564 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER.’ 
August 18 
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, ( 
H. E. Van Deman, ^Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Roylk, ) 
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‘/ s francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (141 nes 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, AUGUST 18 , WOO. 
Last week we offered terms to club raisers for sub¬ 
scription work, which we think are quite liberal. For 
the first few weeks at least the daily clubs will be 
small, and the $2 daily premiums will on this account 
go to easy winners. When you read the report for 
the first week you will say, ‘ I could have done bet¬ 
ter than that.” Just so; we think you could, but do 
you want the $2 bad enough to try? If so get in a 
club for the first day. 
* 
As usual, we’ll be there! 
Where? 
“When the general roll is called” we hope to re¬ 
spond, and we shall also go “tenting on the old camp 
ground” at the New York State Fair. You will find 
The R. N.-Y. tent at Syracuse without trouble. We 
shall be glad to meet old friends and make new ones. 
There will be a chance to sit down and rest under the 
tent. Your property will be safe there. The Fair 
this year promises to be as successful as good man¬ 
agement and ample money can make it. 
We’ll be there! Come and see us! 
* 
The more you learn about this cold-storage busi¬ 
ness the clearer one fact stands out. Cold will not 
warm up the ailing or bring the dead to life. There 
is no use in putting inferior fruit into the cold room. 
Only the best should ever go there. In any event 
there will be a slight falling off in quality and ap¬ 
pearance. Only the finest can stand this and then 
make a fair showing in the market. 
* 
The English failed to conquer this country, but, 
during the Revolution, they let loose the Hessian fly, 
which has damaged our wheat crops ever since. The 
Hessians themselves went back where they came 
from or remained here to have their grandchildren ap¬ 
pear as good citizens. The fly they brought in their 
beds never became a good citizen,and never will. 
This week farmers tell us what the practical men are 
doing to fight the fly. Next week the scientist will 
tell us what ought to be done. 
* 
Last Winter, when the National House of Repre¬ 
sentatives forced Sereno E. Payne to do his duty, he 
turned to a friend and said, “Well, the calves have 
won!” He had done his best to prevent a fair and 
honest inquiry as to the composition of oleo. He thus 
placed himself in the ranks of those who opposed 
the Grout bill or honest butter. He took his place 
among the hogs and—the calves won! The calves 
have now another chance to win. This same Sereno 
E. Payne is slated for the Republican nomination for 
Governor of New York State. He will be nominated 
unless the farmers of the State prevent it. The poli¬ 
ticians want him. They only hesitate because they 
are not sure about the farmers. Mr. Payne and Mr. 
Wadsworth, both of New York State, have placed 
themselves fairly against the interests of the man 
with the cow. If now the farmers meekly stand still 
and accept these men to represent them at Albany or 
at Washington they have no business hereafter to 
complain when their interests are threatened. The 
politicians claim that farmers growl, but never bite. 
Now let us show them that calves are not all suck¬ 
ers, but that they can use their teeth at will. Now 
to business! Let every farmer who believes in justice 
to the farm sit down at once and write straight to B. 
B. Odell, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York City. Tell 
him plainly, without any ifs or ands, that you pro¬ 
test against the nomination of S. E. Payne because of 
his record on the oleo question. Mr. Odell is chair¬ 
man of the Republican State Committee. He needs 
such letters to complete his education. They will fall 
liKe snow on the boom of Mr. Payne. Unless this is 
done promptly and effectively he will be nominated. 
It will be easier to beat him before the convention. 
Should he be elected Governor his record indicates 
that he will sweep away our present State restric¬ 
tions against oleo. Up and at him! Stick your pen 
into him. The calves are not all suckers by any 
means. 
Notice what Mr. Slingerland says on page 561 con¬ 
cerning the growth of Apple rust on cedar and juniper 
trees. Those “cedar apples” are a very common 
sight, but the casual observer would never connect 
them with an apple fungus. It is evident that un¬ 
invited cedars along the fence rows, especially 
around an orchard, are most undesirable guests. We 
are told that some destructive grain rusts find a con¬ 
genial host in the common barberry. One of the 
oddest features of this cooperative fungus-growing is 
the fact that a plant or tree totally distinct from the 
usual host may be necessary to complete .he life- 
cycle of the fungus. 
* 
During the 12 months ending June 1 $849,714,670 
worth of merchandise was imported into this coun¬ 
try from foreign shores. Of this only $104,224,970 
worth was carried in American steam or sailing 
ships. During the same time $1,370,476,158 worth of 
goods were exported, of which foreign ships carried 
$1,180,159,781 worth. Thus Uncle Sam is in the posi¬ 
tion of a farmer who stays at home and grows his 
crop, and then hires other farmers or express com¬ 
panies to do most of his hauling for him. At first 
sight this looks like an absurd way to do business, 
yet we know from experience that there are times 
when outsiders can haul goods cheaper than we can. 
* 
The potato situation is peculiar this year. The 
southern crop was shipped in such a way that the 
market went all to pieces. Then it revived, and for 
a short time fair prices ruled. Now it is down 
again, and the immediate prospect is not encourag¬ 
ing. Still most farmers near New York seem to feel 
that prices are sure to improve. Drought and dis¬ 
ease have damaged the crop severely, and it is hard 
to see where the surplus comes from. Many readers 
of The R. N.-Y. are potato growers, and the present 
low prices will prove quite a loss to them. They 
might feel better over it if the poor had been able to 
buy cheaper. In most cases the price of the small 
“measure,” which is the retailer’s package, has not 
varied. While potatoes were barely paying cost, 
freight, and commission the consumer paid as much 
as when the producer made money. 
* 
“Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to 
sin.” This expression is repeated 14 times in the 
Bible. Jeroboam, spoken of at first as a mighty man 
of valor, and industrious, a servant of Solomon, had 
been put in charge of large interests in the kingdom. 
He providentially became ruler of the Ten Tribes, 
when the kingdom was divided after the death of 
Solomon, and had an opportunity to show his great 
ability. But he fell into idolatry and has since been 
known as the man who dragged his people into sin 
and disgraced his father’s name. A family name, 
kept free from foul spots for generations, is not a 
thing to be trifled with, and anyone on the verge of 
wrong doing would better be careful about throwing 
aside his responsibility and bringing dishonor upon 
a clean family record. Yes, or of dishonoring a farm 
which generations of good farmers have lived and im¬ 
proved. 
* 
What is often spoken of as “polite society” is just 
now somewhat stirred up over the shirt question. 
There was a time when a shirt was considered an un¬ 
mentionable garment which should never be con¬ 
sidered or dreamed of in this “polite society.” In 
those days women endured martyrdom for modesty 
and sweltered in close hot garments. At last a man 
•—we are quite sure it was a man—devised what is 
known as the shirt waist—a neat, cheap and cool 
garment. Business women—or those who earn their 
own living in town or city—found this shirt waist a 
most convenient uniform for labor and recreation. 
It was so evidently useful that women everywhere 
adopted it, despite the name, until now it is uni¬ 
versally worn. We can think of few things that 
have done more for the physical comfort of woman 
than this revolution in dress. Now we have a class 
of males known as “shirt-waist men” who seek to 
discard coat and vest and go about with a belt 
taking the place of suspenders. Strange to say, “po¬ 
lite society” frowns upon this sensible reform and 
says that a man must keep his coat on. Why? 
Since woman has driven all the vulgarity out of the 
word “shirt” why deprive man of the comfort she has 
derived from it? Happily we do such things better 
on the farm, where we do not consider that a coat 
is the true badge of a gentleman. 
* 
Hundreds of people from the city think that they 
spend some time in the country every Summer. 
What a delusion! What they really do is to ride a 
hundred miles or so to a big hotel in the mountains, 
almost an exact mimic of a swell city hotel. The 
proprietor, employees, and guests are citified, and so 
is nearly everything, clear down to the butter ana 
eggs. To sit on the veranda and see people uncom¬ 
fortably well dressed conversing on city topics, while 
some one at the piano is remurdering Wagner, and 
call that being in the country, is enough to make the 
blue sky and fields and trees blush, and the moun¬ 
tains draw their heads into their shells. A day 
with rugged nature, before man has artificialized it, 
will teach one a whole lot of wholesome things, if he 
will use his eyes and ears, and there is music finer 
than that of any orchestra in the little brook gurg¬ 
ling over the stones. Take the cold-blooded brick 
and stone out of your heart, and get back to Nature. 
* 
The laws of New Hampshire (1895) prohibit the 
sale of any article, product, or compound made wholly 
or partly of any fat, oil, or oleaginous substance, or 
compound thereof, not produced from unadulterated 
milk or cream, unless it shall be some other color 
than that of yellow butter. The Supreme Court of 
that State holds that the law is not in conflict with 
the Constitution, and that an agent selling oleomar¬ 
garine of the color of yellow butter, in original pack¬ 
ages, shipped to him from his principal, in another 
State, is amenable thereto. The court further holds 
that as the law declares it unlawful for a hotel keeper 
to furnish any guest oleomargarine, without first no¬ 
tifying the guest that it is not butter, it is no defense 
that the person so furnishing it does not know, or 
have reason to know, that it is oleomargarine. And 
a law making it unlawful to furnish oleomargarine 
to a guest without the guest’s knowledge is within 
the authority of the Legislature, it being an act for 
protection of public against fraud and imposition in 
an article of food of general consumption. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
The farm lies stretched out like a lazy man 
At 3 o'clock—he looks up at the sun, 
And measures with his eye the shortening span 
Of sky space which old Sol must gravely run 
Before he strikes the freedom of the hill— 
The Summer’s lazy, dreamy afternoon 
When busy Nature finds good time to kill 
And old Jack Frost, the master, comes too soon. 
The wet damp, slimy “muggy” days are here 
To leach the patience from the farmhouse saint; 
The ragweed crowds the garden without fear 
Of farmer's hoe or good wife’s shrill complaint. 
Down in the swamp, within his poisoned lair, 
Malaria peers out upon the farm, 
Full well he knows that this depressing air 
Will fit his victims for his deadly harm. 
The afternoon of Summer all too late 
To start new plans with Autumn coming near, 
Work through the dreamy days and bravely wait 
Till Nature balances her book and year. 
What are the facts about sled corn cutters? 
Don’t make the farmers’ club entirely of chestnut. 
Are you as necessary to your wife as your wife is to 
you? Doubt it! 
A subscriber in France says that the Ruby Queen rose 
is making a strong growth with him. 
No one can inherit or acquire real force of character 
without earning the title of “crank” from some one. 
Yes, my son, the potato rot produces tuber kills on the 
potato that raise more nightmare than nitrogen. 
Just knock this proposition down and jump upon its 
back; it isn’t all of trade to pick—it's more than half to 
pack. 
“Bacon and butter” is the latest “cure” for consump¬ 
tion. No doubt a large supply of easily-digested fat will 
aid the consumptive. 
We judge that more oats than usual will be sown in 
the Fall this year. The chief object is to provide Fall 
pasture and give the clover a cover crop. 
An Oregon farmer says that he realized $1.25 a bushel 
for his wheat by feeding it to his hens while the grain 
was selling in the market for 53 cents a bushel. 
The articles on Brain in Animals have drawn out some 
interesting facts from readers. We shall be glad to hear 
from those who have observed superior intelligence or 
“brain work” among their farm stock. 
"I am interested in producing seedling flowers,” said 
a well-known horticulturist recently. “I divide them 
into three classes—the best I keep, the seconds I give 
to friends, and the rest I throw away.” 
A Maryland paper tells of a horticulturist in that 
State who bored a hole through an elm tree and inserted 
a growing Concord grapevine, which, when it had grown 
so that it filled the hole, was cut off at one end. It con¬ 
tinued to grow, according to this report, producing fine 
fruit, nourished by the elm sap. Newspaper pomology is 
always of a novel type. 
