September 22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
644 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, V Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
88. 6d., or 8{4 marks, or 10* *4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
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Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
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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 , SEPTEMBER 22, 1900. 
One Delaware peach grower is reported to have de¬ 
veloped a great idea in protecting his fruit from ma¬ 
rauders. He displayed conspicuously this startling 
legend on signs nailed to his orchard fence: “Caution! 
This Pence is Surmounted by a Live Electric Wire!” 
The wire could be seen on the top of the fence, strung 
on glass insulators, and the peach crop within was 
treated with profound respect. It is more than hinted, 
however, that the live wire was merely a dummy, but 
no one was found sufficiently rash to experiment with 
this electric policeman. 
* 
A horse dealer at Washington, D. C., was recently 
brought before a police court on the charge of “re¬ 
making” a horse with intent to defraud. He had sold 
a horse to a negro farmer and, while at pasture, the 
animal had been soaked in a passing storm. The ef¬ 
fect was somewhat peculiar, for patches of his skin 
began to curl up and peel off. Investigation showed 
that a number of bald or calloused places on the 
horse’s hide had been skillfully patched with calf¬ 
skin, making the workworn horse look as good as 
new. The purchaser did not approve of his patch- 
work horse, and will prosecute the dealer. 
* 
The Northern Pacific Railroad uses a machine 
known as a weed burner to destroy weeds along its 
track. Gasoline tanks are placed upon an ordinary 
flat car, connected by pipes with a heavy iron frame 
in front, like the pilot on an engine, extending the 
width of the ties. In this frame are pipes, holes and 
valves, through which the burning gas is forced, kill¬ 
ing all the weeds between the rails, and on either 
side as far as the ends of the ties. So many per¬ 
nicious weeds travel, like the tramps, along the rail¬ 
way, that their destruction is an important matter. 
An untidy weed-grown switch where refuse from 
stock cars has been dumped, may be a source of in¬ 
festation to all the farms around. 
* 
The month of August seems to have upset many 
guesses or estimates of crops. Late in July, when re¬ 
ports were made, many observers gave what they 
hoped rather than what they actually saw as their 
report. Had August been wet or even as damp as 
usual their hopes would have been realized, but the 
continued dry weather has taken the hope out of it, 
so that September finds several crops very short. Po¬ 
tatoes, apples, tobacco, corn and cotton lost ground 
in August, and these crops are likely to be short as a 
whole, no matter how well supplied certain localities 
may be. New York farmers are greatly interested in 
the apple crop this year. They ought to get enough 
out of it to make up their losses on other crops. 
* 
For me past 10 years the wise men have been dem¬ 
onstrating by means of figures and theories that cot¬ 
ton growers must expect permanently low prices for 
their product. It was said that England is encourag¬ 
ing cotton culture in India and Egypt, and that Ger¬ 
many and France hope to grow the crop in their own 
colonies. These countries are the best customers for 
American cotton. It is but natural that they should 
attempt to supply at least a part of the cotton re¬ 
quired by their mills, and it seemed reasonable to ex¬ 
pect that they would in time succeed in doing so. 
America had at one time a monopoly in supplying 
them with tobacco, but time has broken that. There 
was good reason to expect that cotton had been per¬ 
manently cheapened, yet, within the past week the 
price has jumped to over 10 cents a pound. It is true 
that this year’s crop is reported short in some sec¬ 
tions, yet this would not entirely account for the rise. 
It is one of those strange freaks of trade which can¬ 
not be explained. It will prove a blessing to the 
southern farmer, and seems to show that in spite of 
all the efforts of Europeans, America is still to sup¬ 
ply the world with cotton. 
It does not pay to vacillate. If a man starts out to 
keep a dairy he should post himself about dairying, 
and keep at it even if some years seem unfavorable 
for that business. So with sheep. While southern 
New York is not a sheep region, particularly, yet for 
several years the number of sheep kept has been on 
the increase there. For a year or two there has been 
rather less profit in them, and there is a tendency just 
at present to sell them off. It seems to us that L*is 
is bad policy. We would not be surprised if now were 
just the time to go to keeping sheep; at any rate, the 
outlook is fully as favorable as for anything, and as 
favorable as for several years back. 
* 
In that note on page 651, concerning the milk can as 
a possible incendiary, reference is made to the fact 
that imperfect glass may burn the leaves of green¬ 
house plants. We have never heard of a case where 
fire originated in the greenhouse from this cause, but 
we have seen plants showing a defective leaf caused 
by a blister in the glass above, which focused the sun’s 
rays like a burning glass. For this reason florists are 
careful to select glass free from imperfections, unless 
it is to be kept shaded with whitewash or other ma¬ 
terial. Growers of palms and other fine foliage plants 
find it particularly necessary to select glass free from 
blisters or ripples, since a sunburn spot may easily 
ruin the selling value of a fine specimen. 
* 
The terrible storm at Galveston, Texas, wrought 
awful destruction to life and property. In the face 
of this fearful damage it may seem like small business 
to refer to the injury wrought by local high winds. 
Yet here and there destructive gales have seriously 
hurt the fruit crop. For example we have this report 
from Niagara Co., New York: 
I am just informed that a very difficult problem for the 
Niagara fruit belt was settled by Providence last night— 
and that is the price of Winter apples. In the night a 
southwest wind arose and soon developed into a very 
severe gale, and this morning (while full reports are not 
yet at hand), our orchards are swept clean—all blown off 
and worthless, in my own orchard. I had probably 1,000 
barrels of fine fruit. This morning all on the ground but 
about two per cent. The gale continued all night, and 
must have reached all over this county and the damage 
amounts to millions of dollars. 
We hope the damage is not so serious as our corre¬ 
spondent thinks, yet there is no doubt that the high 
winds have ruined many apples. 
* 
Now that rural schools are commencing their work 
it is a good time for both teachers and farmers who 
patronize the school to see whether they cannot mu¬ 
tually aid each other. There are many interesting yet 
simple little experiments that teachers can do at odd 
moments, or they can give familiar talks to pupils 
about the things around them that will often set them 
to thinking, and create an interest that will not only 
benefit the pupil, but will keep him out of mischief 
some day and so aid the teacher as well. Many a sim¬ 
ple matter coming under the head of botany or chem¬ 
istry or zoology (we would not dignify it by any of 
those big names if we were in school), which many a 
farmer has wished he knew about, can be given to 
pupils and thus help them, and possibly the parent, 
too. Can parents help their school any more than by 
letting the teacher know that her efforts are appre¬ 
ciated? She has quite a problem on her hands to 
classify the school so as to find time for these extras. 
• 
We have not advised northern farmers to use the cow 
pea as hay or silage. It may be desirable in some 
places to cut the vines and feed them green to the 
cows. In other cases it may pay to turn the hogs in 
to eat down the vines. We would not, however, at¬ 
tempt to cure them for hay. We are not likely to have 
good drying weather when the cow pea is fit to cut. 
The vines are hard to cure, and are not likely to give 
satisfactory fodder in the North. We think the cow 
pea is like a Jersey cow in one respect. Our Jerseys 
do so well at the pail through a long and active life, 
that we can almost afford to give them a decent burial 
after their death rather than to try to sell them to the 
butcher for beef. The place for the cow pea is on .he 
poorest fields of the farm. The crop will do so much 
for these poor waste fields that we can afford to grow 
it for manure alone, plowing the vines directly under, 
rather than to try to cut the vines for hay. The ques¬ 
tion as to whether it pays to mix cow-pea vines or 
Soy beans with the corn when filling the silo is often 
disputed. We know farmers in Delaware who cut the 
cow-pea vines into the silo, using one part cow peas 
to about three of corn. The result is that the silage is 
strong and well eaten by the cows. Others who have 
tried the plan say that the cow-pea vines make poor 
silage, and that there is a far greater loss when they 
are mixed with the corn. Our own opinion is that 
corn is the best silage crop that can be grown, and we 
would not attempt to mix clover hay, cow peas or Soy 
beans with it; certainly not in a poorly-made silo 
which is not air-tight. 
* 
Two years ago the Twenty-eighth Congressional dis¬ 
trict of New York gave Sereno E. Payne a majority of 
nearly 10,000 votes. This district embraces the coun¬ 
ties of Cayuga, Cortland, Ontario, Wayne and Yates. 
There are in the district 91 butter and cheese factories, 
besides thousands of private dairies where butter is 
made. There are also hundreds of farms from which 
milk is shipped to the city. Now the politician may 
talk about "tariff,” or “finance,” or “expansion,” but 
the fact is that to those who must live on the product 
sent to market from these dairy farms the fair regula¬ 
tion of the traffic in oleo is the greatest business ques¬ 
tion of the times. So long as oleo can be made of 
cheap fats, and fraudulently sold as butter, every man 
who is in partnership with a cow must suffer, be¬ 
cause every pound of counterfeit fat that is put on the 
market reduces the demand for milk or its honest 
products. The fruit growers and general farmers need 
not think that this contest concerns dairymen alone. 
There is a principle at stake. It is easy to see if we 
once abandon the battle and admit the right to sell 
a fraudulent counterfeit of butter we shall let down 
the bars for all sorts of food adulterations. Fruit¬ 
growers who attempted to sell their surplus products 
in the form of juices or jellies would soon find them¬ 
selves confronted by even worse foes than oleo. Now 
Congressman Payne has put himself squarely against 
the Grout bill, which is a measure designed to force 
the oleo manufacturers into honest ways. They have 
declined to be honest on their own account. In our 
judgment Mr. Payne ought to be defeated this Fall. 
There is such a vast majority to be overcome that he 
may not get his deserts, but the very size of this ma¬ 
jority will induce many of his party friends to vote 
against him so as to give him a sound thrashing and 
still send him back to show his stripes to the oleo 
crowd. Mr. Payne seemed afraid of the oleo trust. 
Vote for the cow rather than for the coward. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
CUTTING CORN. 
That corn’s jest fit to cut—them ears hang down 
Jest right—the outer husk is turning brown. 
I ain't no hand to let it stand and cure 
Before it’s cut—that spoils the fodder sure. 
Here, Dick, you’re sorter light, you start an’ bend 
Them tops all down ahead—be sure an’ tend 
To havin’ all them shocks stand in a row; 
I’d rather have ye do it right and slow 
Than have ye git ’em tangled up—say, Jack, 
That ain’t no way to cut—you’ll kill your back; 
Jest take yer knife an’ bring the hill up—so, 
Then whack it off with one good solid blow. 
Oh, Bill! Don’t lift so hard—why, can’t ye see 
How I can swing this armful on my knee? 
Don’t walk up to the shock with every hill; 
Hold out your arm like this and let it fill! 
You, Tommy, tie them shocks an’ leave ’em so, 
The top holds tight, but air blows in below. 
So we can dry the butts out—that’s the way, 
We’re countin’ on this corn to save the hay. 
You talk about your harvesters.—I’ll bet 
Me an’ my boys can beat machinery yet. 
In touch—a live wire and a dead man. 
The drought means many empty barns. 
The law of the license question—page 639. 
A doughnut might be called hole-wheat bread. 
Train your cows to stand so you can milk on either side. 
It often makes a fellow hot to see things put in cold 
type. 
We feel sure that green rape will taint the milk If fed 
to cows. It is grand for hogs, though. 
There are some men who think they cannot pick their 
way through life unless they curse and kick. 
We now have a letter from the Maine dairyman whose 
house was burned, as he thinks, by fire caused by a milk 
can cover. He is sure of it. 
We seem to have come to a time in this country when 
hundreds of farmers desire to remodel or make over the 
old barn. How to do it right is a mighty problem. 
Hundreds of readers seem to be trying the Clark method 
of grass seeding. Most of them run the risk of failure, 
because they have a low conception of what is ‘‘good 
enough.” 
At the New York State Fair, Prof. Harding, of the 
Geneva Station, etchibited specimens of the bacteria 
which work in milk, butter and cheese. It was a very 
useful exhibit. 
Two weeks ago reference was made to the Lacey act, 
forbidding the importation of certain foreign birds and 
animals except on permit from the United States Secre¬ 
tary of Agriculture. From the wording of the law there 
seemed to be some doubt as to whether dead as well as 
live animals were included in this prohibition. The At¬ 
torney-General has now rendered an opinion to the effect 
that this portion of the Lacey act covers only live birds 
and animals, and that no permit will be needed for the 
importation of dead game from foreign countries. 
