24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 9 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS’ PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 7850. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
TRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10‘A 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 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 ban^ 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, JANUARY 9, 1897. 
On page 17, we are told of a Massachusetts dairy¬ 
man who buys bean straw by the car-load to feed his 
cows. Everything about the bean vine is hearty— 
from the pods down to the nodules on the roots. The 
Michigan Station has proved the general belief that 
bean straw will take the place of clover hay—at 
least, for feeding lambs or sheep. As a rule, bean 
straw can be bought for half the price of clover. 
The man that “knows how” saves the difference. 
I 
© 
The R. N.-Y. has received several letters from 
Hudson River Valley fruit growers, all favoring an 
organization such as was suggested two weeks ago. 
One of these letters is printed on page 20. We are 
confident that the time is ripe to form such a society. 
It is needed, and there are evident advantages to be 
gained through it. The R. N.-Y. hopes that all who 
are interested in this matter will write us their views 
as to the best time and place for perfecting the 
organization. 
G 
“ actual circulation ” of many well-known papers 
would melt like a snow drift in May if this law really 
sift out all but those who order or pay. Besides being 
an economical measure this law is in the interests of 
advertisers and reputable papers, and The R. N.-Y. 
hopes it will be passed at once. We take more in¬ 
terest in it than we do do in the Cuban “ resolutions.” 
O 
Mb. Bellwood (on the first page) tells us of a sim¬ 
ple arrangement for treating milk so as to prolong its 
life without the use of ice. This principle of alter¬ 
nately heating the milk to about 160 degrees and 
rapidly cooling it to below 50 degrees, has been em¬ 
ployed with great success in many dairies. At the 
New Jersey Station, the usual hollow milk “ cooler ” 
is used to heat the milk. Hot water is run through 
the tube, and the milk is permitted to run over it. 
Then the hot water is turned off, and cold water 
takes its place, so that the hot milk, when run over 
the cooler the second time, is cooled and put in just 
the right condition for bottling. Milk treated in this 
way will keep, at least, 18 hours longer than that 
handled in the ordinary manner, besides being free 
from ordinary disease germs. When heated not 
above 160 degrees, there is none of the disagreeable 
taste found in boiled milk. 
© 
The pictures of cows’ udders given on page 30 
make a striking object lesson. A dairyman may well 
go through his herd and see if he has any heavy 
milkers with imperfect fore quarters. Our opinion is 
that most of the “ robber cows ” will be found very 
light in front. Many farmers think that these light 
quarters may be remedied somewhat by handling. 
It is a general belief that the cow’s udder may be con¬ 
siderably enlarged by starting early with the heifer 
and rubbing or handling the undeveloped glands and 
teats. We question whether this has any great effect 
in improving the glands, though it may serve to 
strengthen and enlarge the muscles. It is surprising 
that the managers of our breeders’ associations have 
given so little attention to the udder. We seems to 
need a new “scale of points ” to cover the business 
dairy cow. 
© 
Here is a question for your consideration. We will 
take the following supposed case : A farmer ships 
10 barrels of apples to a commission man to be sold 
on commission. The commission man finds that they 
have not been well sorted. He sorts them over and 
makes five barrels of first-class fruit and four barrels 
of small stuff. As the apples originally came, they 
would have sold for $10. As re-sorted, they sell for 
$16. Now, should the commission man make returns 
at $16 or $10 ? We may say that such cases occur 
every day in this city. 
a 
One of our agents says he finds The R. N.-Y. index 
for 1896 one of the most effective canvassing documents 
he can carry. Five minutes spent examining that 
index will show any fair minded man what The R. 
N.-Y. gives him in return for his dollar. That index 
shows that during 1896 we discussed 3,210 different 
topics. That is more than 30 for one cent. As we 
have often stated, the chief office of The R. N.-Y. is 
to try to secure reliable information about topics 
that interest those who obtain a living or recreation 
from the soil. The trend of that information is 
largely determined by the questions asked by readers. 
This is the characteristic feature of The R. N.-Y., 
and our agents and friends may well make much of it. 
© 
Several times during the past year we have re¬ 
ferred to what is known as the Loud bill, which is 
now before Congress. This bill proposes to reclassify 
mail matter, so as to increase the postal revenues, 
and prevent abuses which have crept into the present 
system. At the present time immense numbers of 
unbound books, pamphlets, and circulars are made 
up so that they pass as “ sample copies” of a regular 
publication. Under this guise they are mailed at cheap 
rates, at great expense to the government, and with no 
special advantage to any one except those who pub¬ 
lish them. The bill is hotly opposed by such pub¬ 
lishers, and we have just received a long circular from 
a “committee of New York publishers,” requesting 
us to join them in trying to silence the Loud bill. 
Among the arguments submitted are the following : 
It permits the mailing of periodicals at the pound rate to sub¬ 
scribers only, and defines a subscriber as one who “ voluntarily 
orders and pays for the same.” Under this definition a person 
whose subscription has lapsed and has not been renewed is not 
a subscriber, and copies of a periodical sent to other than ad¬ 
vance-paying subscribers could be excluded. 
In our opinion that is one of the reasons why tfiis bill 
should be passed at once. There is no reason why 
the United States Government should prohibit filled 
cheese and encourage “ filled ” subscription lists. The 
One must go away from home to learn the latest 
news about poultry as insect killers. An Australian 
paper gravely says: 
The tobacco plantations of America would soon have to be 
abandoned, owing to the depredations of the grub peculiar to the 
plant, did they not breed immense numbers of turkeys to feed 
upon and keep the pest under. 
The same paper claims that dairymen rope their 
calves, tie their legs and leave them on the ground 
for the chickens to pick off the ticks. It is true that 
geese in the South will eat out the crab grass and 
leave the cotton plants. Mr. James Rankin, the 
well-known poultryman of Massachusetts, states that 
his large flock of ducks held a horde of army worms 
in check, and actually ate them as fast as they could 
crawl into a field of grain. Now, if some enterpris¬ 
ing scientist will develop a breed of poultry that will 
eat potato beetles and squash bugs, we may be pre¬ 
pared for almost any crawling intruder. 
0 
Some of the Eastern papers have been attacking 
the State of Kansas with the evident purpose of in¬ 
juring her credit. The Kansas people seem to take 
this good naturedly, confident that their State is large 
enough and rich enough to make a living in any 
event. On the back of the programme announcing 
the meeting of the Kansas Board of Agriculture, we 
find the following : 
Kansas is the only State that ever grew enough wheat in one 
season to furnish bread for more than a week for every man, 
woman and child on the face of the globe from Orient to Occident, 
and from Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral strand. She 
is the only State that, on a pinch, can raise the products of the 
frigid, temperate and torrid zones. She is the only State that, 
within 24 hours, can furnish climate suited to the taste of the Ice¬ 
man from Iceland, the Pole from Poland, the Hoi from Holland, 
or the tropical savage from Borneo in his untrammeling suit of 
sunshine. Kansas is the only State that can mix in the commerce 
of every clime, and where a hot wind will affect the markets of 
Christendom. Within the last 10 years, the State has raised 
sufficient corn to fatten enough cattle to drink up the waters of 
Lake Superior, and enough hogs to furnish ham gravy sufficient 
to float the United States navy. She has enough natural gas to 
supply the furnaces of civilization, and enough salt to make 
pickling brine out of all the fresh waters of the globe. 
Kansas is a great State—there is no doubt about that 
—and the Kansas man is a great talker. Kansas 
people can’t eat up their own surplus, however. They 
must pay their debts and taxes and make improve¬ 
ments out of the proceeds of the food sold to people 
in other States. There is no spot in America that 
does not depend on other sections for its market, 
either for buying or selling. Shut Kansas off from 
the rest of the world, and the real increase in her 
wealth might be less than that of Delaware with free 
commerce to the rest of the country. 
Last spring, one of our correspondents advocated 
the plan of keeping his Ayrshire bull on the road as 
one would “ travel ” a stallion. Along the road over 
which the bull would travel, were 24 dairies with over 
500 cows; and not a single purebred bull of any breed 
whatever. Yet, as events proved, few, if any of these 
dairymen would pay even a nominal price for the 
service of this good bull, even when he passed re¬ 
gularly in front of their farms. No wonder our friend 
retires from the business with these remarks : 
We read and talk nowadays a great deal about tlie frauds and 
adulterations in the butter and cheese, and get laws passed to 
stop the manufacture, or tax it so that the manufacturers can’t 
afford to continue. The same men insist in going right along by 
placing in their dairies adulterations of a scrub bull, and instead 
of filled butter and filled cheese, are filling up their dairies with 
filled scrubs of all breeds which, I believe, cannot be computed in 
dollars and cents. It is impossible to stick stakes for other 
men to go by. 
The most demoralizing tax a man can pay is the tax 
he levies on himself by a refusal to see and acknowl¬ 
edge his own mistakes. 
G 
The Greek flower peddlers in New York are a con¬ 
stant trial to the retail florists, since, in all times of 
plenty, they considerably undersell the stores. It is 
estimated that there are bet ween 600 and 700 of these 
men in the city ; they are mostly sheep-herders from 
Sparta and Cephalonia. They speak no language ex¬ 
cept their own dialect, and are utterly illiterate ; but 
they are extremely keen in their bargains, and will 
wait half a day at the wholesale florists’, until they 
cheapen the flowers to their own price. When flow¬ 
ers are scarce and dear, the Greeks disappear from 
the streets, but when a large surplus exists, they are 
tolerated by the dealers as a necessary evil. Few of 
them remain permanently in America ; they stay 
here until a little fortune is secured, and then go 
home to buy a Spartan farm. Some of them marry 
foreigners here, but there are very few women of 
their own race in this country. Their general appear¬ 
ance is not suggestive of classic Greece, and they do 
not seem very closely akin to their fragrant stock in 
trade. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
The pleasant town of Get There lies far up a rocky hill, 
Across the sands of Courage and above the swamp of Will. 
The path that leads to Get There leaves the pleasant thoroughfare 
And wanders off ’mid rocks that grind and brier vines that tear. 
And thousands pass along the road that leads to Nowhereville, 
And grumble at the few who climb to Get There on the hill. 
And others start the thorny path and seek the town to gain, 
But falter at the swamp of Will and turn them back in pain. 
Oh, happy town of Get There shining in the morning sun, 
You only show the toiler how yet higher peaks are won. 
The truest recompense you give for self-denying years 
Is but the promise old, yet new, that conquers doubts and fears. 
For no one lives at Get There, but with heart and purpose set 
On better things, from peak to peak they climb up higher yet. 
Don’t watch the clock too much. 
What is a poultice ? See page 20. 
The dairy rudder is a well-developed udder. 
A hen on the nest is worth two on the roost. 
The scrub steer has an awful per cent of offal. 
The “ kicker ” gives an objectionable object lesson. 
“ Weedicidk ” is the latest name for Crimson clover. 
Keep well! One way to do it is to keep the well clean ! 
The pound with the milking stool will not cure the kicking cow. 
We notice more buyers in the markets. That is a good indica¬ 
tion. 
A rousing argument is needed to convince the boy it’s time to 
get up. 
What do you use for a linch pin to keep the wheels of self- 
improvement on ? 
The Business Hen will order a business Bence!! to the mort¬ 
gage if you will let her. 
Feed the scrub apples to the business htn. They are better 
inside her than in cider. 
“ Put it on the slate !” What ? The thing you will want to re¬ 
member and can’t next spring. 
A fair estimate for pure hen manure is four times the fertiliz¬ 
ing value of strawy horse manure. 
Peach buds in Connecticut are badly swollen. It will need a 
very favorable winter to carry them through. 
Australian “ sportsmen ” organize hunting parties to shoot 
wild horses. That is better than boiling good nags for soap 
grease, as is done in Montana. 
Use tools that leave the milk of fat bereft, and let the Leghorns 
eat up what is left. Then keep them merry and from insects free, 
and you’ll hear music in your hennery. 
Don’t be afraid to feed smutty corn. At the Michigan Station 
they fed four pounds per day of the pure smut to four different 
cows. They liked it. It didn’t hui-t them. The manure was 
barely colored by it. 
A sudden chill at this season is likely to bring on an attack of 
gravel in those subject to that painful ailment. Keep warm and 
dry. Don’t eat too much meat. Eat all the fruit you can. Take 
a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda in hot water before breakfast 
and drink plenty of pure cold water. 
Our friend, J. E. Wing, in The American Sheep Breeder, pro¬ 
poses this question for country debating societies: 
Resolved, That early marriages and large, old-fashioned fami 
lies, wearing woolen garments and eating the best meat in the 
world, would do more to bring prosperity to the shepherd than 
“ 16 to 1 ” or protection.” There is a chance for some old-time 
eloquence, surely. 
