24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 8 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbket S. Cabman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Hkkbebt W. Colunowood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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8 s. (id., or 8J4 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
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of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “ Adv.," 75 cents per 
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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 8, 1898. 
A reader asks whether any one in this country has 
ever milked ewes for butter or cheese-making, as is 
done in the old country. The Secretary of the Dorset 
Breeders’ Association tells us of a Dorset ewe that 
was milked, and the cream used for butter-making. 
That is all we can learn about it. Most Americans 
will vote ewe milking as very small business—yet it 
may give bigger returns than second-rate fast horses. 
O 
Our correspondents make it clear this week that the 
certificates of freedom from the San Jos6 scale which 
some nurserymen are sending out, may or may not 
have value. Personally, we would give little weight 
to such certificates if no other evidence were offered. 
However skillful or conscientious the entomologist 
may be, he cannot possibly examine every tree and 
shrub in a nursery. It is true that he would be likely 
to find the scale if it were present in larg-e numbers, 
but that does not give full protection to the buyer. 
In the end, we must trust to the honor and intelli¬ 
gence of the nurserymen for our best protection. 
O 
The Breeders’ Associations of New York State will 
hold their annual meeting at Cornell University, 
Ithaca, Jan. 6 and 7, in connection with the New York 
State Sheep Breeders, the Western New York Jersey 
Cattle Breeders, and the Cheshire Swine Breeders. 
This promises to be a valuable meeting. Business in 
all classes of live stock is picking up. Meat, dairy 
products and wool are all in fair demand at improved 
prices. The wisest men bought improved stock last 
year or the year before, when prices were down. Wise 
men may still get in at the front door. A meeting 
like this one at Ithaca gives one a chance to get at 
the breeders, and to learn what they want to do. 
O 
In the account of Canadian mixed farming, mention 
is made of the advantages in such a system of farm¬ 
ing by reason of the variety of occupation furnished. 
This is emphatically true ; there is an advantage in 
frequent change of occupation. But there is another 
side to the matter : the greater number of crops grown, 
and the more diversified interests involved, require a 
much greater amount of headworlt to keep everything 
moving smoothly, and to prevent neglect and loss 
through want of oversight and attention at the proper 
time. There is a great deal more fun and less tire¬ 
some routine in diversified crops, but there is, also, a 
necessity for more skill and greater watchfulness, 
that all may have timely attention, and that nothing 
may suffer. 
Postmaster-General Gary is very enthusiastic in 
his advocacy of postal savings banks. He wishes to 
have such provision made that every post office shall 
become a depository for the savings of the people, no 
matter how small the amounts, and shall pay a small 
rate of interest thereon. The scheme has much to 
commend it. Practically, the same plan is in opera¬ 
tion in Great Britain. An intelligent Scotchman, in 
speaking of the matter, said that the great difficulty 
in the way of its success in this country is the lack of 
police protection, and the insecurity of the post offices 
in the country. The deposits of money in these poorly 
protected places would form rich booty for thieves. 
There is less danger from this source in the old coun¬ 
try, because police protection is better. He spoke in 
the highest praise of the advantages and conveniences 
of the system, which is an old-established one. The 
school children, even, may open an account. A would- 
be depositor may get a book at the post office where 
he may happen to be, make any deposit he may desire, 
go to any other post office, or to as many as he de¬ 
sires, deposit more money, or draw out money at any 
place he may wish to do so. The government pays a 
low rate of interest, probably about the same as the 
savings banks. The system is an admirable one to 
encourage the saving of money by those people who, 
otherwise, would have no means of putting it in a 
savings bank, and also helps to put money into circu¬ 
lation that would otherwise be hoarded up, and be 
unproductive. Needless to say, the bankers in this 
country are opposed to the adoption of any such sys¬ 
tem by our Government. 
O 
Mr. Davenport, on page 25, shows the injustice of 
the freight rates on vegetables and fruits. A farmer 
might pack one barrel each of apples, potatoes and 
pears in barrels of similar shape and size, and ship 
them in the same car. The rates would be 25, 18, 
and 35 cents per 100 pounds respectively. It would 
be just as reasonable for the railroad company to 
charge different rates for a man, his wife and his 
mother-in-law, in case they traveled together. Some 
men might be willing to pay extra rates for the ship¬ 
ment of a mother-in-law, but they will draw the line 
at pears and grapes. This is a matter that fruit 
growers and farmers ought to take up at all their 
meetings, and make a noise about. The committee 
appointed by the last Farmers’ Congress is collecting 
statistics about this and other cases of railroad extor¬ 
tion, and some of their figures will startle shippers. 
O 
There are three things about the potato market 
that ought to be considered by those who are holding 
their stock for a high price in the spring. The total 
crop of the country is small. In ordinary years, farm¬ 
ers do not ship large quantities of second-sized pota¬ 
toes. This year, small potatoes have found a ready 
sale, and thousands of bushels that, in other years, 
would not have been sent, have been sold early at 
fair prices. Thousands of bushels that, in other years, 
were fed to stock or thrown away, have this year been 
saved and used for home consumption—thus leaving 
free for market as many more bushels of good pota¬ 
toes. All over the South, farmers and gardeners are 
planning for an immense early crop which will begin 
to come before the old stock is fully cleared up. The 
chances are fair, therefore, that the farmers who are 
holding their potatoes in expectation of a high price 
in March or April, may be disappointed. 
O 
A case recently decided in Connecticut affords a val¬ 
uable precedent in rural sanitation. The city of New 
Britain pours much of its sewage into a small stream, 
known as Piper’s Brook. A dairyman, whose farm 
was situated on the banks of the stream, a little below 
the city, found that his cattle were unable to drink 
the water of the brook, because of its pollution, and 
he brought suit against the city for indemnity. The 
case was bitterly fought, but the Superior Court of 
Hartford County finally decided in favor of the plain¬ 
tiff, and ordered the city of New Britain to pay both 
damages and costs of Gie suit. The city will be sub¬ 
ject to further fine if it persist in maintaining the 
nuisance. Doubtless there are many similar cases, in 
which farmers or dairymen silently endure the very 
same evil, without feeling in a position to protest; 
yet, in equity, a man so situated has a valid claim 
against the city guilty of this pollution. It must be 
remembered that, should a man so situated wash his 
milk vessels in the polluted stream, or stand open cans 
in the stream to cool the contents, and an outbreak of 
typhoid fever should occur among the users of the 
milk, the negligent board of health which permitted 
the pollution of the stream would at once hold the 
unfortunate dairyman responsible for it. 
O 
What will these scientific men do next? A German 
surgeon undertakes to prove that the human stomach 
is not a vital organ. He found a woman suffering 
with an incurable tumor in her stomach, and as an 
experiment, he cut the entire organ out, raising the 
small intestine and sewing it to the end of the oesoph¬ 
agus ! The wounds healed (this was on September 6, 
1897), and the woman is still living, having gained in 
weight and strength. She can eat and digest, each 
day, one quart of milk, two eggs, seven ounces of 
meat, seven ounces of oatmeal gruel, one cup of tea, 
two rolls, and half an ounce of butter. All organs of 
the body, except, of course, the removed stomach, 
work perfectly, and what is more remarkable, the 
patient is 56 years old. There are a number of cases 
where dogs have survived the removal of the entire 
stomach, and parts of the human stomach have been 
removed with success. Our scientific friends conclude, 
from this experiment, that the digestive capacity of 
the human stomach has been greatly overrated. The 
chemical and digestive work of the stomach may, cer¬ 
tainly, be performed in the intestines. In fact, the 
chief office of the stomach seems to be to serve as a 
reservoir for the food, and to regulate its temperature. 
We have no idea that this operation will ever become 
popular as a cure for dyspepsia or stomach-ache, but 
it illustrates how scientific experiment and research 
are upsetting many of our cherished notions and 
theories. Who knows what old friend will be struck 
down next ? 
O 
We always hesitate about printing such an article 
as that of Mr. Stanton, on page 19. We have every 
reason to believe that his statements are correct. He 
has exhibited his ginseng at the fairs, and is, un¬ 
doubtedly, growing it with success. At the same 
time, we realize how the story of such remarkable 
crops will strike a hard-working farmer who really 
feels that he has done his best to make the most out 
of his farm. Such men will not always stop to under¬ 
stand that Mr. Stanton has spent more than 12 years 
studying and experimenting with ginseng. Too 
many will want to rush into this new business on a 
large scale. After the first year or so of hard work, 
success will seem further away than ever, and they 
will give up in disgust, blaming all those who helped 
put the idea before them. There is, doubtless, money 
to be made in growing ginseng, just as there is in 
producing butter or eggs or potatoes or fruit. Most 
of us who read the stories that experts tell about 
these crops, and then try to carry out their instruc¬ 
tions, find often by sad experience that there is a part 
of success which no man can give or sell. It is either 
a natural part of the man—born in him—or so rubbed 
in by hard thinking and careful work that nothing 
can take it out. There is a part of your ticket to 
success that you must struggle for and earn for your¬ 
self, or you will never have it. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
A fellow turning 40 years is pretty apt to find 
Quite suddenly, that youth has jumped, and left him far behind. 
To hide the bald spot on his head is really quite a chore; 
He finds that he is never ranked with “ young folks ” any more. 
The boys refuse to call his name, when choosing up for ball, 
The older men want whiter hairs—he has no place at all. 
He is not hay—he is not grass—he’s neither old nor young, 
And all the cherished wine of life seems running from the bung. 
Society is all upset, and evil is on top; 
It won’t be long before you hear the whole performance drop. 
Oh! life is blue at 40 years, for those who cannot find 
God’s mercy in the coming years, but turn their eyes behind. 
So vainly grasping for life’s straw that lies behind them dead. 
Unmindful of the golden grain stored up for them ahead. 
And mighty little sympathy they find along the way; 
Some cynic listens to their tale, and then has this to say: 
“ The world is moving upward—you are only standing still, 
Your liver's out of order, and you only neeed a pill." 
Don’t add fuel to a feud. 
The fighting ewe is useless. 
Hard eider may lead to a hard sigh. 
Don’t let your faith get lazy — work it. 
The robber hen is troubled with mal lay ria. 
The “ kicker ” is an advocate of the missile-toe. 
Too many people make each working day a daze. 
Monday is a weak day for the Sunday bicycle rider. 
How the Southern people do crack up the Velvet bean ! 
A pie-ous fraud—the old rooster when he gets into chicken pie. 
How many New Year’s resolutions have been dissolved already? 
Ip your seed eye be single, your whole potato crop will be light. 
That question about agricultural education on page 23 is a 
good topic for discussion. 
“ Yes,” said the cat, after smacking her chops over her ancieut 
enemy, “I am well ra(tled.” 
Are you going to experiment with whitewash on peach trees to 
retard the buds ? Why not ? 
The fraud with the big ear of corn made of several smaller 
ones glued together has reached New York State. 
A bill before Congress would extend the term of Congressmen 
to four years. A partial cure for stumpy-jaw in politicians. 
For an idle horse fed on stalks or hay, we like to mix five parts 
bran and one part oil meal, and feed three to five pounds per day. 
There are said to be more Leghorn poultry breeders within 25 
miles of Petaluma, Cal., than in any other spot of equal size in 
the country. 
What is the difference between the pigment in the feathers of 
the Black Minorca and that of the White Leghorn ? One is crow- 
shade (crocheted) and the other—nit! 
The Irish praise our Secretary of agriculture for his aggressive 
search for a foreign butter market, and adduce this as an argu¬ 
ment for a department of agriculture for Ireland. 
“ Yes,” said Prof. Nitash, “ my lecture on Atmospheric Nitrogen 
was so effective that it turned all the farmers that were present 
into legumes.” “ How do you know it ?” “ I noticed the nod ules— 
they all went to sleep.” 
Mr. Garrahan has told us about his use of dynamite in blow¬ 
ing out stones. Letters are coming asking more about its use. 
Many people want to use the stuff, but are afraid of it. They 
hardly know which end of it to touch. 
Among the Christmas attractions in New York City, was a 
mince pie 10 feet in diameter and four inches thick. The “mince” 
in it weighed 80 pounds ! The crust contained 24 pounds of flour 
and 16 pounds of butter ! There is stomach-ache for you. 
A new English discovery in vaccination is the use of sterilized 
vaccine lymph. The power of the vaccine is increased by the 
process, while the destruction of malignant bacteria prevents the 
painful sore that usually follows vaccination. In this process, an 
admixture of glycerine is used with the calf lymph. 
