1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6o9 
Short Stories. 
Family Plant Diseases. —Many farm¬ 
ers have learned by sad experience tnat 
there are certain diseases that will 
spread from one crop to another. For 
example, cabbage set out in soil in 
which a crop of turnips has rotted, will 
be quite likely to show rot, while pota¬ 
toes would not suffer. One of our read¬ 
ers sowed cabbage seed where parsnips 
grew last year. The cabbage roots 
looked thick and stubby, and he was 
afraid to plant them. When asked about 
the matter, Prof. B. D. Halsted said: 
The sample does not show club-root; but 
a good coat of lime to the land may be an 
advantage. As a rule, none of the mus- 
tard-llke plants that have diseases should 
follow each other upon the same land, yet 
I have grown 10 crops of turnips upon the 
same land in succession, but when lime 
had been added. 30 bushels per acre. 
Money in Teetii. —Thousands of peo¬ 
ple go about with gold crowns on their 
teeth. It is surprising how many 
people, especially of late years, have 
adopted this method of preserving the 
teeth. It is now over 20 years since a 
dentist invented what is called the 
“tooth crown” or “bridge work.” For¬ 
merly, when the teeth gave way, they 
were either pulled out to make room for 
the complete false set, or else an imita¬ 
tion tooth was cemented to a sound one 
in a clumsy and crude way. Dr. James 
Low devised a plan of inserting artificial 
teeth between sound teeth, or roots, oy 
covering the anchor tooth with a gold 
crown to which the new one was fast¬ 
ened. This proved so popular that den¬ 
tists everywhere took up the method. A 
dental company bought the patent, and 
for the last 17 years, has been fight¬ 
ing to secure royalties on all the bridge 
or crown work done in the coun¬ 
try. The United States Court has re¬ 
cently decided ,n their favor, and every 
dentist who has inserted a crown or 
bridge must pay a royalty. The whole 
thing now amounts to over $0,000,000, 
which will make a very pretty sum for 
the man who discovered the bridge. 
Chinch-Bug Diseases. —I see on page 
559, an interesting article on the Chinch- 
bug disease. I believe that a Kansas 
man was the first to notice this disease, 
and Prof. Snow has become famous for 
his discovery; but neither he nor any of 
the wise men has been able to tell us 
what caused the disease among the bugs. 
It now remains for a plain Kansas 
farmer to make this discovery. It has 
been learned here that, if green corn be 
cut and put in piles so it will sour, the 
traveling bugs, when they commence to 
eat this sour corn, immediately die by 
the bushel. It seems to be a plain case 
of indigestion caused by the fermenta¬ 
tion of the corn. No Chinch-bug disease 
was ever introduced into the field where 
this was noticed, but the bugs traveling 
from the wheat stubble towards the 
corn field, died by the wagon-load, and 
covered the piles of cut corn all over 
black with dead bugs that soon took on 
the regulation moldy appearance of dis¬ 
eased bugs. Here is a chance for some 
of our experiment stations to look after 
the cause of the disease, and learn 
whether every farmer can create his 
own disease among the bugs. 
Kansas. J. c. Norton. 
Agricultural Imports.— It is said 
that the United States imports a smaller 
proportion of foodstuffs than any other 
country of the world, in comparison 
with other imports, and that the quan¬ 
tity is decreasing each year. The quan¬ 
tity imported would be still less were it 
not for the large number of foreign- 
born people in the country, many of 
whom retain their taste for the dishes 
of their childnood. Of these, the Ger¬ 
mans are very fond of the sausages and 
cheeses of their native land. The Ital¬ 
ians, also, consume large quantities of 
cheeses from Italy, the amount brought 
in during the fiscal year ending June 20. 
1898, being 3,162,332 pounds, all of 
which, with the exception of one single 
brand, was consumed by them. The 
French import a varied assortment of 
their peculiar food products, and the 
English find many of their native pre¬ 
parations better suited to their tastes 
than those of this country. Among the 
most curious articles imported are those 
from China. They comprise, among 
many others, dried shark fins, birds’ 
nests for soups, ducks dried and pressed 
flat, eggs preserved in some curious and 
mysterious manner, various kinds of 
dried fish, queer mixtures of prepared 
fruits conveniently classified as pre¬ 
serves, etc. Of all these and other im¬ 
ports, it would seem that some ought to 
be produced in this country, while others 
cannot be. Of the ratter, coffee is an ex¬ 
ample; the dried currants imported from 
Greece are said to be the finest in the 
world. Fruit importations have fallen 
off largely of late years since California 
became such an important source of 
supply. Lemons are about the only fruit 
whose importation has not decreased; 
California is growing these to perfec¬ 
tion, but not in quantity to supply even 
the Pacific coast trade. We import 
about $100,000,000 worth of sugar every 
year, of which we ought to grow nearly 
every pound at home. The experiments 
in growing tea in South Carolina prom¬ 
ise success. Large quantities of onions 
are imported every year from the Ber¬ 
mudas, Spain and Egypt. In years of 
a short home crop, we import consider¬ 
able quantities of potatoes from Scot¬ 
land and Germany, besides the early 
ones from the Bermudas. There would 
seem to be an excellent chance to reduce 
the importations of many of these pro¬ 
ducts, and at the same time, put many 
millions of dollars into the pockets of 
American farmers. 
Advertising Farmers’ Institutes.— 
Out in Kansas they believe in letting 
the people know what is going on. The 
Agricultural College has $2,000 to spend 
on institutes this year. A circular has 
just been issued, in which some radical 
measures are advised for calling out a 
crowd. Picnic umners and entertain¬ 
ments are in great favor in Kansas. 
An exhibition of farm products, samples 
of cooking and school work always add 
to the interest. Exhibitions of machinery 
by dealers and stock by farmers are popu¬ 
lar. Where institutes are held near cream¬ 
eries, it pays to spend half a day in test¬ 
ing the milk of herds and individual cows. 
At an institute at Peabody, a business man 
offered two prizes for the best essay on 
How Corn Grows, to be written by pupils 
in the district schools. A friendly but 
strong rivalry was created among the dif¬ 
ferent schools in regard to winning these 
prizes, remarkably good work was done 
by the pupils, and the house was packed 
to overflowing, the audience profiting by 
the regular papers as well as enjoying this 
feature of the programme. At Meriden, the 
business men of the town gave a free 
dinner, with oysters, to all the farmers and 
their families attending the institute, and 
G60 persons were present. 
In the East, the institute managers seem 
to think the people are a little too cold¬ 
blooded to warm up at the thought of 
oysters or picnic dinners. Out West, 
however, the mixed programme is very 
popular. 
Corn Harvesters in Maine. —In The 
R. N.-Y. of June 12, on page 581, Prof. I. 
P. Roberts says that 10 or 15 acres of 
heavy ensilage corn would justify one in 
buying a corn harvester. In this sec¬ 
tion, we cannot arrive at the same con¬ 
clusion. Corn can be cut by hand at 
from $1 to $1.50 per acre. A harvester 
costs over $100, and it will take, at least, 
three days with a pair of horses and a 
driver to cut 12 acres of ensilage corn. 
That would cost $12. It costs 50 cents 
an acre for twine, and a sufficient num¬ 
ber of dry weeds are bound in to offset 
the advantage of gathering grass and 
green weeds. Now we would lute to 
know how the interest on the money in¬ 
vested in the machine and repairs will 
be paid for. We are looking for in¬ 
formation on the subject of cutting en¬ 
silage corn, and would be pleased to 
know of a good harvester which would 
do the work satisfactorily and at a sav¬ 
ing over hand labor, but have seen none 
that came anywhere near doing it. En¬ 
silage corn here grows 12 to 15 feet tall, 
and is generally blown down consider¬ 
ably by the wind, so it is tangled con¬ 
siderably, and delays any harvester i 
have seen. j. ii. r. 
Portland, Me. 
Blackberry Rash. —We have heard 
of several cases of an annoying skin 
disease known as Blackberry rash or 
Blackberry itch, which affects persons 
who have been walking through old pas¬ 
tures or neglected fields, especially those 
overgrown with dewberry vines. The 
trouble appears in the form of an erup¬ 
tion on the ankles and calves of the 
legs, accompanied by excessive irrita¬ 
tion. If not treated properly, the rash 
spreads, and in time, may produce bad 
sores. The treatment given to hives, 
nettle rash, and similar eruptions, with 
which it is nkely to be confused at 
first, is of no avail. The blackberry rash 
appears to be caused by a true itch mite, 
a very minute insect, and the cure for it 
is sulphur ointment. The ointment may 
be bought from any druggist, or may be 
made at home by working sulphur into 
lard. Any form of itch is naturally sug¬ 
gestive of personal uncleanness, but the 
blackberry variety may be acquired by 
very careful persons in localities where 
the mite abounds, and the sulphur treat¬ 
ment is needed at once. Suspicious 
eruptions about the ankles, appearing 
after a walk through old fields, should 
have careful examination and prompt 
treatment. 
An Australian Federation. —The 
Australian colonies have recently adopt¬ 
ed a plan of federation which brings 
them closer together under much the 
same government as is found in Canada. 
Ten years ago, a similar plan was tried, 
but was rejected by some of the col¬ 
onies. It is said that the thing which 
brings them together this time is the de¬ 
sire for a thorough system of cold 
storage. The Australian colonies desire 
to ship meat, fruit, oils and butter to 
England and Europe. This can be done 
only with a complete system of cold 
storage. The frozen meat trade from 
Australia promises to become a wonder¬ 
ful enterprise. There has been one draw¬ 
back in the fact that local tariff laws 
divided this trade, while the different 
small governments could not agree on 
cooperative storage plans. Under the Fed¬ 
eral union the whole thing will be under 
one head, and in control of the govern¬ 
ment, so that the trade in frozen meats, 
and in cold fruits and butter, will be 
greatly developed, and the exports from 
Australia increased. It is a singular 
thing that a cold storage plan should 
warm up the brotherly love between 
these colonies, yet this is an age when 
strange and wonderful things are 
brought out. 
A Preserving Fraud. —A reader in 
Ohio sends us a circular headed as fol¬ 
lows: 
“Reasons for Using the A. W. S. C. P.” 
That has nothing to do with the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani¬ 
mals, but means the American Woman’s 
Standard Canning Process. Some un¬ 
known compound is sold which is to be 
added to the water when boiling the 
fruit or vegetables, and remarkable 
stories are told regarding the beneficial 
effect of this stuff. Of course, we advise 
our readers to have nothing to do with 
For the land’s sake — use Bowker’s 
Fertilizer.— Adv. 
it. It is the worst kind of folly to put 
unknown stuff of tnis kind into food, for 
the chances are that it contains borax or 
salicylic acid, both of which are poisons 
which should never be used except when 
given by a doctor. By all means let this 
stuff alone! The circular quotes some 
prominent chemist as saying that “A 
woman will live many years longer by 
using your process. ' We are not pre¬ 
pared to dispute that statement at pres¬ 
ent, but we will guarantee that, if this 
woman eats the food produced by the 
use of this stuff, she will “go softly all 
her days.” After she dies, the under¬ 
taker will, probably, use some of the 
same stuff for embalming purposes. 
Winter Crops 
perish when they lack nourish¬ 
ment. Liberal fertilization 
insures the vigor necessary to 
resist winter killing. 
Potash 
Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen 
in well-balanced proportions, 
are what they need. 
Send for our books telling all abou 
composition of fertilizers best adapted 
for all crops. They cost you nothing. 
GERHAN KALI WORKS, 
73 Nassau Street, New York. 
Profits of Farming 
GARDE NINO AND FRUIT CULTURE. 
depend upon Good Crops and they in 
turn upon Good Fertilizers. The 
uniformly best fertilizer for all Crops 
and all soils Is made by 
The Cleveland Dryer Co.. Cleveland, O. 
Materials Supplied for “ Home Mixing." 
jVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVWVWV 
;Jadoo Fibre and Jadoo Liquid 
Will give you Early Crops and Large Crops 
of Vegetables or Fruit. Send for Catalogues 
and be convinced of tbe merits of tbese 
new Fertilizers. 
T11E AMERICAN JADOO CO., 
815 Kalrmount Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Cyanide 
Guaranteed 98 to 99 per cent., for generating 
Hydrocyanic Acid Gas 
tlie most effective fumigating material, to 
destroy scale insects on fruit trees and 
plants. The only positive eradicator of 
the dreaded San Jose Scale. Endorsed by 
all Agricultural Experiment Stations. “ A 
perfect practical remedy,” says Prof. W. G. 
Johnson, State Etymologist of Maryland. 
MANUFACTURED BY 
The Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Co., 
No. 100 William Street, New York. 
85 
A RUINED 
GARDEN, 
llower bed, green house 
or lawn may be the result 
of a few hours operation 
or an active, energetic 
mole. The remedy I* to 
catch them on Mrst signs 
of appearance. 
0ut-0-Sight 
MOLE TRAP 
eutchen him every time. It’s 
guaranteed to do tnat. Can be 
set anywhere—under glass. In 
the hot bed, &c. Sample trap 
_ J cts. bv mail, or have your dealer 
order for you. It is not like others— 
it Is better. Descriptive matter 
on traps mailed free. 
ANIMAL TRAP CO. 
10 fleek St., Abingdon, II 
in 
,1c trup 
caler 
rs 
buy Your fertilizers directi ' 
Save Money I No Salesman’s Expentei: No Middleman’^ Profit. Our entlr# prod*** 
|OM from Factory to Farm. Write for free sample* and book. 
WALKER, STRATMAN A CO., Pittsburg, Pa. 
