1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
659 
RURAL/SMS. 
(continued.) 
sons, the pits have been free. He no¬ 
tices that it is the same with the Foster 
and Crawford. 
Mr. W. A. Bassettk, of Farmer, N. 
Y., writes as follows : “ Your theory 
that the ravages of the Flea-beetle are a 
cause of the potato blight must be a little 
off the track. My Carman No. 1 potatoes 
were planted on an old Timothy sod. 
They came up finely, without a sign of 
Flea-beetles. They continued bright 
and clean until the very hot and wet 
weather came on, soon after wheat har¬ 
vest ; they then showed signs of blight, 
and it has been spreading ever since. 
On the edge of this field, last season, I 
had a large pile of manure drawn out 
to rot; all vegetation was, of course, 
smothered and killed. On this soil, the 
potato vines are green and fine. Why 
should this part be exempt from blight.” 
We cannot answer the question, ex¬ 
cept upon the theory that the other 
potatoes were not sufficiently fed. Flea- 
beetles at the Rural Grounds some years 
are so numerous that the vines are 
weakened and die in consequence. It 
would seem that, when so weakened, 
blight of some kind hastens their death. 
In The R. N.-Y.’s Potato Contest, about 
eight years ago, several varieties were 
used, all of them strong, healthy growers 
in previous years. The R. N.-Y. No. 2 
yielded at the rate of over 1,000 bushels 
to the acre. The vines were but little 
harmed by the Flea-beetle, and there 
was no blight. The other vines were 
greatly injured by the Flea, and they 
blighted so early that the entire yield of 
the plot was so much reduced that it, 
fell below the stipulated requirement of 
“ at the rate of 750 bushels per acre”_ 
Crosby Peaches, 1895, from Ilale.— 
Tree 15 feet high, spreading. Regan 
ripening August 25. Most of the peaches 
are either decayed or cracked ; the qual¬ 
ity, however, is very good indeed. 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
A Sick Cow.—The hot weather nearly melted 
one member of the Hope Farm family—the cow. 
A combination of heat and too many green apples 
about used her up. I have never before seen 
anything like a case of sunstroke in cows, but 
this one seemed to be genuine. We do not pas¬ 
ture our stock at all. They are mostly fed in the 
barn or “staked out” for a while each day. This 
cow is fresh aud is giving a big mess of milk. 
She stood cut in the burning sun without shade, 
and finally got into the orchard and put in a big 
meal of green apples. The next morning, she 
was about as sick as she could be. She could 
not get up alone. Her hind quarters were almost 
useless. She would not eat, and her milk was 
gone. She was as hot as a stove. We treated her 
as we would a person so affected—drenched her 
head and body with cold water, and tried to keep 
her bowels and kidneys open. She was dull and 
dumpy for three days, but slowly came back to 
her milk. You may say that some tough-hided 
old scrub wouldn’t have minded the sun. Possi¬ 
bly, but I prefer to give good care to a good cow. 
Rough on the Calf.—The little calf was two 
weeks old, and we were feeding her on whole 
milk. When the cow was taken sick, we hunted 
about for substitutes. The Madame boiled oat¬ 
meal and bran till it was as thin and soft as 
jelly. Warm skim-milk with an egg broken in it 
and some of this soft boiled grain made a tine 
mess, aud the calf does well on it. There is noth¬ 
ing like oatmeal for putting growth on to young 
stock, but it must be fully cooked before feeding. 
It strikes me that many of the calves farmers 
undertake to raise never have a fair chance 
while they are small. Better raise fewer calves 
and give them a fair chance. Another thing—I 
intend that this calf shall have plenty of exer¬ 
cise. To get the most out of a veal calf, we keep 
him tied in the dark, stuff him and keep him as 
quiet as possible. A calf intended for a dairy 
cow, it seems to me, ought to have as much exer¬ 
cise as a colt. We want frame rather than fat. 
You might say that she will milk at the lungs 
aud heart. I want to train her as I would a 
traveling horse. Am I right—you dairymen ? 
Potato Digging.—All our potatoes this year 
have been thrown out with a potato digger or 
plow. It amuses me to hear farmers tell how 
easy it is to use one of these diggers! I call it 
about the hardest job I ever struck to hold it down 
in the furrow. Is it harder work than it is to dig by 
hand ? Well now, there is a question about that. 
For my part, I don’t think that there is much 
difference. With the digger, the horses do a good 
deal of it for you, and your own work is concen¬ 
trated, as you might say. Hold that plow as it 
ought to be held for about four hours, and you 
will be just about as tired as you would if you 
dug with fork or hoe all day. 
Selling I’otatoes.—Practically all our crop 
except the second-sized tubers has been sold. The 
early potatoes sold so well that we dug and 
shipped at once. We feared rot in the late ones, 
and so off they went. Most farmers in our part 
of the country' have been slow to dig. As a result, 
there has been little competition in our local 
markets, and we have made good prices. I believe 
it pays to get rid of a crop at a fair price rather 
than to try to hold it. We have about 40 barrels 
of seconds yet to dispose of, but they will soon 
go. Our best late variety this year has been 
Rural Blush. This old timer has done well—far 
better than we expected. I have just had <a letter 
from Wisconsin reporting about 60 per cent of a 
crop, and a wholesale price of 20 cents a bushel. 
The starch factories will start about September 
15, and will pay 12 to 15 cents. Here we are sell¬ 
ing seconds at 50 cents ! 
Cheaper Sweet Corn.—I thought I recorded 
about the lowest possible price for sweet corn 
last week, but on September 8, we sent 1,000 fine 
ears to New York that brought only $2.80, with 
all charges to come out of that. It actually netted 
me $1.42. It was good corn too, and got to the 
city in good season. Similar corn hauled to Pat¬ 
erson brought about 50 cents a hundred. While 
our corn sold in New York at 28 cents a hundred, 
retailers were getting 2 and 2 y% cents an ear 
when sold in small lots as most of it is. We retail 
at 15 cents a dozen. The margin between the 
farmer’s price and what the consumers must pay 
is something awful. Last week I spoke of a ship 
ineut of 1,000 ears of corn that finally sold for 
$3. The returns to me, after paying freight, 
cartage aud commission, were just 72 cents ! 
Direct Dealing.—Farmers back in the hills 
cannot understand why we who live near the 
great towns and cities do not deal directly with 
the grocers and inarketmen and thus save half a 
dozen handlers. We have tried that this year 
and it has worked pretty well as far as it went 
In a small town you cannot deal with more than 
three houses successfully. If your stuff is first- 
class, it pays to give one or two men a monopoly 
of it. If all sell it, there is no novelty about your 
produce, and nothing to talk about. It is too 
common. Our market town is long and narrow, 
and a grocer at one end does not object to having 
a market man a mile away from him handle our 
goods. In New York the dealers prefer, if pos¬ 
sible, to buy of the great gardeners who can 
supply everything they need. The average faru er 
can only take one or two things on his wagon, 
for corn or melons or tomatoes will nearly fill 
him up at one time. A dealer will not care to 
buy melons of one man, corn of another, potatoes 
of another, anti so on. It would not pay to bother 
in that way, when he can drive to a commission 
man and make one job of the whole thing, or en¬ 
gage some of the great gardeners to deliver a 
regular supply everyday. One thing that hurts 
farmers is the fact that they do not keep their 
agreements. Our dealers say that farmers often 
promise to be on hand at a certain day with cer¬ 
tain goods. They never show up till a day or two 
later. The dealer cannot get the goods he ex¬ 
pected to sell, and thus loses sales aud customers. 
The commission man is always on hand, and the 
dealer knows just where to find him. 
Running Down Hill.— Water will do this if 
you fail to head it off, aud so will land. About 
20 years ago, Mr. Henry Stewart had a farm 
situated about l‘A mile from Hope Farm. Mr. 
Stewart started in to demonstrate the possi’ili- 
ties of green manure and chemicals on the light 
soils of this region, and he succeeded. He pro¬ 
duced crops of corn that are still talked about. I 
walked over that farm the other day, and found 
on the fields where that magnificent corn was 
grown in former years, a little sickly crop that 
would hardly pay for the cultivating. It made 
me think how rapidly soil will lose its productive 
power through neglect. I do not say that it will 
lose its strength, because that soil is about as 
strong as ever. It loses its capacity just as a body 
of workmen deprived of skilled leadership and 
direction lose their power to accomplish results 
—though just as strong as ever. u. w. c. 
J FR0M MAKER 
TO US 
lDIRECT 
WHOLESALE® 
Buy at 
Wholesaler 
Wo manufacture a full line of latest 
style Surreys, Buggies, l’lmetuim 
ami Spring Wagon*, each the best 
of its kind, whicli 
I we sell fo you direct 
at wholesale prices. 
You get fresh goods and savo from 25 to 
40% in tlie transaction. That represents 
the agent’s profit. You might just as well 
have it yourself. Wo sell also “Goshen” 
Bicycles, Hewing Machines, llurucss, 
i Vehicles F. O. B. care at Goshen, Ind. 
f pr Kan. City, Mo., to suit purchaser i)on’t 
buy until you get our free illustrated cata¬ 
logue. All prices are marked in plain figures. 
EDWARD W. WALKER CARRIAGE CO. 
13, New Street, Goshen, Indiana. 
A'«m. City Warcrocrma and Office, 1S03 If. nth St. 
ARMSTRONG & McKELVY 
liusbuign. 
BEYMER-BAUMAN 
Pitisburgh. 
DAVIS -CHAMBER8 
Pittsburgh. 
FAHNESTOCK 
Pittsburgh. 
ANCHOR ) 
r Cincinnati. 
ECKSTEIN ) 
ATLANTIC 
BRADLEY 
BROOKLYN ( 
JEWETT 
ULSTER 
UNION 
80UTHERN 
SHIPMAN 
COLLIER 
MISSOURI 
RED SEAL 
SOUTHERN 
New York. 
Chicago. 
1 St. Louis. 
N 
OTWITHSTANDING the extrava¬ 
gant assertions of the manufacturers 
making White Lead by quick pro 1 
cess, comparative painting tests, carefully 
and honestly made, show that Pure White 
Lead made by the “old Dutch process” 
will cover more surface and cover it better 
than White Lead made by .the quick or so- 
called “ up-to-date ” process. 
F"^ r\ rj By using National Lead Co.’s Pure White Lead Tinting Colors, 
£ 1C iq If any desired shade is readily obtained. Pamphlet giving valu- 
J0HN T. LEWI8 & BROS CO 
Philadelphia. 
M0RLEY , , 
Cleveland. 
SALEM Salem, Mass. 
CORNELL Buffalo. 
KENTUCKY LotiisvilU. 
National Lead Co., zoo William St., New York. 
able information and card showing samples of colors free ; also 
folder showing picture of house painted in different designs or various styles or 
combinations of shades forwarded upon application to those intending to paiut. 
DOING 
DOUBLE WORK . 
With an ordinary high wheeled, narrow-tired wagon, on the average 
country road a man with a single team of horses can haul a 
load of a ton or a ton aud a half of produce. When an 
...ELECTRIC HANDY WAGON... 
equipped with our Low Steel Wheels, with Wide Tires is used, the load 
may be increased to two or three tons, and it will be drawn more easily by the 
same team for the same driver. Just stop and figure up the profit of thus in¬ 
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a snug sum at the end of the year. ELECTRIC LOW STEEL 
WHEELS FIT ANY WAGON and last indefinitely. Our free 
book, “Farm Savings” contains much of value. Send lor it. 
ELECTRIC WHEEL CO\ 
Box 8B, Quincy, Ills. 
HAUL YOUR CORNSTALKS 
on our Low Down, 
Broad Tiro, Wide Plat¬ 
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with wheels that turn 
under the load. It is 
easy draft, easy to load, 
never breaks down or 
upsets. Best, handiest, 
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adopted, by U. S. Government for 
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live farmer as our agent, in every county. 
W’rito for terms and descriptive circulars, free. 
FARMERS’ HANDY WAGON CO.. Saginaw. Mich. 
We are the largest 
manufacturers of.. ^ Lvt 1 
Truck Wheels 
for farm wagons in America 
Send for Catalogue 
Havana M<*ial Wheel Co , Havana, III. 
[ADAM 
THE FENCE 
Makes 
Fence that 
Up.” Cannot 
i Get his 1896 catalogue, 
tells all about The Be8t 
a Farm Fence Made. 
| W, J. ADAM, Jo 
H: 
s / 
't f 
\ / 
> 
;p:: : 
: T r “ 
» 
STI 
EEL 
L- L 
W 
L L. 
'El 
3 
,u* 
Cl 
IE 
T 
FENCE FOR LAWNS AND CEMETERIES. 
Steel Gates, Posts ami Kail. Cabled Field and ling 
Fence with or without lower cubic barbed. Cabled 
Poultry, Garden and Babbit Fence. 
DE KALB FENCE CO., 315 High St., DE KALB. ILL. 
GALVANIZED 
STEEL TANKS, 
Built in all shapes and 
sizes for the Farm, 
Dairy. Creamery and 
Manufacturing Plant. 
Large sizes for storage 
of water or oil, can be 
shipped knocked down. 
Send your order for 
what you want, or write 
for catalogue. 
AMKK1CAN 
STKEL TANK CO., 
Misuawaka, Ini». 
Galvan - 
I zed 
• Steel 
Self-olllng, 
Best Governed, 
Acknowledged 
i to be the most' 
powerful and 
lurablo made. 
I Wo have every-' 
’thing the farmer < 
needs in this line. 
Towers, 
Tsnks and 
Pumps, 
> Gutters, Grinders, 1 
Shelters, etc. 
UMPINC MILLS 
Catalogue, full of valuable points, free. 
Appleton Mfgm Com 
27 Fargo JP. _ BATAVIA, ILL. 
DOWER AND 
TUMI 
THE GREAT WAR 
will be followed by prosperous peace. Fix no the 
old farm. You'll need some new fence. The 
Page now sells at pence prices. 
PAGE WOVEN W1KK FENCE CO., Adrian, Midi. 
Pasture for Elephants 
NOT A CP Oh. 
does not Interest the 
average farmer so 
much as 
Pasture for 
Hogs.... 
lYe have 
the right 
Fence 
to hold the porker or 
any other stock. 
LAMB WIRE FENCE CO. 
Adrian. Mich. 
.WELL DRILLING MACHINERY. 
MANUFACTURED BY 
WILLIAMS BROTHERS. 
ITHACA. N.Y. 
|MOUNTED OR ON SILLS, FOR 
|DEEP OR SHALLOW WELLS, WITH 
! STEAM OR HORSE POWER 
SEND FOR CATALOGUE 
^AOOHESS WILLIAMS BROS.ITHACA.N.Y. 
