1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4o9 
Publisher’s Desk. 
We have received letters by the thou¬ 
sand in the last month something like 
the following: 
I received a Ruby Queen rose several 
weeks ago. Please accept my sincere 
thanks. The better I become acquainted 
with The R. N.-Y. the better I like it. 
Stony Ridge, N. C. r. l. wolff. 
It may sound just a little bit vain, but 
we are human enough to like the last 
sentence bf this letter. We are honestly 
and earnestly trying to make The R. 
N.-Y. better and more valualble week by 
week, without regard to pains or ex¬ 
pense, and it is an encouragement to 
know that our friends note the progress. 
If anyone has failed to receive the rose 
Ruby Queen, after having applied for it, 
we will send it now on receipt of advice 
to that effect. 
MARKET BRIEFS. 
Picked Up Here and There. 
LIVE POUI/TRY receipts have been quite 
heavy, but the demand is active on ac¬ 
count of the Jewish trade for the Feast of 
Weeks, June 3 and 4. Dressed poultry is 
dull. A carload of scalded fowls reshipped 
here from a town nearby arrived in poor 
condition. Spring ducks are plentiful. 
PRODUCTS FROM MEXICO.—Several 
weeks ago a St. Louis commission house 
received a shipment of muskmelons from 
Mexico. The quality was fair, and as it 
was so early in the season, a good price 
was received. With improved facilities 
for transportation there is no reason why 
Mexico should not come to the front for a 
share of the out-of-season fruit and vege¬ 
table trade of the United States. Several 
months ago The R. N.-Y. had an account 
of the ixtle iibre industry of Mexico. Re¬ 
cent reports state that more than 4,500,000 
pounds of this are sent to this country and 
Europe. There is also some business in 
hides, the annual exports of goatskins 
alone being wortu more than $150,000. 
FRUITS.—Apples arc somewhat scarce. 
Ben Davis, Baldwin and Russet are the 
principal varieties seen. There arc some 
extra large Baldwins from nearby cold- 
storage houses. Delaware, Maryland and 
Jersey strawberries are arriving in large 
quantities. Receipts from the South are 
dropping off. The quality is much im¬ 
proved. Fair berries are retailing at 10 
cents per quart, or three for 25 cents. A 
few huckleberries and blackberries have 
been received from North Carolina. They 
are small and not at all inviting. Cali¬ 
fornia is sending some fine apricots; also 
a few Cherry, or, as they are more com¬ 
monly known, Wild Goose plums. These are 
packed in flat boxes and look very much 
like large red cherries. After testing 
them, however, one wonders what they are 
grown for, as they certainly cannot be in¬ 
tended to eat. The flesh next to the skin 
and stone has a vile, sour-bitter taste re¬ 
sembling wormwood and vinegar. I have 
seen a few lots of Georgia peaches. They 
are small and green. The fruit stands offer 
them at five for 10 cents. Some Florida 
watermelons and muskmelons are the latest 
arrivals. The quality of the muskmelons 
is poor. 
VEGETABLES.—There is a good call for 
southern new potatoes, but the receipts are 
so heavy that prices have dropped a little. 
The supply of asparagus is light. Most 
that I see in this market is all bleached 
white but the tips. Many people wonder 
why It is grown in this way, as the long 
white stem is not eatable, being woody and 
tasteless. The old-fashioned way of pre¬ 
paring asparagus was to allow the stems to 
have the sunlight, cut them before they 
became hard, and, after cutting in small 
pieces, cooking like peas. Thus the 
whole stem could be used. It is doubtful 
whether there is any improvement in the 
present plan of bleaching the stems, and 
then, as many of the hotels and restaurants 
do, cooking them whole and serving with 
a tasteless flour gravy. The receipts of 
cabbages are heavy, and, with the abund¬ 
ance of other green stuff, the demand has 
weakened. Fine cucumbers are selling 
well, retailing at five cents each. Some in¬ 
ferior and stale ones, however, sell at al¬ 
most any price. I saw a newsboy pick up 
one of these stale cucumbers that had been 
lying in the gutter in the sun for some 
time. He ate it skin and all—quite a re¬ 
sponsibility for one to lay upon his stom¬ 
ach. Green peas and string beans are 
lower. 
COFFEE NOTES.—More than 675,000,000 
pounds of coffee are used in this country 
annually, and about one-fourth of this is 
sold in packages. This package coffee is 
all roasted, but only the cheaper grades 
are ground, and most of these are sold in 
the West and South at 15 to 20 cents per 
pound. A large amount of this wrapped 
coffee is mixed, and considerable ingenuity 
is shown in making special blends. People 
have various ideas of flavor, and when a 
man finds a brand that just suits him, he 
is apt to keep on buying it. In this way 
packers have made a reputation for their 
mixtures, and they also pack large amounts 
under the private labels of grocers. All of 
these goods are put into packages ranging 
in weight from one to five pounds. The 
very best brands are unglazed and packed 
in air-tight tin c.misters so as to preserve 
their flavor. ALout 25 years ago a process 
of glazing coffee was invented. It was kept 
secret for a time, but something similar 
is largely used in the trade to-day. The 
white of egg is the chief ingredient, and a 
small amount of isinglass, gelatine and 
white sugar are added. This puts a coat¬ 
ing on the berry so that it retains its flavor 
very well when wrapped in ordinary pack¬ 
ages. It is said that 200,000 cases of eggs 
per year are required for this purpose. Of 
course, only the whites are used, the yolks 
being sold to bakers and confectioners. 
_ w. w. H. 
HERE AND THERE. 
I notice The R. N.-Y. refers to an erup¬ 
tion on Mount Baker. We are not a great 
way from it, and the only eruption we 
know of is that caused by the Mount 
Baker Mining Company, Carlisle’s and 
other mining companies taking out the 
gold quartz. It’s rather a pleasant kind 
of an eruption to see their pack trains go¬ 
ing and coming, for the storekeepers and 
farmers. J. f. 
East Chilliwack. B. C. 
Long Island Notes.— The Spring has 
been unusually cool and dry. Fruit is quite 
badly hurt; peaches and pears in this sec¬ 
tion will be a light crop. English hay bids 
fair to be a short crop; corn and potatoes 
have come up nicely. Winter grain is 
looking fairly well at present. More pota¬ 
toes were planted in Suffolk County than 
ever before, and preparations are being 
made for a very large cauliflower crop. 
Miinorville, L. I. R. G. 
Ohio Notes.— Oh, how dry it is here! 
Nearly a month of drought! Hard frosts 
(regular freezes), on the mornings of May 
4, 5 and 10, did great injury to the earliest 
of the strawberries; killed a part of the 
early apples, and nearly all of the large 
English cherries. Grass and clover were 
also injured. Wheat is the poorest crop 
since 1895. Corn coming up, and oats yet 
look well, and wo are cheered with the 
thought that we are living in a land of 
plenty, after all, and not in famine-stricken 
India, or robber-ridden (ofllcially), Cuba. 
A. R. P. 
Dirt Roads.— A road machine would be 
the correct instrument to use in the forma¬ 
tion of dirt roads, and it would be well also 
to have on hand a road roller; a horse roller 
weighing about six tons would help to com¬ 
pact the soil. Where the soil is described 
as being a light and sandy one, underlaid 
with a yellow clay, I would advise getting 
as much of that clay as possible upon the 
surface, covering the sand with it. Very 
good roads are made over sandy strips by 
covering with a coating of clay. We are 
making very good roads in our sandy pine 
district by covering them with a coating of 
loamy gravel, which, with proper attention, 
lasts for many years. With regard to the 
road machines, one of them with four to 
six horses can form from one to two or 
three miles a day, according to the nature 
of the soil. I think their cost ranges from 
$200 to $300. There are quite a number of 
Western manufacturers of them. 
H. I. BUDD. 
N. J. State Commissioner of Public Roads. 
Total Eclipse of the Sun.— The eclipse 
came on time as predicted, some say in 
1S49, by a Virginia astronomer. We have 
seen a little time-stained school astronomy, 
the like of which seems to have no modern 
use in our schools, which contained the pre¬ 
diction of this eclipse. It was published 65 
years ago. As we viewed the eclipse, look¬ 
ing east, the upper right edge of the sun’s 
disk was the part first eclipsed, and, of 
course, the opposite side was last covered. 
Crescent-shaped shadows from the foliage 
of trees danced on the earth and walls of 
houses. As the eclipse progressed the sky 
took on a deep blue, little cirrus cluods 
in the west took on an after-sunset hue. 
There was more light in the western sky 
than elsewhere. Hens hovered their chick¬ 
ens, and as soon as the sun came out bright 
again started for the feeding yard, although 
fed only an hour or two before. The dark¬ 
ness was not like twilight, nor was the 
corona as bright as we have seen depicted 
in pictures. There was more above and 
below than on either side of the disk, and 
it extended only a very short distance. 
This feature was less than might have been 
expected, because of dust in the air accord¬ 
ing to our local meteorologist. It was a 
grand display, and all could observe it. 
The first gleam of sunshine came, unlike a 
land sunrise, direct and dazzling with no 
previous warning on high objects. 
Raleigh, N. C. F. E. E. 
Wars for Conquest.— The note on page 
356 seems to have stirred up some of our 
Canadian friends. One of them makes the 
following very neat comment: The R. N.- 
Y. opposes both wars: 
“Seven months ago there were millions (?) 
of (Englishmen) who hoped that the (Filipi¬ 
nos) would make a brave stand against (the 
Americans.) There were few, however, 
who expected that on May 1 the (Filipinos) 
would still be in the field. Yet there they 
are. They are doubtless doomed to final 
defeat. The (Americans) are waiting to 
organize an overwhelming advance, but the 
(Filipinos) have already made a record in 
history that will live for ages. The (Filipi¬ 
nos) are not paid for fighting. They can¬ 
not exchange a limb for a decoration or a 
life for ‘a pension and a glorious memory.’ 
Society women and actresses do not go 
about begging money for them. It is 
one of the wonders of the century that 
these rough untutored men can hold the 
great (American) Nation at bay for so long. 
The nations of the world, and especially 
England may well consider whether there 
be not something in the rough loyalty and 
love of country that should never be 
stamped out. And the moral of that is, 
Little bogs who live in glass houses shouldn't 
throw stones.” 
Uncle Sam and John Bull.— About the 
time of Consul Macrum's return from the 
Transvaal one heard and read a lot about 
an alliance or agreement or a something 
between John Bull and Uncle Sam. Some 
believed it and some did not, but I have 
absolute proof that there is something in 
it. A robin red-breast built its nest in the 
gable of our house, and some of the build¬ 
ing material, string, etc., hung down sev¬ 
eral inches. A pair of English sparrows 
have made their nest in the lower part of. 
the robin’s nest, so it is like a sleeping car, 
but Uncle Sam has the upper berth, and 
John Bull the lower one. Now, unless 
there is some sort of an agreement between 
the two nations, the birds would never 
have gone to housekeeping together. 
C. A. 
It’S 
worse 
Fora 
To suffer with 
skin disease than 
it is for a man, 
for a smooth skin 
and a clear com¬ 
plexion are es¬ 
sential elements 
of female beauty. 
When the taint 
of scrofula is in 
the blood it will 
be sure to show 
itself soon or 
late. Often its 
manifestations 
are as repulsive as they are painful. 
Many people have been cured of scrof¬ 
ula in its most malignant forms by the 
use of Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical 
Discovery. This remedy is remarkable 
for its power to purify the blood. It 
absolutely eliminates the corrupting ele¬ 
ments. It makes the blood clean and 
rich. It increases the action of the 
blood-making glands, and so increases 
the quantity of pure blood supplied to 
the body. 
"I will forever thank you for advising me to 
take Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery,>* 
writes Mrs. Jas. Murphy, of Fonda, Pocahontas 
Co., Iowa. "It has cured me of chronic scrofula 
of twelve years’ standing. I had doctored for 
the trouble until I was completely discouraged. 
I also had chronic diarrhea for twelve years. I 
am in good health now—better than I ever was 
in my life, owing to Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medi¬ 
cal Discovery. I took several bottles of th« 
‘Discovery’ before I stopped.” 
Dr. Pierce’s Common Sense Medical 
Adviser, a work for every woman, is sent 
free, on receipt of 21 one-cent stamps (to 
pay cost of mailing only), for paper 
edition. Cloth-bound, 31 stamps. Ad¬ 
dress Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y. 
IDE 
MACHINERY 
I Best and cheapest. 
' Send for catalogue 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO.. 
Wnter Street, 
SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
The Most Cider 
Of the IEST QUALITY »nd the PUREST 
form can be % se«urea from A given 
quantity of apples by the nee of the 
HYDRAULIC 
CIDER PRESS. 
The only press awarded medal and 
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HYDRAULIC PRESS MFQ. CO. 
lit illiiinSI., BT. GILEAD, OHIO. 
BEST SEEDER ON EARTH! 
14 ft. Seeder, $4.40; 16 ft. Seeder 
$4.75. A Plow complete, $6.95. Bug- 
Kies WaKons, and all Implements 
Practical Cream and Seeds at wholesale. Write 
Separator. quick to I*. F. FOSTER, 
AGENTS WANTED. Allegan, Mich 
COLD 
Is made n using or selling the Nagley Automatic 
TRANSPLANTER. 
Used In transplanting Tobacco. Cabbage, Celery, 
Tomatoes, Sugar Beets, Sweet Potatoes. Strawber- 
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extra. Absolutely guaranteed to do the work. Write 
for prices. NAGLEY MEG. CO., Lyons, N. Y 
IRON PTPT '**0 
WROUGHT IRON PIPE 
For 8team, Gas and Water. Good as new. 
Tested, Re-painted, Re-threaded and coup¬ 
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ALL 8IZE8. WRITE FOR PRICES. 
Write for Free Catalogue No. 67 of merchan¬ 
dise for HOME, FARM AND F ELD— 
from Sheriffs’ and Receivers' Sales. 
Roofing, Plumbing Material, Hardware, Cloth- 
Imr. Hpv flrwvlH. Hoots and fthofls. Tools. 
Chicago House Wrecking Co. w * Chicago?**' 
How to Drain Land Profitably 
On every farm there Is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by under- 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain Is ex¬ 
plained in the 
book, “ Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,” 
which is sent free by 
JOHN H. JACKSON, Third Ave., Albany, N. Y. 
HALL STEEL TANKS 
are the best for supplying water for live stock. Being 
made of galvanized steel, they cannot rust, rot, burst 
from freezing, fall to pieces from drying out, etc. We 
make tanks for all purposes. Also troughs for feed¬ 
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manure, etc. Prices and estimates cheerfully sub¬ 
mitted. Write to-day. THE HALL 8TEEL TANK 
CO., 64 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago. 111. 
Burlington 
Route 
PERSONALLY CONDUCTED 
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CHICAGO, ILL. 
