296 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 1 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Ei-bert S. Carman. Editor-in-Cbief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, 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 
8s. 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 certs 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 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 all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1897. 
GOOD BOOKS. 
The American Fruit Culturist, by J. J. Thomas, re¬ 
vised edition, is now our best volume on fruit culture. 
It costs $2 50, and is well worth the money to those 
who want a complete fruit treatise. The Book of the 
Dairy is a translation from the German, and a mag¬ 
nificent volume in every way. It costs $4. Of course 
one must pay a good price for a complete work. The 
Sugar Problem costs only 50 cents. This is another 
complete work. It tells all about beet sugar making. 
Remember—we can furnish any book you want from 
acorns to zebras. 
O 
A good many readers tried the experiment of seed- 
ing to grass alone after very careful working of the 
soil on the plan suggested by Mr. Clark of Connecti¬ 
cut. We would like to have them tell us how such 
fields look this spring. The plan of seeding alone is 
new to many. 
© 
We hear some little complaint from poultrymen 
about the effect of dried blood as a part of the hen 
ration. It ought to be known that the dried blood 
usually sold for fertilizer is not suitable for stock 
feeding. {Special brands of this dried blood are now 
on the market, and they are designed especially for 
stock, but the ordinary fertilizer blood is not fit for 
the hens. There is danger in it. 
a 
The freeze of Tuesday, April 20, played havoc at 
the Rural Grounds, the most serious damage being 
done to the collection of Japan plum trees, many of 
which were in full bloom. Currant blossoms were 
completely destroyed, and strawberry plants badly 
injured. The buds of grape vines had not pushed and 
were not harmed. Magnolia flowers were blackened, 
horse chestnut shoots killed, and the first growth of 
asparagus ruined. If the terminal bud of asparagus 
be broken off or frozen, that is the last of the 
growth of that particular stalk. 
© 
While Prof. Jordan was at the Maine State College, 
he conducted some very interesting experiments in 
determining the cost and composition of human food. 
These results have now been printed by the Govern¬ 
ment, and will be read with interest by all who con¬ 
sider the matter of a human “ balanced ration”. 
Prof. Jordan found, among other things, that milk is 
a very valuable animal food. When it was bought at 
$2 per 100 pounds, the cost of a pound of edible solids 
in it was 15.7 cents. With beef at $10 50 per 100 
pounds the cost of a pound of edible solids was 34 3 
cents. In some of the experiments at the Maine 
College, milk was supplied in unlimited quantities, 
while in others its use was restricted. In every ease 
where the milk was supplied without limit, the cost 
of ttie food was reduced and less meat was required, 
as the extra amount of milk consumed replaced other 
animal foods. These experiments clearly show the 
great value of milk as human food. Most of the 
people who buy milk, regard it as a luxury rather 
than as a food. In large cities, the daily consump¬ 
tion of milk is but little over half a pint per capita. 
Thousands of families use milk only for tea or coffee 
or with fruit or pudding, and buy costly animal food 
in the form of meat. There is no doubt that such 
people would live cheaper and have smaller doctors’ 
bills if they could be supplied with all the pure milk 
called for by members of the family. It is a fact that 
a quart of good milk has about the same food value 
as a pound of beefsteak, and the younger members 
of the family, at least, would be better off were they 
to use the milk entirely. If town and city people 
could be made to understand the food value of milk, 
the business of the milk dairyman would soon be 
prosperous. 
s 
The device for pruning from the wagon pictured on 
page 290. is somewhat on the plan of a wagon used 
by some electric light and electric railroad companies 
for repairing. The latter is simply a high ladder or 
tower built upon a wagon so that the repairers may 
work on the arc lights, trolley wires, etc., without 
any difficulty, and with no loss of time. Some of the 
ladders can be raised or lowered. Why couldn’t one 
of these wagons be used, also, in many cases, in 
gathering fruit ? The fruit could be gathered with 
less injury to the trees than when ladders are used, 
and could be loaded right into the wagon without 
taking it to the ground at all. Some arrangement 
modified to suit the conditions to be met, ought to 
result in great economy of time and labor. 
® 
Prof. Shaw’s interesting notes on sorghum as a 
summer pasture for sheep are timely in bringing up 
the matter of providing suitable green food to keep 
the stock during next summer’s drought. Last year, 
Prof. Shaw told us how, by planting successive crops 
of oats and peas, rape, corn, rye and sorghum, he was 
able to grow enough fodder on one acre to produce 
550 pounds of lamb. The great value of sorghum as 
a summer forage plant is that it fairly delights in the 
hot, dry weather which is death to many of our grass 
plants. Corn will, also, produce a large amount of 
food in hot weather, but it will not grow up when 
cut or pastured off, while sorghum will give a second 
or even a third crop. It is reasonably safe to assume 
that, for six or eight weeks during the summer, the 
pastures on your farm will not provide a fair living 
for the stock. If you wait until the pastures fail 
without providing food substitutes, you will be 
obliged to buy grain or keep the stock in a half- 
starved condition. By starting now with crops of 
fodder corn, millet, oats, sorghum, etc., you can carry 
the stock along without trouble. We shall plant 
oats, sorghum, millet and cow peas for summer feed¬ 
ing, and shall also use the stalks of early varieties of 
sweet corn for this purpose. Now is the time to pre¬ 
pare to dodge the drought. 
O 
Last year, Denmark shipped to Great Britain 137,- 
623,808 pounds of butter, valued at $30,602,533. 
France, Sweden and the Netherlands each contrib¬ 
uted to the 340,250,064 pounds of butter eaten in 
Great Britain duriDg 1896, and even Victoria, Aus¬ 
tralia, shipped more to England than did the near-by 
United States. So far, American dairymen have not 
consulted British taste in color, packing and salting, 
and the average price obtained for their product 
during the past five years has been 17.8 cents per 
pound, while the average on other makes has been 
23.1 cents. Secretary Wilson of the Department of 
Agriculture is now making a special study of the 
British market for dairy products, the result of his 
investigations to be published in the bulletins of his 
department. The imports of bogus butter into Great 
Britain have greatly fallen off during late years ; 
most of this stuff sold there is made in Holland. The 
Danish cows that supply Great Britain with butter 
are largely fed on American grain, but as last year 
American dairies made more butter than the country 
could consume, it would seem very necessary to seek 
wider markets. Last year, our butter exports were 
19,373,913 pounds, valued at $1,768,453. 
© 
We are often asked by readers how they may ob¬ 
tain the pamphlets from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. There is a general belief that one application 
for these pamphlets will make one a permanent sub¬ 
scriber, so to speak, and entitle one to all the publi¬ 
cations. In order to settle the matter, we wrote to 
Secretary Wilson, and his reply follows : 
The Department, in fulfillment of its fundamental function to 
acquire and disseminate useful information, issues publications 
of various kinds, scientific, technical, and popular. The varied 
character of the bulletins naturally restricts their distribution to 
certain sections of the country, or to individuals engaged in cer¬ 
tain lines of work, comparatively few of them being suitable for 
general distribution. After an experience of some years, it has 
been found more satisfactory to allow applicants to select the 
publications they desire. To this end it was found desirable to 
discontinue the list of persons to whom all publications of the 
Department were formerly mailed, and in lieu thereof to issue 
monthly a list of the publications of the Department, which is 
mailed regularly to all applicants. This list enumerates the pub¬ 
lications issued during the month, and gives a brief synopsis of 
each, and the price of the bulletins that are for sale, as provided 
in the act of January 12, 1895, and affords the applicant the oppor¬ 
tunity of selecting for himself the bulletins in which he is inter¬ 
ested, and relieves him of the recipt of publications for which he 
would have no use. It is necessary, therefore, to make applica¬ 
tion for each publication, but this imposes no hardship, it seems 
to me, as the bulletins, if worth anything at all, are certainly 
worth asking for. I think you will understand upon a moment’s 
reflection how the method here outlined prevents the wasteful 
distribution of valuable publications, and permits the issuance 
of a much larger number of bulletins and reports and the mailing 
of them only to persons to whom they will be of value. Many of the 
agricultural papers, in a commendable endeavor to acquaint their 
readers with the work of this Department, especially as regards 
publications, print occasional notices, advising them to write 
to the Department of Agriculture for the monthly list of publica¬ 
tions, the result being that that list now numbers over 16,000 
names, and it is my earnest hope that it may soon be increased 
to 50,000, or even 100,000. james wilson. 
Our advice to readers is to write for the monthly list of 
publications, and select, each month, what they want, 
and send a special order for it. It seems a little sur¬ 
prising that the great Department of Agriculture has 
secured only 16,000 names of farmers who desire these 
publications. We would like to take the contract of 
doubling that list in six months 1 
O 
Last year’s experiments at Cornell University 
showed the advantage of good tillage on the potato 
crop. It was found that frequent surface tillage with 
weeder and cultivator increased the crop, both by 
conserving moisture and rendering the plant food of 
the soil itself more available. These results were so 
marked that it is proposed to try to interest farmers 
everywhere in the matter, and thus secure a wide 
range of experiments with tillage. A circular has 
been prepared showing just how a tillage experiment 
may be conducted. In brief, the plan is to plant the 
potatoes under uniform conditions, and cultivate part 
of them three times, others six times, and others nine 
times. We shall try this experiment on our own farm, 
and we advise all farmers who are interested in such 
matters to write to Chief Clerk, College of Agricul¬ 
ture, Ithaca, N. Y., and obtain instructions and 
blanks. If there is any fertility in the teeth of a 
cultivator, let’s help to measure it. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
Ben Davis, you are handsome ! Ben Davis, you are neat! 
But, tell the truth, Ben Davis, you are not good to eat. 
Who’d touch you, old Ben Davis, with Baldwin at your side 7 
You may be big and handsome to those who have not tried 
Their teeth against your skin, sir, to test your quality. 
Ben Davis, oh, Ben Davis, you are a Pharisee, 
For outside you are handsome, while inside you are flat; 
Yes, flatter than a pancake—as tasteless as my hat. 
I’ve seen men stop and buy you—attracted by your face— 
And toss you off half eaten—a humbug in disgrace. 
And every other apple that bears your earmarks, Ben, 
Is treated with suspicion by all deceived men. 
Ben Davis, oh, Ben Davis, your dress is smart and neat; 
You push yourself, Ben Davis, up to a good front seat. 
But soon old Major Market, with unrelenting face, 
Will say, ''Come down, Ben Davis, give better fruit your place ! 
Don’t pin your faith—sew it on. 
Don’t put the cent in sentiment. 
How is the child crop getting on f 
Poor packing spoils good picking. 
Idolatry of the dollar is too prevalent. 
An effective “ wind ” brake—biting the tongue. 
Coarse feathers make fine birds—when on the peacock, 
It takes a wise man to answer the ignorant man’s whys. 
Let Nature mix your fertilizers for you whenever possible. 
Have your name and business printed on your letter heads! 
Rinse the seed potatoes before soaking them in sublimate solu¬ 
tion. 
The farm crop of white daisies should be handled as “ cut 
flowers.” 
“ Oats and peace suit me,” said the old horse. “ I’ve earned 
both by hard work.” 
Raise “ hops ” in the garden—of the toad variety. They will 
conduct the bugs to their bier. 
“ Let me have hens about me that are fat and eat much corn! ” 
says the man who does not like to hunt eggs. 
Do you declare your belief in the protection of home industry 
by showing extra consideration for your hard-working wife ? 
Our experimenters must remember that they are not preparing 
bulletins for scientists alone. Make them clear. Go up higher 
by getting down lower. 
Thousands of failures to obtain a “ catch” of clover are due to 
a lack of lime. Lime “ sweetens” the soil and thus enables the 
clover bacteria to “ catch on.” 
Mr. Douglas (page 289) does not think much of the usual ad¬ 
vice to plant two rows of evergreens for a wind-break. He ought 
to know something about evergreens. 
Eastern farmers who have used large western farm horses 
fresh from the west, will please tell us how they like such animals 
How long does it take to acclimate them 7 
A bulletin from the Minnesota Station records a White pine 
tree which had 348 annual rings, and another that made 4,050 feet 
of log timber ! This tree was 253 years old. 
In soaking potato seed with corrosive sublimate in water, some 
of the solution will come out with each lot of potatoes. In add¬ 
ing more, we use the same strength of solution as at first. 
Argentina sends to Nebraska for a man to come to South 
America and kill grasshoppers. China sends to Cornell for the 
director of a Chinese experiment station. The world moves out 
of its grooves. 
Let Turks delight to kill and fight, and shoot and hack and 
chop; but let us hope that little Greece will still come out on top. 
And while these fighting men “ square off” and strip their coats 
in heat, old Uncle Sam will hold their hats—and sell them bread 
and meat. 
We are quite surprised to note the questions concerning tub or 
stave silos that have come pouring in during the past few weeks. 
Evidently, this form of silo is giving excellent satisfaction. We 
shall have some very interesting notes to give during the spring 
and summer. 
