392 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 12 
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. 
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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 , JUNE 12, 1897. 
the plan will succeed. Immigration has usually 
traveled along certain lines of latitude and not from 
pole to pole. The proposed scheme would have a 
great influence on the future of this country, but we 
doubt whether there will be any immediate and 
heavy rush of immigration from North to South. 
Q 
That dairy question from Ohio brings up the old 
problem about the relative cost of buying stock foods 
rich in muscle-makers or attempting to produce them 
on the farm. Ten years ago, it was easy to argue 
that clover and similar crops would supply the food 
cheaper than any ordinary grain. Since that time, 
wheat bran and cotton-seed meal have been greatly 
reduced in price, while the silo has shown us how to 
provide large quantities of fat-forming fodder. It 
can no longer be stated as a general proposition that 
clover is always cheaper than bran or cotton-seed 
meal. There are places where it is better economy 
to grow corn for the silo, and Timothy on the out¬ 
lying fields. The money received for the Timothy 
can be spent to buy grain. The day for cast-iron rules 
in farming has been cast out. 
Several years ago, there was a good deal said about 
the use of a cheap binder twine made of twisted grass. 
At one time, a quantity of such twine was made and 
used in an experimental way, with some success, but 
the price of ordinary binder’s twine fell to such a low 
figure that the grass twine could not compete with it. 
There is no question that the grass twine can be made, 
and the necessary grasses are abundant in the North¬ 
west. The inventor of the machine for twisting the 
grass is still at work in an effort to perfect it, and 
there are possibilities in the scheme ; but at present, 
other binding twines are too cheap. Should ordinary 
twine increase in price, it is quite likely that the grass 
twine would come into use. Calculations made some 
years ago showed that 600 feet of twisted grass twine 
could not be sold for less than eight cents, or some¬ 
what more than the same length of sisal and manila. 
The grass twine was of much greater bulk, was more 
difficult to handle, and needed moistening in order to 
make it work well. 
© 
Last fall, we saw, at the Geneva Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, an apple orchard containing a “ cover crop ” of 
buckwheat and peas. Prof. Beach was pleased with 
this combination for sowing in young orchards. Buck¬ 
wheat covers the ground and makes a vigorous growth 
until frost comes. When this grain is used, the ground 
is moist and in a good, friable condition, not becoming 
so dry and hard as it does when other cereals are 
used. One object in sowing buckwheat with the peas 
was to keep the latter up off the ground so that they 
would be less liable to attack by mildew. The mix¬ 
ture was found especially useful on hard clay knolls, 
but it does not live through the winter like the 
clovers. In one sense this is not an objection, for 
spring culture is easier when the crop dies down. A 
combination of winter vetch and winter rye has given 
excellent satisfaction as a late crop sown in orchards. 
The indications are that some combination of a 
legume and a cereal will give better results than 
either crop used alone. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
Mr. Green, of Paris, has arrived in town to-day. 
Mrs. Colorado Bug is indisposed, they say; 
Has no appetite at all—Bhe quite neglects her food; 
Salad of potato tops that used to taste so good, 
Now is quite beyond her taste—it gives her cramp and chill— 
Just the merest nibble makes her very, very ill. 
Wise Prof. Codling Moth was formerly so fond 
Of his dish of apple sauce, but now he can’t respond; 
He has notified his friends that, really, he don’t wish 
Mr. Green, of Paris, to have fingers in the dish. 
Arsenate of Copper is his true Parisian name, 
But as Green, of Paris, he will get there all the same. 
If he ran for office, every bug that eats its food 
Would vote straight against him for, to them, he is no good. 
But we common people pin our faith to Brother Green; 
He’s the best policeman for the bugs that we have seen. 
Every eating crawler is a rascal and a thief; 
Sail in, Green of Paris, bring the scoundrels up to grief ! 
It is wind that dries the hay. 
String has a bad cold this year. 
Bind sight is calculated to sight. 
Hens like catnip. Try them and see. 
Asparagus culture in rhyme, page 396. 
The hen that won’t lav is a wouldn’t hen. 
“I like a shoddy job on my feet!” says the horse. 
“ I’m extracting a square root,” said the hog in the orchard. 
Cotton-seed meal makes a good balance with pasture grass. 
Silence often marks the difference between bray and brains. 
It seems that millet hay should be handled about the same as 
clover. 
The evil that men do gets after them, the good they do is stirred 
into their bones. 
Pull the wool over the I—in other words, keep the great opin¬ 
ion of yourself inside your head. 
Wet the walls inside before you burn sulphur in the henhouse. 
The water will absorb the fumes. 
I have to think of certain men who love to brag their doings 
when the rooster cackles for the hen. 
When a hen lets you catch her on the roost in the day time, she 
is either sick, a setter or sucker—too old and lazy to lay. 
In 100 pounds of milk, there are 87 pounds of water; in 100 
pounds of lettuce, there are 94 pounds. Milk runs—lettuce 
stands up. 
On page 361, one teaspoonful of raw linseed oil was suggested 
for a pony with the heaves. Too small a dose! It should have 
been one teacwpful. Don’t dose horses with a teaspoon. 
The Delaware peach crop is peculiar this year. Some orchards 
near the bay have a full crop, while others in the same latitude, 
more distant from the water, have less than 25 per cent of a crop. 
Secretary of the Treasury Gage tells the people that the 
promised prosperity is surely coming. Wonder if we will know 
it when we see it! Who ever saw a person who would admit that 
present times were really good ? 
One of our Connecticut readers remarks, “ I am so close to the 
sea that, at times, the windows are coated with salt, and no 
animal will touch it. I have something less than 1,000,000 tons of 
rock to the acre! ” How would some of our Kansas friends like 
to change with him ? 
We regret to learn of the death of Mr. Robert Douglas, of 
Waukegan, Ill. Mr. Douglas was known all over the country for 
his connection with horticulture and forestry. Millions of ever¬ 
greens will stand for years as monuments to his industry and 
skill. Surely, such monuments will be more truly enduring than 
stone. 
BOOKS ABOUT MILK 
The following books discuss the manufacture, 
handling and sale of milk : 
Milk and Its Products, Prof. II. H. Wing.$1.00 
Milk Making and Ma'keting.20 
The Dairy Calf. ’->5 
Ensilage and the Silo..20 
Van Norman’s Butter Chart. .25 
Total.... 
We will supply this combination for $1.50. This is 
dairy time. These books will tell you what you want 
to know about milk. 
O 
Charles A Green, on page 388, gives his reasons 
for not wanting cement floors in the stable. There is 
likely to be quite a little discussion regarding this 
matter. Most people will, probably, say offhand that 
the cement floors are best. Our opinion is that, if 
cement be used, it should be kept covered with two 
inches or more of soft bedding of some sort. We con¬ 
sider it a mistake to compel an animal to stand directly 
upon the rock. There is no doubt, however, that, so 
far as cleanliness and saving of manure are concerned, 
the cement floors are ahead. 
O 
Some of the papers have announced that, after July 
1, private business cards may be sent anywhere 
through the mails by affixing a one-cent stamp. This 
would be a great convenience to many people, and 
would, doubtless, increase sales of stamps, but it 
seems that such announcements are not correct. 
The Third Assistant Postmaster General writes us as 
follows : 
I have to state that the bill to which you refer, relative to private 
mailing cards, did not become a law. Cards, other than those 
issued by the Department, bearing written communications, are 
subject to letter postage, two cents. Only cards entirely in print, 
so as to constitute circulars, are mailable for one cent. 
Third Assistant Postmaster General. John a. merritt. 
We must, therefore, wait awhile for this “ reform 
O 
Here is a curious dog case recently tried in Eng¬ 
land. Two little boys were playing near a farm 
house, and were ordered by the farmer to go away. 
The farmer turned and spoke to a Collie dog which 
at once ran after the boys. One of the boys, in 
running from the dog, fell down and broke his leg 
and cut his face. The boy’s father sued the farmer 
for $125 damages. The defense was that the farmer 
did not set his dog on the boys, but that it simply 
ran after them. According to the English law, an 
owner is not liable unless it can be proved that the 
dog is dangerous, yet the judge gave the boy’s father 
judgment for $75 and costs. The question now arises, 
suppose the farmer himself had started to run after 
the boys to frighten them, and the same accident had 
occurred ! 
Q 
The daily papers report a plan among leading 
members of the Populist party to organize immense 
colonies in Texas. In some of the Northwestern 
States, farmers have come close to failure. In many 
cases, they went West with high hopes, attracted by 
exaggerated reports of the natural wealth of the 
country. Taxes, interest and fuel are all high, while 
transportation is so managed that farmers are really 
at the mercy of railroads and elevator companies. It 
is argued by the leaders of this movement that, if 
such farmers could now go to the cheap lands of 
Texas and begin life over again, with the experience 
of the past 10 years to guide them, they would have a 
fairer chance and happier lives. It is true that many 
settlers in the Northwest are out of place in the 
nation’s economy. Texas is a wonderful State, rich 
in natural resources, while there is room for millions 
of home-seekers. In spite of this, we doubt whether 
0 
If you were to catch the hired man out back of the 
barn trying to vaccinate your boy with some terrible 
disease, there would be a vacancy on your farm in 
less than an hour, or you are a poor apology for a 
man ! That boy belongs to you, and his future is 
worth more to you than all the stock on the place. 
What about the hired man who tries to innoculate 
your boy with the germs of bad language and bad 
habits ? You might cure smallpox or diphtheria, but 
there are bad habits and vulgarities that a child can¬ 
not outgrow. We venture to say that many a boy on 
the farm has been trained in evil ways by a hired man. 
A vulgar, profane and drinking hired man has no busi¬ 
ness on a farm where young children are forming 
habits of thought and life. Putting a young boy as 
roommate for such a man is a direct bid for bad habits. 
Many farmers are not careful enough about this mat¬ 
ter. Keep clean clotn away from pitch ! 
© 
We sometimes hear thoughtless city people speak 
of the “ narrow” life of the farmer. They seem to 
think that the farmer’s life is trimmed to the narrow 
limitations of the farm, and they have no idea that 
his thoughts ever leap over the fence and range in the 
world outside. It seems to us that the average man 
of town or city is very much more dwarfed and 
narrow in his views than is the farmer of equal social 
rank. The city man is merely a part of a great 
machine. He seldom or never gets his foot upon the 
soil. Nature cannot teach her mysteries from brick 
and stone. The city man reads little beyond his daily 
paper. His life is a round of rush, worry and nervous 
strain, with little time for serious thought or reflec¬ 
tion. He is smart rather than solid and sure. The 
narrowness of the city man increases with each gen¬ 
eration of city life. A contempt for country life and 
thought is pretty likely to be bred into the grand¬ 
child whose father and grandfather were both city 
men. Such a citizen might not like to believe it, but 
he may often be classed as a dangerous element in 
American society. We believe that the better class 
of farmers are to-day reading better books, thinking 
sounder and healthier thoughts, and living more gen¬ 
erally helpful lives than the classes of city people 
who take rank with them in the scale of society. 
“ God made the country and man made the town.” 
© 
The etherizing of dormant plants, as a means of 
developing early growth, is a process now under 
investigation, Mr. Johannsen of the Agricultural 
High School, Copenhagen, having obtained some re¬ 
markable results. The dormant plants are placed in 
an air-tight receptacle, and exposed to the influence 
of the ether for from 24 to 96 hours, 48 hours being 
the usual time. Lilacs and tulips were among the 
plants experimented with, some lilacs being in bloom 
September 10, and La Reine tulips blooming Decem¬ 
ber 19. After the etherizing, the plants are forced in 
a hothouse. We do not, however, regard the experi¬ 
ments as conclusive, for the plants treated are all 
easy to force under normal conditions. With prop¬ 
erly ripened wood, the lilac can always be forced into 
bloom with comparative ease, and though December 
19 is early for La Reine tulips to bloom, further trial 
is needed before we can give unqualified credit for 
the performance to the ether, especially as it is stated 
that the etherizing has no effect before the forma¬ 
tion of roots. Mr. Johannsen is experimenting with 
Lily-of-the-valley, which, under the conditions given 
by American florists, is forced into bloom within 21 
to 28 days, in a bed of pure sand. While the etheriz¬ 
ing shows the possibilities of some interesting experi¬ 
ments, we should hardly consider that its present 
results lead to any certain conclusions. 
