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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 23 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TI1E BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homei. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, VAssociates. 
Mrs. E. T. Royle, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04. equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8 y t marks, or 10francs. 
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 line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “ Adv .,” 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Prick 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. DECEMBER 23, 1899. 
After a long debate at the New York State dairy¬ 
men’s meeting at Cortland, an agreement was reached 
on the oleo question. It was practically agreed to 
support the bill providing that oleo coming into a 
State shall ue subject to State laws. It was also 
agreed that the 10-cent tax shall be pushed. Now, 
up and at the enemy! 
* 
The last New York Legislature passed a law regu¬ 
lating the size of fruit packages. This law was 
needed, but there were so many of the old-sized pack¬ 
ages in stock that no great efforts were made to en¬ 
force it. Now the State Agricultural Department will 
take measures to make the law respected. Many of 
the smaller and illegal packages still come from 
neighboring States. Here is a case where State co¬ 
operation should be practiced. New Jersey, Con¬ 
necticut and Massachusetts should enact similar laws, 
so as to have, as nearly as possible, packages of uni¬ 
form size sent to the New York market. The fruit 
growers in these States should bestir themselves this 
Winter and secure laws based on the present law in 
New York State. 
* 
The old “Gallinoculture Institute” is evidently get¬ 
ting in its work of educating the people in poultry 
matters, and incidentally hatching a few dollars out 
of their poclcetbooks. The papers are now printing a 
long article entitled A Homemade Incubator, telling 
how to hatch chickens by the use of horse manure. 
A metal box, with a ventilator and frames for the 
eggs, is covered with warm horse manure, leaving a 
place for ventilation, and for putting in the eggs. Ac¬ 
cording to the experts of this famous “Institute,” all 
you have to do is to put in the eggs, and the manure 
Will do the rest. As a sample of the reasoning 
adopted by these experts, we give the following from 
their article: 
If you would like to know what profit may be made 
from an incubator you may logically reckon thus: Hens 
have a laying capacity and a hatching capacity. On an 
average a hen will lay 130 eggs annually. She sits on say 
12, and hatches out of this number eight or nine chickens. 
Now, if the other 11S eggs, which are only worth about 
two cents each, were put into an incubator, it would be 
safe to assume that the product would be 90 good, fat 
pullets, worth at least 50 cents each, or $45. As the care 
and feed of those amount to 50 per cent of their value, 
the net profit of one hen would be $22.50. 
We wonder how many poor people will be swindled 
out of their hard-earned money, into paying for fur¬ 
ther particulars regarding this so-called “invention.” 
The rascals who instituted this “Institute” have been 
at it for years. 
* 
The proposition to redeem the outstanding three, 
four and five-per-cent United States bonds at their 
present market value, and issue in their place 30-year 
bonds, bearing two to 2% per cent interest, which is 
a part of the gold-standard currency bill now before 
Congress, has somewhat of an alluring sound, and 
will doubtless cause many to overlook the other dan¬ 
gerous features of the measure. It is argued that any 
reduction of the National interest bill, even at a con¬ 
siderable present sacrifice, will prove a benefit to all, 
which is undoubtedly true, but there are other ways 
to reach the desired point without making an imme¬ 
diate present of nearly $150,000,000, the premium 
which must be paid on the bonds to be called in, to 
the already inordinately rich capitalists, and the 
establishment of a multitude of new banks to monopo¬ 
lize the new issues. If a postal savings bank, on the 
lines of those long in successful operation in most 
civilized countries, should be established, and low in¬ 
terest bonds of as small denomination as $50 offered 
at every money-order post office, it would not be a 
great while before a fund sufficient to call in all the 
high rate bonds wanted would be available. This 
would give industrious and economical persons a 
chance securely to invest their savings, and would 
practically bring the most secure of all savings banks 
to the door of every farmhouse, but the money-hand¬ 
lers would not get much of a “pull” out of such a 
refunding scheme; so it is likely to be indefinitely 
postponed. 
* 
It may not be known, outside of a very few who 
have looked into the matter, that the Kieffer pear is 
canned by the wholesale and labeled Bartlett. Some 
of the big Baltimore packers have done this, and now 
have the goods on the market. Their books also 
show the same deception, as a very truthful and ob¬ 
serving friend recently told us. They show no record 
of Kieffer pears bought, but Bartlett instead. The 
plan is to push the handsome but poorly-flavored 
Kieffer product on the reputation of the Bartlett. 
This is a fraud pure and simple. We are told that 
there is not a can of Kieffer pears to be found in the 
market labeled as such, in the face of the fact that, 
the past season, hundreds of carloads of them were 
bought and put up by the canners. Is this a case for 
the courts, such as the false California brands that 
have met with such just censure? 
* 
The American Consul at Batavia, Java, states that 
he hears from many credulous Americans who are 
persuaded that they are entitled to fortunes left by 
East Indian relatives in the Dutch colonies. Ap¬ 
parently the same swindlers who have deluded people 
In this country with fairy tales of vast English 
estates awaiting claimants have now turned their at¬ 
tention to the Dutch East Indies. Consul Everett asks 
the State Department to warn people against these 
frauds, as there are no fortunes awaiting claimants 
in Java, and if there were, under Dutch law the claims 
would be outlawed. Such claimants usually say that 
the ancestor went to Java with the colonial army, but 
the Consul says that many of these soldiers, who were 
distinct from the regular army, went to Java under 
assumed names, and could not be traced. Many also 
married native or half-caste women, and their prop¬ 
erty went to their children. Better not spend any 
money in tracing the East Indian fortune of a Dutch 
uncle! 
* 
Several years ago it was the custom, whenever a 
Congressman died, to turn his funeral into a pro¬ 
longed junket. Members of the House and Senate 
were appointed to attend his funeral, and unlimited 
supplies of liquors and cigars were provided at public 
expense. Some of the scenes enacted at these funerals 
were positively disgraceful. When Nelson Dingley, of 
Maine, died, this performance was carried out, al¬ 
though Mr. Dingley, during his lifetime, was a pro¬ 
nounced temperance advocate, and opposed to liquor 
drinking and excesses. The public took the matter 
up, and protested vigorously at such scenes at public 
funerals. This seems to have had a good effect, for 
at the recent funeral of Vice-President Hobart, no 
liquors were provided, Mnuoh to the satisfaction of 
decent people. Some jAticians who like to drink at 
the public expense, w<^Klisappointed at this outcome, 
but they had to put up svith it, and we hope that this 
starts a new era of temperance public funerals, if we 
may put it that way. 
* 
Vermont people appear to have a habit of taking 
the bull by the horns whenever necessary. When the 
bull has been dishorned they take hold of the ring in 
his nose. Old Ethan Allen got to Ticonderoga before 
the British soldiers finished their sleep. Admiral 
Dewey sailed into Manlila Bay while the Spaniards 
were rubbing their eyes. While many fair associa¬ 
tions were dodging and twisting over the demand for 
a clean fair, the Vermont State Fair managers printed 
this notice in large type right In their premium list 
pamphlet: 
Now, then, three-card monte and shell-game men; 
snides, gamblers, fakes and bums of every sort, kind and 
description, take notice! That gambling of every sort 
and form, and the sale of beer, ale, wine or other intoxi¬ 
cating liquors will be excluded from and about the 
grounds. If, as you say, we cannot run without you 
and your goods, we will close our gates. We neither 
want nor will w r e tolerate you, and by this we serve 
notice upon you that if you come, prison doors yawn 
for you. 
That’s business, and it brought business, for the 
people turned out and backed it up. Why is it that 
those who ought to lead and set the pace for the 
common people will crawl and dodge, as most of 
them do? We venture to say that a great majority of 
those who attend agricultural fairs will endorse every 
word of this notice. 
There is great need, in this country, of a National 
fertilizer law. At present the various States have 
laws controlling the sale of fertilizers which vary 
greatly in their requirements. Some of these laws 
are not intended to protect farmers so much as they 
are designed to add to the revenues of the State by 
taxing the fertilizer makers or dealers. In the mat¬ 
ter of analyses alone these various laws cause great 
confusion. For example, in one State a mere state¬ 
ment of the per cent of nitrogen, potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid is required on the tag. In another great 
detail is required. As a result the fertilizer makers 
who ship to many different States print a long and 
confusing analysis in order to cover the various re¬ 
quirements on one tag. We receive hundreds of let¬ 
ters from farmers asking us to translate these analy¬ 
ses for them. A National law providing for a plain 
and simple statement, which might be prepared by 
the Government chemists, would greatly simplify mat¬ 
ters, and prove a convenience to both maker and 
buyer. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
THE PINE TREE’S STORY. 
Yes, here’s an end of me—in this backyard— 
Cast out, rejected, only fit to go 
On rubbish piles—yet I don’t take it hard, 
For I have had my day of royal show. 
My life was spent amid the northern snow 
Where tempests harped their songs through me—one day 
Upon my heart the ax fell, blow on blow, 
Then came a long, dark journey and I lay 
On the hard pavement of the city—there 
I heard them bargain for me—I was sold. 
They straightened out my limbs with love and care 
And decorated me -with white and gold. 
I held out loving gifts—a Christmas tree— 
The children danced before me—the white head 
Bowed with earth’s sorrows looked in hope to me, 
I brought the old life message from the dead. 
Yes, I have had my day—a whole lifetime 
Crowded within those few bright hours; I go 
Willingly now, with memories sublime, 
Into oblivion, for ’tis best, I know, 
To die if need be for the old, old tale— 
The Christmas story that can make men free— 
Than to grow up against the mountain gale 
A forest giant living selfishly. 
BAi.L-bearing potatoes, page 8S3. 
By the farm the town is fed; by the town the farm is 
bled. 
Wanted Knowledge about keeping strawberries in cold 
storage. 
The long Indian Summer has enabled us to scalp many 
Fall jobs. 
Advice to Mr. Monopolist—put not thy trust in public 
necessities. 
Yes, sir, the man who uses freezine in his milk should 
be frozen out. 
The best way to get lots of fun out of life is by putting 
lots of fun into it. 
Ihe time for political growling is before the caucus, 
and not after the election. 
Among your New Year’s resolutions, determine to re¬ 
enforce your faith with abundant works. 
W^e claim that a corporation should never be permitted 
to enjoy a monopoly and a tariff together. 
“The things that concern you not, meddle not with,” is 
the wise inscription borne by an old Scotch bell. 
We read about a public man and fancy him a hero, but 
when we meet him face to face, we’re apt to call him 
zero. 
Prices of farm products are controlled by supply and 
demand, are they? But who controls the supply of money 
that satisfies demand? 
The English thought the African Dutchmen wouldn’t 
fight because they are farmers. The scythe seems to be 
mightier than the sword. 
We look upon Quebec as a pretty cold country, yet a 
letter written on December 4, states that pansies were 
still in bloom in that Province. 
Foreign military authorities decide that stilts may be 
used to advantage in putting up field telegraph lines. 
Why wouldn’t they be handy in pruning trees? 
No, sir, it isn’t fair for the farmer to expect top prices 
for everything he sells and bottom prices for everything 
he buys. He can’t expect to have the whole thing. 
There are likely to be exports of gold, because England 
must have more money to carry on her African fight. 
Uncle Sam can lend her gold and sell her food for her 
soldiers. 
Under the existing bounty law, Michigan beet-sugar 
makers have earned $98,555 in bounties during the past 
season. Infant industries appear to require liberal 
feeding. 
Australia sent 86 tons of eggs in one consignment to 
Great Britain October 27. This was a record shipment, 
and would arrive in England in time to be used in Christ¬ 
mas fare. 
When the farmer obtains good prices for the butter 
and eggs he is comfortable, for the women folks handle 
most of the money. There is a good deal less comfort 
in the larger sums which the farmer himself handles. 
A New York handwriting expert, giving testimony in 
a murder trial, was accused of having gone into the 
chicken business, thereby lessening his ability as a chi¬ 
rographic judge. He testified that he raised fowls purely 
for recreation, putting in $6 for every dollar he took out. 
He must be raising robber hens! 
