8io 
November 12„ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A BOV'S FARM PICTURES. 
Among the pictures sent to compete for our prize 
offer are the three shown at Figs. 366, 367 and 368. 
They were taken by Humphrey D. Darrah, a Connec¬ 
ticut boy 11 years old, who wants to be a farmer some 
TIIE FUTURE ROAD IIORSE. Fig. 366. 
day. This is what Humphrey says about his pictures: 
“The mare and colt belong to a neighbor; the colt’s 
name is Kim. He is fond of sugar. The oxen were 
Papa’s; he sold them. They were afraid of automobiles 
and trolley cars. We called them dandies. Now we 
have a pair, Jerry and Jim; they are not afraid of any¬ 
thing. I like to ride in the ox cart; there is lots of 
fun living on a farm, I think. I am very fond of my 
cats and they are fond of me. The smallest one is 
named Teddy, not after our President, but a neighbor 
gave him to me, and I named him for the neighbor. 
One of my cats can open the screen door if not latched; 
he will reach up ns far as he can pull the door toward 
him; when it opens puts in his other paw, gives a push 
and in he comes. Another cat T call Tig; he likes to 
be rocked, likes cake and ice cream, and is very jealous 
of Teddy when I rock Teddy.” 
WORKING A CITY MAN’S FARM. 
A city man has a large farm, in charge of n superintend¬ 
ent. The latter is paid $35 a month the year through, and 
has rent, wood, ice, vegetables, fruit, poultry, eggs, butter, 
milk and anything else produced on the place free; that is 
to say, he can share in all these things, for his own family's 
use, or can grow anything he likes, except tobacco, for such 
use. The quantify is left to his conscience, as the owner is 
Rbsent most of the time. What proportion, in figures, of 
his living should -’ nt obtain from such a gett- 
nat part of a living (not 
dinary large farm afford? 
superintendent board for a 
rm? lie does pay $1.50 a 
- -at • 
Nearly $50 Per Month 
Let us take the items in the proposition and see wllat 
they would amount to, and ill that way we can arrive 
at a comprehensive solution: Rent, $2 per month, $24 per 
year; wood, 12 Cords at $4 per cord, $48; ice, $10; vege¬ 
tables, $25; fruit, $10; poultry, $7; eggs, two dozen per 
week, 25 cents per dozen, $26; butter, two pounds per 
week, 25 cents per pound, $26; meat, $60; groceries, in¬ 
cluding flour, $100; milk, two quarts per day, three cents 
per quart. $21.00; total, $357.90. If we take out the meat 
and groceries, which amount to $160, we have left 
$197.90 for the value of what comes from the farm. 
Your question does not state how large a family the 
man has, but these figures will cover the living 6f A 
family of five, three men and tWfJ Wotrieit. Wg seg by 
these figures (the man having $35 pgr month) that the 
man gets $017.90 per year. In regard to board of the 
boy, if there is nothing said in the bargain between the 
proprietor and tile man, I should say that it is proper 
and right that the proprietor should pay the boy’s board, 
but it strikes me that $1.50 per week is rather a low 
price, p. k. HOADLEY. 
Connecticut, 
Should Save $300 Pet Year- 
I should say that the superintendent of such a place 
has a good thing, and is liberally paid at $35 a month, 
lie ought to save $300 a year if his family is small and 
economical. He could raise his own pork as well as 
beef and mutton if inclined, and be at little expense out¬ 
side of flour, sugar, tea, coffee, etc., and clothing. I 
should think that more than four-fifths of his living 
should be obtained on the farm. In regard to the boy 
helper, I would say that if the owner pays his wages 
and that of the other hired help he is doing enough 
without paying his board. Of course everything de¬ 
pends on the man and the woman; some women can 
do more with one dollar than others can with five. My 
own little farm, of which only 17 acres are cleared 
affords the entire living of a family of four, and enter¬ 
tains company from June to November. Washington, 
New York, Boston, Newport, Quincy, Ill., and New 
Haven, Conn., have all been represented by friends and 
relatives this Summer, all of whom we were glad to see 
and sorry to have them go. I mention the above, feeling 
that it is hardly in good taste to do so, just to show 
what a small farm is capable of doing when one has 
300 such efficient helpers as my White Wyandottes. 
Connecticut. geo. a. cosgrove. 
A Good Chance. 
The value of the perquisites in addition to the wages 
of $35 per month to the superintendent will depend 
largely upon these factors: the price of house rent in 
the vicinity, the size of the family and the skill of the 
superintendent or his assistants ill producing the various 
fruits and vegetables in their season. With rent free 
ail average family of five, and an abundant supply of all 
the fruits, and vegetables, milk, butter, poultry, eggs 
and fuel, the living expenses would be cut down to 
clothing, grocery and meat bills. Under a liberal policy 
of the owmer and skill on the part of the superintendent 
or his assistants, three-fourths of the Cost of living 
might come from the farm. If all the fruits and other 
products mentioned are grown in large quantities for 
the supply of the owner or for markets, the cost would 
be much less to the owner than if separate supplies were 
produced for the superintendent, though the latter might 
prove more generally satisfactory, in which case the 
supply w T ould depend more directly upon the superin¬ 
tendent. Milk, poultry, butter and eggs would go a 
long way toward the supply of meat. Of course the 
superintendent would be dependent upon unfavorable 
conditions of soil and weather, equally with the owner, 
for success or failure of the supply of fruit and vege¬ 
tables, As much housework is involved and some ex¬ 
pense in boarding the boy helper, $1.50 per week would 
not be an unreasonable sum unless the wages paid the 
superintendent are considered sufficient to Cover this. 
Massachusetts. ___________ s * T ‘ mAynARD, 
GROWING BLACKBERRIES IN INDIANA , 
Full Planting; Thorough Cultivation; Good Care. 
PREPARING THE GROUND.—A piece of naturally 
well-drained clay loam is Selected, on which a crop of 
corn or clover or Timothy sod has been grown just 
A NEW ENGLAND PLOUGH TEAM. Fig. 367. 
previous to planting to blackberries. A soil well stocked 
with humus is best, as it is difficult to keep up the 
supply of decayed vegetable matter in the' §oii during 
the several years of annual cultivation which it is nec¬ 
essary to give the crop. 1 like to plant in the Fall as 
early as the wood is well ripened,- as the soil is theft 
usually in better condition than early in Spring. The' 
ground is then warm and the cut ends of roots will 
callus over, and new roots start out before cold weathe?" 
comes on. The rows are marked off 7% feet apart, and 
the plants set about 2'/ 2 feet apart in the rows. A fur¬ 
row five or six inches deep is made with a small one- 
horse plow, the plants set in this furrow and the mellow 
earth drawn around and tramped firm while the plant 
is being held in an upright position. After having set 
the plants ill this manner' a light furrow' is thrown to 
the row from each side. Planted in' this manner in 
the Fall, the plants will start earlier and make a far 
better growth the next season than if planted in Spring, 
A row of corn or potatoes is usually grown between 
each two rows of berries the first season. A commer¬ 
cial fertilizer analyzing rather high in potash is some¬ 
times used, applied along the rows lightly plowed in 
early in the Spring. 
CULTIVATION.—A.< early in the Spring as the soil 
is in good condition to work" the ground is plowed as 
shallow as possible between ti?e row's with a small one- 
horse plow', turning the dirt tc' ward ^ le rows ‘ 
ground is then worked down firm a 4 nd frequent shallow 
cultivation given until the fruit begins to ripcn> Aftcr 
the last cultivation the plantation is gU nc mcr " 1 
hoes, and all large weeds that the cultivator s cm,lrl " ot 
destroy are cut out. After that the grass a.' ld weeds 
are allowed to grow to make a Winter cover / or 1 ie 
soil, to prevent washing as j ; ;peh as. -possible, and tO - )e 
plowed into me soil the * Spring to help keep 
up the supply of h<- *<$*»«* b 
>RtrS. 
PRUNING.—No pruning is done the first season, but 
the second Spring before grow-th has begun the young 
canes are shortened in about one-half. After the young 
canes of the present year’s growth have reached a height 
of two or 2 y 2 feet they are topped, to cause them to 
throw out lateral fruiting branches. 1 he following 
Spring the old wood that has borne fruit the year before 
is cut out and removed from the plantation, and the 
laterals on the new bearing wood cut back from one- 
half to two-thirds, according to vigor of growth, va¬ 
riety, etc. A few berries can be picked the second sea¬ 
son after planting, but they are not at their best until 
the third or fourth year. With good care a plantation 
can be picked for 10 or 12 years. When necessary to 
renew the plantation the briars are rnowm off and 
burned, the ground plow'ed and planted to corn, and 
war made on the biars that sprout up amongst the corn.. 
After getting the briars subdued the corn stubble is; 
sown to wheat, seeded to clover and the following sea¬ 
son after wheat the clover is plowed under and another 
crop of corn grown, which leaves the ground in the: 
right shape to plant to blackberries or other small fruits.. 
Jefferson Co., Ind, e. m. w'ood. 
A TOUGH STORY—HARD TO KILL. 
Artificial Honey 
Every once in a while a statement like (lie following is 
made in print. This one comes from the Ladles’ Home Jour¬ 
nal : “A most Ingenious use to which paraffin lias been put iit 
America has been Hip manufacture of artificial honey-comb. 
It duplicates the natural comb remarkably well; the little' 
cells are then filled with glucose slightly flavored to give the' 
honey taste, and the artificial product Is ready for use. This: 
is not harmful, but it is not honey. Paraffin is not a poi¬ 
son, but It is an adulterant, and taken Into the stomach it 
is indigestible,*’ P.ee keepers are kept busy trying to head 
this story off, It is a "fake'* and yet it hobs up again and 
again. It is called by bee keepers the “Wiley lie" because 
this form of adulteration was first mentioned by Dr. II. \\. 
Wiley, chemist of the Department of Agriculture. We wrote 
Dr. Wiley asking for the truth, and he proceeds to pour- 
lye upon the “Wiley lie” as follows: 
The “Wiley lie” is the polite title given to a state¬ 
ment contained in an article of mine in the Popular 
Science Monthly, written about 24 years ago, in 1880 
I think, but the exact date I do not remember. It was 
an article on glucose, in which I repeated a statement 
which w r as made .to me by the late Dr, Ilallock of Jvew 
York to the effect that apparatus had been invented for 
the manufacture of artificial comb which was filled with 
glucose, artificially colored and sold as honey. I he arti¬ 
ficial comb which is made, 1 believe, consists almost 
exclusively of the base, which is the beginning of the 
cell, and not the complete comb, and the glucose is used 
in honey mostly in the liquid form and not in* t-he form 
of comb honey. This statement was bitterly Rented 
by the bee-keepers, who denounced it as the “Wiley he, 
and under this appellation it lias been referred to dozens 
of times since the date of the original publication. The 
information which 1 had at the time was perhaps not 
exactly accurate, and the relation which I made of the 
incident was more in the way of an amusing anecdote 
than as a statement which should have been taken so 
seriously. In point of fact, 1 believe' that artificial 
comb and honey have only been made in an experimental 
way, and have never been placed upon the market. At 
the National Bee-Keepers’ convention in Chicago, iff 
1893, at the time of the Exposition, I made an address; 
before the association in which I gave a fuli explana¬ 
tion* as above, of tbe incident referred to. / Na¬ 
tional representatives appeared to be fully satisfied \Vitlv 
tills statement, aild Since 1893 I have seen little of A- 
It ha# always been a matter of regret to me that an 5 
article which I bad written with such innocent inten¬ 
tions should have produced so much distmhancc. 
The adulteration of honey With glucose has been, as 
you know, practiced on a most extended scale. Just 
iiow far the manufacture cf artificial comb and artificial 
base has been conducted T cannot say. but 1 am sure 
to a very large extent. I believe that beeswax is use 
chiefly as the base of artificial comb, but paraffin, as is 
well known, has been much used, at least in part, for 
H. W. WILEY, 
