452 
June 30 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, ) 
H. E. Van Deman, >Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, j 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in tbe Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8s. (id., or 8 Vt marks, or 10)4 francs. 
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 Price 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, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY , JUNE 30, 1900. 
Rochester, N. Y., has just installed a city milk¬ 
maid, this unusual official being under the authority 
of the Board of Health. She will have supervision 
over the city milk farm, from which pure milk is to 
be supplied below cost, during the Summer, for the 
sick children of the poor. The official milkmaid will 
oversee the milking and bottling, and give a certifi¬ 
cate of purity with each bottle. This official milk¬ 
maid is a trained nurse, who has had experience at 
the milk-distributing stations. 
* 
Reports indicate a short hay crop in the East, at 
least. The dry May was too much for most meadows. 
Farmers are better prepared than usual with crops 
like fodder corn and millet to help out the hay. The 
experience of last year taught a lesson that will not 
be forgotten for many years. If July and August are 
fairly wet, a good second crop of hay can be obtained 
by using nitrate of soda on the meadows after mow¬ 
ing. We would not advise this plan every year, but 
when the first crop is short, as it is this season, the 
nitrate will, with a reasonable amount of moisture, 
enable a farmer to force a heavy second growth. 
* 
v Those who th'ink that the apparent failure of the 
milk farmers to secure better milk prices will kill off 
the Association will find themselves very much mis¬ 
taken. The milk producers are -in this fight to the end. 
The end will be not higher prices to consumers, but a 
fair division of gross proceeds. Good will come from 
this failure, because producers will be better pre¬ 
pared in the future to withhold their milk and work 
it up at home. There is the keynote of the whole 
thing. Something must be done with the milk. It 
must come here or be utilized at home in creameries 
or cheese factories. It will be far better to have the 
farmers themselves control these factories, and that 
is what they ought to work for. 
* 
We don’t wish to interfere w-ith any honest fad or 
any legitimate fun, but we must say that the Angora- 
goat craze now sweeping over the country needs a 
halter. A publication issued by the Department of 
Agriculture started it. Hundreds, yes, thousands of 
people seem to believe that the Angora goat will turu 
some brush-ridden old pasture into gold. The Angora 
does well on the western slopes of the Rockies and 
in the great Southwest. Dealers tell us that the 
trade in mohair is limited, and Will not stand any 
great increase. The price of good Angoras has been 
boomed far out of proportion to their practical value. 
On most eastern farms, well-bred sheep will prove 
just as profitable as these goats. We would not buy 
Angoras at present prices! 
* 
On page 458 is a brief account of the way skim- 
milk is sterilized at a Kansas creamery. As it comes 
from the separator the skim-milk is heated by steam 
in a tank, and delivered to farmers boiling hot. It 
keeps sweet longer, and makes better food for stock. 
Yet wherever this is tried the first result is unsatis¬ 
factory. Most creamery patrons object to it, be¬ 
cause the calves do not at first like the boiled milk. 
If the creamery man consulted the first wishes of his 
patrons the milk would not be heated, but after a 
short time the calves will eat the milk readily. It 
keeps so much better, and there is such a saving in 
its use that the sterilizing is sure to be popular in 
the end. There are lots of men who go through the 
world denying themselves the best fruits of life be¬ 
cause they judge their possibilities by surface indi¬ 
cations and first results entirely. They hang too 
long to the old things and quit too soon in testing 
the new ones. 
We think that the American potato crop is a great 
one, but we are far behind Germany. Last year we 
had 2,581,353 acres in potatoes, and produced 228,783,- 
232 bushels. Germany had 7,737,845 acres and 
1,414,125,460 bushels. A large part of the German 
crop is used for making starch and alcohol. A good 
share of this alcohol is used for fuel. A recent writer 
has said that bath France and Germany have been 
straining every nerve of late years to produce alcohol. 
In France the object has been to drink the alcohol, 
while .in Germany it is to take the place of more 
costly fuel. That is given as one reason why Ger¬ 
many is passing France in the industrial race. 
* 
'Some of our readers send us letters received from 
Congressman Wadsworth under the frank of the Gov¬ 
ernment. Mr. Wadsworth writes that his position on 
the oleo question is either misunderstood or mis¬ 
stated. As he wants to set things right, he sends a 
report of his committee, giving his reasons for oppos¬ 
ing the Grout bill. Mr. Wadsworth was overruled by 
his own committee, and the Grout bill was reported to 
the House. It will come up for action on December 6. 
There may be a few dairymen who will be interested 
in reading Mr. Wadsworth’s reasons next Winter 
when they have leisure, but right now they want to 
know what he will do on December 6 when the bill 
comes to a vote. Will he vote yes or no? That’s 
what the farmers are trying to find out! 
* 
Fruit growers have reported from time to time 
that Japan plum trees were subject to Peach yellows. 
Prof. Paddock, of the Geneva Station, says that he 
observed this condition of Japan plum trees for the 
first time in an orchard at Hilton. The character¬ 
istic wiry growth of twigs in clusters was already 
apparent, and the appearance of the trees showed 
that they were out of condition. Whether or not this 
trouble is identical with Peach yellows remains to be 
determined. It is a subject of a good deal of im¬ 
portance, since a good many Japan plums are grown 
in this region, and as they are looked upon with favor 
by the growers, it is likely that the planting of this 
class of plums will be much extended. Not only will 
the plum trees suffer from the malady, but here as a 
prospective new source of infection for peach trees. 
* 
A man who has spent much time among farmers 
says that when he wishes to ask a favor he picks out 
a place where there is a good flower garden. There 
he is sure to find pleasant and refined people, wno 
have learned lessons of love and kindness from the 
flowers they have tended so carefully. There are 
many farmers who cannot understand why the wife 
and children love flowers. They look upon such de¬ 
sires as weak and childish, and would gladly crowd 
the little work required by the flower garden into 
the corn or potato field. Such men forget that the 
strongest and truest traits of character may be de¬ 
veloped by associating with the beautiful and so- 
called “weak” things of life. To starve out of a 
child’s life a love for the beautiful and a desire for 
true refinement is to our mind little short of a crime. 
One of the pleasantest things connected with this 
year’s subscription worn is the great demand for the 
Ruby Queen rose, and the real interest that readers 
are taking in petting and caring for this beautiful lit¬ 
tle guest. 
He 
There used to be a time when politicians and 
papers were fond of patting the farmers on the back 
and feeding them that soft form of compliment known 
as “taffy.” Of late we have observed a change in this 
respect. For example, the New York Herald says: 
The real backbone of the American nation—that is to 
say, the workingmen and clerks and tradesmen and man¬ 
ufacturers and capitalists, all of whose interests are in¬ 
volved in the question of honest currency and public 
order at home, and freedom from costly entanglements 
abroad. 
We observe this spirit constantly cropping out. 
When an orator wants to picture the great prosperity 
of the land he describes the “smoking factory chim¬ 
neys,” though the paint on the farmer’s barn would 
be a truer index. The fact is that many of the great 
politicians have lost some of their fear and respect for 
the farmer. They consider that his vote is a certain 
quantity—that he will not change it, no matter how 
much he may grumble. The town vote is more 
changeable, for workmen who draw regular cash 
wages are quicker to feel business changes or periods 
of depression and idleness. Less of the farmer’s in¬ 
come is in actual cash, and he is slower to feel the 
pinch of harder times. Then again, a large share of 
his losses may justly be charged to the result of 
natural laws, while the town workman’s income is 
quickly changed by artificial conditions. All these 
things have combined to send the politicians cater¬ 
ing to the “workingman” to the neglect of the farmer. 
It is words for the farmer, but deeds for the “work¬ 
man.” The farmer pays our bills abroad and main¬ 
tains our National credit by vast exports of food and 
fiber. One would think that this vast producing class 
is entitled to all the help and encouragement that 
the National Government can legitimately give. To 
a mind of average common sense it seems the highest 
wisdom to foster in every fair way the agriculture 
of the Nation. Yet because the farm vote is usually a 
constant quantity, while the town workman sways 
easily from one side to the other, the latter is pro¬ 
tected, while the former is patted. The remedy for 
this tis for the farmer to use more independence in 
voting. Let him take his jack-knife to the polls and 
whittle two or three holes in his ballot, and he will 
find that he commands far more respect. We would 
certainly begin this year on Congressmen who are op¬ 
posed to the Grout bill. As farmers we would vote 
against them, no matter what plausible issues they 
tried to introduce. 
* 
One of our readers, a plain farmer of Montana, 
sends us a letter ending as follows: 
The association known as the Irrigation Congress has 
this on its programme and intends to come your way to 
educate you on these questions this year. For God’s 
sake, refuse to be educated; we are all right if they let 
us alone. 
“Refuse to be educated!” That is a remarkable 
statement for an intelligent man to make, yet we con¬ 
sider it good advice. The “education” in this case 
consists of plausible reasons for placing the public 
lands in the hands of a gigantic land monopoly. Land 
sharks have been after this land for years, while the 
true homeseekers of the West oppose their schemes. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
It used to be my dairy job 
The pans and pails to wash, 
I’d rush them all about the tub 
With wondrous noise and swash; 
I’d scrub them till they shone like stars, 
But often I’d forget 
To wash the big cloth strainer out, 
I hear the scolding yet. 
“Don’t know no better? Won’t ye never learn? 
Wash out yer strainer or the milk will turn.” 
And as I think the matter o’er, 
’Twas just, I must assert, 
The pans and pails but held the milk 
The strainer held the dirt; 
Good folks who’ve washed your pans the while 
Some simple thing you’ve spurned, 
You have no right to sit and grieve 
Because your milk has turned. 
“Don’t know no better? Won’t ye never learn? 
Wash out yer strainer or the milk will turn.” 
Yes, sir—undone jobs are not rare. 
Thoughts for deaf people on page 455. 
We hate to have hoeing crowd haying. 
A carpenter is One of the plane people. 
The cherry crop, with us, is nearly a failure. 
Always! Always! Feed meal to the calf dry! 
Read the notes on small fruit In the Hudson River dis¬ 
trict-page 457. 
Americans paid $290,000,000 for poultry and $180,000,000 
for hogs last year. 
Yes, the "Boxers” in China need attention—and so does 
your wife’s wood box! 
“Yes,” said the hen, “that empty dish promises a light 
crop for yours truly.” 
Hot water and scour on the tin kill the germs that 
would make the milk sour. 
Who on earth can afford to “put on style” after doing 
all his duty to his fellow man? 
What proper plural do. we give to louse? If that is 
true then what is true of house? 
Bread, butter, business and ballot. There’s a quar¬ 
tette for the farmer to remember at the polls. 
The hen that laid those eggs mentioned on page 
45S laid low—at least she laid a low-down egg. 
We would drop into slang and pronounce it a "dandy” 
—a strawberry plant that will beat the old Gandy. 
The Republicans “resolve” in favor of free rural de¬ 
livery of the mail. Now let the Democrats “make it 
unanimous.” 
Some men believe in the marriage of capital and labor 
—their wives are to provide the labor while they provide 
the capital I. 
The scientists now believe that the germ of colic often 
comes from manure into milk and plays hide and seek 
in the baby’s stomach. 
According to one of our readers the letters M. C. may 
have two meanings for the same man—Member of Con¬ 
gress and “mean cuss.” 
A monthly journal published in Greenland charges two 
ducks for three months’ subscription, while single copies 
are sold for one fowl each. 
The trouble with many who desire to make their mark 
in the world Is that their only estimate is the dollar 
mark—more frequently I than U. S. 
If fertilizer laws are proper why not pure food laws? 
Pure food for plants is good, but how about the impure 
food that is calculated to plant children? 
The Gladstone strawberry started business as an early 
variety. Reports are that it gets up too late when away 
from home. Who can tell us about its behavior? 
