868 
December 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established, 1850. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-in-CIlief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
Fbank H. Valentine, | . „ . . 
Mbs. E. T. Rotle, [Associate Editors. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8J4 marks, or 10J4 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, 2.5 cents per iine. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.," 7.5 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Pbice Only. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance is for, 
should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, postal order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1898. 
5 Send us a club of four subscriptions with $4, 
f and we will advance your own subscription 
ft,* 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. 
Several weeks ago, we stated that Mr. M. V. 
Slingerland, of Ithaca, N. Y., wished to obtain a com¬ 
plete set of The R. N.-Y., for the Cornell library. 
Fifty or more people came forward to supply the de¬ 
mand. It is a pleasure to know that so many people 
save their papers. Many readers say that they would 
not sell them at any reasonable price. Mr. Slinger¬ 
land now has a practically complete file from 1859 to 
1898. He wants the numbers issued between 1850 and 
1859. Fifty years cover a big space in history, but 
perhaps some of our older readers can supply the 
papers. 
Evebything in the work line is done, and our only income is 
eggs and butter, neither of which hardly pays the cost of the feed 
for the whole herd and flocks. One trouble with farming is the 
four months of non-paying chores and routine, which one cannot 
“ do up ” for good. 
Thus writes a farmer in central New York. The state¬ 
ment is true as regards many farms, yet who can 
find a business in town or city of which the same 
thing cannot be said ? There are dull times in all 
trades, and really, a well-managed farm has fewer 
days of unprofitable labor than stores, shops or fac¬ 
tories. In most large establishments, for at least one- 
third of the year, the clerks or helpers do not actually 
earn for their employers much more than their salaries. 
Reading, thinking, planning and getting acquainted 
with your own family and neighbors—all these make 
good farm work for dull times. 
It is evident from our first-page article that Ithaca 
is not an ideal place for greenhouse work that re¬ 
quires plenty of sunshine. This requirement is true 
of the strawberry. While the writer of the article is 
very enthusiastic as to the success attained, the crop 
comes altogether too late to secure best prices in the 
New York City market, probably about the highest- 
priced market in the country. Our nearby Jersey 
growers try to get the berries in about the holidays, 
and secure much higher prices than Mr. Fletcher 
mentions. The southern berries do injure the sale of 
the hothouse fruit later in the season in this market. 
Another thing, the most successful nearby growers, 
men of many years’ experience, secure the best results 
by setting the plants directly in the benches, instead 
of in pots. “In multitude of counsellors there is 
wisdom.” 
The class of labor employed by some of the large 
truck-gardeners shows the changes wrought in this 
business within a few years. One large grower, who 
has extensive ranges of glass, as well as a large area 
devoted to field culture, employs an army of Italians 
—several hundreds of them. They do not represent the 
better-class Italian labor, but are illiterate peasants 
and, one would consider, not very desirable citizens. 
They work for very low wages, so low that native 
labor cannot compete with them, and men and women 
alike are willing to work in field or garden. The em¬ 
ployment of these people is a natural consequence of 
lower prices and increasing competition. It may be 
noted that the very conditions which put greenhouse 
lettuce within the reach of a laboring man prevent 
him from finding work in growing it. It must not be 
imagined! however, that all truckers employ this class 
of labor at tnt present time, but there seems a pos¬ 
sibility that these cheaper foreigners will gradually 
supplant other workers entirely 
None of the representatives of the insurance com¬ 
panies, who speak about insurance risks as affected 
by incubator lamps—page 864—mentions any distinc¬ 
tions as to the kind of incubator used. We do not be¬ 
lieve that there is any danger from first-class incu¬ 
bators. On the other hand, we believe that the eheap- 
john incubators are never safe. They are always a 
menace. They are made to sell for a low price, and 
are made cheap. Cheap, poor oil is another element 
of danger, and neglect in keeping lamps cleaned, 
trimmed and filled properly, contributes to the risk. 
These considerations should have weight with insur¬ 
ance companies. They have no business to charge 
higher rates because of the use of a first-class incuba¬ 
tor. Let them discriminate against the cheap ma¬ 
chines if they must, but take into account the quality 
of the machine. This indiscriminate condemnation is 
all wrong. 
With next week’s R. N.-Y., will be included the 
annual index for the year 1898. This has been care¬ 
fully prepared at a great outlay of time and money, 
and gives a comprehensive view of the multitude of 
different subjects discussed during the year. It is 
surprising what a variety of topics have been treated 
more or less fully. The index is well worth preserv¬ 
ing for future reference. We are frequently appealed 
to for information as to articles which the inquirers 
are certain we have published, but which they cannot 
find. Some of them have the volumes for many years 
back. The index would be all they need. Some of 
our agents, too, have told us what a great help the 
index is in getting new subscriptions, as by its use, 
they are able to show at a glance what a compendium 
of up-to-date agricultural and general information it 
contains. The index is valuable in more ways than 
one. Preserve it ! Refer to it! Use it! 
The outlook for southern peach culture is considered 
more encouraging by W. M. Scott, page 862, than by 
some recent correspondents. The immense numbers 
of trees being set have alarmed many. They fear 
overproduction. The fact is that these trees will 
have to contend with diseases and insects, and it is 
likely that many of them will never come into bear¬ 
ing At best, all will be short-lived. The careful 
man who fertilizes, cultivates and sprays faithfully 
and intelligently, is likely to get a satisfactory crop 
and profitable returns. The fungous and insect ene¬ 
mies are a blessing to him. But greater attention 
must be paid to sorting, packing and marketing. 
Advantage must be taken of all modern methods. 
There was a glut in some markets last Summer, while 
others were bare. Georgia peaches have established 
their good quality. Now let the growers do their 
part. The markets will take immense quantities, but 
they must be handled right. 
Our public men brag about this country’s vast ex¬ 
port trade. We have sent so much produce abroad 
during the last few years that millions of gold must 
be sent back to square the accounts. Grain, meat 
and cotton—direct products of the farm—make up an 
immense proportion of our exports. Our statesmen 
like to pat the farmer on the back with this state¬ 
ment, and tell him that it proves that he must be pros¬ 
perous. He might be more prosperous if they would 
see to it that better men are sent to represent this 
country abroad. Our relations with foreign countries 
are based, to a great extent, upon the food and fiber 
we can sell them. We should have representatives 
abroad who are capable of enlarging and increasing 
this trade. The American consul who causes two 
pounds of American lard, ham, butter or grain to be 
sold where one was sold before, does something for 
his country. There was a time when it was considered 
wise to pension our third-rate poets and prose writers 
by sending them to fill small offices in foreign lands. 
Better keep them at home to learn American ideas. 
Send men over the sea who will study foreign markets 
rather than foreign manners. 
Why does not The R. N.-Y. grow enthusiastic over 
the prospects for growing sugar beets in New York 
State ? Our farmers need a new money crop. We 
pay out more money for foreign sugar than for any 
other foreign food. New York State farmers can 
produce sugar beets of fine quality, and two factories 
are now in actual operation. New York State will-' 
pay this year nearly $40,000 in sugar bounties. What 
more could one ask to make New York sugarmaking 
a great success ? We answer—a fair prospect for the 
future. We can remember the time when steer-feed¬ 
ing was very profitable in New York State. How our 
grandfathers would have scorned the idea that, before 
the end of this century, a few packers in the Far West 
would monopolize the business of feeding, slaughter¬ 
ing and distributing the country’s meat supply ! In 
their day, roving Indians and a few half-wild herders 
held the great plains on which a vast share of the 
country’s meat and bread is now produced. The In¬ 
dians were driven off, and business men backed by 
great capital so developed the western ranges that for 
every pound of wild Indian they once produced, they 
now turn off a ton of beef. It is this systematic de¬ 
velopment of the western ranges that injured beef¬ 
making as a profitable industry in New York State. 
For centuries, the great cane-sugar-producing islands 
have been under Spanish control. This means that 
they have produced but a fraction of the sugar they 
might have produced. It was Spanish incompetence 
in Cuba and the Philippines that gave France and 
Germany the chance to develop the beet-sugar indus¬ 
try. It seems to us that, with American money and 
business enterprise back of the sugar growers in Cuba 
and other Spanish islands, there will be a change in the 
country’s output of sugar, nearly like the change in 
meat-making when American enterprise and money 
were substituted for the Indian on the plains. We 
would like to hear from the sugar promoters on this 
•side of the question. 
An account of the Rocky Ford (Colorado) musk- 
melons, given by the American Florist, suggests sev¬ 
eral reasons why this fruit has attained such wide 
popularity. These melons, during the past season, 
sold in the Chicago market for $1.50 per crate, when 
nearby Michigan, Illinois and Indiana Gems were 
selling for 20 cents a basket, equivalent to less than 
60 cents a crate. The Colorado melons were shipped 
over 1,000 miles, in hot weather, and then sold for 
double the price of the home-grown product. The 
high quality of the fruit is naturally the great factor, 
but the manner of marketing is worth considering. 
The Rocky Ford melon growers have united in an 
association which works together for the good of all, 
making large contracts for sales, and combining to 
advertise their product in new markets. It is asserted 
that one single contract made by the association sup¬ 
plied 292,000 crates of 45 melons each, realizing $284,- 
700 from this one sale. The association employs in¬ 
spectors, who carefully examine the fruit before it is 
crated, and any melons which do not come up to 
standard are rejected. The best of products may be 
neglected if good business methods are ignored in 
placing them upon the market. 
BREVITIES. 
You talk about your furnaces, hot-water pipes and sich, 
High-fangled fancy flxin’s in the houses of the rich; 
But ’cordin’ to my thinkin’ you won’t never get no nlgher 
To real solid comfort than the roarin’ kitchen fire. 
Zero man came out our way, and left a spell of weather; 
The wind jest howls, it’s snowin’ fast, and take it altogether, 
It aint no night to stroll around or sit on the verandy; 
I’d rather watch the kitchen fire, an’ eat Ma’s popcorn candy. 
Tom’s got the woodbox filled brim full, and Jennie ’ll cram the 
stove, 
We’ll roast you out now, Uncle Bill, take up your chair an’ move 
Jim’s got the bag of hickory nuts. Want cider, did you say f 
Jest chew them big red apples—we’re a drinkin’ our’n that way. 
- w. w. H. 
It’s a good idea to quit saying, Oh dear ! 
Oub hens love bran—a case of bran “ mash.” 
Thebe is too much money blown out at the inn. 
The preacher of agriculture is not always a teacher. 
Tbuth is “ mitey it spreads by little mites of efforts. 
“ All flesh ” used to be grass. Now, much of it is ensilage. 
Some men think the world has made lefts out of their rights. 
‘‘Loves darkness rather than light”—forcing rhubarb—page 863. 
One way to weaken friendship is to lend money on the strength 
of it. 
Cut bone and corn! Cut bone and corn! Balanced poultry 
ration as sure as you are born. 
Secbetaby Bliss is to resign. Usually when bliss leaves our 
nterior, dyspepsia takes its place. 
It’s a good thing to be able to transfer your debts from your 
own conscience to your creditor’s pocket. 
Yes, sir, when a man quits in despair, he joins an anti -trust 
society. It’s a big one, too, unfortunately. 
A German company mixes spent hops with wastejpolasses, 
presses into cakes, and has “ a new stock food.” 
The Rural never had cause to blush for the RuralBlush potato. 
It straggles in the hill, but is so good it fills the bill. 
Do we believe in gowns for judges ? Certainly, we believe the 
women folks should have a chance to decide many family matters. 
The old doctor tells us that, while a child can cry tears, it is not 
in danger. The “ dry ” cry is the thing to fear. The “ dry-up ” cry is 
better still. 
Now, then, Madame, don’t be too ready to use a whitewash 
brush on your husband. Let some of his faults stand out where 
other folks can hit them. 
In New Jersey, it is unlawful for any person to use a milk can 
belonging to another and marked with his name and initials, 
without his consent. If cans are so used and found, their con¬ 
tents may be emptied. 
A reader in western New York writes: “ We are going to kill 
all the geese that have white bones, before they make the Winter 
any harder.” You must also kill all the foxes with heavy fur 
and burn all the corn with thick husks. 
How the town dealer growls when a farmer sends off and buys 
his goods at wholesale! The same man will do his best to shut 
the farmer out of the town trade by making him pay a big license. 
They all want a slice of the farmer’s trade—what he buys, also 
what he has to sell. 
