5oo 
July 21 
tHE RURAL NEW-YORKER; 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, >Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Rotle, j 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8* *4 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 li 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 Strett, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1900. 
It is cheering to read that Wichita County, Kansas, 
has abolished the poorhouse, there being no paupers 
in the county. One old soldier i/s the only dependent 
person, and he is being cared for by popular subscrip¬ 
tion. No tramps are allowed to remain idle in the 
county; they must work or leave. Mr. Coburn and 
the Sunflower State are not talking calamity. Very 
little Kansas corn is made into whisky, by the way. 
* 
The vertical system of penmanship, which came 
into style a few years ago, is to he abandoned in the 
New York public schools. It ils too slow for com¬ 
mercial use, and educators acknowledge that a slant¬ 
ing system is more useful and natural. In the mean¬ 
time, the fad has doubtless affected the future pro¬ 
gress of children instructed in this system. What a 
shame to experiment with isuch “fads” on children, 
who may bear the marks of the failure through life! 
* 
The Government reports indicate a light yield of 
Spring wheat, with the Winter wheat on the whole 
nearly up to the average. This will mean a consider¬ 
able shortage from last year. As to corn, the largest 
crop of recent years is now promised. The short 
wheat crop will prove a great disappointment to the 
farmers in the Northwest and the Mississippi Valley, 
and to the railroads. The railroads of this country 
make their largest income from hauling coal and food. 
A short grain crop in the West means a shortage in 
freight and a reduced income which is likely to af¬ 
fect thousands of stockholders. Thousands of farm¬ 
ers all over the East never attempt to produce the 
wheat flour consumed by their families. They are 
among the best customers the western farmer has. 
Thus it is that a shortage of western grain affects 
every worker in the land. 
* 
On another page we have our say about the famous 
grass crop of Mr. Geo. M. Clark, of Connecticut. 
Whenever we pick one of these great agricultural pos¬ 
sibilities apart we are astonished to see how much 
of 'it is represented by the man himself. Two farmers 
may start with soil of much the same character, use 
the same tools and much the same seed, yet one will 
produce twice as much as the other. Why? Because 
one crop receives a large per cent of the man —that is, 
more experience, thought and care. We were re¬ 
minded forcibly of this by reading the following let¬ 
ter, which came to us last Winter: 
A friend of mine who lives in the village, and trains 
horses, recently sold a horse for $750, which cost him 
green, nine months ago, $150. He is not always so 
lucky, but he seldom fails to get as much for a few 
months’ training as the man who raises the colt does 
for four or five years’ feed and care. I keep for a 
driver a very fashionably bred and fast mare. For the 
past two years I have raised a colt each Winter from 
the best stallion I could find; consequently I have two 
colts that are all right, which I shall want to sell in a 
year or two. Now, shall I sell them green for $150, or 
shall I develop them enough to find out what their pos¬ 
sibilities are? I know nothing of the treatment which 
trainers give their horses, and further than that I never 
have been able to get hold of any book which treated 
the details of the subject. Do they have them? There 
are books which treat of onion growing, asparagus beds, 
and, in fact, every subject under heaven except this. 
Probably there is something on this. 
Now, of course, we would like to be able to tell this 
man, and others like him, that all he need do is to 
read The R. N.-Y. We know better than that. The 
printed story is only the finger post pointing the way. 
We cannot expect that the finger post will pick the 
traveler up and carry him home. If he expect to get 
there he must l'ift one foot and put it before the 
other with weary monotony, for the path is rough 
and stony, where no beast of burden can travel. The 
paper or the book can only indicate the direction 
clearly and honestly. It must be said that some arti¬ 
cles and books add to the traveler’s burden, for he 
is forced to carry the finger post along with him to be 
sure of the route. Let us put the same thought in 
another way. The man who bought the horse for 
$150 and sold him for $750, simply put some of his 
own brains under the horse’s hide. A pound of horse¬ 
flesh inoculated with human brains was worth five 
times as much as before—that was all. That is just 
what those men do who force Nature to open her 
purse to them. They take the crude, natural things 
of life and put their own personality into them, for 
they realize that God has given them power and do¬ 
minion over these ruder forces. Can a man learn 
these things out of a book? No! No! Such things 
cannot come through the printed page alone. Print¬ 
er’s ink marks the way. Blood and sweat dissolve 
the essence that puts life into dead forces. 
* 
The potato crop thus far has been a great disap¬ 
pointment to southern growers. Think of fine new 
potatoes selling at $1 per barrel 'in New York early 
in July! There were heavy plantings, and the season 
was peculiar, so that instead of a series of ripening 
from Florida to New Jersey, different sections ripened 
the crop together, and thousands of barrels were 
thrown upon the market 'in a lump. Virginia growers 
received barely 25 cents a barrel net for some ship¬ 
ments. Prices may rise after the southern crop has 
been cleaned up, but as a rule, when prices run low 
in the early part of the season they remain so. The 
early crop at the North is reported good. It is too 
early yet to estimate the late crop except that it does 
not look well at presen „. The Government statistics 
place the increased acreage of potatoes over last year 
at 30,000 acres, but the condition is not quite so good 
as at this time last year. Our own reports from Long 
Island indicate a little smaller crop of early varieties 
■than laist season’s. 
* 
Whenever trouble breaks out in some distant 
quarter of the world, the casual newspaper reader is 
confronted by a number of puzzling terms, which con¬ 
fuse his understanding of the news. Just now it is 
China. A good many American readers have been 
puzzled by references to “foreign settlements” in the 
Chinese cities. These are districts in all the chief 
cities, wherein foreigners live, according to national¬ 
ity, under the control of their own municipal council. 
They are entirely independent of local Chinese au¬ 
thorities. The Tsung-li Yamen, often referred to, is 
a body of 10 members selected from different depart¬ 
ments of the government to serve in place of a min¬ 
ister of foreign affairs. Its main office is Obstructive. 
The present Emperor is Kwang-Su, son of Prince 
Chun, who was younger brother of the late Emperor, 
Hsien-Fung, who died in 1861. The Empress Dow¬ 
ager, Tze Hsi An, is his widow. Tien Tsin, which has 
been besieged isince June 17, is a treaty port on the 
Pei-ho River, 70 miles from Peking. During the Win¬ 
ter it is isolated by the freezing of the river. Peking, 
with a population of 1,300,000, which has been the 
northern capital since 1260, 'is situated on a plain 12 
miles north of Tungchow, on the Pei-ho River, 160 
miles from the sea. The Taku forts are at the mouth 
of the Pei-ho. The term yamen, often used, means 
an official residence. A fu is a prefecture, and a futai, 
the governor of a province. 
* 
K, 
All of the National Conventions of the various po¬ 
litical parties, with one exception, have declared for 
the principle of direct legislation, in more or less em¬ 
phatic language. Though the actual realization of 
this far-reaching reform, tending towards genuine 
government by the people, seems distant, it is en¬ 
couraging to see the principle advocated by these 
National political organizations. Direct legislation, as 
generally advocated, consists of three propositions: 1. 
The direct initiation, and submission to the people for 
a majority vote, of any law desired by at least 25 per 
cent of the registered voters of a given district. 2. 
The referendum, or submission to the voters of every 
bill passed by a municipal, State, or National repre¬ 
sentative body, for acceptance as a law or rejection, if 
the majority so wills. Certain emergency measures 
concerning the public health and safety are usually 
excepted from the referendum and made operative at 
once, to continue until the next regular referendum 
vote. 3. The imperative mandate, or right to recall 
any unfaithful representative or elected officer by a 
petition of two-thirds or more of the voters who 
elected him. It can easily be imagined what a sweep¬ 
ing change will be wrought in city, State and National 
government when the elected representative and offi¬ 
cer is no longer an irresponsible autocrat, who can 
practically bid defiance to the wishes of his constitu¬ 
ents during his term of office; when all measures af¬ 
fecting the public welfare will be submitted to the 
close scrutiny of the people most vitally interested 
before they can become operative, and when laws de¬ 
sired by a substantial majority of the voting popula¬ 
tion can be originated and passed by the people with¬ 
out the participation of a reluctant or incompetent 
legislature. The very possession of such powers 
would render their use infrequent, as the representa¬ 
tive body would a't once become docile and eager to 
please the constituents to which it owed its existence. 
It would not pay wealthy individuals or corporations 
to lobby through bills for selfish purposes, when they 
are liable to be at once vetoed by a watchful popu¬ 
lace, nor could such an unscrupulous combination as 
the oleo syndicate long withstand public indignation 
at the methods by which its products are now placed 
on the market. Direct legislation, in all its forms, has 
been in force for many years in Switzerland, New Zea¬ 
land and some of the Australasian colonies, to the 
great betterment of the industrial classes and the 
satisfaction of all. 
± 
BREVITIES. 
THE MAN WITH THE BALLOT. 1 
Here is a piece of paper—nothing more 
Yet big with destiny, for it may be 
The tiny weight that brings the balance down. 
On one side or the other—he who holds 
This little slip may well drive from his mind 
All prejudice and bitter party hate. 
Which has been handed down from other days. 
Why should we live back, in the dead past with 
Old, musty issues—relics of dead men 
Whose loves and passions are forgotten now? 
Our hopes are in the future—with the new 
And budding promises which mean so much 
To those who toil and falter in despair. 
Let us not use our vote to pay some score 
Of mean and selfish hatred, but wipe off 
The baser debts upon the party slate, 
And with a faith in human rights be bold 
To halt before the ballot box and say, 
“This paper is a promissory note 
For human liberty, and you must pay!” 
A good cow P—pedigree. 
Potatoes are very low—why? 
Better be fat in body than fat in brain. 
Five to one your wife is a better buyer than you are. 
Mrs. Caudle talked at a night rate of so there! 
There are too many human rites which mean wrongs 
for others. 
A western poet sings “It takes a lot of ‘sugar’ to 
make a candidate.” 
Is the kerosene and water mixture fully equal to kero¬ 
sene emulsion? Who can tell? 
See here—your troubles are small compared with 
those carried by some other folks. 
Oh, dear, yes! Some men will never stay at the post 
of duty unless they are haltered to it. 
“Didn’t know it was loaded!” There’s a manhole 
through which much crawling is done. 
“Die back” destroys many a good tree. The “live 
back" among old musty issues ruins many a good mind. 
It is asserted that there is a strong movement towards 
reforesting denuded areas with Catalpas for commercial 
purposes. 
The Canadian Experiment Station people find satu¬ 
rated lime water the best egg preservative of any they 
have tried. 
The modern importation of melons into this market 
from Colorado and the South has upset all the plans of 
most local growers. 
Give us the man who measures his promises by the 
size of his performances. We will give away the man 
who stuffs his promise with brag. 
The original Concord grapevine still thrives on the 
place formerly belonging to E. W. Bull at Concord, 
Mass.; the present owner, Mrs. Lothrop, will preserve 
it as a memorial of his work. 
A rich man on Long Island was willing to pay $500 to 
have a big apple tree dug up, carried to his new house 
and set out so that it would live. That is more than the 
entire cash income from hundreds of farms. 
Some Massachusetts ice dealers have been refusing to 
sell anything less than 10 cents’ worth. The Legisla¬ 
ture took the matter in hand, and a law just passed 
provides for a penalty of $100 for every refusal to sell a 
five-cent chunk. 
A recent case in Tennessee decides that landscape 
gardeners who have improved grounds by enriching the 
soil and planting it cannot obtain thereon a mechanic’s 
lien to secure payment, since the statutes mean that 
such liens shall be created only by the erection of some 
building. 
Some Michigan farmers who believe that “wheat will 
turn to Chess” want The R. N.-Y. to prove that it will 
not. Excuse us. Life is short and we have blocked 
out many duties for the coming year which ought to 
come in ahead! Can’t prove it, eh? No—not to a man 
who really believes it! 
No time for story-telling on the farm just now. A 
Michigan friend writes: “In Hope Farm Notes you tell 
of lots of work; well, here we have a little on our hands 
and the days are too short. Rain, hay (that was) to 
get up; grass to cut, wheat to cut, oat-pea hay to cut 
(or let go and thrash), corn to cultivate, beans to cul¬ 
tivate, potatoes the same and to Paris-green, fence and 
mill—lots more yet!” 
