29o 
THE RURAI 
NEW-YORKER. 
April 15 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbebt S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, ) 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ^Associate Editors. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 854 marks, or 10(4 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 iine. 
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, APRIL 15 , 1899. 
A bill has been recommended for passage in both 
houses of the Illinois legislature,which provides for the 
collection of milk cans and bottles by search warrant 
on presumption of the receptacles being in the place 
to be searched. The small dealers of Chicago hope to 
bring about its defeat, as they say it is inspired by 
the milk trust. The latter claim that it will benefit 
the farmers, but the dealers say this is a blind to 
cover its real object. 
In Ailing Animals, page 289, Dr. Kilborne again ad¬ 
vises a sheep farmer, whose anima’s are suffering 
from impaction due to lack of succulent food. It is 
astonishing to note how often such a query comes to 
The R N -Y. Roots, ensilage or other succulent food 
must form part of the Winter ration of sheep, if the 
animals are to be kept in good condition. No sheep 
raiser can afford to lose sight of this, or to fail in 
making such provision for his animals. It is our ex¬ 
perience, too, that hens often become “crop bound” 
for the lack of succulent food. 
Some of the alleged provision papers are making 
a great hue and cry over the injury the recent devel¬ 
opments in the beef inquiry are likely to work in our 
export meat trade. One of them brings forth a la¬ 
bored argument to prove the value of boric acid as a 
meat preservative; yet we have been solemnly as¬ 
sured, times without number, that no chemicals are 
used by the packers. Why this argument ? If our 
meat trade is injured in this way, who is responsible, 
the men who tell the truth about the business, or 
those who used the stuff ? And if this chemical is so 
harmless, why will it injure our meat trade abroad to 
have it known that our packers use it ? 
One branch of nature study which might well re¬ 
ceive attention in the public schools, is the distinguish¬ 
ing traits of common poisonous plants. As Dr. B. D. 
Halsted says in a recent bulletin, fatal eases of poison¬ 
ing are usually among children, in the Spring, when 
they go out with taste sharpened for any green thing, 
and suffer injury through mistaken identity. The 
roots of pokeweed, False hellebore, Water hemlock or 
Poison hemlock, or the leaves of Kalmia or Blue flag 
may easily be mistaken by a child for harmless plants, 
and the eating of them result seriously. Adults, in 
like manner, may make a fatal mistake in collecting 
poisonous plants as pot herbs, or poisonous fungi in 
place of honest mushrooms. By all means let nature- 
study include a knowledge of common poisonous 
plants. 
A recent order of the postmaster of New York has 
created consternation among certain classes. In this 
City a post office box costs $16 a year, and the appli¬ 
cant must have vouchers from responsible persons or 
firms as to the legitimacy of his business. The out¬ 
growth of this has been the private letter box These 
are small boxes, usually in small c ; gar or stationery 
stores, the proprietors of which let them out to any 
applicant for 25 cents per month and upward, and no 
questions asked. The renter has his mail directed to 
the street number of the store, and the proprietor 
puts it in the proper box; some of these owners of 
letter boxes will forward mail to other addresses 
Thus it is seen how easy it is for any one engaged in 
an illegitimate or even criminal business to carry it 
on through the mails, with little danger of detection. 
Any boy or girl can rent one of these boxes, and re¬ 
ceive all sorts of vicious and degrading literature, 
without any parental knowledge. The past Winter, 
a woman was murdered in this City by means of 
poison sent to a private letter box, and only after a 
long time and most skillful detective work was any 
clew found. This stirred up the officials, and the 
order referred to was issued, that no mail addressed to 
private letter boxes shall be delivered ; it is held at 
the post office, and the addressee notified. If the latter 
can give a good reference, and a satisfactory reason 
for having his mail thus addressed, he receives it j 
otherwise it will be sent to the Dead Letter Office. 
The order has aroused a storm, not only among renters, 
but among proprietors of these boxes. The wisdom of 
the order is apparent. The same condition exists in 
other cities and towns. Parents will realize the 
dangers to which the young are subject through this 
means, and should throw their influence against these 
agencies of evil. 
c t 
In answering the questions regarding the use of horse 
flesh for food, on page 283, Secretary Wilson refers 
to a common objection against its use—that only old 
and wornout horses are slaughtered. The same ob¬ 
jection might apply in part to beef. It is true that 
old cows which have been worn out in dairy service, 
or oxen that have grown old in labor, do not make as 
good beef as young animals, specially bred, fed and 
fattened for beef; yet this is the accepted method of 
disposing of these animals. Of course, the beef must 
usually be sold at a lower price, and the meat from 
these old horses might be acceptable to many people 
who have little to spend on meat. Many such might 
prefer horse meat to nothing at all. There is much 
prejudice to be overcome, but there seems no good 
reason why, with prospective higher prices for beef 
cattle, and still lower prices for horses, this method 
of disposing of perfectly healthy horses should not 
be one worth promoting. 
• 
Within a few years, extensive tests have been made 
of the Japan plums, over a wide range of territory, 
and the estimate of them has varied in many respects, 
from that first formed One great po : nt to be borne 
in mind is the liability of injury to the flowers from 
late Spring frosts, owing to the earliness of the 
bloom. For this reason, the Japan plums would 
seem better adapted to northern and southern points 
than to those middle States where late frosts prevail. 
It is not a question of hardiness of tree, or hardiness 
of fruit bud. In spite of the many varieties sent out, 
the choice, among practical orchardists, has narrowed 
down to a few, Red June, Burbank and Abundanes 
appearing to lead. Red June reaches market very 
early, and may be picked while still green, coloring 
afterwards sufficiently to sell. Abundance is said to 
be rather less satisfactory for shipping to a distant 
market than either of the others. The Japans seem 
to be subject to fruit rot, and require thorough spray¬ 
ing to prevent this; they also require thinning, if 
large size is desired. In spite of the undoubted value 
of the Japans, there is plenty of room still for Ameri¬ 
can and European plums. 
A short wheat crop following the last season of in¬ 
creased price will mean much to farmers east of the 
Mississippi River. Mr. C. Wood Davis, of Kansas, 
sends us the following opinion: “The wheat crop of 
Kansas is the most complete failure, probably, that 
ever occurred over any great American area. More 
than half the fields have not a single live plant, while 
all other fields have been damaged from 10 to 99 per 
cent. There is every reason to believe that the State 
will grow less than one-third as much wheat as in 
1898, and my opinion is that it will grow less than 
one-fourth as much, as the wheat still alive does not 
grow, has not stooled, cannot stool if warm weather 
comes upon it, but will shoot few stems and produce 
few heads. Nebraska and Iowa wheat is in the same 
condition ; that of Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas but 
little better, while in the Spring-wheat region, there 
are this 3d day of April from three to six feet of frost 
in the ground, and only about 10 per cent of the usual 
proportion of the fields Fall-plowed. This indicates 
a reduced acreage of Spring wheat, late seeding, and 
(unless the season be exceptionally favorable) the usual 
small acre yields following late seeding.” 
The effort of the officers of the Five States Milk 
Producers’ Association to raise the price of milk has 
failed. We were afraid it would fail, and we pointed 
out several weeks ago that about the only use a New 
York capitalist would have for the Association would 
be to try to use it as a club to knock out the present 
milk dealers. If some company with large capital 
could control the city’s milk supply, there is no doubt 
that they could greatly reduce the present cost of dis¬ 
tribution and delivery. Tne present dealers demand 
high prices for their fixtures and “ good will ”. The 
capitalists, evidently, went deliberately to work to 
frighten these dealers into selling out at a compara¬ 
tively low price. This was, evidently, the reason they 
were so anxious that the committee should telegraph 
all over the country before any contract was really 
signed. It was a shrewd game, and it only shows the 
farmers with what they have to deal. The organiza¬ 
tion should be kept up and made stronger. The farm¬ 
ers must perfect some plan for utilizing the milk at 
home, so as to create a scarcity in the City. Until 
this can be done, there is little hope for any increase 
in price. Cooperative creameries that can be used for 
either buttermaking or milk shipping will help solve 
the problem, for with these creameries, it will be 
much easier to combine and hold milk back. That is 
what must be done. 
• • 
We hear a good deal nowadays about the great value 
of foreign markets for American farm products. Most 
of this is all true enough, but we must not forget that 
the home market is, after all, very much greater. In 
1868, there were 36,973,000 people in this country, and 
in 1898 74,389,000. As population has increased, the 
demand for staple articles of farm produce has reached 
vast proportions, as the following table will show : 
CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA. 
1868. 
1898. 
Raw cotton. 
10.51 
25.26 
Wheat and wheat flour... 
5.36 
4.21 
Corn and corn ineal. 
20.44 
22.73 
Sugar.. 
20.9 
61.1 
Coffee. 
6.52 
11 45 
Tea. 
0 96 
0.91 
Distilled spirits.. 
1 69 
0.91 
Malt liquors. 
5.15 
15.64 
Wool. 
16.23 
53 43 
This gives an idea of the wonderful development of 
the American home market. Tne average American 
is now using twice as much cotton, three times as 
much sugar and wool, and nearly twice as much coffee 
as were used 30 years ago. The decrease in the use of 
flour is, probably, explained by the increased use of 
oatmeal and other cereals. The increase in the con¬ 
sumption of fruits, dairy products and meat, is nearly 
as great as that in coffee or cotton. We must not 
forget that America is not only the greatest producer 
of agricultural products, but the greatest consumer 
a3 well Our own markets are worth more to us than 
are those of all the rest of the world. The manufac¬ 
turers and mixers who are flooding the country with 
substitutes and adulterations are like wolves in the 
market place—the worst enemy of the American 
farmer. 
• t 
BREVITIES. 
“ I've been de goodest one!' My little maid, 
Climbs on my knee when the long day is done, 
Her little head against my shoulder laid, 
Proudly she says, “I’ve been de goodest one!” 
*• Who says so ?” “ Mudder!” and the eager eyes 
Glance at her mother’s face in childish pride. 
“ I’ve been de goodest one, I gets de prize,” 
And, satisfied, she nestles at my side. 
“ I've been the goodest one!" I wonder where 
Along the road that leads from baby land, 
The child’s ambition vanishes in air, 
And leaves the world’s hard purpose in our hand! 
Would we could hold the child’s faith to the end, 
Content to say when life’s hard task is done, 
With eyes uplifted to a welcoming friend, 
I’ve done my best— I've been the goodest one ! 
Hair oil is a “ top-dressing.” 
An onion set is not an egg plant. 
Liquor licks back with a rough tongue. 
True molars! The teeth on a mole trap. 
A purebred hydraulic ram needs a good grade. 
Watc h the plane people—they are smooth shavers. 
“ Giving it to him straight ” is “ grafting on ” plumb. 
“ Burning words” should come from a firefanged mouth. 
A broom corn may be grafted on palms—by sweep power. 
Thick-skinned potatoes are, probably, less liable to scab. 
The mote in your own I may be the lack of ability to make 
it “ we.” 
Every garden should have at least one Kieffer pear tree—for 
ensilage. 
Cover it over! Cover it over! The hole in the grain bln by feed 
ing good clover. 
Soy bean meal seems to be a very valuable stock food for 
western farmers. 
The currycomb does certainly sweeten the disposition of a cow. 
A sort of honey in the comb. 
If it’s not out of place, we may rise up and state that a man 
may be big, yet fail to be great. 
When your wife says “ This is a matter of conscience with me 1” 
you would better get out of the way. 
Who would use turnips or rape for green manuring when cow 
peas will grow with the same fertilizer and tillage ? 
“ I catch more flies than you do ! ” said Mrs. Molasses. “That 
may be, but there are no flies on me,” says Mr. Vinegar ! 
What a row the farmer would make if some one planted Poison 
ivy in his garden. Yet he might put a hired man with a poison¬ 
ous mind right in with his children. 
A Paris automobile has been emulating the example of some 
of the frisky horses it has supplanted. It has actually run 
away, nearly killing the driver and several other people. We 
would hardly have suspected it of such a trick, though these 
carriages have been known to balk on snowy pavements. It is 
said that the American automobiles are provided with some ar¬ 
rangement that will preclude any such catastrophe. What it is, 
we are not informed—an ought-to-behave, probably. 
