4885 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 874 
f£\)t Suriite-j^erfr. 
SMALL YORKSHIRE SOW. 
We show at Fig. 542 a good specimen of 
this shapely breed of bogs. This animal is 
from the herd of Mr. Sanders Spencer, of 
England, one of the largest and best in the 
kingdom, numbering about 350 bead. This 
animal is surely a walking pork barrel. It 
would be hard to say where more pork could 
be packed upon its carcass. The Small York 
shire swine are very popular in parts of Eng 
land. They are called the most uniformly 
bred pigs in the world. Though not excelling 
in size, they “cut up” remarkably well, are 
easy to fatten and produce pork of the very 
best quality. They occupy a position in pork 
production similar to that filled by the Dor¬ 
kings and other table fowls in tbe poultry 
yard. They are also quiet and easy keepers. 
In this country tbe Small Yorkshires have re 
ceived a fair share of attention. Some 15 
years ago tbe first herds were developed in 
the eastern portion of tbe country. Since 
then the breed has spread over the West, 
meeting every where with approval. At the 
last Chicago Fat Stock Show several prizes 
were taken by Bmall Yorkshires. 
Year after year, just as the newspaper 
subscription season opens, several new journals 
or periodicals are started in different parts of 
the country. Those who launch many of 
these are probably honest in their ventures, 
and fully resolved to give their patrons the 
entire value of their money. But the vast 
number of journals that are wrecked every 
year shortly after starting on 
their voyage to fame and fortune, 
are sad warnings to all disposed 
to trust either their capital or 
their subscriptions in such enter- 
prises. The large majority of 
them sink soon after they have 
been launched, and the subscrib¬ 
ers get only a few numbers for 
their money. Others are sheer 
swindles from the beginning. 
They are set afloat with the design 
of foundering at the close of the 
subscription season, and the man¬ 
agers will dishonestly pocket all 
the subscriptions. Frauds of this 
sort start with a great deal of noise 
and advertising display. The 
premiums they offer are dazzling 
and alluring. Never intending to 
give anything, tbe sharpers in 
charge are extravagantly generous 
in promises. All should be careful 
about investing a dollar in newly- 
started journals, and no one should 
invest a cent in these clap-trap 
publications. To the wise a word 
is sufficient; a chapter would be 
wasted on the foolish. 
A spruce young swindler named 
R. A. Chapin, about five feet six 
jnches tall, weighing 125 pounds, 
with light brown hair, thin mous¬ 
tache, no whiskers, light brown 
eyes, round shoulders, and walking 
with toes turned in a little, is 
traveling around, preying upon the agricul¬ 
tural community, chiefly stock breeders. 
Manners mild, talk persuasive and refined. 
Shows upper teeth prominently when talking. 
His scheme is to give a liberal price for stock, 
paying with drafts on a Kansas bank (usually 
the Enterprise), for more than the purchase 
money, audrecoiviug the difference from the 
seller. A good many swindlers in this line 
are constantly victimizing the public in towns 
and cities as well as in ciuntry places. Of 
course, they are always jnst rhe men whom 
“nobody" would suspect of such rascality. 
Their decent appearance, “honest” talk and 
insinuating address are their capital. If they 
looked like the scoundrels they are, who would 
trustthemi Trust mo Stranger. 
Weare still receiving a number of inquiries 
about parties and companies offering farms 
and lots for sale in Florida. Several of the 
places inquired about were spokeu of in this 
department iu the Rural of November 38, 
and we must refer these inquiring friends to 
that issue. Three people inquire about a col¬ 
ony about to be established at Sarosta Bay. 
The glowing accounts of the advantages of this 
place are very deceptive. It is in latitude 27° 
20 , near the tropical line on the west coast 
of Florida, protected from the Gulf by a coral 
reef from five to eight miles distant. The 
largest inlet through this is Sarosta Pass which 
has only six feet of water. Tbe shore is low 
and sandy, about 3ix feet above the water of 
the bay in the highest part, and at high tides 
itis washed by the waves. The soil is a white 
sand sufficiently fertile to produce oranges, 
lemons, and berries, but those grown in other 
parts of tbe State are better. Bananas, 
guavas, sugar cane, and plantains can be 
grown if the soil Is fertilized; but no grain or 
root crops, or Northern fruits or vegetables. 
Climate mild iu Winter; but from April to 
November, the sun beats down so pitilessly on 
the white sand, that no Northern man could 
stand it. For fully six mouths malarial and 
typhoid fevers make life intolerable. Tampa, 
the nearest railroad depot, is 50 miles away, 
and Cedar Keys, the nearest port of entry, 
more than 100. There is no regular steam 
communication, but Ashing smacks occasion¬ 
ally call in. Indeed, it is one of the most 
isolated, God forsaken holes on the Florida 
coast. Yet 200 or 300 Scotch colonists are on 
their way there now, and the place is being 
puffed in many parts of this country also .... 
Again we would strongly urge all intending 
immigrants to the Peninsula State to bear 
in mind the advice we gave here two weeks 
ago, which was repeated by the New York Sun 
in last issue, under W O S. 
To Several Subscribers —We do not 
know whether the preparations of T. S. Page 
of this city, would or would not be likely to 
restore hearing to some extent in certain 
cases; but we do know that they cannot do 
any good in many of the cases in which Page 
claims they will be beneficial. Deafness is 
due to a large number of causes, and curative 
treatment should vary accordingly, aud in 
many cases no treatment will prove effectual 
or even beneficial. Weare strongly inclined 
to doubt those who offer a single remedy for 
a large number of different diseases, or for 
some particular ailment which may be due to 
any one of several different causes.D. 
C. Thompson & Go., of this city, of Brahmo 
Yan notoriety, are humbugs—We have said 
so a dozen times or more .The watch 
offered by the Drake MTg Co., of this city, is 
worth just what is asked for It— $3.50 —and 
no more. Why should anybody be foolish 
enough to expect to get 810 worth for $1! 
Advertisers adopt various plans for attracting 
and arresting attention, and one of the most 
effective (because one of the most widely 
adopted) is to offer something for nothing, or 
something for a fraction of its alleged value. 
Heuce you will frequently see such “catch 
words” as A $5 Watch Free, A 8'20 Gun for 
86.50, A $ 14 Watch for $4 50. Where some¬ 
thing is offered “free," it is either worth what 
is paid for it—nothing—or it is worth a mere 
trifle, and a sum more thau its value Is asked 
for packing and forwarding it; or work of 
some kind is required to obtain it, so that it 
is really offered In payment of services ren¬ 
dered; or it is offered as a present to those 
who purchase a certain amount of goods, 
the same principle on which “chromes” are 
offered to purchasers iu certain tea stores. In 
this case, of course, the price of the article is 
charged in with the cost of the other goods. 
In NO case is anything ever given free; or 
for less than its real value. It would be 
well for our friends to bear this in mind at 
this holiday season, for it is at such times that 
allurements of this sort are most numerous 
and tempting. Many of these misrepresenta¬ 
tions are made by swindling concerns; and 
many also by those who are not actual sharp¬ 
ers, but whose reliability is a trifle doubtful. 
Concerns with big names and very small 
capital are the chief offenders of this sort: 
people whose warehouses consist of “sky par¬ 
lors” 5x12 feet, and whose stock in trade 
would be dear at 8250. They are generally 
too insignificant to be noticed in the mercan¬ 
tile reports. If successful they work into 
some regular, legitimate business; if not, 
they scoop in all they can, clear out and 
start in something else, or in the same line 
in another place, and under another name. 
It is very seldom that a large, thoroughly re¬ 
sponsible firm has recourse to this sort of ad¬ 
vertising. Honest publishers do not approve 
of It; but advertisers must be allowed some 
latitude. In all ca 3 es,however,before admitting 
such advertisements into bis paper, an 
honest publisher should be sure that the goods 
are really worth what is asked for them, 
and that they will be sent to those who have 
forwarded the price of them.We cannot 
recommend the Home M’f’g Co., of Boston, 
Mas 3 ... We do not recommend the Erie Medi¬ 
cal Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., or the Cav¬ 
endish Laboratory Company of this city. 
.. We have never heard any complaints of the 
World M’f’g. Co., of this city....The Indiana 
Paint and Roofing Co., is reliable.The 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has just sup¬ 
pressed a lot of “grave yard insurance” com¬ 
panies against which we have been warning 
our friends for the last three or four years... 
....Franklin Putnam & Co., of this city, deal¬ 
ers in photographic supplies, have furnished 
us with satisfactory references as to their re¬ 
liability. The references speak well of them. 
....The Foreign Art and Loan Exchange of 
Cincinnati is a humbug—worse, a fraud. It 
is one of tbe four per cent, loan swindles, and 
ought to be suppressed by the Post Office 
We cannot recommend the Illustrated Argus 
of Louisville Ky. Such gambling in “pre 
miums” as it practices, has been emphatically 
denounced in our columns. Don't touch the 
thing!.. .Peter Duryee, of this city is all right. 
Dentiphones, audipbones and other “helps 
to bear,” are of use to some deaf people, and 
absolutely of no use whatever to others. 
Those to whom such devices are worthless 
form the more numerous and worse afflicted 
class. It would be unjust for us to say 
that any particular contrivance of tbe sort is 
a humbug because it proved of no value to 
even a halt'-a dozen persons, provided one or 
two were benefited by it. People are con¬ 
stantly inquiring with regard to the merits 
of particular devices of the kind, and our an¬ 
swer to all must be that, while they are of 
more or less use in some cases, especially with 
highly imaginative people, tbe claims made 
on their behalf—that they will be useful in all 
cases—are false. Whether they will help this, 
that or the other man, no one unacquainted 
with the nature and extent of his infirmity 
can say; and then in light eases a test alone 
could definitely decile. In most cases, how¬ 
ever, especially when the affliction is severe, 
they are either altogether worthless, or really 
of little practical use.Beware of the 
fraudulent subscription agent, who is busy 
traveling about just now, dishonestly pocket¬ 
ing subscriptions taken for papers with which [ 
he is in no way connected. 
MARKET THOUGHTS. 
Vegetables, of all farm produce, hold 
their prices best this year in tbe New York 
markets. Butter, cheese, poultry, hops and 
cotton are lower in price than at the same 
time last year. Eggs, hay and fruit are about 
the same. Vegetables not only hold the prices 
of last year, but in some cases excel them. 
Beans are 20 cents higher, with good demand; 
potatoes command an increased price. Cab¬ 
bage and onions are in advance of last year’s 
prices. Yellow onions bring the best prices. 
There is little demand for red cabbage. The 
demand for celery has increased very rapidly 
of late years, yet the supply has more than 
kept up with it. It retails at the markets now 
at 15 cents per bunch, sold in flat bunches 
with four or five roots to the bnuch. Market- 
men usually trim and dress the roots them¬ 
selves. Cauliflower is used largely by city 
customers. There is an abundant supply this 
year. Farmers should use more of this veg¬ 
etable at home. It makes an excellent relish 
when well cooked; an agreeable change from 
cabbage. 
Meat in enormous quantities has been 
shipped to this city, owiDg to the cold weather. 
Standing at one corner of the market, one can 
see at one time at least 1,000 tons of meat. 
Think of itt—enough to provide 2,000.000 
people with a good meal. The proper feedipg 
of onr large cities is a wonderful problem. In 
our markets, we can get a conception of the 
possibilities of our country. The total popu¬ 
lation of New York, Brooklyn and Jersey 
City in 1SS0 was 1,936,516, Living as closely 
together as tbe people of these cities do. the 
entire population of the United States could be 
gathered into a tract as large a 3 the State of 
Connecticut, with some 1,500 square mile« to be 
used as a garden. The single State of Illinois, 
on^jf ber annual product, could give each 
family of five in this tremendous 
city, two barrels of flonr, one 
hnsbel of potatoes. 20 bushels of 
meal, five pounds of butter, 120 
pounds of beef, five pounds of 
mutton and 40 pounds of pork. 
Illinois and Ohio, with only three 
per cent, of the total area of onr 
country,could feed the nation. At 
present bnt 72 per cent, of the land 
in these two States Is improved; 
yet they could give each family 
of five persons four barrels of flour 
four bushels of potatoes, 30 bushels 
of meal, 12 pounds of hotter, 10 
pounds of cheese, three barrels of 
oat-meal, 150 pounds of beef, 30 
pounds of mutton and 60 pounds 
of pork, besides 87 000 000 worth of 
fruits. With every acre of avail¬ 
able land in these two States, 
pushed to its utmost limit of pro¬ 
ductiveness. there would be a sur¬ 
plus to send abroad. The future 
of this country is greater than we 
imagine. 
The Nut trace is getting to 
be quite a feature of the market 
business Prices bold very well as 
compared with last year, and the 
demand is steady. Chestnuts easily 
lead in price and quantity. The 
street roasters, who are found 
on every come’ - , keep up the 
price of chestnuts Selling them 
a five cents per gill, the profit 
at the business can be computed Few 
people care to eat chestnuts raw, and it 
is surprising how many are sold every 
cold day. This trade does not seem to inter¬ 
fere with the peanut business. The truth is 
that people are eating more unts. and have 
begun to understand that the chestnut is an 
excellent and substantial article of food. It 
forms a surprisingly large proportion of the 
food of peasants in southern Europe The 
nut trade will surely increase. Tbe time has 
come when the cultivation and improvement 
of nut-bearing trees will pay well. Fifteen 
years hence an acre of chestnut trees will be 
a valuable piece of property. As timber, 
ornament and crop, tbe trees will make fine 
returns. Land that would starve almost any 
other crop, will become a scarce of profit if 
turned into a chestnut orchard. Most of the 
nuts now offered for sale are grown wild. 
With cultivation they could be improved both 
iu size and quality. The chestnut will always 
be popular from the fact that it can be easily 
eateu and presents such a large proportion of 
meat to shall. Chestnuts are harder to keep 
than any other nut. They heat easily and 
are attacked by worms. Dealers keep them 
in cooi places, spread out in thin layers, and 
frequently pick them over and sift them. 
When packed in dry sand they.keep well. 
