1889 
ftlttttl Copies. 
5 
BUCEPHALUS BROWN’S NOTIONS AND 
IDEAS. 
What are the Essentials op Potato¬ 
growing ?—If we are going in for big crops 
per acre—intensive potato culture, so to speak 
—it is very important to eliminate all non- 
essentials, since every part of the work will 
be costly. One of my neighbors, who reads 
the Rural, and has been practicing mixed 
farming, tells me he shall put all his eggs into 
one basket next season, and plant forty acres 
of potatoes as his only money crop. He 
will use machines for planting and dig¬ 
ging, and manure with chemicals only; and 
he will get through, with his crop turned into 
cash,by the end of September, and discharge 
most of his help then. He thinks he will 
make the most money this way; yet I cannot 
but have my doubts, though he is a good 
farmer, and potatoes are one of our surest 
crops. Yet I have rarely known a one-crop 
farmer to be successful in the long run. 
But about the Essentials.— Deep and 
thorough tillage seems to me to be the first, 
not only in time but in importance. The 
potato wants a chance to expand; and it can 
get it only by having its bed made deep and 
mellow. Then it wants its food plenty, handy, 
and well cooked—that is, soluble — and it 
don’t want any help, in the shape of worms, 
to consume either the food or the crop. 
A large crop means a great deal taken from 
the soil in a short time—three months. Sta¬ 
ble manure, if rich and fine, could not be 
bettered as a food for potatoes it it were not 
for the drawback of the scab-making pests 
with which it is so often infested. 
What else ?—A satisfactory variety being 
chosen, and the field being deeply mellowed 
and liberally enriched, how shall we plant ? 
Shall it be hills or drills and at what dis¬ 
tance ? How deep ? How much seed ? How 
cut? Well, on all these 'points there are di¬ 
vided opinions; but the fact cannot be dis¬ 
puted that as large crops as are on record 
have been got from two-eyed sets, planted 
pretty close, the land being well prepared and 
well enriched. The best results I have seen 
have been from deep planting and level cul¬ 
ture. This method makes rather hard dig¬ 
ging, which is the only objection. There is 
less danger from drought, and no loss from 
green ends; but more are left in the ground, 
unless the diggers are very faithful. 
The Corn Crop.—I earnestly hope that 
corn-husking machines will prove a success 
and I wouldn’t quarrel with the man who 
would bring me a machine that would give 
me, at the end of two days, my corn from 
twenty acres all husked, and the fodder 
crushed, cut and stowed away, even if he 
wanted four cents a bushel for doing it. It 
will cost a farmer in the East more than twice 
that to do it in the old way, and the todder 
will not be in as good shape either. 
Does it Pay to Grow Corn ?— I mean in 
New England. All our valley farmers think 
it does. Most of our hill farmers think it 
doesn’t. On the high hills, or in the narrow, 
elevated valleys between them, the crop is 
too uncertain for its grain, though it is planted 
even there as a fodder plant. Wherever plant¬ 
ed, a corn that will not ripen in any season but 
the most exceptional can hardly be made to 
pay unless through the silo. As a winter feed 
corn fodder requires too much handling, too 
much room, and is too subject to injury from 
mold and mice to be desirable on any large 
scale. The silo is the place for it, and perhaps 
only on light soils is it better than would be 
the same work and manure put into the grass 
and small grain crops. 
Does it Pay to Grow any Grain?—I 
mean in the same section. Most of our farm¬ 
ers would stare to be told that it does not, yet 
very few of them grow all they need. Under 
ordinary conditions if it pays to grow some, 
why does it not pay to grow enough ? “Well, 
it takes too much help.” Our farmers do not 
see their way to hire help enough to till any 
broad area of land at the present rate of 
wages and price of crop and products. It 
is a close business, without doubt. Farming 
is and must always be a close business; yet 
everywhere we find men who make a good 
living and lay up money at it. No business 
is good for all that are in it. Thought, pru¬ 
dence, patience, hard work — these are the 
qualities required to make farming pay, 
or any other business that is honest. 
And Courage, Too. —Many a farmer who 
lives among the “ ebbs and shallows ” of for¬ 
tune could do much better if he had more 
courage. But, ah ! where can he get it ? And 
how to mix caution and courage in the right 
proportions “to bring luck,” says one who is 
looking over my shoulder. Many a farmer 
THE BUBAL HEW-YOBKER. 
has tried to “branch out [a little” and has 
mired himself for life, and remained a 
warning to his neighbors ever afterwards. 
But when we look into it, we shall find, in 
such a case, that it has been into some 
“gambling crop,” like hops, or tobacco, or 
small fruits—things that require expert 
knowledge, and capital to stand occasional 
bad’crops or low prices. 
Try Standard Crops. —When a farmer 
wants to broaden his business, let him begin 
with that part of it which he knows the most 
about. Then he will not be deceived by the 
glimmering haze that hangs over the un¬ 
known, and enlarges and distorts it to the eye. 
It seems to me that the remedy for that bug¬ 
bear, high wages, may be found in making 
the same ground grow bigger crops. This is 
the safest place to enlarge, because it involves 
the leastjproportional expenditure. Have the 
courage, even if only on one acre, to try if 
more money cannot be made by making it 
richer, even if you have to buy the enriching 
material. This will be the only extra expense, 
except in the harvesting, for which the crop 
will pay. 
Apply the Same Idea Farther. —Apply 
it to your stock. Have you the most profitable 
stock, or if you have are you getting all the 
profit there is in it ? Try feeding the stock 
better,;as well as the land. Try improving 
your seed by selection or purchase. Try 
stopping all the leaks, one after the other— 
not by miserly economy, but by a wis6 atten¬ 
tion to details. This is not speculative farm¬ 
ing. This is not running an unknown risk. 
It is simply applying the old rule that, what 
is worth doing is worth doing well. I don’t 
believe much in sticking up mottoes. They 
do not seem to make much impression. But I 
have known a word timely spoken to have a 
life-long effect upon the hearer. I once heard 
a boss mechanic say to his apprentice, in a 
wrathful tone, “D—-n you, none of yonr 
‘ ’bout rights ’—is it right ?” He did not even 
know that I heard him, but bis fervor and 
emphasis drove a truth into my mind that 
has been worth thousands to me, whether it 
helped the apprentice or not. 
Postscripts. 
SHORT, SHARP AND SENSIBLE. 
“I unhesitatingly say that warts need not 
prevent the sale of a good heifer. They are 
blemishes and their presence renders milking 
unpleasant to the milker and painful to the 
cow and would, if not easily removable, ren¬ 
der her much less valuable than she would 
otherwise be. I would not hesitate any longer 
in purchasing an animal with warty teats, 
than would be necessary to give the seller 
time to determine how much less he consid¬ 
ered her worth on that account, which gener¬ 
ally is’a good percentage. I would then pur¬ 
chase a pound of lard (if I had none or but 
little of home made) and by greasing the teate 
well after milking would in a few weeks look 
in vain for the warts, and credit the amount 
of purchase money saved to profit side of the 
profit and loss account. A heifer should be 
accustomed to having her teats handled before 
“coming in,” and greasing them daily will not 
only remove warts but accomplish this object. 
I believe any kind of grease will answer; I 
prefer lard because it is less unpleas¬ 
ant for me to apply, and I keep it in 
a shallow tin box with a tight-fitting 
lid.” C. A. U., Falls Church. Va.- 
“That bread conundrum was ‘a hit.’ My 
sister took the premium at the county fair— 
she is the K flour of the family.’—That first- 
page cartoon of December 15th! ! "We are 
still laughing with the man on the other side 
of the fence—though without ‘enmity’— 
Miraculous escape, no bones broken.” M. S., 
Oswego Co. N, Y.-“I had a P. Rock hen 
confined with her chicks. She began laying 
eggs while so confined, for two or three days. 
I found each day an egg in her coop; then she 
would cackle, but when I came for the egg it 
was not there. While watching her one day 
I discovered her destroying and eating the 
egg as soon as it had dropped. I at once 
determined to kill and dress her for the table. 
I put her in the corn crib intending to kill her 
the next day, but in the interval saw a num¬ 
ber of addled eggs left by a hatching hen. I 
determined to try an experiment. I gathered 
them up and put two of them with the hen. 
She immediately set to work to break their 
shells, and did so—eating both of them. I 
then put four more addled eggs in the corn 
crib and left her. The next morning I opened 
the crib and found two eggs unbroken. I 
then put the hen in a coop, put two good eggs 
with her, but she refused to eat them 
and has not eaten an egg since that time.” 
C. S. Cooper, Schraalenburg, N. J.- 
Our district bought a Vulcan Road Machine 
last spring. The roads were worked with it, 
as long as the appropriation held out, and they 
were left in a very much better condition than 
ever before. They were not touched during 
the summer or fall; they are, however, in 
better condition now than they have ever 
been at this season. I judge from this that 
the road machines make the roads good at the 
moment and make them so that they remain 
good much longer than when ‘made’ in the 
old-fashioned way. J. H., G. Queens Co., 
N. Y.-“No great loss without some small 
gain. Our corn did not ripen well this year. 
The wet weather k°pt it from hardening and 
the early frost killed the leaves so that the 
stalks were nearly worthless for feed without 
cutting and splitting. We made silage out 
of the dry stalks. You ought to see how the 
cows relish it; for we have the right kind of 
machine to make it and know how to make 
it.” E. B. S.,Hydetown, Pa.- —“We can’t 
get along without the Rural; it beats them 
all; its best feature is originality; to a fruit 
grower, it is unsurpassed.” T. S. Grimb.- 
“I have entered my name for the Potato Con 
test and expect to do all the work a woman can, 
even to driving the horse while a fifteen-year- 
old boy holds the plow. Because of this I think 
there should be two clases: one for all those 
who oversee the work, and the other for those 
who do all the work a woman can. I also wish 
to raise an early variety of potatoes.” Mrs. 
D. L. B., Wilbraham, Mass.-“I farm be¬ 
cause I love it. It makes me independent; 
it makes me money and enables me to provide 
for my family as I wish. This gives me 
pleasure; in fact I am a free man 
when I farm.” T. A. S., Wartrace, Tenn- 
“A tool that saves us much labor is a potato 
separator, which was invented by a French 
Canadian farmer, nine miles from Montreal. 
It is constructed very much like an ordinary 
grain fanner without the fans. I would not 
be without one for a good deal, for when our 
potatoes begin to sprout in the spring we put 
them through the separator and it breaks 
the sprouts off and does not injure the potato 
in the least.” .R B., Quebec, Canada.- 
Woman's Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
A happy New Year; and may all our 
good resolutions be fulfilled! We are all 
making them about the 1st of January, and 
we are most of us breaking"them all the rest 
of the year. 
* * # 
A beautiful table cover is made of cream- 
white corduroy. It is lined with golden- 
yellow sateen and finished all around the edge 
with gold-colored silk cord. 
* * * 
A new and pretty idea is to cover the little 
occasional tables with chamois leather. It is 
put smoothly over the top, and either painted 
or gilded in some simple design. One 
very pretty decoration is of pansies, the 
edges outlined in gilt. Straggling dog-wood 
flowers, connected by gilt circles, mane 
another pretty decoration. A pretty way of 
finishing the legs of these tables, when of the 
tripod shape, is as follows: A width of China 
silk is tacked smoothly around the edge of the 
table; the bottom is gathered, and tied with 
a bow where the legs cross. Around the edge 
of the table is a row of small tassel fringe, 
such as is used to border curtains. 
* * * 
Perhaps one of the rules for good manners 
more honored in the breach then in the ob¬ 
servance is the assurance that independence 
does not mean impudence. A great many 
seem to have the idea that if they show com¬ 
plete disregard for the feelings of others, they 
are vindicating their own position. They are 
ostentatiously familiar with those who may 
be considered of social superiority, and rough 
or contemptuous to ;those less fortunate. We 
all know people of this type;"pity they are so 
plentiful. If only they could learn that court¬ 
esy to all alike is the first rule for good-breed¬ 
ing. But they never do. 
* * * 
In dispensing hospitality, it is a pity we do 
not carry out the English custom of inviting 
people^for just so long, specifying the time. 
Thus, in wording the invitation, say the day 
of arrival and departure, whether it is a few 
days, a week, or a month. Nothing is more 
exasperating to a hostess who has certain 
duties for certain times than to have self- 
invited guests quarter themselves upon her 
for an indefinite time. There is nothing in¬ 
hospitable in the English custom though 
many seem to think so. Mrs. A. may invite 
Miss B. to spend a week with her from the 20th 
to 27th, and she may then make her arrange¬ 
ments to entertain her guest. But if she asks 
Miss B. to come on the 20th and make her a 
visit, the hostess may be obliged to put off all 
her arrangements through the uncertainty as 
to the duration of the visit. It is far better 
for a guest to leave regretted than to outstay 
her welcome. 
* * * 
The most exasperating invitations we ever 
receive are those asking us to come and make 
a visit some time. This may be repeated 
until we decide to accept it, and we then learn 
that “some time” means no time at all. It is 
proper to be thoroughly explicit; ask your 
friend to visit you at such a date, to stay so 
long. The guest, for her part, should state at 
what hour she will arrive, and at what hour 
she will leave. She should in all cases con¬ 
form as much as possible to the usages of the 
family. She should be punctual at all meals, 
and, if she is wise, will make some excuse 
for solitary occupation—letter writing or the 
like—every morning, thus giving the hostess 
an opportunity to attend to personal occupa¬ 
tions. She will enjoy her guest’s society all 
the more when it is not made a burden upon 
her. Half the science of entertaining con¬ 
sists in knowing when to amuse people and 
when to leave them alone. 
NELLIE’S NEW YEAR’S EVE. 
“the way the lord has led me” 
Nell looked quickly up. Grandma’s hands 
were folded over her knitting lying on her lap. 
Her eyes (turned toward the western window 
through which the setting sun was casting 
bright farewell glances) had a far-away look. 
And Nell knew Grandma was living over 
again the bygone years. 
She softly crossed the room, seating herself 
on the low footstool at Grandma’s feet, and 
laid one of her hands on her knee. 
“Grandma, was it alwavs an easy way and 
the way you wanted to go?” she asked Grand¬ 
ma smiled such a tender, loving smile down 
into the eager, childish face. 
“Not always, dear,” she softly answered. 
“But it was the Lord’s way for me to walk, 
and looking back after many years, I see (al¬ 
though I have rebelled in spirit many times) 
how much the better was the way the Lord 
chose for me, and my heart is filled with 
thankfulness this New Year’s eve.” 
“But, Grandma, when you want to do some¬ 
thing, oh! so much, it’s so hard to think it’s 
best you shouldn’t.” And Nell’s eyes brimmed 
over with tears, while her lips trembled. The 
dear old lady’s face grew-grave. Her heart 
ached for this little girl. 
A gay riding party had been arranged for 
this New Year’s eve, and Nell was one of its 
number. But, maoima, finding that among 
the party were two or three she did not wish 
her daughter to be .intimate with had been 
obliged to withdraw her consent, and Nell, 
who never questioned mamma’s decisions, 
nevertheless felt her disappointment hard to 
bear. Grandma knew it all and she drew the 
tear-stained, girlish face down on her lap, 
and let the sobs that were coming thick and 
fast, have their way,smoothing meanwhile the 
curly head with tender fingers. 
The sobs grew less, and less, and at last Nell 
lifted her head, smiling at Grandma, even 
through her tears. She was a child in spite 
of her 17 years. 
1 l“I couldn’t help it, Grandma dear. Some¬ 
how it all came at once, and I did want to go 
so badly.” 
Grandma stooped to kiss away one or two 
tear-drops lying on the rosy cheeks. Nell 
nestled closer to her. Grandma’s way of com¬ 
forting was so lovely, all her grandchildren 
said. 
Footsteps sounded on the door stone outside. 
A moment later Grandpa looked in, holding 
the half-open door in his hand. “Alone, 
mother?” he asked in his cheery voice, “Oh: 
no, I see our little girl is here.” Grandma, 
and Nell helped Grandpa off with his great 
coat’ and hat, and Nell drew his arm-chair 
close up by Grandma’s low rocker. She knew 
they liked it that way, and kneeling, untied 
his shoes, for Grandpa’s hands were chilled, 
Grandma said, holding one in both of hers. 
“Only a little” he answered smiling. “But 
it is going to be a frosty night.” 
“Thank you, little daughter” he said, as 
Nell having finished her task, rose to her feet. 
“She is such a comfort, our little girl,” he 
added to Grandma. 
Nell went back to her seat by the window. 
Was she a comfort? She didn’t feel that she 
was at all; she was only a great, disappointed 
girl, who wanted to have a lovely time sleigh¬ 
riding with the rest,—and couldn’t. She 
glanced over at Grandpa and Grandma. 
Their faces* were so ^peaceful. Would ^hers 
