THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 4 
156 
Short Stories. 
Bad Side of Good Roads. —The 
subject of good roads is indeed most im¬ 
portant, as it not only endangers the 
homes of many farmers, but it has al¬ 
ready brought ruin to individuals. 
One of these lives in the suburbs of 
Grand Rapids, Mich. He bad, by econo¬ 
mizing, managed to get enough ahead to 
purchase a little store, and also a home ; 
but his prosperity was short-lived, for 
the road he lived on was graded, and he 
now pays rent. 
In this instance, I speak not only of 
my acquaintance, but nearly every in¬ 
habitant on that street. What farmer 
who has a mortgage on his farm, and is 
struggling year by year to rise above it, 
can afford to pay from $100 to $1,000 for 
good roads? The wheelman, however, 
whose property does not extend beyond 
his bicycle, advocates good roads, be¬ 
cause it is nothing to him if the farmers’ 
homes are mortgaged, as long as he has 
a smooth road for his “evening spin.” 
Kent County, Mich. k. l. p. 
Remedies For Smut. —In the Indiana 
short course in agriculture they give the 
remedy for Black smut in oats and 
Stinking smut in wheat. These remedies 
are so effective that it is a pity not to 
use them. It is estimated that onc- 
tenth of every oat crop is destroyed every 
year without farmers knowing it. The. 
treatment is very simple, and is the same 
for wheat as for oats. The spores rest 
hidden in the seed oats or wheat, and 
are easily killed by dampening the seed 
with water containing one pound of 
formaldehyde to 50 gallons of water. 
Spread the oats about two inches thick 
on a floor and sprinkle with a common 
can as you would water flowers. Then 
pile the seed at once in a cone, and leave 
it two or three days. This allows the 
gas contained in the water time to dif¬ 
fuse all through the pile, and it is very 
fatal to the germs of the smut. This 
remedy is not at all dangerous to man or 
beast It is much better than the hot- 
water remedy, as it is equally efficient 
and very much more easily applied. The 
oats soon dry out so as to drill nicely. 
E. H. COLLINS. 
License and Personal Rights. —I ful¬ 
ly agree (but I go much further) with 
The R. N.-Y. as regards obliging the 
farmer to pay a license in selling his own 
products. If in selling his wares, he 
makes a nuisance of himself, or if he 
overcrowds the streets, he should be 
suppressed. But if a farmer chooses to 
sell his squashes for a cent apiece, whose 
business is it but his own ? I have seen 
this underselling spoken of myself, and 
would like to ask whether it is more dis¬ 
honorable to sell under the market than 
to swindle some one by selling at double 
the real worth. One man sells an apple 
tree at 10 cents, another at 50 cents. 
Which is the “one-horse marketman”? 
If the squash were really worth six cents 
(see page 18), why didn’t a manipulator 
b^y the whole lot of “the one-horse 
marketman ”, and make five cents a 
squash for his trouble ? I wouldn’t say 
a word about this, but behind lies a prin¬ 
ciple. When a man may not sell the 
products of his own labor without pay¬ 
ing for the privilege ; when he cannot 
even labor without joining a “ union ” 
and paying for the privilege ; when he 
cannot change his occupation without 
paying for it; when he cannot move to 
another State, and continue his business; 
when he may not even control the edu¬ 
cation of his own children; when he is 
not allowed to sell the wholesome prod¬ 
ucts of his own farm under their proper 
names; when it is proposed to make 
laws to prohibit the poor from marry¬ 
ing ; when the whole air is filled with 
like restrictive legislation in all the 
States, it is about time to ask, Is there a 
single right that we as “ free American 
citizens ” are really heir to ? 
Illinois. benj. buckman. 
Tree Bounties in Minnesota.—A 
reader sends us a clipping taken from a 
Western paper, which states that Min¬ 
nesota has paid a large bounty on tree 
planting. He wants to know the facts 
in the case, and whether this encourage¬ 
ment of trees has proved satisfactory. 
Prof. S. B. Green, of the Minnesota Ex¬ 
periment Station, sends the following 
comment: 
“ Our State offers a bounty of $2.50 per 
year for six years on each acre of prairie 
land not exceeding 10 acres to one per¬ 
son, planted to any kind of forest tree 
except Black locust. This does not ap¬ 
ply to railroad companies who plant 
trees along their tracks, or to those who 
took up land under the United States 
Tree Claim Act. There is a special tax 
levied for this purpose which produces, 
I think, something over $30,000, but only 
about $ 20,000 can be used for paying 
bounties, and this amount is divided pro 
rata among those who are entitled to it 
in case there is not enough to go around 
at $2.50 per acre. This does not apply, 
you will see, to the forest portion of the 
State, and its object is to encourage the 
planting of trees on our prairies. I do 
not think that it has accomplished much 
good, and if the law were not on the 
statute bock, I doubt whether we could 
get a similar one passed.” 
A friend in California says that sugar cane 
grows well in Pasadena, that State, and that 
fine sugar can be made out of it. The cane once 
planted is good for eight or nine years, coming 
up every year from the roots. It does not grow 
as tall as in the South, but is quite as rich in 
sugar. 
A woman patient in a West Virginian hospital 
was discovered in the act of swallowing a hair¬ 
pin. The house physician operated for the re¬ 
moval of this from the stomach, and was sur¬ 
prised to find that the patient had swallowed 37 
common pins, six wire hairpins, a tin snuff-box 
lid one inch in diameter, an iron screw 1 % inch 
in length, six pieces of glass, one of which is 1 % 
inch long and three-fourths inch wide, and 
another being a triangular piece, each side of 
which is three-fourths inchin length; four pieces 
of slate, one of which is one inch in length, one 
small piece of chinaware, and three comb teeth 
one inch long. An ordinary ostrich is outdone 
by this record. 
During the past few years, the introduction of 
the weeder has almost revolutionized methods of 
tillage on many farms. The slender springing 
teeth of the weeder have scratched and fingered 
the ground quickly and effectively. Now, culti¬ 
vator manufacturers are figuring on a weeder 
attachment which is to follow behind the teeth 
of the cultivator to scratch or level down the 
rough ridges made by its teeth. It is generally 
understood that," in the majority of seasons, 
level cultivation is the ideal plan. The use of 
the weeder has convinced many farmers that 
eyen a small-tooth cultivator leaves the ground 
too rough; hence, there is a demand for this 
weeder attachment which will smooth down and 
level the surface. 
avwvvvvvvvavvvvwvvvvvwvvvvv'i 
True Greatness 
In Medicine 
Is proved by the health of the people 
who have taken it. More people have 
been made well, more cases of dis¬ 
ease and sickness have been cured by 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla than by any 
other medicine in the world. The 
peculiar combination, proportion 
and process in its preparation make 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla peculiar to it¬ 
self and unequaled by any other. 
Seeds! Seeds! 
75th Anniversary Catalogue of 
Vegetable, Farm and Flower Seeds, 
Is now ready, and mailed free to all applicants. 
BRIDGEMAN’S SEED WAREHOUSE, 
37 East 19th St., New York City. 
BEST in the world; 
other as COOD; 
warranted to be by far 
the CHEAPEST. 
Prettiest book g“ D ET C 
in all the world “ Ik CL CL ■ 
1 c and up for large packets, 
yours and neighbors names for 
y Beautiful Illustrated Catalogue. 
R. H. SHU MW AY, Rockford, III. 
ESTABLISHED 1802 
Our 1899 Catalogue is now ready, 
and will be mailed free on applica¬ 
tion. It contains a larger assortment 
of Seeds, and more information about 
them and their culture, than any 
other Seed Annual published. We 
have been for the past 98 years the 
leading Seed House of America. 
J.M.TH0RBURN&C0. 
(Late of IS John Street) 
36 C0RTLANDT STREET, NEW YORK 
THE HICHEST GRADE 
G RASS S EEDS 
IN THE WORLD TO-DAY 
ARE SUPPLIED BY 
Y r/i rOa. 
GRASS SEED for HAY, 
GRASS SEED for PASTURE, 
c# GRASS SEED for LIGHT SOILS, 
GRASS SEED for HEAVY SOILS, 
GRASS SEED for GOLF LINKS, 
The “HENDERSON” LAWN GRASS SEED. 
Also many NEW FORAGE PLANTS of value. 
Our AMERICAN FARMERS’ MANUAL for 
1899, 32 pages, devoted entirely to Seeds for the Farm, 
mailed freeon application to those who state where 
they saw this advertisement. Correspondence invited. 
PETER HENDERSON & GO. 
35 & 37 Cortlandt St, NEW YORK. 
W W kam W W W W Wtt! 
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Gold for 
Gardeners 
The greatest prize competition for 
gardeners ever offered. Send for full 
particulars. Everyone who lias room 
for a garden should enter the contest. 
Amateur or professional gardeners 
equally eligible for 8500.00 prize. The 
only condition is that seeds must be 
ARLINGTON 
Tested Seeds 
and selected from our -1899 Catalogue. 
Raw sou’s 1899 Seed Book tells about 
these famous seeds. Also full particu¬ 
lars of com petition. The best 
and most helpful book for gar¬ 
deners published. Send for it .i 
W. W. RAWSON <fc CO., 
Boston, Mass. 
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15 Choice Vegetables for 10 Cents. 
One pkg. beets—Lentz Marly Blood; 1 cabbage— 
Lupton; 1 cabbage—True Danish Winter; 1 cucum¬ 
ber— Arlington White Spine; 1 celery — Evans’ 
Triumph; 1 carrot—newCarentan; 1 lettuce—Grand 
Rapids; 1 lettuce—Denver Market; 1 pepper—Ruby 
King: 1 melon—Rocky Ford; 1 onion—Michigan Yel¬ 
low Globe; 1 onion—Early Barletta Pickling; 1 
radish—True Rosy Gem; 1 tomato—Bond’s Early 
Minnesota; 1 tomato—New Stone. For 10 of your 
neighbors’ names that use seeds, and 10 
cents in stamps, we will mail you free the 
above 15 packages of choice vegetable seeds 
with our annual catalogue. 
SIEGEL, The Seedsman, ERIE, PA* 
Best Seeds 
that Grow! 
Thousands of Dollars 
in CASH PRIZES for 1899 
and many other New Features, 
of particular interest, presented in 
B 
URPEE’S 
Farm Annual 
Leading American Seed Catalogue 
Mailed FREE to all. 
A handsome new book of 176 pages,— tells 
the plain truth about Seeds, including rare 
Novelties which cannot be had elsewhere. 
Beautiful colored plates and hundreds of illus¬ 
trations from nature. Gives practical informa¬ 
tion of real value to all who would raise the 
choicest Vegetables and most beautiful Flowers. 
Write a postal card TO-DAY 1 
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Philadelphia 
A big yield of both 
profit and satisfaction 
will result if you plant 
FERRY5 Seeds 
They are r.lwnys the best. 
Do not accept any substi¬ 
tute—buy none but Ferry’s. 
Sold by all dealers. Write for 
the '99 Seed Annual—free. 
D.M. FERRY & COf?Detroit,Mich 
FOR 14 CENTS 
We wiBhto gain this year 200,000 
new customers, and hence offer 
1 Pkg. 13 Day Radish, 10c 
kg. Early Ripe Cabbage, lOo 
“ Earliest Red Beet, 10c 
“ Long Lightn’g Cucumber 10c 
“ Saizer’s Best Lettuce, loo 
'* California Fig Tomato, 20c 
" Early Dinner Onion, 10c 
" Brilliant Flower Seeds, 1-ic 
Worth $1.00, fo r 14 c ents, $1.00 
Above 10 pkgs. worth $1.00, wo will 
mail you free, together with our 
great Plant and Seed Catalogue 1 
upon receipt of this notice <fc l ie 1 
postage. We invite your trade and ( 
know when you once try Salzcr’s , 
seedsyou will never get along with- 
out them. Onion Seed GSo. and 1 
iiup a lb. Potatoes at $1.2*1 1 
’ n Hill. Catalog alone 5c. No. Ill 
SALZEIt SEED CO., LA CUOSSE. HIS. 1 
Kansas Seeds 
Headquarters for Rocky Ford 
n "ntaloupe Seed, Alfalfa, Sor- 
Kaffir Corn and Millet 
Choice Onion Seeds at 
low prices. Tree Seen# of 
all kinds. Forage plants 
for dry climates. Our Cat¬ 
alogue mailed free on application. Send for one now. 
Kuusas Seed House. l.liarteldes A to., Laxreuee, Kan. 
SOUTHPORT GLOBE ONION SEED. 
Meeker’s Smoothing Harrows, Onion Seed Drills and 
Hand-Wheel Hoes. C. O. Jclliff & Co., Southport. Ct. 
BEST SEEDS ON EARTH ! 1 
DIRECT FROM GROWER TO PLANTER. 
From Saginaw Valley Seed Gardena. 
Michigan Northern Grown Seed Potatoes, Ij 
Vegetable, Flower and Field Seeds. Every- *Tj 
thing in Seeds at lowest prices ™ 
To Introduce my superior Northern 
Grown Seeds everywhere, I will give away, 
Absolutely Free as Premiums 
1,000,000 Packets of 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds 1 
Send your name and address to-day for my 
8F.EI) ItOOK which tells how to get THE 
BEST SEEDS FREE. Seeds that will grow. 
HARRY N. HAMMOND, 
Seedsman, 
Box 12, Flfield, Mich. 
FORMERLY, DECATUR. 
Dreer’s Garden Calendar,& 
An up-to-date Catalogue of the best new and rare, as well as 
the cream of the standard varieties of 
Seeds, Plants, Bulbs, Etc. 
A handsome book of 168 pages, profusely Illustrated, mailed FREE to 
those who state where they saw this advertisement. 
HENRY A. DREER, 714 Chestnut St., Phila., Pa. 
Farmers & Gardeners 
Write for our new 1899 catalogue. Full of valuable points 
and suggestions which bring profit. Contains description, prices 
and directions for growing. All kinds of Farm, Garden and Flower 
Seeds, Trees, Vines, Plants, Shrubs, Bulbs and Machinery. 
D. LANDRETH & SONS,<*.t.i784> 
21 and 23 S. Sixth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
SPECIAL—To get names of seed growers we will mail 5 distinct packets of named 
Sweet Peas (retail at 5c. each) and our beautiful catalogue to any address for 10c. 
