8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 2 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
TUB 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. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in tbe Universal Postal Union, 83.04, equal to 
8 s. (id., or 8*4 marks, or 10*4 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. 
Ad vertisements in serted 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 al! orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1897. 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH POTATO. 
Small tubers of this excellent potato will be sent 
to all subscribers who apply for it and send a two- 
cent stamp. The potatoes will be sent next February. 
© 
“ Root knot” of lettuce, the result of minute nema¬ 
tode worms, is causing loss to lettuce growers in 
Florida, the affected plants “ bolting” instead of 
heading up. Prof. Halsted recommends, for this 
trouble, the free use of lime, both in the soil and as 
lime water added to the surface. A similar nematode, 
commonly called eel-worm, causes much damage to 
forcing roses under glass. 
G 
A coal-oil lantern under the robe when driving 
during very cold weather will furnish an agreeable 
surprise to any one that has not already tried it, by 
the amount of comfort it affords. The flame should 
be kept about half-height. Let’s make ourselves 
comfortable whenever possible. During this nipping 
weather, exposed portions of the body like the nose, 
ears or fingers may be frozen. The following pre¬ 
cautions should be heeded : To thaw a part that is 
frozen, apply a mixture of snow and water. Dry 
snow may be of a temperature so much below freez¬ 
ing as to freeze the part still more. Another precau¬ 
tion that is proper to observe is not to rub the part 
while it is frozen. 
O 
Farmers often ask for a simple test which will 
enable them to distinguish pure butter from oleo¬ 
margarine. There is none that can be safely recom¬ 
mended. A chemist could tell the difference by using 
nitric acid. When this acid is added to pure butter, 
there is no particular change in color ; but when 
other fats are present, there appears a brownish 
tinge. This would mean a good deal to a chemist, 
but to one not accustomed to handling chemicals, it 
might not give accurate results at all. Chemical 
analysis is a delicate and intricate operation, and re¬ 
quires skill and great patience. We hope, before 
long, to print a series of Primer Science articles 
showing how food substances and fertilizers are 
picked apart in the laboratory. 
O 
The present and apparent result of the low price 
of corn is a good illustration of the way an excess in 
the supply of one product may change business in 
half a dozen different lines. Cheap corn means a 
vast increase in our export trade. We have sent 
three times as much corn abroad in the past 10 
months as we did in the corresponding months of last 
year. This corn will mostly be used for feeding 
stock in England and Europe. It will take the place 
of linseed and cotton-seed meals which were formerly 
sent from this country, and the result will be that 
less of these products will be exported. In one sense, 
this will be an economical change for, while a ton of 
corn takes from the soil $7.50 worth of fertility, a ton 
of cotton-seed meal takes nearly $28 worth. The 
great bulk of the corn is composed of starch and fat- 
formers which are taken from the air rather than 
from the soil. The cotton-seed meal, on the other 
hand, contains a large amount of actual plant food. 
It is cheaper to send the Europeans “chunks of 
American air” than to squeeze out the life of our soil 
for their cattle feeding. If less cotton-seed meal is 
sent abroad, more of it will be used at home, and the 
bulk of the increase will be in the form of fertilizers. 
In fact, our opinion is that cotton-seed meal will 
take the place of tankage in many cases. In New 
England and in other places where farmers have 
given careful study to the fertilizer question, it is 
astonishing to see how cotton-seed meal is used as a 
source of organic nitrogen. The chances now are 
that it will be cheaper than ever. 
O 
Chrysanthemums are very largely grown for the 
San I rancisco market by Chinese and Japanese gar¬ 
deners, the Chinese cultivating with a painstaking 
economy that makes American competition an im¬ 
possibility. The Japanese, however, grow finer flow¬ 
ers than their Chinese neighbors, cultivating but one 
flower to a stalk, like our own florists. These fine 
chrysanthemums are all grown outside in beds, though 
at times protected with canvas to avoid insect rav¬ 
ages. We are told that the color is more uniformly 
good than in the case of our greenhouse flowers. We 
are indebted to the Japanese gardeners in California 
for a n amber of newer and most meritorious chrys¬ 
anthemums. 
© 
The extension of the civil service examinations for 
public office has, doubtless, resulted in good. Taken 
as a whole, the standard among public servants is 
higher than it used to be. In many cases, the required 
examinations have defeated the schemes of politicians, 
and kept out incompetent men who would, otherwise, 
have gone in on the strength of a political “ pull.” 
The commissioners have power to exempt certain 
officials from these examinations, and this is a wise 
provision, for there are cases where the examination 
becomes a mere farce. For example, take the case of 
a scientist who is to fill a position at an agricultural 
college or State experiment station. What folly to 
compel an expert chemist or botanist to take an ex¬ 
amination in geography or spelling ! There is no 
sense in such a provision, and the civil service com¬ 
missioners ought at once to exempt such persons from 
taking these examinations. 
© 
In one of the northern counties of New Jersey, is a 
town of less than 10,000 inhabitants. Surrounding it 
is a fine farming country with many fields practically 
out of cultivation. A young man in this town, out of 
work, read of the cheap apples in western New York. 
As a speculation, he bought 384 barrels, advertised 
them in the local papers and sold them all at a profit 
of $140. It would be possible to find a market for 
3,000 barrels of good apples in that same town before 
next April, but nine-tenths of them must be imported, 
because the farmers of that county rarely raise more 
apples than they require for their own supply of fruit 
and cider. Yet, hundreds of acres of suitable fruit 
land lie idle within easy hauling distance of the mar¬ 
ket town. There are hundreds of just such cases in 
this country, and some of the very farmers who per¬ 
mit these local imports to be made are fiercest in 
denouncing the imports of food products from other 
countries. The home market is the market to culti¬ 
vate first of all. 
0 
A good many farmers want to know why they can¬ 
not grow a crop of sugar beets and use them to pro¬ 
duce the home supply of sugar. It seems reasonable 
to suppose that, if they can grow the beets, they 
ought to be able to make the sugar. The theory is 
well enough, but it doesn’t work in practice. Prof. 
Huston, of the Indiana Station, shows that raw beet 
sugar is totally unfit for consumption. Beet sugar 
can never be profitably manufactured on a small 
scale. A suitable plant for extracting and refining 
the sugar will cost not less than $200,000. This is an 
industry that requires a vast amount of capital and 
wide cooperation among farmers. The best use for a 
small supply of beets is to feed them to cattle. For 
our part, we think that, if beet sugarmaking is to be¬ 
come an industry of any importance in this country, 
it would better be developed west of the Missouri 
River. That section is well adapted to the growing of 
sugar beets, and the farmers need new cash crops. If 
they could produce the greater part of the $110,000,000 
worth of sugar which we now import, they would 
grow less grain and meat and, consequently, compete 
less with farmers in the Mississippi Valley. 
O 
Poets may sing about the oak, but practical men 
know that the pine is the most useful timber tree 
ever offered to man. The pine tree grows to perfec¬ 
tion in New England, but the original growth was 
cut off by the early settlers. The land on which it 
grew failed to produce paying crops after a few 
years, and is now mostly deserted—a waste so far as 
useful crops are concerned. Efforts are now being 
made to encourage the planting of pine trees again 
on this land, and in parts of New Hampshire and 
Massachusetts quite a little of it has actually been 
done. The seeds of the pine are broadcasted, usually 
with oats or other grain, and after a year or two, the 
surplus trees are cut out. It is said that all a pine 
tree needs is a “ foothold in the soil, and water,” and 
it certainly does make a surprising growth on poor 
land. At the end of 20 years, some of the trees may 
be cut and sawed into the narrow boards used in 
making boxes. Twenty years may seem a long time 
to wait for a crop, but the cost is little while the 
returns are sure. Thousands of people are well sat¬ 
isfied to insure their lives on the 20-year installment 
plan as an investment. Any man of middle age on a 
New England farm containing “ waste land” might 
well consider the plan of starting a pine grove to pro¬ 
vide a shelter against the blasts of old age. 
O 
Some New Jersey counties, especially those near 
New York, are famous for their stone roads. These 
are usually built by the county, a part of the ex¬ 
pense being borne by the State, and connect the 
larger towns. The influence of these roads is spread- 
ing, and efforts are being made to build them in 
more remote places. But they are expensive, and 
opposition is often met on this score. They are usu¬ 
ally built by contractors, according to specifications, 
for so much per mile. There is no reason for this in 
a farming community. With a competent engineer 
to lay out and oversee the work, all needed labor 
could be performed by the farmers at times of com¬ 
parative leisure. In many localities, abundant stone 
is at hand to build the road, and by means of a stone 
crusher, enough can be easily put into shape to make 
an excellent surface finish. A good, hard road is 
worth much to any farming community, and may be 
secured by most without a great money outlay. It 
isn’t such hard work to build good roads as it is to 
travel over many of those one finds in the country. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
You have patched up a hole in your coat, like enough, 
And the big stitches held though the bitter wind blew. 
You can shingle a hole in the roof, but it’s tough 
When a hole in the home lets the memories through. 
Oh, the years, they are many, the slow, tolling years ! 
With their record of hope-guided service they come! 
But the whole of their hard self denial and tears 
Cannot fill up the bottomless hole in the home; 
For it’s only the door through which some one has stepped, 
And you wouldn’t for worlds, close it up when you know 
That it’s right through the hole in the home that has crept 
All the comfort that cools your hot heart like the snow! 
You may patch up the coat, or the roof, or the shoe. 
But you can’t put a patch on the hole in the home ; 
And the years that are passing will settle for you, 
Whether comfort or grief through that passage will come! 
Sick of law—ill legal. 
Steer clear of a scrub bull. 
Read, The Dogs of Bumtown, page 15 . 
Pastor-ize the milk of human kindness. 
“ Devil’s blood !” A good name for liquor. 
A day devoted to hating yourself may be well spent. 
Nurse the home nursery, rather than the tree tramp. 
Beware of a “ testimonial” written from a first impression. 
“ DlKT cheap” ! Eggs that are sent to market with dirt on 
them. 
Tue Christmas present given under protest is an insult to 
Santa Claus. 
Read the result of that potato test on page 7 . The Carmans 
are well to the front. 
It’s a long journey to the end of one’s wits. The coward gets 
there before the brave man does. 
A dangerous “scale insect” is the one that gets on the grocer’s 
scale and makes 14 ounces weigh a pound. 
Don’t “ show your teeth” unless you are prepared to use them, 
otherwise you make what is known as a “ bluff.” 
\\ m is the joint of a lazy man like an orange ? One grows on 
a citrus tree while sit rust grows on the other. 
Rule the roost—and drive in sharp pegs a foot or less apart. 
The hens will get between them and avoid crowding. 
To apply bitter and impudent language to a person is to sauce 
him. The chief resource of the “nagger” is resaucing ! 
Rub! a dub! dub! my silo’s a tub, the corn crop is safely in 
there; Old Boreas raves, but inside these staves, the ensilage 
nestles with care. 
« 
Are your children manufacturing respect for you 1 Maybe you 
ask them to make bricks without straw! The straw of such re¬ 
spect is a good example. 
Hear the dairy chorus swelling through the air from the little 
calf up to the bull. Winter’s snow is drifting, still we do not 
care if our master’s silo still is full. 
S. D. Willard highly praises the Burbank plum. He is grafting 
it on his Abundance trees. He would not advise planting Abund¬ 
ance where one can obtain Red June and Burbank. 
Make it a rule of business never to keep a check over night 
without cashing .it if you can possibly do so. A check is not as 
good as cash. Send it at once to the bank at which the signer 
promised to pay it. 
The Chinese sacred lily blooms freely on a diet of clean pebbles 
and water. \ our spring vegetables will be more scared than 
sacred after such food; clean off the garden plot. Top-dress and 
spade in, leaving the rough surface to be acted on by the 
weather. 
California horticulturists are exhibiting a pear which they call 
a “ Winter Bartlett. The tree and fruit resemble the true Bart¬ 
lett in appearance, but the pear has the flavor of Winter Nelis. 
In California, it can be picked for shipment between October 15 
and November 1. 
Here is a sentiment from Pennsylvania about the Sir Walter 
Raleigh potato: “This is the baby of the Carmans potatoes, be¬ 
cause it is the youngest. Who knows but, when it gets up in 
years, it may be the boss.” Every boss was once a baby, and the 
first baby in a family is always the boss. 
