58o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 12 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850 . 
Herbert W. Coli.ingwood, Editor. 
H. E. Van Deman, 1 
Frank H. Valentine, \ Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, ) 
John J Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 12.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8J4 marks, or 10*/ 2 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 iiue. 
Reading Notices, ending with "Adv.," 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price C^nly. 
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, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1890. 
We are making appointments now with subscribers ■ 
to represent The R. N.-Y. at the fairs this season, if 
you can attend one or more fairs, show samples and 
take subscriptions, let us hear from you at once. It is 
pleasant work after you once get into it, as you al¬ 
ways meet many old friends of the paper, and make 
new friends for yourself in that way. Besides, we 
make you liberal terms for the work. First come, 
first served. You should speak at once. 
* 
Among recently-reported swindles in country dis¬ 
tricts, we heard of a bicycler who, explaining that he 
was penniless, and must raise money, sold a pair of 
15-cent spectacles to a sympathizing farmer for $2! 
Another farmer, in New Jersey, recently took the 
agency for a tree trimmer, signing an agreement 
which, a few days later, turned up as a promissory 
note for $20. Let them all alone! Let them drink 
their fill of cold water, and then send them on their 
way! 
* 
Our Government is considering a reciprocity treaty 
with Bermuda. Lily bulbs are a leading Bermudan 
export, and florists are interested in the possible re¬ 
duction of duty. The text of the treaty has not been 
published, but the remission of duty on Bermudan 
products will be a matter of greater interest to flor¬ 
ists and truck-growers than to any other producers. 
Another reciprocity treaty with England would give 
free entry to oranges, lemons and other fruits from 
Jamaica. The California growers are up in arms 
against this, for they demanded and obtained the 
present tariff. It is claimed that, if Jamaica obtain 
this concession, Italy and other nations under the 
“favored nation clause” could demand the same privi¬ 
lege. 
* 
During the past week, there has been a hearing at 
Albany on the best way of controlling tuberculosis in 
eattle. On one side, Dr. Moore, a well-known vet¬ 
erinary, stated that no case could be given where 
tuberculosis had actually been conveyed from the cow 
to a human being through milk. The State Board of 
Health people claimed that they can prove that such 
communication of the disease has actually been made. 
If this is true, the proof should be published at once. 
Certain “authorities” have done their best to frighten 
the public over this tuberculosis scare, and they have 
done much to injure the trade in good milk. These 
people appear to believe in the indiscriminate slaugh¬ 
ter of all cattle that respond to the tuberculin test. 
They need to be tested for common-sense—along with 
the cows. 
* 
Last week, our poet applied some hard words to the 
city cousin who visits the farm during the Summer, 
and lives on “Cousin John.” There are grades of 
city cousins, just as there are of other live stock. 
Some narrow-minded and shallow people appear to 
think it smart to come to the farm and practically 
live on the farmer. The farmer and his family may 
possess twice their value in character and true worth, 
but with town “smartness,” they lord it over him, 
and often upset the whole household with their lazy 
and frivolous ways. How different the behavior of 
real gentlefolks from town. They have sense enough 
to see that the farm gives them a better living than 
they ever had in town, and they conduct themselves 
so that it is a help and pleasure to have them in the 
home. They bring freshness and new thoughts to 
the farm, and the farmer is usually sorry to see them 
go. Yes! yes! there are various grades of city cousins. 
Defend us from the class whose only stock of charac¬ 
ter is 90 per cent town “smartness.” 
Illinois intends to have a series of good-roads con¬ 
ventions, embracing several counties, during Septem¬ 
ber, under the auspices of the State and Inter-State 
Good Roads Association. At each convention, a sec¬ 
tion of sample road will be built by an expert engi¬ 
neer, road-making machinery will be shown, and ad¬ 
dresses on the subject given. Good roads mean free 
rural mail delivery, ease of travel, and all the ad¬ 
vantages that tend to lessen the isolation of farm 
life. It will not be wise, however, to lose sight of the 
possible expense irt our enthusiasm for such reforms; 
there are sections where the good-roads movement 
has resulted in a ruinous increase of taxation. 
* 
At Des Moines, Iowa, the State Dairy Commissioner 
is prosecuting a dairyman for using boracic acid in 
milk. The defense is conducted by the representa¬ 
tive of a preservative firm, and every effort is being 
made to prove that boracic acid is not unwholesome 
or injurious. The State bacteriologist and county 
physician were witnesses for the defense. The con¬ 
stitutionality of the law is also attacked. Scientific 
authorities seem to give widely diverging testimony 
on the subject of food preservatives, but no one can 
doubt the danger of any laxity concerning the en¬ 
forcement of pure-food laws. The legal permission 
to use these food preservatives would mean, in too 
many cases, their abuse, and it is impossible to be too 
careful in administering such legislation. 
* 
Not many years ago, large quantities of clover 
and Timothy seed were grown in New York and other 
Eastern States. Now these seeds are produced largely 
in the West. Timothy seed is grown largely in most 
of the States from Ohio to the Dakotas, and, it is said 
that Iowa is the largest producer. Illinois and Missouri, 
and perhaps some other of the western States* pro¬ 
duce Blue grass and Red-top seed. Some of the latter 
seeds are produced where Timothy has run out, the 
Blue grass and Red-top coming in on the soils most 
congenial to them. The newer, stronger lands of the 
West produce 'heavier crops of seed than the exhaust¬ 
ed lands of the East, and also produce it cheaper. 
Another point is that hay brings higher prices in the 
East, and it pays better to make the hay than to grow 
the seed. This is only another of those numerous in¬ 
stances in which changed conditions bring about radi¬ 
cal changes in farm practices. 
* 
It has been stated by one familiar with methods 
and doings at the National Capital, that the free seed 
distribution will never be abolished. There seems 
little doubt that the present Secretary of Agriculture 
is opposed to the system. It is popularly supposed that 
the system is maintained because of the support of 
the Congressmen from the rural districts. This man 
says that many of the city members favor it. The 
Government publishes many books, some of them 
superbly illustrated and extremely costly. The city 
members like to get these, and they can always trade 
off their quota of seeds with members from the coun¬ 
try districts, for the books coming to the latter for 
distribution. Hence they vote to maintain a system 
for which, personally, they don’t care a rap. It is a 
curious example of the way deals are made, and of 
the influences that are used by legislators to secure 
desired action. But why should the Government en¬ 
gage in the publishing business in competition with 
private enterprise? 
* 
Mr. Van Deman’s articles have taken us back to the 
so-called “good old times” on the American farm. 
His figures show that life was simple and society was 
crude in those days. Was life happier and more sat¬ 
isfactory for the average man? Is it true that, since 
the War, the small farmer has lost the place in Ameri¬ 
can society that once belonged to him? In the old 
days, what we may call the natural outlook for the 
farmer was more promising. The country was new 
and undeveloped. The market was a long distance 
from the farm. The ambitious farmer hoped and be¬ 
lieved that the towns and cities which were to grow 
up around him would make him master of the market. 
It was before the age of farm machinery, and the 
strong, vigorous man—expert with the ax, cradle or 
scythe—enjoyed an independence that the laborer 
does not know to-day. “The man with the hoe” lives 
now chiefly in poetry. It is “the man with the ma¬ 
chine,” who new rules the farm. The farmer is now 
a mechanic with wood and steel about him where his 
father had human flesh and bone for helpers. The 
young farmer of other days felt that his strong arm 
could harness the future. The young farmer of to¬ 
day knows that many of the old theories about mar¬ 
kets and methods have been exploded. The only 
hope for him is through education. The father may 
have been content to master the ruder forces of Na¬ 
ture. The son must go deeper, and understand the 
scientific principles that underlie and control the ani¬ 
mal and vegetable life of the farm. The old man 
found in his farm a full deposit of fertility. The 
young man must both deposit and draw out. It is a 
question as to which condition offered the better op¬ 
portunity, but we would rather have the chances of 
the young man of to-day. 
* 
Farm labor is scarce in the Northwest, and July 30, 
railroad oflicers at St. Paul, Minn., received many 
appeals asking for their aid on behalf of the farmers, 
whose crops were threatened through lack of help to 
harvest the grain. The wages offered ranged from 
$2 to $3.25 a day. In the Red River Valley, the need 
of labor was especially pressing Yet, at our home in 
New Jersey, few days pass without a visit from some 
big husky fellow who begs for a meal, and explains 
that he is looking for work. Most of these travelers, 
however, would be uncertain aids in the wheat field. 
They have hunted work so long that life would lose 
all brightness for them if they really found it. 
* 
Among the items of internal revenue for the last 
fiscal year, are the following: 
Oleomargarine .$1,956,619 
FUled cheese . 18> 098 1,680 
Mixed flour. 7>841 7 841 
I his means an increase of 30 per cent over last year 
in the manufacture of oleo* and a slight increase in 
filled cheese. The tax on “mixed” flour is a new one. 
This money represents the tax which the adulteration 
frauds pay to the Federal Government. The profits 
on these compounds are undoubtedly heavy, and the 
manufacturers might well pay a larger share of the 
public expenses. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
These hen-pecked fellers sorter make me smile; 
I’ve seen some big six-footer stand around 
Inside the house, an' make no murmur while 
Some little hustlin’, bitin’ ninety-pound 
Bunch of a woman jest laid down the law, 
An’ picked it up again an’ rubbed it in, 
While he does nothin’ but set there an’ saw 
The stove-wood of his thoughts with sickly grin. 
These wimmen folks don’t talk that way to me! 
I git right on their blind side right away. 
An’ sorter humor ’em, an’ I’ll agree 
To keep ’em all good-natured that-a-way. 
Git on their blind side—where yer faults don’t show, 
Where all yer virtues is jest magnified, 
An stay there, fer I’ll tell ye now it’s woe! 
If by some chance ye slip on t’other side, 
An’ show yerself jest as ye be—good day— 
To comfort then—no need for me to tell 
Yer wife will do it fer me—so I say, 
The blind side of the wimmen suits me well. 
Don’t stop to watch the clock! 
Spoil the rod and spare the child. 
How does the Carman peach behave with you? 
The preferred stock of some farmers is the scrub. 
What is the easiest way to carry a knapsack sprayer? 
Mr. Liver Complaint says that apple sauce is impu¬ 
dent. 
The “war taxes” produced $102,617,763 in revenue last 
year. 
It is said that Mississippi is to have a beet-sugar 
factory. 
The crop of the Summer boarder crop is exhausting to 
the table. 
Mighty little mother” in cider made from early or un¬ 
ripe fruit. 
You must go to the tops of the hills to find Connecticut 
peaches this year. 
The way to produce fouls of the air is to put wood 
ashes with hen manure. 
Our season has changed ends this year— the most favor¬ 
able weather for growth comes last. 
What appears like a hard job, often appears less diffi¬ 
cult when tackled at close quarters. 
A woman must have patience down quite fine when she 
can make dish-washing seem divine. 
Mother thinks that a shingle makes a good board of 
arbitration in some disputes between herself and the heir. 
On page 522, Mr. M’Kee advised the use of young sows 
as breeders. The pig men are rising up to protest against 
this advice. 
The Philadelphia Record perpetrates a tale of a tooth¬ 
less cat which was fitted out with a brand new set of 
false teeth by the dentist. 
A skunk trust is the latest reported combination of 
monopolists. It hails from Indiana, and was organized 
under the laws of New Jersey. 
“Weighed in the balances and found wanting!”—some 
of the men who have been very prominent in the public 
eye during the past year or two. 
Chickens that excel as pullets—keep them till they die, 
the egg record of their children will go booming high; 
but the robber pullets only cackle out a lie, and their 
only safe inclosure is a chicken pie. 
The London Fruit Grower and Markec Gardener advo¬ 
cates the method of growing a crop of early potatoes, and 
then setting the land to strawberry' plants. This is prac¬ 
tically the plan followed at Hilton, N. J. 
Austro-Hungary, Germany, France, Switzerland and the 
Cape Colony have all adopted laws requiring the inspec¬ 
tion of living plants 3ent out of this country. Canada ab¬ 
solutely bars living plants from the United States. 
