246 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 10 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Jonrnal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman. EdItor-in-Chlef. 
Herbert W. Coli.ingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, 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*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. 
Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of Issue. 
Be Bure 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 all orders pay 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1897. 
PLANTING TIME IS HERE. 
Are you among those who have not ordered a tuber 
of the Sir Walter Raleigh potato ? 
PO TATO WANTED! 
JOHN SMITH 
JONESVILLE, 
ALASKA. 
’vbbbmbhhhhhbhhhibhbbmhhb 
That order will be honored if you will send a two- 
cent stamp with it, though we would just as soon have 
you add some fact or suggestion from your farm ex¬ 
perience. I wo cents to cover postage 1 That is the only 
cost to you. Our opinion is that the Sir Walter 
Raleigh potato is better than the R. N.-Y. No. 2 or 
either of the Carmans. Now is the time to order it. 
© 
Among the many questions asked by readers is the 
following: 
Should a farmer be elected to office simply because he is a 
farmer? 
Our answer would be, No. At the same time, it de¬ 
pends somewhat upon the office. The mere fact of 
living on the farm does not fit a man to fill a public 
office. As between a city man and a farmer equally 
qualified to fill an office, we would certainly feel 
inclined to vote for the farmer. 
© 
In line with the query about inoculating trees to 
kill insects, is the belief by some that feeding sul¬ 
phur to animals will kill or repel insects on them. If 
this were the case, it seems strange that, after all 
these years, so few have discovered or learned this 
fact. Burning sulphur is an excellent insecticide 
and germicide, and it is sometimes used in the nests 
of sitting hens. Sulphur mingled with molasses is, 
also, sometimes administered internally to sundry in¬ 
dividuals of small size. But it must be used with 
caution externally in the case of fowls, especially in 
damp weather. 
O 
The best name we can think of for the fraudulent 
dairy stuff that is being put on the market is 
DEVILED BUTTER ! 
This seems a good name for this fraud. As we have 
often stated, old, cast-off, rag-bag butter “strong 
enough to knock a man down,” is heated to drive off 
the bad smell, and then chilled to give it something 
of a “ grain.” Then it is packed and labeled to com¬ 
pete with pure, sweet goods. We suggest the above 
name for such stuff. If some one can devise a better 
name for it, we will accept it. At any rate, let’s all 
get at it and make it walk a straight mark. 
© 
When discussing nut culture, growers may form 
the impression that their produce is a superfluity or 
luxury, rather than a staple of economic food value. 
In some parts of Europe, chestnuts form the chief 
article of diet, during a part of the year, at least, and 
although this can never be the case in America, where 
we have such an immense variety of cheap food prod¬ 
ucts, there is no reason why we should not extend 
this variety still further, by using the chestnut 
as a regular food, as well as a dessert. This nut 
makes an agreeable and nutritious dish when boiled, 
mashed, and prepared with milk, butter, and season¬ 
ing ; it also makes an admirable dressing for turkeys 
and other poultry. Boiled and candied, the nuts 
appear as the Marrons glac6s of the French confec¬ 
tioners, a very dainty and expensive sweetmeat. Our 
hygienists are now urging the use of nut foods, such 
as nut butter, nut cheese, and nut bread, in place of 
cereals, these preparations being largely made from 
the humble peanut, without displacing any existing 
article of diet. Sound, well-ripened chestnuts should 
certainly find a place among our vegetable foods. 
Those who have eaten boiled Paragon chestnuts in 
place of potatoes are sorry to return to the tubers. 
We find that doctors generally recognize the food 
value of nuts, and the nut preparations noted above 
are gaining in popularity. It was formerly thought 
that nuts were indigestible food. That idea must 
now take its place with the old notion that frozen 
cream is injurious to health. A little later, we shall 
print further particulars about some of the nut foods, 
mentioned above. 
© 
On page 244, we have a new variation of the “stove 
shark” business. A friend in Massachusetts sends us 
this brief account of certain operations in that State : 
There was a sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth here yes¬ 
terday, for the collector of the stove company arrived and de¬ 
manded payment for ranges sold a few months ago. The sales¬ 
man who first appeared disposed of his wares upon the easy 
payment plan, got the purchasers to sign contracts, and made 
verbal agreements concerning an extension of time of payment if 
necessary. When the collector came, he was a different kind of 
person from the smooth, easy, persuasive and accommodating 
agent. He did not know anything about any verbal agreements, 
and, like Shylock, insisted on the letter of his bond. Persons 
who had had dealings with the concern, kicked and said un- 
churchly things, but had to come to the mark and cash up. 
Of course they had to “come up to the mark,” for 
they made the mark themselves, when they listened 
to that smooth salesman. It is very easy to agree to 
pay money. Sometimes, when a good talker engages 
your ear, it does seem as though there were nothing 
else to be done. That is just the time when your 
backbone most needs stiffening. It is nonsense to 
use hard words or offer to fight with the second man 
who comes to collect the money. It isn't his fault 
that your name is on the contract. It’s your own 
fault, for you had no business tcnsign a contract with 
any stranger. 
Some people answer a humbug advertisement for 
the fun of the thing. They do not intend to buy the 
stuff, but think it no harm to send and obtain the 
circulars, or even to carry on a meaningless corre¬ 
spondence with the advertiser. Such people should 
ponder well the following note from a New York 
State reader: 
I noticed an advertisement of the Mammoth pumpkin seed in a 
dairy paper, undoubtedly the one referred to by G. S. S., page 159. 
Jt is claimed that hogs become cholera-proof when fed on these 
big pumpkins It costs only a few cents to answer these adver¬ 
tisements, but that isn’t likely to be the last of it. The pumpkin 
seed man is getting a list of names in this way of the kind that 
“ bite.” He may sell your name to all the rascals in the country, 
and you and your children unto the third or fourth generation 
will be flooded with circulars of doubtful character. I was re¬ 
cently annoyed by a batch of circulars from a “supply company” 
in Indiana. Among other things offered were the “ Silent Friend,” 
for $1, containing “ rare and valuable secrets,” etc., a recipe for 
making and using soap, with family and county rights to sell the 
article, and “magnetic rods” for locating mines of silver and 
gold, and buried treasures. These rods are offered for $5 each. 
Write your name with an extra initial letter, if you doubt that 
these names are passed on, and see how often you will hear from 
it in five years. 
That *is -true—every word of it. If these rascals 
once get your name, you will be well supplied with 
circulars for the rest of your life. Some of these 
circulars may be harmless, but the chances are that 
some day, through this method, books or pictures will 
fall into the hands of your son or daughter that 
will come like a black smooch on the very soul. Keep 
your name out of the hands of humbugs ! 
O 
We have spoken several times of “ Nitragin,” the 
new germ fertilizer for crops like clover, peas, beans, 
etc. This is an age of discoveries of the habits of 
germs or bacteria. Scientific men have been able to 
study out the process of ripening or souring of milk 
and cream, until we now have it practically under 
control. By adding a “starter”, or a bit of soured 
milk to sweet cream, we are able to make it ready for 
the churn at any given time. In the same way, a 
study of the habits of leguminous plants, or those 
which are able to take nitrogen from the air, leads to 
the belief that we may use much the same principle 
as that of the cream “ starter ” in securing a full 
growth of clover or cow peas. If a clover plant, for 
example, is to make use of the nitrogen in the air, it 
must have the aid of specific bacteria which do their 
work in the nodules or warts upon the roots of the 
plant. If these bacteria are not present, the plant will 
not utilize the atmospheric nitrogen. It will grow if 
this needed nitrogen has been supplied as manure or 
fertilizer, but in the absence of this, it will remain 
poor and stunted. There is no economy in using 
clover simply to take up and work over the nitrogen 
which we put in the soil. One would as soon think 
of buying water and hauling it to cows at pasture 
while a cool, sparkling brook ran close at their feet. 
The economy of the clover crop consists in supplying 
potash and phosphoric acid and letting the plants 
steal the nitrogen for us. “Nitragin” consists of 
tamed or decoy bacteria, as we might say. The 
bacteria for Red clover, for example, are taken and 
“cultivated” in the laboratory, put into some substance 
that will keep them, and bottled. This bottled sub¬ 
stance is dissolved in water, which is then poured over 
the seed just before sowing. The theory is that, 
when the seed begins to sprout in the ground, the 
bacteria at once begin their work on the roots, and 
spread and grow as the plant develops. We have 
seen this “Nitragin”. Quite a quantity of it will be 
used in this country during the present season, and 
experiments with it will be watched with interest. 
If, by means of it, we are enabled to grow good 
clover without the use of nitrogen as manure, many 
of our farmers will be greatly benefited. It is well 
enough to remember that the germs of potato scab 
have been carried in much the same way. Germs 
from diseased tubers were “cultivated” in the labora¬ 
tory and, after being sent some distance, were used 
to infect clean seed. Dr. Conn’s bacteria of butter is 
another illustration. It was found that a certain 
germ or bacterium always produced butter of superior 
flavor when permitted to develop alone in cream. 
This germ is “cultivated” alone and sent out to dairy¬ 
men. When put into cream under proper conditions, 
it will always produce its characteristic flavor. There 
is, therefore, reason to believe that this “ Nitragin” 
may stimulate the clover roots so that they will do 
surer and better work for us. Our experiment sta¬ 
tions should all test this matter. 
e 
BREVITIES. 
As I passed along the potato bin, 
I heard a fair tuber pipe up within, 
“ Oh, move me out into the bright sunlight, 
For my sprouts are growing so long and white! 
And I need the help of the blessed sun! 
Oh, my eyes are weak and my eyes they run! 
Oh, shovel me out on the big barn floor, 
And give me a chance for my life once more! 
Oh, don’t put me under the ground, prithee! 
Till you soundly have sublimated me. 
Mix up your solution and dip me in, 
And leave me to soak till my cleared-up skin 
Has never a germ of the scab to run 
And ruin your crop as it oft has done, 
So sun me and soak me without delay, 
And I’ll guarantee that you get your pay! ” 
A slip of the pen — a runt pig. 
Tobacco will kill bugs and boys. 
Mr. Killkn writes a live article. 
A tallow candle may be a sheep “dip." 
A lousy hen is likely to be lazy rather than lay-sy. 
How do you like the nutty flavor of the paper this week ? 
Don’t declaim against “pure” beer and then drink impure 
water. 
“ I did that egg up brown ! ” said the Light Brahma after her 
cackle. 
Gandy’s (Prize) strawberry! How many have drawn blanks 
with it ? 
“ Stretches ” in sheep, page 255. Succor them by feeding suc¬ 
culence ! 
That cow mentioned on page 255, didn’t like the taste of pepper 
in her own milk ! 
It’s wonderful how many have succeeded with Crimson clover 
sown with turnips. 
What makes a fellow’s character grow ? A positive “ Yes,” 
and a negative “ no.” 
Surround red liquor with a white man and the prospect 
changes from rosy to a permanent blue. 
Will some of our Neiv England readers who have fruited the 
Wagener apple tell us what they think of it ? 
Squash bugs certainly do not like tobacco. That is one thing 
about them we would like to graft on the boy. 
You are right! We never advise farmers to plow fertilizers 
under. We would always harrow them into the upper part of the 
soil. 
A “nut” is a small block “for holding or tightening some¬ 
thing.” The improved chestnut may tighten up the wheels of 
progress for you. 
For a windbreak of White pine, we would plant the trees in two 
rows 15 feet apart, with the trees of the second row alternating 
with those of the first. 
“ Try Hosford s Market Garden pea with oats for hay in place 
of the Canada pea” says a northern New York reader. The ex¬ 
periment is worth trying. 
Old March, he came in like a lion, but he went out as still as a 
clam. He came roaring death, but at April’s warm breath—why, 
the lion changed into a lamb. 
Yes, sir, fine ground bone and muriate of potash will make an 
excellent fertilizer for small fruits of all sorts. Three parts 
bone to one of muriate are right. 
What is the meaning of the word “fake” ? Among other things, 
it means the stuff sold under various names and guaranteed to keep 
borers out of trees, or to make a new growth of bark. 
The Delaware peach crop is reported in fine condition. A full 
crop is 'promised. That indicates a poor demand for melons, 
which are used by thousands as substitutes for peaches. 
When last I saw you, Mrs. Hen, your moult was hardly through ; 
your tail was but a ghost, but now it has grown out anew. Then 
sweetly Mrs. Leghorn said, “ I know my joke is stale, but from a 
ghostly narrative, I have a grew some tail. ’ 
“The evil that men do lives after them,” but a fine Paragon 
chestnut, planted now, will keep your memory green longer than 
all the epitaphys ever carved upon a tombstone. In other words 
a Paragon tree will keep your memory from becoming a 
“ chestnut.” 
Here is a note from an Ohio subscriber: “The Sir Walter 
Raleigh potato you sent me evidently had a ‘set-to’ with Jack 
Frost en route, and got the worst of it; all its eyes were black, 
likewise its body.” You should call that tuber Corbett. Have 
another Sir Walter ! 
