1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
853 
RURAL TELEPHONES COMING. 
Homemade ’Phones. —I have had 
many useful ideas given me by The 
R. N.-Y., and will tell you of a very 
convenient telephone that my neighbor 
and I put up,connecting our houses, 500 
feet apart. At first we used baking- 
powder boxes cut in two, with a piece 
of bladder or skin tied tight over one 
end. The wire used was small (No. 18) 
copper wire, two pounds being used, 250 
feet to the pound; cost 30 cents per 
pound. Common iron stove-pipe wire 
would have been as good, and much 
cheaper. This was passed through a 
hole, one-half inch, bored through the 
window frame and fastened on the in¬ 
side of the skin by a metal button with 
an eye. The wire must be pulled tight, 
and is supported by several small poles, 
from which it is hung in a loop of string 
tied to an arm on the pole, so that the 
wire does not touch the wood. It works 
well, the smallest sound being heard. 
A clock has been heard to tick in a room 
500 feet away. We now use receivers 
bought of Ingersoll & Bro. for 50 cents 
per pair, in place oi the homemade ones, 
so that our telephone cost us $ 1 . 10 , and 
has been in use three years. To call up, 
we tap on the button with a nail. 
New Paltz, N. Y. J. h. s. 
A Vermont Line. —Last September 
Hon. A. E. True, of Kansas, was in town, 
visiting some of his old friends and 
neighbors, and told them of a local tele¬ 
phone line he had built at home, advis¬ 
ing his friends here to do the same. 
Subscribers have been secured to build 
14 miles this Fall, from West Corinth to 
Bradford, our railroad station. A part 
of the line is now completed, and six of 
the telephones are in position, and are 
working well. Anyone can hear a watch 
tick from one end of the line to the 
other, and where farmers have -the 
poles, so that they can cut and set them 
themselves, the cash outlay need not be 
over $20 each to buy a good telephone 
and wire, etc., for the half mile each 
subscriber is responsible for. After the 
line is built the subscribers have free 
use of their ’phones without any rental 
to pay, only enough to keep the line in 
repair, so a farmer cannot afford to be 
without a telephone. Where two, or 
three, or more neighbors can join to¬ 
gether and build to some central place 
in town, and there connect with other 
lines, they can soon have a good service, 
and so cheap that anyone can have a 
’phone to visit with his friends, if for 
nothing else. We expect our line will 
continue on 'in other parts of the town 
and county next Spring. k. h. w. 
Corinth, Vt._ 
OHIO FRUIT NOTES. 
Our strawberry beds that escaped the 
ravages of grubs last year bore a fine 
crop this season. Glen Mary, with us, 
is not as healthy in plant, nor quite as 
productive, as Bubach. It seemed quite 
a good deal firmer, however, a little 
darker in color and of better flavor. 
Clyde was immense for the first three 
pickings, after which it dropped off in 
size so suddenly, and had such a ten¬ 
dency to scald in the sunshine, that it 
went down several degrees in our esti¬ 
mation. It is surely a fine grower, per¬ 
fectly healthy and very productive. Sin¬ 
gle plants, in thinly-matted rows, threw 
up as many as 20 fruiting stems, and 
produced over 200 berries. 
Raspberries, owing to the very severe 
Winter, were about one-quarter of a 
crop at our place. The Gregg was al¬ 
most a total failure, but our little patch 
of Shaffer came on with an enormous 
load of fine fruit. This season is the 
first the Gregg has ever failed to pro¬ 
duce a good crop. Rows upon which last 
year we picked from 1 to 1 y 2 bushel at 
a single picking, yielded not over four 
quarts at any one gathering this season. 
The new canes have made a good 
growth however, and the old plantation 
is quite promising for next year. One 
thing that struck me quite forcibly, in 
regard to the bearing of Gregg, was the 
fact that the only canes in the patch 
that came through the Winter in condi¬ 
tion to produce a fair crop were two 
rows, at one side, which had not been 
pinched back, while growing last sea¬ 
son. This was conclusive evidence of 
what I have long believed—that an old 
plantation is much more liable to win¬ 
terkill if the new growth be pinched 
back during the growing season. It is 
true that I have always practiced Sum¬ 
mer pinching, as it gives a broad, 
nicely-balanced head; but, after all, 
plants grown in this way produce very 
little more fruit than single straight, 
strong canes pruned back at the height 
of three or four feet, as such a cane 
will throw out fruiting stems from the 
ground up, while the broad or branched 
cane usually produces only upon the 
laterals. f. h. ballou. 
Ohio. 
Great Grass. —We have often referr- 
eed to the heavy grass crops grown by 
Mr. George M. Clark, of Connecticut, 
and have told how it was produced. Mr. 
Clark sends the following report for this 
year. It is remarkable, considering the 
dry season: 
My crop this year covers 7% acres 
originally seeded to equal parts of Red- 
top and Timothy, 16 quarts of each kind 
of seed to each acre. A part of it has 
been seeded 10 years, and a part of it 
three years. All of it has a fair stand, 
particularly that part of the field that 
has been seeded 10 years; this section of 
the field contains seven-eighths acre, 
and has yielded over 80 tons of well- 
dried hay in 10 years. I did not expect 
much of a crop this year, for the reason 
that I had little time to devote to it, 
yet I have cut the largest average crop 
this year that I have ever had. I used 
4,500 pounds of Rogers & Hubbard’s oat 
dresser, and spread over the field 600 
pounds to the acre, and when it was 
time to cut and put in the barn the hay 
was very thoroughly dried, and weighed 
75,755 pounds, nearly 38 tons. Its cost 
for each ton of hay in the barn was, for 
fertilizer, $3; spreading same, 15 cents; 
cutting and securing crop in barn, $ 1 . 20 ; 
total cost, $4.85. The hay is now worth 
$16 per ton in the barn, a clear net profit 
of $11 for the first crop. The second 
crop, without additional fertilizer, yield¬ 
ed a little over 7% tons, and cost $2 per 
ton to cut and put in barn; a profit of 
$14. A net profit on the first crop of 
$416; second crop, $105. A total net 
profit of $521; over $500 from 7% acres 
in the year 1899. 
Grapes in Central New York. 
Subscriber.— 1. Are Moore’s Diamond and 
Diamond White grapes one and the same? 
2. Do the following grapes, Woodruff Red, 
Moore’s Diamond, Agawam, and Brighton, 
require Winter protection in central New 
York? 
1. Diamond White and Moore’s Dia¬ 
mond are the same grape. 2 . I find that 
it pays to trim grape vines early in the 
Winter and lay them on the ground. If 
is not necessary to cover 'the vines com¬ 
pletely. They can be held down with 
earth, stones or chunks of wood. This 
protects them from the drying winds 
when zero weather prevails. Some 
Winters this is not needed. They might 
escape unharmed for five years and 
then nearly all varieties be lost, should 
the thermometer run from 15 degrees to 
30 degrees below zero. It requires but 
little labor to do this, and makes a crop 
more certain. Out of 30 varieties one 
Winter, all were lost excepting the 
Woodruff Red. The Agawam, Moore’s 
Diamond and Brighton need protection. 
c. MILLS. 
Little Strokes 
Fell Great Oaks . 
The giants of the forest must yield at 
last to the continual blows of the •woods¬ 
man. When the human blood has become 
clogged and impure the little drops of 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla, properly taken, will 
fell the oak of bad blood. 
Never Disappoints 
25c. SAMPLE BOTTLE IOC. FOR NEXT 30 DAYS. 
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ilAfdmnnuWmWill 
iTmTAnwAnnYAWAYArm** 
WWMAWAW&AVAtAW2kWArAWA7ArAVAUr&*m 
ELWOOD 
FENCES 
are the Standard Woven Wire Fences of the World. Standard in quality of spring steel 
wire, standard in heavy galvanizing, standard in efficiency, durability and economy. 
Standard for every fencing purpose, for horses, cattle, hogs, pigs, sheep, poultry and rabbits. 
STANDARD OF ECONOMY— Moro of our fences sold and put up in 1899 than of all 
other woven wire fences combined. Sold by our agents everywhere. If no agent in your 
town write to 
AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE CO., Chicago or New York. 
best iu the world for boys. Just as reliable 
and advisable for men. 
1 7—with Plain Open Sights.$6.00 
No. 18—with Tui-get Sights. 8.50 
^Whore these rifles are not carried in stock by dealers ws 
will send, express prepaid, on receipt of price. 
Send xtamp for catalogue. 
fj. STEVENS ARMS A TOOL CO., Box 1..20 
Chleopeo Fulls, Musa. 
No Trouble to Show 
the excellencies of I*»ge Fence if you put It in use. 
The use of an article decides Its merits. 
PAGE WOVEN MIKE PENCE CO., ADRIAN, MICH. 
1,000 SAMPLES FREE 
of our new Success fence ratchet 
which tightens any wire fence, new 
or old. Grips automatically as wire 
is wound on. No holes to bore in posts. Attaches 
midway of the fence. We will mail you a sample to 
test if you will send us 12c. to cover postage only. 
Cir. free. W. H. MASON & CO., Box 67. Leesburg, O. 
A Carving Set. 
Every family needs a carving set three 
times a day. This set consists of a Shef¬ 
field caxver 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 4 §l each. 
1000 STOVES GIVEN AWAY 
See Offer on Page 835, "> 
The R. N.-Y., December 2. 
C. K. MORRISON, __ 
Albany, N’. Y. 
