34o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER; 
May 12 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TEE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homti, 
Established, 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, ) 
H. E. Van Deman, > Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 12.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 854 marks, or 1054 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly order* 
of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.," 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price Only. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable house* 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance is for, 
should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY , MAY 12, 1900. 
THE RUBY QUEEN. 
We have about 2,000 applications for the Ruby 
Queen rose that we shall not be able to fill for two or 
three weeks. The remaining stock is just a little im¬ 
mature, and while it could be shipped, we think it 
better to keep it for two or three weeks yet in the 
hands of the experienced growers. Those who are 
anxiously looking for it will please have patience, 
and look for it in about two or three weeks. There is 
yet sufficient time, and all will be supplied. 
* 
Those experiments at the Vermont Station, given 
on page 335, show that soluble arsenic is death to 
living plants. That shows what may happen when 
soluble arsenic is used for spraying useful trees or 
plants. Paris-green is the best form of arsenic be¬ 
cause it does not dissolve. The water merely carries 
the poison suspended or mixed in it. Any substitute 
for Paris-green that contains soluble arsenic is dan¬ 
gerous stuff to use. 
* 
A New York State judge decides that when a horse 
is frightened by an automobile so that he runs away 
and breaks the wagon, the driver of the automobile 
is not liable for damages. The idea is that horseless 
carriages and bicycles have as much right on the pub¬ 
lic highway as pedestrians or horse vehicles. If they 
are handled properly, the horse must become ac¬ 
quainted with them at the risk and cost of his driver. 
That is about the substance of the decision, which is 
hard on horses and horsemen. 
* 
A scientific friend who has done work which 
promises to be of great practical value to farmers, 
says: 
Science and practice must go side by side, under the 
same yoke; and if they do not work steadily together, 
“there is something wrong with one of the animals, and 
the driver must apply the lash.” 
Who is to be the driver—the scientist or the prac¬ 
tical man? At present there seem to be two drivers, 
and while they stop to argue the working team 
stands still—right in good working weather. 
• 
We have been expecting a wet season for the East¬ 
ern States, yet thus far the weather has been dry 
and cool. The grass has not yet been hurt, but unless 
we have a wet May the hay crop will be short. In any 
case, wet or dry, the farmer with average stock to 
feed should prepare now for some soiling crop to help 
out the drought which is sure to come. Mr. Clinton 
is right in saying that most farmers cannot bear to 
cut down the corn they planted for grain, even though 
the green stalk would make twice as much milk as the 
dry stalk and grain. That is all the more reason why 
we should plant some crop designed for green feeding 
and for nothing else. 
* 
The village of Cornwall. New York, has a woman’s 
improvement society. Its business is to set out and 
care for trees, remove weeds and other unsightly ob¬ 
jects, and improve the general appearance of the 
village streets. Recently the society offered a reward 
of 10 cents per hundred for egg clusters of the tent- 
caterpillar. The principal of the school, as a further 
inducement, offered a $3 bat and ball to the boy who 
should secure the largest number of clusters. Both 
boys and girls took hold with a will. A committee of 
one was appointed to receive and burn the eggs. They 
came in in lots of from 50 to 100. Some boys brought 
in as many as 4,000. The total number was 35,000. It 
is yet too early to tell what effect this will have on 
the prevalence of the tent-caterpillar in the village. 
But the work is to be continued in the Fall, and if the 
result is at all favorable, it will no doubt be con¬ 
tinued. As compared with a man a woman spells 
clean in italics. This is why they should be put on 
school boards and improvement societies. 
± 
An official committee in England has been receiving 
expert opinions on the subject of food preservatives. 
Regarding salicylic acid, one physician described it as 
a slightly acrid, irritating substance, which is used 
externally for the removal of warts and corns, and is 
a most undesirable article to put in food. A public 
analyst stated that he had found it in a number of 
temperance, non-alcoholic drinks. Concerning bo- 
racic acid, a physician described its ill effects upon 
children, and stated that, experimenting upon himself, 
he had found 15 grains a day sufficient to produce 
sickness, headache, and digestive derangements. It 
was the consensus of opinion that such preservatives 
should be absolutely prohibited in milk, which is 
largely the food of invalids and infants. 
* 
It has been hard work to make Europeans realize 
the value of Indian corn as a food for humans. We 
have increased our exports of corn, but most of it 
goes to feed horses and cattle. The Danes, for ex¬ 
ample, buy our corn, feed it to their cows, and make 
butter which competes with ours in the English mar¬ 
ket. The chief reason why the poor of Europe will 
not eat corn is that they consider it brute food—good 
for horses and cattle, but unfit for humans. The idea 
of sharing their dinner with the horse or cow, al¬ 
though on separate plates, doesn’t suit them at all. 
The Government should send an army of corn bread 
cooks to the Paris Exposition, and show how close 
they can come to making angel cake out of “brute 
food.” 
* 
Analytical chemists find it difficult to detect reno¬ 
vated butter by the tests that are entirely satisfactory 
in testing oleo, but it is now said that photography 
surmounts this difficulty. Pure freshly-made butter 
contains only amorphous (shapeless or uncrystal¬ 
lized) fat, but any heating process, such as is followed 
in renovation, and running in of milk, immediately 
generates fat crystals. In oleo, there are the crystals 
of meat fat added to the cotton-seed oil. Light passed 
through pure unrenovated butter appears dull and 
translucent, but when there are crystals in it, bright 
and dark spots appear, making a peculiarly shaded 
picture. By this process deviled butter can be de¬ 
tected readily enough to convince anyone of ordinary 
observation. It is asserted that it is not unusual for 
oleo to be sold as renovated butter. 
* 
The local papers at Syracuse, N. Y., for some rea¬ 
son do not seem willing to give the farmers a fair 
showing in the “milk war” which is described on page 
341. This is unfortunate, for it is all too easy for 
daily papers to frighten their readers and thus work 
great injury to honest men. The action of the Syra¬ 
cuse Board of Health is the strongest argument we 
have yet observed for taking the handling of these 
animal diseases right out of reach of such so-called 
medical men. It is a species of tyranny which every 
self-respecting American should denounce. As a rule 
the local Board of Health is an organization in which 
brains and common sense are boarded up and nailed 
down. The milkmen have engaged ex-Attorney-Gen- 
eral Hancock as their counsel, and we hope that they 
will exhaust every fair means to maintain their rights. 
We understand that the Board of Health will shut 
their eyes when grocers send out into the country 
after milk. The fight is against the farmers. If the 
Witter bill had passed the last Legislature this trouble 
could not have occurred. Here is another case where 
the farmers kept quiet until laws directly against 
their interests were passed! 
* 
Australian wheat growers experienced a loss from 
smut of $250,000 on the total crop of 1898. Bluestone 
pickle has always been effective in preventing smut 
in the colony, so the prevalence of the trouble during 
this particular season was attributed to neglect of 
the precaution. It was found, however, that seed 
wheat had been as carefully treated as during pre¬ 
vious seasons, but farmers reported that “pickled” 
seed had suffered quite as badly from smut as that 
not treated. It was discovered that large consign¬ 
ments of inferior bluestone had been put upon the 
market, and the loss largely resulted from this. In 
some cases copperas was substituted for the sulphate 
of copper. Wheat growers were very indignant over 
the fraud, and applied to the government for remedy, 
asking that the Fertilizers act be made applicable to 
this case. It appears the general opinion among Aus¬ 
tralian wheat growers that the steeping process, now 
generally adopted, is not so effective as spreading the 
grain upon the barn floor, and sprinkling it with a 
solution allowing two ounces of bluestone to the 
bushel. Warning is given against putting the grain 
back in the old bags, which are very likely to retain 
smut germs. 
* 
Last week Mr. Alva Agee told of using rye to “sour 
the soil” as part preparation for a white potato crop. 
Many farmers have noticed that where manure was 
used on the potatoes the per cent of scab was high, 
while perhaps in the same field the crop was quite 
smooth where a sod was plowed under. In planting 
potatoes year after year on the same ground we have 
noticed less scab when a catch crop like rye, cow 
peas or Crimson clover came in between. The ex¬ 
planation seems clear. The manure being alkaline, 
gave the scab germs a favorable condition for growth. 
The green crop was sour and destroyed or delayed the 
action of the germs. There are some farmers, with 
small farms, who would find it greatly to their ad¬ 
vantage to grow potatoes on the same ground year 
after year. They can do it by growing rye or clover 
in between. 
* 
An honest man in New York State sends his dollar, 
orders the Ruby Queen rose, and adds: 
I had intended to drop the paper, on account of the 
Hope Farm Notes, the punishment of the children being 
very disagreeable to me, but wife wants the rose—and 
I can skip the Notes! 
A good red rose and a well-read and sensible wife 
make a strong combination. We hope our children 
will learn such regular habits of behaviour from the 
rose that they will never need another whipping. The 
immense demand for this rose has been a very pleas¬ 
ant feature of this year’s subscription season. It 
shows that there is some one about the farm home 
who has something beside corn and potatoes in eye 
and mind. “The rose is a peach!” writes another 
man. Dr. Van Fleet did not intend to grow fruit on 
thorns when he started the Ruby Queen, yet that 
definition is probably correct! 
* 
BREVITIES. 
UNCLE SAM TO JOHN BULL. 
Say, John—we've wrestled lively in our day, 
You know my knuckles carry little fat; 
The man who downs you has no time for play 
When you get mad—I’ll testify to that. 
No, I don’t want to right, although I could 
Pull coat and vest if need be even now, 
But, John, I tell you—as a good friend should. 
Just what I think about this ugly row 
Down there in Africa—you understand 
How sort of touchy our folks always get 
When some big fellow lifts a heavy hand 
To crush some little chap—it makes ’em fret, 
Deserve just what they get? Well, maybe so— 
I’ve had to whip some of my children, too, 
But if I had another child as low 
As India is— I’ll tell you what I’d do. 
I’d let the Dutchmen wait and go and nurse 
My starving daughter back to health once more; 
I’d use my coin to bless with—not to curse 
Now, “them’s my sentiments!” right to the core, 
All right, old man, you know just where I stand, 
You can’t scare me—you know just what I think; 
I wish you’d let that job of whipping stand 
And give your starving daughter food and drink. 
No use talking—there is a great Alfalfa boom starting. 
Will one dollar per acre pay the cost of weeds on 
your farm? 
Get the fact in mind that hay is dried by the wind, 
rather than by the sun. 
Why no, there is no good reason why the poultry 
house should be kept in a foul condition. 
The backbone of the plant—potash; the muscle of the 
plant, phosphoric acid—the courage and nerve—nitrogen. 
A good season this for using nitrate of soda in the 
grass and grain crops. It will greatly help in a dry 
Spring. 
It is suggested that oleo manufacturers should use 
goat fat in making their product, because the goat is a 
natural butter. 
There have been a number of questions about the ap¬ 
pearance of a field of oats and peas. A picture is 
shown on the first page. 
Charles Dickens is credited w T ith the statement that 
the field it pays the farmer best to cultivate is the one 
within the ring fence of his own skull. 
Mr. Bryan says that a farmer earns money in the 
country to spend in the town, while the agriculturist 
earns money in town to spend in the country. 
This is the w r ay a hearty Jerseyman talks: “Wishing 
you the success you deserve (that’s a good deal if you 
do damn the Kieffer pear), believe me yours.” 
Experiments are being made in New Jersey with an 
automobile for hauling canal boats, w-hich, it is be¬ 
lieved, will drive the patient mule from the towpath. 
If you would give your corn a perfect start, see that 
the kernes are dropped wade apart. Don’t bunch them 
up and plant them close together, they’ll need the whole 
wide hill in hot, dry weather. 
Commission men can afford to handle large lots of uni¬ 
form goods on a smaller margin than they could a 
dozen lots aggregating the same amount. That is one 
reason why selling organizations are useful. 
