1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3a9 
Publisher’s Desk. 
If I had space I should like to print 
about 5,000 letters acknowledging the 
receipt of the Ruby Queen rose. There 
have been just four complaints. Two 
plants were received withered, and two 
tags received, the plants having been 
lost in mail. Of course, these we 
promptly duplicated. I am going to give 
just three letters, not because they are 
very different from the rest, but because 
they are just at hand. 
Woodbridge, April 23, 1900. 
The Ruby Queen rose came in fine con¬ 
dition, for which my wife returns her sin¬ 
cere thanks.—Yours in haste, 
w. w. PECK. 
Milford, N. H., April 23. 
The Ruby Queen rose arrived all right, 
in perfect condition, not a leaf missing,, 
and the roots as moist as when first 
packed. Thanks for it. porter colby. 
Providence, R. I., April 21, 1900. 
The Ruby Queen arrived all right. It is 
a fine stocky little bush, and I think I can 
notice it grow every day. I have sent for 
bushes and paid about the subscription 
price of The R. N.-Y. for them, but the 
bush you sent me is more vigorous and 
came in better condition than any I ever 
received.—Thanking you for same I am, 
yours truly, e. f. wilbur. 
Some of the new subscribers have 
written that it was a surprise to them 
to get the rose. Agents and publishers 
of cheap papers always promise so much 
and do so little, that they hardly ex¬ 
pected the promise to be kept. The 
older subscribers who have in the past 
received novelties of various kinds had 
no such doubts. The instructions for 
caring for the plant when received were 
printed in full on page 248, issue of 
April 7. It is a hardy climbing rose, and 
we think will winter outdoors in cold 
climates. Some readers who have re¬ 
ceived it, have shown it to neighbors, 
and sent us their neighbors’ subscrip¬ 
tions. Have you tried to do so? 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
IN FRONT OF INDEPENDENCE 
HALL, Philadelphia, stood a gray-haired 
colored man with a basket of roots and 
herbs, which he offered at five cents per 
bunch, about four inches long and 1% inch 
through. A benevolent-looking man stop¬ 
ped to buy. He took wild cherry, sassafras 
and sarsaparilla, but drew the line at cat¬ 
nip, which the old man remarked was in¬ 
tended mainly for cats and babies. His 
basket was nearly empty, and it is quite 
likely that he made fair wages at this pe¬ 
culiar business. 
BANANAS OF ALL SORTS.—While the 
bulk of those sold in this market are the 
ordinary yellow ones, some of which are 
good and others quite dry, there are sev¬ 
eral other varieties. In a fancy fruit 
store I saw some red ones, a quite common 
sort several years ago, and of much better 
quality; also some Spanish yellow, much 
smaller than the others, but of far finer 
flavor. The apple banana is still smaller, 
scarcely four inches long, but with a very 
thin skin and a peculiar spicy taste slight¬ 
ly resembling an apple. 
PEPPER DESTROYERS.—It now looks 
as though the forthcoming crop of ground 
black pepper might have more than its 
usual proportion of buckwheat hulls and 
cocoanut shells mixed in. Advices from 
one of the largest growing sections in the 
East Indies state that the plants are dying 
very rapidly. Two varieties of insects at¬ 
tack them. One, the Heterodero radici- 
colo, goes for the root, and the Curulio- 
nide devotes its energies to the branches. 
As may be imagined, the pepper can do 
nothing but succumb under such circum¬ 
stances. 
TOO MANY DRESSED CALVES.—On 
account of the warm weather for the past 
10 days, much of the country-dressed meat 
has been received in miserable condition, 
more or less sour and spoiled. Some has 
been seized by the Board of Health, and 
probably quite a little was sold that should 
not have been. What was not spoiled had 
a bad appearance, and deteriorated so 
quickly that it was necessary to get rid of 
it at once without much regard to prices. 
In some cases the price dropped to three 
cents. In warm weather, especially, the 
liver and heart should be removed from 
the calves and shipped separately. A good 
many shippers leave them in the calves, 
and they are the first to spoil. The season 
is getting so late now that it is hardly safe 
to ship dressed calves unless iced. Of 
course, all animal heat must be removed 
first. Those who are not situated so that 
they can do this will probably do better 
by marketing their calves alive. 
READING TERMINAL MARKET.—The 
excellent cold storage arrangements of this 
great Philadelphia market were described 
in The R. N.-Y. last year. As a whole, 
the market is one of the largest and finest 
in the country. About everything that a 
man wants in the way of eatables may be 
had, and, from the amount and variety 
of stuff offered, it would seem that the old 
adage about man wanting little here below 
was somewhat out of date. The stalls 
are large, and many of them are rented 
by farmers from neighboring districts, who 
come in two or three times per week. Sat¬ 
urday is the great day. In the majority 
of city homes Sunday is about the only day 
when all of the family can get together for 
the noon meal, so extra preparations are 
made. One meat dealer told me that he 
was so busy Saturdays that he scarcely 
knew where he was. This was on Thurs¬ 
day, and he was then getting ready for the 
rush, cutting bacon. He had this down to 
a science. It was trimmed and cut Into 
thin slices. Then another man took the 
slices and reversed them, putting tops and 
bottoms together and making little piles 
about an inch and a half broad and high. 
These were cut in two, and each bunch 
wrapped in white waxed tissue paper, leav¬ 
ing the ends exposed. They sold at seven 
cents each, and he said they went like hot 
cakes; In fact, it was hard to get enough 
ahead. The reasons for this were plain. 
The bacon was fine and sweet, just salt 
enough, and fixed up so neatly that it Was 
attractive. It was some trouble to put 
it up in this shape, but it paid, and doubt¬ 
less some other meat men who had just 
as good bacon were wondering why theirs 
did not sell. I bought a small piece of 
Philadelphia scrapple from this man as a 
curiosity. I have never seen any of this 
in the New York markets, though at least 
one restaurant here has it on the bill of 
fare. It seems to be a general mixture 
of liver and various other belongings of the 
pig, with the addition of such vegetable 
elements as corn meal and buckwheat 
flour, herbs, etc., all boiled and pressed 
into a cake after the manner of head¬ 
cheese. The price is eight cents per 
pound. Like hash, headcheese and liver- 
wurst, it does not taste like anything in 
particular, and it may possibly be a sort 
of hybrid of all three. There is a great 
variety of fresh vegetables. The numer¬ 
ous greenhouses in the vicinity of Phila¬ 
delphia help out in this matter when the 
outdoor vegetable season is closed. Eggs 
are put up into convenient boxes about a 
foot long, holding a dozen each. There 
are some fine displays of bakery goods. 
Several florists have stalls where cut flowers 
and potted plants suitable for city homes 
are sold. An ice-cream stand was doing 
a rushing business. Part of the custo¬ 
mers were marketmen, who enjoy stopping 
for a minute or two now and then for a 
little refreshment. A sort of sponge cake 
was sold to go with the cream. The or¬ 
thodox way seemed to be to get away with 
a piece about four inches square with a 
dish of cream. I understand that people 
come from some distance on the railroad 
to buy provisions in this market. The 
central location, excellent railroad facili¬ 
ties, being under the Reading Terminal 
passenger station and near the Broad 
street station on the Pennsylvania, and 
great variety of good stuff sold, make 
strong inducements for people to desert 
their local tradesmen. w. w. H. 
members of our board of directors which 
is composed of nine members who serve 
three years. Our secretary, with the board 
of directors, manages the whole business of 
our Association, looks out for good men to 
ship our goods to, deals with transporta¬ 
tion companies, employs the help to load 
, and unload our goods, keeps posted on all 
our markets by wire every day; in short, 
does all our worrying, and for this service, 
we pay him a salary of $50 per month. 
The first question that will be asked is,, 
does it pay? This can be better shown 
when we figure a reduction on the cost of 
a 20-ton ice car; $34 is saved on each car 
shipped by our present method over the 
old plan, ahd we send out 300 to 400 cars 
of fruits and vegetables a year. In all 
markets outside of Chicago some good 
house handles all our stuff on that market- 
and rebates us two to three per cent of the 
commission to pay running expenses. In 
Chicago we have a man to receive our 
cars and unload them, and we add a small 
tax to each package to cover expenses. 
Our general manager has complete au¬ 
thority over the goods after he has re¬ 
ceipted the shipper for them, so far as the 
transportation is concerned, but the re¬ 
ceiver makes returns direct to the indl-" 
vidual shipper. o. w. e. 
Villa Ridge, Ill. 
BUSINESS FARMERS’ CO-OPERATION 
A Successful Illinois Plan. 
We have been using the cooperative idea, 
for about 15 years, under different forms. 
First we formed an organization of about 
20 members to test the practicability of the 
plan. After some changes it worked fairly 
well, but there are always some men ready 
to make trouble, and as we had no legal 
status we soon saw that to make a com¬ 
plete success we must have a legal or¬ 
ganization. The old members formed a 
joint stock company with $5,000 capital 
stock, payable in annual installments of 
$1 per year for 50 years. We issued 100 
shares of stock at $50 per share, and limit¬ 
ed each stockholder to one share, and one 
vote on each share, and we incorporated 
our association under the general incorpor-'" 
ation laws of Illinois, which give us a legal 
status and a commercial rating. This has 
enabled us to have access to Dunn and — 
Bradstreet, so we may know the rating ot 
any persons who wish to do business with 
us. It also puts us in a position where 
others have some chance at us if we fail 
to do as we agree. This Association has-¬ 
been very successful for the past 10 years, 
and no fruit or vegetable shipper would go 
back to the old everybody-for-himself plan. 
At our annual meeting in January we elect 
a president, vice-president, secretary and 
general manager and treasurer, also three 
Ginseng Cultivation.— A continued in¬ 
terest in the cultivation of the American 
ginseng plant is being manifested. The 
demand is steadily increasing, as in addi¬ 
tion to its almost universal Use in China 
it is now being prescribed in this country 
as the basis of a proprietary medicinal 
tonic. The supply of wild roots is rap¬ 
idly declining, as they have been energeti¬ 
cally hunted out for the last three-quart¬ 
ers of the century. The export price has 
risen from 48 cents a pound in 1821 to $4.68 
a pound in 1897, while the amount exported 
has diminished from 352,992 pounds in the 
year first given to 179,573 in 1897. This grow¬ 
ing scarcity is naturally a source of deep 
regret to many of the inhabitants of the 
mountain districts eaBt of the Mississippi 
River, a substantial part of whose income 
was formerly gained by digging “sang” in 
the late Summer months. Almost every 
country drug store has long been a pur¬ 
chasing agency for ginseng for final ex¬ 
port, but the time has arrived when the 
cultivation of such an important product 
must be seriously undertaken. Informa¬ 
tion concerning the cultivation of ginseng 
has been given in previous volumes of The 
R. N.-Y. and bulletins concerning it issued 
by the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, the Pennsylvania Department of 
Agriculture, and the Experiment Stations 
at Lexington, Ky., and Toronto, Canada. 
Harlan P. Kelsey, of Kawana, N. C., sends 
us a neatly-illustrated pamphlet giving 
condensed directions for culture and con¬ 
siderable interesting information about the 
plant. The conditions for successful cul¬ 
ture are, briefly—a cool, rich, loamy soil, 
shade and heavy mulching of forest leaves 
through the Winter. It takes four to six 
years to grow marketable roots, and the 
seeds are quite perishable. They must be 
stratified as soon as ripe, and seldom ger¬ 
minate until the second Spring following, 
or 18 months after ripening. The depre¬ 
dations of thieves is the greatest draw¬ 
back. The roots are now so valuable that 
plantations should be protected with walls, 
barbed wire, and electric alarms when pos¬ 
sible. The cultivated roots are worth con¬ 
siderably more per pound than the wild 
collected roots. The Chinese have always 
been unwilling to give much information 
of the use they make of ginseng, but it is 
generally supposed that it is used for all 
diseases afflicting the Orientals. It has 
long been cultivated in a small way in 
China, Japan and Corea. In this country 
the only medicinal virtue credited to gin¬ 
seng is that of a tonic for the digestive 
organs. 
THE HVEFEE.Iil.Xj EXT 
jt. Positively cures tongue lolling and will 
prevent side pulling or driving on one rein. 
With this bit the most vicious and 
unmanageable horse can be driven 
j;n by a lady. The construction 
is such that the driver has 100 
per cent more leverage than 
with any other bit. Samples 
sent postpaid upon receipt 
of price. In X C plate or im¬ 
itation rubber, $1. In Flue 
Nickel Plate $2. 
Imperial Bit and Snap Co., 400 Wis. St., Haclne, Wis 
MT.UCILVM 
THE MIETZ & WEISS 
Kerosene 
Engines 
, for Pumping and Power 
Purposes. Cheapest Power 
Known. 
/ Send for Catalogue. 
A. MIETZ, 
128 Mott Street, New York 
HENCH & DROMGOLD’S 
SAWMILL and ENGINE. 
A wonderful improvement In Friction Feeds and 
Gig-Hack. Back motion of Carriage B times as fast 
as any other in the market. Friction Clutch Feed, 
causing all the feed gearing to stand still while back¬ 
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Cultivators, Corn i’lauters, Shelters, etc. 
Mention this paper. 
BENCH «fc BltOMGOLI), Mfrs., York, P*. 
Look 
ai the 
Facts. 
Mrs. 1'. Dolan, Of 
Madrid, Perkins CO., 
fteb., writes: ”1 
was cured of painful 
periods by the use 
of Dr. Pierce’s Fa¬ 
vorite Prescription, 
and his ‘ Compound 
Extract of Smart- 
Weed.’ I think Dr. 
Pierce’s medicines 
the best iii the 
tvOrid.” 
Mris. Carrie B. 
Donner, of Dayton, 
Green Co., Wis., 
writes: w I can high¬ 
ly recommend Dr. 
Pierce’s Favorite; 
Prescription — hav¬ 
ing taken it for nine 
months previous to 
confinement. I Suf¬ 
fered scarcely any 
Compared \Vith what 
t bad at other 
times.” 
w I suffered fifteen 
years with female 
weakness and nerv¬ 
ousness, "writes Mrs. 
Vincent Bohall, of 
Franklin, Johnson 
Co., Indiana. " One 
year ago I began 
taking your ‘ Favor¬ 
ite Prescription * and 
* Goldeh Medical 
Discovery.’ i took 
| six bottles of each 
and now I am well. 
I owe my life to Dr. 
Pierce." 
-’if"- 
V 
m 
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,LICK, 
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by dip- 
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hallsteel 
mpptNG 
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ECOhomlcal of.the dip 
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BUST—Built of Galva¬ 
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improved tank for common use- suitable to dip from 
. r )0 to :«K) head—Length 8 feet Capacity, 200 gal ions of 
dip. We make other sizes and styles. 1’rices $6.5(1 and 
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also our Steel Stock Tanks anil Troughs (prices $3 and 
up). Storage Tanks (from 5 to 200 barrels Capacity). 
“ I'anks for Dairy and Creamery use tt Specialty." Mod¬ 
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64 N. Ashland AVe.) Chicago, 111. 
GASOLINE ENGINES. 
Get Special Summer price on our5H H. P. Gasoline 
Engines, just the thing for Sawing Wood, Grinding 
Feed, Cutting Ensilage, etc. Special low prices for 
delivery before June lath. DIK1GO ENGINE ANT> 
MACHINE WORKS. Portland Me. 
CHARTER GASOLINE ENGINE 
Any Place 
By Any One 
For Any Purpose 
Stationary*, Portable*. 
Engine* and Pump*. 
State your Power Needs. 
Charter Gas Engine Co.. Box 26, Sterling, III 
Burlington 
Route 
PERSONALLY CONDUCTED 
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P. S. EUSTIS, Gen’l Pass’r Agt., C. B. & Q. R. R. 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
