4888 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
Postscripts. 
EXTRACTS FROM RECENT LETTERS. 
“The Rural has grown into the affections 
of our family to such an extent that its 
weekly visit isgreeted like that of an old and 
trusted friend. Under the guidance of the 
Rural and some other publications, my lit¬ 
tle farm of 10 acres has grown to be a little 
Eden, at least to me,and produces more value 
in crops than any 150-acre farm in the vicin¬ 
ity. Our cash sales have reached the snug 
sum of about §1,700, leaving nearly $1,500. 
net. As a great part of our ground has not 
come into bearing yet, we hope in a few years 
to double this. But this is only a small part^of 
the real return. The pleasure, the health, the 
independence! Who would not live in the 
country, and lie at the feet of Nature admir¬ 
ing her beauty and learning her lessons? 1 ' G. 
C. M , Middleton, N. S.-“I planted some 
Early Rose potatoes early in August accord¬ 
ing to the Rural’s trench system. Our con¬ 
stant rains and too much potash (cotton-seed 
hull ashes, said to contain 32 percent, of pot¬ 
ash) made a failure.” C. E P.,Ocean Springs, 
Miss.-“I desire to express my gratitude 
to the R. N.-Y. for its efficient efforts to ad¬ 
vance the science and art of farming. It 
stands, so far as I know, without a peer in 
agricultural journalism. I And that the 
nearer I come to the R. N.-Y.’s system of 
potato raising, the better crops I have.” — ■ 
“My method of potato culture is to plow nine 
to 10 inches deep. Then I open the row about 
five inches deep with a potato plow, drop the 
seed-pieces 10 to 12 inches apart and cover 
lightly with a cultivator. When the vines 
begin to come through, I harrow thoroughly 
until all the weeds are destroyed. By this 
plan I am said to have “good luck” with po¬ 
tatoes. My be3t variety this year yielded 
over 250 bushels per acre.” Thos. Ander¬ 
son, Knox Co., Ills.-“I want the 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 potato. You sent me the 
Rural Blush a few years since. It is one of 
the best potatoes we have.” E. W. H., Well¬ 
ington, Ohio.-“Why is it that a man 
can get a patent or copyright and have his 
invention or discovery protected, who has 
not spent in such discovery half the time 
spent by a man who originates an extra-good 
fruit or vegetable? I think if horticulturists 
would arise and demand of the law-makers 
such protection, some way would be devised 
by which an originator could obtain some 
compensation for his time, trouble and ex¬ 
pense. It is certainly very unjust that he 
should be left out as he is at present.’’ 
Daniel Bundy. -“During the past year 
we have learned something about keep¬ 
ing and handling chestnuts. We And 
that by letting them get so ripe as to 
drop from the burrs, we lose a good 
many which are picked up and carried off 
by little and big boys. When we knock them 
down some will come before they are ripe, 
and these will not ripen nicely when taken 
out before they are colored. We now use a 
fruit-picker and gather them as the burrs 
get brown, or even earlier, and lay them by 
to cure in the barn. We And that in this way 
they ripen up nicely without shriveling and 
they can be kept fresh and plump much 
longer than when pulled, as then they must 
be dried or they will mold”. H. M. Engle & 
Son. -“Four years ago the Rural sent 
out some corn called “a cross of 50 varieties.” 
When harvesting it, I called it a worthless 
mess. My wife found three or four small 
nubbins of pure yellow dent, the largest not 
more than four inches long. Sue saved this 
seed and planted it the next spring and con¬ 
tinued the planting every year since. I now 
have some very Ane early yellow dent. Some 
of it is badly mixed and tends to run back to 
other varieties, but by saving each year 
the earliest and Anest I expect to 
get a variety that will pay for my 
trouble.” O. B, Sodus, Michigan.- 
“1 was much interested in the articles on the 
Trench System, yet I had little conAdence in 
its usefulness ,as I was unable to see any philoso¬ 
phy ir it; but having potatoes to plant,I decid¬ 
ed to give the system a fair trial, so I measured 
out a suitable plot and planted it with Early 
May Aower potatoes in trenches. I discarded the 
seed-ends of the potato, using only the body, 
which was cut into pieces which were placed 
in the trench about four inches apart. The 
ground was enriched with superphosphate 
alone at the rate of three tons to the acre. 
The yield of table potatoes was at the rate of 
653 bushels to the acre.” S. A. Ladd, 
Meredith Village, N. H.-“ The crop of oats 
in this section was yery heavy, but most of 
them were so badly lodged by storms that not 
over half was harvested. One of my neighbors 
turned his bogs—an extra Ane lot—into his 
Aeld to save the grain. They seemed to like 
oats and ate them greedily. Within four 
weeks every one of them was dead. He said 
it was cholera! Another neighbor managed to 
cut most of his oats, but as they were dam¬ 
aged by wet weather while in stack, he de¬ 
cided to feed them to his hogs instead of try¬ 
ing to thrash them out. At the end of the 
Arst week he found two of his nicest pigs dead. 
He quickly took the hint, stopped feeding oats 
and turned the animals on a good Blue-grass 
pasture. Quite a number of them were very 
sick and a few died, but his prompt 
action in the matter was what saved most of 
his bacon.” Fred Grundy, Christian Co., Ills. 
-When we were moving a pile of stove 
wood (roughly piled) lately, we found a good 
bunch of new potatoes about the center of the 
pile, at the east side of the house. They were 
quite clear of the ground and seemed healthy, 
but very red. Fully a dozen were of market¬ 
able size. We had noticed the tops growing 
out of the wood pile in the summer, but paid 
very little attention to the matter until we 
found the tubers, when we were much aston¬ 
ished at such growth in such an airy place, 
and without any connection with the soil.” 
F. W. W., Chatham, Ont.-“This is the 
season when the ‘pot’ hunters from the cities 
and large towns overrun the farmers’ lands 
and steal (that is the proper name for it) the 
game which has grown and fattened upon his 
produce. The average farmer is altogether 
too good-natured about this matter. It is his 
duty to prevent promiscuous gunning on his 
premises. It is a nuisance that must be 
stopped. In many places the farmers have 
organized and leased out the privilege of 
shooting the game on their premises to a gun 
club. This is a move in the right direction, 
J. H. G., Queens County, N. Y.-“Your 
correspondent ‘Jerseyman’ makes fun of 
‘city farmers’ because they talk of the pro- 
Ats in raising Shetland ponies. From the 
little experience I have had, I think there is 
as much money in this branch of horse breed¬ 
ing as there is in any other for Eastern far¬ 
mers.” G. H. C., Worcester County, Mass. 
-“Your Trench System is just as good 
out here as it is in New Jersey. We need 
more Prof. Budds and other men like him out 
here " T. M. C., Denison P. 0.,Iowa.-- 
“ My wife and I make a double entry for that 
potato contest.” Amos Cheney, Ulster Co., 
N. Y.-“The SnowAake and Landreth’s 
GarAeld potatoes fetch a higher price in the 
Boston market than any other variety grown 
in New England.. There are only three Arms 
in that city that handle them, and next year 
they are in hopes that there will be Charles 
Downings enough in this town to take the 
place of the SnowAake. The Downings are 
becoming very popular, and will be planted 
here quite extensively next season. Lan¬ 
dreth’s new State of Maine is also becoming 
very popular in this part of the country. It 
is medium late and one of the most proliAc 
varieties in the world. My new seedling, 
No. 12, or Ben Harrison, is a very proliAc va¬ 
riety, not yet introduced. This is a seedling 
of the State of Maine and is the heaviest crop¬ 
per that I ever originated. The tubers are very 
handsome and the quality reminds me of the 
old Peachblow.” O. H. A., Charlotte, Vt.- 
“I have followed up all the Rural’s experi¬ 
ments with a great deal of pleasure and satis¬ 
faction. These experiments to any intelli¬ 
gent farmer I regard as worth the subscrip¬ 
tion price of the paper, and I hope the Rural 
will be rewarded with the success it so fully 
deserves, especially with the Hybrid wheat 
and rye. Still I do not wish to be invidious, 
for the potato efforts are huge and well de¬ 
serve the praise of all.” J. C. A., St. Michael’s, 
Md.-“I hope I am not the only lady 
farmer on your list. I have been farming 
Ave years. It is up-hill work, but I think l 
gain a little everyyear.” Mrs. M. C. Thomas, 
Bristol Co.,Mass.-“We frequently have 
chickens with broken legs. Most people 
think it does not pay to bother with such 
birds so their heads are generally cut off. 
Such broken limbs can be easily set. I had 
a valuable young rooster that broke its 
leg. My wife set it with little splints 
and a cloth and the rooster recovered entirely 
It paid.” H. W. C., Bergen Co.,N. J.- “J 
am one of the folks that took the Rural’s 
advice about laying in a good store of nuts 
for winter eating. The squirrels are good 
things to copy after in the nut busi¬ 
ness”. C. P. S., Plymouth Co., Mass.- 
“There is one thing I will not do again and 
that is set out sweet potato plants before June 
1st,and I shall not ‘rush’ to get them out earlier 
than the 10th. It is strange that so many 
farmers do not seem to realize how compara¬ 
tively little labor is required to provide a 
bountiful supply of berries for family use. 
The strawberry is about the only exception, 
and that is more generally grown than any 
other. But there is no use in arguing in favor 
of the planting of this Ane fruit, as it has been 
so often recommended with meagre results.” 
Uber, Falls Church, Va.-“In one respect, 
judging by what T. B. Terry says in a late 
Rural, we are in advance of some of our 
neighbors across the line. Our methods of 
farming are in many respects faulty, and that 
there are leaks in the business goes without 
saving; but we have ample barn accommoda¬ 
tions here; there are no straw stacks ” Alex. 
Gale, Wellington Co., Canada.-“West¬ 
ern dressed beef shipped into our markets has 
spoiled all our beef making. The stock we 
can fatten on sweet grasses is the only 
beef that pays us anything; but the 
dressed beef is driving us largely out of 
that.” A. F. M., Hancock, Mass.- 
“The majority of my neighbors have fought 
through another Summer’s work, and 
they emerge from the fray with good corn, 
good wheat, good oats, good potatoes, fat cat¬ 
tle, fat hogs, fat horses and, best of all, fat 
pocket-books and good health, One of my 
neighbor’s boys couldn’t realize the blessings 
of a good home, together with plenty to eat 
and wear, and a kind and honest father and 
mother, so he ran away into another State to 
scratch for himself where the country is com¬ 
posed mostly of hills and hollows. I am a boy 
and most of my neighbors'are boys and girls. 
We have a good school in our town that I. 
consider quite a blessing, and there is proba¬ 
bly not one half of the boys and girls who go 
to it that realize what it is worth to them. I 
will close by hoping the Rural’s Editor will 
have enough left after his potato contest to 
buy him a good-sized turkey.” E. E S., Pal¬ 
mer, Ill.-“We have heard a good deal of 
late about the dangers of unprotected com¬ 
petition with the ‘pauper’ labor of Europe. 
There is a form of competition from this pau¬ 
per labor which is vastly more injurious to 
the average American farmer. It is when it 
is imported and utilized by market garden¬ 
ers (usually foreigners themselves) and it Is 
this competition which is cheapening the 
price of farm produce. It is a common thing 
to see half a dozen women and children at 
work in a market garden in the vicinity of 
New York. The men who hire this labor 
have all the advantages of improved imple¬ 
ments,a near-by market and as cheap labor as 
can be had any where in the-world outside of 
China. The average American farmer can¬ 
not avail himself of this cheap labor 
and the result is he can get barely 
enough for his produce to keep body 
and soul together.” Marketman.- 
“I have grown hundreds of seedling potatoes, 
but I have never succeeded in getting any¬ 
thing better than those in general cultivation. 
I experimented with sulphur, as a preventive 
of scab, some six or eight years ago. I 
placed it above and below the seed, but re¬ 
ceived no beneAt from it.” J. H. Burnett, 
Onondaga County, N. Y.-‘ I am very 
much pleased with the Rural, and look for it 
eagerly every week, expecting always to And 
one or more articles specially interesting or 
valuable. One of the best things in this 
week’s issue is “about city farmers” by a Jer¬ 
seyman. He talks as if he knew what a far¬ 
mer’s life demands at the present day. There 
is no chance for fools or ‘greenhorns’ in the 
business, unless they are as economical and 
industrious as the ‘Italian chestnut peddler.”’ 
C. J. Bergen. Queens County, N. Y.- 
“Cattle are exceedingly low here and the 
winter promises to be hard, and feed ex¬ 
pensive, and the butchers can buy very 
cheaply; yet I have not heard that the price 
of meat nas fallen very much. Pork is very 
high and will be. Our potato growers here— 
I among the rest—have been trying for the 
Peter Henderson prizes in raising the Early 
Puritan potato and we have sent on some 
very nice specimens. The variety is certainly 
very early, and the tubers are Ane as to 
quality.” O. Howard, Weld Co., Colorado. 
-“I am a young farmer, though I have 
always worked on the farm of my father, but 
one year ago last spring I bought a farm and 
am trying for myself at present. I And it up¬ 
hill business. It has cost me more than I have 
made so far, though I didn’t have to borrow 
anything.” F. P. B., Liberty Corners, Pa. 
-“We beg to state that the Rural’s 
cartoons are making our Bachelors’ Hall look 
like a news-stand, and they are liked by 
everybody that stops at our place. The 
election is over and the farmer cannot strike 
the rascally politician for some time; but we 
hope that the Rural will strike him every 
week. For you “kin kaunt on us.” John¬ 
son & Gould, San Benito Co., California. 
“Our climate is not suitable for heavy yields 
of Irish potatoes, owing to the fact that we 
always have a drought of four to six weeks in 
April or May, which with us is the growing 
season for the Irish potato. I have tried the 
Trench System since I read the articles about 
it, and I had tried it virtually some years be¬ 
fore, but the dry weather in April and May 
brought my efforts to naught. One year I 
believe my yield equaled the Rural’s, but 
all rotted before digging. Our sweet potato 
crop is agrand one.” A. W. S., Americus Ga. 
804 
Out of the plenty of your own larder give 
unto those less favored. 
B1LL-0F-FARE 
-FOR- 
thinksgumg dinner. 
(RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED). 
TOMATO SOUP. 
CELERY. 
Roast Turkey ; Chicken Pie ; Cranberry 
Sauce; Mashed Potatoes ; Browned Sweet 
Potatoes; Mashed Turnips; Boiled Onions, 
Cream Sauce ; Pickles ; Bread. 
Pumpkin Pie; Frozen Pudding, 
Cheese. 
FRUIT, 
NUTS, RAISINS, 
COFFEE. 
SUGGESTIONS AS TO SERVING FRUITS 
AND NUTS FOR THE THANKS¬ 
GIVING DINNER. 
Crack all nuts. 
Polish apples, pears and bananas. 
Muscatels and London layer raisins are 
nicest for dessert. 
Build a grape pyramid of Malagas, Tokays, 
Catawbas, etc. 
Slice bananas lengthwise, delicately brown 
in a very little butter and serve with a sprinkle 
of powdered sugar. 
Boil chestnuts in salted water for ten or 
Afteen minutes, drain, toss up until dry and 
serve on a napkin in a deep dish. 
A raised center-piece of mixed fruits is an 
appropriate and delicious dessert as well as a 
hanasome ornament to the table. 
For ambrosia, choose sweet oranges, peel 
six and slice very thin, taking out the seeds. 
Grate a large cocoanut. Alternate the 
cocoanut and oranges; sprinkle powdered 
sugar over each layer. 
For snow Aakes, simply serve the grated 
cocoanut alone in a glass dish with whipped 
cream and powdered .sugar. 
For an orange pyramid, cut the skin of 
each into six or eight sections from the stem 
end a little more than half way down. Be 
careful not to cut through into the juice cells. 
Loosen the peel and bend under. Pile in the 
form of a pyramid upon a standard fruit dish. 
That “man lives to eat,” the Rural family, 
with the exception of the boy, does not be¬ 
lieve. Consequently we do not favor the 
getting up of elaborate meals. Our holiday 
dinners do not vary much from the ordinary 
meal. 
On Thanksgiving we have, of course, the 
traditional turkey and cranberry sauce ac¬ 
companied with celery, potatoes or some 
other vegetable. Sometimes the master, who 
has a fondness for game, speaks for quail, 
partridge or wild duck iu addition. This, 
followed by fruit or a light pudding, consti¬ 
tutes our dinner. 
We are sure that after dining in this wise, 
we are happier, better pleased with the world 
in general and ourselves in particular, than if 
we had eaten to repletion, as we would have 
been tempted to do had we sat down to a 
table groaning with all the delicacies of the 
season and the triumphs of a perfect cook. 
EXTRACTS FROM “SUNDAY EVENING 
TALKS” AT THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
A FEW THOUGHTS FOR THANKSGIVING. 
The last Thursday of November four years 
ago I was asked the question, “Shall you 
