Here is a chance for some¬ 
body. 
© 
Reference has already been made in The R. N.-Y. 
to the efforts that have been made to stop the ship¬ 
ment of oleo to the West Indies under the brand of 
butter. A new development is the receipt here of 
several hundred cases marked butter, from Holland, in 
bond for Porto Rico. It is claimed that no recent 
shipments have been made to that port from this 
country, of either oleo or butter. The oleo men claim 
that this shipment referred to is really oleo, and that 
Holland is one of the foremost oleomargarine manu¬ 
facturing countries in the world, and that that coun¬ 
try is reaping the harvest that this country should 
have had. Which is all important—if true ! It is 
claimed that the people of those countries want cheap 
butter—cheaper than it is possible to manufacture— 
and that, hence, oleo should take its place. Some of 
the butter that comes to this market is certainly 
poor enough to please them, if cheapness is what they 
want. But that’s no excuse for selling them oleo 
labeled butter. By all means, if they want oleo, sell 
them oleo, but label it oleo, and don’t libel the honest 
dairymen by calling it butter. 
There are shoe dealers who believe that 1,000 men 
may be “ fitted ” with shoes made on the same last. 
Differences in instep, toe or heel do not matter—such 
men go by “ size ” of shoe—not by size of corn. There 
are barbers who know only one method of cutting 
hair. It means a neat head or a shoe-brush, accord¬ 
ing to the man. There are blacksmiths who have 
only one system of paring or rasping a horse’s hoof 
for the shoe. It works well on some hoofs and ill on 
others. Don’t patronize a one-system man if you can 
help it. 
O 
Another danger threatens the unsuspecting farmer 
in districts where the trolley roads and electric light 
wires have been extended. Numerous accidents have 
been reported, both to cattle and human beings, 
caused by broken electric wires crossing the wires of 
fences, or being carelessly left hanging where animals 
came in contact with them. City people are familiar 
with these things, and they are considered only as 
incidents of every-day life. But to the farmer unac¬ 
customed to such contingencies, they bring a new 
dread. But these and other catastrophes, are but 
the price we pay for these so-called improvements— 
these adjuncts of a higher civilization. Is man really 
happier in these days of electricity and steam, than 
he was in the days of ox carts and saddlebags ? 
© 
One of the most common Western economies is the 
practice of “ following” cattle at pasture with hogs. 
The cattle are usually fed grain. More or less of this 
is passed undigested. The hogs follow and eat this 
undigested grain. It is a simple economy, but a profit¬ 
able one. At the Iowa Experiment Station 20 steers 
were fattened and 41 hogs in two lots “followed” 
them. These hogs gave a profit of $136.59 on the 
undigested grain they picked up. At the East we 
often see great herds of highly grained dairy cows at 
pasture. We also see tons of manure containing 
plenty of undigested grain hauled out of the stable. 
Why not let Mr. Hog operate on that manure and pay 
your taxes for you ? We know one man who claims 
he paid for a manure shed by the extra pork made by 
this saving of feed. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
The evil one caught the mosquito 
And sharpened the end of his snout. 
Aud taught him to jump with his sharp force pump, 
Till he guzzled the red blood out. 
The evil one gave the mosquito 
An eye like a miniature sjiark 
And that’s why he can make nightmares for man — 
The rascal can see in the dark. 
The house fly came after mosquito. 
The evil one grinned in his sleeve 
“ With crawling and creep he’ll pulverize sleep ! 
I’ll give him night-eyes I believe !” 
Alas for such dastardly planning. 
The evil one’s musings were sad. 
His vile plans were beat oh ! For on the mosquito ! 
He’d used all the night-eyes he had. 
It’s well for the race it so happened 
To me it is patent and plain. 
If flies were nocturnal in habits diurnal 
We’d all become quickly insane. 
Faith without force is fated. 
Is your purse a pocket peace ? 
Who’s boss—you or the hired man V 
Don’t winter dead-head live stock. 
No one can make 2 wrongs spell right. 
How about cutting up sweet corn stalks—page 681 ? 
California papers talk of a “Winter Bartlett pear.” 
The heavy purse that drags the heart down with it, is a curse. 
Citrus fruits are mostly sour. So are the sit rust fruits of the 
lazy man. 
Three things for the poultry keeper to do well— breed, feed and 
take heed. 
A bilious liver and a cloudy day on a mortgaged farm mean 
“ the Blue and Gray.” 
If horses are so cheap surely you can now afford a bullet for 
the faithful old veteran. 
Here’s something we would preach and teach—potash and 
patience price the peach. 
The Chinese believe that the hard “ corns ” on the front legs of 
horses, enable them to see in the night. 
Do you believe in “Protection ?” You do ? Well then, protect 
the stock by closing those cracks in the barn. 
“ Largest, best in quality, longest keeping, and most beautiful ” 
apple. There’s a combination for you. Page 685. 
The house cat’s throat is said to be a fine storage place for 
diphtheria. When that disease abounds, keep the cat from the 
children. 
A friend writes that “hop grasses have been thicker than hope 
this past summer.” We trust that will not send hope to grass, 
however ! 
Your teeth were made to chew your food. When they lose their 
power as grinders, you must eat softer food or have dyspepsia. 
Suit your food to your teeth ! 
It is now proposed to make printers’ ink out of that waste 
Louisiana molasses. If the ink is used to spread the truth— 
good. If not—better feed the molasses to mules. 
The latest scheme is hair cutting by electricity. A comb con¬ 
nected with an electric wire is passed over the head, the heat 
singeing off the hair as uniformly as the cut of the shears. 
