1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
793 
Market Briefs. 
Publisher’s Desk. 
Two letters 'in the mail one morning 
this week contained references to The 
R N.-Y. that pleased me. Prof. Max 
Leichtlin, Baden Baden, Germany, says: 
The R. N.-Y. is the best American agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural paper. 
This is especially pleasing, as it 
comes from a horticultural authority of 
world-wide fame, in a foreign country, 
who can have no prejudices and no pref¬ 
erences, except for actual merit. The 
other letter was from F. E. Hale, of 
Kansas. He said: 
The R. N.-Y. is stimulating, instructive, 
trustworthy, and modest. I like it all 
around. 
It is not often that a paper deserves 
to be called modest. That may be why 
I like the adjective. It shows that some¬ 
one, at least, puts a higher estimate on 
our efforts than we claim for them our¬ 
selves. 
But we cannot let modesty interfere 
with business. In order to keep a paper 
up to these high standards it must have 
patronage. Other people must know 
about it. Now all readers who agree in 
whole or in part with our German and 
Kansas friend may not care to write in 
this strain to us in fear of exciting our 
vanity, and thus replace the modesty 
our Kansas friend commends. But there 
can be no possible objection to telling 
their neighbors about it, and getting 
their $1 to send us for a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion. The $1 will now pay until January 
1, 1901. For the trouble taken by the 
present subscriber, we will send him a 
choice of these books, post-paid: 
American Grape Training.75 cents 
The Business Hen.40 cents 
Horticulturist’s Rule Book.50 cents 
Canning and Preserving.20 cents 
The Nursery Book.50 cents 
How to Rid Buildings of Rats.. .20 cents 
First Lessons in Agriculture. .$1 00 
Our new terms to club raisers are now 
ready. We would like to send them to 
any one who thinks of getting up a club. 
MILK MATTERS. 
There is little new to record concerning 
the Pure Milk Company. The latest report 
we receive is that the certificate of In¬ 
corporation has not yet been filed; in fact, 
there is much mystery about the matter, 
and the managers are not prepared to 
make any definite statements about it. 
They are hard at work, and still say that 
they are sure to succeed. They have 
talked of being able to begin business by 
November 15. Judging from the delay in 
organizing and straightening out other 
large corporations, it is hard to see how 
they really can make a fair start before 
January 1, even if matters were closed at 
once. 
Reports from dairy farms in New York 
State indicate a dearth of fodder. One 
correspondent at Afton says that the hay 
crop was fully 25 per cent below the aver¬ 
age. The larger dairymen will depend on 
ensilage to carry them through. Grain 
feeds are high, and wheat feeds and gluten 
are chiefly used in that neighborhood. 
In Onondaga County, farmers report that 
they are not well supplied with hay. About 
25 per cent have silos, but dry fodder is 
scarce. Many farmers have been feeding 
the stock since August, owing to the severe 
drought. Of course this means much less 
fodder to start the Winter with. It really 
amounts to two or three months longer 
for Winter feeding. Some millet was 
grown, also corn fodder to help out the 
silos. Most reports indicate that farmers 
take a hopeful view of the milk situation, 
and are determined to hang together and 
keep up their organization. 
The Squash-Vine Borer.— Circular No. 
38, Division of Entomology, Department of 
Agriculture. This borer is one of the most 
troublesome enemies attacking squashes, 
pumpkins, and allied plants. The larvae 
bore through the stems, causing them to 
rot at the affected points, the leaves wilt¬ 
ing. The adult insect, which is a clear- 
winged moth, does no damage. A number 
of the larvae will often affect a single 
plant. Late squashes suffer the most. As 
a means of combating this borer, a few 
early Summer squashes, planted before 
and between the later sorts, are advised 
as a trap crop, the vines being raked up 
and burned when the ground is needed for 
the later sorts. Fall harrowing and deep 
Spring plowing are also advantageous. 
We are here in this (treat market. You ship goods 
here. You can ship to better advantage if you know 
how and when to do it. We will try to tell you. 
We must know what you want. Ask questions We 
will try to answer them. 
PICKED UP HERE AND THERE. 
CORN HUSKS.—Readers sometimes ask 
if there is any demand for these. Only a 
small quantity is received here. They are 
shredded and used as filling for cheap 
mattresses. Corn husks should be removed 
from the stalks and baled the same as hay. 
The price runs from 60 to 80 cents per 100 
pounds. 
LIMED EGGS.—Refrigerator stock has 
taken the place - of these to a large extent 
The fact that limed eggs, unless the shells 
are pricked, will burst in boiling, injures 
them for general store trade, and about 
the only people who buy them now are 
bakers. For their purpose they are as 
good as any. 
APPLE-TREE WOOD.—A reader asks if 
there is any market for apple-tree lumber. 
Dealers in hard wood say that there is 
only a small quantity received, and but 
little call for it. Sound apple lumber is 
worth from 3 * l /> to five cents per foot, board 
measure, and anyone having a log of this 
sort might do well to have it sawed. If 
sound and reasonably straight-grained, it 
would doubtless bring more in this shape 
than it is worth for firewood. 
REPACKING FRUIT.—“Do you handle 
green fruit?” I asked the foreman of a 
large concern which announced itself on 
the sign as a repacker of fruit. “No,” 
he replied, “only dried fruits, such as figs, 
dates, prunes, raisins, etc., also pecans 
and some other fancy nuts. These goods 
are delivered to us in bags, barrels and 
boxes of all sizes. We handle them over 
and put them up into packages weighing 
from a pound up to suit the varying re¬ 
quirements of the trade.” 
MILK PRICES.—At a recent meeting of 
the New York Consolidated Milk Ex¬ 
change, it was decided to raise the price 
to the producer *4 cent per quart. This 
brings the price now paid for milk up to 
$1.61 per 40-quart can, produced within the 
26-cent freight limit, and on November 15 
10 cents more per can will be added. It is 
also stated that the Milk Dealers’ Associa¬ 
tion, of Chicago, has raised the price to 
the consumer to seven cents per quart. 
This took effect November 1, and will con¬ 
tinue until May 1, 1900. 
CLOVER SEED.—Business has been live¬ 
ly in the clover-seed market at Toledo, O. 
A short time ago the price for October de¬ 
livery was $4.15, but a syndicate cornered 
the supply, and it went up to nearly $7. 
After fluctuating for several days, there 
has been a big break, and the price has 
now dropped to $5.45. On account of this 
corner, dealers in Toledo who had sold 
themselves short for October delivery have 
been buying from the East, and several 
carloads recently sold in Toledo to eastern 
parties have been rebought and shipped 
back. 
VEGETABLES.—The market is crowded 
with inferior onions. The low prices have 
made shippers careless in packing. In 
some cases all sizes are mixed together in 
one barrel or bag. Lots of this sort often 
sell for less than the really choice ones in 
the package are worth. Cauliflowers are 
plentiful. Fine large heads have been re¬ 
tailing at 10 cents each.' The celery crop 
is large, and considerable stock has ac¬ 
cumulated here, owing to the light de¬ 
mand. Prices for large bunches run from 
25 to 40 cents. There is but little demand 
for turnips, and they move slowly at 50 to 
75 cents per barrel. 
WOOL.—Trade has been unusually active 
for the past few days. During the week 
ending October 28, 15,000,000 pounds of wool 
were sold in Boston. The largest single 
sale was 1,200,000 pounds of Australian 
crossbreds at about 38 cents. Following 
this were three or four orders of 500,000 
pounds each, from western mills, at 17 
cents. Buyers from nearly all the large 
woolen mills in the United States were on 
hand, and also representatives of French, 
German and English manufacturers. This 
scramble for wool is due to the general 
idea, confirmed by recent Australian sales, 
that at present prices abroad, it would be 
impossible to duplicate the stock in this 
country, especially of the finer grades. It 
is natural to look for a steady advance 
until prices here are on a parity with for¬ 
eign markets. Owing to the poor business 
of the past two or three years, many mills 
began the season with only a small amount 
of supplies. Nearly all woolen mills are 
running now, and trade will be lively until 
they get stocked up. According to the 
annual estimate of the National Associa¬ 
tion of Wool Manufacturers, the total 
number of sheep in the United States April 
1, 1899, was 36,905,497, and the product of 
washed and unwashed wool for the year 
was 272,191,330 pounds. This is an increase 
of 5,470,646 pounds over last year, but Is 
still 76,346,808 pounds less than the product 
of 1893. 
MARKET LANGUAGE.—Some words 
and phrases used in market quotations are 
puzzling to outsiders. For instance, eggs 
are quoted “Loss off” or “At mark.” 
“Loss off” means that all bad ones are 
thrown out, and two cracked eggs are 
counted as one sound one. “At mark” 
means that they are taken as they run, ex¬ 
cept that if there are more than one dozen 
damaged in a 30-dozen case, the buyer need 
not take them at the price offered. 
“Checks” are slightly cracked eggs. “Held 
seconds” are small, dirty, or shrunken 
eggs that are sorted out of cold storage 
stock when it is candled and put on the 
market. 
A Carving Set. 
Every family needs a carving set three 
times a day. This set consists of a Shef¬ 
field caiver with eight-inch handmade 
steel blade, buckhorn handle, fork and 
steel. Price, $1.90; or we will send it for 
a club of two new subscriptions at $1 
each and $1.25 extra money, or free for a 
club of six at $1 each. 
THANKSGIVING TURKEYS.—All ship¬ 
ments for this market should be here the 
Saturday before Thanksgiving, or Monday 
morning at the latest. This is important, 
for, unless there is a great shortage, late 
arrivals are almost certain to be left over, 
and the market for two or three days after 
a holiday is generally poor. Prime tur¬ 
keys are wanted for Thanksgiving. Dry- 
picked handle and sell the best. If the 
weather happens to be mild, a scalded 
bird will get sticky standing over night, 
while a dry-picked one will not. It will 
pay to be very careful in packing, so that 
the poultry will show up well when it ar¬ 
rives. If many turkeys are being shipped, 
they should be graded, the hens and toms 
kept separately, and the culls in a package 
entirely by themselves. Mixing the culls 
with the others is sure to damage the sale 
of the whole lot. 
THE GRAV-ELEC CLOCK.—Brains, 
gravity and electricity seem to have gone 
into partnership to make this clock, which 
is about as near perpetual motion as may 
be expected. The works—the same as in 
an ordinary pendulum clock—are run by a 
weight. This is on the end of a short 
lever connected with a shaft by a ratchet 
movement At the start the weight is In¬ 
clined from a perpendicular about 30 de¬ 
grees. It drops slowly until at a right 
angle an electrical connection is made, and 
the power generated instantly lifts the 
weight to its former position This hap¬ 
pens every 75 seconds, and, being done in¬ 
stantly and between the beats of the pen¬ 
dulum, the regularity of the movement is 
not affected. Two small dry batteries fur¬ 
nish the electricity, and these are guaran¬ 
teed to run two years. The manufacturers 
showed me a clock which they said had 
been running three years and 10 months 
with one set of batteries. Extra batteries 
cost $1, and are easily attached. The 
clocks complete sell for $15 to $100. The 
motive power being gravity, the most con¬ 
stant of forces, correct time is assured, 
and the bother of winding is done away 
with. w. w. H. 
Bone Cutter. 
The value of green cut bones for 
fowls has been repeatedly proved, both 
by tests at experiment stations, and by 
practical feeder’s. This cutter is intended 
for the use of small flocks. It will cut 
enough for a flock of GO hens in three 
minutes, and cut it fine enough for little 
chicks. If you have a dozen or more 
hens, you want one. The price with crank 
is $7. We will send it for a club of five 
subscriptions at $1 each, and $5 extra 
money, or free for a club of 20 at $1 each. 
A GREAT WATCH 
FREE. 
switching-tower? Does it ever occur to 
you that the lives of every living person 
on a train frequently depend on the prompt¬ 
ness and intelligence with which he moves 
the switch levers under his control ? 
If men could only realize how small a 
thing may act at the critical instant to 
switch them from a dangerous track on to 
one of perfect safety, the yearly deaths 
from lung diseases would be less by many 
thousands. 
“ I had a regular consumptive cough, of which 
I was afraid, and everybody cautioned and 
warned me concerning it,” says Mr. A. F. 
Novotny, P. O. Box 1437 , New York, in a signifi¬ 
cant letter to Dr. R. V. Pierce of Buffalo, N. Y. 
“When I started to take your medicine I was 
losing weight rapidly; I was very pale and had 
no appetite whatever. I used three bottles of 
Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery and now 
my condition is changed entirely. I do not 
cough at all; I have gained eight pounds in 
weight, have gained my healthy color; and my 
appetite is enormous. I can and will recommend 
your medicine to everybody who may be in need 
of it; as it is a sure cure, and no humbug as so 
many other patent medicines are. It is by far 
the superior of all.” 
One chapter of Dr. Pierce’s great thou¬ 
sand-page illustrated book, The People’s 
Common Sense Medical Adviser tells of 
nearly one hundred men and women thus 
promptly switched from the track of death 
by this matchless remedy. This book is 
sent free for the bare cost of mailing, 21 
one-cent stamps or cloth-bound for 31 
stamps. But only one copy to one family. 
Now, boys, here is your oppor¬ 
tunity—men, too, for that matter. 
Here is a watch made by one of 
the largest watchmakers in the 
country. It is full size, stem wind 
and set, nickel finish, and war¬ 
ranted to keep accurate time. It 
is just the kind of watch to carry 
at any kind of work. We will 
send it postpaid and one new 
yearly subscription for $1.90; or 
we will send it free for a club of 
four yearly subscriptions at $1 
each. Any boy can get up a club 
of four yearly subscriptions 
among his friends in a short time 
and get the watch absolutely free. 
1 The Rural New-Yorker, New York. 
