88 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 6 
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 the Universal Postal Union, 83.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 854 marks, or 1054 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 
Postroffice 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 all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1897. 
To our recent subscribers, we would say—our older 
friends are well informed of the fact—that The R. 
N.-Y., offers to send a small tuber of the new Sir 
Walter Raleigh potato to all subscribers who send us 
a two-cent stamp to cover the postage. The Sir Wal¬ 
ter is a seedling of the R. N.-Y. No. 2, and, as we be¬ 
lieve, from trials at the Rural Grounds, is equal to its 
parent in all ways, and superior to it in quality and 
perfection of form. 
© 
In spite of the severe cold, about 50 men met at 
Cornwall last Monday to discuss the proposed plan 
for a fruit-growers’ association. W. F. Taber of 
Poughkeepsie was elected chairman, and after con¬ 
siderable discussion, it was decided to make a tem¬ 
porary organization. A committee composed of 35 
well-known men representing both sides of the Hud¬ 
son will meet at Poughkeepsie February 3, and per¬ 
manently organize and arrange for a fruit-growers’ 
institute. There was a general feeling that the 
farmers of the Hudson River Valley ought to come 
together, and the time seems ripe for such a move¬ 
ment. The R. N.-Y. will keep its readers fully 
informed regarding the outcome of this matter. As 
is well-known, we favor a strong and complete asso¬ 
ciation of Hudson River growers. We will gladly 
assist such an enterprise in every possible way. 
© 
Great are the uses of insurance. The German 
Government has passed a number of so-called pure 
food laws which call for a close inspection of American 
food products. These laws are so strictly enforced that 
American shippers are always fearful lest, in some 
way, they should fail to meet all the legal require¬ 
ments. A company has been formed in Prussia which 
offers to insure dealers in food products against pay¬ 
ing fines, etc. This company keeps its clients fully 
informed regarding the pure-food laws, and aids 
them in discriminating between what the law con¬ 
siders wholesome and impure. Another use of an 
insurance company is shown in the way a rich New 
York woman saved a doctor’s fee. She feared that 
she had contracted a certain disease, but did not wish 
to pay for a doctor’s examination. She, therefore, 
applied for a life insurance policy for $50,000. Three 
experts gave her a very careful examination and pro¬ 
nounced her sound. Having made sure of what she 
wanted, she announced that she had “ changed her 
mind” and would not take the policy. 
© 
In spite of the hard times, there are plenty of 
rogues and sharks at large among farmers—and some 
of them, apparently, make more money than honest 
men. A new scheme, and one worked with great 
success in some localities, is described in the follow¬ 
ing letter: 
Please warn your readers against the agent of a New York 
grocery firm, who travels through the country selling $10 “orders” 
of tea, or tea and coffee together, and giving a fine set of china- 
ware, a gold watch, or a bicycle as a premium with every order. 
He, also, takes orders for other groceries which he promises to 
ship by freight, and collect when he comes around again in three 
months. He says that he is obliged to take cash in payment for 
the tea and coffee orders, the margin of profit being so small (?). 
He carries an order of tea with him in the wagon, sells one 
wherever he can, takes the cash and promises to send the pre¬ 
miums when he sends the rest of the groceries. The other 
groceries and the premiums never come, and the buyer is left 
with $10 worth of cheap tea and coffee on hand. He doesn’t 
hesitate to say that any prominent person has taken an order 
from him, even if he has been kicked out of that particular house. 
He finds enough credulous buyers to make the game very profit¬ 
able for him. A. s. o. 
Ballston Center, N. Y. 
You will notice that this fellow, like any other hum¬ 
bug, plays the old game of offering “ something for 
nothing.” We cannot understand how it is that 
farmers who are sharp and keen in ordinary business 
matters, can be tricked by such transparent schemes. 
It is a safe rule to avoid all business dealings with 
strangers. For the one angel that you might enter¬ 
tain unawares, you are likely to deal with a dozen 
imps. 
© 
Dairymen will do well to study with some care the 
various feeding problems which are stated this week. 
Every year theory and practice are getting closer and 
closer together in the silo. Sweet pasture grass of 
June is still the ideal “balanced ration.” We cannot 
copy it with any combination of dry grain and hay 
and drinking water. What about the winter feeding 
of those mules—page 95 ? It seems too bad to stuff 
an idle mule with high-priced hay. We want all the 
experience with feeding ensilage to mules and horses 
that we can get. How much may we safely feed ? 
What grain is best to go with it ? 
O 
It is said that not a single line of steam railroad 
has been built in Massachusetts since 1893 ! A large 
mileage of electric and other light roads has been put 
down, but in New England, at least, the steam rail¬ 
road seems to have reached its growth. In fact the 
electric lines are likely to take business away from 
many of the present steam lines. It does not seem to 
us that this is to be regretted. The light electric 
roads running into the country will be likely to aid 
farmers—at least they will offer a chance to take up 
improved methods and crops. In a section like the 
Peninsula composed of Delaware and eastern Mary¬ 
land, electric roads would be of great value to farm¬ 
ers. At present, the Pennsylvania road has a mo¬ 
nopoly of the freight and passenger business. If 
farmers could get their produce in car-load lots to 
Wilmington, they would secure competitive rates, for 
several roads center there. They do not need more 
tracks laid by the Pennsylvania, but they do need 
competing lines. 
© 
There are women in our large towns and cities 
who seem to prefer the society of a dog or cat to that 
of a child. Of late years, a sort of craze for Angora 
cats has afflicted such people, and some of our readers 
would be astounded could they know what expensive 
care is lavished upon these worthless pets. Instead 
of preaching against the folly of adopting a cat in 
place of a child, The R. N.-Y. would suggest to its 
readers the practice of supplying the demand for such 
animals. Few of us would spend $G of our hard- 
earned money for a quart of Christmas strawberries, 
but if the millionaire cares to do it, let us remember 
that the money is finally divided among, at least, 25 
different workers. Let us encourage the rich to spend 
twice as much as they now do for American-grown 
luxuries. If they want cats or rats or woodchucks, 
go and breed the animals for them. They will not 
buy old “Tom” or “Tige”—they want the silky hair 
and the laziness of the so-called house cats. There 
may be a dozen people in your town who will pay as 
much for an “improved” cat as a dairyman would pay 
for a Jersey calf. The cat sale is just as honorable 
as the calf trade. 
0 
During the past season, we had quite a little to 
say about the plan of buying southern-bred pullets 
at live-weight prices in the New York market, and 
using them for winter layers in place of home-bred 
stock. Readers have, evidently, been watching these 
experiments with some interest. One lively friend 
writes as follows : 
Won’t you tell us some more about those 600 scrub pullets 
bought in New York for Ellerslie Farm, last October ? It’s dol¬ 
lars to doughnuts that they haven’t laid two eggs each (average) 
to date. 
We are fond of doughnuts, and like to have our share 
of honest dollars. Our friend, probably, wouldn’t 
care to send us a new subscription for every egg those 
pullets have averaged. They began laying on Decem¬ 
ber 3, and have steadily gained ever since. Later in 
the season, we can give more exact statements. Mr. 
O. W. Mapes bought 300 of these birds. They began 
laying about the middle of December, and are doing 
well. Those Ellerslie pullets could hardly be called 
“ scrubs,” for all of them show more or less Plymouth 
Rock blood. A few weeks ago, we saw some good 
pullets sold at very low prices in southern local 
markets. We hope to try the experiment of buying 
50 Delaware pullets to compare with 50 home-raised 
birds. 
© 
Engineers say that the heat from one pound of coal 
will haul twice as much freight to-day as it would 25 
years ago. The coal is the same, but the machinery 
has been improved. Less heat and steam are wasted. 
A pound of grain is also the same now as 25 years 
ago, but many cows have been so developed and im¬ 
proved that they get nearly twice as much butter fat 
out of the grain as their ancestors could. Mr. H. M. 
Cottrell sends us the following herd record : 
In the Ellerslie herd, there are 104 Guernsey cows and heifers 
that have completed a year’s work. The average yield per cow 
for 12 months is 5,317 pounds of milk and 318 pounds of butter, 85 
per cent fat. Fifteen cows have each given over 400 pounds of 
butter, 62 cows have each given over 300 pounds of butter, and 
only five heifers have given less than 200 pounds of butter each 
in a year. 
Our opinion is that one could not have found in this 
country 25 years ago a herd of 104 cows that could 
equal that record. It is quite possible that other 
American herds can excel it this year. The actual 
work of a pound of coal and of a pound of grain has 
been increased, but the proportion of scrub engines 
is, probably, less than that of scrub cows. 
© 
Since we printed the pictures of cows’ udders on 
page 30, a few friends have written to say that a 
poorly-shaped udder does not always indicate a poor 
milker. One friend in western New York gives this 
testimony : 
Don’t advise buttermakers to dispose of cows with udders like 
Fig. 16, page 30. I have a one-half blood Jersey with such an 
udder, that made over 12 pounds of butter last February on poor 
fodder corn, Strap-leaf turnips, wheat bran and corn meal. The 
milk was skimmed sweet, set in eight-quart pans, and not always 
kept at the proper temperature. She is a persistent milker, but 
never gave over 44 pounds of milk per day. 
I ig. 16’ represented an udder very light in front. 
We would never advise a dairyman to sell a cow 
simply on the strength (or weakness) of her external 
appearance. The scales and Babcock test should 
settle that question. The dairy thief may be the 
handsomest cow in the herd. There are, of course, 
exceptions to every rule, but we do not think that 
our friend would buy a cow with a light front udder 
unless he knew, from certain evidence, that she was 
a heavy milker. We become more and more con¬ 
vinced that it is impossible to increase the secretive 
power of the udder glands by handling. You may 
make the muscles large, but glands are not built up 
that way I 
© 
BREVITIES. 
I saw an old man with the weight of age 
Upon his shoulders, toiling day by day, 
To plant an orchard; that his closing page 
Might stand to bless him when he passed away. 
So, day by day, with boyish hope he toiled 
Among his trees—content to think that, when 
His few remaining strands of life were coiled, 
His work might stand to bless his fellow men. 
And nursed by love the trees grew straight and tall 
To fruitage; but the old man sadly grieved— 
It was not fair and mellow fruit at all, 
But sour and stunted; baffled and deceived— 
The fair ideal of his life laid low, 
In hopeless sorrow of old age he wept, 
Till through his passion’s bitter ebb and flow, 
A voice with tone of cooling comfort crept! 
Weep not, old man, but let your days be spent 
In grafting better fruit, thus may you leave, 
A nobler thought, the truth that God has sent 
A higher life to graft on hearts that grieve.” 
Potato rot is a tuber kill. 
Wuat’s a man without a plan ? 
The portable fence must be well posted. 
It is always time to prune the ache corn crop. 
The sale that “ sells ” a customer seldom pays. 
W hat is the best acid for a successful pro test ? 
Prune the hardy scrubs with an ax right on the head. 
Dried blood for fertilizer, but tried blood for the dairy. 
We hope that your better half has good kitchen quarters. 
“ Old Dog Tray ” may be faithful—but how about Old Dog 
Trade ? 
Mushrooms may spring up in a single night, but in a single day 
the price falls down. 
Molasses and rice bran mixed are being sold in New Orleans 
at $10 per ton for stock food. 
So, while the husbandman stood off his base in doubt, oldjfather 
Time stepped up and put him out I 
The best prohibition argument is a notice from a railroad cor¬ 
poration that no drinking men will be employed. 
We don’t want to hurt your feelings, but what have you ever 
done that will compel your enemies to admit that you are sound 
and true ? 
The Iowa dairy law regards milk with less than three per cent 
of fat as partly-skimmed milk—whether skimmed by the cow or 
the man. 
It is easier for you to pass through the eye of a needle than for 
your children to have good teeth unless you give them bone¬ 
forming food ! 
Perhaps the girls can introduce Crimson clover to the farm 
through the flower garden. Father will see it, and, first you know 
he will have it on the farm. 
We doubt whether it pays to have any fine strainer on the 
milking pail. Dirt will stick there ! Less chance of its being 
cleaned than there is where the strainer is a tool by itself. 
Do you notice how little dry hay the best dairymen are feeding 
in these days of ensilage and cheap bran ? Four to five pounds 
of clover are a good-sized dose. Hay costs too much compared 
with ensilage ! 
Skim-milk gives a better analysis than beer. How the country 
would boom if the money now spent for beer were spent for milk? 
There’s no “hop” in milk ? Let the cows drink from a spring ! A 
spring is as good as a hop. 
