1899 
THE RURALDNEW-YORKEK 
44-1 
Among the Marketmen. 
WHAT / SEE AND HEAR. 
Hothouse Cauliflowers —I saw a 
lot of these in one commission house. 
Tbe heads were sprangly, loose and 
op;n. I asktd how much they were 
worth. The commission merchant said 
that, if they were good heads, he could 
get $1 50 a dozen, but for these, he would 
have to take what he could get. The 
trade that buys this class of goods wants 
{omething tree, so that poor qualities 
find few buyers, ani sell slowly at low 
prices. 
X I X 
Boston Lettuce. —This is a popular 
name in the market, but it does not 
mean a variety, but rather a class of 
lettuce like that which comes largely 
from the greenhouse and market gar¬ 
deners in the vicinity of Boston. It is 
a solid-headed lettuce, as one dealer ex¬ 
pressed it, like a head of cabbage. No one 
in market wants the loose, leafy heads 
which are so popular with some people 
for home use. Sometimes these are 
found on the retail stands, and usually 
sell at very low prices. 
X X X 
Catching Summer Boarders.—I 
bought one of those neat five-pound 
wooden packages of butter. On one 
side was stenciled the announcement 
that Mr. Blank would take Summer 
boarders at $5 a week, and that his post 
office address is so-and-so. This is quite 
an original method of advertising for 
Summer boarders, but the quality of the 
contents of the package was a good 
recommendation for the packer. Had 
poor butter been packed in these pack¬ 
ages, there would have been less chance 
of the bait proving effective. 
X X X 
Bggs and Eggs —In a grocer’s win¬ 
dow on the east side, were two lots of 
eggs. One was labeled 
Longisland Eggs, 20 for 25c., 
lhe other 
Leghorn Eggs, 15 for 25c. 
Evidently, there is considered to he a 
difference in eggs, even on the demo¬ 
cratic east side The origin of the 
former might be a little more apparent 
if the name were properly separated and 
capitalized. It is said that 10 times as 
many Long Island eggs arc sold in New 
York every year as are produced on that 
Island. 
X X X 
Size ol‘ Egg Cases. —A prominent 
egg receiver tells the Produce Review 
that he notices a growing preference for 
30-dozen egg cases instead of those hold¬ 
ing 36 dozens. The advantages seem to 
be in favor of the former size. Some 
local buyers who have their purchases 
delivered by express, favor the 36-dozen 
case, because the express companies 
charge a uniform price per case, regard¬ 
less of size, so they get the extra six 
dozen delivered practically free; there 
may, also, be a difference in freight 
charges in favor of the larger case. But 
there is said to be less loss from break¬ 
age with the 30-dozen cases, and they are 
much more easily handled. For cold 
storage, the smaller size is decidedly 
preferable. 
X X X 
Losses in the Markets —Loss by 
decay and otherwise is inevitable in 
handling such great quantities of prod¬ 
uce as are sold here These losses are 
usually greatest in hot weather, with 
Partial or Total, Failures of crops 
is generally due to lack of vitality in 
Seed grain. The American Silo Seed 
Co., Buffalo, N. Y., is Headquarters for 
Best New Varieties, letting them on 
most favorable terms. No possible loss, 
and much will be gained in dealing with 
them. They are highest authority on 
How to Build, Operate and Repair Silos 
— Adv. 
perishable fruits and vegetables. Some¬ 
times these are overripe wh'n shipped, 
consequently go to pieces quickly. Often 
there is insufficient ventilation on car 
or boat, and heating and decay result. 
I saw a great garbage cart piled high 
with rotten pineapples. New potatoes 
frequently heat in the barrels if not 
properly ventilated. Cabbages are quite 
likely to heat and spoil. I have seen 
many barrels of lettuce that had fairly 
rotted down. Raspberries are among 
the hardest of fruits to ship. Peaches 
decay quickly, as do some plums and 
pears. There is a great difference in 
varieties about enduring handling and 
transportation without deterioration. 
_ F. H. v. 
AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN 
SOUTH DAKOTA. 
[A talk before the Lazy Club of Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, by W. 8. Thornber, of the South Dakota 
Experiment Station.] 
It is 17 years since the Government lands in 
South Dakota were thrown open to settlers, yet 
to this day, the State is cursed by the aftermath 
of that great land-grabbing scramble. Previous 
to the opening of the territory, many shrewd 
speculators had canvassed nearby States, and 
had bought up young men for $100 to $200 each, 
to hold down claims for them. When the time 
limit expired, the land was turned over to the 
speculators, and now they hold seven-eighths of 
all the available land in South Dakota. How 
often are the good Intentions of Uncle Sam thus 
defeated by sharpers! 
Too Many Acres. —Another millstone to South 
Dakota agriculture comes as a legacy from the 
first mad rush for land. People went out there 
land-greedy. A farmer was not a farmer if he 
did not holddown 120 acres, and the nearer he 
could come to planting every rod of that, the 
greater his skill. It did not matter so much how 
it was planted. In order to keep up their prestige, 
many of these expansionists were obliged to sow 
wheat from the tail end of a wagon driven across 
the prairie, taking a strip two rods wide each 
trip. Not much intensive cultivation about that! 
The habit of diffuse farming is too deeply rooted 
in the mind of the average western farmer to be 
shaken loose easily, yet it is very gradually pass¬ 
ing away. The fact that mos‘. South Dakota 
farmers do not believe in plowing oftener than 
once in three years, and very shallow at that, 
shows the slowness with which the old order 
changes. 
Except for several elevated districts in the 
eastern part of the State, South Dakota is a level 
prairie, with here and there a little roll. In the 
east and south, a few cottonwoods, Box elders, 
ashes, elms and oaks lend something like variety 
to the landscape; yet for the most part, it is one 
monotonous sweep of vision from horizon to 
horizon, unbroken by the soft outlines and verd¬ 
ure of our eastern sllva. For a nature-loving 
Yankee, such an anchorage would take all the 
poetry out of life; yet one can see how the prairie 
may have grandeur and attraction to one of its 
own people. It is interesting to know that the 
Dakotas were once well timbered, but that suc¬ 
cessive forest fires stripped them of nearly all of 
their woody flora. 
The typical South Dakota soil is a deep black 
loam. In the southeast, it is of glacial origin, 
and is often 12 feet deep. This is preeminently the 
agricultural district of the State, because of its 
superior facilities for transportation, greater 
rainfall and better soil. At Brookings, in eastern 
South Dakota, the annual rainfall is about 22 
inches, while farther west, it is but 11 inches. 
An Argument for Tillage.— Over a large part 
of South Dakota, artesian wells may be readily 
sunk, and water reached at a depth of 50 to 1,200 
feet. Artesian wells are largely used for irriga¬ 
tion and for watering stock. It seems little less 
than providential that the parched prairies 
should have these rivers of water on tap for agri¬ 
cultural uses, particularly since the strongest 
flow Is in the belt of scanty rainfall in central 
South Dakota. A six-inch stream thrown to a 
height of 80 feet is not uncommon. Sometimes 
it costs from $3,000 to $5,000-to put in an artesian 
well, but this is the price of success, and the 
farmers are generally willing to pay it. One of 
the greatest troubles is that some farmers have 
driven too many wells, and have flooded their 
land continually, without stopping to cultivate 
between the irrigations. This produces magnifi¬ 
cent vegetables to look at, but so watery that 
they go all to pieces when cooked. Score one for 
tillage. It is a fundamental which cannot be 
neglected without loss. There is no use trying 
to outwit Nature by substitution. 
TnE Beginnings op Plant Breeding.— The fruit 
interests of South Dakota are beset with all the 
difficulties and discouragements peculiar to the 
neighboring States of Minnesota and Iowa. It 
is drying winds and drought, not absolute cold, 
which kill the trees, notwithstanding the mer¬ 
cury dropped to 48 degrees below zero the past 
Winter. The first settlers were mostly eastern 
men, and many of them seemed to be in a des¬ 
perate hurry to set out orchards. Naturally they 
selected eastern varieties, grown by eastern nur¬ 
serymen. The land was not ready, the trees 
were not ready, and the climate was rigorous; so 
the State is dotted with these pomological tomb¬ 
stones in memory of misguided effort. Now we 
see the beginnings of a new pomology, founded 
on the principles of selection and adaptation. It 
is felt that the greatest hope lies in developing 
native fruits, and in breeding, through selection, 
a race of hardy varieties of our common orchard 
fruits. Several local nurseries have been estab¬ 
lished, and already meritorious native seedlings 
have appeared. The wild fruits of South Dakota 
promise to become progenitors of many valu¬ 
able varieties. Some of the native plums, varie¬ 
ties of Prunus Americana, are excellent. Varie¬ 
ties are budded on Sand-cherry stock, which 
dwarfs the tree. In itself, the Sand cherry is very 
poor, and it shows little improvement under cul¬ 
tivation. Gooseberries and black currants flour¬ 
ish along the river bottoms, and offer a hopeful 
field for selection. Grapes, strawberries and 
Juneberries complete the inventory. 
Very few orchards in the State are cultivated. 
Commercial fertilizers are unknown. They say 
that a man who has to use a commercial fertil¬ 
izer in order to get a crop is not much of a 
farmer. Apple scab, Codling moth and Brown 
rot are rarely serious. Southeastern Dakota 
grows some fine vegetables for the Chicago mar¬ 
ket. Dakota potatoes are on the menu of all 
the large Chicago hotels One-hundred-and-sixty- 
acre fields are not uncommon. Early Rose ard 
Hebron are the favorites. Brambles do very 
well if they are entirely covered with earth dur¬ 
ing the Winter. A short-season grape, like the 
Winchel, will generally mature before the first 
frost of September 1. 
Next to variety adaptation, the great problem 
to solve is that of transportation. There is no 
railroad connection through the whole center of 
the State, and the single stage route is hardly 
suitable for shipping delicate products. There 
can be no permanent advance in central South 
Dakota till it Is In closer touch with markets than 
at present. s. w pletcuer. 
SCRAPS. 
Belgium has abrogated the restrictions im¬ 
posed upon American cattle five years ago, and 
this renews the opportunity for a growing trade. 
A Havana physician has evolved the theory 
that mosquitoes are capable of transmitting 
yellow fever and malaria. Another blow at poor 
Jersey. 
Marggrap, a German chemist, first discovered, 
in 1747, that beets contain crystal izable sugar. 
The first beet-sugar factory was erected by 
Marggraf’s pupil, Achard, In 179(5. 
On a single day last week, 30,000 crates—1,120,000 
quarts—of strawberries reached this city, from 
the North Carolina region. The value of this 
shipment was estimated at nearly $100,000. 
A New Jersey turkey gobbler recently suffered 
from an attack of mumps, which reduced his 
gobble to a hoarse squeak, and caused extensive 
swelling of bis wattled neck. The turkey is said 
to have caught the disease from children. 
The Weeder in Sweet Potatoes.— The sweet 
potato growers of south Jersey and Delaware 
have been using the weeder quite successfully 
this season. Formerly it was thought that the 
weeder would not work well In sweet potatoes. 
The growers now have some of the teeth short¬ 
ened, so as to run lightly over the ridge, while 
the longer teeth work up the ground between. In 
this way, no harm is done to the plants, and tbe 
ridges are not broken down. The weeds are 
mostly scratched out, and but little hand-hoeing 
is required after the weeder. 
Eggs for Setting. —It has been my experience 
that eggs hatch best, and chicks are strongest 
in April and May, or when the hens are doing 
their greatest laying. Nature seems to be put¬ 
ting forth her best effort at this time. I have 
one breeding pen of 50 pullets which began lay¬ 
ing in September last,and have laid continuously 
ever since. During the last six weeks, they have 
given me from 40 to 47 eggs daily, and their 
eggs are as fertile as any from my five other breed¬ 
ing pens. I much prefer hatching chicks from 
my best layers at the period of their highest 
egg production. u j. blanchard 
Tompkins County, N. Y. 
Northern Spy Roots for Stocks —The Cali¬ 
fornia Experiment Station has been distributing 
pieces of root from Northern Spy apple trees, 
claiming that they would resist the attack of 
Woolly Aphis. The original roots came from 
Australia, where it is claimed certain families of 
Northern Spy are entirely exempt from this in¬ 
sect. It is claimed that trees grafted on these 
resistant roots will be entirely safe. Eastern 
growers know very little about these matters. 
They all seem to think that side roots from old 
Northern Spy trees would be of no value as stock 
upon which to root-graft. By using very small 
seedling pieces, and then getting Northern Spy 
scions and making roots of their own from scions 
grafted on these small pieces, it may be possible 
to produce stock that will resist the insect. It is 
an experiment thus far, and nothing more. 
There was a time when the meat and bones 
from beef animals comprised about theonly value 
of the carcass. Now, even the tuft of the tall is 
saved, steamed, dried and washed, and sold as 
“curled hair.” It is estimated that, from the aver¬ 
age steer, the meat and compounds of meat bring 
at wholesale $40; the hide, hair, horns and 
hoofs, $25; the fats, blood, sinews and bones, 
$15; for all the other wastes $15 or $55 from all 
the by-products. It is a singular thing when 
what are known as “by-products,” most of 
which were formerly wasted, now bring more 
than the meat of the animal. Something of the 
same thing is true of the cotton plant, Years 
ago, only the lint was saved ; now the seed is 
saved as oil, meal and hulls, so that it brings 
more than the lint. 
TWO HISTAKES. 
There are 
t w o mis¬ 
takes that 
people with 
weak lungs 
are liable to 
make ; and 
b o t h are 
about 
equally 
bad; One 
is to not 
give atten¬ 
tion quick¬ 
ly enough 
to the little 
coughs and 
bronchial 
troubles 
which so 
rapidly un¬ 
dermine 
the delicate 
lung tissue 
and plunge 
you into 
consumption almost before you are aware 
of it; the other is when the trouble is at 
last discovered and fully realized to give 
up hope too soon. 
Begin with these bronchial and throat 
ailments the instant they appear; never 
wait till to - morrow. The right remedy 
taken now may save months of severe ill¬ 
ness. On the other hand if the illness has 
already come upon you; and you find your- 
Belf weakened, wasted and discouraged, dj 
not lose hope. There is a medicine that will 
certainly restore you to health and strength. 
" My boy was in a very bad way when I com¬ 
menced to give him Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical 
Discovery,” writes J. W. Price, Esq., of Ozark, 
Monroe Co., Ohio, in a recent letter to Dr. R. V. 
Pierce of Buffalo, N. Y. “ The doctors claimed 
he had consumption and we doctored with them 
until he was past walking. After using five bot¬ 
tles of tlie ‘ Discovery ’ he is now all right. It 
has been ten months since he stopped taking 
your medicine and he is still in good health. We 
are very thankful to you for saving our son." 
Hundreds of similar cases are described 
in one chapter of Dr. Pierce’s great thou¬ 
sand-page illustrated book The People’s 
Common Sense Medical Adviser which will 
be sent free for the bare cost of mailing, 21 
one-cent stamps. It is a veritable family 
library in one volume;—the fruit of Dr. 
Pierce’s life-long experience with the se¬ 
verest types of obstinate chronic diseases. 
Anyone may write to him for advice; which 
will be sent in a plain sealed envelope, 
free of charge. 
Tlie Fowler Mower Knile 
Grinder, where we have no 
agent, will be sent express p’d 
upon receipt of *3.50 to intro 
duce. Satisfaction guaran¬ 
teed. Circulars Free. 
Taughannock Emery Wheel Co., Cortland N Y 
IDER 
MACHINERY 
Best and cheapest 
Send for catalogue 
BOOMER & B0SCHERT 
PRESS CO.. 
II s Witter Street, 
SYRACUSE, M. Y. 
One & two-horse Thrashing Outfits. Level pHTTCRQ 
Tread, Pat.Governor, Feed and Ensilage • I Lno 
ELLIS KEYSTONE AGR’L WORKS, Pottstown, Pa 
F. L. MAINE, General Agent, Wlllet, N. Y. 
F. II. BENEDICT, General Agent, McLean, N.Y 
HORSE POWERS, 
TH K ASHERS 
AND CLEANERS. 
WOOD SAWS. 
i/SEB. 
Special 
Writb 
Direct to 
2 9 Bond St 
Castbee L$HAwC?Mi°m!c^ 
It is the easiest thing in the world to have 
LUM BAGO OR LAME BACK, And i u . st 38 eas y 
---_ to get rid of it. 
ST. JACOBS OIL. 
No remedy has made surer 
and quicker cures than 
IT RELAXE8 THE STIFFENED MUSCLE8. 
