5i6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 28 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Hkkbekt W. Colling wood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, /Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Rotle, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8J4 marks, or 10V4 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, 
Bhould 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 , JULY 28 , 1900. 
The present outlook for the apple crop is excellent. 
Reports .are generally very favorable, although in 
some districts there has been a heavy drop. In a good 
season, however, most trees need a closer thinning 
than they ever get. The Baldwins are looking well 
in western New York, and of course our old friend 
Ben Davis holds on. There will be plenty of apples. 
It’s time to think about the work of the Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League. 
* 
Last year 7,123 persons were killed and 44,620 were 
injured in railroad accidents in this couq^ry. Of this 
great army 1,136 were killed and 4,431 wounded at 
railroad crossings and stations. The total American 
casualties in the Philippine War to date foot up 3,724, 
while the total British loss in the South African war 
is less than 50,000! Thus our railroads are engaged 
in a slaughter of human life, much of which might be 
prevented, if the law requiring automatic car coup¬ 
lings were enforced, and the deadly grade crossings 
were protected. 
* 
The papers announce that Congressman S. E. Payne 
is being considered as a candidate for Governor of 
New York State. These “announcements” are usual¬ 
ly made for the purpose of calling out comment or 
criticism. It is like tossing up a feather to see how 
the wind blows. Prom private information which 
comes to us, we judge that thousands of New York 
State dairymen would cut Mr. Payne should he ap¬ 
pear as a candidate. When shaken up in the Babcock 
•test of the Grout bill, he showed too small a per cent 
of butter fat. He was largely tallow and oil, adul¬ 
terated goods, not up to the true butter standard. 
* 
In the discussion concerning ants in the orchard, 
on page 513, reference is made to the activity of the 
ants where aphides exist on the trees. This is a 
familiar fact; the aphides, sometimes called “ant 
cows,” are herded by the ants for the honeydew they 
secrete. In the greenhouse this is often a decided 
nuisance, and the florist does not look very kindly 
upon the industrious ant in consequence. In addition 
to their custom of rounding up plant lice, the ants 
are also suspected of carrying scale insects around, 
so that their industry and intelligence appear to have 
some very undesirable features, viewed from the hor¬ 
ticulturist’s standpoint. 
* 
\ A whale can make a great splutter, but a hundred 
million whales could not build one coral island. The 
minute coral insects, working at one thing in one 
place, leave a monument to their labor firm enough 
to wreck a warship. The animal that makes the most 
frightful noise is not always destructive to human 
life. The bray of a jackass in a dark wood at night 
would terrify any man not acquainted with the little 
bluff this animal can make; but a grizzly bear, though 
not noisy, would be far more dangerous to meet. 
Mushrooms sometimes grow to an enormous size in a 
short time, but no sensible man thinks of using one 
for a sawlog in the place of an oak. These illustra¬ 
tions show that the best and most enduring results 
are not always brought about with the most noise or 
the greatest haste. The bulldog has made a proverb 
of himself, not because of his good looks or intelli¬ 
gence, but simply on account of his amazing ability to 
hang on. A vein of this bulldog grit in a man’s make¬ 
up is an advantage. Things apparently impossible on 
the start have been done by hanging on. Of counse 
sticking to a bad cause would only multiply final dis¬ 
aster; but there is no doubt that the dairymen, in 
their efforts to get a fair price for milk and protect 
themselves from the outrageous oleo frauds, are in the 
right. Their opponents know this, and their only 
hope is to tire them out. By persistent work and wise 
use of the oallot, the farmers will win in time. They 
are not making any great bluff, but they are working 
quietly and powerfully. 
± 
A New York daily paper very truly says: 
By all means the most Important event of the moment 
in this country is the drenching rain that, beginning with 
Sunday morning, fell over the area known as the corn 
belt in the States of Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. 
That rain added millions to the wealth of this land. 
It was the most valuable natural gift of the year. It 
is coming to be understood that the corn crop is the 
most important single product of American soil. It 
does not enter so largely into our foreign trade as 
wheat or cotton, although exports of corn increased 
from 14,000,000 in 1895 to 69,000,000 in 1899. Corn is 
the great home plant. It provides food for man and 
beast, and leaves other crops free for sale. Long 
live corn! May the rains “water” that stock to per¬ 
fection! 
* 
The following report comes from Binghamton, 
N. Y.: 
Representatives of Pennsylvania cheese commission 
merchants have contracted with the Five States Milk 
Producers’ Association to take all the cheese they can 
manufacture, thus enabling them to dispose of the sur¬ 
plus milk which the New York war has thrown on their 
hands. 
•No doubt about it—the milk producers are slowly 
but surely getting into position. First of all they 
must arrange to control their milk. Until that can be 
done they cannot hope to obtain their rights. With 
cooperative factories for making butter and cheese, 
they will be prepared at any time to prevent any sur¬ 
plus of milk in New York. This would settle the 
matter at once—and nothing else will do it. 
* 
Not long since we referred to the vast export trade 
of this country, and the immense share of this con¬ 
tributed by the farmer. The following note has been 
sent us: 
I see by your issue of July 7, on page 468, you say “Dur¬ 
ing the 11 months ending May 31, the exports of domestic 
products from this country amounted to $1,264,269,000.” 
"This country has a trade balance of over $500,000,000 to her 
credit for the past year.” You also say, “The exports of 
gold for the past year are only $40,173,491.” It is claimed 
for the past live years this country has exported in ex¬ 
cess of its Imports about $2,000,000,000. Will you tell me 
how this balance of exports has been paid, also if the 
countries with whom we have been trading had been 
called upon to settle in gold, whether all the world would 
not have been bankrupted, except the United States? 
The following table shows the exports and Imports 
of this country for six complete years: 
Year. Exports. Imports. Balance. 
1900 $1,394,479,214 $849,714,329 $544,764,885 
1899 1,203,931,222 697,148,498 506,782,724 
1898 1,210,291,913 616,049,654 594,242,259 
1897 1,032,007,603 764,730,412 267,277,191 
1896 863,200,487 779,724,674 83,475,813 
1895 . 793,392,590 731,969,965 61,422,625 
This means a total balance for these six full years 
of $2,057,965,497. With all its natural wealth this 
country is still heavily in debt to England and Eu¬ 
rope. We mean that foreign money has been sent 
here largely for Investment in American railroad and 
other industrial shares. Our foreign trade balance is 
settled partly by the interest due European holders of 
American securities, stock, bonds and private obliga¬ 
tions. Bills of exchange are sent back and forth, and 
these credits are adjusted in the banks. Also during 
the past four years a large amount of American se¬ 
curities have been sold back to us by European hold¬ 
ers, these paying another portion of the trade balance 
due us. A financial paper investigated this matter 
for a period of 16 months, and found that within that 
time $400,000,000 worth of railroad securities and 
other stocks and bonds were returned to this country. 
The figures named were taken at a time notorious for 
an excessive amount of this business. There is a 
final balance that is settled nobody knows just how. 
There are numerous private transactions that are 
never grouped, and it would be scarcely possible to 
trace them. But little money is remitted back here, 
because it brings a better rate of interest in Europe. 
For the same reason some American banks have been 
sending money to European banks to be loaned out 
there. As nearly 75 per cent of American exports are 
agricultural products, it is safe to say that the Ameri¬ 
can farmer makes possible the foreign credit, which 
has had so much to do with the development of his 
country. We are not prepared to say what would have 
been the result of the improbable condition you name. 
From the time of the settlement of Jamestown and 
Plymouth, American natural products have been sent 
abroad in settlement of money debts. For years the 
Pilgrims sent fish and furs to pay for their passage 
money and their tools. If America had not been a 
debtor nation we do not think our vast export trade 
in food and fiber could ever have been built up. It 
has given security for debts, and also provided a vast 
carrying trade, most of which is in the ships of 
foreign countries. Rather than pay gold for Ameri¬ 
can food, we think England, our heaviest buyer, would 
have learned to feed and clothe her people in her 
own colonies. 
* 
During the fearful heat of last week the horses in 
New York suffered greatly. Orders were issued by the 
Fire Department to spray cold water over all horses 
that passed the engine houses. All day long men 
stood by these houses with hose in hand, drenching 
every horse that passed. Oh, how the poor brutes 
did enjoy it! They stretched out their heads and 
drew back their shoulders so that the cooling stream 
might reach the neck and wash under the collar. 
Most farm horses are well cared for, because farmers 
know how much of the season’s profit is carried on 
me stout shoulderblades of the farm team. Some 
thoughtless or lazy men will force their horses 
through these broiling days without rest or water. 
What a shame! 
* 
There is a class of people in the town and city 
who look upon the farmer as a narrow, bigoted man 
without culture, thought or progressive ideas. We 
have heard such people say that the farmer who feels 
that his rights have been stolen and who starts out 
in a crude way to regain them is “the most dangerous 
citizen in the Republic.” They might, perhaps, find 
that “most dangerous citizen” nearer home. Really 
the most dangerous voter in the country to-day is the 
•man of brick and stone, who is narrowed down to 
some little job in the city. His reading is confined to 
a daily skimming of a rabid political paper. His opin¬ 
ions, his thoughts and his prejudices are manufac¬ 
tured for him out of adulterated goods. He is not a 
land-owner and not a home-builder. Such a man can¬ 
not be a true patriot, and the discontent and unrest 
of his class is all the more dangerous because it is 
organized and condensed. The once-derided farmer 
is more a man of thought and study than ever before. 
The best books are now read in the country, and the 
very life and atmosphere of the farm leads to that 
quiet study and thinking which is so different from 
the hasty skimming of the busy city man. The 
farmer “a dangerous citizen?” Well, hardly. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
I says to Neighbor Pettigrew, says I, 
In every package that you send away 
From your old farm—you surely ought to try 
To pack yourself into it—that’s the way 
To get a reputation for your stuff, 
And just repack yourself before you start, 
For some folks put big doings for a bluff 
On the outside, with nubbins at the heart. 
Whether It be a hog or load of hay 
That leaves your farm—tincture it up with brains. 
Don’t let it be all muscle—it don’t pay 
To mark our goods with naught but labor stains. 
The more of brains you pack into your crate 
The more you’ll have, for brains, like muscles, grow 
By working of ’em, and on profit’s slate 
You’ll have a pretty little sum to show. 
And It’s just so with shiftlessness, says I; 
You pack that in your crate, and nothing more, 
And you will see the neighbors pass you by, 
Your feelings and your fingers raw and sore. 
’Ot, ’otter, ’OTTEST! 
Give the fowls fair play. 
Baked apple time is here! 
The whine of life is all dregs. 
Look out for foul play at the fairs. 
No use talking—the Carman peach is a peach. 
“I’ve done my best!” Who says so—you or some wiser 
critic? 
Oh! If we could only raise such plums as Luther Bur¬ 
bank grows! 
The corn crop is indulging in a vigorous expansion 
policy these hot days. 
The internal trade of this country is estimated at 
$15,000,000,000 per year. 
Tipton County, Ind., has this year a $200,000 pea crop, 
grown for the canneries, and 2,000 acres in tomatoes for 
the same purpose. 
A Kansas man is said to be driving a flock of 600 tur¬ 
keys from one farm to another, for the purpose of clean¬ 
ing up the grasshoppers. 
Surprise is expressed that the recent meeting of milk 
producers at Binghamton was opened with prayer. 
Why not? These men are engaged in a just and serious 
undertaking. 
The Supreme Court has decided at St. Paul, Minn., 
that the law requiring manufacturers of baking powder 
to affix a label bearing the names and quantities of in¬ 
gredients on each can is constitutional. 
The man who has sold his life out for gold and tram¬ 
pled the rights of his fellows, is like a peach tree that Is 
sick as can be, for his conscience is troubled with “yel¬ 
lows.” 
Mention Is made on our first page of Connett’s early 
peach. The great objection to the Connett is that it is 
not high colored, often but a faint blush, while the Car¬ 
man is beautifully colored, and that alone makes it of 
great value as a market peach. 
