562 
AUG. 25 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
A National J ournal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Condr <sted by 
ELBERT C A It M A y 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
you want your plants to grow shorter and 
stockier ? Mark the best ears on the 
shortest and stockiest plants. Do you 
prefer one large ear to a stalk ? Do you 
prefer several ? Mark the plants accord¬ 
ingly. Rest assured that there is no va¬ 
riety of corn that can be improved in any 
particular respect unless the ears are se¬ 
lected accordingly. The time to do this 
is while the plants are standing in the 
field. 
cent, since the date of the Department’s 
information—August 1. It now appears 
not unlikely that the spring wheat crop 
will fall short of last year’s in yield and 
be decidedly inferior in quality. The 
oat crop, while large in aggregate yield, 
is not unlikely to fall below the average in 
quality in many sections, although much 
of the crop is first-rate in this particular. 
With abundant rains in nearly all parts of 
the country, the hay crop promises to be 
exceptionally good in quantity and quality. 
• In view of the highly unfavorable ce¬ 
real reports from the United Kingdom, 
Prance and Italy, and the reports of a 
backward season and unfavorable weather 
in Germany, Belgium and Holland, it is 
highly probable that Europe will need 
not only all the surplus of this year’s 
wheat crops of the United States, Russia 
and India, but also from 50,000,000 to 
75,000,000 bushels of the reserve stocks of 
those countries; hence the recent steady 
advance in the price of this cereal. 
CAN THE EAST LEARN AGRICUL¬ 
TURE OF THE WEST ? 
F OR some time past the Rural has 
been preparing for a series of articles 
showing what one section of our country 
may profitably learn from the agriculture 
of another. Perhaps as good a way as 
any to start thought in this matter will be 
to quote from a letter recently received 
from a very prominent Western agricul¬ 
tural teacher, who is thoroughly conver¬ 
sant with both Eastern and Western 
farming methods. 
He says: “I do not find that the 
Eastern farmer has so much to learn of 
the Western as a superficial view might 
indicate. We in the West breed better 
and carry better stock. This is a great 
point. This breeding is made possible 
by our superior pastures, which are due 
to nature and not to art. The Eastern 
farmer would have to improve his pas¬ 
ture before he could reach our style of 
cattle. The Western farmer has better 
tools to fit his opportunities, but they 
do not grow out of himself. The West¬ 
ern farmer is somewhat broader in the 
main. This occurs by virtue of his broad¬ 
er relations and the ease with which he 
gains or has gained his living. He is 
likewise more socially inclined. There 
is less conventionality about him and in¬ 
clination to forms and old methods. He 
has more freedom of action; hence he is 
more likely to venture upon a new order 
of things.” 
What do our readers, who have left 
Eastern farms to go “ out West,” think 
of this ? 
A VALUABLE “WASTE PRODUCT.” 
T HIS is apple pomace. We can re¬ 
member how it stood around the old 
cider mill at home. It was dumped any¬ 
where to get it out of the mill. Those 
who came to the mill with apples had to 
pick their way through piles of bad¬ 
smelling material. A few farmers tried 
to feed it to cows. The worst of results 
followed 1 Certainly, but the results 
were due to the feeding and not to the 
feed. The favorite method was to dump 
a load of the pomace in the pasture and 
let the cattle eat all they could. Is it 
strange the cows hurt themselves? A 
load of wheat or a load of corn fed in the 
same way would have killed the cattle. 
Chemical analysis shows that ordinary 
pomace has a higher feeding value than 
silage, turnips, beets or potatoes. It 
must be fed judiciously in order to ob¬ 
tain its full value. It is nonsense to ex¬ 
pect a cow to do well on an exclusive diet 
of pomace. It is folly to argue that a 
peck of this material per day will not 
prove advantageous in the ration of 
horned stock. Try feeding pomace this 
year. We shall soon publish the experi¬ 
ences of some farmers who are feeding it. 
At some cider mills the pomace, after the 
first pressing, is steam-cooked and then 
re-pressed. The juice thus obtained is 
mixed with the first pressing and made 
into apple jelly. 
-- 
THE RURAL’S FIELD OF CHESTER 
CO. MAMMOTH CORN. 
W E have this season five acres of the 
Chester Co. Mammoth Corn. The 
field had been in grass for five years. It 
was plowed in late fall. In the last part 
of February 35 loads (1,500 pounds each) 
of farm'manure^ were ^spread over the 
surface. In March the field was gone 
over twice with a smoothing harrow. 
April 1st the field was twice harrowed 
with a disc harrow. Early in May it was 
again harrowed twice with the smoothing 
harrow. Then five bags of corn fertilizer 
were sown on the five acres—that is 200 
pounds to the acre. It was again har¬ 
rowed with the smoothing harrow and 
marked out in drills four feet apart. The 
corn was dropped by hand six inches 
apart, and at the second hoeing the 
plants were thinned to 14 inches apart, 
or thereabouts. The field has been culti¬ 
vated three times as needed. When the 
plants were three feet high 200 pounds to 
the acre were sown of the same fertilizer 
(high grade complete). 
It will be seen that the five acres re¬ 
ceived in all about 26 tons of farm man¬ 
ure and 2,000 pounds of fertilizer. The 
stalks at this time (Aug. 13) average 10 
feet high, and the yield promises to equal 
that of the great yield of 1880. The 
plants are now in silk, and the most we 
have to fear are early frosts or high 
winds. The stand is very good and the 
field presents a sight well worth seeing. 
BREVITIES. 
We are still eating Blush potatoes,preferring 
them to new potatoes. The Blush is a fine 
keeper. 
Have you ever used the mower or reaper 
for cutting corn ? If you have, let us know 
how it worked. 
Of average-sized grains of wheat there are 
about 619,520 to the bushel, according to the 
Rural’s estimate. 
Mr. Grundy’s remarks on the district 
school, contain a good deal of sense. How is 
the school in your district ? 
J ohnson grass from seed sown five years or 
more ago, is again in bloom. The stems are 
seven feet high, measuring to the top of.the 
panicle. 
Owners of thrashers will do considerable 
corn thrashing this year. A machine es¬ 
pecially prepared for this work is on trial at 
the West. 
You may not be fully satisfied with the 
way your roads are worked. At any rate you 
can do your share of the work faithfully. Any 
harm in trying this ? 
A Single specimen of the Wilder pear was 
received from C. A. Green, of Rochester, N. 
Y., on August 13, which was perfectly ripe 
and of good quality. This was illustrated in 
the R. N. Y., of December 3, 1887. 
Chemists tell us that the Japanese Soy bean 
comes nearest in composition to animal food 
of all vegetation. American sweet corn 
comes near enough to suit us. We eat it in 
place of meat, at this season and hardly miss 
the meat. 
It is time to set strawberry plants. Unless 
set before Sept. 20, it is better to wait until 
next spring. It is the Rural’s way to mulch 
heavily between the plants as soon as the 
ground freezes, leaving the plants themselves 
above the mulch. Old manure is best—this 
to be turned under not until after fruiting. 
New Monarch, Golden Eureka. Fulcaster, 
Dietz Longberry, High Grade, Patagonian, 
Wyandot Red, Diehl-Mediterranean and Poole. 
The R. N-Y. has tried all of them, and we 
shall print our report in a week or so with 
illustrations true to nature. They contrast 
sharply and unfavorably with the catalogue 
and periodical portraits we have chanced to 
see. 
A Man wrote a letter from a Southwestern 
town, in which he informed a friend that at 
least 50 hogs roamed about thefstreets at all 
hours. The friend published the letter in the 
local paper, and it found its way back to the 
town. The citizens were indignant because 
they said such stories hurt their town. They 
could not deny the story—the hogs were be¬ 
fore them. If they had spent their energy 
and anger in driving the hogs out of the streets 
they would have done better. There are 
plenty of towns with poor drinking water, 
filthy privies and liquor saloons, that might 
well take this as a hint. 
Experiments with Texas fever are now 
progressing at the Chicago Stock-yards. On 
July 13, five native cattle were placed in a 
pen which had been previously occupied by 
Texan cattle. They seemed to maintain good 
health and condition until August 9, wheu 
symptoms of Texas fever became manifest. 
The next day one died and another was 
killed, and on the following day the three 
others died. A post-mortem examination 
showed the bladder filled with bloody virus, 
the kidneys highly inflamed and discolored, 
and slightly affected with gangrene, and the 
spleen and the stomach enlarged and inflamed. 
These are unmistakable signs of Texas fever. 
Another experiment was begun July 20, when 
some native cattle were placed in a pen with 
10 Texans. At the end of a week the latter 
were taken out, the object being to ascertain 
if contact for a week is long enough to trans¬ 
mit the affection. At the date of our 
last report—August 14—the native cattle 
showed no signs of the disease. Hereafter, 
however, 'i exan cattlq will probably be pen¬ 
ned separately and their pens will be used for 
no other kind of cattle. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1888. 
Fair Number next week. This is a good 
copy to show to those who ought to subscribe 
to the Rural. 
The cions of the Idaho pear set last 
year are making so fine a growth that we 
may hope they will bear fruit another 
year. This pear, first brought prominently 
before the public by the R. N.-Y,, is cer¬ 
tainly one of great promise. 
TnE Editor of R. N.-Y. visited the 
Rural Farm on Long Island last week, 
after a long absence, owing to the fact 
that pressing experiment work required 
all of his time at the New Jersey place. 
It was at once seen that the potato field 
(White Star) was infested with the Flea- 
beetle and that the vines were everywhere 
more or less injured by its depredations. 
A drive through the country showed that 
most of the fields were similarly infested. 
Unless some means can be devised to 
stamp out the fungus Sphgera Hendersonia, 
small fruit-growers may better give up en¬ 
tirely the culture of the raspberry. There 
is not one variety at the Rural Grounds 
exempt from it. The fruit-bearing canes 
are just about dead before the berries 
ripen. It would seem the fungus attacks 
only the fruit-bearing canes. Those of 
the current year’s growth are perfectly 
healthy. Not until the fruit-bearing 
canes begin to bloom does the work of the 
fungus manifest itself. Then black 
patches upon the canes appear, the leaves 
turn yellow and the canes die. 
We have told our readers that Mr. 
Augustus J. Hewlett, of East Rockaway, 
L. I., four years ago grafted the top of a 
pear tree 100 years old to the Kieffer. 
Last year he harvested 10 baskets and 
one peck of fruit. The baskets hold 
nearly a bushel. They were picked the 
last of September, and ripened in a cool, 
dark cellar in about 10 days. Scarcely 
any rotted. All not needed for family 
use readily sold for a dollar a basket. 
He could have sold hundreds of baskets 
for the same price, or more. The quality 
was thought to be juicy and good. For 
canning they were decidedly superior to 
Bartlett. 
Our near farm neighbor, above al¬ 
luded to, for nearly 20 years has painted 
the trunks of his apple trees, to protect 
them against the borer, with lead and oil 
paint. The paint is applied from a little 
below the soil to a foot above. He finds 
this entirely effective, while the body of 
the tree is not in the least injured. He 
has tried other preventives, such as tar¬ 
paper, removing and crushing them with 
a wire, lime-wash, etc., but prefers the 
paint simply because it is entirely effec¬ 
tive and easily applied. The trees are 
painted as a rule every year in early May. 
We regard this as a valuable bit of in¬ 
formation. 
Tns Rural has about half an acre of 
Rural Blush potatoes. The vines of the 
south half are nearly dead from the in¬ 
jury wrought by the Cucumber Flea- 
beetle; the other half is comparatively 
unhurt. Whether these destructive in¬ 
sects have decided preferences for certain 
varieties or whether they merely accumu¬ 
late in a gregarious way we cannot say. 
Certain it is that the R. N.-Y. can show 
varieties whose leaves are still green and 
perfectly sound, while within five teet 
other varieties show every stage of injury 
—from vines killed a month ago to those 
whose leaves are just attacked. 
If you want your corn to mature earli¬ 
er, go through the field and mark with a 
cord those ears which are the most ad¬ 
vanced. Does your corn sucker too 
much ? Mark the best ears on plants 
which do not sucker. If not done now , 
probably it will not be done at all. Do 
The estimated value of orchard pro¬ 
ducts of all kinds in this country for 
1880 was $50,876,151. In 1850, the val¬ 
ue of these products was only $7,723,186. 
This is a wonderful increase, yet even 
this vast sum might be added to if some 
of the suggestions made in this paper 
were carried out. A vast and valuable 
product is allowed to waste and decay in 
every orchard. The vinegar business is 
too frequently neglected. As one of our 
correspondents says elsewhere, there is 
“no big bonanza in the business,” but 
there is a chance to save a little waste 
which is well worth accepting. It is not 
an evidence of good farming to allow 
money to rot under .the trees. That is 
what farmers do who neglect to utilize 
their fruit. Sometimes it costs more to 
get hold of money than the money is 
worth. Is this true of the wasted 
apples ? 
Many farmers near New York depend 
upon the live poultry markets for winter 
laying stock. Many of them think they 
can buy pullets cheaper than they can 
raise them. The plan is to buy pullets 
about this time of the year, keep them 
through the winter and spring and sell 
them when they want to sit. We have 
been pricing such pullets during the past 
few weeks. They sell for 15 cents per 
pound live weight. We can get pullets 
of fair breeding for 35 cents each that 
will, with good treatment, begin laying 
by the middle of October. The accepted 
price for such pullets in our neighbor¬ 
hood is 50 cents each—about what it is 
considered worth to raise them This 
method of egg production compares with 
the system of buying farrow cows in the 
fall, making butter from their milk dur¬ 
ing the winter and selling them for beef 
in the spring. It is a violation of the 
rules put down by most dairymen, but it 
makes money for those who practice it. 
Some agricultural writers and editors 
are very free just now with advice to 
farmers. Here is a specimen of the stuff 
that we object to : “ Kill off the scrubs 
and substitute thorough-breds; burn up 
the old horse-killing, soul-destroving 
implements and substitute something 
modern and effective.” It is all very 
well for the “gentleman farmer,” or 
those who have cash enough to buy the 
proposed new stock and tools to follow 
this. The man who usually gives such 
advice would probably go further and 
say the farmer, after destroying his old 
implements, should run in debt for the 
new ones. Perhaps there are men who 
can make a fortune farming on this prin¬ 
ciple. We can’t. “ Pay as you go !” 
We believe in that policy so thoroughly 
that we would stick to the old things until 
we saw our way straight and clear to some¬ 
thing better. We could never expect to 
get very rich at this practice, but we 
should expect to sleep sounder, feel hap¬ 
pier and live longer to pay for it. 
OUTLOOK FOR CROPS. 
A CCORDING to the August report of 
the Department of Agriculture, a 
summary of which is given elsewhere in 
this issue, a fine corn crop is already as¬ 
sured, barring some great, widespread dis¬ 
aster. With an enlarged movement of 
the new winter wheat crop evidence of 
inferiority of quality is accumulating. 
An arrival at Chicago from Kansas City on 
Thursday weighed only 49 pounds to the 
measured bushel, and one from Cen¬ 
tral Illinois only 48 pounds, and it is es¬ 
timated by Chicago dealers that the 
receipts of new winter wheat to date will 
not average 52 pounds; and the inspec¬ 
tion of the new crop gives less than 10 
per cent, of No. 2 wheat; while a year 
ago the No. 2 was not far from 90 
per cent, of the whole. Similar com¬ 
plaints come from other receiving centers. 
The weather in the Northwest has been 
unfavorable to spring wheat, while insect 
pests of all kinds have been very injurious. 
Telegrams from Chicago and St. Paul 
within the last three days, say the crop 
has been further injured fully 10 per 
