644 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 9 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwoob, Editor. 
H. E. Van Deman, ) 
-Frank H. Valentine, V Associates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ) 
Joiin J Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union,-52.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8* *4 marks, or 10y s francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (44 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 P.rick 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, express order, 
personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1899. 
Mb. F. E. Dawley, director of the New York State 
farmers’ institutes, is considering the plan of opening 
the season with a preliminary meeting of the workers. 
In some of the States, a “round up” meeting is held 
at the end of the season, but Mr. Dawley thinks it 
would be well to have the speakers come together, 
and make a good start. Tiie R. N.-Y. favors the plan, 
and hopes it will be carried out. U^der Mr. Dawley’s 
management, the institutes have been improved and 
made very effective. It 'is well enough to get together 
after the battle, but better still to plan it before a 
shot is fired. 
* 
Another trust is now reported as oppressing the 
poor consumers—the diamond trust. Prices are to be 
advanced, on the plea that there is a scarcity of dia¬ 
monds on the market. This is bad news so near to 
the beginning of what may prove to be a long, cold 
Winter. How much longer are we to permit these 
merciless trusts to curtail the supply and raise the 
price of the necessaries of life? Of course, there are 
counterfeit diamonds which some people affect, but 
the sturdy farmer scorns shams like these, and will 
wear the genuine stones or none. Down with such 
monopolists as the diamond trust. 
* 
The Minnesota Food Commissioner is now looking 
out for weighted butter, complaints being made that 
much butter of this class 'is now coming into Minne¬ 
apolis. The Minneapolis Produce Exchange an¬ 
nounces that it will prosecute dealers sending this to 
market. Several compounds are sold for the purpose, 
chromate of lead being apparently the chief ingre¬ 
dient. The method used is to rechurn butter with 
milk or water, the compound being added. Tiie R. 
N.-Y. warned dairymen aga'inst this butter compound 
several months ago, but apparently its sale has been 
sufficiently extended to become a real evil in the 
market. 
* 
A city business man, with a Red clover bloom and 
leaves in his button hole, said that clover is one of 
the finest flowering plants that grows. He had told a 
florist that he ought to grow a lot 'in his greenhouses 
for Winter decorations. He was willing to back up 
his advice by giving a good-sized advance order. So 
it seems there are city people who appreciate our old 
friend clover. And why not? In form and color, as 
well as in fragrance, it is far superior to many flowers 
now grown for decorative purposes. As a nitrogen 
catcher and as a fodder plant, its virtues are well 
known, but its charm for decorative purposes has not 
been so generally recognized. 
* 
The enormous increase in the price of window 
glass, the making of which is controlled by one of 
those benevolent trusts which undertake to cheapen 
their product to the consumer, has been felt, especial¬ 
ly by the florists, whose repairs and building opera¬ 
tions consume great quantities of glass every year. 
At the recent meeting of the Society of American • 
Florists, at Detroit, Mich., a committee on coopera¬ 
tive purchases was appointed, whose business it will 
be to investigate the feasibility of establishing a co¬ 
operative glass plant for the benefit of the trade. In 
other words, the florists are determined to revolt 
against the tyranny of the glass trust, and they will 
see whether it is not possible to make their own glass 
and distribute the profits among the consumers. As 
the Society succeeded, after countless rebuffs, in its 
fignt against the exactions of the express companies, 
there 'is some reason to believe that the present cam¬ 
paign will be conducted on similarly successful lines. 
Every manufacturing industry under the sun seems 
to be organized into a trust; it is now time to organ¬ 
ize a consumers’ trust, and we feel sure that our read¬ 
ers will watch with interest the fight between the 
florists and the glass-making octopus. The window- 
glass workers are now uniting to fight the trust, and 
expect to have the support of the building trades 
unions. These craftsmen will only use glass made in 
independent or cooperative factories outside the 
trust, so the florists will, apparently, have the labor 
unions with them in the fight against the trust. 
• 
In driving over that section of the old Newburg and 
Cochecton turnpike lying between Monticello, N. Y., 
and White Lake, one wonders why the inhabitants of 
that delightful summer-resort region permit a cor¬ 
poration with a State franchise to collect 30 cents toll 
for the privilege of wading through dust and sand 
ankle deep, and bumping over stones shin high. The 
road is certainly in a most wretched condition, and 
usually remains so for a good portion of the year. It 
maintains a heavy traffic, and the revenue from two 
gates on an eight-mile stretch would seem to be suffi¬ 
cient to warrant some attempt at regular repairs. An¬ 
other gate road from Liberty to White Lake is in 
much the same condition. If gate roads throughout 
tne State are generally neglected in this way, The R. 
N.-Y. would like to hear from the farmers who pay 
toll on them. When these roads are not kept up in 
passable shape, the people have a right to demand 
that the Attorney General of the State annul the 
charters permitting the collection of tolls. They are a 
relic of past ages anyway. 
* 
New, words creep into the language. The word 
“boycott,” for example, was a man’s name. It took its 
new meaning during the Irish Land League troubles, 
when a landlord was “let alone” or “boycotted.” 
Since then the “boycott” has often proved a popular, 
if not always successful, weapon in bringing the ob¬ 
stinate or stubborn to time. It is now suggested that, 
if the French prisoner Dreyfus be again declared 
guilty, the civilized nations should declare an “inter¬ 
national boycott” against France, and refuse to take 
any part in her great exposition! The whole world 
’is interested in the fate of this unfortunate man. 
There seems to be little real evidence against him. 
What we regard as false ideas of honor and justice 
seem, for the time, to' be guiding the French people. 
An “international boycott” would be a hard blow to 
France, yet it may be what the nation needs. From 
a business po'int of view, it would hurt this country, 
for arrangements are being made to show at Paris 
how we are prepared to supply food to Europeans. It 
will be the best opportunity of the century to adver¬ 
tise our food and fiber. 
* 
The recent signing of a parcels post convention be¬ 
tween the United States and Germany, marks the first 
tardy step in the extension of our postal system to 
meet modern requirements. It is to become operative 
October 1, after which date all mailable merchan¬ 
dise may be dispatched to any post office in Germany, 
in parcels not exceeding 11 pounds in weight, when 
packed within certain dimensions, at a uniform rate 
of 12 cents per pound, or fraction of a pound. Par¬ 
cels mailed in Germany will require postage at the 
rate of about 38 cents per parcel for packages weigh¬ 
ing less than two pounds three ounces, and 58 cents 
per parcel for any other weight up to the maximum. 
Customs duties may be collected in the countries to 
which goods are sent. We already have such agree¬ 
ments with Mexico, some of the West Indian colonies 
and the Central American States, and it is probable 
that the list will be extended in time to include all 
the countries in the International Postal Union. All 
the commercial nations of Europe have enjoyed the 
benefits of such mutual conventions for a number of 
years, as well as the still greater convenience and 
advantages of a low-rate domestic parcels post, but 
the unscrupulous lobbies of the various express in¬ 
terests have hitherto been able to defeat all progress 
in this direction in this country. Probably there is 
not a more exasperating form of monopoly in exist¬ 
ence, and one that touches so great a proportion of 
the productive population of the United States, as 
these same express companies. They have, up to this 
time, also prevented the desire of the people for a 
convenient postal currency taking practical form, as 
they derive a considerable revenue from the transmis¬ 
sion of money orders, being patronized by many when 
the National post office can give, eveh in its present 
hampered state, a service fully as good and safe. Ex¬ 
press rates have recently been materially increased, 
except in the transmission of bulbs, seeds and plants, 
where the competition of the post office is specially 
felt, and the charges on many classes of goods are 
practically prohibitory for any but the shortest dis¬ 
tances. We want a cheap parcels post, a handy postal 
currency and a postal savings bank, and we want 
them soon. 
* 
When Franklin sent up his famous kite, he demon¬ 
strated that the air is full of electricity. The elec¬ 
tric force is now absolutely necessary in many things 
which minister to our comfort and necessity. This 
electric force is costly, requiring expensive apparatus, 
and is dependent on some other power like steam. 
Yet the air is full of electricity, holding enough of 'it 
to do the lighting and working for the world. No 
wonder the scientists are at work with devices for 
trapping this cheap electricity and putting it at work. 
The air is, also, well filled with nitrogen. It is a 
part of the great economy of nature that leguminous 
plants should possess the power to secure this nitro¬ 
gen, and hold it for the use of other crops. By show¬ 
ing us that this is so, and how the nitrogen is se¬ 
cured, the scientific men have enabled the farmer to 
work on fixed and certain lines in his plant feeding. 
May we not believe that, in like manner, there is 
some connector or middleman that will bring to us 
this aerial electricity? We may have wondered why 
the Government spends money in experiments in kite 
flying. Up in the air above us, great forces lie dor¬ 
mant. There are great secrets to be solved, and per¬ 
haps the kite with its tiny string may bring us a 
story that will, in time, upset the world’s present ap¬ 
plication of force. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
THE COMING MAN. 
His name is Dewey! Old Vermont’s green hills 
Once held him safely—few there were who knew 
His greatness; now his gallant story tills 
The world; as crawling through the ocean’s blue, 
His warship comes—along the ocean's shore 
His countrymen are waiting, he will find 
A greeting such as no man knew before, 
And, from the eager millions ranged behind 
1 he hoarse Atlantic’s coast—from farm and mine, 
From forest and from shop, the cry will come 
Like torrents roaring through the shouting pine 
Of Welcome! Dewey! Welcome! Welcome home! 
Welcome! But let us not forget the things 
That come across with Dewey—each mute gun 
Found hot breath at Manila Bay, and brings 
A hint at mighty problems just begun. 
The mouth is the “but” end of the objector. 
Plant the stones and produce a crop of drains. 
Watch the scales or your buy weighs will indicate high 
waste. 
Eating rhubarb pie is a plant of pie plant by a pie 
planter. 
Many a farm family is governed by the Summer boarder 
just now. 
Who first suggested the name “institute” for farmers’ 
meetings? 
Now it is a corset trust that is reported as getting ready 
to pull the strings. 
Experiments in the cultivation of camphor trees are 
being made in southern Florida. 
“He never thinks of anything but his dinner!” That’s 
a plain case of “grub in the head.” 
No, a diet of vinegar is not likely to make a sharp 
writer, neither is it a good diet for mother. 
Yes, sir, the mites on the underside of the hen roost 
levy a fearful pole tax on the hens—and their owner. 
What butter color do we find the cheapest and the best? 
Feed carrots to a Jersey cow, and let her do the rest. 
Many a woman grieves at the black ants in the pantry, 
but how they would like to have a genuine southern 
Black Aunt there! 
It is said that more farmers are paying by check this 
year than ever before. The most important result of 
this is that much less actual money is needed to move 
crops. 
It is hard to say which has the tougher job—the city 
man, who thinks it’s easy to make a living on the farm, 
or the countryman who knows he can make a fortune in 
the city. 
As a grain ration for the petted family cow, we sug¬ 
gest one part wheat bran, one part ground oats, two 
parts corn meal, with a pound of oil meal in addition, 
twice a week. 
The report comes from some of the California can¬ 
neries that peaches purchased for canning had been given 
away because of scarcity of help at the canneries. Won¬ 
der who ate them! 
It is said that, in 1S98, Germany imported more than 
100,000 tons of eggs, valued at $17,000,000. What’s the mat¬ 
ter with the thrifty Germans that they don’t go into 
partnership with the business hen? 
Already in some parts of New York State, the Stand¬ 
ard Oil Company is selling oil at retail. The big wagons 
run through the country from farm to farm. That seems 
to be the outlook for the meat trade. 
It is reported that, in parts of the South, the farmers 
have been plowing by moonlight, owing to excessive heat 
and prevalence of flies. They say that their teams can 
do much more work, with far less fatigue, under these 
circumstances. 
Chicago claims to have nearly 30 per cent of all the 
eggs in storage in the United States. There are about 
700,000 cases, or 168,000,000 eggs, which cost $2,677,500. The 
cost, including storage and insurance, is about 14 cents a 
dozen, two cents more than the cost last year. 
