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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 3 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert 8. Cabman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Colltnowood, Managing Editor. 
Frank H. Valentine, 1 ^ 
Mrs. E. T. Roylb, f Associate Editors. 
John J. Dillon, B’isiness Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
Price, One Dollar A Tear. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 814 marks, or 10/, 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 Une. 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, DECEMBER 3, 1898. 
5 Send us a club of four subscriptions with $4, 
for and we will advance your own subscription 
rf, . one year free. New subscribers for next year 
will now get the paper from the date the sub¬ 
scription is received until January 1, 1900. 
The Illinois Supreme Court decides that the Tor¬ 
rens law is constitutional. Under this law, the State 
guarantees the title of real estate. A court decides 
the validity of the title, and when this has been de¬ 
termined, the title becomes really a part of the 
deed to the property. It cannot be questioned, and 
there are no long and costly “ searches ” to be made 
by lawyers whenever the property changes hands. No 
one seems to oppose this law except the lawyers who 
lose fees if this useless “ searching ” is to be given up. 
An English milkman says that his wagons have 
rubber tires, and although they have to be renewed 
once or twice a year, he considers them cheaper, be¬ 
cause they save the wagons so much more than steel 
tires. They prevent the jarring which is so wearing 
to an ordinary wagon. The number of wagons with 
rubber tires seen in our city streets, is increasing, 
and as they are improved and perfected, the number 
is likely to increase still more. There isn’t, probably, 
the need for them on the farm, but the road wagons 
might well be equipped, and save an immense amount 
of jar. 
Every now and then, a subscriber writes that town 
or city authorities are trying to make him pay for the 
privilege of selling or peddling his produce within the 
town limits. Thesp complaints come from all over the 
country. The trouble is usually traced back to 
grocers or marketmen who thus aim to cut off the 
farmer’s direct trade. We maintain that a farmer 
has a right to go where he will on public property, 
and sell his goods. We do not fear that the courts 
will ever decide a case of this sort against a farmer. 
A city may provide a market place, and charge a fair 
fee for stalls or stands in it; but no town on earth 
should make a farmer pay for driving his wagon around 
through it. 
Last week, we stated that a wholesale milk dealer 
had just been fined $350 for selling skim-milk. It is 
believed that a large amount of skim-milk is mixed 
with full milk, and the cream from the skimming sent 
to the city. True, but little skim-milk is put in each 
can, so little in fact, that it is extremely difficult to 
detect it. Why not place the milk business on an 
honest and firm basis, by requiring that every dealer 
in milk shall guarantee the per cent of butter fats 
which the milk contains ? The objection is made that 
the farmer cannot determine the quality of his own 
milk. Where he sells it to a milk dealer, it is not his 
business to do so, but that of the milk dealer. Where 
the farmer sells his own milk upon the market, there 
is no reason why he should not know, day by day, the 
fat content of the milk he offers for sale. True, the 
individual cow varies much in the fat content of her 
milk, but when we take the milk of a whole herd, the 
fat content is quite constant, from day to day, and 
week to week, gaining a little in Pall, in Summer 
dairies, and falling a little in the early Spring. This 
would open a profitable sale for skim-milk, and all 
the milk inspector would have to do, would be to see 
that the milk is free from objectionable odors, and that 
it contains the per cent of fat guaranteed. No milk 
wagon should traverse our streets, without having 
displayed upon its cover the kind of milk sold. Many 
persons would prefer the skim-milk to the full milk, 
since the price would be about one-third as much, 
while others would prefer milk that contains from 
four to eight per cent of butter fats. With such a 
law, properly executed, we would soon have two 
quarts of milk, or rather the butter fat in two quarts, 
sold in a quart bottle. This is just what the well-to- 
do purchaser desires. Cream, in like manner, should 
always be sold according to the butter fat which it 
contains; the word cream, as now used, is quite as 
indefinite as is a lump of chalk. 
• • 
The Belgian government, in many rural districts, 
gives free instruction in dairy work to girls over 15 
years old, the course lasting three months, during 
the Summer. This instruction is especially designed 
for girls of the peasant class. For the daughters of 
tenant farmers and small proprietors, a system of 
agricultural college training has been designed. 
Dairy work, poultry and bee-keeping, fruit and flower 
gardening, all form part of the training. Although 
Belgium is a manufacturing country essentially, the 
value of its agricultural interests is never overlooked. 
It is unquestionably true that attachment to the soil 
is increased by such technical training, especially 
when the woman’s interest in agricultural pursuits 
is thus strengthened and directed. 
There is much discussion in many parts of the 
country over the building of stone roads. For one 
thing, they are costly, too costly for the average farm 
community; $3,000 to $5,000 per mile is too much 
money even for the wealthiest farming districts. In 
most localities, the labor should be done by the farm¬ 
ers themselves. But aside from all this, a few facts 
about these roads should be borne in mind. Un¬ 
questionably, they are preferable to the average 
country road. But they are hard on horses and wagons. 
Many of these roads have a dirt track beside the stone 
on which horsemen prefer to drive whenever the 
ground is not too wet. The wheels of vehicles will 
pound to pieces fast on such roads. Then these roads 
need frequent attention. The surface is finished with 
fine broken stone, and this wears out, and works or 
washes off after a few months ; if not renewed, the 
hard and rough stone surface soon shows through, and 
forms indeed a hard road to travel. It is well to con¬ 
sider these things while discussing the question of 
road building. 
Few people realize what immense sums of money or 
its value are carried by the great life insurance com¬ 
panies. In 26 years, the English life insurance com¬ 
panies have increased their assets from $530,000,000 to 
$1,170,000,000. It is estimated that, if the business 
keep on growing as in the past, 50 years hence these 
companies will have a larger yearly income than the 
British government! American companies have also 
become immensely wealthy. We are to understand 
that this great wealth has mostly come from pre¬ 
miums. The companies have been able to pay death 
claims and business expenses, and still accumulate 
this vast amount of money. Mr. Chapman told us on 
page 752 of the great difference in cost between co¬ 
operative fire insurance associations and the regular 
stock companies. The latter cost twice or three times 
as much, because the expenses and profits must be 
provided for. Why then do not all join cooperative 
associations, and save this vast outlay? The chief 
reason is that the average man likes to be connected 
with a “big thing ”, and is distrustful of his neighbors 
and men of his own class. 
Every business has its ups and downs. When it 
holds out alluring invitation, men continue to engage 
therein. It is the easiest and most natural result 
that the number engaging in an occupation, where an 
increase in productive capacity requires that a portion 
of the yearly product be retained instead of being 
thrown upon the market, should continue to increase 
beyond that necessary to produce what is actually 
needed by the consumers. In the case of live stock, 
when once this point is reached, and there is no longer 
an inducement for the development of new plants or 
growth of the old, then that portion of the yearly in¬ 
crease formerly utilized for such purposes is also sent 
to the shambles. This great increase in the supply 
causes a slump in prices, resulting in the marketing 
of some of the established herds or flocks, which, of 
course, only increases the trouble, until finally the 
business has run very much to the other extreme. 
Such is the general tendency. There are, however, 
exceptions to all rules, and it is due to an exception 
to this rule, that the sheep business stands on the 
footing it does to-day. A few years ago, the tendency 
was to go out of the business, and thousands of ani¬ 
mals that, in ordinary times, would have been re¬ 
served as breeders, were sold as flesh. One result of 
this great slaughter has been to advertise mutton to 
many who before hardly knew its taste. The result 
will be an increased demand for mutton, and better 
times for the shepherd. 
New Zealand, one of the most prosperous colonies 
of Great Britain, presents, as its ruling political idea, 
the fact that society rests, morally and socially, upon 
land. To avoid the possibility of speculators buying 
up great tracts, to the detriment of small holders, 
former laws prevented the sale of any public lands, 
holdings being leased at a rental of four per cent of 
the land’s appraised value. This idea becoming un¬ 
popular, Parliament changed to the idea that land 
should be taxed according to its value, no tax at all 
being levied upon land worth $500, while the rate in¬ 
creases with higher values. The law also provides 
that no one shall buy more than 320 acres of public 
lands, and even then no grant shall be issued until 
the land is occupied and improved. If any man has 
10,000 acres of land, the people may take all above 
that amount, the owner receiving fa’r compensation. 
In consequence of these land laws, out of 170,000 adult 
male white persons in the colony, more than one in 
three is a land owner, and the people are prosperous 
and contented. The land was originally bought from 
the natives, not acquired by force. The labor laws of 
New Zealand are equally just, and that faraway land 
seems to be bringing about the millennium of capital 
and labor. 
NEW YORICS COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
Governor Roosevelt will appoint a successor to the 
present New York State Commissioner of Agriculture. 
We feel sure that Mr. Roosevelt will endeavor to se¬ 
cure a man for this office who will be satisfactory to 
farmers. How is he to learn whom the farmers desire ? 
In Ohio and some other States, the agricultural or 
dairy commissioner is elected by the people—the same 
as governor or State treasurer. Thus the party repre¬ 
sentatives from agricultural counties are able to make 
themselves heard at conventions, and individual farm¬ 
ers may vote against any undesirable candidate if they 
wish to. In New York State, farmers do not have 
this privilege, as the governor appoints the commis¬ 
sioner directly. In order to stimulate interest in the 
department among farmers, and to aid Governor 
Roosevelt in making a popular selection, The R. N.-Y. 
opens its column-, to a discussion and vote. We call 
for nominations from the friends of candidates. Name 
your man, and state briefly the reasons why he should 
be appointed. Then we shall ask New York State 
farmers to vote for the candidate they consider most 
worthy, and we hope the vote will be large enough 
to give a fair expression of opinion. 
“Nominations are in order!" 
BREVITIES. 
Happy that man! Ah, happy, happy he! 
Who Id his youth had sense enough to see 
That his was not the brain for writing books, 
That no one e’er would hang him for his looks 
Or trust him for his shape, or die and leave 
A fortune, or that Fate had up her sleeve 
Some mighty prize to drop into his hat, 
Or that cold wits could keep him warm and fat. 
Happy that man thus early to secure 
A balm for life’s heartburnings true and sure. 
Knowing his imperfections, on he goes, 
And no hard, cruel critic stamps his toes. 
No crankish germs find lodgment in his head; 
He leaves new paths for wiser men to tread. 
Happy that man—and yet, I must confess, 
It seems a sort of selfish happiness. 
I’d rather bear the smart of failure’s stings 
And strive, e’en hopelessly, for better things. 
H-a-s-t-k does not spell speed. 
The pig does not take kindly to ensilage. 
The hog has its feeding roots on its nose. 
Keep fresh sawdust off cultivated ground. 
W hat do customers buy milk for ? Its fat! 
Wheat growing in South Dakota—first page. 
What does it cost for shoeing one horse for a year ? 
The color-blind man mixes colors—makes a hue muss. 
How do you stand on the dishorning of hydraulic rams ? 
Why should it be unpleasant to be known as a peasant ? 
What edged tool does a sitting hen resemble ? A hatch it! 
It is sometimes less offensive to build a fence than to law 
over it. 
The Post Office Department will call for a larger appropriation 
for free rural delivery. 
Ip thine I offend thee (which is not likely), cast it out, bring in 
your wife, and call it “ we.” 
“Exports of plant food”! How much from your farm is 
exported by way of the brook ? 
A New York State reader writes: “Answer J. S. Woodward 
in Brevities: It’s a nasty way of raising fruit.” 
In New Jersey, a movement is starting to secure a State law 
compelling all vehicles to carry lighted lamps at night. 
Sugar is going up! It seems strange to hear an American 
farmer chuckle over that, but the sugar-beet farmers of New 
York State are getting numerous enough to say “ we ”. 
We learn of a farm in Chautauqua County, N. Y., that has just 
been sold for $15 per acre. It contains about 200 acres, and is a 
good fruit farm and excellent for grazing and dairying. One of 
the best of springs supplies the house with water. Now, what is 
the matter with farms that they must go begging at such prices ? 
