1904. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
9i7 
PUBLISHERS DESK. 
For fifty-one weeks we work in our 
own way to develop and strengthen the 
interests which for the time being are 
entrusted to our care. For just this one 
week we stop to thank those who have 
answered our call for help and to rejoice 
with all who have contributed in any way 
to the success of the year. On the thir¬ 
tieth day of November each year we close 
our books, figure up balances and ar¬ 
rive at the success of the year's work as 
it is revealed in dollars and cents; but on 
the twenty-fifth of December we like to 
inquire deeper into the records of the 
year, and sum up as well as we can the 
size of the more important balances of ser¬ 
vices rendered and actual good per¬ 
formed. We would feel that our work 
were a failure, indeed, if it could be meas¬ 
ured by the cash profit of the balance 
sheet. Somehow we want to feel that we 
have cheered some despondent traveler 
along the way; that we have made some 
one’s burden easier to bear; that we have 
carried a ray of sunlight and hope to some 
discouraged heart and home. We would 
have an ambition to help increase the com¬ 
forts and material success of every home, 
but history of the past reminds us that 
men and nations have perished under the 
influence of great comforts and great 
wealth, and while we feel a pride in the 
increasing comforts and prosperity of our 
country homes, we rejoice far more in 
the spirit of confidence and hope, and sim¬ 
ple kindness that keeps pace in our rural 
homes with their material development. 
It were a pride to direct influences so as 
to make men more comfortable; but it 
were a glory to direct them so as to make 
man better. These influences cannot be 
controlled by individuals, whether editor, 
publisher or subscriber. Each of us does 
his part, and the sum total shows at the 
end whether of success or failure, just 
as the balance sheet reveals the result of 
the year’s material progress. 
When we come to reckon up our own 
part, we begin to realize how imperfect 
and faulty our individual work has been, 
and yet as a whole we are encouraged to 
hope that some progress has been made 
from year to year. The R. N.-Y. is an 
established institution. Since its organ¬ 
ization men have developed with it, risen 
and passed away, but the paper has gone 
steadily on in its mission. It is stronger 
to-day than ever before, and we invite the 
influence of readers in its further devel¬ 
opment and management. Our ambition 
is to make it a great co-operative institu¬ 
tion in which every subscriber will assume 
with the editor and publisher a responsi¬ 
bility in its management and share with 
them in its material, intellectual and spir¬ 
itual gain. It is hoped that we may all 
pass it on to those who follow us a greater 
power for good than we found it. In the 
meantime we again thank you one and 
all who have in any way lent a helping 
hand or voice during the past year, and to 
each and all we wish health and happi¬ 
ness, peace and prosperity. If bitterness, 
nurtured by sense of wrong, has found 
root in any heart, we hope that kindly sen¬ 
timents may smother it; and if pride or 
selfishness has estranged the affection and 
friendship of any home, we hope that 
humility and love may this day again unite 
them. Tn short, we carry to each of our 
'75,000 farm homes this week greetings, 
confidence and hope for a merry Christmas 
and a happy New Year. 
BIRDS AND POTATO BUGS. 
The bird described by E. L. on page 808 
is the Rose-breasted grosbeak, which is fre¬ 
quently found feeding upon the eggs and 
larva of the Potato beetle. It is to be hoped 
that this habit may not lead to its destruc¬ 
tion, as in addition to its usefulness to the 
farmer it is a fine songster and a handsome 
bird. c. d. L. 
No. Raynham, Mass. 
“What bird eats Potato bugs?” I have just 
read in your paper a reference to the bird 
which eats Potato bugs. I have seen the 
Rose-breasted grosbeak eat them and I think 
the bird books mention this as the only one 
which does so. Chapman describes the gros¬ 
beak as head, throat and back, black; breast 
and under wing coverts, rose red ; rump, white 
tipped with black; wings, black and white; 
tail, black. The female is grayish brown. It 
is nearly as large as the robin. This is un¬ 
doubtedly the bird which E. L. describes on 
page 8G8. ' f. d. 
Medford, Mass. 
On page 868 of The It. N.-Y. E. L. describes 
the bird which eats the Potato beetle without 
being able to give its name. It is undoubt¬ 
edly the ltose-breasted grosbeak, a valuable 
friend to the farmer, for it also eats flies, 
grubs and other injurious insects. It is a 
lit tle smaller than the robin; the male has 
the head and upper parts black, under parts, 
tail quills and spots on wings white. Breast 
has rose-colored shield-shaped patch, not very 
conspicuous when the bird is on the ground. 
The fenale is gray and sparrow-like. It is a 
bird to be protected and welcomed, not only 
for its work in the potato field, but as being 
one of our sweetest songsters. m. e. c. 
Trumansburg, N. Y. 
PRACTICAL SPRAYING NOTES. 
Hale on Lime and Sulphur.—M y opinion 
is that where most people have failed with 
the lime and sulphur has been in hunting for 
some easy way to cook it, and thus the 
work of cooking has not been thoroughly 
done, uf course, I have so many trees that 
I had to tit up good cooking apparatus. There 
is no particular style about them, but they 
are arranged to do the job of cooking thor¬ 
oughly and well, and while we have tackled 
the scab* under some difficult circumstances 
we have had no trouble in getting rid of them 
with tlie lime-sulphur-sart as we make it. On 
the apple tree there is that trouble of a 
few being left alive in the very tips of new- 
grown twigs and then when they hatch out 
those that head towards the sprayed branches 
fail to get a foothold and die, while those 
which head for the fruit stem or the fruit 
itself gain a hold and propagate from that 
point so as seriously to affect the fruit. Here 
I think there is going to be need of some Sum¬ 
mer spray that can just work around the 
outside of a tree and not burn the foliage, 
and the entomologist must tell us how to do 
this. j. ii. hale. 
Results With K.-L.—We sprayed three 
pear trees which were badly infested witli San 
•losd scale with 25 per cent K.-L. The trees 
were pruned, that is, surplus branches were 
cut out and the others headed back a little. 
One tree was sprayed with ordinary K.-L., 
the second with K.-L., using rosin soap for an 
adhesive, and tlie third with K.-L. made with 
dry-slaked lime. The spraying was done at 
midday on Saturday, November 12. During 
the night there came a terrific rain, snow and 
wind storm of about 24 hours’ duration. On 
the northwest side of tlie limbs and trunks 
where the storm beat violently the mixtures 
and a large proportion of the scales were 
washed off. The K.-L. seems to have soaked 
into these scale coverings enough to loosen 
them, and the beating rain washed them off. 
On the other side the spray adhered well, with 
a slight difference in favor of K.-L. with rosin 
soap. A careful examination of the roughest 
and worst-infested portions of the bark of 
these trees the last week in November failed 
to detect any scale insects that could with 
certainty be said to be alive. There was 
perhaps a fraction of one per cent which had 
not yet discolored or dried up enough to be 
absolutely pronounced dead. On smooth por¬ 
tions of the bark where the mixture was 
washed away there were a few insects appar¬ 
ently alive. An ordinary rainstorm would 
have washed off only a small portion of the 
mixture. c. p. close. 
Delaware. 
A DREAM THAT WORKED OUT. 
I was born a farmer’s son, and did my 
share in the old days with the cradle and 
rake until the war time came. I remember 
quite distinctly hearing one of the men tell 
while eating a lunch one day back in the 
early sixties of some person he had read of 
the niglu before who had either invented or 
patented a machine not only to cut, but 
actually to tie up grain. I sometimes fancy 
1 can hear the haw-haw that, came from that 
group of men seated under the big ash tree 
that day, though many years have passed 
since then, but by a unanimous verdict the in¬ 
ventor in question was consigned to a lunatic 
asylum. Well, the experience 1 referred to 
at the start was that of riding one of those 
machines, and with three horses, doing the 
work of nearly a dozen men, and doing it a 
great deal better. I leave it for your imag¬ 
ination to conceive how busy memory became 
that day while driving the binder doing the 
first harvesting with improved implements; 
in fact, the first personal experience of that 
kind in more than 40 years, seeing the real¬ 
ization of the inventor's dream—the complete 
fulfillment of which perhaps he never saw, 
and which did appear to us boys of a past 
age like something visionary. I remember 
thinking what fun it would be to farm if 
half of those dreams that some men had were 
to come true. I.ots of them have come true, 
and it is fun to farm now compared to then, 
but some of us are not fully satisfied, and 
are looking for other visions. I wonder 
sometimes if we are getting lazy, or extrav¬ 
agant, or both? m. G. 
I 
Keep your blood clean as you keep your 
body clean. You don’t wait until your 
body is foul before you cleanse it. 
It is a matter of surprise that many peo¬ 
ple who are so careful to have clean bodies 
make no effort to keep the blood clean. 
Everyone knows that uncleanness breeds 
disease; that those who do not keep their 
bodies in a wholesome condition and who 
dwell in filthy surroundings are the first to 
fall when some epidemic of disease sweeps 
the country. But foftl blood is more dan¬ 
gerous to the individual than a foul body. 
An unclean body is rather a passive than 
an active hindrance to health. But unclean 
blood is an active threat against the very 
life—it makes the body a prepared breed¬ 
ing place for disease. 
It is part of Nature’s plan for human 
safety that in many cases where the blood 
is impure or corrupt she sets a sign on the 
body in proof of the corrupt current that is 
flowing through the veins. Scrofula with 
its disfiguring sores and scars, eczema with 
its irritation, salt-rheum, tetter, erysipelas, 
boils, pimples and other eruptions are only 
the outward signs of the impurity of the 
blood. But often in the earlier or- simpler 
stages of the blood’s impurity there are no 
outward signs of this condition; only dull, 
languid, sluggish feelings, which are com¬ 
monly attributed solely to the sluggishness 
of the liver. 
Of all preparations for purifying the 
blood Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discov¬ 
ery easily takes the first place. It elimin¬ 
ates from the blood the elements which 
clog and corrupt it, and which breed and 
feed disease. It acts directly on the blood- 
making glands, increasing their activity, 
and so increasing the supply of rich, pure 
blood which is the life of the body. 
Accept no substitute for "Golden Med¬ 
ical Discovery.” There '& nothing "just 
as good ” for diseases of the stomach, 
blood and lungs. 
Dr. Pierce’s Medical Adviser, paper «ov- 
ers, is sent free on receipt of 21 one-oent 
stamps to pay expense of mailing only. 
Address Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y. 
UNION LOCK POULTRY FENCE. 
is strongest and best by every test Our low prices 
will surprise .you. We ship from mills in Conn.. Ill., 
Calif., and guarantee prompt delivery. Write to-day 
for FREE catnlogueof Farm, Lawn and Poultry Fence 
Case Bros., 13-18 Main St.. Colchester. Conn, 
mmm 
jHeaviestFence Made. AUNo. 9 Steel Wire I 
15 to 35 CENTS PER ROD DELIVERED 
iWe also sell direct to farmers atwliolesale prices, , 
\Coiled Spring, Barb and Soft Galvanized Wire. 
Write for Fence Book showing no styles. 
JHE BROWN FENCE & WIRE CO. 
Cleveland. Ohio 
HAVE YOU SEEN IT? 
What? The Frost new lock. If not. send for sample 
and descriptive circular. Secure the agency at once 
for the best invention in this line. 
THE FROST WIRE FENCE CO . Cleveland. Ohio. 
BUY SUCCESS 
POULTRY FOOD 
It’s best for moulting fowls, also laying hens. It 
contains clover, meat, bone and linseed meal, thor¬ 
oughly mixed with corn, wheat and outs giound. 100 
lb sacks, $1.75 F. O. B. cars, at Colchester; 500 lb. lots. 
$8.00; 1000 lbs., $15.00. Oyster shells, 100 lb. sacks,50c; 
500 lbB., $2.00; 20001bs., $7.50 F. O. B. cars. New Haven 
Ct. W rite us for prices on cut clover and meat meal. 
CASE BROS., Colchester, Conn. 
Racine 
Incubator 
The simple, sure, dependable kind. Used by 
thousands of successful pouhrymen and women. 
Our free Incubator 
Book tells about them 
—tells how to make 
poultry pay. 23 years 
experience. Don’t buy 
until you read it. Ware¬ 
houses: Buffalo, Kansas 
City, St. Paul. Address 
kRacine Hatcher Co., Box 87,Racine,W 
GUARANTEED 
30 DAYS’ TRIAL To prove it. 
50 <t4.50 100*8.50 200 <M 3.75 
Egg4>5.00 Egg4>0.5O Egg‘Pi 5.00 
Self regulating; Automatic moisture. Brooders, 
all sizes and kinds, $3 up. 50,000 in use. Send 3c. for catalog. 
Buckeye Incubator Co., Box 33, Springfield, O. 
Sample Basin Sent 
On Approval 
Send for Catalogue 
and Price List. 
F . R. CH ACE, 
Sherman, N. Y. 
NCHOR COILED 
SPRJNGWIRE FENCE 
A WISE MAN 
Profits by the experience of others, 
experienced people say the Anchor Fence is unexcel¬ 
led in all the qualities, that characterize a strong 
and up to-date fence. 
THE ANCHOR FENCE & MFG. CO., 
Department D„ Cleveland, Ohio. 
Sleigh Runners 
$5.25 Per Set. 
Carefully selected tough stock, steel-hard¬ 
ened shoes, 4 wrought-iron braces. Especially 
strong and adjustable to either wide or nar¬ 
row track. Special oscillating device gives 
free play over rough roads. Painted dark, 
red-striped. Guaranteed in every respect. 
Three sizes : For % and 1 inch axles, $5.25. 
For 1 % to 11/4 inch axles, $6.10. For 1% 
and l 1 /, inch axles, $7.00. 
We ship these with an absolute guarantee 
of satisfaction or money refunded. Send cash 
with your order. Look the goods over at the 
depot; if not satisfied, tell the freight agent 
to return them to us, and we will pay freight 
both ways and refund your money. 
We have Portland Cutters from $16.05 up, 
and bob-sleds from $11.75 up. Send for our 
new catalogue. We sell you anything you 
need at almost factory cost. Cash Supply & 
Mfg. Co., 344 Lawrence Square, Kalamazoo, 
Mich. 
--.'SJ 
If You Want a FENCE 
SEE THAT TWIST Hr 
That Is made from the best High Carbon Steel Wire. 
That is Heavily Galvanized to prevent rustorcorrosion, 
That isCOILKDto provide for contraction and expansion, 
That is Strong Enough to turn the most vicious animal, 
That is Woven Closely to turn chickens and small pigs, 
That staples to the posts as you would nail a board, 
Thateasily adjustsitself to all uneven surfaces, 
That is woven in such a manner that compels every wire 
to bear its portion of strain, 
That you can Huy Direct from thellrm that makes it, with 
i Freight Prepaid to your nearest railroad station, 
That you can examine at your railroad station and re¬ 
turn if It displeases you in any particular, 
That you can erect and Use for Thirty Days, and if unsat¬ 
isfactory return at our expense and get your money, 
Write for Free Catalog giving full information, Address, 
’KITSELMAN BROS, Box 230 MUNCIE, INDIANA. 
WARM DRY FEET 
You can just as well have warm, dry feet, even when ex¬ 
posed, as not. The secret is in getting right rubber 
wear. Write to-day for our booklet, which tells all 
about how we make the 
Buckskin Brand 
Rubber Boots and Shoes 
(.Not made by a trust.) 
They’re all rubber—pure, new rubber—the only thing 
that wears. Remember every 10% substitute to lessen 
cost of making lessens the wear 20%. Get the genuine. 
Look for the Buckskin brand on every boot-leg and bot¬ 
tom of every shoe. 
We sell retailers direct from factory by catalog, save 
traveling and jobbers’ profits and put that money into 
quality. If you don’t find the Buckskin brand with your 
dealer, write to us. Write anyhow for the book. 
To introduce in any locality, we make the 
first one writing us a special 
offer. Write to-day. 
BANNER RUBBER CO-, 
280 Bittner Street, 
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. 
