August 5 
564 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, I Aagooiate K ,iitorH 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, (-Associate Editors. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8V4 marks, or 10 1 /* * 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. 
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, AUGUST 5, 1899. 
Some little changes recently made in the proprie¬ 
tary interests of The R. N.-Y. afford me an oppor¬ 
tunity, which I have for some time craved, viz., to relin¬ 
quish my active connection with the editorial work of 
The Rural New-Yorker. It was in 1874 that I first 
wrote an article for Moore’s R. N.-Y. Later I became 
associate editor with the late Andrew S. Fuller, and 
still later purchased the paper outright. About ten 
years ago, I sold it to a company which, with some 
personal changes, has controlled and published it 
since. While assuming nominal supervision of the 
editorial contents of the paper since the purchase by 
this company, Mr. Collingwood has been the active 
force in the work, well assisted by our able and 
faithful associates, Mr. Valentine and Mrs. Royle, and 
on retiring, I am glad of an opportunity to acknowl¬ 
edge publicly their faithful services, as well as to ex¬ 
press my appreciation of those rendered by the large 
corps of horticultural writers who continually con¬ 
tribute to the columns of the paper. For the past 
six years—the most prosperous, from a financial point 
at least, that the paper has ever known—Mr. Dillon 
has been in full charge of its business affairs. As 
Messrs. Collingwood and Dillon, with their trained 
helpers and well-organized corps of contributors, will 
have absolute control of the paper, it will remain in 
good hands, and with most auspicious prospects for a 
future of merited prosperity. So it is that your hum¬ 
ble servant, weary of the relentless calls of editorial 
lue, takes this opportunity to say an affectionate 
adieu to his readers and friends. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
* 
Gov. Roosevelt informs The R. N.-Y. that he has 
decided to appoint Mr. Carll S. Burr Jr., to the office 
left vacant by the resignation of Hamilton Busbey. 
This office, by the way, is Supervisor of Accounts of 
Trotting and Race Meetings. We hope that Mr. Burr 
will prove a busier B than Mr. Busbey was. 
* 
Still another butter fraud is abroad in Ohio. State 
Dairy, and Food Commissioner Blackburn has sent 
out a warning that a preparation called Lactobutu is 
on the market to be used to renovate or rework old 
butter, and increase its bulk. This preparation has 
been analyzed and found to contain chromate of lead, 
a poisonous substance injurious to health. Any one 
using it and offering the product for sale, will render 
himself liable to prosecution for violation of the oleo¬ 
margarine law. It isn’t likely that this stuff is con¬ 
fined to Ohio. There seems to be no end to these 
frauds and humbugs. The whole foul brood should be 
wiped out with a sponge dipped in carbolic acid. 
* 
The New York State Department of Agriculture has 
made some investigation as to the use of paraffin in 
adulterating oleomargarine. It is said that paraffin 
is used quite freely in adulterating chocolate and 
candies, but it did not seem possible that such indi¬ 
gestible stuff would be used in a butter substitute. 
It was first observed in 1893, and since that time has 
been constantly used. The amount of paraffin found 
in samples examined by the Department ranges from 
5 to nearly 12 per cent, which means from 3 to 
over G pounds in a 60-pound tub of oleo. A large per 
cent of paraffin was found in a one-pound print which 
had been sold for butter at 22 cents a pound. It is 
impossible to tell how much of this stuff is sold as 
butter. There is no doubt that much of the oleo in 
the New York market is sold under the guise of 
butter, but few of the samples taken are tested for 
adulterants. The chances are, however, that a very 
large proportion of the oleo sold in this market con¬ 
tains this indigestible paraffin. It is not used in the 
oleo to cheapen the article, but to prevent the separa¬ 
tion of the fats and oils, and give the mass body, so 
that it will stand up better. The use of paraffin often 
makes it very difficult to distinguish the oleo from 
butter by physical tests. There can be no doubt 
about the indigestible character of paraffin. Just 
what its effect upon the system is has not yet been 
determined, but there can be no doubt that the use of 
this nasty and indigestible material is both a crime 
and a fraud upon the people of the State. It has been 
charged that oleo makers were using borax and sali¬ 
cylic acid to preserve their mixture; it is not neces¬ 
sary to do this so long as they use the paraffin, and 
the chances are that the latter is more dangerous to 
health than either the acid or the borax. 
* 
Here is an extract from the letter of a subscriber 
in Ohio, who lives 8*4 miles from town: 
Now, I have a bit of news which I am sure you will be 
Kind to hear. We now have free rural mail delivery. Our 
new mail-box has just arrived and been placed in position, 
and this letter to you is the first one to be posted. Our 
people are all delighted. 
Of course they are delighted. This is a connecting 
link between the lonely farm and the great outside 
world. The true farmer loves his home, and would 
not willingly exchange it for the narrow boundaries 
of town and city life. Yet there are forces and con¬ 
veniences connected with the town and city which 
he should reach and touch. A better country mail 
service is like quickening the blood of a man whose 
hands and feet are cold by reason of a defective circu¬ 
lation. 
* 
“Embalmed beef” is again before the public; this 
time it is the citizens of Cincinnati who are the vic¬ 
tims. Inflammation and catarrh of the stomach, and 
various intestinal troubles, have been very prevalent 
this Summer, presenting some unusual symptoms, 
and the opinion is expressed that embalmed beef is 
responsible for these troubles. The butchers are 
using “freezine,” with which the meat is rubbed; 
after being so treated, meat will appear fresh and re¬ 
main free from bad odors for a long time. It may be 
exposed for sale, returned to the ice, again treated, and 
still look well. This “freezine” is said to contain sul¬ 
phite of soda, which prevents or arrests decomposition 
and fermentation. Its effect on the stomach is, how¬ 
ever, very deleterious, and its use is certainly a matter 
for investigation by the health authorities. Milkmen 
have been under suspicion in many cities through 
using unwholesome preservatives; apparently we 
must now begin a campaign against the butchers. 
* 
New Hampshire is to celebrate a new holiday this 
year. At the suggestion of Gov. Rollins, “Old Home 
Week” has been established. From August 26 to 
September 1, old residents of New Hampshire will 
come back to the State, and visit the scenes of their 
childhood. A State Association has been formed with 
the Governor as president, and already over 50 local 
associations have agreed to help in the celebration. 
The old hill towns will receive their guests, and there 
will be meetings, receptions, and social gatherings. 
The object is to interest those who have moved away 
from New Hampshire, in the life of the old State. It 
is estimated that at least 30,000 people will visit New 
Hampshire during this week who would not other¬ 
wise return. They will renew old acquaintances, re¬ 
vive old memories, and recall pleasant associations; 
not only this, but from a practical point of view, 
these gatherings will be helpful to the State. It 
would seem as though this movement is a good one, 
which might be followed by other States, and even 
by towns and localities, where many of the boys and 
girls have gone away to follow new walks of life. 
* 
/ 
Some farm land is too wet—some is too dry. 
One needs draining, the other irrigation. Sometimes 
on the same farm we find a dry, thin upland, and 
a wet, mucky swamp. The strength of the upland 
has been washed down into the lowland. There it 
is sour and useless. Some farmers cut out the muck, 
dry it and lime it, and cart it up the hills to be used 
as manure. Others cut ditches in the swamp, drain 
it and let in the air, anu then grow crops in the low 
land. It is sometimes hard to tell which is the bet¬ 
ter course. The problem is not confined to farms 
alone. For years, certain western men have been 
trying to get the Federal Government to build great 
tanks or reservoirs in the Rocky Mountains, so as 
to irrigate millions of acres of what are now known 
as arid lands. In southeast Virginia and northeast 
North Carolina, is a tract known as the Dismal 
Swamp. For centuries, this swamp has received the 
rich drainage from the higher lands, just as the farm 
swamp has drained the hills. Engineers say that 
over 100,000 square miles of this wet land may be 
reclaimed for cultivation. That means an area larger 
than all the land in New York, Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey combined. Acre for acre, this land would 
be better in every way than the arid land of the West. 
It is said that a large lumber company has bought 
the Dismal Swamp, and will drain it. Their first 
object is to secure the cedar logs that are in its mud 
and water. After this is done, the land will be still 
further dried, and within the next 25 years, we may 
expect to see it producing food in vast quantities. 
* 
Many excellent people are disposed to smile at the 
arguments of the average x J rohibitionist. The idea 
of shutting off the manufacture and sale of intoxi¬ 
cating liquors so that the harmful and criminal re¬ 
sults easily traced to them would be impossible, has 
a humorous side to the majority of people. Yet 
events seem to be sustaining at least one side of the 
prohibition argument. For example, most railroads 
now impose prohibitory rules against drinking men. 
In some cases, they are threatened with discharge if 
they enter a saloon. Factories are adopting the same 
rule, and in scores of business enterprises, the lines 
are being drawn tighter and tighter against the use 
of liquor. On the farms, too, the feeling is growing 
against the drinking hired man. In many cases, even 
the old plan of keeping the cellar well filled with hard 
cider, is being given up. The truth seems to be that 
business men are quite ready to enforce prohibition in 
their own business, for they recognize that the drink¬ 
ing man is a menace to their business interests. It is 
strange that they do not take a broader view, and 
realize that the drunkard is a much greater menace 
to society in general. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
“Not by a darn 8lght\ ” "Henry, how ye talk! 
You orter be ashamed to use that word, 
Before the children—when they orter walk 
Right in your footsteps, an’ of course they heard!” 
“Don’t make no odds—jest let 'em hear!” says I, 
An' let ’em harrer it down deep in mind 
That these here city cousins fly too high, 
An’ I’ve got sick of draggln' on behind! 
Your Cousin William’s folks came up last year, 
An’ jest laid down on us all Summer long; 
They eat up all we raised—well, pretty near— 
The wimmin folks was fat, an’ big, an’ strong, 
An' yet you done their washln’, an’ them boys 
Run over all our children—played so rough— 
They liked to killed the baby—stole his toys, 
Smashed winders, stoned the cow—I’ve had enough! 
Last Summer’s doin’s sorter made me sick, 
An’ sends me close to swearin’. Yes, that’s right, 
I'm like a steer in one thing—when I kick, 
1 do it hard— Not by a yol darn night !” 
Cherish cheerfulness. 
The potato digger question is up. 
JIow is the Summer-boarder crop? 
A sharp tongue cuts a hole in the home. 
Who makes the demand for low-class seeds? 
I low quick we are to forget our thank account! 
The barber knows how to destroy the woolly—a phiz. 
It takes a wag to make a suitable tale for a dog-day. 
Showery days are the times to sow turnips and Crimson 
clover. 
Clothes do not make the man—angels and white grubs 
wear the same colors. 
There Is a gieat increase in the pot-grown strawberry 
plant business this season. 
A south Jersey cow mistook nitrate of soda for salt. 
It hastened her maturity—she died. 
Many thousands of barrels of Southern potatoes have 
been shipped from New York to Havana. 
When base notes break in upon the even tenor of 
your way, they are likely to alter the air of things. 
Look out for lice on the growing chicks! Millions of 
them will breed in a few days. Tobacco dust is a good 
lice killer. 
The “authorities” are trying to change the name of the 
“Irish” potato to “white.” How about the pink and red 
varieties? 
The man who tells you that you infringe his patent by 
diluting milk with water, doesn’t know what he is talking 
about, or lies—under a mistake. 
We have bought potted plants before now that had a 
white grub packed away in the ball around the roots. 
The only good white grub is a dead one. 
Why tan your conscience to make leather for shoes 
which, when left to your children, will raise corns on 
their feet? Better let them make their own shoes. 
It is true that some people make only half a success 
by giving all they have to the work, but not one ever 
made a whole success by giving half of himself to it. 
One trouble of potato plants often charged to blight is 
due to the poisons used in killing beetles. When too much 
poison is used in water, the tip of the leaf is often scalded 
and turns black, and blight is suspected. 
The prices of Australasian apples have declined in the 
London market, because of the plentiful supply of straw¬ 
berries and other small fruits. That is about the experi¬ 
ence here; the demand for apples falls off when small 
fruits c6me in. 
“Asparagus chickens” are large enough to broil with 
early asparagus. They are hatched in late July and Au¬ 
gust, pushed along till November, then killed and put 
in cold storage for the Winter. They are taken out and 
eaten in Spring. 
For the six months ending July 1, the treasurer of Van 
Buren County, Mich., had paid bounties for the destruc¬ 
tion of 15,077 English sparrows. It has been estimated 
that, at this rate, the sparrow bounty will cost Michigan 
$50,000 a year. It is said that some people are making the 
breeding of the birds a lucrative business. 
