SEPT 17 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANational Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
EI.BHUT S. CABMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1887. 
P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, 6a., was 
elected President of the American Pomo- 
logical Society. 
We shall, in due time, give you a sym¬ 
posium of seedling rose cultivation. 
Meantime collect the rose heps (fruit). 
T. D. CuRTrs’s remarks, on page 624, 
about ensilage should be read by all inter¬ 
ested in the subject. It is the common- 
sense view to take of ensilage—a view 
rarely entertained by enthusiasts of the 
Baily sort. 
Next week we hope to send out a spec¬ 
ial number including the Rural's Prem¬ 
ium-list for another year. We want 
trustworthy agents everywhere. Our 
readers are solicited to examine the Prem 
ium list and to act as agents if they can 
find time and inclination to do so. The 
Rural New-Yorker does not propose to 
take any back steps for 1888. 
- 4 1 * 
On September 16, we found a cane of 
the Earhart Everbearing Raspberry that 
on 14 inches of eane from the tip 
down, bore 50 large, dead-ripe berries. 
They were as large as the Gregg, owing 
perhaps to the wet season, and though a 
trifle seedy they were sweet and good. It 
is worthy of emphasis that all were fully 
ripe; there was not a green one on the 
stem. 
It appears that there is money in the 
straw stacks which are rotting down on 
so many farms. The “artificial diges¬ 
tion” of the straw compost-heap, as de¬ 
scribed on another page, would turn these 
heaps into good manure. When the 
liquid manure and the drainage from the 
barn-yard can be used to supply the mois¬ 
ture there will be a double gain. When 
bone meal is mixed with the straw the 
gain will be greater yet. 
- » • » - 
TnE point made elsewhere by P. H. 
Jacobs that the hen that lays 100 large 
eggs may be. more profitable than the hen 
that laj^s 120 small ones, is worth consid¬ 
ering. Eggs will not always be sold by 
the dozen. Such sale is contrary to the 
best rules of business and will not always 
continue. When we can buy a “pound of 
eggs” we shall have a grand scramble 
among the “Laying breeds” for first place. 
Some at present neglected breed will then 
have a “boom.” 
The ensilage fever has induced a large 
sale of fodder cutters. Men are using 
them who Hardly thought of doing so be¬ 
fore they became interested in the ensil¬ 
age question. Many farmers have bought 
them w T ho can hardly afford to let such 
tools remain idle 11 months in the year. 
Wo believe that a great deal of dry fod¬ 
der will be chopped this winter. Bright 
straw and corn-stalks in particular will be 
run through the cutters. It will be sound 
economy thus to cut up rough forage. 
The cattle will eat more of it, and the man¬ 
ure will be far more easily handled. 
Those who are most enthusiastic over en¬ 
silage will have some dry corn fodder. 
Much of this will be run through the cut¬ 
ters this winter. There is a growing idea 
that it will pay well to cut such tough 
fodder into small pieces and moisten it 
with hot water. 
It was only after years of failure and an 
enormous outlay that beet-root sugar was 
profitably made in Europe, and after 25 
years of discouragement it now appears 
decided that merchantable sugar can be 
profitably produced from sorghum-cane in 
this country. Commissioner dolman an- 
vounces that the sorghum-sugar mill at 
Fort Scott, Kansas, is now turning out 
16,000 pounds of good, granulated sugar 
per day. Each ton of cane-stalks yields 
from 105 to 110 pounds of sugar, besides 
10 to 12 gallons of molasses, and the tops 
give two bushels of seed as valuable for 
feeding purposes as corn. An acre of 
good sorghum averages 10 to 12 tons of 
stalks, the gross value of which is put at 
$100, to be divided between manufacturer 
and grower. This final success is due, 
first, to the introduction of the diffusion 
process by which nearly the whole of the 
saccharine matter is extracted instead of 
only about half by the old method; and 
second, to the use of carbonate of lime in¬ 
stead of crude lime for clarifying the 
sirup'and causing it to granulate into 
good sugar. The Dew process is as rapid, 
much less costly, and immensely more ef¬ 
fective than the old, and its eminent suc¬ 
cess, the Commissioner thinks, will place 
sorghum-sugar making on a firm and 
profitable basis even at the present low 
prices of sugar. 
THE FAMILY DOCTOR. 
TnE papers are again discussing what 
some of them term the Chinese system 
of hiring a doctor. It is proposed to pay 
the doctor a fixed sum every year for 
looking after the family health, instead 
of, as generally practiced, paying him 
simply for services in time of sickness. 
It is supposed that under this system 
doctors would be auxious to keep their 
patients in continual good health, and 
would therefore watch them closely and 
look out for matters of diet and hygiene 
which at present they do not feel so free 
to discuss, and that medical service 
would be obtained at a cheaper rate. 
There are some objections to the plan, 
pleasant as it appears on paper. The 
great majority of country doctors with 
whom we have talked the matter over are 
hardly in favor of it, and do not believe 
that enough families could be found in 
any country neighborhood to pledge 
themselves to pay an I amount largo 
enough to support a doctor. Most peo¬ 
ple seem to prefer to take their chances. 
They want to be sick before they pay the 
doctor. At the recent meeting of the 
American Social Science Association the 
following remarks by a prominent M.D. 
seemed to meet with approval; 
“There are times when a family physician 
becomes a fossil; when through his very fa¬ 
miliarity he gets to following a routine treat¬ 
ment and serious disease invades the house¬ 
hold and insidiously grasps at the very vitals 
of its dearest member. Such instances go 
far to destroy the belief that there can be an 
ideal family physician.” * 
HOW TO GET RICH. 
A snoRT time ago a number of million¬ 
aires sent answers to a series of questions 
as to how they managed to accumulate 
their wealth. Starting with nothiug at 
all, they had ah worked themselves up to 
a position of affluence that few of us 
dream of. These answers are interesting. 
It appears that business sense, the art of 
looking ahead and making money accu¬ 
mulate is a natural gift. The great 
financier is like the poet “born, not 
made ” These millionaires seem to think 
that the number of those who control 
vast wealth will never exceed a certain 
proportion *f the population for the rea¬ 
son that, not one man in 1,000 could accu¬ 
mulate or handle advantageously more 
than $1,000,000. It is possible that the 
art of accumulating and holding on a 
large scale cannot be acquired, but must 
be natural. We have had no experience 
and so must take the word of these mon¬ 
ied gentlemen for it. We do know that 
habits of economy and business can be 
acquired by anyone by observation, prac¬ 
tice and self-denial. In these times the 
busiuess of selling a crop is about as im¬ 
portant as the business of raising it; cer¬ 
tainly the art of saving is as important as 
that of making. Few of us, it is to be 
hoped, have any desire to become mil¬ 
lionaires, so we will not be offended when 
we are told that it is doubtful if we 
could accumulate a fortune even if we had 
the chance. All of us, however, can 
learn to manage the business that does 
come to us, with wisdom and economy. 
i > < ■ 
A NEW B1SEF POOL ARRANGEMENT. 
For over a month negotiations have 
been taking place between the representa¬ 
tives of the cattlemen of the Plains and 
Armour & Co., of Chicago, with a 
view to effecting a change in the manner 
of conducting the dressed beef business. 
It has often been stated that the pack¬ 
ers made a profit of from eight to $10 
a head on the cattle they handled, and 
representative ranchmen remonstrated 
with Armour on the matter. Finally 
an agreement was proposed that Armour 
& Co. should receive, slaughter and load 
beef on the cars for Eastern shipment 
for $2.50 per head, and provide mark¬ 
ets for the products in the East for 
a regular commission. The cattlemen 
agreed to the terms, and are now busily 
engaged in forming an incorporated as¬ 
sociation under tljc laws of Colorado, 
so as to be able to close a contract 
with Armour. When it is perfected it 
will involve the entire cattle country 
of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and 
other districts. There is no doubt that 
the arrangement will be a good one for the 
cattlemen. They will deal directly with 
the Eastern consumers, through an agent 
whose profits are known and agreed upon 
beforehand. No other firm is in a posi¬ 
tion to manage the business so effect ually. 
The plant of Armour & Co., at Chicago, 
Kansas City and Omaha is quite capable 
of handling all the cattle the “beef pool” 
is likely to dispose of, and the firm has 
ample capital to increase its facilities in 
accordance with the demauds of the trade. 
The arrangement will liberate a large 
amount of the company’s capital now in¬ 
vested in the business, as all that it will 
need will be that invested in its buildings, 
machinery and other conveniences. It 
has also the best position for maintaining 
and opening Eastern markets. 
It is rather doubtful, however, wheth¬ 
er the ranchmen will obtain all they ex¬ 
pect from the deal. True, the prices of 
range and other cattle are extremely low; 
but hardly disproportionately low in com¬ 
parison with the prices of many other ag¬ 
ricultural products. If the arrangement is 
carried out it will be likely to have con¬ 
siderable effect on the prices of cattle east 
of the Mississippi by intensifying compe¬ 
tition with range cattle. 
BEET-ROOT SUGAR-MAKING. 
The manufacture of sugar from beets 
as a regu’ar industry was begun in France 
and was carried on there more extensive¬ 
ly than in any other part of the world 
until about 15 years ago. Then Ger¬ 
many took the lead, and has been increas¬ 
ing it ever since, unt 1 now she exports, 
we are told, 600,000 tons, and consumes 
400,000 tons. Next to her, in order, conic 
France, Austria-Hungary and Russia, 
while a large quantity is made in most of 
the other continental countries of Europe. 
In Germany, especially, sugar-beet raising 
is one of the mainstays of the farmers, and 
there the most improved machinery has 
been invented. Iu tnakiug beet-sugar, as 
in making sorghum-sugar, the profitable¬ 
ness of the busiuess depends mainly up¬ 
on the character of the machinery, and 
the great success of the industry in Ger¬ 
many has been greatly promoted by the 
superiority of the machinery use-d there. 
In this country the production of beet- 
sugar is hardly past the experiment stage. 
It has failed in Massachusetts, Illinois and 
Wisconsin, and the only success we know 
of is that of the Alverado Beet-Sugar 
Company of California, and even that has 
not been very brilliant. The chief cause 
of failure has beeu a want of practical 
kn uvledge and skill in a business new to 
the agriculturist and manufacturer. The 
machinery, too, has not been up to the 
best European standard. A great deal 
of capital is required to carry ou the 
business with the best results; and those 
who possessed agreat deal of capital found 
what they thought more certain and 
profitable investments. 
A cablegram from London to the New 
York Herald dated September 15, tells us 
that Mr. Claus Spreckcls, the sugar king 
of the Pacific coast, has been thoroughly 
investigating the industry in Europe and 
has become convinced that it can be prof¬ 
itably carried on in this country. lie is 
now on his way across the Atlantic, and 
before his departure made arrangements 
looking to undertaking the business ou a 
large scale. He has bought $82,500 worth 
of the best machinery iu Cologne and 
Prague, the minor parts to be made m the 
United States. The new factory will have 
a capacity of using350 tonsof beets every 
24 hours, which will make, he says.about 
40 tons of sugar per day. The character 
of the beets is also of great importance; 
and he has bought 25 tons of beet seed 
to arrive here in December. Mr. Sprock¬ 
et is a very resolute and energetic man, 
who has hitherto succeeded in all his un¬ 
dertakings. He is many times a million¬ 
aire so that he has abundant capital to 
back up his enterprises. 
He says he is convinced that his “new 
machinery will create one of the greatest 
industries the United States ever had" aud 
that he will never rest until he has 
“made the United States the greatest beet- 
sugar producer, manufacturer and mar¬ 
ket iu the world.” Brave words these; 
words of cheering import to the American 
fanner sadly in need of some new indus¬ 
try to supersede, in whole or part, some 
of those so poorly remunerative at pres¬ 
ent. We pay other countries $100,000,- 
000 a year for sugar. AVitli late favorable 
reports on sorghum-sugar making, aud 
the present good prospects for beet-sugar 
making, it is not unlikely that the whole 
of this vast sum may be kept at home, 
and in that case a large proportion of it 
must find its way into the pockets of our 
farmers. 
BREVITIES. 
It is now exactly the time, for this climate, 
to make anil plant gooseberry and currant 
cuttings. 
Select your seed corn before the frost, and 
put it in a warm, dry place to remain there 
during the winter. 
Collect the potato balls. The seeds of 
these sprout as readily as do those of toma¬ 
toes. Every famer should raise seedling po¬ 
tatoes. 
In last week’s paper an advertisement of¬ 
fered the Weekly Dress and the Rural New- 
Yorker one year for $2 00. This should have 
been $2,50. 
We have this year the finest plot of Lima 
bean vines ami the fewest beans that we have 
ever ra'sed. The flowers, owiug to incessant 
rains, did not begin to set until too late. 
Mr. Jacobs, a first-rate poultry authority, 
says that Leghorns as broilers will weigh as 
much, and on the same kind of food, up to the 
age of eight weeks (or about 1}* pound each) 
as the Brahmas. See page 0:14. " 
The American Pomological Society has 
been holding an interesting meeting In Boston 
this week. Some of the heat known pomolo¬ 
gies in the country attended. We shall pub- 
i ish a full report or the proceedings. The next 
session of the Society will be held in Florida 
—always the Land of Flo were and later Land 
of Fruits also. 
Tt is difficult for the Rural to understand 
why farmers who raise corn for ensilage, pre¬ 
fer tall-growing varieties with immense stalks 
and comparatively few leaves to lower-grow¬ 
ing, suckering kinds with small stalks and 
many leaves. 
We are now marketing our last planting of 
sweet corn. The price has held out wonder¬ 
fully well. As a rule, sweet corn is the safest 
garden crop to raise. Its price is steadiest. The 
f reen stalks make fine fodder for the cows, 
hey need it at this season 
The Students’ Farm Journal, hitherto pub¬ 
lished by an association of the students of the 
Iowa Ag. College, has been “suspended in¬ 
definitely.” The publication aud mailing of 
2,000 copies monthly with no remuneration 
except “love for the cause,” seem to have be¬ 
come somewhat monotonous. 
Our Ipomtea noetiflora (boua-nox) has made 
a stupendous growth of vines without, as yet, 
blooming, though many buds are showing 
color. Evidently this interesting vine should 
lie started in the house as early as February, 
if we would have it adorn the entire house 
with its moons as shown in the advertising il¬ 
lustrations. 
One of the most interesting features of the 
stock exhibit at the New York State Fair was 
the small flock of Dorset sheep shown by Mr. 
Woodward. We gave a good picture of a 
specimen of this breed some weeks ago. Much 
interest will be taken in Mr. Woodward’s ex¬ 
periment in adapting this breed to the needs 
of the American mutton producers. 
The Rural’s idea of teaching the elements 
of agriculture iu the eouutry schools, is caus¬ 
ing a good deal of thought. Wo believe the 
scheme to bo both useful and practical. We 
hope the time will come when the candidate 
for a position as district school teacher will 
have to stand an examination in agriculture 
before he can secure his certificate. 
From four different nurserymen we have 
received a plant of the hybrid tea rose Wil¬ 
liam Francis Beuuot. It fails With us in out¬ 
door culture. Papa Goutier proves to be one 
of the best out-door summer roses. The Bride 
also blooms freely out-of-doors. This is iu 
every way as fine a white rose as Catherine 
Mermet is a flesh color. It is the best white 
tea. 
It seems necessary to repeat, year after 
year, that a very strong smell is no real indi¬ 
cation of “richness” in a manure pile. Some 
of the worst smells in the world are Indicative 
of nothiug but nastiness. All know the char¬ 
acteristic smell of ammonia. It is about the 
only strong smell that. Indicates value in barn- 
arVl manure. Its presence indicates that the 
est part of the manure is escaping and calls 
for au application of plaster. 
People are discussing Henry George and 
his theory. We have been asked several times 
to give a clear idea of what George really seeks 
to bring about. Ou another page will be 
found a brief statement of the views ox pressed 
in “Progress and Poverty,” and Mr. George’s 
other volumes. In giving this statement the 
Rural, of course, disclaims all desire to fur¬ 
ther the interests of the George Party. Wo 
Simply present the facts that others may 
know what they are discussing. 
Suppose every rich man could bring him¬ 
self to say to his son on his lfitb birthday: “I 
shall not sup[K>rt you any longer. If you will 
learn a goes! trade 1 will givu you the benefit 
of the best instruction you can get. If you 
stick to it 1 will, on the day you are 21, lend 
you mouey enough to establish yourself in 
business or take a college course.” If mon¬ 
eyed men would say this, aud not. only say it 
but stick to it, the entire world would feel the 
good effect of thoir resolution. Not a man 
but, knows he would help his son by such an 
action, but not oue in 1,000 can ever bring 
himself to do it. 
For fall wheat we should choose a chemi¬ 
cal fertilizer with the following percentages 
of plant foods or proportionately so—unless 
wo knew from experiment,that the soil needed 
more or less of them: Atmnouia, three pc- 
cent.; potash, four per cent.; phosphoric acid, 
Id per cent. If kainit were used for the pot¬ 
ash, it would also furnish all the mague- 
sia needed, if needed it is. Lower grades of 
the same proportion of food constituents 
would serve just as well if used in larger 
quantities. But one has to pay more freight 
and to spend more time iu distributing'thom 
over the field. 
i. 
