4o8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 19 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' BABER. 
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, $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 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 sure that the name and address of Render, with name of 
Post-office and State, and wbat 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 , JUNE 19. 1897. 
The great agricultural book of the year is 
The Fertility of the Land. 
BY 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
It is suggestive, sound and soluble. What we mean 
by Holnble is that it is written in a clear and simple 
style tnat any one can understand. The R. N.-Y. 
thoroughly indorses this book. It ought to be found 
in every agricultural library. Retail price $1.25. We 
want your book trade. 
O 
On June 18 and 19, a Horticultural School will be 
held at Vassar Institute, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Among 
other speakers will be M. V. Slingerland, L. A. Clin¬ 
ton, and B M. Duggar, of Cornell, S. A. Beach, of 
Geneva, and George T. Powell. An exhibit of straw¬ 
berries and flowers will be made, and such topics as 
injurious insects, plant diseases, soil cultivation and 
small fruit varieties will be discussed. The new 
Eastern New York Horticultural Society will meet at 
the same time. The dreaded San Jos6 scale is in the 
Hudson River Valley. Come and learn how to fight 
it. On June 17, there will be a similar school at the 
home of George T. Powell, at Ghent, N. Y. 
© 
We have been quite a little surprised that so good 
a dairy authority as Ex Governor W. D. Hoard should 
argue against dishorning the dairy bull. The advant¬ 
ages of the practice are so evident that one should 
have strong facts to support such a position. Mr. 
Hoard cannot prove that dishorning injures the bull 
—the construction of the horn and the way it is 
attached to the head show that there cannot be any 
such serious shock as he thinks there must be. The 
opinions printed on page 415 are mostly against his 
view of the case, and we think people will go on saw¬ 
ing the horns from bulls and cows, and generally 
agree that dishorning stands about at the head among 
recent discoveries that have benefited dairymen. 
O 
Four years ago the so-called Nixon bill “for the 
extension of horticultural knowledge” was passed by 
the New York Legislature. The object was to try to 
adopt some means for creating more interest in horti¬ 
cultural studies. Under Prof. Bailey’s management 
schools were held in western New York, at which the 
principles of horticultural science were explained. 
These schools were very different from the regular 
farmers’ institutes. They continued for several days, 
and gave a regular short course of instruction. Out 
of these meetings has grown a scheme for introducing 
nature studies in the rural schools, and establishing a 
reading course among farmers. Already 49 bulletins 
and leaflets have been issued, while there are 1,600 
regular readers of the extension course. The teachers 
of rural schools in New York State have taken hold 
of the matter, and most people would be astonished 
to learn how the idea is developing. Prof. Bailey be¬ 
lieves that this course of nature study, brought right 
down to the district school, is the most promising 
feature that has yet come from the experiment station 
idea. Mr. George T. Powell has been lecturing in the 
public schools along the Hudson River. While at 
Germantown he went with the school children into 
the apple orchards to show how injurious insects 
actually live and work. While there he found the 
San Jus6 scale, and the result was the calling of a 
public meeting which served to arouse fruit growers 
over the danger from this insect. These meetings in 
school houses and studies of simple science are creat¬ 
ing a great interest among the younger people. Every 
school district in New York State should receive 
benefit from them. Has your teacher begun to use 
the leaflets and charts sent out from Cornell ? If not, 
it is a part of your business to learn the reason for it. 
© 
All sorts of wild animals are kept at Central Park, 
in this city. The other day, a woman came to one of 
the keepers and asked him to get her a piece of meat 
that had been bitten by a wolf. She had heard that 
such meat would cure a large wart on her boy’s face, 
and wished to try it. When a wolf once gets hold of 
a piece of meat, it is very hard to secure it for medi¬ 
cal purposes, but this woman was accommodated 
finally. Another woman with a hunchback boy 
wanted him to crawl three times under the stomach 
of a donkey. It is certainly astonishing to find how 
many people still have faith in these old signs and 
superstitions. What possible connection can there 
be between a wolf’s tooth and a wart ? Probably just 
about as much as there is between a full moon 
and a full crop of corn or potatoes. 
O 
Mr. Jenkins tells us, page 401, how he saved his 
strawberry plants from frost by sprinkling them with 
water before the sun came up. We have tried much 
the same plan with considerable success. At the 
Wisconsin Station efforts were made to prevent frost 
by running water in furrows over the land. The re¬ 
sults were not very satisfactory, and it is evident that 
to be of real service the plants must be drencned with 
the water or surrounded by the vapor. In California, 
light frost has been rendered harmless by throwing 
out a watery vapor in the orchards. This is done by 
burning a fire under wet straw or manure on a wagon 
which is driven through the orchard. The heat of the 
fire drives the moisture out of the wet straw or 
manure in the form of a fog or vapor, and this settles 
about the trees, equalizing the temperature and 
delaying the threatened freeze. 
G 
The first man to grow a field of Crimson clover in 
any locality finds himself famous when the clover 
bursts into bloom. It gives a new color to the land¬ 
scape, and neighbors are not long in finding it out. 
A reader in western New York gives this account of 
his experience : 
To-day being Decoration Day, team after team stopped and 
picked bouquets. I counted 20 people in the field at once, it being 
by the side of the road. Some would come to the house and ask 
what kind of flowers they were, and when told that it was noth¬ 
ing but clover, they could hardly believe it. 
Another man who grew a field of Crimson clover in 
northern New Jersey, tells this story : 
The ladies all say the crop was beautiful. They come for miles 
to see it, and all want to take some with them. Some are satisfied 
with a handful, but others want an armful. One came in her 
carriage for miles to see it and get a handful of it. I had to put 
up a notice, No Trespassing; Seed tor Sale. This lady bought 
some seed. Some wanted a root, but I told them they would better 
sow the seed and wait until next season, when they could have 
plenty of it. 
The beautiful flowers of Crimson clover were largely 
used for decorating the soldiers’ graves in our home 
cemetery this year, and dozens of homes were made 
bright with them. It is a lovely crop when at its 
best. Is there any advantage in having a beautiful 
crop on the place ? We think so. It not only does 
the farmer and his family good, but brings customers 
to the farm. Anything that advertises the farm is a 
good thing—that is, if you have anything on the 
place that you are proud of. 
O 
A society has been formed in England for the pur¬ 
pose of creating an interest in national storage of 
wheat. Members of this society believe that England 
should always keep several years’ supply of wheat on 
hand, whereas now there is seldom enough ahead to 
last six months. At a recent meeting, one speaker 
undertook to show that a European power, at war 
with England, might, if it could raise the money, 
“ corner” the American market and thus prevent ex¬ 
ports to England. The English people, however, 
refuse to be frightened at such statements, and it 
seems impossible to create public interest in the stor¬ 
age scheme. To show how English wheat has declined, 
a writer in the Mark Lane Express presents the fol¬ 
lowing table: 
Year. Acres in wheat. Men employed. Wages paid. 
1856.4,213,651 168 546 6,573,294 
1866.3.649,584 145 9-3 4,693 337 
1876.3,114,555 124,582 4,858,698 
1886.2,355,451 94,218 3,674,502 
1896.1,734,118 69,364 2,705,196 
The wages figures are in English pounds, which 
equal about $5 in our money. It will be seen from 
these figures that, during the past 40 years, the Eng¬ 
lish wheat fields have steadily declined in area, while 
only 40 per cent of the men who produced the wheat 
crop in 1856 are now needed. America, India and 
Russia are now producing the wheat for England’s 
bread. England is the great creditor nation of the 
world. The wheat-producing countries owe her 
money, and the English money lenders find it more 
to their advantage to encourage importations of grain 
than to encourage the home production. 
O 
On page 406, a correspondent calls for exact informa¬ 
tion regarding Triumph, Sneed and Greensboro 
peaches. He wants to know how they behave in the 
Southern States, and how they compare with Alex¬ 
ander in size, shape and color. Are any of these 
peaches better than Alexander for Southern growers ? 
If so—why ? Let us have the why of it from prac¬ 
tical experience, rather than from theory. 
O 
Put up a shingle in front of your farm, and adver¬ 
tise what you have for sale. 
COLD MILK. 
BREAD AND BUTTER. 
BERRIES AND CREAM. 
If there are bicycle riders passing your farm that 
sign will be sure to attract them. A blackboard 
with chalk of different colors will make a good show¬ 
ing, and the family artist can put in some fancy 
flourishes. Advertise ! Let the world know that you 
are alive ! Make a bid for new trade and call it up to 
your door. That is legitimate farming. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
I don’t like tbe style of my stye, Mr. Man, 
I don’t like the style of my stye. 
Imagine yourself prisoned here, if you can. 
With mud plastered up to your eye. 
My ancestors, out in the field and the wood, 
Were able to run or to walk; 
They gathered up grasses and nuts for their food, 
And ran some lean meat in their pork. 
But I am expected to stay in my stye, 
And grunt with contentment and fat; 
I’m only a hog, it is true, sir, but I 
Have a higher ambition than that. 
Oh, let me out into the clover field green, 
And hustle with legs and with snout. 
I’m pensive inside of this pen, sir, I ween; 
I’m pent up I Oh ! pension me out ! 
You say you are willing to do what you can 
To better my lot—I reply, 
I don’t like the style of my stye, Mr. Man, 
I don’t like the style of my stye. 
Fertile lies for a fool crop! 
Wren a man is tired he can’t be inspired. 
Put on your “ eh ?” cap and ask questions. 
Better be backward about giving back-talk. 
Picking Crimson clover seed by hand—page 407. 
Barley Is the best hot-weather grain for soiling. 
“ Food for reflection ” is too often not a balanced ration. 
Wanted ! A remedy for Quack grass that is not a quack. 
The man who’ll not clean out the henhouse sells eggs by wait. 
Tiie boy’s thoughts turn on a baseball bearing about this time. 
Soai* thickens water. Crossed with a scrub, it makes a pure 
dairy. 
“Sugarine” is a new substance said to be 500 times as sweet as 
ordinary sugar. 
Cutting Timothy with the binder ! The arguments on the sub¬ 
ject are cow-vincing. 
Good Parker Earle strawberries smothered in cream hitch up 
with contentment and make a full team. 
It’s time, it’s time ! that farmers realized that lime is needed if 
they hope that clover will cover all their meadows over. 
In spite of the work performed by the patriotic American hen, 
the United States imported one million dozens of eggs last year. 
There is a great demand for information about the use of lime. 
Thousands of acres are unproductive and sour. They need lime. 
Mr. Repp, page 403, tells how he avoids hand labor in the onion 
field. Fertilizers contain no weed seed. Wheel hoes act as 
fingers. 
Is it possible to make up a cow ration out of dry food that can 
give results obtained with young pasture and cotton-seed meal ? 
We doubt it ! 
Spraying is the same as life insurance for plants. It may pos¬ 
sibly not pay one year out of five, but you never can tell which 
year that one will be. 
There’s many a farmer who owes his start to the fact that his 
wife is true and smart, but after he’s started, he’ll soon forget 
that but for her he’d be halting yet. 
Mr. Euprocti8 Chrysorrcea or brown-tailed moth has arrived 
in this country from Europe. At present, he is in Massachusetts 
and will cause immense damage to trees if not checked promptly. 
Yes, sir, if you could cover a potato plant with a thin coating 
of Bordeaux Mixture it would be impossible for the blight fungus 
to start its work. The plant could not blight. That is what 
you aim to do in spraying. 
A little girl on Long Island was recently frightened to death 
by the snoring of a drunken man. A sober snore is bad enough, 
but a snore with rum in it is about the worst thing a sleeping 
man can have about him. 
June 11. —The exceptionally wet weather is lodging tbe grand 
rye crop of Bergen County, N. J. Strawberries are soft ana rot¬ 
ting. The grass crop is assured as one of the finest ever grown. 
Oats were never finer, and the same may be said for wheat. 
Down in Ukiah County, California, where the Army worm has 
recently appeared in immense numbers, the Indians are trying 
to restore the balance of nature by eating the worms. They 
regard Army worms as a greater luxury than grasshoppers, and 
are drying them for future use. 
