4o4 
June 9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homai. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, J 
H. E. Van Deman, > Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Rotlk, j 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, K.04, equal to 
8a. 6d., or 8* *4 marks, or 10% franca. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly orders 
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 Prick Only. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
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, 
400 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDA V, JUNE 9, 1900. 
The question of using raw phosphates comes up 
again on page 399. Dr. Fisher is known all over New 
Enigland as good authority on fruit growing. Dis¬ 
solving or “cutting” these phosphates with sulphuric 
acid has been called a finer grinding than any me¬ 
chanical operation can produce. We consider finely 
ground bone superior to raw phosphate of equal fine¬ 
ness, because the former is an organic substance— 
porous and thus more easily reached by the plant 
roots. If the ground raw phosphates can be used 
on fruit trees or other crops there is a great saving 
in sight. 
* 
A new feature in insurance is the issuing of health 
policies, covering nearly all diseases. These policies 
pay $5 a week indemnity during disability from ill¬ 
ness, for a period limited to 52 or 26 weeks. Of 
course, consumption insanity, and diseases result¬ 
ing from vicious living are barred. In place of the 
weekly indemnity, a specified sum is paid for total 
disability caused by sickness. This system of insur¬ 
ance has long been practised by benefit societies, but 
it is a comparatively new feature for commercial 
companies. These health policies are not issued 
to women. 
* 
After reading what the experts say about pre¬ 
serving fruit to be shown for exhibition, we get a 
better idea of the so-called “cold process” of preserv¬ 
ing. The best agents for preserving the exhibition 
fru'it are salicylic acid and corrosive sublimate, but 
both are deadly poisons. The former is used for 
emlbaJlming purposes. These fluids will keep the fruit 
fresh and bright to the eye, and so it is that rascals 
have sold them for preserving food. We say again 
and again that the best treatment for bad bacteria is 
to get them into hot water—the hotter the better— 
and bottle them up with the heat. 
* 
The census man has begun his rounds. Doubtless 
before this is read some of us will have contributed 
our mite to the grand total. There are about 58,000 
people engaged in the work. This army is nearly as 
large as the American army now in the Philippines. 
The census will cost, all told, about $16,000,000, Which, 
we are told, is a sum greater than the total expenses 
of the United States Government for the year 1830. 
With this great expense of time and labor involved, 
it would be a sin to let inaccuracies get into the re¬ 
ports. The totals will be composed of millions of 
smaller items, each one contributed by individuals. 
Let us each study our statistics carefully, and get 
them just right. 
* 
Over large sections of the country the common dirt 
road will be, for years to come, the most practical 
highway. Gravel and crushed stone are luxuries—out 
of reach of many communities. The thing to learn 
is how to make the most of a dirt road. Prof. Har¬ 
rison’s article on page 393 gives some of the princi¬ 
ples of road making. Perhaps the most important 
part of road building is drainage. Water from 
streams and springs is always a nuisance on the 
highway. In land drainage we try to leave enough 
water in the soil to water the crops, but moisture in 
the road only waters the horses the wrong way— 
through the pores of his skin. Road machines are 
now largely used for scraping the road surface. When 
used with poor judgment they injure the highway. 
We know several dirt roads that have been nearly 
ruined by their use. The soil at the side has been 
scraped to the top in such a way that it is impossible 
to find a level track. One side of the wagon is always 
down six inches or a foot below the other. The grass 
and trash are scraped ro the top and left there—no 
roller being used. Thus a good tool may be put to a 
bad use, and it goes to show how much our farmers 
need instruction in road building. When we come 
to think that all the commerce of the world must 
originally be hauled over the country road we realize 
what it means to use dirt to the best advantage. 
Prof. Harrison teaches road building at the agricul¬ 
tural schools and colleges. Samples of first-class 
road are built by the students, and before they finish 
they know what a good road is, at least. Surely good 
roads are as necessary as good barns. 
• 
Each celebration of Decoration Day serves to show 
that the newer generation Is growing away from the 
feelings which inspired this beautiful ceremony. In 
some places the younger veterans of the Spanish 
War took part, thus creating new interest, but usual¬ 
ly the work of love is left to the old veterans, whose 
ranks are growing thinner with each year. We do 
not see how this could naturally be otherwise, for the 
gulf made by 40 years is too wide to be bridged by 
ordinary sentiment. We think it would be better 
to give up the present holiday and hold instead a 
Sunday observance on the last Sunday in May. We 
think this will be done when the Grand Army men 
are called to the last review. 
* 
'There is one encouraging feature about the milk 
situation in New York State. The Milk Producers’ 
Association meets failure after failure with the best 
of spirit. No one believes now that the organiza¬ 
tion will be given up. Each defeat teaches its les¬ 
son, and the sum of the whole thing is that fairer 
prices can only be secured through a well-dtilled 
and wel'l-organized army. An army of unorganized 
riflemen can never drive regulars out of a secure po¬ 
sition, yet they will do it if some master hand can 
fasten them together. The milk producers recog¬ 
nize this fact, and they are getting closer together 
all the time. There is no other way out. They 
never can obtain just prices until they control the 
supply, and this can only be done by thorough or¬ 
ganization. Hang together. 
* 
The Five States Milk Producers are getting right 
down to solid business. There is just one way to 
beat the milk trust—the Consolidated Exchange and 
its members. That is by taking care of the surplus 
and keeping the supply down to the necessary de¬ 
mand. Since the fight and failure of the old Milk 
Union of about 12 years ago, we have been convinced 
that this could be done only by securing creameries 
controlled by producers. The increase Of coopera¬ 
tive creameries all over the State for the last year 
or two Shows that farmers begin fully to realize the 
situation. The producers in the vicinity of Bing¬ 
hamton have organized a stock company, and bought 
a creamery at Apalachin to care for the surplus milk 
in that section. A number of such creameries, prop¬ 
erly located, would solve the whole milk problem. 
When the Grout bill is in operation and preventing 
the manufacture of oleo to imitate butter, these 
creameries will pay living prices. All that will men 
be needed will be a union of the cooperative cream¬ 
eries with one general sales depot in New York for 
the sale of their products, and a State cheese brand 
protected by the bill now before Congress, which will 
be recognized in foreign markets. 
* 
' —The R. N.-Y. always tries to avoid discussions of 
“politics.” This word has two meanings—the dis¬ 
cussion of great principles of government or one¬ 
sided criticisms of mere party management. The 
R. N.-Y., of course, never attempts to discuss mat¬ 
ters from the standpoint of party advantage. It 
is a question as to how far a paper like The R. N.-Y. 
should go in advising its readers how to cast their 
ballots. There are times, however, when it seems 
as though some positive and decided stand should 
be taken. Let us take the milk and butter questions, 
for example. We hold that to the man with the 
cow the laws regulating and defending the sale and 
market rights of outter, cheese and milk are of more 
importance than the tariff or any other National 
question. Such a man, in our opinion, should con¬ 
sider his family and nis cow first of all. For ex¬ 
ample, take the recent “milk war” in Syracuse. The 
milk: farmers were, in our judgment, unfairly treated. 
This w*as the because the Witter bill failed to become 
a law, and because of prejudice on the part of local 
health officers. If we lived at Syracuse, and could 
reach with our vote any man who is responsible for 
this trouble, or any man who would not agree to sup¬ 
port the Witter bill next year, we would certainly 
cut such a man with that vote as deeply as possible. 
If we lived in the district represented by S. E. Payne, 
and were interested in cow keeping we would vote 
against him, and urge others to do so. It seems to 
us folly to confuse the issues. The dairyman takes 
his cow into something more than a mere partner¬ 
ship. He is a traitor and a false friend if he will 
not stand up for her rights. He stands in his own 
light if ne permits nimself to be cowed away from 
his honest support of his friend the cow. We un¬ 
derstand, of course, that the friends of oleo will say 
that this is a narrow and selfish position. They musi 
admit that they have made the situation what it is. 
Had they come forward honestly with their mixture, 
offering and selling it for just what it is and noth¬ 
ing else, they would have disarmed opposition. 
Instead of this tney have constantly tried to de¬ 
ceive the people by stealing the color and appear¬ 
ance which has belonged to butter for thousands of 
years. Surely the farmer who would stand still and 
permit himself to be robbed or cheated either by 
manufacturers and merchants or by politicians does 
not deserve to have the right of suffrage—for some 
one else would vote for him and save the expense 
upon election. 
* 
This is about the last call for cow peas for the 
northern farmer. They should be in the ground by 
June 15. We have talked cow pea until the sub¬ 
ject seems like an old story, and yet we see so many 
fields ana farms where this little friend might be 
made useful that further talk seems needed. We 
are using the seed on the back fields of the farm. 
These “loafers” have been neglected and are, in 
their present condition, worse tnan useless. Where 
they can be plowed we turn them roughly over, 
sow the peas, and harrow them in. With this treat¬ 
ment we firmly believe that next year these fields 
will produce a fair crop of corn, which would be 
increased if we should use potash and phosphate 
with the peas. On other fields that cannot be plowed 
we expect to raise a crop of peas by plowing furrows 
and sowing the seeds therein. This is rough farm¬ 
ing, but it is the wisest way to use some of the farm 
loafers. The cow pea is not the plant for the richer 
fields. It belongs to the poor, rougher ground. 
Many of us have fallen into the habit of putting our 
manure and fertilizer on a few naturally fertile acres, 
until we feel that we cannot afford to feed the re¬ 
mainder of the farm. It becomes unproductive, and 
is thrown out of cultivation—is made a loafer. This 
is the part of the farm that belongs to the cow pea, 
which will bring it back to usefulness again at a small 
cost. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
Perfesser Brown is stoppin’ at our place 
This Summer, an’ between his theories, 
An' mem advanced so glib by Doctor Chase 
A feller hardly dares to up an’ sneeze 
Fer fear he’ll start ’em—they gut after me 
Last Friday when I come up from the field, 
An’ tried to drink the well dry—I could see 
Across the bucket how Doc’s eye was peeled. 
“Don’t swill,” he says, “You don’t know how to drink. 
Why don’t ye sip that water? It’s too cold, 
You’ll chill yer stummick!” I let out a link 
An’ swallered half a pint. “Now, then, I hold,” 
Put in Perfesser, “He should drink his fill 
Fer his esofygus—six inches long— 
An’ het to 98 will take the chill 
Out of thet water.” Why, he argered strong! 
An’ Doc he come back at him sorter brash 
But I see John a-leanin’ on his hoe, 
An’ so I couldn’t stay to hear ’em clash, 
But I kep lookin’ back—an’ this I know— 
Ole Doc he talked Perfesser out of breath 
An’ run him clean indoors—I see him pull 
His coat, he gut so het—then, sure as death 
He went and drinked a half a bucket full! 
The worst waste of the distillery is whisky. 
What would America be without the corn crop? 
People who do are seldom trouble with a "hoodoo.” 
Good square love is what makes the world go round. 
There is too much coddling of the apple core worm. 
Tree planter or tree killer—which is your proper title? 
A convenient post or tree will always start a streak 
of lean in some men. 
Don’t get the Angora goat fever. You cannot buy 
the goats at fair prices. 
We nominate the Hon. Bordeaux Mixture as chairman 
of the board of health for plants. 
Be thoughtful! That's right, but don’t be so full of 
thought that there is no room in you for action. 
Every financial manager is called stingy by some one, 
and every industrial manager is called lazy by another. 
Reports are that the Potato beetle is in full force this 
year. We have never seen them so thick on our own 
vines. 
Has a farmer who uses preservaline in his milk any 
business to find fault with the larger adulterators? Not 
a bit of it! 
Mr. Mead, page 386, says he has fruited the Japan 
plums for nearly 10 years, and so has much to learn. A 
modest statement, that, from one of the best-posted men 
in the country! 
