856 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC 28 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
(34 Park Row, New York', 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban 
Homes. 
other variety known to it, it has as 
yet no authority to give it to others 
or to have it introduced. It was sent 
co us as No. 2 by the late James Dou- 
gal of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in 
the fall of 1883. All of our several 
endeavors to communicate with his 
heirs have proven unavailing. 
down. When the sale of an article is 
cut down, manufacturing must stop 
or over-production ensue. Heavy 
woolen goods go with cold weather. 
Until we have the cold weather, a por¬ 
tion of the goods will remain unsold, 
and production must be cut down. 
The R. N. Y. has no special pro¬ 
spectus to present for 1890. We have 
always said that those who desire to 
know what the future R N.-Y. will 
be must judge bv the past. The paper 
will never go backward while the 
present editors have any tiling to do 
with it That is the only promise we 
care to make. 
Readers will be sure to hear from 
all of our old correspondents during 
1890, and we expect to introduce 
many new ones. We shall, as always, 
endeavor to be independent, accurate, 
honest and conservative. We shall 
endeavor to keep fully up with the 
times in all departments or farm life. 
Particular attention will be given to 
sheep husbandry and dairying. Hor¬ 
ticulture and gardening both as a 
business and a pleasure will be treated 
by the best authorities in the land. 
We cannot begin to tell, in a single 
age, the interesting questions we 
ave on hand for investigation. They 
are certainly interesting to us, and 
we believe they will be to our present 
readers. It is, of course, superfluous 
for us to say that we shall be glad to 
have all our present readers enjoy the 
discussions with us. 
One of the most effective hinderances 
to the extermination of contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia among cattle in this 
country is the conflict of authority 
between the State and National au¬ 
thorities—between the various Cattle 
Commissions and the Bureau of Ani¬ 
mal Industry. Such conflicts are 
based, of course, in a great measure, 
on the old doctrine of States’ rights 
against Federal encroachment, but 
they are just as common in the North 
in which centralization is supposed to 
have great weight, as in the South 
where State rights are still a cherished 
inheritance—just as common in Illi¬ 
nois and New Jersey as in Maryland 
and Virginia. Pennsylvania is the 
last State in which such a conflict has 
occurred. A short time ago the State 
authorities ordered three affected 
cows in Chester County to he killed, 
but as the disease was directly trace¬ 
able to Baltimore, they did not think 
it necessary to quarantine exposed 
animals. A few days later the agents 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry 
visited the section and promptly 
quarantined twelve herds. The na¬ 
tional authorities can quarantine cat¬ 
tle in transit from one State to an¬ 
other, but there then* power ends. 
Governor Beaver, of Pennsylvania, 
promptly notified them that such an 
action must not be repeated, and the 
owners of the herds have been paying 
no attention whatever to the Bureau’s 
proclamation. Should not some means 
be devised by which such unseemly 
bickerings and quarrels may be 
avoided ? 
WHAT PAID BEST? 
T HE crop reports in this paper are 
interesting and unique. They 
are truthful and suggestive. The 
crop and product, it seems, must be 
adapted to the local conditions of soil, 
market, seasons, etc. So far as grain 
crops go, corn seems to have given 
best satisfaction. Our correspondents 
state very clearly the fact that corn 
gives its greatest returns when made 
into beef, pork, wool or butter. The 
silo and the new methods of preserv¬ 
ing corn-fodder have done much to in¬ 
sure the value of the com crop. The 
apple crop has proved exceedingly 
profitable to many farmers, and a 
great deal of this profit was due to the 
use of Paris-green and to careful cul¬ 
ture and manuring. The hog and the 
dairy cow seem to have been the best 
paying animals, though sheep have 
carried many of our friends along. 
It is gratifying to learn that all who 
have made a systematic effort to im¬ 
prove their animals by the introduc¬ 
tion of improved stock, have found 
such a change profitable. The maple- 
sugar makers are all happy. This is 
a product that can be profitably in¬ 
creased. The potato crop has, on the 
whole, been a disappointment this 
year. In the sections where the best 
markets are found, the crop has been 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1889. 
NOTICE. 
T he rural new-york- 
ER is invariably discon¬ 
tinued at the end of the term 
subscribed for. Any copies sent 
to non-subscribers are sent with¬ 
out charge as specimens merely. 
The R. N.-Y. will begin 1890 
with a Dairy Number which, we 
hope will help our winter dairy¬ 
men. A strong feature of this 
number will be an exhaustive re¬ 
port of the recent meeting of the 
New' York State Dairymen’s As¬ 
sociation at Ithaca. 
Attention is called to the 
special premium offered on page 
850. The papers are full of offers 
to send books for almost nothing. 
Most of such books turn out to 
be poorly printed on inferior 
paper, and cheaply bound. The 
R. N.-Y. offers a book well- 
bound, well-printed and well- 
written. We know our readers 
will find it valuable. For three 
subscriptions it is an excellent 
premium. 
One man writes the R. N.-Y. 
that farmers read too much about 
crops and stock and too little 
about political economy. An¬ 
other man, living in the same 
t>Dwn. thinks farmers spend too 
much time over the daily and po¬ 
litical papers while too little is 
given to reliable agricultural lit¬ 
erature. Who is right? The 
R. N.-Y. sees good men wasting 
time over worse than misleading 
political discussions, while oth- 
< s give valuable time to worse 
than senseless agricultural infor¬ 
mation. 
It is respectfully submitted that the 
R. N.-Y.’s index is more systematical¬ 
ly arranged and more comprehensive 
than any published by its esteemed 
contemporaries. Making it up is the 
most trying, perplexing and tedious 
work of the year. 
“Now why should a half-starved 
orchard bear a full crop every year 
any more than a half-fed cow should 
give a maximum yield of milk or 
make the greatest possible amount of 
butter? Will young stock grow with¬ 
out feed, or horses do their best work 
when half-starved?”—See page 850. 
The Early Vermont is the potato 
named as having yielded over 1,000 
bushels to the acre, taking the first 
prize. The variety has never had the 
reputation of being a heavy yielder. 
Its yield was low in the R. N.-Y.’s 
trials with it. Possibly Mrs. Day 
planted some other variety under that 
name. 
This is the way a Michigan sub¬ 
scriber puts it: 
“ Dear Rural: (I had almost 
written Dear Friend, for I have taken 
the Rural so long that it seems like 
a friend.) This month completes the 
eighth year you have visited us week¬ 
ly, and beneficial acquaintanceship 
for that period is almost long enough 
to make a dear friend.” 
The R. N.-Y. is in some distress 
over the fact that, having in its ex 
periment grounds a gooseberry that in 
several respects is superior'to any 
You eat too much, good friend. All 
of us do. Don't ever fear that you 
will eat too little. The mo st idiotic 
way of celebrating a holiday is by 
eating too much. You do not sleep 
enough. There is little fear that you 
will sleep too much. Sleep never in¬ 
jured any one. It is Nature’s restorer. 
It is one of the sweet rewards of in¬ 
dustry and of a serene conscience. 
You can not afford to hate your neigh¬ 
bor. Did it ever occur to you that 
hate costs more than diamonds, and 
that it isn’t worth one cent? Tell me 
of a single instance where hate serves 
you well. Keep these R. N.-Y. in¬ 
junctions in your mind for the New 
Year. 
At the recent dairymen’s meeting 
at Ithaca, the following was adopted: 
“Resolved: That this convention 
recommend that every dairyman in 
this State purchase scales or balances 
and that all weigh and record the 
milk of each cow separately for one 
year and report the same to the secre¬ 
tary of this association.” 
The convention asked Congress to en¬ 
act a law requiring all skim-milk 
cheese to be branded as such at the 
factory where it is made. It is an en¬ 
couraging sign that cheese-makers all 
over the country are making des¬ 
perate efforts to make clear the dis¬ 
tinction between the best cheese and 
that of an inferior grade. 
Here is a New Year’s thought for 
you. The American people drink, 
each year, over $900,000,000 worth of 
liquors. The manufacturing, hand¬ 
ling and selling of this stuff provides 
work for a number of workmen, but 
that is all the good it does do. Take 
this amount of money out of the total 
amount in the country and a big hole 
is left. It is a hole large enough to 
account for a large proportion of our 
“hard times.” The misappropriation 
of this money will account for low 
prices, business stagnation, want, dis¬ 
satisfaction and crime, as no other 
factor can account. Put a stop to the 
liquor traffic and do you suppose 
'there would be so much blame cast 
upon trusts and monopolies ? This is 
a fair question. 
One of the soundest men in New 
York State sends us the following. 
On page 820 S. B. Harlow Jr., has 
given us an exceedingly valuable esti¬ 
mate of the worth and influence of the 
farmers’ institutes, and from attend¬ 
ance at several institutes, I agree with 
him in his criticism of the various 
speakers; but I have too high an appre¬ 
ciation of the influence of my mother 
and my wife on my own life to wish 
with him that the ladies might be 
excluded. Undoubtedly the primary 
object of these meetings has to do, as 
he says, with practical farm manage¬ 
ment; but the discussion of all things 
that will enhance and elevate the farm¬ 
er’s home life has an equally import¬ 
ant place. I take it that we should 
not hold ourselves down too closely to 
a mere rule and-measure discussion of 
details of management, hut after these 
are disposed of, give consideration to 
some of those questions that elevate 
and broaden and give us a larger and 
better view of men and things.” 
‘ ‘ The mild weather of the past three 
winters has had more to do with ti e 
stagnation in the woolen goods busi¬ 
ness than anything else.” This state¬ 
ment was recently made by a man 
who has been long familiar with the 
woolen trade. Is it sensible or not ? 
Ask yourself whether in a mild, open 
winter the members of your family 
require as large a supply of woolen 
goods as is purchased in an extra cold 
winter. I here are thousands of peo¬ 
ple who put off the purchasing of thick 
under-clothing until the coldest 
weather sets in and if this cold 
weather does not come before late in 
January many of them try to get 
through the winter with cheaper and 
lighter goods. The result is that sales 
of the heavier goods are seriously cut 
poor; in the sections far removed 
from markets the crop has been large. 
Those who might have realized good 
prices have not had the potatoes to 
sell, while those who had plenty of 
potatoes to sell have been obliged to 
accept a low price. Dairying has 
been the sheet-anchor of hundreds of 
our readers. 
The Michigan man, who says on 
page 850. “There is no more profit¬ 
able stock farming than all-the-year- 
round dairying,” hits the secret of his 
success when he says that; he can see 
that his fields are getting more fertile. 
Next to honey or maple sugar, butter 
takes less fertility out of the farm 
than any other product, while its pro¬ 
duction necessitates the manufacture 
and application of stores of the most 
desirable fertility. No wonder the 
butter dairyman sees his fields grow¬ 
ing richer and his crops growing 
larger. The hay farmers seem to have 
done well this year. In fact, every 
section of the country seems to have 
some product that has given satisfac¬ 
tory returns wh»n well handled. It 
is the R. N.-Y.’s wish that the year now 
closing may long he known as the 
worst season for American farmers. 
If we could only have our way each 
succeeding year would bring an added 
store of prosperity and happiness to 
the farmers of the country. 
BREVITIES. 
The horses like a few raw potatoes just 
now. 
This week the R. N.-Y. was offered a coop 
of good Brown Leghorn hens at 10 cents 
per pound. 
Isn’t the best farmer the one who secures 
a liberal support from tilling the fewest 
number of acres ? 
Do NOT throw hen-manure and wood- 
ashes into the manure pile. They are 
worth more to apply to special crops. 
We estimate that something over 3,000 
questions have been answered under the 
“ Farmers’ Club ” in this volume of the R. 
N.-Y. 
We find that a good many farmers in 
Western New York are sowing plaster on 
their clover now instead of waiting till 
next summer. 
“A cross-grained man that loses his tem¬ 
per at the first provocation can scare more, 
fat off a sheep in a day than he can replace 
in a week.” See page 858. 
Do YOU keep your chicken manure dry 
or wet ? The number of farmers who be¬ 
lieve in keeping it wet increases every year. 
What do you think about it? 
The R. N.-Y. notices, with a good deal of 
pleasure, that the farmers’ institutes in this 
State are being followed by the forma¬ 
tion of excellent farmers’ clubs. 
Good LUCK, good health, a clean con¬ 
science and work that keeps you busy! We 
wish you this whether you stay in the R, 
N.-Y. family another year or not. 
Mr. Terry is going to tell us about the 
cash sales from his 50-acre farm. It is also 
expected that he will tell us what he would 
raise if he lived too far away from a good 
potato market. 
Let us be friends. —If we are to part 
company with this issue, let’s be friends 
over it anyway. If we keep together a 
year longer we will hope to be better 
friends than ever. 
Awhile ago the R N.-Y. bought a har- 
rel of Tompkins King Apples for 83.75. 
The apples on the top were fine specimens, 
those below being a mixture of Baldwin, 
Ben Davis, etc., of poor quality. Well 
what about it ? Simply that we shall not 
trouble that particular dealer again. 
The potato sorter is becoming a very use¬ 
ful implement on potato farms. There are 
several different makes all working on the 
same principle. The potatoes are put on a 
large wire sieve through the holes of which 
the small potatoes fall while the larger ones 
roll down to bags which stand ready for 
them. 
Nectar is a black grape which origin¬ 
ated with the late A. .T. Cavwood. A vine 
was sent to the R. N.-Y. in May of 1888, and 
bore its first fruit the past season. The 
berries were ripe September 1, a few days 
before Concord. They are round in shape, 
of medium size with firm skin, about like 
that of Ulster, and pure in flavor. 
Yes, the R. N.-Y. fully concurs with the 
views of the agriculural students of the 
Wisconsin University, viz., that “how to 
hold the plow, milk a cow or sow grain,” 
should he learned at home on the farm. 
Agricultural schools are not needed to 
teach such elementary work any more than 
literary colleges are needed to teadli spell¬ 
ing, grammar and geography. 
A CANADIAN subscriber, in renewing his 
subscription, gives'thell. N.-Y. the follow¬ 
ing advice: 
“Advocate Continental free trade: hut 
don’t even wish for political annexation. 
The greatest good to the greatest number 
will result from the honest working out of 
two political systems side by side. We Ca¬ 
nadians greatly admire you Americans, hut 
we think that in some things we are freer 
than'you.^ ‘If ignorance is bliss,’ all right.” 
