1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
457 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAB. 
In front of one restaurant where buttermilk is sold, 
I saw two old-fashioned dash churns, but neat and 
freshly painted, bearing on their sides the announce¬ 
ment that within PURE BUTTERMILK, FRESH 
DAILY, is for sale at five cents per glass. I don’t 
suppose that this sort of sign makes the buttermilk 
any better, but it is a taking way to advertise, and 
one that attracts attention. 
t X X 
I notice that the strawberries coming from Oswego 
are largely in baskets of different shape from those 
that come from New Jersey and Delaware. They are 
deeper, but not so large across the top, and the sides 
are- more sloping, though the baskets are of about 
the same capacity. I would like to know whether 
these are better for any reason than the larger, but 
more shallow ones. It seems to me not, but if they 
are, let’s hear from those who can tell us why they 
are. Which do you consider preferable, and why ? 
XXX 
Pineapples are a feature of the city markets these 
days. Not that we don’t have them the year ’round, 
but this is the season of greatest abundance. There 
is considerable variety in pineapples—and in prices. 
Some of the little strawberry pines from Florida may 
be bought occasionally for as low as five cents 
apiece. Then there are what the dealers call sugar- 
loaf pines, a little longer in shape, and of a yellowish 
color, sweeter, but not of such characteristic flavor. 
Then the big Porto Ricos, the largest of all, of fine 
quality and flavor, sell for from 25 to 50 cents each, 
according to size. Under the existing tariff, im¬ 
ported pineapples pay a duty of 20 per cent ad va¬ 
lorem, while the McKinley law admitted them free. 
As the bill with which the Senate is struggling now 
stands, pineapples are taxed seven cents per cubic 
foot in barrels and packages, and $7 per 1,000 in bulk. 
This is, of course, to protect the industry in Florida, 
which is a growing one. 
X X X 
Eveky little while, some paper brings out a fabu¬ 
lous story of a frog farm on which some one—gen¬ 
erally an invalid or a woman—is coining money in 
raising frogs for market. The R. N.-Y. has tried to 
run down several such stories and find the mythical 
farm, but has never yet succeeded. I inquired in the 
office of Eugene Blackford, formerly Fish Commis¬ 
sioner of New York State and a high authority on 
fish, if they knew of any place where frogs were regu¬ 
larly cultivated, and they said that they did not. 
Many frogs’ legs are received in this market from 
about March until early winter. They come largely 
from northern New York and Canada. The hind legs 
only are taken off, skinned and sent to market. The 
usual sizes run about seven or eight pairs to the 
pound, although of some of the largest, three or four 
pairs weigh a pound. The usual price is about 25 
cents per pound, varying according to the supply and 
the demand. To-day, they are quoted at 25 to 40 
cents per pound. Taking the average price and the 
average size, it will be seen that each frog will be 
worth but a few cents. 
X X X 
In this column, last week, I spoke of the criticisms 
of the butter exporters upon the Government’s report 
on its trial butter shipments. But the trial shipment 
seems to have been effective in a very practical way, 
for it is now reported that a London firm has placed 
an order for the entire output of the Iowa Agricul¬ 
tural College, which was one of the two dairies fur¬ 
nishing the butter for the experiment. The samples 
of foreign butter brought over were viewed and sam¬ 
pled by a large number of butter men. The Danish 
was considered by far the finest, but not equal to the 
American in flavor. The Australian was, at least, 
three months old. The consensus of opinion was 
that American buttermakers have a good chance in 
competing with the butter which now goes to the 
English market. The official butter inspector of the 
New York Mercantile Exchange scored the butter, as 
well as a sample from Minnesota and one from Massa¬ 
chusetts. The samples scored as follows : 
Flavor. Grain. Color. 
Salt. 
Pkge. 
Total. 
Standard percentage. 
Percentages of samples ex¬ 
amined— 
40 
30 
15 
10 
5 
100 
Minnesota. 
36*4 
30 
15 
10 
5 
98* 
Massachusetts. 
35 
29 
15 
10 
5 
94 
English. 
30 */* 
29 
15 
014 
5 
89 
Danish. 
35 
30 
15 
10 
5 
95 
Normandy. 
31 
29 
15 
10 
5 
90 
Australian. 
29 
29 
15 
10 
5 
88 
Normandy (fresh). 
3014 
30 
15 
10 
5 
90*4 
Irish. 
20 
2814 
14* 
10 
5 
84 
It should be remembered that the two samples of 
American butter had somewhat the advantage of 
the others in age and distance traveled. Some of the 
foreign butter showed up remarkably well consider¬ 
ing the circumstances. f. h. v. 
IRRIGATION ON CAPE COD. 
During the past few years, we have heard little 
about the irrigation schemes in the Far West. There 
are vast tracts of arid land lying on either side of the 
Rocky Mountains. It has been proposed that the 
Government should help build great reservoirs in the 
mountains, so that the water thus stored might be 
used for irrigating the plains. Of late we have heard 
less of these schemes, for two good reasons : It is 
evident that the times will not permit any large in¬ 
crease in expenditure. It is also seen that such irri¬ 
gation would simply throw vast tracts of land into 
direct competition with the farmers of the Middle 
West, who already find difficulty in disposing of their 
crops. Smaller irrigation schemes, however, are con¬ 
stantly being developed, and it may surprise many of 
our readers to learn that plans are actually on foot 
to irrigate Cape Cod in Massachusetts. 
There were times when Cape Cod was a very im¬ 
portant part of America. Early in this century, and 
up to the time of the Civil War, the fish business 
prospered along the Massachusetts coast, and Cape 
Cod was ranked as a wealthy and prosperous section. 
Most of the old whale ships have long since rotted at 
the wharves, and the fleets of fishing vessels have 
gone elsewhere. The harbors are becoming deserted, 
and in spite of the fact that large numbers of Portu¬ 
guese have settled on the Cape, the population is 
steadily decreasing. The soil is light and sandy for 
the most part, but capable of producing large crops 
of fruit and vegetables if supplied with an abundance 
of moisture. It has, therefore, actually been sug¬ 
gested that the State might profitably engage in the 
construction of irrigating plants on Cape Cod, so that 
the old-time farmers and fishermen might not be en¬ 
tirely driven away. It is not likely that this scheme 
will succeed in this generation ; but it gives a forcible 
illustration of the changes that have come over the 
agricultural sections of New England. 
In former years, with his market close at hand in 
the fishing towns, the Cape Cod farmer was prosper¬ 
ous. Now his market has been taken from him, and 
there is no hope of extensive manufacturing, since 
fuel must all be brought from a distance. Here is a 
struggle to counteract the effect of industrial changes 
for which the Cape Cod farmer was not responsible. 
He turns to water, the cheapest and most common 
thing in the universe, to help him out of his trouble. 
It is a singular thing that, all over the country, farm¬ 
ers are certainly waking up to the thought that irri¬ 
gation, meaning a constant supply of moisture, is 
necessary to them if they would hold their own in 
the struggle against competition. 
WIDE GUESSING AT TRUTH. 
LEARN TO SAY, ‘‘I DON’T KNOW!” 
The issue of Hoard’s Dairyman for June 25, contains 
a report of a farmers’ institute held last winter in 
Wyoming County, N. Y. In these meetings, a “ ques¬ 
tion box ” is prepared. Farmers are supposed to write 
questions on pieces of paper and drop them in the 
box for the wise men who conduct the institute to 
answer. When actual questions run short, and in 
order to encourage others, the institute workers often 
ask themselves questions, and answer them for the 
edification of the audience. In the report just noted, 
we find the following : 
Q.—What about H-O cattle food ? Is It first-class ? 
Mr. Smith.—Prof. Jordan, of the Experiment Station, Geneva, 
recently said the farmer who buys these patent cattle foods pays 
300 or 400 per cent profit to the manufacturer and dealer. They 
are made of ground oil cake or cotton-seed meal with a little 
ginger or some other tonic added, and their only value is in the 
oil meal or cotton seed, which may be bought at $15 to $25 per ton. 
Don’t buy them, except at their real value, and then not unless 
you know what their analyses are, and then have them guar¬ 
anteed. 
Now it is evident that Mr. Smith did not know 
what he was talking about. The H-0 food has for its 
base oat bran and other refuse in the preparation of 
oatmeal for human consumption. With the bran are 
mixed corn meal, cotton-seed meal and oil meal in ex¬ 
cellent proportions, making a cheap and very useful 
food. We have used it on the farm for the past two 
months, and consider it excellent in every respect. 
It is sold on a guaranteed analysis, and is usually 
cheaper than bran. 
Now Mr. Smith, probably, never heard of it before. 
He did not want to say, “I don’t know,” so he jumped 
to the conclusion that this H-0 food is some sort of 
a condition or condimental powder. Therefore, he 
quotes Prof. Jordan in a general way, poses as a very 
wise man, and does injustice to an excellent and 
cheap product. At this same institute, Mr. Smith 
went on to tell how salt liberates too much plant 
food,” and how Alsike clover puts too much olein in 
the butter, while Timothy hay puts too much stearine 
into it ! Is this a fair sample of the work that is 
being done at our farmers’ institutes ? Such guesses 
at truth and examples of spavined science are of very 
little value to the farmer who honestly desires to 
obtain reliable information. 
Our observation has been that the New York State 
institutes have improved of late years. The more in¬ 
telligent farmers certainly speak well of them, and 
we understand that last winter’s meetings were well 
attended. There seems to be, however, a general 
feeling that few new recruits are brought in. One 
sees much the same faces year after year. The meu 
who conduct these meetings and those who answer 
questions cannot be too careful about their facts. 
Why can’t they learn to say, “I don’t know !” now 
and then—at least, when such a statement would 
represent the truth ? 
BLANKETS FOR PLANTS AND HORSES. 
The plant bed mats in general use are chiefly made 
from straw or bast; they are light, warm, and fairly 
durable, but where used in quantity, their first cost 
becomes an item of considerable expense. A novelty 
in this line is a burlap mat with a filling of wool, 
made on the same principle as the cotton filled com¬ 
fortables used for bed coverings. The burlap is 
quilted at intervals with machine stitching, which 
holds the filling in place. The mats are about one 
inch thick, in size 6x6 and 6x3 feet 6 inches, and 
weigh about seven pounds each. The filling is held 
firmly in place by the quilting without lessening the 
flexibility of the mat; the edges are bound with tape. 
It was suggested that, during exposure to winter 
weather, the mats might absorb sufficient moisture to 
stiffen them through freezing, but they appear to dry 
out so rapidly that no difficulty has been experienced 
from this cause, and they are easily rolled up when 
removed from the frame or hotbed. Experience with 
them during two seasons proves their entire relia¬ 
bility as a means of protection. While they equal the 
straw or bast mats in general usefulness, they possess 
the advantage of inexpensiveness, since they cost but 
about one-fourth the price of straw mats, which they 
excel in durability. They are made by the R. T. 
Palmer Company of New York, a firm engaged in 
making quilted comfortables for bedding, this line 
suggesting the idea applied to the plant mats. 
The same idea is used in making horse blankets, 
giving the warmth of a heavy blanket of wool at a 
very small cost. These blankets are made of canvas 
lined with burlap, having the wool filling held in 
place by quilting. They are finished with strap and 
surcingle, like ordinary horse coverings, and weigh 
about eight pounds each. The cheapness, durability, 
and warmth supplied by this blanket make it especially 
suitable for farm horses. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
If you have not done so yet, now is a good time to write Dr. 
S. A. Tuttle, 27 Beverly Street, Boston, Mass., for a sample of 
Tuttle’s Elixir. It is a liniment that ought to be in the house or 
barn. 
If you have a churn or separator to run, or want to get either, 
just send the Vermont Farm Machine Company, Bellows Falls, 
Vt., a postal card and ask for a catalogue of their dairy and 
creamery goods. 
The owners of the Brookside Poultry Farm, Columbus, N. J., 
have decided, for good reasons, to sell their entire stock of 
Plymouth Rocks—Buff, Barred and White. A tine chance to 
obtain good stock. 
Ark you going to make any cider this year, much or little 't 
You can get a press to make any quantity, large or small, of the 
Empire State Pulley and Press Company, Fulton, N. Y. Their free 
catalogue will tell all about them. 
The points of superiority in well-drilling machinery, we are 
frank to say. we are not well posted on. The manufacturers’ 
claims for the Star machine, however, seem well founded, and 
the reports from its practical working seem to justify them. The 
particulars may be had from the Star Drilling Machine Company, 
Akron, O. 
Answering an inquiry, we are not running the Baldwin & Co. 
cheap wagon advertisement, though payment was guaranteed to 
us, because we could not advise readers to send to this house re¬ 
mittances in advance of receipt of goods. If any of our readers 
are really anxious to take the risk, they can get the address in 
almost any of the other farm papers. 
One of the handsomest and most complete trade catalogues we 
have seen is the one issued by F. E. Myers & Bro., of Ashland, O. 
Pumps and hay tools are the specialties offered by this house, 
and these are to be found in almost every conceivable variety. 
One feature of this catalogue is the complete price list so arranged 
that the buyer can easily find the cost of any part or fixture. We 
notice pictures of gate hangers, fire escapes and tracks. This 
catalogue is well worth studying, and our readers should send 
for it. 
This week records the first great cut in prices of real high- 
grade bicycles. It will be seen in their advertisement on another 
page, that the Pope Mfg. Co. have reduced their high-grade Colum¬ 
bia from $100 to $75, and the Hartford to $50 and less. The wheel 
is bound to be as common on the farm as the buggy, or even more 
so. For a really fine wheel, nothing can surpass the Columbia; 
but for a really first-class wheel for general purpose aDd service, 
the Hartford is, perhaps, the cheapest wheel on the market, when 
we consider the guarantee given by so reliable a firm as the Pope 
Mfg. Co., of Hartford, Conn. 
