1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
9 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Strawberries from Florida. —A few miserable, 
small, soft, withered-looking strawberries were re¬ 
ceived from Florida just before Christmas, and the 
receiver said that he couldn't get enough for them to 
pay transportation. It’s too far to ship strawberries 
except by cold storage or in iced boxes. They must 
come in good condition to bring paying prices. 
X X X 
Poultry at any Price. —“ Don’t let him get away !” 
was the admonition of a commission dealer to a sales¬ 
man who was laboring with a prospective customer 
over some turkeys for which he was asking 10 cents a 
pound; this, too, when choice turkeys were selling 
quickly at a half more. There was so much of this 
inferior stuff that no possible chance of selling it was 
lost. It was found everywhere, and buyers knew that 
they had the advantage, and many sales were made at 
much less than 10 cents. The only consolation seems 
to be that many who couldn’t otherwise afford tur¬ 
key, can indulge at these low prices. 
X X X 
Weight of Barrel of Potatoes. —Potatoes, when 
sold in bulk, require 180 pounds for a barrel. 
Most of those arriving in barrels, probably, don't 
weigh much more than 165 to 168 pounds to the bar¬ 
rel. The German potatoes now arriving, weigh 112 
pounds per sack. Most of the potatoes from nearby 
points come in open barrels, that is, with no upper 
head. Sometimes fruits and potatoes are quoted at 
so much per d. h. barrel. This means simply that the 
barrels have two heads, being headed up tight, as 
most fruits and potatoes must be to be shipped to any 
great distance. Sometimes barrels of vegetables are 
covered with canvas. After the barrel is tilled and 
rounded up, the canvas is spread over, and the top 
hoop put in place and driven down, thus holding it 
firmly. 
X X X 
Poultry for British Markets.— The Dominion 
Department of Agriculture has just issued a bulletin 
on this subject. This trade is only in the experi¬ 
mental stage, and little has been done in the way of 
building up a regular business. Little doubt is ex¬ 
pressed that a large trade can be developed if proper 
methods of dressing and packing are adopted. The 
quality must be good, and a regular supply be furnished. 
Turkeys, especially, will meet a good demand, if they be 
dressed, packed and shipped to meet the requirements of 
the market, and are likely to bring prices equal to those 
of the turkeys imported from Continental countries. 
The price varies, but is said to range from about 10 to 
18 cents per pound wholesale for the best birds in 
good condition. The demand is usually good from 
about Dec. 1 to March 1. The trade is affected by un¬ 
favorable weather less than formerly, as cold storage 
facilities are now provided. For the Christmas trade, 
the larger sizes command the best prices, and these 
should be marketed then; the demand for smaller 
sizes continues until March. The turkeys should be 
graded as to size, those of nearly equal weight being 
packed together. f. h. v. 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
A new scheme in irrigation, proposed by Gov. 
Leedy, of Kansas, is the establishment of a 1.700- 
mile canal, extending from Montana to Texas. This 
would divert the waters of the Missouri and Missis¬ 
sippi valleys, impound them, and release them when 
needed, at a cost of only §360,000,000 ! 
In November, 1896, German farmers sent 808 bushels 
of potatoes to England ; in November, 1897, they sent 
225,898 bushels. During the same month, France sent 
to England 28,831 bushels in 1896, and 94,279 bushels 
in 1897. During last November, other countries sold 
England 513,644 bushels of potatoes. English potato 
growers feel some alarm over the amazing increase of 
foreign importations. 
This season, the Canadian Government has subsi¬ 
dized an additional number of steamships running 
from Canada to ports in Great Britain, in* order to en¬ 
courage the shipment of perishable food products. 
State aid has, also, been granted to assist cold storage 
of such material in transit, the Government assist¬ 
ing and encouraging the building of cold stor¬ 
age warehouses, and the use of cold storage 
cars. The Canadian Agricultural Department is 
making experimental shipments of fruits, including 
tomatoes, to England and, altogether, our northern 
neighbor is making strong efforts for transatlantic 
trade. Our producers on this side of the boundary 
must make every effort for excellence in quality and 
packing, and also insist upon the best transportation 
facilities, that they may be able to meet competitors 
in the foreign markets. 
The French Chamber of Deputies has recently in¬ 
creased the duties upon pork, lard, and hog products. 
There was some opposition to this measure, on the 
ground that it would be unwise to jeopardize negoti¬ 
ations with the United States on the subject of silks 
and wools, this country being directly interested in 
the hog products affected ; but the bill was passed by 
a large majority. During the past three years, France 
has imported pork and hog products to the value of 
§24,000,000, while her exports did not exceed §5,000,000. 
The New York dairymen did well to agitate the 
question of cheese making, and to inquire into the 
reasons why Canadian cheese excels ours. Statistics 
show that Canadian cheese exports have increased 
over 400 per cent during the past few years, while 
ours have fallen off. Dairymen should know the true 
reason for this, and govern themselves accordingly. 
One reason why cheese prices are low is that not 
enough cheese is consumed, largely because of the 
poor quality of much of the cheese sold. The talk of 
overproduction is nonsense. Some of the cheese sold 
is dishonest. Filled cheese and skim cheese are sold 
for full-cream. Then much is sold before it is prop¬ 
erly ripened. Good cheese should be found upon every 
table in the country ; now it isn’t found upon one- 
quarter of them. 
Even the export business in oleomargarine and 
oleo oil is falling off. In the 10 months ending last 
October, there were sent abroad 3,391,859 pounds of 
“oleo’’and 96,973,064 pounds of the oil. In the cor¬ 
responding 10 months of 1896, there were exported 
5,221,162 pounds of the grease, and 97,758,048 pounds 
of oil—a difference all told amounting to §1,039,254. 
Two-thirds of the oil was sent to Holland, and over 
20,000,000 pounds went to Germany. It is made into 
the grease in these countries, and often shipped to 
England. Our stringent laws against bogus butter 
have driven the business of manufacturing it over the 
sea. Think of it, ye dairymen, in these same 10 
months, only §4,300,114 worth of American genuine 
butter were exported, and only §5,017,519 worth of 
cheese. “ Oleo ” ahead of both ! 
The following little sentence in a news dispatch 
from Washington lets in a whole flood of light upon 
various dark political places : 
Many Republicans advocate an increase of $1 a barrel in the 
tax on beer, in view of the condition of the Treasury, but the 
proposition is regarded as dangerous from a political standpoint. 
Why dangerous from a “ political standpoint”? Be¬ 
cause the liquor men might throw their influence 
against “ sound money ” or tariff or some other “issue ” 
if they are forced to pay more for the privilege of 
making and selling beer. The whole business of 
politics has become so much a matter of bargain and 
sale that true public sentiment has about been 
squeezed out of it. There are many people in this 
country whose political digestion is too good. They 
can swallow and assimilate almost anything rather 
than “ hurt the party.” They save the party but hurt 
the country. 
At one of the New Jersey Farmers’ Institutes, an 
interesting feature was the presence on a front row of 
seats, of a dozen boys from the school at the Hirsch 
colony at Woodbine. These boys belong to a class 
which is studying agriculture under the supervision 
of the manager of the colony. Each had a pencil 
and note book, and used them, too, and many were 
the questions that emanated from this front row. 
These boys set good examples to many an older farmer, 
and took back with them many points on the various 
subjects discussed. Prof. Voorhees asked one of the 
youngest, a boy not a dozen years old, the difference 
between beans and wheat. “ The bean is a legume, 
and wheat is a cereal,” was the prompt reply. “ But 
what is the difference between a legume and a cereal ?” 
persisted the professor. “One gets its nitrogen from 
the air, the other from the soil,” was the ready reply. 
“Yet some people say that we can’t teach boys agri¬ 
culture,” was the comment. 
At last, the syndicate of milk dealers which was 
discussed in The R. N.-Y. of November 20, has filed 
articles of incorporation at Trenton, N. J. The name 
given is The Farm and Dairy Product Company of 
Jersey City. The capital is stated to be §15,000,000, 
coming mostly from London, the rest from New York, 
and the company intends to do business within and 
without the State of New Jersey. The principal field 
of operations will be Greater New York, and the 
central distributing depots will be in Jersey City and 
Hoboken. Five incorporators are named, two from 
Brooklyn, two from New York, and one from Elizabeth. 
N. J. But little more can be gleaned as to the plans 
of the company than has already been given. It pur¬ 
poses to change the methods of milk distribution and 
thus effect a considerable saving. There are predic¬ 
tions that it will not be able to carry out all its plans, 
but it certainly has plenty of capital behind it, and 
the outcome will be watched with great interest. Its 
charter allows it to handle not only milk, but all 
dairy, poultry and other farm products. The pro¬ 
moters say that this extension of business is not con¬ 
templated at first, but it is readily seen what a tremen¬ 
dous business would be opened up should the company 
extend its operations to all the products which its 
charter allows. 
In the State of New* Jersey, §10,132,392 worth of 
property escapes taxation, through a law which ex¬ 
empts firemen. w r ar veterans and members of the 
militia from payment on §500 worth of property. The 
farmers of the State appear to be about unanimous 
in favor of taking such exemptions away, and a strong 
effort will be made this year to repeal the law grant¬ 
ing these exemptions. The State of New Jersey col¬ 
lected §2,180,549.37 last year as taxes on railroads and 
other corporations. The railroad and canal compa¬ 
nies paid §1,104,346.85 of this, and five life insurance 
companies paid §152,534.78. As a result, there is no 
State tax—and the corporations own the State of New 
Jersey. Injustice to farmers comes from excessive 
local assessments and taxation. The exempted prop¬ 
erty of firemen and others is usually in town or vil¬ 
lage. They have the chief benefit in the way of im¬ 
provements while, whenever possible, farmers are 
heavily taxed to pay for the improvements. New Jer¬ 
sey farmers will throw all their influence against 
these exemptions. 
Environment has much to do with mental and 
physical character. What we call breeds of live stock 
are distinct classes developed by differences in food, 
care and locality. The character of the ground, the 
food, whether condensed or bulky, the climate and 
the water supply have all had an influence in changing 
the original type, and producing what we call breeds. 
Breeds or types of men are developed in much the 
same way. For instance, the Kansas City Journal 
has this about Kansas. 
Kansas does not hide her light under a bushel. Perhaps one 
reason is that all the bushels are in use measuring the State’s 
enormous grain crop. Kansas is a great advertiser. If she is 
having hard times, the whole world knows it ; she shrieks calam¬ 
ity to beat the baud. If she is prosperous, she blows her own 
horn until the echoes resound from ocean to ocean, and wake up 
the drowsy nations beyond. 
The brains and backbone of Kansas came from New 
England, and as the Springfield Republican well 
says, the old Yankee farmer did not work that way. 
In bad times, he kept his mouth shut so tight that the 
laughing muscles became paralyzed. He worked 
harder and said less in the face of disaster. He 
talked poverty only in good times, and rarely boasted 
of his prosperity. Life on the prairies has made a 
new breed out of his grandchildren. We would like 
to know just when the spirit of bluff and brag crept 
into his blood ! 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Toe grain drill and the seeder have combined to make hand 
sowing of grain a lost art. It is well enough in its way that it is 
so, because it saves a great deal of hard work. The Champion 
seeder spreads the grain thoroughly and evenly, and is operated 
with great ease. It is made by the Champion Seeder Co., 
Urbana, Ind. 
The Successful incubator is manufactured by the Des Moines 
Incubator Co., Des Moines, Iowa. We see, by reference to the 
annual catalogue, that the manufacturers’ guarantee is such as 
to leave very little to be desired. This 130-page catalogue is 
crowded with good things that ought to be in the hands of every 
man or woman who is interested in poultry in any way. Send six 
cents in stands and secure it. 
Those farmers who get tired of hauling grain through mud or 
over snowbanks to the grist mill to have the best ears picked out 
for toll, or put up cash for grinding, will be interested in the 
French burr mills. They do the work quite as satisfactorily as the 
large mills, and do not require very much power to do the work 
But send to Nordyke & Marmon Co., 270 Day Street, Indianapolis^ 
Ind., for book on mills. They send it free. The purpose, of 
course, is to advertise and sell mills, but the information and the 
mills are both good. 
We yet go considerably out of our way to buy our teas of the 
Great American Tea Company, 33 Vesey Street, New York. This 
house has been importing tea for nearly half a century, or since 
the birth of The R. N.-Y., and their long experience and large 
ti ade have put them in a position to retail tea at a price even 
much below the wholesale cost to most country dealers. Many 
country people buy their whole supply of this house, either by 
mail or express. We believe that they save money and get better 
goods in so doing. 
So much has been said and written to show the advantage of 
feeding roots to livestock, that it would seem useless to say more. 
Not so much has been said as to the advisability of cutting roots. 
For this, a good machine is needed. O. E. Thompson & Sous, 
Y r psilanti, Mich., make such a machine—the Banner.. It does not 
cut roots into squares, regular or irregular pieces, or even slices, 
but it shaves off a long thin half-round shaving that presents no 
obstacle to consumption by even the young lambs. It is the only 
cutter made that is equipped with a self-feeding device which 
keeps the roots always pressing upon the knives. It also has a 
shaking grate which shakes up the roots on their way to the 
knives, thoroughly separating all adhering particles of dirt, etc. 
The Banner is made in four sizes for operating either by hand or 
power. The capacity ranges from 40 to 400 bushels an hour, 
according to convenience of feeding the roots and the power. 
With anything like ordinary care, these machines will last a life¬ 
time. If you need a root cutter, write at once for catalogue. 
