8 
January 1 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 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. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of 
Post-office and State, and what the remittance is for, appear in 
every letter. Money orders and bank drafts on New York are the 
safest means of transmitting money. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1898. 
According to a decision recently entered by Justice 
Dykman. of the New York Supreme Court, trees, posts, 
and barndoors are not legal advertising mediums. 
The assessors of the town of New Castle, N. Y., posted 
their tax notices upon such places, instead of adver¬ 
tising in the local paper and, in some difficulty con¬ 
cerning an assessment, a taxpayer took the ground 
that the assessors had not complied with the law in 
properly publishing their notices. This opinion is 
sustained and, as this case will be cited as a precedent, 
local boards will do well to remember the ruling, since 
such publication of legal notices is a common practice. 
O 
During the past year or two, many retail butchers 
and grocers have given “ trading stamps ” to their 
regular customers, these stamps representing a dis¬ 
count upon purchases. The stamps were pasted in a 
little book, and a rebate given when a certain number 
were collected. First started as an advertisement, the 
trading stamps soon became a regular craze, and 
dealers who objected to the practice were compelled 
to adopt it, to meet competition. A decision recently 
rendered by Judge Shepard of the Court of Appeals of 
the District of Columbia holds that these stamps are 
illegal, and within the meaning of the act of Congress 
prohibiting lotteries and gift enterprises. 
O 
The fact that tuberculosis is, essentially, an indoors 
disease, has been brought out repeatedly in the dis¬ 
cussions of that subject in The R. N.-Y. The free 
range cattle of the West, which supply our best beef, 
are far healthier than pampered shut-in herds. It is 
in accordance with this teaching that consumptive 
invalids in the Adirondacks are kept out-of-doors, 
wrapped in furs, in the bright sunshine of piercing 
winter days. During the old days before the Union 
Pacific Railroad, every wagon-train would take con¬ 
sumptives, who recognized the possibility of health in 
the rough, out-door life. It is said that next spring a 
wagon-train will start from Kansas to Wyoming, 
with a number of invalids who wish to try this old cure. 
G 
Mr. Parr, in speaking of the breeding of Fox ter¬ 
riers, makes the difference between a mongrel and a 
thoroughbred very clear. Hereditary influence prompts 
an animal to do certain things. Where both parents 
have similar habits and desires, the influence prompt¬ 
ing the child to do the same things will be doubly 
strong. Where half a dozen different influences meet, 
of course no single one can be pronounced enough to 
excel. A mongrel cow may have a mixture of two 
tendencies—one to use her food to make tallow and 
bodily growth, and another to utilize the food for pro¬ 
ducing milk and butter. It is easy to see that, if we 
want a daily cow, we should keep the beef-making 
tendency out of her. The way to do this is to breed 
from parents who possess the dairy type and habit. 
The mongrel scatters. The purebred condenses. 
G 
Mr. Garrahan does well to call attention to the 
differences in stable manures. Such manure as he is 
able to buy affords a good bargain in plant food. It 
is less bulky than most horse manure, because it con¬ 
tains less bedding and water. Most of the horse ma¬ 
nure that is sold from the car is not worth one-third 
as much, yet it often costs more per ton. The point is 
that we should estimate the value of the plant food in 
manure as carefully as we do that in fertilizers. The 
time has gone by when we can class all chemical fer¬ 
tilizers under the name of “ phosphate,” because 
we now understand that one mixture may be 
worth twice as much as another. When we compare 
“ chemicals and clover ” with stable manure, we must 
understand that some manures are worth more than 
others. The mule manure that Mr. Garrahan uses 
may be cheaper than chemicals under certain condi¬ 
tions. Such manure as farmers ordinarily buy would 
cost more than the chemicals. It is better to buy bv 
analysis, rather than by weight, smell or bulk. 
G 
One of the things that often holds a farmer back is 
the lack of a definite plan. Most of us are fairly good 
at laying plans, but many lack the courage and 
patience needed to hatch them out. A farm plan, to 
be of any great value, must cover several years, and 
stand the ups and downs of bad seasons and ordinary 
mistakes. A farmer often makes a good plan, and 
thinks it over carefully. Just at the crisis, when he 
should stick to it harder than ever, Mother begins to 
find fault with it, John never did like it, Uncle Henry 
can’t understand it, and Cousin Dick laughs at it. A 
strong man is needed to carry the plan through in the 
face of such opposition, and many good plans have 
failed because they were deserted while under fire. A 
good plan requires months, years—a life, even—for 
its working out, and it requires the strongest part of 
character to carry it through in the face of opposition. 
G 
A special feature of the New Jersey Farmers’ In¬ 
stitute work is the prominent part the workers of the 
State Experiment Station take in the meetings. One 
or two of them are at nearly every meeting. This is 
an excellent idea, though, perhaps, somewhat hard on 
the professors. It enables them to impress personally 
upon the farmers of the State the results of their in¬ 
vestigations and discoveries. It enables them to be¬ 
come acquainted with the people of different parts of 
the State, and familiar with the soil, its products, 
capabilities and needs, thus better able to help the 
farmers just where they need help. It is an admirable 
way of giving the farmers confidence in their agricul¬ 
tural teachers, and making the latter familiar with 
the needs of those who should profit by their teach¬ 
ings. Secretary Dye deserves great credit for thus 
bringing the experiment station people and the farm¬ 
ers together. 
G 
Fruit growers have had a good scare over the San 
Jos6 scale. This dangerous insect is in our midst. No 
one wants to bring it into his orchard any more than 
one wants to bring diphtheria or typhoid fever into his 
house. How shall we guard against it ? How shall 
we know that the nurserymen do not send the insects 
on the trees we buy of them ? Several States compel 
nurserymen to secure certificates signed by State 
entomologists showing that their nurseries have been 
examined. This, however, is no real protection, for the 
entomologist cannot possibly examine every tree and 
shrub in the nursery. He cannot answer for trees 
that are bought to be sold again. Next week, we 
shall give the views of some of our leading entomol¬ 
ogists and nurserymen. They will make very clear 
the danger that threatens buyers of nursery stock, 
and also the need of strong laws against the spread of 
insects and diseases. Wait a week before you buy ! 
G 
Much has been said about the German trade in beet 
sugar. In the 10 months ending last October, Ger¬ 
many sent to this country, 1,059,269,503 pounds of 
sugar valued at $18,867,091. This was the largest 
amount of sugar from any single country—Hawaii 
being next with $13,508,368 worth. This German 
sugar was, by far, the largest import of an agricul¬ 
tural product from any single country, except coffee, 
of which Brazil sent us $38,991,354 worth during the 
same 10 months. Now let us see some of the agri¬ 
cultural products which Germany bought from 
America. Here are the larger items : 
Meats. 
$2,629,985 
Corn. 
. $8,998,544 
Lard. 
8,078,577 
Wheat. 
. 1,796,016 
Oleomargarine. 
1,194,690 
Flour. 
Butter. 
252,037 
Cotton. 
Agri’l implements... 
722,835 
Fruits. 
Horses. 
843,220 
Tobacco. 
Germany ranks next to England as our best foreign 
customer for farm products, and her trade has steadily 
increased. If we were to make such a success with 
beet sugar as to shut off competition from Germany 
and save the $18,000,000 now paid to the Germans, 
what proportion of the $60,000,000 trade in other farm 
products would we lose by so doing ? That is a fair 
question to ask at this time. Here is another fair 
question. What business does Hawaii give us in return 
for the $13,508,368 we pay for her sugar ? In the 10 
months under consideration, we bought of Hawaii 
$13,964,190 worth of goods. She bought of us only 
$4,182,351, chiefly manufactured goods at that. So far 
as the American farmers’ trade is concerned, it would 
be better to continue to buy sugar of Germany and 
continue to sell her people provisions and breadstuffs 
than to annex Hawaii and permit that far away 
island to supply us with sugar, grown by coolie labor. 
Representative cotton growers have been meeting 
at Atlanta and Memphis, and they bring gloomy re¬ 
ports. W ith cotton at five cents a pound, it is impos¬ 
sible for Southern farmers to pay fair wages, pay 
taxes and debts, and buy supplies and fertilizers. The 
growers realize that taxes, debts and -wages are fixed 
charges that cannot well be escaped. The cost of fer¬ 
tilizers and supplies can be largely wiped out if cot¬ 
ton growers will make use of hulls and meal, and use 
crude chemicals with clover and cow peas. As for 
supplies, these growers should produce every pound 
of their bread and meat at home. They might do 
this and still obtain as much money for their cotton, 
for the culture required to increase the food supply 
would make the land more productive for cotton. At¬ 
tempts have repeatedly been made to curtail the cot¬ 
ton crop by requesting or forcing growers to cut down 
their acreage in cotton. There is little to expect from 
this plan. The only hope is to induce growers to try 
to grow the usual amount of cotton on fewer acres, 
and to grow their food in connection with it. For 
that matter, farmers all over the country are giving 
to the grocer, butcher and baker money that ought to 
be kept on the farm ! 
G 
The creamery sharks now working in New York 
State are trying to make use of the New York Exper¬ 
iment Station in their accursed business. They have 
issued a circular to which the Station’s name is signed 
in large letters, in an attempt to show that honorable 
people uphold their methods. Prof. Jordan denounces 
this scheme, and warns all dairymen against creamery 
agents who go about offering unusual profits to farm¬ 
ers. These “ sharks ” usually work in localities where 
there are no creameries. Prof. Jordan thus describes 
one of their favorite methods : 
Oue of the worst features of this w hole business is that there 
can generally be found local men, with whom the farmers are 
acquainted and in whom the farmers place more or less confi¬ 
dence, who are willing, after having been given a little stock, to 
use their influence in deceiving the farmers into a bad business 
enterprise. No words of condemnation are too severe to be ap¬ 
plied to men who consent, for so small a price, to do their neigh¬ 
bors injury. 
The shark always tries to find some local Judas who 
is willing to betray his friends and neighbors for a 
few shares in the new creamery, and this is one of the 
worst features of the whole plan. These frauds are 
working like beavers in New York State just now. 
Sound the alarm all along the line ! 
G 
BREVITIES. 
Says Legume Clover to Miss Rye, 
I think I’m threatened with consumption 
And I will try to tell you why, 
Altho’ I fear you’ve not the gumption 
To fully understand. There are 
Upon my roots, full many bunches 
Called tubercles—bacteria 
Within them now are eating lunches 
Of atmospheric nitrogen— 
Though some folks do call this a merit, 
In common with the sons of men, 
I tubercle oh sis inherit! 
The teetotaller is well bred. 
A bicycle milk wagon is the latest. 
Steam out your surplus self esteem. 
Rye whiskey leads to riot ous living. 
Did Santa Claus claw your poeketbook ? 
A DRAFT makes a great draft on the hen’s health. 
The under dog in the fight is not always the cur. 
Come, scientists, give us science we can cipher out. 
A man may be so full of promise as to be intoxicated. 
No one dreads an increase of waist so much as the fat man. 
Lots of little children go to the grave through the gravy dish. 
Too many things are written up that should be written down. 
“ Variety is the spice of life ’’—not such a variety as Ben Davis. 
Consumption and production come close together in a tubercu¬ 
lous cow. 
How many think that the whey of the world comes from the 
milk of human kindness ? 
Who got eggs enough in November to pay for the feeding of all 
the poultry ? Hands up ! 
Some of our wise men are so terrific in their attempts to be sci¬ 
entific that they scare ordinary people. 
We agree with Mr. Parr that, if American dogs are to be bred 
and raised at all, they should be raised in the country. 
The farmer is likely to be in the thick of all political football 
games. He is usually the football. Without his vote, neither 
class in the town could win. 
Here is a proposition from a Massachusetts reader : “ Say, if 
skimmed milk is to be written skim-milk, why not corrupt it still 
more and make it skimilk ?” Let's get rid of all the surplus m’s. 
A California ranchman has a gasoline engine that pumps 
through a 15-inch pipe from the river 7,200 gallons of water every 
minute, which means 432,000 gallons an hour, or enough to cover 
384 acres one inch deep every 24 hours ! 
The daily papers inform us that France has increased the 
duties on “ pigs, pig products and lard.” Evidently, the polite 
Frenchman is laboring under the impression that lard is not a 
“ pig product ”, and possibly, he isn’t so far wrong as he might be. 
Debt is a demon and frightfully mean, he keeps you worried, 
keeps your good wife lean ; when once he has you in his claw-like 
grip, he cuts your happiness down to the quick. And yet his face 
is like an angel’s when he stands outside to lure you to his den, 
The mortgage seems SO easy at the start, but like a worm it gnaws 
into your heart. 
