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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FEB §5 
, T^E 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home 
Conducted by 
EIBEKT S. CA.RMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York, 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1888. 
Many excellent catalogues and books 
are announced in this issue on pp. 128 9. 
Another special issue will follow this 
in a few weeks. Our space is at present 
too valuable to announce the many forth¬ 
coming articles either in hand or in pre¬ 
paration. 
TnE R. N.-Y. has little confidence in 
the prosperity of that sort of farming 
that looks to close-dealing and parsimony 
for its success. There is room for true 
benevolence on the farm as well as else¬ 
where, else farming is not the noblest 
employment of man. 
We have at least three times referred 
to our present method of preserving cel¬ 
ery, viz., by an air-space above, so that 
the protecting material does not touch 
the leaves. A double-pitch roof extends 
over the trench, giving a considerable 
space for air underneath. The trench 
was opened one day last week, and the 
plants were found to be decayed—the re¬ 
sult of having been frozen. The failure 
of such experiments, which cost no little 
of thought, time and labor, damps one’s 
ardor for the time. 
— ■■■■ • . 
About the strongest creamery argument 
that was ever put on paper is to be found 
oh the first page. These pictures state 
the case with more power than a dozen 
pages of printed matter could. Who 
does not know of some cellar where but¬ 
ter is made about as shown in the “home 
dairy?” Such butter finds its place into 
the country store as naturally as water 
runs down hill. These manufacturers 
will have to submit to the discipline of a 
set of strict creamery rules before they 
can appreciate the picture in the lower 
right-hand corner. Yes, a good creamery 
would reorganize that “home dairy,” and 
there is not much of anything else that 
would do it. 
' »»» 
Not the least of the advantages of the 
dairy business is that it tends to keep up 
the fertility of rich and to restore the fer¬ 
tility of poor soil, and in as far as cream¬ 
eries foster the dairy business in any sec¬ 
tion, they help to prevent the great evil 
of American agriculture—soil impoverish¬ 
ment. Dairying is much less exhaustive 
than cropping; while the presence of 
cows on the farm is necessarly a source 
of a good deal of manure, and if they 
are fed on purchased feed in addition to 
that raised on the farm, this manure will 
be rich and will in time restore to poor 
land the fertility of which it had pre¬ 
viously been robbed. Hence it is that 
the distinctively dairy districts of the 
country are among the most fertile in it. 
— - — - — 
Dehorning: Is the R. N.-Y. in favor 
of it? We do not believe that any one 
knows whether dehorning is, all things 
considered, a good- or bad thing to do. 
We shall know when experience shall 
have taught us; not before. And who is 
to gain the experience; who are to be the 
teachers? Those who can afford to expe¬ 
riment. It is a question for agricultural 
experiment stations, and for individuals 
who have the inclination and means to 
decide, the same as the value of ensilage, 
new methods of all kinds, novelties in 
seeds and plants have been and will be 
decided. The rank-and-file farmer is not 
the one to decide such questions; but he 
is the one to be benefited by the investi¬ 
gations of those whose business it is to 
investigate. 
There is a vast difference in the com¬ 
fort and labor of the farmer who sells his 
milk or cream at a creamery, and the 
farmer who has a local milk route, or who 
sends his milk to the city. In the former 
case the farmer does his milking at sea¬ 
sonable hours and leisurely takes his milk 
to the creamery. If he is a few minutes 
ahead or behind it makes no material dif¬ 
ference. In the latter case he usually has 
to get up long before daylight and hurry 
and worry to get his milk to the depot in 
time, or his customers served promptly. 
A cynical old farmer says that creameries 
are only another device to make farmers 
lazy. There is, however, 'little danger "of 
farmers being made lazy by lessening the 
hardship and severity of their labor. The 
lot of the average dairyman is hard enough 
anyway. 
TnE Best Kinds of Sweet Corn for 
Succession. —Select for the first early 
either Cory or Northern Pedigree. Then 
Shaker’s Early, Perry’s Hybrid or Stab- 
ler’s Early. Then Moore’s Concord, 
Triumph or Hickox. Then Stowell’s 
Evergreen, Mammoth or Egyptian. If 
the above kinds be planted (in this cli¬ 
mate) May 10, they will give boiling ears 
from July 20 to' September 10. To ex¬ 
tend the season a month later, plant the 
Triumph, Mammoth or Stowell's up to 
the middle of June or later. As everyone 
knows, the Black Mexican is one of the 
richest and sweetest varieties of late 
sweet corn, though not esteemed for 
market because the kernels often show a 
dark color when a trifle over-ripe. There 
are many new varieties offered in the 
catalogues of 1888. 
Co-operation in the milk, as well 
as in the butter business, is discussed. 
Orange County milkmen are dissatisfied 
with the present system of conducting 
the milk business. Too much of the 
profits go to the handlers and middle¬ 
men, and the deductions for sour milk in 
summer frequently seem extortionate. 
One plan which is now quite generally 
discussed, is for the milkmen of a neigh¬ 
borhood to combine and erect a creamery 
near the railroad station. The milk is to 
be brought there and held, subject to an 
order from an agent in the city, who can 
guage the market accurately and tell how 
much is needed. The balance is to b'e 
made into butter and proportionate re¬ 
turns made to those who supply the milk. 
Thus it is thought the market will never 
be glutted while the surplus milk will 
always bring some money. 
We are glad to hear good accounts of 
the Idaho Pear, which was first brought 
to public notice by the R. N.-Y.—long 
before it was known to other journals. 
A letter from Lewiston, Idaho has the 
following: 
“About the middle of January the mercury 
dropped down to 25 degrees below zero. The 
fruit trees generally were in good condition 
for the winter, and so far as examined I do 
not think much damage has been done to the 
orchards. I have examined the fruit buds on 
the Idaho; they seem to be all O. K. I think 
that with a little care the fruit can be pre¬ 
served in good condition until December with¬ 
out resorting to artificial means. Notices of 
the Idaho have appeared in almost numberless 
papers. Scarcely a mail is received in which 
we do not get applications for cions. While 
I think the Idaho will succeed as far north as 
pears are successfully grown, yet I believe it 
is in the South that it will attain its greatest 
perfection.” 
There is one benefit brought into a 
neighborhood by the establishment of a 
successful creamery, which has not been 
dwelt upon by any of our correspondents. 
It is the fact that the farmers learn some¬ 
thing of the power and advantage of a 
thorough organization. To find that such 
organization can never reach its highest 
success until each individual learns to 
work contentedly and honestly in the 
ranks and quietly submit to the proper 
discipline, is one of the most encouraging 
discoveries the farmer can ever make. It 
is encouraging because such a discovery 
will lead any intelligent man to see that 
the same earnest and hearty discipline, 
and the same liberal spirit of co-operation 
must underlie all successful organization. 
The success of a well-managed creamery 
where all the patrons work together for 
one result, must show even the dullest 
something of the possibilities in the way 
of advancement in business, power, edu¬ 
cation and morality, that lie in strong and 
thorough organization. 
Asparagus seed can be bought for 10 
cents an ounce or 50 cents a pound. An 
ounce will suffice for a plot large enough 
to supply the needs of a family of six. 
The books recommend to sow the seeds 
in drills a foot apart and then to trans¬ 
plant the one-year-old plants the next 
spring. Years ago we sowed seeds of all 
the supposed-to-be different kinds of as¬ 
paragus—Argenteuil, Red Dutch, Colos¬ 
sal, Moore’s Cross-bred, &c.^ The seeds 
were sown in drills four feet apart, made 
in a well-prepared bed. The plants were 
thinned out to 12 inches apart and never 
transplanted. The bed yielded us splen¬ 
did shoots for four years when we were 
obliged to use the plot for other pur¬ 
poses. Is not this a better way for the 
garden culture of asparagas than trans¬ 
planting the one-year-old roots? So 
much for the seed. Roots, two years 
old, can be bought for one dollar per hun¬ 
dred, and set in the bed where they are to 
remain. In the latter case, we may begin 
to cut in two years. With the seed, we 
must wait another year. Which is the 
better plan? As to differences in varie¬ 
ties, it may be said, that except the 
shoots of Argenteuil were a lighter green 
and those of the Red Dutch more purple 
than the shoots of Colossal, there seemed 
nothing to distinguish one kind from 
another. 
■ - - ■ ■ 
Probably many will be deceived by 
the attractive advertisements now appear¬ 
ing of the “beautiful, fragrant Cinnamon 
Vine, two tubers of which are offered, 
postpaid, for 50 cents, or five for $1. 
When first introduced from Japan the tu¬ 
bers sold for $10 each.” The tubers are 
represented as being “perfectly hardy, 
the stem dying down each winteY, but 
growing again so rapidly in the spring as 
to completely cover any trellis or arbor 
very early in the season.” All this and 
more are perfectly true. We find fault 
with the advertisement because it does 
not tell what this handsome, fragrant, 
quick-growing, hardy, tuberous, perenni¬ 
al vine is, and also because it makes the 
price 25 cents for what many of our seeds¬ 
men offer for 10 cents. In fact, the little 
bulblets or tubers which form on the vine 
in quantities and sprout as readily as the 
large tubers, may be bought for 20 cents 
a dozen. This Cinnamon Vine is simply 
the old Chinese Yam—Dioscorea batatas. 
We have had it growing for 15 years; 
have told the whole story in these columns 
over and over again, with illustrations of 
the bulblets, leaves and flowers. The 
vine and flower bear a general resem¬ 
blance to the well known Madiera Vine. 
The club-shaped tuber grows over a foot 
in length, and is relished by many when 
cooked as well as the Irish potato, though 
as it grows perpendicularly with the big 
end down, it is no easy matter to harvest 
the crop. 
If we wished to establish a creamery in 
our neighborhood, we would, so far as 
our observation and study have taught us, 
advocate the co-operate cream-gathering 
system. So far as we can see, this is the 
most practical system yet suggested. 
There are many good reasons for urging 
co-operation. It is a step towards a 
complete and powerful organization. It 
encourages a wholesome and good-natured 
rivalry. It encourages strict and meth¬ 
odical business habits. It breaks down 
the petty jealousies and distrusts so com¬ 
mon in farming communities and so harm¬ 
ful to the best interests of the farmer. It 
encourages public spirit and enterprise. 
The farmei; who has an interest in the 
creamery and can examine the books from 
time to time, can easily see how his re¬ 
turns for cream compare with those made 
to his neighbors If his neighbor is beat¬ 
ing him, he will be sure to carry his in¬ 
vestigations still further, and see what 
breed of cows, what foods, what care, 
are needed to even the returns. An in¬ 
telligent creamery patron would certainly 
see the necessity for providing good roads 
and conducting other needed public im¬ 
provements. By driving some of the 
selfish, self-interest feeling out of a farmer 
and developing public spirit, the co-op¬ 
erative creamery wduld work good results. 
The system of picking up the cream from 
house to house and leaving the skim-milk 
to be fed on the farm, we believe to be 
the handiest system yet devised. 
IMPROVED DAIRY IMPLEMENTS. 
G ood butter is still made by the old- 
fashioned method of setting milk. 
The articles published in the Rural a 
few r weeks ago disproved several pet the¬ 
ories that some dairymen are fond of re¬ 
peating. It was proved that butter com¬ 
manding the highest price in this market 
was made from the milk of farrow cows. 
Much of this milk was set in shallow tin 
pans and churned and worked in the way 
our grandmothers have operated for years. 
These are facts. Why then is there any 
use in purchasing improved dairy imple¬ 
ments, and is not the man who “would 
sell a cow to buy a creamer” a silly fellow? 
Certainly he is if he thinks that the mere 
fact of buying the creamer will insure a 
better price for his butter. If he doesn’t 
put clean, sweet milk into his creamer 
and study dairying as he would have to 
study any other business, his outlay will 
profit him little. “Will it pay me to buy 
a patent creamer? I have now a good 
supply of pans and cream pots, etc.” This 
question is often asked. What answer 
can be given? Milk put in a good 
creamer is rapidly cooled and, as a rule, 
more cream can be obtained from it than 
from the old pan-system. There is a 
great saving in time and in wear and tear 
and leakage of pans and breakage of cream 
pots. A well made creamer is an orna¬ 
mental piece of furniture and occupies but 
little space. These are facts which no 
farmer, be he ever so prejudiced against 
“new-fangled” notions, can deny. Much 
the same could be said about churns and 
butter-workers. Many farmers who are 
loudest against improved dairy imple¬ 
ments have the greatest need of them. 
Many of them would get their best dairy 
lessons in cleanliness, order and thought 
from a creamer. This neat and handy 
way of setting milk would force them into 
better methods of producing the milk and 
handling the butter made from it. Strange 
that a man can learn lessons from a 
creamer, yet many men can and should. 
brevities. 
Enterprise ! 
Read the catalogue notices on page 128. 
The hand-organ man—the rut farmer. 
Love: That which unites families and 
makes life happy. 
There is no real prosperity upon any farm 
where there is no love. 
Spring is upon us. Do you realize it? Alas 
for the farmer who is always behind! 
Does farming pay? A good deal depends 
upon how much the members of the family 
love one another. 
Weakly plants are destroyed by insects 
because they have no strength to repair the 
damage thus caused. 
We learn that the new apple, “Northwest¬ 
ern Greening,” has stood 50 degrees below 
zero unharmed in Auroraville, Wis. This 
w’as figured and described in the R. N.-Y. of 
March 7, 1885, page 149. 
All who may remember the Rural’s ex¬ 
perience some eight or ten years ago with 
raising potatoes from several different kinds 
of imported English potatoes for seed, will 
not care to use such seed largely. 
The R. N.-Y., for want of space, is behind 
with its Farmers’ Club. The questions are 
answered up to those received within the 
week, but an unprecedented pressure upon all 
our departments has delayed their publica¬ 
tion. 
Setting out strawberry, raspberry, black¬ 
berry and currant plants and grape-vines, 
and making an asparagus bed are among the 
first things to attend to in your new home; 
then make a careful selection of the best pears 
and plant the trees carefully. 
In many sections in the North the snow¬ 
drifts are of unusual depth. Traveling is 
bad enough now but will be worse when 
these drifts turn into water and flood the 
country. Will farmers remember this and 
learn from past experience to order what 
tools and implements they need early? 
The Moon Flower is certainly an interest? 
ing, rapid-growing vine with its large, white’ 
fragrant flowers opening in the cool of the 
afternoon. We raised it last year from seeds, 
and the vines, though they had made a growth 
of perhaps 15 feet, did not begin to bloom 
until the flowers were injured by the cool 
nights. It is better to start with the plants 
propagated from cuttings. 
Many countries have been bidding for the 
dairy trade in hot sections like Brazil or 
India. The French appear to be ahead in this. 
Their butter is packed in glass jars, with 
glass stoppers secured with cement so as to 
be absolutely air-tight. The butter is fresh, 
but after being packed, a tablespoonful of 
fine salt is placed in the neck. Such butter 
brings a high price. Can American dairymen 
enter this field ? 
The R. N.-Y. sent marked copies of the 
issue containing the cartoons illustrating the 
horrors of an accident at a railroad crossing 
to every member of a State Legislature now 
in session. The New York Legislature is first 
to respond. Yesterday the Assembly passed 
by a vote of 76 to 5, a bill increasing from 
$5,000 to $10,000 the amount of damage to be 
paid by a railroad company if a passenger is 
killed by a railroad accident. Massachusetts 
should be next! 
Is there a more restful place in a burning 
hot day than a grove, open enough on all sides 
for a free circulation of air and shady enought 
to break the fierce glare of the sun ? Let us 
now scatter around as if nature did it Calico 
bushes, yuccas, Bleeding Heart, columbines, 
pentstemons, gentians, cypripediums, irises; 
plant grape seeds, honeysuckles, &e., &c., 
and what shall we have ? As enchanting a 
resort as can be dreamed of. There are lots of 
groves on many farms that might by such 
means be made the delight of both children 
and parents. 
On a portion of the land lately bought by 
the R. N. Y. (near the N. Jersey place) is a 
beautiful little grove of an acre. The trees 
are not so close together as to exclude the sun 
from a considerable part of it,and we are pro¬ 
posing to sow certain flower and vine seeds, 
and to plant certain shrubs and hardy herba¬ 
ceous perennials which stand a chance of liv¬ 
ing in partial shade. The Rural wants to see 
what it can do in the way of making an al¬ 
ready pleasant grove more pleasing by the 
introduction of many flowers in the little 
clearings where they will grow. 
In this issue of the Rural we have attempt¬ 
ed to give a fair statement of some of the 
principal features of the creamery system. 
Many of the agricultural papers have been 
printing a long article containing strong 
special pleading for the creamery. We prefer 
to give all sides of the matter. It is a fact 
that some farmers have lost money by join¬ 
ing a creamery association. We do not care 
to disguise this, but to point out the fact that 
the loss was due to bad management. At the 
same time those who urge the fanner to go 
into the creamery without insisting that the 
best of^business management will be needed 
to bring success,;are very poor advisers. 
