9o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 30 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, 1 
H. E. Van Deman, VAssociates. 
Mrs. E. T. Roylk, ) 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8 V% marks, or 10*4 francs. 
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 Price 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 30, 1899. 
The years pass rapidly in middle life. The new 
year comes with flying feet. We must now close the 
lids of another volume of The R. N.-Y. 
Tne book is completed, and closed is the day, 
And the hand that has written it puts it away. 
Next week’s paper begins a new volume. We have 
decided not to make a detailed statement of what we 
expect to do next year. The space required for any such 
statement belongs to our readers. There is, we feel 
sure, a good understanding between readers and ed¬ 
itors. The former recognize that the latter must do 
their level and honest best to keep the good old R. 
N.-Y. at the front. Both from a business standpoint 
and a sentimental point of view, we cannot afford to 
become lazy or easily satisfied. We recognize the 
fact that new times demand new ideas and new ener¬ 
gies. The new volume of The R. N.-Y. will contain 
the best work and skill we are capable of putting into 
it. That is the only promise we care to make. Of 
course we hope that all our old friends will march 
with us through the year 1900—with many new re¬ 
cruits as well. Whether you do or not, you may all 
be sure that you have our best wishes for the New 
Year. Here’s our hand for good luck and good living. 
* 
Some of our western readers ask what effect the in¬ 
troduction of electric or trolley lines will have upon 
farm property. Connecticut is the great trolley State, 
and some of her farmers are telling us what they 
think about it. We think many of Mr. Fenn’s conclu¬ 
sions, page 899, are correct. It would make a better 
showing for the farm, however, if the electric roads 
were forced to carry freight and express packages at 
a fair rate. 
* 
Next week we begin the publication of some valu¬ 
able articles on the use of hydrocyanic acid gas. As 
most readers know, this gas is used for fumigating 
trees or plants afflicted with the San Josd scale insect. 
It is also used in buildings for killing rats and other 
vermin. In Maryland, nurserymen are compelled by 
law to use this gas on all stock. The Canadian gov¬ 
ernment has adopted the Maryland plan. Prof. W. 
G. Johnson is to tell us just how the gas is used in the 
fumigating room, in the orchard, or in buildings. 
These articles will be very valuable. 
* 
In listening to discussions of the “Trust” question 
at many farmer’s meetings, one is impressed with 
the difficulty in finding a true remedy or fair method 
of handling this great subject. As a rule, nine-tenths 
of the time will be spent in denouncing trusts and ex¬ 
plaining their harmful influence. When it comes to 
suggesting a remedy, most speakers launch out into 
thoroughly impracticable ideas or walk about the sub¬ 
ject as carefully as though they were treading on 
eggs. It seems to us that by this time it ought to be 
pretty well understood that these combinations are 
sti'ong because they have monopolized public privi¬ 
leges that belong to the whole people. The quickest 
and simplest way to fight them is to take these public 
advantages away from them, whenever they use them 
against the public interest. 
* 
If oleo, when put on the market, had a peculiar 
taste or a distinct color of its own, so that one could 
distinguish it from butter as he can salt from fresh 
beef, there would be no need of laws to regulate its 
manufacture and sale. Much the same is true of the 
substances used to preserve milk. If they gave some 
strong taste to the milk we could tell them at once— 
and use them or not, as we saw fit. The fact is, how¬ 
ever, that those who sell oleo and “embalmed milk” 
try their best to palm them off as true butter and 
pure milk. If they were obliged to tell the truth 
about their goods, they know that few, if any, would 
pay the price of the real article for them. That is 
why restrictive legislation that will force such men to 
be honest is fair to both producer and consumer. 
• 
* 
Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, a commander of the 
Filipino forces, was killed at the head of his band 
on December 2, while defending a mountain pass in 
the Island of Luzon. On December 14, ceremonies 
were held in New York and Washington in commemo¬ 
ration of the centenary of the death of the liberty- 
loving General Washington. His virtues as a farmer, 
statesman, and successful commander were truthfully 
extolled, and the sturdy blows he struck against mili¬ 
tary imperialism commended in the highest terms, but 
the eloquent speakers did not choose to draw a paral¬ 
lel between Washington and the brave but obscure 
leader who had just met a soldier’s death while de¬ 
fending his country. The Filipinos are a simple agri¬ 
cultural people, not devoid of keen intelligence, but 
wishing to live out their lives in a natural way. Their 
leaders have heard of the fate of the Indians of North 
America, and the status of the colored people in our 
Southern States. They appear to believe that Anglo- 
Saxon commercial domination means a reduction of 
their people to the ranks of helpless wage-slaves, 
precariously employed, driven beyond their natural 
strength when at work, and at best, paid with a 
scanty allowance of trust-made goods; a heavy, hope¬ 
less, saddening existence, under which they will surely 
sink. The American red and black men might be in¬ 
clined to agree with them. 
* 
Last Winter the papers had much to say about the 
wonderful $30,000 carnation, Mrs. T. W. Lawson. 
Though not yet generally disseminated, Mrs. Lawson 
has several close rivals already, one of similar shade 
being Ethel Crocker, which, in the opinion of some 
good judges, has more life in its tint than the Law- 
son. But at the present time the most costly variety 
of carnation sold in New York is an unnamed seed¬ 
ling, designated at present by number. It is white 
mottled with pink, the flowers four inches across, and 
borne on stiff stems two feet long. All the flowers of 
this variety go to one fashionable New York florist, 
who retails them at $7.50 a dozen. The originator is 
a Long Island florist, who is, at present, satisfied to 
reap a harvest from the flowers, without arranging 
for the sale of plants. Carnations increase, rather 
than diminish, in popularity, and prices for the cut 
blooms are very firm this Winter. Big flowers are de¬ 
manded before every other quality, but there is no 
doubt that the fragrance and lasting qualities of the 
carnation have much to do with its popularity as a 
cut flower. 
* 
The government of Denmark has again offered the 
United States an opportunity to purchase its posses¬ 
sions in the West Indies, consisting of the Islands of 
St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, and St. John, all lying south¬ 
west of Porto Rico. St. Thomas has a magnificent 
harbor, and its capital, Charlotte Amalie, is a town of 
remarkable tropical beauty, but the island is other¬ 
wise of little consequence, being mountainous and 
subject to protracted droughts. Santa Cruz possesses 
considerable fertile land; St. John is sparsely inhab¬ 
ited, and of little practical value. The present price is 
not named, but about 30 years ago these islands were 
offered by Denmark for $7,000,000. A treaty was ne¬ 
gotiated by the American Secretary of State and Den¬ 
mark, and submitted to the Senate, accepting the 
islands at that price, but was rejected, the majority 
declining to consider any extension of territory out¬ 
side of the mainland of North America. A popular 
vote was previously taken in the islands on the ques¬ 
tion of annexation to the United States, and only a 
few dozen negative votes were cast out of a total of 
nearly 15,000, so overwhelming was the desire to come 
into the Union on account of the great commercial ad¬ 
vantages of free trade with this country. The Danish 
West Indies are of trifling value agriculturally, and 
only of consequence to this country on account of 
their strategic position, as furnishing additional coal¬ 
ing ports and harbors for American shipping and war 
vessels. They will never appreciably compete with 
American farmers in any product that can be culti¬ 
vated successfully in our present Continental limits, 
and it is quite likely that our Senate will authorize 
the purchase, if the price be not too high. The main 
production is sugar cane, which has been largely dis¬ 
tilled in rum during past years; rice and tropical 
fruits are also exported. There is no need to sacrifice 
hundreds of useful lives and untold millions of revenue 
in the distant Philippines, when tropical islands are 
on the market at our very doors, to say nothing of 
the injustice of coercing unwilling peoples. 
The R. N.-Y. has deeply regretted the battle withiu 
the ranks of those who should fight under the banner 
of honest butter against oleo. One side insisted on 
forcing the fight on the basis of a 10-cent tax on all 
colored oleo. Others opposed this plan, until those 
who should have faced the enemy were assailed by 
insult and hard words from the rear. It was like 
an army standing still in front of the enemy's camp, 
debating whether it should make a bayonet charge or 
attempt a long-range battle. It is safe to say that 
if this fight had been kept up much longer, oleo 
would have come out ahead. From the first we have 
advised the dairy champions to get together, and to 
make a fair compromise, and we are glad to see that 
this was done at the New York State Dairymen’s 
meeting. Now stop calling names and making up 
faces, and get down to the first business on hand. 
That is the passage of what is known as the Hill- 
Grout bill. Let this become a law, and all food 
products carried from one State into another will be¬ 
come subject to the laws of the State where they are 
sold. At present the dealer will try to crawl around 
the point that if he sell oleo in the original package— 
that is, the package in which it was first packed—he 
can escape the law. This bill will stop that business. 
It will make no difference then where or how the 
stuff was packed. It must stand on its own merits. 
When this bill becomes a law we do not see that 
those who have opposed the 10-cent tax will haYe 
any fair, grounds for opposition. The Hill-Grout bill 
cannot be passed unless we all get behind it and push 
it hard. The wind spent in talking may better be 
spent in pushing. Begin now and snowball your Sen¬ 
ators with letters urging them to vote for this meas¬ 
ure. It makes little difference whether you make 
butter or merely eat it. The principle involved in this 
bill is a true and wise one, and every farmer in the 
country should support it. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
THE GOLDEN RULE UP-TO-DATE. 
“Be to others kind and true,’’ 
Our grandsires oft rehearse, 
“As you’d have others be to you, 
And none will be the worse.’’ 
But in the modern race for gold 
The rule we make anew: 
When goods are bought, when goods are sold, 
Do others, lest they do you. 
M. G. K. 
As a suggestion in economy, don't waste any words. 
God’s best gift to man—health. Best gift tree—the 
apple. 
Would it be correct to describe an incubator as an 
egg plant? 
Santa Claus saw something green in the eye of 
Nature this year. 
A tough job—chasing the market! A soft job— the 
market chasing you. 
To think is to act.” Good, but let there be 1C 
thoughts to one action. 
It is asserted that Congressman Roberts, having 
three wives, is guilty of trigamy. 
Happy that speaker who can “air his views,” and 
leave behind no evidence of snooze. 
Reasons against too many windows in the henhouse 
are given in “Biddyville” story on first page. 
It is not inaccurate to describe sausage as ground 
hog. At any rate, it is now going under cover! 
Find a man who says he can’t live without eating 
meat, and you will probably find one who never tried 
it. 
The proposed treaty with the Sultan of Jolo recog¬ 
nizes slavery under the protection of the Stars and 
Stripes. 
An annex to a better place this poor old world would 
be, if those who bark and bite could just agree to 
disagree. 
The Denver Times-Sun says that stock cattle are 
being brought from New York State and sold around 
Lincoln, Kan. 
A seedsman sold Canary seed for Dwarf Essex rape. 
He didn t know one from the other. He should go 
out of business. 
American trotting horses are going to Russia to be 
used in improving the Russian horse. The trotter is 
certainly a rusher. 
Cincinnati is shipping quantities of beer to Manila, 
and the trade is increasing fast. Evidently, we are 
extending the benefits of modern civilization. 
Impure air is heavier than warm, fresh air. Then, 
why not let it drain away through openings near the 
floor? Why try to force it out at the top? 
“Say nothing but saw wood.” When your wife says 
this, and can point to an empty woodbox, the only 
thing you can do is to carry out her advice to a T. 
The “Story of Biddyville” is a good one, for Mrs. 
Leghorn is a strong character in the drama of farm 
life. The houses are practical and useful. One man, 
you will see, put up a house which the cows could 
occupy in case Mrs. Leghorn failed to fill the bill. 
The cows haven’t moved in yet! We shall have more 
about the food and care next week. 
