384 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
^National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
IIBEBI 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1889. 
SYMPOSIUMS. 
E are ready to discuss on the “sym¬ 
posium ” plan any farm or horti 
cultural questions that our readers may 
need light upon; that is, questions which 
seem to be of general—not merely indi¬ 
vidual—interest. Let us hear from you 
R. N.-Y, readers. 
“ 7 was evei'ywhere impressed with the 
idea that the young native-born women of 
Massachusetts could do better in every way 
by cultivating small fruits than by toiling in 
the factories, as so many of them do ."— 
Mrs. Fisher, page 385. 
One of the recognized dairy rules that 
is most frequently broken is that of per¬ 
mitting the milk to stand in the milking 
pail for a time before straining it into 
the pans. The necessity of getting the 
milk into the pans as soon as it can be 
placed there is not generally understood. 
Many good dairy folks from one cause or 
another allow the milk to become cold in 
the pail before straining it. This is en¬ 
tirely wrong and if any of our readers will 
take the pains to investigate the matter 
the reason will be readily seen. 
Mr. C. 8. Rice, who contributed one of 
the most valuable articles in the R. N.-Y. 
hay special, writes as follows:— 
“ My method of curing hay is the same 
as Mr. Terry’s, and after reading Prof. 
Roberts’s article referring to hay loaders 
and curing hay in the windrow, I was 
glad to have Mr. Terry for company. 
Prof. Cook expresses the right view of 
hay-loaders.” He also adds: 
“ I do not think that you have ever 
published a more valuable number than 
the hay special. It alone is worth the 
year’s subscription price.” 
“7 will only say that with a dairy of well- 
bred and well selected cows, properly fed 
and cared for, no one has any business to 
sell cream by the gauge, for he will be cheat¬ 
ed every time" —C. R. Beach, page 380. 
There is quite a discussion going on as 
to the value of the hay tedder. Much of 
this argument is useless because it is not 
based on conditions that are similar. A 
good deal of the value ot the work done 
by a tedder will depend upon the way 
the grass is left by the mower, Some 
mowers leave the grass in such shape that 
a tedder will be of little value; in fact, 
hardly needed. Other mowers spread 
out the grass so that it needs to be shak¬ 
en up in order to cure properly. Parties 
arguing this matter ought to state 
whether they use a side-cut mower, or a 
direct draft. 
Our farm contemporaries are now be¬ 
ginning to tell their readers that there is 
no way to protect their rose bushes, 
grape-vines, etc., against the dreaded rose 
beetle but by hand-picking. The R. N .- 
Y. readers may be assured that one heap¬ 
ing table-spoonful of pyrethrum or 
Buhach powder in two gallons of water 
sprayed upon the infested plants will rid 
them of every rose bug in half-an-hour. 
The remedy must be repeated every day 
for several days. The R. N.-Y. made 
this announcement several years ago, and 
why our esteemed brothers of the farm 
press do not tell it to their readers is one 
of the things we cannot explain. 
Last week the R. N.-Y. referred to the 
fact that there is a fair demand for apple 
wood. We are now able to state more 
about the matter. The wood is largely 
used for making shuttles. Lithograph¬ 
ers use it in making presses, and furni¬ 
ture dealers like it for certain kinds of 
work. Dealers buy the trees while stand¬ 
ing and cut them up, though they are 
prepared to buy logs or boards also. 
Trees should be at least 15 inches in di¬ 
ameter. There seems to be little choice 
as to varieties. The price paid by one 
New Jersey dealer is four cents per foot 
in the log. Perhaps there may be a 
chance to develop this business and make 
more out of the old orchards. 
Many farmers in this country are grow¬ 
ing wheat at what practically amounts to 
a loss. Other sections can produce 
wheat and send it to such farmers cheaper 
than they can raise it, and yet they con¬ 
tinue to sow about the usual quantity. 
Such farmers realize fully that wheat 
does not pay them. Why then do they 
sow it? Because they believe that wheat 
is about the only suitable grain with 
which to sow grass seed. They cannot 
bring themselves to sow the grass seed 
alone. Even if they thought it might 
grow well alone, they cannot bring them¬ 
selves to view the loss of the grain crop 
with philosophy. Many of them would 
find rye a more profitable crop, while 
others would find, if they tried it, that 
they can safely sow all their needed 
grasses with oats. 
On another page of this issue Mr 
Hardin speaks of the value of “strip¬ 
pings” Prof. Babcock considers this sub¬ 
ject in Bulletin No. 19 of the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station. The following fig¬ 
ures show the average of a number of an¬ 
alyses. The difference is between the 
first pint of milk drawn from the udder 
and the last pint. 
Water. Solids. Fat. 
First pint. 88.45 11.55 1.20 
Last pint.. 80 58 19.42 9.99 
The Connecticut Station has also re¬ 
ported results similar to the above. Prof. 
Babcock in speaking of the various ex¬ 
planations offered for this phenomenon, 
says: 
“ I am of the opinion that much of the 
milk is elaborated during the milking, 
and that in its passage through the small 
vessels of the udder the fat is retarded 
and consequently more of it is obtained 
at the end of the milking.” 
-^ . ■ ♦ »■ «»■ 
“A man cannot afford to own but one har¬ 
row. There are two well-defined sorts, the 
deep worker and the smoothing harrow. 
One should have both." —Page 382. 
Secretary Rusk recommends the re¬ 
organization of several divisions of the 
Department of Agriculture, and among 
several other additions to it, he urges 
that the Department should be allowed an 
Assistant Attorney General,such as all the 
other Departments have already. The act 
giving the Department its present execu¬ 
tive functions made no provision for such 
an officer. The old law allowed the Com¬ 
missioner to employ counsel out of the 
general fund of the Department, but do¬ 
ing this is prohibited to the executive 
Departments because they are supposed 
to rely on the Attorney General and his 
assistants. A great many legal questions 
come before the Department,especially in 
connection with the Bureau of Animal In¬ 
dustry whose duties in restricting and 
suppressing contagious pleuro-pneumo- 
nia often bring it in relation with the 
laws of the different States. Of course, 
the new Department should be as well 
equipped as the old with all the means of 
thorough efficiency in its work. 
In the article entitled “What Are The 
Agricultural Colleges Good For,” printed 
two weeks ago. Professor Porter was 
made to say that these institutions were 
founded upon a “folly.” This was a 
mistake. Professor Porter wrote “fal¬ 
lacy.” This article has been criticised 
quite severely by graduates and officers 
of agricultural colleges. We shall begin 
the publication ot some of these criti¬ 
cisms next week. Some of the writers 
find fault with the R. N.-Y. for ever 
printing the article. That is nonsense. 
These colleges ought to be fully able, by 
this time, to take care of themselves. 
The R. N.-Y. believes that the main 
points made by Professor Porter will be 
answered satisfactorily. President Good- 
ell, of the Massachusetts College, calls at¬ 
tention to Professor Porter’s statement 
that less than one-quarter of the gradu¬ 
ates of that institution are connected with 
agriculture. The figures printed in the 
college report show that nearly one-half 
of the graduates are working in some 
line of agriculture. At the Michigan 
College the proportion is even greater. 
--- 
“7n general, the farmer who takes pride 
in having clean and pure varieties of wheat , 
oats,[barley, com, [potatoes,£etc., is the best 
farmer and will be more successful in his 
business than the one who gets things mixed 
in his crop or in his head ."— F. P. Root, 
page 378. 
The R. N.-Y. does not agree with 
Mr. Proctor’s views—see page 385. The 
flesh of the strawberry is the receptacle 
or the end of the peduncle or flower- 
stalk. The real fruits are the seeds, it is 
true. The drupelets or fruits of the 
blackberry and raspberry are joined to a 
long, fleshy receptacle which might be 
compared to the flesh of the strawberry. 
A kernel of corn or wheat is really the 
fruit, the same as the seeds of the straw¬ 
berry are the fruits. The kernel of corn 
is borne in a spike the axis of which is 
the cob or rhachis. This may and does 
develop even though not a kernel forms. 
It develops with the flowers of corn and 
grows as the plant grows and matures. 
The “cob and the berry,” do not “fulfill 
exactly the same purpose” by any means, 
as Mr. Proctor states. Actual tests 
have been made and it has been found 
that purely pistillate flowers if protected 
from pollen, do not form berries. It will 
be found that many of the so-called pis- 
tillates do develop a few small stamens 
and anthers which probably furnish pol¬ 
len enough for pollenating the stigmas 
and fertilizing the ovules. 
A great deal of interest has been 
aroused among farmers in the Northwest 
by the recent dispatches from the De 
partment of Agriculture relating to flax 
culture for manufacturing purposes. 
Hitherto wherever flax has been raised in 
this country it has been chiefly for the 
seed which yields linseed oil and cake. 
There is a strong and growing impression 
that this country is on the verge of a 
great revolution in the production and 
manufacture of flax. Its culture would 
add another “money” crop to the general 
agriculture of the country, and keep at 
home tens of millions of dollars now sent 
abroad every year in payment for foreign 
flax seed and fabrics. Why shouldn’t 
this country produce all it needs of flax 
as well as of other fibrous plants such as 
ramie, hemp and jute? There are sec¬ 
tions of the country well adapted to the 
culture of all, and American inventive 
ingenuity should soon devise machineiy 
for handling them easily and economi¬ 
cally. Already a machine has been in¬ 
vented for separating the flax fiber from 
the stalk without wetting, and this alone 
promises to give an enormous impetus to 
the flax growing industry. 
“To farm in England is better than to 
farm on the Continent of Europe ; but not so 
good as to farm in America, so far as pros¬ 
pects are concerned ."— Rrof. Sheldon, page 
379. 
The American Meat Company which 
proposes to rival the “ Big Four ” in the 
dressed meat trade, has greatly strength¬ 
ened its chances of successful competition 
by the agreement it has just made with 
the American Cattle Trust. The latter as¬ 
sociation composed of over 150 of the 
chief cattle kings and syndicates of the 
plains and prairies, was organized about 
a year ago for the purpose of marketing 
the live stock of the members and of others 
on the best terms and at the lowest rate 
of commission, and also to secure better 
transportation rates on railroads; for it 
was reasonably believed that a combina¬ 
tion of many large shippers would have 
much more influence than any of its in¬ 
dividual members. The arrangement in¬ 
to which the two bodies have entered 
provides that the company shall slaugh¬ 
ter and market all the cattle belonging 
to the various members of the trust and 
its patrons for a specified rate of commis¬ 
sion. This agreement must be of no 
small pecuniary interest to both organiza¬ 
tions, which together stand an excellent 
chance of a fair measure of success in 
their rivalry with Armour and his confed¬ 
erates. The far Western stockmen and 
the consumers generally are likely to be 
the gainers by the competition in prices 
of live stock and of dressed meat; but 
the cattle owners of the rest of the coun¬ 
try are pretty certain to suffer from it. 
PHOTOGRAPHS. 
T HE R. N.-Y.’s plan of printing pho¬ 
tographs of fbrm animals and ob¬ 
jects is going to take well. We have al¬ 
ready received a number of answers to 
our request. Most papers show the ani¬ 
mals that breeders think farmers ought 
to buy. The R. N.-Y. will attempt to 
show exactly what farmers use in doing 
their work. When we see what we have 
we can compare notes. Among the inter¬ 
esting pictures to come, we are promised 
one from Mr. T. B. Terry that will cause 
not a little excitement. It will show his 
horses—the ones fed on clover hay exclu¬ 
sively—hitched to his big wagon by 
means of his convenient three-horse rig, 
with the various tools used on his farm 
about the wagon. Many of our readers 
will open their eyes wide when they see 
the machines that Mr. T’s. 50-acre farm 
provides work for. This will make a 
fine picture. We would like one like it 
from your farm. Some of our readers 
have provided themselves with portable 
cameras,with which they propose to show 
whatever is very bad and whatever is 
very good in the farm “properties” of 
their neighbors. On the whole, it looks 
as though this new plan will add cons d- 
erably to the R. N.-Y’s. interest. We 
hope so. 
A PROMISING NEW HYBRID ROSE. 
T WO more of the R. N.-Y. Hybrid Ru- 
gosa roses are now in bloom. One 
of these bears little flowers about two in- 
chts in diameter with five petals. The 
petals are at the base a sulphur yellow, 
rather paler than the color of the male 
parent, Harrison’s Yellow. This runs in¬ 
to a pink, while the margins of the pet¬ 
als are white. It is worthless from the 
tradesman’s point of view, but it is a 
mighty queer, interesting little rose all 
the same. The leaflets are very small 
and generally 11 to the leaf. 
The otfeer, of the same parentage, is al¬ 
so most interesting, and a beauty as well. 
The bush is four feet high, of great vigor 
and perfect hardiness. The leaflets are 
twice the size of those of Rugosa and of 
much the same texture, though not quite 
so thick. The flower is the color of Gen. 
Jaoq., though, if possible, more intense. 
It is of medium size, quite double (hav¬ 
ing about 30 petals) though not compact¬ 
ly so. At this writing there are 165 buds 
on this remarkably floriferous hybrid 
which blooms constantly from late May 
until frost kills the fo'iage. It fills an 
unoccupied space, being a double, per¬ 
fectly hardy rose and a perpetual bloomer. 
A photographic picture of this promising 
hybrid will appear in a few weeks. 
u At present, the best service which thejieo- 
ple get is the postal. This is run by them¬ 
selves through their government. They must 
take possession of all railroads of the coun¬ 
try , and build as many new ones as may be 
needed, as part of the postal system. It 
must carry passengers and freight, as it 
does mail matter, at bare cost and the ex¬ 
pense of repairs. They must in conjunction 
with these, take the telegraphs and tele¬ 
phones." —T. D. Curtis, page 380. 
Mr. W. B. Pratt, of Steuben County, 
New York sends the following discourag¬ 
ing note: 
“Destruction here of fruit by the 
freeze of Friday night seems to be com¬ 
plete. After several examinations the 
writer fails to find, on his premises, en¬ 
couragement to hope for a single apple, 
pear, plum, cherry, peach, quince or 
grape. The destruction of the latter in 
the grape regions proper is also exten¬ 
sive but not complete.” 
BREVITIES. 
The dearest things a farrnor can buy are 
cheap fertilizers. 
Quite a number of our readers have asked 
for a picture of the low truck wagon de¬ 
scribed by Professor Roberts in the hay num¬ 
ber. It is coming. The R N.-Y. has a pho¬ 
tograph of it now under way. 
The “Authorities” seem to agree that the 
cbancesaret.bat wool will hold its price and 
probably gain over last year. These state¬ 
ments are mainly opinions, however, though 
many of them are founded on excellent rea¬ 
soning. 
As we go to press the distressing intelli¬ 
gence reaches us of the virtual ruin of Johns¬ 
town, Pennsylvania, a place of 10,1.00 inhabi¬ 
tants and the largest town in Cambria Couuty. 
At five o’clock last evening the dam of a large 
reservoir above the town gave way uuder 
the pressure of the enormous accumulation of 
water from the recent heavy rains, and the 
mad torrent rushed down upon the doorm d 
place and the Conemaugh valley. Houses, 
shops, factories and every obstacle in its 
course were swept away and it is reported 
that 500 people were drowned. For 
miles below the Conemaugh river was 
covered with dead bodies and people strug¬ 
gling on all sorts of wreckage. As the tele¬ 
graph wires for miles around the place are 
all down, information of details is meager, 
and it is to be hoped that the early reports 
are exaggerated, but it is to he feaied the dis¬ 
aster may have been even greater than 
has hitherto been announced. 
