THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 29 
72 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established i 860 . 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collinowood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, I 
Mrs. E. T. Rotle, {' 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
- Associate Editors. 
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Address all business communications and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New' York. 
SATURDA Y, JANUARY 29, 1898. 
A header wants to know whether he can separate 
inilk and then return a portion of the cream, so as to 
guarantee a uniform quality, and churn the remain¬ 
ing cream for butter. It would be easy to do this, 
and thus guarantee any desirable standard, but in 
New York State, it would render the person so doing 
liable to prosecution for selling adulterated milk, 
under that section of the law that defines adulterated 
milk as “ milk from which any part of the cream has 
been removed.” Skim-milk is a cheap and healthful 
food, but under this law, it cannot be sold here. 
O 
The Bicycling World tells of an Indiana farmer who 
has rigged up his bicycle on a stout frame, and con¬ 
nected it with his churn, so that he can do his pedaling, 
read his morning paper, and churn, all at the same 
time. He thus gets the full benefit of the exercise, 
that is, if the arrangement is outdoors where he gets 
fresh air, runs ho risk of running over pedestrians or 
other obstructions, or being himself run over or chased 
by stray dogs. But a less expensive machine than a 
bicycle would answer the same purpose, and a dog or 
goat would do the churning just as well. Let’s get 
away from this man-power business as far as possible, 
and have more headworlc. 
O 
During the past year, three persons have been killed 
at railroad crossings within two miles of the writer’s 
home in New Jersey. At least a dozen others have 
escaped death or injury almost by a hair. The New 
Jersey railroads pay a large share of the State’s public 
expenses, and therefore, conclude that they should 
enjoy special privileges. They disobey the laws and, 
as a result, the slaughter at grade crossings is terrible. 
A bill is now before the New Jersey Legislature which 
will compel railroads to place flagmen at grade cross¬ 
ings when ordered to do so by governing boards. It 
ought to be passed at once. The railroads will, of 
course, oppose it. Start right in now and make your 
assemblyman and senator understand that you favor 
“ The entomologists are doing us more harm 
than the bugs !” Some nurserymen go so far as to 
make that statement, because of the alarm that has 
been sounded over the San Jos6 scale. These men say 
that the scale is no more dangerous than the Codling 
worm. For the sake of argument, this may be granted, 
but the Codling worm is not carried into clean orchards 
on the trees. That is the way the scale is carried. 
Nurserymen and entomologists should all get together 
and agree upon laws that will be fair to all. If we 
are to soak this scale in law, let’s have a law that will 
hold water. Better nip the scale before it buds. The 
German fruit growers are so afraid of the scale that 
they want an embargo against all fruits, plants and 
trees from the United States. 
O 
We have told our readers of the immense crop of 
potatoes which the South is preparing to send us. 
Here is a note from a grower in Alabama, that tells 
the usual story : 
Don’t you bet too heavily on high prices for potatoes next 
Spring, for there will be one of the heaviest crops planted, if not 
grown, here in the South that ever was known. They are mostly 
Bliss’s Triumph. A large quantity of this sort was grown near 
Mobile last fall, and is now being shipped away by the car-load 
for seed. 
We do not bet, anyway, and in this case„it would not 
be worth while to take the risk of a heavy frost in 
early March. That would keep back the southern 
crop, but we think there is a good supply of northern 
potatoes still held back for shipment. If the southern 
crop get through safely, the chances are all against 
high prices next spring. 
O 
The newspapers announce the fact that certain 
American women are organizing a society called 
“ Daughters of the Crown”, which is composed of per¬ 
sons who can “trace their pedigrees back to royalty.” 
Some of these women think that they are direct lineal 
descendants from Alfred the Great and other historical 
personages. If some of the old fighters and freeboot¬ 
ers who made England prosper 1,000 years ago, could 
step out of history and preside at a meeting of these 
“ Daughters of the Crown ”, their audiences would be 
likely to faint or run for the police. It is a good thing 
to have such personages 365,000 days behind you, so 
that you may safely live on the ideal. Let’s see—it 
was Tennyson who said : 
From yon blue Heavens above us bent, 
The grand old gardener and his wife, 
Smile at the claims of long descent! 
We suggest the last two lines of that quotation as a 
motto for the new order ! 
O 
We assume that there are, among our readers, a 
number of persons who are considering the plan of 
trying their fortunes in Alaska this year. In almost 
every neighborhood we visit, there are people who are 
seriously thinking about the trip. Young men or men 
of middle age who, for some reason, have failed to 
secure a satisfactory foothold in the world, dream of 
the gold along the Klondike, and are ready to pit their 
lives against it. One of our Ohio subscribers, who is 
now on the Pacific coast, sends the following sensible 
note : 
Tell your readers that unless 19 out of 20 can stand the hardest 
of hardships, and afford to fail, to stay away from the country. 
I have personally met old-timers who have been there, and what 
they say is quite different from the reports we see published in 
the majority of the papers. There is plenty of gold in Alaska, 
but I am satisfied that a year from now will be a better time for 
most men to go, for the reason that the country is difficult of 
access, and supplies high now. A year’s time will make a big 
difference, as roads w’ill be built, and supplies in large quantities 
taken in this year. 
There appears to be a great rivalry between Seattle 
and other ports for the trade of those who are making 
for Alaska. The fact seems to be that much of the 
mining excitement has been worked up as an advertise¬ 
ment for these places. The correspondent referred to 
advises would-be miners to fit out at Chicago or 
Tacoma. Our own opinion is that 99 out of 100 men 
will be better off to remain at home and expend there 
the energy required to climb from the sea coast to the 
Klondike. Some men, however, can learn only from 
experience. The trouble is that when that teacher 
gets through with them they are just about used up ! 
O 
Last week, we entered a protest against any com¬ 
promise in the suits brought by the State of New 
York against the Armour Packing Co. This firm has 
deliberately violated the oleomargarine laws, and now 
wants to get out of it by paying a little over one per 
cent of the claims against it. Here are samples of the 
way leading dairymen regard this cheekjr proceeding : 
I am not familiar with the matter, but I am quite sure that, if 
New York State owed Armour $1,700,000, he would demand full 
payment. For the State to compromise for the paltry sum of 
$20,(XX), is simply absurd. We pay him round prices for his 
goods, let him do the same by us. jessk owen. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
I am most emphatically of the opinion that, if the State has a 
clear case, it should not compromise with the Armour Packing 
Co. I can see no valid reason for donating this company $1,700,000. 
They knew the law, and with their eyes open, they tried to 
frighten the people of this State and dominate its markets. It 
seems to me that the cases should be pushed to their legitimate 
conclusion, and if the Armour Co. owes the State $1,700,000, or a 
less sum, that sum should be collected. i. p. Roberts. 
Cornell University. 
You know the old saying, “ Let the tail go with the hide.” If 
the great State of New York, after bringing suits for over a mil¬ 
lion and a half dollars, can sustain them, only to the extent of 
a paltry $20,000, why, let the tail go with the hide, and let us have 
some laws that we eau enforce, and not put the Empire State in 
the. position of a blackmailer, or one that needs protection for the 
evasion of her laws. I speak from the standpoint of the farmer, 
not the attorney. c. m. lamonte. 
Owego, N. Y. 
I do not see how our great State of New York can thiuk, for one 
moment, of compromising with Armour & Co. They are either 
guilty or innocent. If they are innocent of the charges, it is 
doing them a great injustice to extort $20,000 from them, and 
could be safely termed blackmail. If they are guilty, can we as 
a State afford to compromise with lawbreakers ? What are our 
laws for, to protect vice or virtue ? I for one say, let the suits go 
on, and if Armour & Co. can establish their innocence, let them 
go free of costs. We are spending millions in other ways which 
seem to me to be of much less importance to the general 
public than this most important case. a. chase Thompson. 
Owego, N. Y. 
The New York State Agricultural Department had a 
great opportunity in these cases to prove its value to 
the farmers of the State. A strong company brazenly 
defied the legal power of the people of New York. The 
Department should have accepted that challenge and 
fought the battle to the end. Instead of a giant fight¬ 
ing for the people’s rights, we witness the spectacle 
of a dwarf hiding behind a paltry compromise ! 
It seems a pity that farmers in potato-shipping sec¬ 
tions who raise one or more car-loads of potatoes, can¬ 
not or do not find their own market instead of being 
at the mercy of the local buyers. If a man is a care¬ 
ful grower, particular with his seed, raises clean, 
smooth potatoes, then at digging time carefully sorts 
them, it seems too bad that his potatoes must go in 
the same pile with John Jones’s, whose only anxiety 
seems to work in the largest number possible of small, 
scabby, green and prongy potatoes. The shipper 
doesn’t dare throw them out, because Jones will draw 
to the other buyer. It’s a fact. It’s not encouraging 
to the careful, honest grower. If we were in his 
place, we would spend some time and go to consider¬ 
able expense, if necessary, to find some reliable party 
to whom we could ship potatoes, and who would ap¬ 
preciate honest stock. Then we would see that all 
the potatoes shipped him were A No. 1. We have 
seen many a load of potatoes whose looks would have 
been greatly improved by sorting out one bushel. 
Most people have some friend, relative or some one 
somewhere who could help them, often gladly, find 
this customer. Do not strike the largest cities always, 
as better prices can often be obtained in towns and 
cities of moderate size where such business is not over¬ 
done. The following telegram was actually sent to a 
large shipper who was buying for a combination of 
dealers not 1,000 miles from New York : “ Crush them 
out, no matter what it costs ! Charge to us ! ” It referred 
to a smaller concern of buyers who were selling on a 
little less margin between buyer and shipper than the 
combine thought was sufficient. After they were 
crushed, the buyer could pay the farmers about what 
he liked. It can be said to the credit of the buyer that 
he didn’t do the “crushing act”. There are a few 
decent buyers who have some sympathy for the farmer, 
although the majority seem to think him fair prey. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
“THE OLD MAID.’’ 
Dim-eyed, stern-visaged, all tlie bloom and light 
Of youth rubbed out by hard aud bitter years; 
With deep lines on her face that mark the fight 
Where woman’s will has mastered back the tears. 
The months go by—the slow years go and come, 
With balm of happiness for those who give 
Their lives to keep the nestlings safe at home. 
She, sad and lonely, unlike them must live 
On the starved memories of love denied, 
Aud yet remembered; for her heart was laid 
Far in a soldier’s lonely grave, beside 
Her boyish lover—silent, brave old maid— 
True to the dead as when she bade him go 
And die, if need be, at his country’s call, 
Though the cold hand of years has packed the snow 
Around her very soul. Yet, through it all 
Alone, misunderstood, saddened, denied, 
What earthly love can offer mortals, she, 
The faded, dim old maid is glorified; 
God will reward her—God and only lie. 
Barley loves a coat of lime. 
It's back bone that makes a bold front. 
Top-work the children—make them think! 
The donkey figures out his feelings by alg ebray. 
Whisky is bad anywhere—even in the cow’s tail. 
Some hogs are so fat that they must lean or fall down. 
A whisky broom sweeps character clean off the earth. 
Why does the chicken business render a man lie able ? 
Did you ever get too much of a good thing at one time ? 
“ There’s something rotten in Denmark ”—a gerrny nation. 
The muscles of the hen’s leg do much to scratch out the egg. 
What is the objection to a small Testament as a “pocket book” ? 
Reports are that this open Winter is hard on the Crimson clover. 
The female of the Army worm produces 500 to 700 eggs. A great 
bug-bear. 
No man ever top-grafted himself with brains by putting on a 
high silk hat. 
A female gardener, and a hen in the flower bed, furnish a shoo 
boil without any horse. 
The broiler aud the veal calf have no hope of posterity. Their 
fathers are of little consequence! 
If men haven’t sense enough to notice your good -works, that’s 
no reason why you should stop doiug them! 
The Lord may have made the “ scrub ” as a storehouse for the 
animal vigor “ selected ” out of the pure bloods. 
A Californian claims that the Winesap apple, as grown in his 
State, is able to resist the attacks of the Codling worm. 
The cow pea is a beau—not a has-been, but a being. Cow-pea 
vines are to a corn crop what baked beans are to a New' England 
man. 
Farmers are asking about the value of marl as a fertilizer. We 
would not consider the phosphoric acid in it as of any particular 
value. 
A Wisconsin man seven miles from market says that 1,200 
bushels of potatoes were hauled past his house before 11 a. m. on 
January 13. 
The “ Veneer wrappers ” mentioned as protectors for fruit trees 
are thin sheets of poplar wood w'hich will fold easily around the 
tree w'ithout breaking. 
He travels to the institute, the speakers know he’s there, he 
gets right up and makes the feathers fly. His tongue is like a 
razor, and he lays the figures bare, for lie’s loaded to the muzzle 
with a w'hy ? 
Several weeks ago, we spoke of the tariff on kangaroo tendons. 
It seems that they are used in surgery in sewing up cuts in in¬ 
testines and other delicate operations. They are absorbed with¬ 
out leaving any irritating results. The tail of the ’possum answers 
much the same purpose. 
