266 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 9 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established. 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
sr e.ViSst* t 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10y t francs. 
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.," 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 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, ARPIL 9, 1898. 
FEEDS AND FEEDING . . . 
BY PROF. W. A. HENRY. 
The best and most complete work on 
stock feeding- ever published. See page 
275. We sell it. Price, $2. 
© 
Snails in the garden or greenhouse are to be dreaded 
not only for their habit of foraging among the ten- 
derest shoots; they are, also, the disseminators of 
disease germs and fungus spores. Rust and mildew 
are, undoubtedly, carried by these mollusks. This 
has been proved by several investigators, who have 
observed that the transference of snails from diseased 
to healthy plants has resulted in the appearance of 
the disease upon the plants previously immune. The 
spread of a fungous disease of the Vanilla, in the 
Seychelles Islands, has been traced to snails. 
0 
A report has been circulated recently among some 
of the farm papers that the Wool Exchange had 
abandoned its auction sales of wool, which were in¬ 
augurated last year. There was no authority for any 
such report. From causes beyond the control of the 
Exchange, or of anybody else, the market has been 
very dull, and prices low. The secretary of the Ex¬ 
change also says that the auctions were suspended 
temporarily to prevent eastern commission merchants 
from unfairly bearing (or depressing) the market 
value of wool just on the eve of a new clip. He pre¬ 
dicts that, on the arrival of the latter in market, the 
present depressed condition will disappear. He says 
that the date of the next wool auction will soon be 
announced. 
© 
During the past two weeks, most Congressmen at 
Washington have been deluged with letters from their 
constituents with opinions on the Cuban situation. 
The plan of going straight to the Congressman with 
a letter is a growing one, and it is safe to say that a 
good many public men at Washington gauge their 
votes and actions quite largely by the letters that 
come straight from home. Farmers learned the effect 
of strong letters at the time the oleomargarine bill 
was before Congress. Country people have learned 
more of the art of letter writing since then, and the 
average Congressman realizes that there is force and 
business sealed up inside of a farmer’s envelope. Such 
letters show the drift of popular feeling. They win 
attention, and command respect when they are 
sensible. Keep them up ! 
© 
When the Supreme Court decided that the State of 
Nebraska cannot charge freight rates on local traffic 
“ beyond a reasonable limit ”, a principle of great im¬ 
portance was made clear. In Nebraska, as in most 
western States, the railroads derive their revenues 
from local traffic and interstate traffic. For example, 
the Union Pacific Railroad runs through Nebraska, 
and thousands of tons of through freight are carried 
across Nebraska soil. Of course the railroads are paid 
for this service just as they would he for carrying 
freight from Omaha to Lincoln, or between any two 
towns entirely within the State. Now the Supreme 
Court lays down the principle that a State, in reduc¬ 
ing rates, must consider the local traffic only. No 
matter what its income from through freight may be, 
it must be permitted to make a fair profit on business 
entirely within the State. It was claimed on behalf 
of the Nebraska law, that all the business of the rail¬ 
roads should be considered, hut the court rejects this 
proposition, and limits State authority entirely to 
local traffic. In many States like Nebraska and Kan¬ 
sas, the purely local business does not pay large 
profits. The effect of this decision will be greatly in 
favor of the railroads, and will severely check the 
efforts of western shippers to obtain fairer rates. 
© 
Dairy farmers are often fond of saying that they 
do not need fertilizers because they buy large quan¬ 
tities of grain, most of which is applied to the land 
as manure. They are liable to deceive themselves in 
this. Last year, the New Jersey Experiment Station 
fed 28 M tons of grain to the dairy herd. A careful 
computation showed that this grain brought to the 
farm 851 pounds of nitrogen, 640 pounds of phosphoric 
acid, and only 214 pounds of potash. All the ordinary 
grain foods are low in potash, and that element is 
lacking on many dairy farms, because farmers, for 
years, have concluded that the purchased grain pro¬ 
vided all the fertility the farm required. There maj’ 
be heavy clays where the natural supplies of potash 
are sufficient, but on the majority of dairy farms, we 
are sure that it would he good economy to use, at 
least 30 pounds of muriate of potash with every ton 
of cow manure—especially where potatoes are grown 
in the rotation. 
© 
Some distrust has been aroused in the Pension De¬ 
partment over the excessive number of widows draw¬ 
ing pensions from a southern pension agency. This 
agency has enrolled about 37,000 invalids and 18,000 
widows, while at other agencies, the usual average is 
from four to five invalids to one widow. A favorile 
scheme with the pension sharks is to draw pensions 
for alleged soldiers’ widows, and to keep these pensions 
going, whether the fictitious widows die or not. A 
case is reported where a negro woman began drawing 
a pension in 1869, as the widow of a soldier to whom 
she had never been married. After her death, the 
pension was regularly drawn bj’ another negro woman, 
and was finally turned over to still another negro 
woman, who drew it for several years ! Another war 
would give us another crop of pensioners. Do those 
who so freely gave themselves to their country get a 
fair proportion of the millions devoted to this purpose? 
© 
Prof. Phelps discusses two interesting feeding 
problems on page 260. One is the plan of feeding no 
roughage besides ensilage. A mixture of ensilage, 
cotton-seed meal and wheat bran is about the simplest 
ration that can he made up. It is sensible, too, for 
the coarse wheat bran supplies considerable dry hulk 
This is a cheap mixture, and has been used by some 
dairymen with success. The reverse of this is a ration 
with only dry corn fodder for roughage. Such a ration 
is often necessary, though never fully satisfactory. It 
requires wheat bran, oil meal and other laxative grain 
foods to make it profitable. Another good suggestion 
is the plan of having two grain rations ; one, called a 
basal ration, may be fed to all the cows, the other, 
specially rich in protein, is to be fed, in addition, to 
those cows that give the most milk. Thus a cow giv¬ 
ing more than 10 quarts of milk per day will receive 
extra food, and most of it in the form of protein or 
muscle-makers. We shall have a good deal to say 
during the coming season about the profit of this 
method of feeding grain. 
© 
Immense quantities of butter color are used by 
American dairymen. The best coloring matter that can 
be used is that taken by Jersey or Guernsey cows out 
of pasture grass in Summer or ensilage in Winter. Sub¬ 
stitutes are needed, however, to give butter the color 
demanded by purchasers. For many years, the chief 
substance used for this purpose was annatto, which 
is entirely harmless, and which established the stand¬ 
ard for color. Within recent years, however, dealers 
have begun to use dyes made from coal-tar products. 
These are so much cheaper than the annatto, that the 
trade has grown to immense proportions. The argu¬ 
ment with buttermakers for using this coal tar is that 
the dyes are cheaper, easily matched, and that they 
produce an even tint. This is all that can be claimed 
for them. On the other hand, there is no question 
that, when used in fair-sized doses, these dyes are 
poisonous, and would cause death. It may be said 
that there would be no danger in using the small 
quantities needed to give butter the desired color. The 
sarnie thing might be said of borax, salicylic acid or 
oth<er drugs which are used in milk and meat. The 
danger comes in selling a poison without marking it 
as such, and thus giving consumers to understand that 
they are using a harmless article. Dealers who sell 
these coal-tar dyes would hardly care to put a skull and 
crossbones on their bottles, yet if some child or careless 
person were to get hold of the bottle and drink from 
it, the result would, probably, be death. These coal- 
tar dyes are poisonous imitations of a harmless article. 
To defend their use, one must use about the same 
arguments that were used by the oleomargarine 
people, for their claims for favor are based on a repu¬ 
tation fairly won by annatto. They should be sold for 
what they are, or not at all, and consumers should 
demand that manufacturers clearly state whether 
they use these dyes or not. It is a very significant 
thing that Maj. II. A. Alvord of the dairy division of 
the Department of Agriculture says that these coal- 
tar dyes must not he used in the butter which is sent 
to England in the hope of developing our export trade. 
If English or German chemists were to find traces of 
these poisons in American butter, there would be a 
worse outcry than has ever been made over salicylic 
acid, borax or zinc. Butter colored with these dyes, 
would ruin our export trade—at least the Department 
of Agriculture would not dare to send it abroad as a 
sample of our best work. It is a fair question to> 
ask why Americans should be expected to take what 
our dairy authorities would not send to England 
or Germany ? 
© 
At this writing, war with Spain seems probable.. 
This county has exhausted every possible plan by 
which peace could be honorably preseiwed. For 
months past, it has been evident that Spain cannot 
conquer the Cubans. The island, outside of the larger 
cities, is practically a desert. Thousands of helpless 
women.and children have been starved, and inhuman¬ 
ities almost beyond description have been practiced.. 
The time has come when the United States as a civ¬ 
ilized republic cannot, without shame, permit such 
things to continue. Our Government has been patient,, 
honorable and fair in its dealings with Spain. Pres¬ 
ident McKinley has stamped himself as a statesman 
in his conduct of the case, and has commanded uni¬ 
versal admiration. Cuba must be free ! Spain must 
take her bloody hand off the island. We have opened 
a way for her to do this quietly, honorably and peace- 
fully. The responsibility for the horrors of war now 
rests with Spain, and the result to her will be disas¬ 
trous—reducing her even lower than at present in the 
scale of nations. The R. N.-Y. has hoped that war 
might be averted, and we are glad that the United 
States Government has taken every honorable means, 
to prevent it. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
“DEVILED BUTTER.” 
Pray what is “ Deviled Butter”? ’tis a name 
I do not care to use with daily bread, 
If I can help it, for the devil’s shame 
O’er all he makes or touches has been spread. 
What’s Deviled Butter? You have seen the stuff 
That’s traded out at country storea—’twill stand 
Until so strong that grocers gray and tough 
Will only touch it with their nose in hand. 
Then comes the devil in some mortal guise, 
And buys the stuff and melts it o’er the fire— 
The odor rises nearer to the skies 
Than he who works the fraud can e’er aspire. 
Then, after roasting it, they drop the fat 
On ice to give it semblance of a grain, 
And then to heap insult on top of that. 
With aniline the filthy stuff they stain. 
Then, marked “ Fresh Creamery’’—its lying face 
Made up by human devils—slyly then— 
It sneaks, a fraud, into the market place, 
To live upon the names of honest men. 
Sour grapes—an acid force fate. 
Put salt on the story-teller’s tale. 
The windy man is a draught animal. 
The chemists find too many ptomaines. 
Where does milk obtain its white color ? 
Get the sediment out of your sentiment. 
“ I am getting down to basic principles,” said the slipper. 
Throwing cold water on some men only makes them “ hot ”. 
Did you ever know-one with a long head to run head long into 
danger ? 
Ip you forget to color the butter, and it comes white—put the 
color in the salt. 
The trouble is that the people who have most cheek seldom 
offer to “turn the other.” 
Home dairy or cheese factory. Which will pay best ? See John 
Gould’s answer on page 261. 
Many signs of a good cow fail in a “ dry ” time. You ought 
to see her while her udder is at work. 
We never before had so much complaint about trees that have 
been girdled by mice and rabbits as this year. 
Butter averages 85 per cent of pure butter fat. The remainder 
is water, salt and casein. Thus 13.6 ounces of butter fat will 
make a pound of “ butter.” 
Another evidence of the extreme earliness of the season was 
seen in one of the city parks, where the lawn mowers were started 
on March 30. The grass was not very high, but about rhe height 
at which the park authorities usually begin to cut. It would 
make a fair bite for a hungry cow. 
The Klondike idea of a roof-garden is rather different from that 
of New York. According to a recent Government bulletin, the 
citizens of Kadiak and Wrangell sow beets, radishes, turnips, 
etc., upon the roofs of their sod houses, where such crops mature 
much more rapidly than upon the cold, solid earth. 
Reports from the vice-presidents of the Peninsula Horticul¬ 
tural Society (Delaware) show that there is a uniform prospect 
for full crops of fruits and vegetables in all parts of the penin¬ 
sula, except that the fruit buds are ten days or two weeks in ad¬ 
vance of the season, hence in danger of injury by frosts. 
