796 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 30 
TEE 
Rural New-Yorker. 
TEE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1895. 
Elbebt S. Cabman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Hebbebt W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. (id., or 8*4 marks, or 1014 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
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 Pbice 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 4,0 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 30, 1895. 
Attention is called to the cash offers for subscrip¬ 
tion work on page 800. The November clubs are still 
very small and two days of good, energetic work 
would land one of them. 
© 
Who can tell us about the use of oil stoves in heat¬ 
ing henhouses ? We want facts about it. If it pays 
to heat the air surrounding a rose on a green bush, 
won’t it also pay to put some heat around the rose on 
the comb of a Leghorn ? We have a general opinion 
about it, but we want some of our readers to rub the 
general into something specific. 
O 
That question on page 803, will give Jersey and 
Guernsey breeders a chance to have it out in a fair 
discussion. Here is a man with a farm carrying 15 
cows. He is sick of scrubs, and doesn’t want beef. 
Now, what bull for that herd ? Jersey or Guernsey 
—which ? Fire away at that target, ye butter breed¬ 
ers, and show us why you have packed your faith 
inside a Jersey or Guernsey hide. 
09 
$ 5.00 $ 5.00 
A prize of $5.00 will be given for a drawing and 
description of the 
MOST USEFUL PORTABLE FENCE. 
The need of a good portable fence is urgent on many 
farms. Our readers want one that is cheap, light, 
strong and easily moved. On January 1, 1896, a five- 
dollar bill will be given the one who gives us a 
clear description of the poi’table fence best covering 
the points mentioned above ! 
© 
That is a very interesting experiment with ensilage 
described on page 791. Some years ago, Mr. Henry 
Talc'btt of Ohio told us about much the same thing, 
viz., cutting the stalks into the silo after the corn had 
been shocked and husked in the field. The difference 
in this case is that the cuttings were carried over 
four weeks, the obiect being to take advantage of 
“odd spells” for this work. As our correspondent 
says, if this experiment succeed, the silo will prove 
more useful than ever, and there will be an added 
value to the corn crop. Thus it is that thought and 
practice continue to give new values to improvements 
that seemed well nigh perfect when first thought of. 
O 
How about the old farm horse ? What is due it, 
anyway ? Some good farmers say that they never let 
a horse get old on their hands. W hen it becomes 10 
or 12 years of age, it is sold or traded for a younger 
animal. But that is only shifting responsibility. The 
best has been got out of the servant, and before at¬ 
tachment becomes too great, it is passed on to hands 
that are often ungentle. Others keep a horse as long 
as it is capable of doing a fair day’s work, and then 
sell for a trifle to those who cannot afford to own a 
good animal. Very often the horse is poorly fed and 
hard worked in its last days. Still another class be¬ 
lieve in keeping an old horse till it dies, and then 
take great pride in the fact, even though they fail to 
provide water, suitable feed and shelter as carefully 
as when it was more profitable. Then come the class 
that believe that the righteous and humane way is to 
give the best care so long as the horse is profitable, 
and then use chloroform and end its days. Lastly 
stand that rather small company of men who give 
honest care to the old horse till he dies, ministering 
to its wants as conscientiously as when there was 
hard cash in making the animal comfortable. Senti¬ 
ment may lead some to say that the last class only 
are right; but is this true ? What is the best course, 
and what is the worst ? We know that in some 
neighborhoods the man who refuses to sell his old 
horses, but chloroforms and kills them, is held to be 
brutal—a far worse man than his neighbors who sell 
or give them away. What are the rights in equity 
of the horse that becomes old in your service? 
© 
Last spring, we told of a Pennsylvania man who 
planted Carman potatoes by “the skin of their seed.” 
The hired girl saw 10 nice potatoes, and cooked them 
for dinner, not knowing that they were a new and 
high-priced variety reserved for seed. Not to be 
thwarted, the owner hunted up the skins and planted 
them. This is his report: 
The skins from the 10 medium-sized Carman No. 1 potatoes, that 
the maid of all work left last spring when she gathered in my 
choice seed, planted a drill 40 feet long, and produced l l / t bushel 
of as nice potatoes as I ever raised. 
The difference between making the best of a very bad 
job and giving it up, was 90 pounds of good seed. 
There always is a difference between the results from 
these two courses ; but sometimes it is not so large. 
O 
Some of the milk dealers recently convicted and 
fined in this city for watering their milk, contended 
that they sold the milk just as it came from the cars 
which brought it from the farms. Their protestations 
of innocence were not believed, but it now appears as 
though some of them, at least, were not so guilty as 
they were adjudged to be. Of course, if they sold 
watered milk, they were technically guilty ; but still 
not so guilty as though they had themselves watered 
it. The entire crew of a milk train has just been 
arrested for abstracting milk from the cans in their 
charge, and replacing it with water. They have 
been doing this for some time, and also taking off the 
cream from the milk ; so that the mystery of some of 
the watered milk is likely to be cleared up. 
O 
J. H. Hale has spent some of the proceeds from 
“A Georgia Peach” in a system for irrigating his 
Connecticut farm. He has tapped a brook at the 
upper end of the farm, and carried the water by means 
of its own weight through a mile of pipe, so that 50 
acres of rough land can be fully watered. There is no 
pump or reservoir about it, though both can be used 
if found necessary. It is a very ingenious and valu¬ 
able plan of operation. We shall tell all about it 
later on. Mr. Hale says that there are 10,000 places 
in Connecticut where the same thing may be done. 
He also says that the water in the brooks and rivers 
of Connecticut, will be worth more when applied to 
the farms than it now is for manufacturing. The 
beauty of it is that when used for irrigation, it will 
not be lost, but will soak through the soil into the 
streams again, and still turn the mill wheels. He also 
says that the neglected swamps and low places are 
worth more than the uplands. Let them be drained 
and sweetened—and how they will feed good plants ! 
©. 
The present administration has done its best to 
kill off the demand for free delivery of mail in rural 
districts. It has not succeeded. There is more de¬ 
mand than ever for it. It is getting to be an organ¬ 
ized demand, too. The more the proposition is 
thought over and studied, the more sensible does it 
seem that farmers should, at least, have their share 
of Uncle Sam’s consideration. The postal authorities 
can’t do too much to facilitate the mailing business 
in cities ; but it seems that the countryman must 
help himself. A city merchant with ordinarily active 
brains, ought to see that his business will be helped 
when postal rates and mailage facilities are so im¬ 
proved that country people can deal directly with 
them. Maj’be the merchant is in business to keep 
alive a lot of middlemen and express agents! He 
acts that way when he opposes such changes in pos¬ 
tal rates and service as would bring country custo¬ 
mers right to his post office box. Keep up the call 
for free rural delivery. 
© 
When the McKinley Bill was passed, giving a 
bounty to producers of American-grown sugar, a 
number of beet-sugar factories in Nebraska began a 
successful business. It was successful in different 
ways—one being that beet-growing provided a new 
and profitable crop for farmers. When the bounty 
was removed, the State of Nebraska voted a State 
bounty in its place, and the factories are still prosper¬ 
ing. Now a new trouble is reported. The Sugar 
Trust has always opposed any increase in the produc¬ 
tion of beet sugar. Its business is in refining im¬ 
ported sugars. The report is that the Trust has noti¬ 
fied the dealers in Nebraska that if they buy the 
home-grown beet sugar, they need not expect to buy 
cheaper grades of sugar from the Trust. In other 
words, they must ignore the home producers entirely, 
or have their supplies of cheaper grades cut off. It 
is a direct attempt to destroy the local trade of the 
beet-sugar factories. One may well ask, Who owns 
this country anyway? The people of Nebraska 
should stand by their local factories, and demand 
“ Nebraska sugar.” That is a patriotic duty at such 
a time. 
Q 
From a sentimental point of view, every real Ameri¬ 
can would like to see Cuba succeed in her struggle 
with Spain. Spanish rule has been a failure. The 
people have been crushed and degraded, and where 
developed at all, the rich natural resources of the 
island have been utilized chiefly to aid in paying 
Spain's bad debts and maintaining a shiftless Spanish 
aristocracy. We have no use on this side of the water 
for any such crippled civilization, and on general 
principles the American people sympathize with all 
who honestly attempt to upset it. But there is a more 
practical side to the matter, viz., the difference in 
trade relations that would exist between this country 
and Cuba in case of the latter’s independence. The 
Spanish tariff laws are very strict, and, as they affect 
Cuba, were framed for the express purpose of forcing 
her to buy Spanish goods. While this country can 
supply flour, provisions and many other goods cheaper 
than Spain, that country, so long as iticontrols Cuba, 
can shut out our trade, and force her own articles 
upon the Cubans. In case of Cuban independence, all 
this would be changed, and a new market would be 
at once opened on the island. Most of this trade 
would be in the products of the farm. We need a new 
market of this sort. There is no sound reason why 
Spain should continue to rule Cuba. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
That ’ere Carman No. 3 is a tater, I’ll agree, 
That has gut a heap o’ grit an’ “ stay with ’em ” packed in it. 
All last summer was so dry, Natur’ couldn’t even cry; 
Lots o’ them high-toned pertaters, set themselves down second- 
raters ; 
Lost their grip an’ lied to wilt, but that Carman wasn’t built 
Out of no such stuff; it breshed holes out for its roots and freshed 
Up them great big leaves and growed--how that hot wind blowed 
and blowed; 
Growed and growed all through the drought—frost alone could 
knock it out. 
I ain’t quit to Agger yet—ef the season lied been wet, 
What thet ’tater would a-done—all I know is I ain’t one 
Of them fellers thet’s so thick in the head that they can’t stick 
To a fact. Thet No. 3 ’tater’s good enough fer me ! 
Filled cheese must be killed. 
Make your note book a know it book. 
Leabnkd from a boyish boy—page 794. 
Obganize faith, hope and courage into a Trust. 
“• The silent burden of debt” is a dumb weighter. 
How do you deflne a good thought. Put it in coarse slang. 
“ All work and no play makes Jack ”—a made of all work ! 
Be “ on deck ” at all times between January 1 and December 31. 
A common sense article on building a lettuce house—pages 789 
and 790. 
Blue grass makes yellow milk. Yellows in peaches make a 
blue man. 
Read “ Child Help on the Farm ’’—page 790. It’s sound in 
sentiment. 
It’s astonishing to see how many dairymen have gone into the 
ice cream business. 
How many cans of home-grown fruit in your cellar ? Ought to 
be one for each winter day ! 
Who plans his moral conduct by his nerves, will And his lines 
of right and reason—curves. 
Why does a strawberry plant need a winter overcoat ? How do 
you cut and trim it ? See page 790. 
The worst of the dairy business is the Sunday work. Delivery 
can be avoided, but not the milking. 
Fob every wormy apple that was eaten by the sheep, at least a 
dozen hateful worms will never make a creep. 
We trust that no dyspepsia in your system now is lurky to mind 
you that you ate too much of your Thanksgiving turkey. 
When frost kills off the insects and the ground is white with 
snow, then hunger gets at work and makes a blue bird of the 
crow. 
Many readers are criticising Mr. Chapman’s Agures on the cost 
of growing a bushel of potatoes. We have some interesting facts 
to come. 
Last week we had an article about Mr. Hawley’s Belgian hare 
farm. We regret to learn that Mr. Hawley was drowned last 
August, and that his stock has been scattered. 
A cobn Aeld at the South, as viewed from the road, seemed to be 
all stalks and no ears. The owner explained that all the ears 
near the road had been eaten in place of sweet corn. Compara¬ 
tively little of the true sweet varieties was grown for food. 
We spend sometime this week discussing the litmus paper test 
for detecting sour soils. A good test for laziness is the sit must 
test. When a man must sit down for half an hour before doing a 
Ave-minute job, it’s a sure sign that his energy has soured. 
Jeffebson Gbange, of Painesville, O., recently held an “ apple 
meeting ” with prizes for best displays of specimens and varie¬ 
ties. The result was a Ane exhibition of this fruit, and a better 
knowledge of the best methods of growing it. A good idea for 
other Granges. 
A farmer near New York sent a two-horse load of produce to 
the city market. Later he carried on his arm a basket of cut 
Aowers from his glasshouse. He realized as much money from 
the basket as from the load. What is the moral ? All go to rais¬ 
ing cut flowers ? No, but let those raise the delicacies who are 
situated so that they can, and leave farm products to those who 
can raise nothing else. That’s what a Trust would do to regulate j 
production. ] 
