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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
April 8 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor.-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, (. Associate Editors 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, (-Associate Editors. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
i 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10 y% 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. 
Ad vertisements 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, APRIL 8, 1899. 
“ Some bottles require to be washed sometimes four 
or five times each to remove the specks of dried soapine 
or other washing powders used by the customers in 
the efforts to cleanse the bottle,” says the dealer who 
describes A Bottled-milk Dairy on page 267. And to 
think that all this might be saved if the person cleans¬ 
ing (?) the bottle would rinse it thoroughly with cold 
water, before scalding it I The teacher of domestic 
science has a great work before her in explaining the 
chemistry of commonplace cleanliness. 
• 
• • 
It would seem that the business world has gone daft 
on the subject of trusts and combinations. Not a day 
passes but we read reports of from one to a dozen new 
combinations. Some of the older ones seem to prosper; 
others are having, or have had, all sorts of trouble. 
The figures named in the articles of incorporation in 
these new aggregations are enormous ; $20,000,000 to 
$50,000,000 are common ones. The capitalization is 
generally far beyond actual values. The whole thing 
looks to an outsider like a gigantic speculation. If 
all or the greater part succeed, it will mean the great¬ 
est industrial revolution in history ; if they fail, it 
will mean the greatest financial upsetting ever known. 
The promoters will have their nests fully feathered ; 
outsiders must suffer. 
■ 
• • 
The appropriation for free rural mail delivery was 
increased by the last Congress from $150,000 to $300,000 
a year. Experience shows that such delivery is not 
extravagant; in most places where introduced, it has 
paid its way, and in some, it yields a profit. It is 
said that, if members of Congress were less afraid of 
the political effect of abolishing petty fourth-class 
post offices, free rural delivery might be extended to 
many districts at less cost than the existing service. 
Rural postmen are paid only $400 a year, and Jiave to 
provide their own horses ; but they are allowed to en¬ 
gage in any outside business in addition, a right de¬ 
nied to other carriers. In the southern States, the 
free delivery is unprofitable, because of the scattered 
population and percentage of illiteracy. In the west¬ 
ern States, bad roads are the greatest impediment. 
One of the saddest experiences in life is to have a 
member of one’s family afflicted with a mental trouble. 
In town and country alike, many homes have this 
shadow resting upon them. The blight of insanity 
has crept across the threshold of farm homes, and 
changed the entire course of family life therein. In 
some cases, efforts are made to care for the sufferer at 
home, and some patient wife or sister accepts a new 
and ceaseless burden without complaint. The home 
life is changed, and a nameless dread and anxiety 
find a place in every heart. But what else can be 
done with such a patient ? Most States spend vast 
sums of money for building and maintaining institu¬ 
tions where the insane may be cared for. These in¬ 
stitutions are now mostly called “ Hospitals”, and as 
a rule, they are crowded with a certain class of 
patients. Our experience has been that, in most cases, 
these “hospitals” are houses of detention where the 
individual patient has small chance of being cured. 
Many of these unfortunates are put there by relatives 
who are glad to get rid of them. They are rarely 
visited, and little interest is taken in their possible 
cure. The average patient is lost in one of these great 
elegant jails for the insane. There is little hope for 
that careful and sympathetic oversight without wliich 
a diseased mind cannot be healed. Formerly the 
victims of epilepsy were put with the insane, but in 
New York and New Jersey, at least, they are now 
separated. This is well, and we might well go farther 
and divide the insane into classes—avoiding the great 
palaces now in use and grouping the patients so that 
they may receive better individual care. Something 
of this plan is followed with success in Belgium. 
Many of our insane asylums are to-day jails rather 
than hospitals, for the idea grows with the public that 
there is little hope for a crazed mind. This is a great 
mistake, for every effort should be made to cure such 
afflicted people. 
• • 
The American Apple Consumers’ League promises 
to be a great success. When told about it, most peo¬ 
ple say at once, “ I want to join!” The idea of in¬ 
creasing the consumption of good apples will appeal 
to all Americans who are worth appealing to. The 
apple is the great American fruit. It gives health to 
those who eat it. We want a fair measure of wealth 
to follow those who produce it—not only follow, but 
catch up to them. The orange and banana are well 
enough for an occasional change, but for a steady, 
old-time friend, a juicy, fragrant apple takes the lead. 
The American Apple Consumers' League will begin 
with the hotels and restaurants, until raw and baked 
apples are to be found everywhere. Then we will be¬ 
gin on the private citizens in town and city, and show 
them how they are neglecting one of the best things 
in life when they refuse to keep, a barrel of good ap¬ 
ples in the cellar. The town child has too much brick 
and stone in his blood; we must feed him a barrel or 
two of apples every year, or there won’t be any Amer¬ 
ican soil in him. You ought to join the League ! Go 
out and call for apples whenever you eat at a pub¬ 
lic table 1 
• • 
Thebe is a movement among Connecticut farmers to 
reorganize the State Board of Agriculture. A bill is 
before the legislature to establish a new board, made 
up of members elected by the Dairymen’s Associa¬ 
tion, the Pomological Society, State Grange, Bee 
Keepers’ Association, Sheep Breeders’ Association, 
and a representative from the New Haven Experi¬ 
ment Station and the Agricultural College. These 
representatives are to form one central organization, 
without losing any of the individuality of the sepa¬ 
rate associations and societies. In one way, this seems 
like a very desirable thing. We have always thought 
that State farmers’ organizations have been weak be¬ 
cause they have been unable to get together. There 
is union in organization, and one single, strong body, 
representative of various types and classes of farm¬ 
ing, would have a power and force that the separate 
organizations working alone, could not acquire. There 
maybe objections to the proposed plan that we do not 
understand, but looking at the thing in a general 
way, the idea of getting together in one strong, rep¬ 
resentative organization, seems to be a great advance 
along higher and broader lines. 
• 
• • 
0 
A confidence operator, recently arrested in Chi¬ 
cago, claimed to have made $300,000 by selling brass 
borings for gold. This is an old, old trick, like the 
time dishonored gold brick ; yet victims in plenty are 
found for both. More insidious frauds, now baiting 
their hooks for the rural districts, are the speculative- 
investment sharks. Within the past few months, 
great fortunes have been made and lost in the stock 
market. A person who reads how one man made 
$700,000 in sugar, and another half a million in rail¬ 
way stocks is very likely to become affected with the 
mania for speculation. This is fully understood by 
clever swindlers, who are now flooding the rural dis¬ 
tricts with circulars which promise profits of 1,000 
per cent on small investments made through them. 
One would think their claims too preposterous to 
attract any one, but they find a plentiful crop of vic¬ 
tims. One of these swindlers, who represented the 
mythical firm of “Sloan, Blair, King & Co.,” was re¬ 
cently arrested in New York for fraudulent use of the 
mails. He is said to have received over $1,200, within 
a few weeks, from his victims, his Wall Street 
operations being entirely a myth. 
• • 
The war news from the Philippines gives the true 
American citizen a queer mixture of feelings. Our 
boys in blue are showing their fighting qualities 
under terrible conditions. In a new land under trying 
conditions of climate and living, they are fighting like 
heroes, and we are all proud of them. But how 
humiliating it is to think that this splendid display of 
courage and endurance is made against men who fight 
for the God-given right to govern themselves The 
late war was begun “ in the interests of humanity ! ” 
When Admiral Dewey smashed the Spanish fleet in the 
bay of Manila, he destroyed Spain’s power to harm us 
in that part of the world. What further business had 
this country in the Islands ? We are now told that it 
is a question largely of trade. The American farmer 
is greatly interested in the production of cotton, 
sugar, tobacco and wool. “ Trade ” with the Philip¬ 
pines means, among other things, that vast quantities 
of these products will be grown on the Islands, and 
sent to this country. The policy of England has been 
to find foreign markets for her manufactured goods, 
and take food and fiber in return. Germany is follow¬ 
ing along the same line, and it means privation and 
ruin to the farmer. To an American farmer, whether 
regarded as a matter of “ humanity ” or a matter of 
trade, the war with the Filipinos must be considered 
a great mistake. 
Maryland is leading the eastern States in efforts 
to prevent the spread of the San Jos£ scale on nur¬ 
sery stock. The description of the methods employed 
in fumigating, which is begun this week, shows how 
simple yet how exact the Maryland system is. No 
a-gument is necessary to show the importance of 
f amigating at the nursery. That is the place to make 
sure of the work. In handling this deadly gas, the 
utmost care is required. Prof. Johnson, of Maryland, 
has organized a system which appears to insure scien¬ 
tific accuracy, even when the chemicals are handled 
by men of average intelligence. Every fumigating 
house in the State has been measured, and the exact 
amount of cyanide of potash required to fill each 
house with gas is weighed out in the laboratory of 
the experiment station. The nurseryman has nothing 
to do but use his measure of acid, and drop in the 
package of cyanide. We give careful and minute 
details regarding this operation, being satisfied 
that, before long, all nurserymen will be obliged by 
public sentiment, if not by law, to guarantee their 
stock as “ fumigated" . They would do well to get in 
ahead of the crowd. 
■ • 
BREVITIES. 
PLANT TREES. 
What do we plant when we plant the tree ? 
We plant the ship which will cross the sea; 
We plant the masts to carry the sails, 
We plant the plank to withstand the gales. 
The keel, the keelson, and beam and knee; 
We plant the ship when we plant the tree. 
What do we plant when we plant the tree ? 
We plant the houses for you and me; 
We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors, 
We plant the studding, the laths, the doors, 
The beams, the siding, all parts that be ;• 
We plant the house when we plant the tree. 
What do we plant when we plant the tree ? 
A thousand things that we daily see; 
We plant the spire that out-towers the crag, 
We plant the staff for our country’s flag, 
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free; 
We plant all these when we plant the tree. 
—Henry Abbey. 
Spring’s here! To the work! 
A sore throat is a wind brake. 
Oats without nitrogen are oughts. 
Hard cider is “ whine sap ” apple. 
Don’t spray too early for apple scab. 
Condensed rape makes good mutton. 
Absorbing sorrows is like grafting sigh uns. 
A little drag behind the cultivator will pay. 
The wife beater is the man for the (whipping) post. 
It’s the men behind the beguns who determine results. 
We bring things up by bringing them down to business. 
The man who loses his head over air castles is air “ tight.” 
Mr. Bighead carries a busy B. inside and outside his head. 
The proof of the pudding is the demand for a second plate. 
A shady reputation doesn’t make a pleasant resting place. 
“ Pumping cows! ” is the beef cattle man’s name for dairying. 
“ Let the blessed sunshine ” into the crop. Don’t crowd the 
plants. 
The dishorned cow has no rings on her horns. How do you tell 
her age 1 
The agricultural colleges should observe April 14—the birthday 
of ex-Senator Morrill. 
Yes, sir, it’s layer grafting to breed up your hens by introduc¬ 
ing selected laying stock. 
Why Is the sale of “ renovated ” butter like a hen crossing the 
road ? Because it’s a foul proceeding. 
“ I won’t play in your back yard”, says Mr. Ragweed, ‘‘but 
I’ll work there and spoil your garden.” 
There are chords in your wife’s heart that will respond to 
cords of wood well cut, split and under cover. 
Shall the eastern dairy farmer raise carbonaceous fodder and 
buy the muscle-making foods, or try to grow protein crops, and 
save the grain bill T There’s a tough one for you! 
The dairymen wanted a chance to feed the soldiers on cheese. 
If the American cow couldn’t have made a better job than the 
steer made with his beef, she would have retired from business. 
Take a good team and sprinkling tank, and haul water one- 
fourth of a mile. Work a week as hard as you can. What does 
your week’s work represent ? Just the difference in evaporation 
between a soil cultivated and one not cultivated. Two hours’ 
good work with a two-horse cultivator will represent as much 
water as a week’s work with team and sprinkler. 
The American Apple Consumers’ League should move on the 
hotels at Rochester, N. Y. Right in the heart of that wonderful 
apple-growing section, the hotels serve oranges as dry as a Ben 
Davis apple. Once in five meals, the hotel did furniBh a lot of 
little scrubby apples, which most of us would feed to the stock. 
Tiie Western New York members of the League should begin 
right at home with their work. 
