THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
ANatlonal Journal for Country and Suburban Hornet 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1888. 
“Mark Where She Stands.” 
There was a great abundance of straw and 
plenty of hay and grain on the place; but 
there was\a screw loose in the shelter and care. 
Never mind dollars Zand cents, how could 
a man enjoy his own warm bed with those 
poor animals exposed to cold and storm ?— 
T. B. Terry, page 756. 
--♦««■♦■ »- 
The next R. N .-Y.seedling potato to 
be introduced will be the No. 4, prob¬ 
ably. The quality is very fine, and it 
is the greatest yielder we have ever 
raised. 
“ When hens are overfed, some that have a 
tendency to fatten quickly will become fat 
sooner than others, and yet, if they are in 
the yard with the laying hens, they will eat 
just as much and become fatter. The hens 
that are laying will then have to produce all 
the profit, and often the whole flock is con 
demned as unprofitable because one half of 
them are non producers, though the others 
may be among the best layers to be found .— 
P. H. Jacobs, page 757. 
_- ^ 1 ■■■■ ■ ■ ~ 
Now, lady friends, each and all, sit 
right down and write your name and ad¬ 
dress on a postal card and add “For the 
Women’s Potato Contest,” and then mail it 
to the R. N.-Y. The larger the number 
who engage in the contest, the greater 
the number of presents we shall strive to 
secure. We want each deserving contes¬ 
tant to receive a souvenir. 
—-- 
A friend in Cobleskill, N. Y., writes the 
following: - 
“The article beginning ‘Some of the simp¬ 
lest things in life are the hardest to learn,'' 
in the Rural of October '3rd—Editorial 
page—would bear repetition indefinitely, at 
the head of the editorial columns at that" 
- -^ <«-» - 
It is to be hoped that every one of our 
farm contemporaries that has the good of 
agriculture at heart ( and is there one that 
has not?) will join "the R. N.-Y. in giving 
a cordial publicity to the “Women’s 
Potato Contest.” It would be a first-rate 
idea if the wives of the editors of our es¬ 
teemed contemporaries would enter the 
lists—would it not? 
“ There is scarcely a good farmer who has 
not a decided leaning to some one part of the 
business, and this is the part he will be likely 
to excel in, and make most profitable. In 
a specialty it is easy to make a reputation 
which is worth money. In general farming 
that is not so easy." — Bucephalus 
Brown, page 756. 
-■»■>« ♦ - 
May we not hope that the wives of the 
directors of our experiment stations will 
send in their names as competitors for the 
“Women’s Potato Contest.” 
The R. N.-Y. ’s cross-bred and hybrid 
wheats have made a fine growth and gone 
into winter-quarters m fine condition. 
The plots will be mulched with fine ma - 
nure as soon as the ground is frozen. 
There is manifestly a growing appre- 
ciaton for the better class of hardy shrubs. 
That is as it ought to be. That is one of 
the changes the R. N.-Y. has earnestly 
worked to bring about during many 
years. 
In a farm contemporary we see two ad¬ 
vertisements side by side. One is of the 
Lawson pear with an illustration; the 
other is of the Comet pear with an illus¬ 
tration. The illustrations are unlike, the 
names are unlike; and yet both illustra¬ 
tions and both names stand for the same 
variety of pear. Is this fair to the buying 
public? Can nurserymen justify this 
confusion of names, this imposition upon 
purchasers? 
The well known Dr. F. M. Hexamer, 
who was present at the potato contest, 
writes as follows, under date of Oct. 4th: 
“ I fully agree with you, as to the po¬ 
tato contest, and do not have the slight¬ 
est doubt that had it not been for the 
Flea-beetles the yield would have been a 
thousand bushels to the acre; but even as 
it was, the way Number 2 turned out 
was glorious. Now if you will allow me 
a friendly suggestion, in making your cal¬ 
culations for next year’s contest, do not 
plant a smaller piece of ground than a 
quarter of an acre: half an acre would be 
better, but a quarter will do.” 
The man who buys eggs by the barrel 
in Western New York, ships them to New 
Jersey, unpacks them, puts them up in 
neat baskets, and sells them for “fresh 
Jersey eggs,” is a fraud and a dangerous 
character. He not only kicks his own 
reputation out of doors, but he brings dis¬ 
credit upon his neighbors.. The injury 
this man does to a locality is now being 
done to the nation by some selfish and un¬ 
scrupulous cheese merchants, according 
to reports from London. Certain unscrup¬ 
ulous dealers are practicing a fraud that 
will seriously injure the sale of American 
cheese unless steps are taken to stop it. 
The scheme is to procure skim-milk 
cheeses and brand them with a fictitious 
factory mark containing the words “full 
cream.” These goods have been sold 
upon the English markets, and the ex¬ 
posure of the fraud of course calls out a 
wholesale condemnation of American 
cheese. It is a shame that a few rascals 
can thus injure the reputation of honest 
men. 
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 
T HE RURAL’S THANKSGIVING 
NUMBER will please everybody. 
It will be like a genuine old New England 
Thanksgiving dinner; the feast will be 
wholesome, sound, appetizing and merry. 
Our contributors are going to write in 
the line of these suggestions: 
“1. What special form or garden oper¬ 
ation has been particularly pleasant and 
profitable during the past year ? 
2. What operation has given such re¬ 
sults that you never will try it againt 
3. Name a few things your neighbors 
have f o be thankful for and yet don't real¬ 
ize (we take it for granted that you can see 
blessings that your neighbors possess, tha 
you can't see at home ! 
Now, then, we want to invite all our 
folks to the dinner. If you have any¬ 
thing to say on any of these points, let’s 
have the report. This is a good time to 
think such things over. Let’s all think 
together. 
JAPAN CHESTNUTS. 
M R. N. HALLOCK, who has had 
more experience with raising and 
fruiting seedling Japan chestnuts than 
any other individual we know of, ex¬ 
pressed himself a week or so ago in these 
columns as being somewhat less enthusi¬ 
astic over them now than he was some years 
ago. But we hope he will continue the 
good work. We know that most of these 
trees bear at an early age; we know that 
they are dwarfs and that the average size 
of the nut is much larger than that of our 
American chestnuts. We further know 
that owing to a bitter skin, the quality 
is inferior. But there is one exception 
we believe. The Paragon (so named) has 
every appearance of being a Japan chest¬ 
nut as judged by the leaves and stems, 
which are quite distinct from those of 
either the Spanish or American. The 
nuts, if we may judge from those sent to 
us, are one-third larger than the largest 
Americans, while the quality is fully as 
good. The tree; is a dwarf, and grafted 
trees are prone to commence bearing the 
second or third year. A single tree of 
this variety planted last spring at the 
Rural Grounds bore both male and female 
flowers, which, of course, were removed. 
If this one variety should be the only 
outcome of cultivating the Japan chest¬ 
nut, we should feel fairly rewarded for 
the 100 failures. But we have still before 
us the possibilities that may come from 
crosses as well as the hope that other 
self-seedlings may equal or excel the Para¬ 
gon in the size and quality of its nuts, 
while still preserving its dwarf form and 
early-bearing proclivity. 
THE GRANGE. 
T HE National Grange will hold its 22d 
Annual convention at Topeka, Kansas, 
on November 14. This association of farm¬ 
ers was organized on December 4,1867, at 
Washington D. C. After a slow growth 
for the first few years, it began to boom 
in 1878, when 18,000 subordinate Granges 
were organized. In 1874 no less than 
11,841 more were organized, 2,239 in 
February alone. It was then at the 
hight of its general popularity, and politi¬ 
cians and other designing men with selfish 
ends in view sought its influence, and 
these together with some honest but un¬ 
wise enthusiasts diverted it from its ori¬ 
ginal purposes in some places. Crude and 
impractical business schemes were started 
and harmful affiliations were formed, and 
soon a reaction set in, and false prophets 
foretold its speedy collapse. Its original 
purposes were excellent, however, and its 
foundation was solid, and after the excres¬ 
cences of rapid growth had been cut off and 
a rigorous weeding process had been prac¬ 
ticed, its growth became steady and 
healthy, and it is to-day one of the most 
beneficial, influential and widely spread 
organizations in the country. It flour¬ 
ishes in every State and Territory of 
the Union. It offers the benefit of 
social intercourse and advancement, 
of mutual instruction and of combined ef¬ 
fort to every member of the farming com¬ 
munity who may join it. It has already 
done a great deal in securing State and 
National legislation and reforms for the 
benefit of farmers, and it promises to do 
a great deal more. It is very doubtful 
whether any secular organization has 
done so much for the social, intellectual, 
moral and material advancement of the 
farmers of the country and there is none 
to which the Rural more heartily wishes 
success and wider influence than to the 
Grange. 
THE POTATO RACKET. 
T HERE is not one as yet to accept of the 
R. N.-Y. potato challenge. It is sur¬ 
prising. Is not there one among its read¬ 
ers that is willing to take the chances of 
being obliged to donate $100 to some 
charitable object and at the same time 
promote a very important agricultural in¬ 
terest? “The plot is too small” it is said 
by some. Ah, yes. Small as it was the 
R. N.-Y. failed to raise at the rate of 700 
bushels to the acre. And now it proposes 
to more than double the area and to lake 
every chance against insects, droughts, blight 
and every other possible cause of failure. 
If we had won the contest the past season, 
we should feel less surprise that there is 
no one who cares to pick up the guantlet 
for another trial. The one first object of 
this contest is to show what may Redone 
on one-fortieth of an acre. If, then, so 
large a crop of potatoes can be economi¬ 
cally raised upon a small area, it is per¬ 
fectly plain that it would pay farmers to 
prepare additional land so as to secure 
upon an extended area just the same con¬ 
ditions that exist on the smaller one. 
We beg to say that we have very little 
patience with those croakers who sit in 
their editorial chairs and exclaim “It is 
child’s play.” “If the Rural fellow 
wants to show that he can raise 700 bush¬ 
els of potatoes on an acre, let him do it.” 
Out upon you lazy editors! Do you sup¬ 
pose that we or any other farmer can take 
an acre of run-down soil (such as ours is) 
and make it yield such an enormous quan¬ 
tity of potatoes the first season? Can’t 
you give us a little time to improve our 
land; to put it in such a condition that 
such a field would be among the possibili¬ 
ties? We have no such land at present. 
But others have or may have and our con¬ 
test plot is going to show them what they 
may do with it as we confidently believe. 
Read the letters of those who have tried 
the system. No one has as yet raised 700 
bushels to the acre, but nearly every one 
writes that the Trench System pays and 
that they propose to plant their potatoes 
next year by that method. 
We have acre upon acre of splendid 
land at the Rural Farm (Long Island) 
upon which the trial might be made. 
But it is a sandy, leachy soil, and we 
have never known a season during 
which, at one time cj other, potatoes 
were not checked in their growth by 
drought. A greater yield than 300 
bushels to the acre is there practically 
impossible. 
Now, gentle, considerate benevolent 
editors, give us a year or so to prepare 
an acre of our poor, uneven soil at the 
River Edge place. Then we will try to 
raise 700 bushels on a measured acre . 
Until then, good croakers, don’t crush us 
with your scowls or ridicule. Instead 
of talking about “baby plots” and 
“child’s play,” see if you can’t take the 
view that some good may come out of the 
business. 
Years ago, we raised an immense yield 
of corn on a small plot and reported it in 
these columns. 
“Nonsense,” cried the stern editors. 
“Itcan’t be done on an acre!” The very 
next year we raised on five acres over 550 
bushels of shelled corn, or 110 bushels to 
the acre. It was done with fertilizers, 
by level cultivation, and shallow culti¬ 
vation and by drill planting—a combin¬ 
ation which we called the “Rural’s 
Method.” Thousands have since adopted 
it; the farm press now [advocateit. But 
the Rural is forgotten in the matter. 
Still it did a good square piece of work 
for agriculture. And we are doing- 
another good piece of work for agricul¬ 
ture, if we may be permitted to think so 
by the Seven-IIundred-Bushel-Potato 
Racket. Just wait! 
BREVITIES. 
One Thousand Dollars. 
Anent tbe Woman’s Potato Contest: ll Bis 
dat qui cito dat. ” 
We want a souvenir for every woman that 
raises an unusually large yield. 
Can anybody tell us of a better winter- 
green food for hens than cabbage? 
Use dung on land tbe year before it is given 
to potato culture, not the same year. 
A number of good farmers are going to tell 
our readers about the new machines they saw 
at the fairs. Let us hear more about the ma¬ 
chinery you would like to have. 
Last week the price of Concord grapes was 
a trifle higher than that of fine Catawbas. 
The reason is that Concords are getting 
scarce and Catawbas are growing abundant. 
A slice of potato shows that the cells, 
though largely made up of water, contain 
starch. When the potato is cooked the starch 
swells and this is what we call “mealiness” in 
the potato. 
What do you think about the effort to 
“save the pomace?” Mr. Russell’s article 
gives information that many of our readers 
have been asking for. Are the seeds wasted 
at your cider mill? 
It is the R. N.-Y.’s opinion, ladies, that 
those of you who do something towards fitting 
your one-fortieth of an acre before winter sets 
in, will have something of an advantage 
over those who do not. 
Prof. W. A. Henry has sent us a sample 
of clover silage of excellent quality and in 
splendid condition. We fed it to horses and 
cows. Prof. H. is advocating the more gen¬ 
eral use of the clover plant in the silo. 
The Chicago Fat Stock Show will be held at 
Chicago, November 13-22. We hope many of 
our readers will attend. The beef breeder, the 
beef fattener and the beef consumer will all 
find something to instruct them at this show. 
Among our trials of the past season of new 
vegetables was one of the Endive-leaved celery. 
It grows about five inches high with a multi¬ 
tude of little stems and luxuriant leaves. 
The leaves when blanched are said to be use¬ 
ful for salads. That may be true. But we 
shall not try this new celery again. 
It is not positively known whether the po¬ 
tato crop is increased or not by selecting seed- 
tubers from tbe most productive hills. So far 
as the Rural knows, the N. Y. Experiment 
Station is entitled to the credit of first insti¬ 
tuting experiments to find out—thus farwith 
evidence in favor of the most productive hills. 
Hardly a week goes by without our having 
a call for Willard’s work on dairying. The 
impression seems to be general that we are 
handling this book. This is an error. We do 
not sell anything but The Rural New- 
Yorker. It is quite evident that the right 
kind of a book on dairying, authentic, w'ell- 
written and timely, would have a good sale. 
For the past two years, Prof. Samuel John¬ 
son, of the Michigan Agricultural College, has 
been feeding, for experiment purposes, steers 
of the different breeds, keeping careful 
records of all important data. It is expected 
that these steers will be exhibited at the 
Chicago Fat Stock Show. They will also be 
slaughtered at that time and their carcasses 
judged by experts. 
The Rural New-Yorker has just refused 
the advertisement of The American Family, 
which claims to be a home publication, pub¬ 
lished at 169 Fulton Street, New York City. 
It offers to give away free 50,000 solid gold 
watches to its subscribers, and as many more 
as may be needed, as each person who may 
send the concern $1.00 will be entitled to 
receive a solid gold 14-carat watch and 
the paper for one year. The means 
by which it will be able to be so 
generous are precisely the same as those 
advertised by Swindler Gardner, of Cincin¬ 
nati, Chicago and Memphis,in connection with 
his bogus publications in those cities for the 
last half dozen years. The Rural has de¬ 
nounced all of Gardner’s frauds as they ap¬ 
peared, and it now denounces this. Inquiry 
at the address given reveals the fact that the 
concern has no office there; but that it re¬ 
ceives its mail in another part of the city. Of 
course, Rural readers will have nothing to do 
with it, even if they see its advertisement in 
quite respectable journals or even in religious 
periodicals. 
