io6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 11 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homei. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chlef. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
2FS5. aSK”* *’ }*»“*><• 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, J2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10*4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14lines 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, postal order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 , 1899. 
5 Send us a club of four subscriptions with $4, 
fgp and we will advance your own subscription 
^ a one year free, or send one new subscription for 
a neighbor with 81, and ask for your choice of 
these books: 
New Potato Culture.10.40 
Business Hen.40 
The Nursery Book.50 
American Grape Training.75 
Horticulturist’s Rule Book.50 
We send any one of them, post paid, as a reward for 
sending us one new subscription. 
fore, and all classes of business men have been the 
victims, farmers included, though the latter do not 
suffer so much as manufacturers and well-known 
business men. 
The railroads charge more for carrying pears and 
quinces than for apples. Their argument is that the 
supply of these two fruits is limited and that, bulk 
for bulk, their value is greater than that of apples. 
The first objection no longer holds. Last year, there 
were five times as many pears and quinces shipped in 
western New York as in 1893. This increase will con¬ 
tinue. After a hard fight, the western New York hor¬ 
ticulturists have secured the right to ship car-load 
lots of pears and quinces in boxes and kegs as fourth- 
class, and in lesser quantities, second-class. This 
means a reduction over the old rates of 10 cents per 
100 pounds in car-load lots, and five cents on smaller 
shipments. So much for hanging on and making a fight. 
According to both wholesale and retail food dealers 
in Illinois, that State has become a dumping ground 
for all sorts of adulterated provisions, because, while 
surrounding and adjacent States have passed stringent 
pure-food laws, Illinois has neglected such legislation. 
A bill is now before the legislature at Springfield, 
which is designed to put an end to this condition, by 
providing for a State Food Commissioner and other 
officers. Chicago is not only headquarters of the meat 
trade, but also handles great quantities of milk, manu¬ 
factures flavoring extracts, beef compounds, etc., so 
that it is an extensive field for pure-food legislation. 
The meat business of Illinois represents a capital of 
more than 850,000,000, and gives employment to about 
25,000 persons. 
The New Jersey Agricultural Society is to sell its 
fair grounds at Waverly, and buy a larger space else¬ 
where. For years, the New Jersey State Fair ranked 
as one of the worst “ fake ” shows in the country. The 
R N.-Y. exposed its vulgarities time and again, and 
it slowly improved. Now Secretary Qainn comes for¬ 
ward and says, “ A mistake was made in excluding 
the side shows.” He thinks “ most people” thought 
them one of the principal attractions ! What class of 
paopleis he talking about? we would like to know. 
Not th e farmers of New Jersey, we’ll guarantee. 
• • 
Planted in the middle of the sidewalk beside the 
General Post Office in this city, is a movable platform 
scale belonging to the Government. Coal is being 
drawn for the furnaces, and every pound must be 
weighed by some one representing the Government. 
Uncle Sam doesn’t purpose to risk the chance of any 
one giving him short weight. How many farmers are 
equally exacting ? How many intrust the weighing 
of all the goods they buy and all they sell to others ? 
Many times, the latter are liable to get long weight 
in the one case and short weight in the other. The 
example of “ Your Uncle” would seem a good one in 
this case. 
Two “ women farmers”—one in New York and the 
other in Ohio—are out for more information about 
cow peas. In our opinion, Cow Pea is an excellent 
child for a woman farmer to adopt. He is easy to 
raise. Turn him out in the poorest field of the farm, 
and he will grow up and bring the field up with him. 
For the poor back fields that have lost character, and 
which are not considered worth manure or fertilizer, 
there is nothing cheaper or better than the cow pea. 
How it will work for you ! How it wiH make that 
field ashamed of itself so that it will go to work ! Our 
friend, the cow pea—but remember that it is most 
useful on poor, thin land. It is a bean , and it will not 
stand cold, wet soils or frost! 
A fraud in this city has just succeeded in getting 
about 850,000 worth of goods by an old trick, and 
seems to have made good his escape. Wm. B. Deming 
is a responsible business man, with a good rating in 
the commercial reports. The fraud hired offices, se¬ 
cured a supply of letter heads, cards, etc., engaged 
stenographers and office boy, took the name of W. 
B. Deming, and was ready for business. He sent 
orders to manufacturers of all kinds of goods all over 
the country, and shipments were ordered to various 
places. The commercial agencies do not give street 
numbers, so when they were consulted, and Wm. B. 
Deming was found to have a good rating, the assump¬ 
tion was that everything was all right, and the goods 
were shipped unhesitatingly. This was kept up until 
an old customer of Wm. B. Deming received an order, 
and writing for some explanations, was informed 
that no such goods had been ordered. Investigation 
followed, and the scheme was revealed, but the bird 
had flown. The probability is that he was one of a 
gang of swindlers, and that his confederates disposed 
of the goods. The same game has been worked be- 
From all reports of the farmers’ institutes, horticul¬ 
tural, dairy and other agricultural meetings and con¬ 
ventions this Winter, it would seem that attendance 
is better and interest greater than ever before. Pro¬ 
grammes are, as a general thing, more practical, and 
speakers are men conspicuous for success in their sev¬ 
eral lines of work. Another thing, the best and most 
largely attended meetings have been those where 
farming in all its branches ranks highest. Nowhere 
in the world, we believe, could a brighter, more suc¬ 
cessful lot of fruit growers be brought out, than 
at the meeting at Rochester last week, or of 
dairymen than at Gouverneur. These are encourag 
ing signs of the times, and promise great things for 
the future of agriculture in this country. Progress is 
the watchword. 
Not long ago, a farmers’ club in central New York 
noticed that an agricultural paper employed a corre¬ 
spondent who was known to the club members to be 
a fraud ! He was a mere “ hack writer ” living on a 
tumble-down place, and writing in a very pompous way 
as though he were a very apostle of good agriculture. 
These farmers stood it as long as they could, and then 
they took matters into their own hands. They wrote 
the publishers of the paper that they would all stop 
taking it unless this correspondent was dropped. He 
was dropped like a hot potato. The man who thinks 
our best New York State farmers shut their eyes and 
take agricultural statements for granted, is much 
mistaken. The agricultural papers are often discussed 
at Granges or farmers’ clubs, and there isn't much 
left of some of them when these farmers get through. 
Some of our earliest Spring flowers are those whose 
roots form bulbs or tubers. Why is it that they 
bloom so early ? The reason is plain enough ; they 
have stored up starch and other foodstuffs in the 
swollen root, so that they have nutritive material 
right at hand. The flower is there, and all that is 
needed is the sun to bring it into being. Annuals and 
other -plants which live a hand-to-mouth existence 
must gather and elaborate the food before they can 
make flowers. Similarly, a plant which is fed on in¬ 
soluble or unavailable fertilizers must, necessarily, 
be retarded in growth, because it has, literally, to 
cook its dinner before eating it. This point should 
be borne in mind when studying fertilizer analyses. 
For early Spring crops, there must be a fair amount 
of nitrogen in the form of nitrates, for that form is 
immediately available. 
Prof. Bailey’s suggestion, on page 94, that boys 
should be received on good farms for practical instruc¬ 
tion, the farmer training them receiving some Govern¬ 
ment payment for his trouble, is, practically, the 
system of apprenticeship with premium. In English 
farming papers, one may frequently see an advertise¬ 
ment for farm pupils, from some farmer who makes a 
specialty of such training, either in Great Britain or 
her colonies, a premium being a part of the bargain. 
But the government isn’t expected to pay that pre¬ 
mium ; the pupil or his friends pay it. We believe in 
affording every encouragement possible to agriculture, 
but if Government funds, to which all industries con¬ 
tribute, should be devoted to paying premiums for 
farm apprentices, skilled mechanics of every class 
would have an equal right to demand similar pro¬ 
vision. The system suggested by Prof. Bailey is ex¬ 
cellent, and it is right that the farmer-instructor be 
paid for his trouble, but we don’t consider it wise for 
Uncle Sam to pay the freight, in this particular case. 
• • 
Millinery firms of Baltimore have united in a pro¬ 
test against Senator Hoar’s bill for the protection of 
song birds in the United States. The bill prohibits 
the importation and the transportation from State to 
State of feathers used for decorative purposes. The 
importers declare that the feathers produced by the 
song birds of the United States are unfit for millinery 
purposes, and are seldom so used. The feathers used 
in this country, it is alleged, are from chickens, tur¬ 
keys and other birds used for food purposes. To pre¬ 
vent the use of such feathers for decorative purposes, 
would deprive a great many persons of work, espe¬ 
cially women and children. It is true that, this Win¬ 
ter, most of the feathers used have been manifestly 
those of domestic fowls or of game birds used for 
food. But surely we might draft laws by which song 
birds are protected, without conflicting with other in¬ 
dustries. 
• • 
Some points in Prof. Bailey’s article on our first 
page, are well worthy the careful consideration of all 
interested in the education of the farmers’ children. 
It may not be practicable to adopt Old-World meth¬ 
ods, or to teach agriculture in the public schools; but 
it is both possible and politic to teach many related 
subjects. Many of these subjects are well treated in 
the nature study leaflets referred to, and these should 
be in the hands of every teacher, every parent and 
every child in the land. One difficulty in the teaching 
of such subjects has been the incompetence of most 
teachers in this direction ; but by means of these 
leaflets, and of the correspondence courses now put 
out by some colleges, and the numerous other agen¬ 
cies now available, every teacher worthy the name 
may fit himself for this work. We hope to see the 
time when no school director of a country school will, 
for a single moment, consider the application of a 
teacher either unable or unwilling to teach these sub¬ 
jects which are of such vital interest to country 
dwellers. 
BREVITIES. 
Old Uncle Daniel—wise, yet simple man— 
Gave this great test of character to me, 
“ Don’t trust a stranger, boy, unless you can 
Notice God’s ear-marks printed on his knee ". 
That was his way of putting it; he meant 
The men who kneel in trouble aud in pain, 
And, grateful for the peace the Lord has lent, 
Are not ashamed to let the dust remain 
Upon their knees. Old Uncle meant it well, 
But I, alas! have learned in life’s hard school 
That “ ear-marks on the knee ” may often tell 
The shame of one who acts the devil’s tool. 
For men will crook the knee to sell their name, 
And stifle truth in attitude of prayer. 
The “ ear-mark ” on the knee, a brand of shame, 
The ghost of virtue haunting everywhere. 
Old Uncle Daniel, till he went to rest, 
Looked for the “ear-marks” in the same old place. 
Men use a cushion now—a better test 
Is that which character writes o’er the face. 
“ My friend, the cow pea! ” 
Dead fruit—the Connecticut peach. 
Troubles are bred by brooding them. 
Don’t graft ideas on a laughing stock. 
Leather is the laziest form of nitrogen ! 
The bigger the man the bigger the target. 
The Table of Contents will be found on page 110. 
What a spectacle a house presents when on a wrong site. 
What does it cost to put an acre of apple trees in bearing ? 
“ Farming is played out! ” is it ? Well now, it hasn’t been worked 
out! 
The women folks seem to “need eggs” just when they are 
highest. 
How few farmers realize the true value of lime—as a soil 
sweetener. 
Too valuable to sell and too costly to buy—at the market rates 
—wood ashes'. 
No, sir, don’t you ever leave a farm poorer than when you took 
it—not while cow peas are as cheap as they are now! 
Who knows of an orchard of standard red Winter apples in 
good condition that can be bought at anything like a fair price ? 
Don’t straw-mulch the apple orchard! If practiced several 
years, it urges the roots to the surface—where they don’t belong. 
When cotton-seed meal is sold as a fertilizer, its composition 
must be guaranteed. When sold as stock food, the guarantee is 
not required. Why 7 
Prop. Jordan said that the Western New York Horticultural 
Society is “the finest body of men you will meet anywhere.” We 
should like to add—not only body but brains, too! 
The shipment of horses from Philadelphia to Glasgow, Scot¬ 
land, has been resumed, showing that the former prejudice of 
Scotch purchasers against American draught horses has almost 
disappeared. The supply comes principally from Indiana. 
