120 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 20 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
TEE 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. 
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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 20, 1897. 
A few weeks ago, the statement was made in these 
columns that running a hand-power fodder cutter is 
“a man-killing job.” A perfect army of live men 
have marched up to denounce that statement. These 
men are cutting fodder in this way, and are not cut¬ 
ting short their lives by doing it. One such worker 
with good muscle and a sound digestion, is worth a 
dozen pages of writing. We will consider it proved 
that a man may use a hand cutter every day, and yet 
live to rear a large family. It isn’t proved, however, 
that he would not prefer some other power if he 
could get it! 
O 
We regret to learn of the death of our old friend, 
H. M. Engle, of Marietta, Pa. He had nearly reached 
the ripe age of 78, and had enjoyed excellent health 
until stricken with an attack of pneumonia. Mr. 
Engle was one of those lovable and kindly men who 
devote so much of their lives to laboring for the public 
good. He was a man of high ideals, and in his chosen 
work of horticulture, he maintained a youthful 
enthusiasm and looked hopefully ahead to better 
things. He rendered especially valuable service in 
his experiments with improving and grafting the 
chestnut. We may well say of such men, “Thou 
shalt be missed.” 
O 
Talking of portable fences, has any one yet in¬ 
vented a portable poultry fence ? The usual one con¬ 
sists of woven wire netting fastened to heavy stakes 
driven into the ground. This can be quickly taken 
up, rolled up and moved when necessary, and doesn’t 
take long to put up. Is there anything better? 
The wire and picket fences may be used in the same 
way. A movable poultry fence is a very necessary 
thing on many farms. It is often an advantage to 
move the chickens to new ground and plow and plant 
the old yards. It’s a good thing for the ground and 
for the chickens. But a cheap, easily-moved fence is 
a necessity. Which is the cheapest and best ? 
0 
We acknowledge the receipt of a pamphlet entitled : 
An Argument in Favor of Developing Industries 
Which Will Enhance the Price of Corn ! The author 
takes 11 pages to say that he favors an increase in the 
production of whisky and alcohol in this country. 
Needless to say, The R. N.-Y. has no use for such an 
argument. In the last fiscal year, we produced in 
this country 89 992 555 gallons of distilled liquors. 
The fellow who doesn’t consider that a large enough 
National dose of “the devil in solution” is a hard man 
to satisfy. Let the money spent for it be spent for 
food and clotbiDg. Prices would soon rise, and still 
many would be hungry and cold. Stop making 
whisky ! That will soon “enhance the price of corn” ! 
O 
It seems necessary to repeat that the climate and 
soil of Delaware are peculiarly adapted to the suc¬ 
cessful growth of Crimson clover. That is why the 
remarkable system of usiDg fertilizer now described 
in The R. N.-Y. is possible. In colder climates and 
on heavier soils, this clover cannot be expected to do 
so well, and this lack of growth must change the 
system of using fertilizers in connection with it. In 
the North, we must, evidently, use extra nitrate of 
soda to secure a more soluble form of nitrogen. With 
the long, hot seasons of the South, the organic forms 
of nitrogen will be more useful; there is a larger 
season for nitrification. The shorter season and 
colder springs of the North make more soluble nitro¬ 
gen a necessity. We notice that northern farmers who 
have made a careful study of the fertilizer problem, 
generally agree that, at least, one-third of the nitro¬ 
gen should be in the form of nitrate of soda. In other 
words, it is likely that more of the nitrogen in a clover 
sod would be liberated during one season in Delaware 
than in Connecticut. Another thing about Crimson 
clover is the fact that it must be fed. The clover is 
the crop on which to put the potash and the bone or 
rock. You would not buy a Jersey cow and then turn 
her out in a shed to nibble the straw stack for a liv¬ 
ing. Her mission is to take butter fat out of the best 
food you can give her—not out of water and frost. 
Some farmers buy Crimson clover seed and sow it on the 
poorest land they have, without manure or fertilizers ; 
of course, they fail. The mission of this plant is not 
to live on nothing. You must give it potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid, and it will steal the nitrogen to go with 
them. 
© 
There is no lock on your stable door. You often 
look at it and make plans for buying one, but some 
how, time goes by and the lock is not secured. One 
morning you wake up and find the door open, and the 
best horse gone. Then you shut the door with a 
bang and nail it up with big spikes ! You are the 
head of a family, a public officer or trustee of some 
business. You notice little things that are not right, 
but let them go. Some day you wake up and find 
that your child has gone wrong, the public has lost 
through your negligence, or the business you were 
supposed to watch is hollow with fraud. Then you 
bestir yourself and nail up the door. Why do you 
wait ? Why not drive the spikes in now ? 
0 
Since the “ oleo ” business has been pretty well 
cornered, a number of new schemes for deceiving pur¬ 
chasers of butter have been devised. One is the trade 
in “ladle-packed” butter. Strong, rancid stuff of 
all colors and odors is picked up from country stores 
and “ deodorized ” and recolored. The usual method 
is to melt the butter and then chill it as suddenly as 
possible. The heat drives off the odors, while the 
sudden chilling gives the mass something of the appear¬ 
ance of the * ‘ grain ” of good butter. The stuff is then 
repacked and sold wherever it can be palmed cff fora 
superior article. Some of the wholesale beef firms in 
Connecticut take this cheap butter, pack it into prints 
and give it such names as “ Clover Leaf Creamery,” 
“Buttercup Dairy,” etc. It is mostly sold in meat shops 
and in cheap groceries at a price five cents or more 
below that of straigttt creamery goods. This is hurt¬ 
ing the trade in real creamery butter. It is a fraud ; 
for those who buy it are deceived, and both con¬ 
sumers and creamery men should be protected. 
0 
Readers will remember the recent discussion about 
burning corn in Nebraska. Efforts were made to 
compare the heatirg value of a ton of corn with that 
of a ton of coal. Naturally the estimates given were 
largely guess-work. The Nebraska Experiment Sta¬ 
tion has made an actual scientific demonstration to 
determine the fuel value of corn. First, 5 232 pounds 
of corn on the ear were burned under the boilers, and 
the amount of water evaporated by the heat was re¬ 
corded. The next day 1,888 pounds of coal were 
burned in the same way. It was shown that one 
pound of coal gave 1 9 as much heat as one pound of 
corn. This coal cost S5G.65 per ton, which makes the 
fuel value of corn $3 50 a ton, or 12^ cents a bushel ! 
By the same figuring, corn at 10 cents a bushel is as 
cheap fuel as coal at $5 40 per ton. It is easy to see 
from this that a farmer, off the railroad, with a long 
haul both ways, may fiod it true economy to burn 
his corn at present prices for the unshelled grain. 
For heating a small house, we think that the com¬ 
parative value of corn will be found higher than the 
boiler test showed. 
0 
From New York and other large cities, numerous 
firms of so-called patent attorneys are advertising for 
inventions to patent. Some of them go so far as to 
furnish a list of contrivances which the public is 
yearning to have some one invent and patent. Reput¬ 
able patent attorneys will not undertake to secure 
patents unless there is a good prospect of success. 
These sharks will take anything. But they must first 
have a fee for a search, and then fees for other parts 
of the work, no matter whether there is a chance for 
securing a patent or not. But supposing a patent to 
be secured, the milking process is continued, for the 
fakirs will also act as selling agents. An editorial 
writer on The New York Press had a friend in the 
West who had secured a patent through one of these 
firms. He had had considerable correspondence with 
them in relation to selling his invention, but became 
suspicious. He wrote Th3 Press man about it. The 
latter visited them in the guise of a buyer of the 
patent. They had a great deal to say about the value 
of the invention, etc., and agreed to write the western 
man about the matter. The latter received a long 
letter from them, telling about the interview, but 
The Press man characterized the whole thing as a lie 
so far as it related to his part in it. In brief, the 
whole gist of the matter was that they told about the 
supposed customer’s apparent reluctance to buy the 
rights for this country, but his eagerness to buy the 
rights for several foreign countries, and urging that 
he take steps at once to take out patents in those 
countries, through them, of course, and accompanied 
in each case by a fat fee. Needless to say, he didn’t 
bite ; but their object is easily seen. They aim to 
bleed their victims for fees just as long as the latter 
will pay them, no matter whether there is the slight¬ 
est chance for success ; and as in the case cited above, 
they don’t hesitate at downright falsehood to secure 
further fees. It is to be hoped that these rascals will 
get their just desserts, and find themselves behind 
the bars. Beware of them ! 
0 
BREVITIES. 
There’s jest enough New England blood in me to hold me fast 
To food and observation of an age now slippin’ past; 
Fer my six days o’ labor wouldn’t taper off jest right 
Without a dish o’ Boston beans fer supper, Sat’day night. 
An’ sorter holler-hearted would be Sunday mornin’s grace 
Without a dish o’ fish balls smokin’ hot an’ right in place. 
Take tarrypin an’ mushrooms, or yer quail on toast, but we 
Ain’t gut no use fer no such food—this here’s our recipe: 
Two cups o’ sliced pertater an’ a cup o’ picked-up fish, 
Jest bile ’em soft an’ mash ’em up as meller as ye wish; 
One tablespoon o’ butter, heap it up an’ run it o’er, 
An’ ’twouldn’t hurt my feelin’s ef ye add a little more. 
Then take yer biggest Brabiny egg,and beat it in a cup, 
Then pour it in the other dish and mix the whole thing up. 
Then git your stove a roarin’ hot, and fry them cakes up brown 
An’ then call, “ Breakfast’s ready!” Pass the plate an' set right 
down. 
Don’t laugh, you big, fat Kansas, fer the folks that started you 
Were big, true-hearted Yankees, with a grit an’ brain that grew 
From beans, fish balls and doughnuts which the Yankee kitchens 
sent, 
Jest like these here bacteria, to tame a continent! 
Read Mr. Derby’s clover notes, page 113. 
Tiie cow salts her milk all ready for use. 
Baking is a better test for a potato than boiling. 
Can you improve on that grindstone crank—page 119 ? 
Why should a bushel basket of Kings weigh less than a bushel 
of Baldwins ? 
We recommend tobacco for killing insects. Don’t use it to kill 
human beings. 
“Th.rty degrees below zero!” What a help that is in selecting 
hardy varieties! 
Distilled liquors dis still many a happy home, and dis till 
many a farmer’s field ! 
Why should little grass plants need a “nurse crop”? Just 
answer that if you can. 
Where have all the two-cent copper coins gone ? They are not 
in circulation any more! 
When the Leghorns get horns on their legs, it is time to dehorn 
them by cutting off their heads. 
Sunday is the day of rest. Dot only for man but for his stom¬ 
ach. Don’t work less and eat more ! 
Did you know that sweet corn dried aDd coarsely ground makes 
an excellent mush when boiled ? It does! 
The market for gooseberries must be cultivated. There was a 
time wnen Americans did not know bow to eat bananas. 
A correspondent writes that kerosene applied in time will cure 
boils and carbuncles. It will'certainly cure almost everything else. 
The pen is preferable to the sword, if it contains several well 
fattened hogs, for many have soared high and lit not far from the 
pig pen. Pork beats talk. 
Certainly ! It is well enough to experiment with new fodder 
crops, but in the end, you will pin your faith with a big-headed 
pin to our old friends, clover and corn. 
An English law declares that a man is liable for injury done by 
a vicious horse. If a horse of koown ugly temper kills a child or 
keeper, the owner is liable for manslaughter! 
Full many a germ of foulest form from cream or milk your 
unwashed cans in silence bear. Goforth and treat them to a 
dose of steam, or all toese germs will certainly get there. 
Last week, we told of a cow that gave, in one y f ar, the fat 
found in 709 pounds of butter. Imagine a man with 200 such cows 
in one building with silos and perfect appliances for feeding and 
handling the milk! 
Authorities tell us that what we term “breast meat” on 
poultry is really muscle. The more active the bird, the more 
breast meat—according to the authorities. Why, then, have 
capons so much of it? 
There’s no shrinkage in the politician’s salary. It takes a 
philosopher to be satisfied with a law framed simply to Jill 
offices and empty the public treasury. Most county officers are 
low-grade and overpaid ! 
Ten thoughts make an observation, 15 observations make a 
grain, 20grains overcome a scruple, three scruples make a dram 
to cure laziness, eight drams make an ounce of prevention which 
is equal to a pound of cure. 
Last week, we spoke of usiDg a mixture of phosphoric acid and 
glycerine in cases of gravel. We should have added that glycerine 
affects some persons injuriously, causing constipation and worse 
ailments. It should be used with caution. 
Put your foot in it! In what? The most convenient portion 
of the cow’s anatomy. Why? So you won’t get rich so fast. You 
are in danger of an overproduction of butter fat. The cow has a 
monopoly of such production. Kick it down ! 
On the sunny side of 40, you have energy enough, but the head’s 
a little scattering at best. On the shady side of 40, you are up to 
common snuff, but the energy sits down to take a rest. And you 
whip and spur your spirit, as you work alorg the road—oh, the 
misery a common fellow feels on the shady side of 40, at the point 
of lortune’s goad, when his head is not the master of his heels ! 
