768 
THE RUBAI, NEW-YORKER 
Ciitral (Toiiics. 
i) 
BUCEPHALUS BROWN’S NOTIONS AND 
IDEAS. 
About “Weeping” Trees —I don t like 
’em! I will except the Salix BabyloDica, for 
pendulosity is its natural habit, and it is by 
no means a melancholy tree, aside from its 
tombstone associations. But what beauty is 
there in the scraggy shrub called a Weeping 
Mountain Ash, or in that dwarfed and dis¬ 
torted evergreen figured on page 076, the 
“Weeping” Norway Spruce? 
Discontent on the Farm.— -I am satisfied 
from a wide-spread acquaintance with many 
farmers, East and West, that the better a 
farmer understands his business, the better sat¬ 
isfied he becomes with it. The reason is easy 
enough to see. It is only by knowledge 
that successful farming, under average condi¬ 
tions, is made possible. It must stand as an 
axiom, an indisputable fact, that in the pro¬ 
duction of all staple products, where there 
is free and unlimited competition, the price 
of the products will never average more than 
a small percentage above their cost. We may 
be sure they will do that because such uumon- 
opolized and unrestricted industries are 
self-regulating. Over-production unfailingly 
starves out the weaker operatives, while an 
advance in prices to mpts invariably to en¬ 
larged operations. The markets operate upon 
all such industries exactly like the regulator 
of a steam engine. 
What is the Consequence ?—If the 
average price, regulated by the average pro¬ 
duction, must give, on the average, a little pro¬ 
fit, then it follows as the night the day that 
the operator who possesses more than average 
skill and industry, may make more tnau the 
average profit. Here is the whole secret of 
successful farming. Being sure, in the very 
nature of things, that prices must be regulated 
on this principle, what has a farmer to do to 
make more than average profits, other than to 
be bettor than an average farmer? 
Does the Sum Prove?—I t certainly does. 
I live in a State where it is claimed that farm¬ 
ing is as unprofitable as it is anywhere in 
America. The cry that “farming doesn’t 
pay,” is heard here every day. And yet I 
will venture the statement that our farming 
towns will average considerably more than a 
dozen farmers each, who have begun with lit¬ 
tle or nothing, have never made anything to 
speak of outside of straight, plain, legitimate 
farming, and who own good farms, wel^ 
stocked, and have considerable outside prop¬ 
erty besides. 
Young Farmers Take Courage !—Having 
a business which is sure to give a living to an 
average man, and just as sure to give more to 
a man above the average, what need has the 
ambitious young farmer other than to set his 
face to the morning, and persevere? The 
greatest foe to success on the faim is ultra 
old-fog) Ism,—the refusal to learn, or to ac¬ 
cept tne teaching of experience. The spirit 
oi the age is a spirit of investigation and pro¬ 
gress. It has remodelled the world in half a 
century, and has done something for the 
farmer, but it can do much more. “It is not 
in our fates, but in ourselves, if we are under¬ 
lings.” 
The “New Gospel.”— This is not only the 
age of change and progress; it is also iheage 
of specialties. Every one of the grand divi¬ 
sions of human activity is being sub-divided, 
because there is such an increasing deal 
known, and to be known and done, in each, 
that none but a very exceptional men can ex¬ 
cel in all. Farming is the broadest of all busi¬ 
nesses, and the most complicated, and conse¬ 
quently calls the most loudly for subdivision. 
The great majority of our best farmers are 
sp cialists. Soon all will be so, by force of 
necessity. 
Not To Be Regretted. There is scarcely 
a good fai mer 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. It is 
consequently no cause for regret that special- 
km is not only better suited to individual pre¬ 
ference and capacity, but also likely to be 
moi e profitable. 
Soil Analysis. —I see that this subject is 
up again. Undoubtedly the early and even 
ihe present methods of soil analysis are very 
untrustworthy, and of little use to the practi¬ 
cal farmer. But there is no essential impossi¬ 
bility that a useful analysis may uot some 
time, and perhaps soon, be made of the soil 
of our farms. Chemistry is a progressive 
scieuce, aud no one can say that an easy 
method of analysis may not be devised which 
will give not only the quantity, but also the 
availability of the plant food present in any 
given soil. The chemists have long professed 
to do this with regard to fertilizers and man¬ 
ures, and they really have now reached a 
tolerable degree of accuracy,—more in the 
process than in the statement it has seemed to 
me, but they are improving even iu this. 
The Physician’s Experience of Human¬ 
ity.— The observation quoted from the Popular 
Science News on page 681 is one sided and there¬ 
fore misleading. True it is that the physician 
often sees the very worst side of human na¬ 
ture; but he also sees, in the sick chamber aud 
at the death bed, the very best and highest 
revelations of human goodness. His experi¬ 
ences differ from those of ordinary observers 
in going deeper in all directions. To say that 
the worst predominates over the better is to 
judge unfairly. The truth in this case, as in 
every other, is that we see always and only 
what we bring the eyes to see. 
EXPERIENCE AND SUGGESTIONS. 
Crows And Corn. —My sweet corn, covered 
by the hoe, was just coming through the 
ground, and so far had been untouched by 
the numerous crows. My better half thought 
to assist the corn by taking a small stick and 
loosening the crust that had formed. Re¬ 
sult; crows worked in every hill thus manip¬ 
ulated. Across a turning row was my field 
corn planted witn a hand corn-planter, some 
weeks later. The ground was loose and un¬ 
crusted, the young crows down in the woods 
could be beard clamoring for their food and 
yet they left my corn wholly and entirely 
alone. Dry corn alone was planted, the field 
had lime aud well rotted manure as ferti¬ 
lizer. Why did the crows single me out to be 
let alone? 
Onion Question —My ouions were sown 
(seed) in April and gathered Oct. 10, and the 
tops were greeD. We had tried to break down 
the tops but thej resisted and persisted in 
having their “stand up.” The bulbs could 
not be pulled, so enormous was the mass of 
roots. I had to use a potato hook to get 
under them: it was no fun. 
More About the Steel Rail,— I do not 
use a “steel rail” to go over plowed ground, 
but I use a 6x6x16 foot stick of timber. If 
the ground is knolly I increase the angle so 
that I sometimes could not cover more than 
five or six feet at a round. If it is quite level 
I cover about twelve feet at a round, going 
over the grouud first w.th this, then with a 
spring-tooth harrow then with timber, clos 
mg with a thorough harrowing. This puts 
my poor soil into as good a shape as 1 know how 
to put it. When I find a paper suj eri >r|to the 
Rural l shall take it. rev. e. d. rawson. 
Tioga Co., Pa. 
<ll)C ijoAksnum. 
NOTES ABOUT WINTERING LIVE 
STOCK. 
T. B. TERRY. 
Why some farmers do not make more money ; 
the fault in themselves though few ever 
own it; culjiable waste of the * ntire winter's 
feed because stock are badly kept; cases in 
point; stietter is feed; projit and humanity 
in yood care; the manure; where to look 
for the trouble when] arming doesn't pay. 
In this latitude stock will soon go into win¬ 
ter-quarters. How many of them will be 
cared for so that they will not really bring 
the owner any thing for what they eat during 
the long cold winter? Well, I fear a good 
many. The farmer will throw in his time 
that he spends taking care of them, also. 
Time and feed will go for naught. The blame 
will be laid every where except where it be¬ 
longs—on the farmer himself. 
My friend W. D. Hoard, who will soon be 
Governor of Wisconsin, “the farmers’ Gover¬ 
nor,” says he once interviewed 100 farmers 
and has notes of the interviews. This was the 
question put to them: “What is the reason you 
do not make more money?” And he says not 
one single man in the hundred laui the blame on 
himself. I have been forced time and again 
to think of this when I went out to the barn 
with farmer friends and listened to their talk. 
It isn’t easy to tell them right to their faces 
that they are largely to blame because they 
do not succeed better; so I generally keep 
still until I get home and then write what is 
on my mind to the paper they take, in a gen¬ 
eral way of course, mentioning no names. 
Now there are farmers in Ohio who kept 
steers, young cattle and colts, last winter, so 
poorly that they were not worth one dollar 
more in the spring than iu the fall before. 
Sometimes at least these were men who wanted 
to make money and needed it badly to pay 
debts, and intelligent men they were too, who 
read the best papir-i. I remember well about 
one friend who reads the Rural and two 
other first-class agricultural papers. He told 
me his farm was < nly at>out half paid for. 
Let me mention a few things noticed about 
his farm. 
Fu st, there was not shelter enough for all 
his stock. Some 12 head of calves and year¬ 
lings were being wintered in an open yard. 
They had a straw stack to run to and looked 
as though that was about all. I doubt 
whether they weighed as many pounds last 
spring as they did the fall before. Then 
think of the amount of actual suffering these 
poor little things went through during the 
winter. Now there was plenty of timber < n 
this farm. A single tree taken to the saw¬ 
mill would have furnished the lumber, and in 
two or three days the farmer could have 
built a shed against his barn, where these 
young cattle could have run loose during the 
winter, warm and comfortable. The outlay 
for shingles, nails and sawing lumber wo ild 
have been made good in a single winter by 
the saving in feed and improved condition of 
stock. There is no reason why, with proper 
feed and care, these young animals should not 
grow right along, steadily, all winter—none 
except that the farmer himself did not give 
them the chance. There was a great abun¬ 
dance of straw and plenty of bay and grain 
on the place; but there was a screw 
loose in the shelter aud care. Never 
mind dollars and cents, how could a man 
enjoy his own warm bed with those poor 
animals exposed to cold and storm? Honest¬ 
ly, I do not suppose he had ever 
thought of the matter in that light. If 
he had he would have soon had the young 
stock in a warm shed, with a dry bed of straw 
a foot deep, where they could enjoy life while 
growing for him. He was tco good a man to 
be cruel to poor animals knowingly. With 
the shed built he could easily arrange a man¬ 
ger along one side, next the barn, so that they 
could not waste a particle of feed. Then by 
leaving all manure uuder them till spring, 
and adding fresh straw often, the value of 
this product would probably be about doubled 
over what it was when the droppings were 
scattered around out-of-doors. 
Then again, he showed me a pair of fine 
colts, coming two years old. Where does the 
reader think they were wintered? Out-of- 
doors. They had taken first premium at the 
county fair iu the fall. Well, they wouldn’t 
take it in the spring. They would probably 
weigh less in the spring than in the fall before. 
He was “toughening” them. He said he did 
not think it a good plan to stable colts. Per¬ 
haps not, if tied up iu a narrow stall week af¬ 
ter week. But suppose one had good box-stalls 
for them, or a shed, and they were turned out 
an hour or two each pleasant day to have a 
run. Could not they thus be kept healthy 
and at the same time growing right along all 
winter? Wouldn’t they sell for $25 apiece 
more in the spring if thus wintered? Does it 
pay, just to humor a notion we have, to let 
them do all their growing during the summer 
aud eat our feed all winter, just about hold¬ 
ing their own, so as to grow again when sum¬ 
mer comes? With shelter and care, wouldn’t 
it have taken less feed for the season and 
wouldn’t the farmer have had more manure, 
besides those $25 a head? I believe so, and 
that it will pay to make calves and colts as 
well as other stock comfortable; pay in dol¬ 
lars aud cents, to say nothing of the claims of 
humanity. There are too many farms where 
the older stock are sheltered aud the younger 
ones left to rough it. 
But no w let us go into our friend’s barn. Vis- 
it the horse stable first. There were narrow 
stalls, about four feet wide, aud the horses 
were tied iu them. They were pretty well 
cared for; but would have been more com¬ 
fortable during the idle months in box-stalls. 
The great fault I had to find here was with 
Scrofula 
Probably no form of disease is so generally dis 
tributed among our whole population as scrofula. 
Almost every individual lias this latent poison 
coursing his veins. The terrible sufferings en¬ 
dured by those afflicted with scrofulous sores 
cannot bo understood by others, and their grati¬ 
tude on finding a remedy that cures them, aston¬ 
ishes a well person. The wonderful power of 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
In eradicating every form of Scrofula has been so 
clearly and fully demonstrated that it leaves no 
doubt that it is the greatest medical discovery of 
this generation. It is made by C. I. HOOD & CO., 
Lowell, Mass., and is sold by all druggists. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
MASON & HAMLIN 
The cabinet orjan was introduced in its present 
form by Mason <fc Hamlin in 1861. Other makers 
followed in the manufacture of these instruments, 
but the Mason & Hamlin Organs have always main¬ 
tained their supremacy as the best in the world. 
Mason & Hamlin offer, as demonstration of the 
nneonalled excellence of their organs, the fart that 
at all of the great World’s Exhibitions, since that of 
Paris. 1867, in^ Pa #1 ■ 11 ^competition 
with nest makl | 8J I 1 If Rj V" era of all coun¬ 
tries, they havel I n llU la a^invariably tak¬ 
en the highest W I IU 1111 W honors. Illus¬ 
trated catalogues §22 TO 8000 . free. 
Mason & Hamlin do not hesitate to make the ex¬ 
traordinary claim for their pianos, that they are 
superior to all others. They recognize the high 
excellence achieved by other leading makers in the 
art of piano building, but still claim superiority. 
This they attribute solely to the remarkable im¬ 
provement introduced by them in the year 1RS2, 
and now known as the “Mason & Hamlin Piano 
8tringer,” by M | ■ II the use of which 
is secured they I (1 By | I greatest pos¬ 
sible purity and] I U btj I B «%refinement of 
tone, together I I If I 1 V Wwith greatly in¬ 
creased capaci- GBAND & UPBIGHT. ty for standing 
In tune ana other important advantages. 
A circular, containing testimonials from three 
hundred purchasers, musicians, and tuners, sent, 
together with descriptive catalogue, to any applicant. 
Pianos and Organs sold for cash or easy pay¬ 
ments; also rented. 
MASON &HAMLIN ORGAN AND PIANO CO. 
BOSTON. NEW YORK. DHir.Aan. 
MQ1ABMY GIFT 
A POEM IN • 
Three Beauties—Knife, Fork and Spoon 
IN SATIN LINED CASE, ABSOLUTELY 
-FnEE !- 
One of the above sets will be sent, postpaid,as a 
premium, by THE METROPOLITAN, America’s pop¬ 
ular monthly, now in its fourth year of publication. 
The premium would cost you double the subscrip¬ 
tion. Pryor & Co., wholesale dealers in silverware, 
&c. write: 
“To the Manager of THE METROPOLITAN : 
Dear Sir The large lot of goods you have to-day pur¬ 
chased from us to he given away us premiums, must carry 
delight into thousands of homes. . .. You have secured 
a r ire bargain for your subscribers.” 
The present is one eminently suited to every 
household. The Queens of Society have noth¬ 
ing of the kind more beautiful, and nothing could 
bo more welcome from the Husband to tlieWife, 
l lie I,over lo liis Sweetheart, the .11 other to 
her Child, than this Holiday Gem. 
When you remember that you receive in addition 
to tlie above, one of tlie best Illustrated Home Ma¬ 
gazines in the country for a whole year for only 
Fifty cents, you cannot deny that it is an extraor¬ 
dinary inducement. Remit in postage stamps. Ad¬ 
dress THE METROPOLITAN, 32 Vesey 
Street, New York. 
VERSEERS w A N T E D Kv . < ‘ r J" , “‘ r< > 
O vt nottno a (Thome or to travel. We wish 
to employ a reliable person In your county 
io tack up advertisements and show cards of 
Electric Goods. Advertisements to be tacked up everywhere 
Oil trees, fauces and turnpikes, in conspicuous places, 
in town and country in all parts of the United States. 
Steady employment; wage* $$.50 pur day ; expenses 
advanced: no talking required. For local work wc will 
make an offer for all or part of the time. Enclose a plainly 
self-addressed STAMPED envelope for reply, and write to 
J. €. EMORY A CO., CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
car NO ATTENTION PAID TO POSTAL CARD8 .jT> 
CATALOGUE FREE. 
BARNEY & BERRY SPRINGFIELD,MASS 
God gives every bird its food but does 
uot throw it in the nest. There is food for 
reflection in the thought that Warner’s Log 
Cabin Sarsaparilla will purify the blood, 
thus ensuring good health, with which may 
come all blessings. $1. for 120 doses, of all 
druggists. 
General Advertising Rates of 
THU RURAL NEW - YORKER. 
34 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 
The following rates are invariable. All are there¬ 
fore respectfully informed that any correspondence 
with a view to obtaining different terms will prov « 
futile. 
Ordinary Advertisements, per agate line (this 
sized type, 14 lines to the Inch).30 eent*. 
One tbonaand lines or more,within one year 
from date of first insertion, per agate line, 25 “ 
Yearly orders occupying 14 or more lines 
agate space.25 “ 
Preferred positions.25 per cent, extra. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.,” per 
line, minion leaded.75 oenta. 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New Yoskk* Is: 
Single copy, per year.$3-00 
“ “ Six months. 1.18 
Great Britain. Ireland, Australia and 
Germany, per year, post-paid. $3,04 (12s. 6d.) 
France. 8.04 (16)4 fr.) 
French Colonies. 4.08 (29)4 fr.) 
Agents will be supplied with canvassing outfit oa 
application. 
latsisS at tka Fost-offlos at New York City, K. Y. 
m s s s ta i ttoss a&aU matt—- 
