4888 
THE RURAL «1W-¥©RKER 
588 
where is there a farmer of to-day that hoes 
his corn more than once, if at all ? There are 
exceptions to this rule, but the masses are 
content with the work of the cultivator, en¬ 
tirely discarding the hoe. 
In 1850 not one farmer in ten ever rode a 
mile in a spring wagon of any description of 
his own. Such vehicles were too expensive a 
luxury. To-day we often find in the carriage- 
house of the farmer a three-spring wagon, a 
covered carriage and a trotting sulky, all 
needing care and much outlay during the 
year. Then a pair of oxen sufficed for the 
farm team: to-day there are the farm team, 
the spanking span of bays and the carriage 
horse that can scale a 2.40 gait. If it falls 
short of this, the boys say the “ old gent is 
not up to snuff,” and they are in a hurry to 
have the handling of the reins, when they 
would show how the world moves. There 
a^e a thousand and one items making up the 
sum total of the expenses of to-day which 
were entirely undreamed of in the “ way- 
back” of our fathers. The trusty old time¬ 
piece on the wall that had said its tick-tock 
day and night since our grandfathers landed 
upon our shores, sufficed to tell the birth of 
the day and year; while to-day even the 
stripling of 15 summers must sport a watch 
and gold (plated) chain, and even the daugh¬ 
ter, who should come in for her goodly share 
of the luxuries as well as comforts of the 
farmer’s home, does not consider her toilet 
complete unless she can consult her watch as 
to the hour. Our fathers were quite sure the 
farm crops were not complete unless they 
could point to the piece of flax from which 
they would procure the seed to exchange for 
oil to be used in painting the house, and from 
the flax the good housewife with her distaff 
could spin the linen from which was to be 
woven the cloth of which our Sunday breeches 
were to be made, and from the tow the 
coarser cloth for our home wear was made. 
Then the hides which were taken off in the 
fall when we were laying by for winter’s 
store were exchanged with the village tanner 
for leather which was made into boots and 
shoes at our own homes by the itinerant shoe¬ 
maker at a very small expense, and their 
durability far exceeded that of the foot-gear 
of to-day, making the expense much less. 
The housewife was proud of her calico dress, 
or, perhaps, one a trifle more expensive—de¬ 
laine. In the average farm-house then the 
silk or satin dress was nowhere to be found. 
The calfskin shoes, costing $1.25 and doing 
service for a year, are supplanted to day by the 
“Burt,” or some other fashionable make, 
costing $3.50 to $6 and wearing out in three 
to four months. The cost of dressing the 
average farmer’s family of 1850 was not a 
tithe of the expense of the most common of 
our farmers to day. The father and son then 
knew not the exhilarating (or baneful) effects 
of the cigar, costing 10 cents, or three for a 
quarter; both were content with the clay pipe 
and pigtail twist, costing 25 cents a pound 
and lasting a month. 
Among the rural world at large intoxicants 
cost, comparatively, but a trifle then, while 
to-day they are with many placing mortgages 
upon farms and training many for the alms¬ 
house and prison. Then a gallon of whisky 
was bought for 50 cents to $1, while to day it 
is much worse and also much dearer. Then 
few farmers knew what beer was by sight or 
taste; while to-day thousands are paving the 
way for themselves and sons to drunkards’ 
fate and graves by carrying it to their homes 
in kegs and cases to be habitually drank as a 
tonic or appetizer. At that time our country 
village know little of amusements during the 
year, causing expense, unless it was the yearly 
circus or “general training,” when the boys 
would be content with a quarter of a dollar 
each. To-day the opera, theater and dime 
museum, the lecture course, the dancing 
school and a thousand and one other amuse¬ 
ments call for 10, 25 or 50 cents almost 
weekly, if not daily. 
We must keep abreast of the times; to lag 
behind shows want of energy, almost stupidi¬ 
ty, and there are many calls for money to-day 
that were not even dreamed of years ago. 
The farmer has a thousand and one enemies 
in blight, drought, worms, bugs or birds that 
never called for thought or attention in the 
past. I have no data by which to estimate 
the damage done by more than one pest to 
the farmer. The potato beetle cost largely up 
into the thousands. The chinch-bug of the 
prairies and the coddling moth of the entire 
country all cause expense and anxiety that 
were unknown to our fathers. We are not 
content to fight those unless we have the most 
improved and scientific appliances, costing in 
some instances more than the crop after it is 
saved. Then simplicity and economy were 
closely studied and everything went on in 
moderation, and the necessaries were procured 
while the extravagancies were curtailed. 
To-day we, as a nation of farmers, are striv¬ 
ing to excel. Our ambitions are pointed high, 
and the fact is patent that we must have bet¬ 
ter than our neighbors, though we cannot 
afford it in comparing incomes. 
To be successful to-day, the average farmer 
must exercise all his wits in economizing 
labor, as well as superfluities. He must step 
from those high notions to the level of his 
income, and even were he to go back to the 
simple life of his fathers, he would find much 
more happiness and a far greater profit. I 
am fully convinced that with the practical 
and acquired knowledge of the farmer, he 
could] very ^safely return to the wages of his 
fathers "and be a devotee of his calling and 
carry off the achievement of never fading 
laurels by way of success. 
As to what we had in 1850 and what we 
have in 1888, we can scarcely make a compar¬ 
ison. Invention and improvement have ever 
been alive and active and the farmer has his 
full share of their benefits and expenses,and as 
the many improvements loom up before us it 
would seem almost insanity to return to the 
ways and methods of our fathers with any 
prospect of suceess. Nevertheless, I am per¬ 
suaded that with a clear head and willing 
hands it could be done. 
“How to make farming pay” is a broad and 
deep question and involves thought, tact and 
judgment. To return to the simple life of 
our fathers would require a courage almost 
equal to that needed to ride the rapids of 
Niagara; but the rising young farmer might 
learn a lesson of courage, faith and trust, 
backed by a quiet happiness the fast young 
farmer of to-day cannot enjoy. The products 
of the farm in the aggregate may bring a 
trifle more to day. The purchasing power of 
a dollar may be greater, but the expenses in 
a thousand and one ways are more, and the 
latter will, when cast in the balance, cause 
the scale to descend. The productiveness of 
many farms has decreased for want of that 
thorough tillage necessary to keep up a farm; 
while the farmer is more dependent upon com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, at a great cost, leaving the 
net profits below those of 38 years ago. To 
bring farming up to its highest standard, 
study, observation, thought and experiments, 
with great economy of products and saving 
of fertilizers judiciously applied, with a wise 
rotation in crops, will save many a farmer 
from the disagreeable circumstances which 
surround him. The old saying “the woman 
can throw out with a spoon what a man can 
throw in with a shovel” is true indeed; but is 
it not as applicable to the man, especially 
when accustomed to the filthy tobacco habit 
and debasing drinks? This age should be an 
age of reform, instead of which it is a fast 
one, hurrying on to the maelstrom of finan¬ 
cial ruin many who will never escape the 
vortex. 
FROM JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
In your statement of the prices of farm 
products for May 10, 1850, at Rochester, and 
in 1888 in New York City, you think that the 
farmer must be better off now than then. It 
would seem so on the surface, and no doubt 
would be so if there were not other things to 
be taken into consideration besides the two 
statements. There is evidently a mistake 
about live cattle being $0 to $8.25 per cwt. in 
1850. The sales-book of my farm does not 
show any such figures. I find prices ranging 
for pork from 1850 to 1860, from $6 to $9 per 
cwt., dressed weight; beef, from $5 to $9; 
butter, 16c. to 22c.; eggs, 12c. to 14c a dozen; 
hay, $10 to $12 per ton; potatoes, 31c. to $1; 
oats,40c. to 50c. per bushel; wool, in 1852, 
52c. per pound. These prices were obtained 
when farm help could be had for $10 to $12 
per month, that now costs twice that sum. 
Taxes on the same property were then, from 
$7.49 to $40, now $110 to $125. Draw your,own 
conclusions. The farmer that receives more 
money now than then, must also pay out 
largely more for help and taxes. Every per¬ 
son has more luxuries as his means increase. 
It does seem to me that the farmer is taxed 
almost to the limit of endurance for his land, 
while cash in various forms goes free of tax. 
Rome, N. Y. 
[R. N.-Y.—We took the prices just as they 
appear in the old Moore’s Rural-New- 
Yorker for the given date.] 
FROM L. F. ALLEN. 
Farming, in its general products, is more 
profitable now than in 1830 or 1850, but farm¬ 
ers’ expenditures ih luxuries and recreations 
have become much greater now than in 
those years, by spring carriages, pianos, 
household furniture, and all domestic matters. 
Higher education and less household labor, 
more help outside of the family, and other 
things too numerous to mention, may make 
the farm profits less than in previous years. 
Hence the complaint of hard times with them. 
The farmers’ ^families live more luxuriously, 
buy more store goods and take times easier 
than their parents did. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
LONG ISLAND NOTES. 
If there ever was a time when Long Island 
deserves the title of the “Emerald Isle of 
America” it is this year. Plenty of moisture 
in the form of rain and heavy dews at night 
have brought great quantities of nitrogen to 
vegetation. Trees and shrubs have made an 
enormous growth, and field crops and vege¬ 
tables have been uniformly good. The acre¬ 
age devoted to early vegetables is increasing 
every year. It is only a question of time and 
transportation facilities for manure, etc., 
when the Island will be one great vegetable 
garden. Cabbages and cauliflowers are look¬ 
ing well. In fact, they are crops that seldom 
fail to pay handsomely. Like potatoes, a 
light crop of them means good prices and a 
heavy crop equally large returns. 
One of the prettiest sights to be seen on the 
Island is the extensive flower gardens of G. 
Lewis Childs, at East Hinsdale. The flowers 
are raised chiefly for seed without special re¬ 
gard to artistic effect, but they are still very 
beautiful. At this season the long rows of 
gladioli in full bloom form a beautiful con¬ 
trast with the plainer seed-producing flowers. 
It is a sight worth going miles to see. It is to 
be hoped that the visit of Prof. Roberts, of 
Cornell University, to the sandy lands of the 
Island will result in something more than an 
analysis of the soil. Any one who succeeds in 
finding a way to redeem the “barrens” and 
make them capable of profitable cultivation 
will be looked upon as a second Peter Cooper. 
American genius should surely find a way 
successfully to cultivate the thousands of 
acres of land which lies so near one of the 
best markets in America. Individual efforts 
to develop these plains have only resulted in 
partial or complete failure. It can only be 
accomplished successfully by a syndicate of 
capitalists,or by the large cities or by the State. 
There are numerous “pockets” of good land 
scattered over the plains. These “pockets” 
are marked by a dense growth of trees, some¬ 
times oak, but oftener pitch pine. What may 
be called the old-fashioned diversified farming 
is nowhere carried on to such an extent as it is 
on the eastern and northern part of Long 
Island. The farms are of medium size, say 
from 40 to 100 acres. Almost all crops which 
can be raised in this climate may often be 
found on one farm. On one small field at 
Jamesport I noticed corn, beans, oats, carrots 
and cabbage, and it was not a garden, either. 
It is an old saying that only the oak and 
chestnut land is worth clearing or cultivating. 
Like many another old saying, it is by no 
means a truism. There are many good farms 
outside the “ hard-wood ” section. As a rule, 
however, the best]farms are on the north side 
and east end of the Island, where oak, chest¬ 
nut and hickory abound. 
The potato crop is fairly good, and is likely 
to be profitable. The Early Ohio is growing 
in popularity and is being raised extensively. 
It is without doubt one of the best early 
potatoes. The Flea Beetles have done very 
little damage. They came too late to injure 
the early potatoes, and but few late potatoes 
are raised. The Colorado Beetles have 
not been as plentiful as usual, and it 
is thought that they are gradually de¬ 
creasing, succumbing to the poisons which 
are being used so persistently to destroy 
them. The March blizzard or something else 
has made havoc with the colonies of Euglish 
sparrows; they no longer infest the Island. 
For some reason, possibly because of the par¬ 
tial extermination of the sparrow, other birds 
are far more plentiful than usual. The woods 
have been fairly alive with the beautiful and 
melodious birds of the olden time. Game 
birds are very plentiful. This will bring over 
the “pot-hunters” from the city. These hun¬ 
ters who are not sportsmen are one of the 
greatest plagues the farmer has to put up 
with. They leave bars down, break the 
fences, shoot the cattle and poultry, and often 
endanger the lives of the farmer and his fami¬ 
ly. In some parts of the Island the land is 
leased to sportsmen’s clubs and all trespassers 
are prosecuted. This is a good system. The 
farmer gets paid for the use of the laud and 
the sportsmen enjoy the shooting. 
The local fairs to be held at Mineola and 
at Riverhead are looked forward to with a 
good deal of interest. They will doubtless be 
better than ever before. Both the Queens and 
Suffolk County Associations are in excellent 
financial condition. Queens County wants a 
farmers’ institute during the coming winter 
It should be held in the town hall at Jamaica. 
Ic would be largely attended. Of course 
market gardening would be the chief topic of 
discussion. The stand of corn at the Rural 
Farm is something wonderful. It will be the 
largest crop raised at the. farm since the fa¬ 
mous one several years ago. It is safe to say 
that the big crop of corn at the Rural Farm 
has increased the local corn yield at least one- 
third. It has shown the neighboring farmers 
what can be done, and they say what can be 
done they can do. The result is, the vicinity 
of the Rural Farm is noted for its big yields of 
COrn. RAMBLER 
Canada. 
East Williams, Middlesex Co., Ont., Aug. 7. 
—Harvest is well under way and crops in 
these parts have thickened up and will turn 
out a great deal better than what they looked 
like in May and June. There are some extra¬ 
good fields of wheat, while others are poor. 
Very little spring wheat was sown, but what 
was looks well. Oats were badly eaten out by 
wire-worms, but they have thickened up well. 
Peas are better than last year. Hay is lighter. 
Barley is an average. Corn, potatoes, and all 
kinds of vegetables look splendid, while fruit 
of all kinds is and will be scarcer than usual. 
Apples are the main crop here, as very few 
take any interest in small fruits, and there are 
just as few who take areally good agricultural 
journal,; yet there are few places or farms 
that are not well tilled and some of the farms 
are underdrained, and most of them have good 
buildings; for if we hadn’t good buildings in 
this climate there would be a continual loss to 
the farmer. There are fewer farms to let to 
graziers than formerly. This has been a poor 
year for bees, very few being able to swarm, 
but now they are doing somewhat better. 
s. m. w. 
Illinois. 
Rockford, Winnebago Co., Aug. 13.—The 
harvest is just finished. Some have already 
thrashed rye. It was somewhat winter-killed, 
but will be an average yield on account of being 
better filled,and it is of better quality than any 
we have had for years. The acreage was 
larger than ever before. It sells for 45 cents; 
straw, $5 a ton. Oats are a good yield and 
exceptionally well filled; but they were dam¬ 
aged somewhat by heavy rains during har¬ 
vesting. Corn promises to be the best crop 
for years. Pastures are good and stock in 
good condition. Potatoes were struck by the 
rust and blight during the early part of the 
season, and the Colorado beetles were worse 
this year than ever before. At present the 
vines that have any greenness left are com¬ 
pletely covered with young and old bugs, and 
it looks as if the price of potatoes would not 
be so low as predicted. w. d. h. 
Kansas. 
Conway, McPherson County, August 5. 
—My report for June gave the result of the 
harvest except late oats. They promised well 
at that time, but failed in most. cases. Corn 
at that time was booming and continued 
looking splendid until July 20, early corn 
being then in roasting ears, j Rains began to 
be needed and by July 25, the crop began to 
suffer badly. By the 28, farmers commenced 
to cut their corn to save the fodder. The 
fields were magnificent to look at, the stalks 
standing 10 to 14 feet in hight, with dark 
green foliage, but now some of the early 
fields have scarcely a green blade. A few 
fields will make 10 to 20 bushels per acre, 
while many have scarcely an ear. This is the 
woi’st failure we have ever bad in this county. 
The eastern half of the county had good crops 
of small grains and corn is also better there. 
If one-half the fodder can be cut, there will 
be plenty of rough feed for stock. J. m. r. 
Louisiana. 
Cottonville, Webster Parish, Aug 6.— 
Crops from six miles north of Baton Rouge, 
on the northern line of the Parish, are almost 
ruined on account of dry weather, one strip 
of country about a mile wide excepted, which 
has had an abundance of rain. No rain at 
this place sufficient to settle the ground since 
the first of March. A few showers in June 
helped us somewhat, but crops are burning 
up. k. G- B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Kane, McKean Co.—From 18 gooseberry 
bushes we got about 60 quarts of berries, The 
months of J une and J uly were dry here, but dur¬ 
ing this month we have had frequent showers. 
The oats and rye are good; hay on new meadows 
was good; on old meadows not very good, but 
better than last year. Potatoes have been 
hurt by the dry weather; the crop will not be 
large. When it is dry here it is very dry, as 
we are on the dividing ridge of the Alleghe¬ 
nies, a part of the waters running east and the 
other west. 
