628 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 10 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS NAMIERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
BStViJSS?"’ 
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 8V4 marks, or lOyj franc3. 
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., n 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 meacB 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, SEPTEMBER 10, 1898. 
According to the tariff rates at present promul¬ 
gated, which are subject to change, butter, butterine 
and oleomargarine are to enter Porto Rico after pay¬ 
ing a duty of three cents a pound, while the same 
products pay a duty of 1 8-10 cent a pound in enter¬ 
ing Cuba. Spanish laws charged six cents a pound on 
butter, while butterine was not permitted to enter at 
all. The reign of freedom and equality, in Cuba 
Libre, is to include the introduction of butterine 
upon the same terms as honest butter. 
© 
Milk dealers in that part of Greater New York ly¬ 
ing on L ng Island have been notified that they must 
secure a permit from the Hoard of Health. Many of 
such dealers keep their own cows, and contend that 
this fact enables them to guarantee that their milk is 
clean and pure. They pay taxes and object to paying 
the fee for a license. It does not seem reasonable to 
expect farmers to pay for a license if they submit to a 
fair inspection of their herds and premises. It is 
hard to see how a license, as such things are man¬ 
aged in New York, would guarantee a purer quality 
of milk ! 
a 
One of the city ordinances of Chicago forbids the 
covering of fruit baskets with red tarletan, on the 
ground that this illusive veiling gives unripe fruit an 
appearance of fictitious ripeness. It is naturally 
annoying to a purchaser to remove the rosy halo from 
a small basket of peaches, only to discover that they 
are in the same condition as the peach of emerald hue 
that caused so much anguish as related in a certain 
familiar song. So far, it has been hard to enforce 
this ordinance, but its existence causes commission 
men to look with disfavor upon shippers who use the 
red covering, and its use must finally disappear. 
0 
Many large railway lines have strict rules prohibit¬ 
ing men from drinking intoxicants while on duty, and 
in consequence a man who is an habitual drinker has 
little chance to obtain employment upon any railway. 
As a result of this, the roads get better service, and 
the men are better off financially. A Chicago rail¬ 
way official says that this influence has not been con¬ 
fined to the ranks, but has reached many of the 
higher officials. Some of these have discontinued 
carrying liquors on their private cars, feeling that so 
long as they did this they could not expect subordi¬ 
nates to be strictly temperate. It is felt that a drink¬ 
ing man is not a safe employee on a railway. 
® 
The managers of the New Y'ork State Fair at Syra¬ 
cuse are to be highly commended for giving a thor¬ 
oughly clean and enjoyable exhibition. There was 
not a single side show or questionable resort on the 
grounds. The airangements for caring for the crowd 
were admirable, and the exhibits were large and of 
high character. It has been said that an agricultural 
fair cannot prosper without the attraction of side 
shows and like amusements. This exhibition puts 
the lie upon that statement. There was a general 
expression of satisfaction that the exhibition has been 
thoroughly cleaned. This sentiment was very em¬ 
phatic from exhibitors. In former years, the bands 
and the noisy “ barkers” called the crowd away from 
legitimate exhibitions. This year every exhibit was 
surrounded by groups of farmers and their families, 
and it all seemed like a genuine old-fashioned farmers’ 
gathering. It was a grand thing—a great improve¬ 
ment over the old plan of giving the best space on the 
ground to fakes, and reserving the tailings to farmers. 
From a financial point of view, it will pajq too. The 
sensible farmers of New York State do not go to 
Syracuse to see a lot of cheap-john shows pushed to 
the front. This fair was for the farmer. It was a 
success, as it deserved to be. 
O 
“ It amuses me,” said a farmer recently, “ to see the 
prejudice of seme of my neighbors against agricultural 
books and papers. They act as though they were 
afraid of being 1 pizened' by some new idea or other. 
Yet they are very ready to copy any of these same new 
ideas when they see them in successful operation in 
my field, orchard or garden.” It does take some farm¬ 
ers a good while to see that there is no bullet in an 
agricultural bulletin. Our experience is, however, 
that sound, common-sense work and articles appeal to 
such farmers now as they never did before. Slowly 
and perhaps unconsciously such farmers are coming 
nearer to better things in farming. 
© 
The papers have been filled with accounts of the 
generosity of Miss Helen Gould toward our sick and 
wounded soldiers, and many of them are fond of 
enumerating the thousands of dollars she has given 
in various directions. In one lump sum lately, she 
gave $25,000. She has done nobly, but it seems to us 
that the noblest part of her doing has been her per¬ 
sonal work. Her work has not all been done by proxy. 
She visited Camp Wikoff when it was at its worst, 
and notebook in hand, went all through its hospitals 
and tents noting those things that her quick eye and 
sympathetic heart showed her were lacking. This 
personal visitation and interest reveal more than the 
giving of money, though the latter was sorely needed. 
“ Sick and in prison, and ye visited me.” 
© 
It will be noted that our soldiers in Cuba found 
fighting to be but a part of their duties, hard manual 
labor in the form of roadmaking, trench-digging, 
etc., being required of them. Experience in many 
pest-laden climates has shown Great Britain that 
white soldiers cannot do such work and remain in 
good fighting trim ; consequently native help is a 
necessity. In the punitive expedition to Benin, which 
has the most deadly climate in Africa, a military road 
was .built by native labor, and the troops, efficiently 
cared for, were rushed forward before the coast fever 
could lower their stamina. It is unfortunate that the 
acclimated Cubans, who depended on us for subsist¬ 
ence, could not or would not work with pick and 
shovel to save the strength of our men. 
© 
That western plan of turning the sheep into the 
corn field to eat down the weeds and grass—and leave 
the corn—will seem strange to many eastern farmers. 
We have big corn in this part of the world, too. Our 
western friends needn’t think they have a monopoly 
of giant corn stalks. Mr. Codd, who says on page 634 
that when sheep and corn occupy the same field the 
corn will be inside of the sheep, gets it about right 
from our point of view. To sow rape or rye in the 
corn, husk out the best ears, and then turn in the 
sheep to finish up the job, is a cheap way to handle 
the crop, and under some conditions would be profit¬ 
able. Most farmers east of the Mississippi will do 
better to get the stalks into the stack or silo before 
feeding to sheep. This is a big country, though, with 
“many men of many minds.” 
© 
One of the most successful farmers’ gatherings in 
this part of the country is the annual picnic of the 
Patrons of Husbandry of northern New Jersey. This 
is held each year at Swinefield bridge on the upper 
Passaic River. This year, nearly 20,000 people were 
on hand. It was a genuine old-fashioned picnic, with 
not a drunken man or an objectionable feature to be 
seen. This picnic is a success chiefly because the 
managers do not attempt to cater to city ways or 
doings They recognize the fact that the patrons are 
farmers, who are not ashamed of their calling. They 
do not engage politicians to come and deliver political 
harangues. The picnic is conducted on a plain, com¬ 
mon-sense farmer’s basis. That is what makes it a 
success. What an example this is for the associations 
that think they must cater to dudish or immoral 
tastes in order to “ draw a crowd.” 
© 
At this end of the country, people have generally 
made up their minds that soldiers who enlisted for the 
war have been shamefully abused. With hundreds of 
healthful places available, they have been dumped 
into hot and fever-stricken holes with poor water, 
scant food and a ch ldish hospital service. Things are 
coming to the surface now that were kept hidden 
during the actual fighting. The soldiers are now tell¬ 
ing their story, and it is one of shameful neglect. Who 
is responsible ? The people will demand an explana¬ 
tion. Thoughtful men realize that, if we had been 
fighting a first-class nation, our army would have 
melted away under such outrageous treatment. Who 
is responsible for this exhibition of incompetence ? In 
the first place, the Senate hurried the country into 
war at a time when army men knew we were not 
ready. In the next place, a lot of incompetent poli¬ 
ticians and boys seem to have been appointed to handle 
the supplies and to care for the volunteers. Were 
there not able men in this country to care for our 
soldiers ? Who is responsible for the neglect that has 
killed hundreds of honest Americans ? Hunt down 
the culprits and make examples of them ! 
® 
The world’s greatest surprise during the past week 
was a note from the Czar of Russia to the diplomatic 
representatives of foreign nations at St. Petersburg 
declaring that the maintenance of peace and the re¬ 
duction of the excessive armaments now crushing all 
nations, is the ideal for which all governments ought 
to strive. He considers the present a favorable time 
for the inauguration of a movement looking to that 
end, and invites the other governments to take part in 
a conference as a means of assuring real and lasting 
peace. The proposal has met with a great variety of 
opinions and criticisms. Germany seems to favor it, 
while France does not. The newspapers as well as 
the statesmen of England are divided in their opinions, 
but it is evident that a goodly number consider such 
a result as very desirable. In this country, some of 
the papers speak of the scheme as too ideal for this 
age. It isn’t probable that it will be consummated 
for some time to come, but every man with the highest 
good of his fellows at heart can but devoutly hope for 
its accomplishment. The best sentiment of all Chris¬ 
tian nations is tending in that direction, and with the 
sad results of our recent war fresh upon us, we can 
but hope that the time will speedily come when war 
shall be no more. 
0 
BREVITIES. 
Hot! 
No spot 
In all the lot 
So shady that the poet’s mule cau trot. 
Verse, 
Though terse. 
Would melt, or worse, 
And put the versifier in a hearse. 
Shade! 
Well made! 
In hammock laid 
With fau in hand aud iee-cold lemonade! 
Thought, 
Uubought, 
Too feebly sought, 
Will be the fatter when at last it’s caught. 
Pray as you go! 
Blistering weather! 
Pay dirt—a field in cow peas. 
Looking up higher—soar eyes! 
Sheep in the corn field, page 634. 
Stick to the stock—don’t take a stick to them. 
Beware the “ temperance drinks” at the ordinary fair. 
An illicit still—keeping quiet when duty demands your voice. 
One thing you can’t help winning if you deserve it—happiness! 
You can’t work the soil too much in preparing for grass seeding. 
The war cost about $300,000,000. That cash should now be in 
circulation. 
Now with the little harvest apple, the small boy’s stomach be¬ 
gins to grapple. 
Nothing poisonous about ice cream. A farmer’s family ought 
to have lots of it. 
Who will round up the young human live stock in your school- 
house this Winter ? 
Young man! Refuse to “get there” if there are dishonest 
rounds in the ladder! 
The English are playing baseball. We always did think John 
and Jonathan would get together. 
No soldier has a right to expect roast beef aud plum pudding 
while at the front. Correct—but he has a right to expect decent 
care and food. 
Tonic for that discouraged feeling: Take equal parts of keep 
your eyes open and think ; mix with twice the quantity of hustle, 
aud take unlimited doses. 
Ten years ago, the farmer wore his black clothes aud his wife 
wore the “ best dress ” to the picnic. The wife has learned more 
than the husband. She enjoys comfort in a light skirt and a shirt 
waist. 
The best sort of criticism on any method of work is an improve¬ 
ment upon it. This speaks for itself. It causes no hard feelings; 
no time is wasted, and all parties are benefited by the good ex¬ 
ample. 
Wherever grain is in danger of freezing or heaving out, there 
is no doubt about the value of the ridge between the drill rows. 
This is worth keeping in mind. Next week we shall have more 
to say about the various styles of wheat drills. Keep the soil 
fine. 
A man all aloue does not amount to very much, but hitch him 
to circumstances (which are, literally, things standing around) 
aud he will pull a mighty load. Some men are just wandering 
around in the pasture. They have never been harnessed up to 
anything in particular. 
“Throw physic to the dogs” is an old saying. It might be a 
good plan to throw grumbling, growling and snarling to them, 
too. They are better fitted to do these things than human beings. 
There are too many bright days to be enjoyed to waste any time 
digging around in the vaults trying to find the bones of old buried 
wrongs, troubles, disappointments or vexations. 
