520 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 7 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
1UE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER , 
tx 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. 
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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, AUGUST 7, 189 7. 
Please paint this signboard right on your mind 
where it will be easily remembered : 
The Rural New-Yorker will be sent 
until January 1, 1898, for only 25c 
GET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S SUBSCRIPTION ! 
Keep 10 cents ! Send us 15 ! 
It won’t cost you a cent extra to send for our new book, 
list at the same time. 
O 
The exhibition in the fruit department of the New 
York State Fair this year promises to be unusually 
good. S. D. Willard and F. E. Dawley are working 
hard to make this branch of the fair a success. The 
rules have been revised, premiums have been in¬ 
creased, and in some classes, third prizes have been 
offered. Cold storage will be provided for those who 
wish to send plums or early pears. 
© 
Rack horse men have, for some years, used a light 
electric battery in place of a whip. The horse carries 
the battery in such a way that the driver can give 
him a shock by pulling the reins in a certain way. 
Not long since, a horseman was arrested for using 
such a battery on a lazy horse. Careful experiments 
showed that the light charge of electricity could not 
do any more damage than a sharp cut with the whip, 
while it was much more effective in putting energy 
into the horse. 
O 
The constant rains during the last half of July 
have done considerable damage in the eastern part 
of the country. In New England and New York State, 
grain and hay have suffered. In many places, they 
were cut at the usual time, and then lay on the ground 
thoroughly soaked for two weeks. Potatoes on low 
ground are rotting badly, and even on high ground 
blight has appeared with serious results. In June, 
the prospects for a large crop of hay were excellent. 
The failure to harvest the crop in good condition will 
have some effect on prices which promised to be low 
when cutting first began. The rains have held the 
corn crop back, although a hot and dry August 
will bring it through safely. 
© 
The new tariff bill seems to have provoked less dis¬ 
cussion and comment than any similar bill of recent 
years. It is generally understood that the Trusts and 
so-called monopolies have been well cared for, to say 
the least; but throughout the country, there seems 
to be a general feeling of relief that some sort of 
a tariff bill has been passed, and that Congress had 
adjourned. In the writer’s local market, the price of 
sugar has been advanced “ on account of the tariff 
bill.” It is well known that, for months, sugar has 
been pouring into the country, so that this bill has in 
no way affected its price. Yet, such instances do not 
seem to strike the people as they did in 1890, when 
the McKinley bill was passed. Americans have begun 
to see how such tariff legislation is carried through. 
We feel sure that a great majority of the people of 
this country would now be glad to see the whole 
matter taken out of the hands of Congress and placed 
in the hands of a Tariff Commission composed of rep¬ 
resentatives of the various industries. It is not prob¬ 
able that the Dingley bill will remain unchanged for 
any great length of time. No tariff rate should be 
made of cast iron. The French tariff is arranged 
upon a sliding scale, and is readily changed. For ex¬ 
ample, when the French wheat crop fails and grain 
and flour go too high in price, the tariff on wheat 
may be temporarily reduced to encourage importa¬ 
tion, and make the price reasonable. Such a system 
seems to us fair and proper ; yet such changes could 
hardly be made by our present system of legislation. 
This is one of many reasons why we favor the 
appointment of a tariff commission. It should be 
composed of men as strong as those selected for the 
United States Supreme Court, and should have power 
to give hearings and regulate rates of’tariff as seems 
best for the entire country. It would be a great 
achievement for the present administration, after 
having made the Dingley bill a law, to establish a 
commission for regulating it. 
O 
A “ Harvester Fertilizer” is made in New York 
State and offered for sale—usually at about $9 per 
ton. The Vermont Station chemists analyzed this 
stuff and made the following report: 
Contained no nitrogen, no phosphoric acid, .14 per cent potash. 
About three-quarters of its weight consisted of ground limestone. 
It“ valued ” at 13cents a ton, and it sold for $9 a ton. Sales were 
not in violation of the State law which exempts goods selling for 
less than $10 a ton from inspection and from the necessity of 
guaranteeing composition. 
The law provides that fertilizers selling for less than 
$10 per ton need not be sampled and guaranteed. We 
have found several of these cheap fertilizers on the 
market. By putting the price below $10 per ton, the 
manufacturers are able to sell almost anything that 
will make bulk. 
0 
Prof. Snyder, of the Minnesota Station, has been 
analyzing a number of nostrums for which great 
things are claimed. Among others was a certain 
face bleach, largely advertised in the daily papers. 
This is composed largely of corrosive sublimate 
which, as our readers know, is an active poison, and 
is used for destroying the germs of blight on seed 
potatoes. If some of our friends care to use this sub¬ 
stance in bleaching their faces, of course we have 
no complaint to make ; but as a matter of economy in 
these hard times, we would suggest that if they will 
wash their faces in the liquid used in soaking their 
potatoes, they will obtain just exactly as good results 
at much less expense. Of course, this advice does not 
apply to those persons who feel that it is absolutely 
necessary to support the rogues who advertise such 
stuff. Personally, we do not feel under any obli¬ 
gations to keep alive any quack or humbug. 
© 
The improvement in the price of beef cattle is re¬ 
ported from the West. It seems evident that good 
steers of improved breeding are to bring more money 
in the immediate future than they have in the past. 
One effect of this improvement in price will be 
noticed in the dairy business. Thousands of men 
have been milking cows for the past few years, but 
would not have done so had the price of beef been 
satisfactory. Creameries that have handled this 
milk, have produced the butter that has helped to 
glut the market. Once let beef cattle bring a higher 
price, and many of these men will stop milking their 
cows. Many of them are not dairymen from choice ; 
they are accidental dairymen, driven to the old cow 
for support because the cow’s brother has his wages 
cut down. Once let the steer earn money enough to 
support his mother and sister, and the latter will be 
no longer milked. That will mean less butter on the 
market, consequently, a better price for those dairy¬ 
men who stick to the old cow through thick and thin. 
© 
A thorough student of cows can often tell much 
about the dairy capacity of a strange animal by a 
study of her exterior points. A certain shape of 
udder, barrel, neck and hips has come to be recog¬ 
nized as the true dairy type. Yet this type is not, 
by any means, absolutely reliable as a cow indicator. 
In a well-known Holstein herd recently, the writer 
picked out a cow with nearly perfect dairy marks. 
She had the wide, blocky body, immense paunch, 
great udder and milk veins that we are told to look 
for. Beside her, stood a long-legged, raw-boned cow 
with a comparatively small udder. Few strangers 
would take this cow for a superior animal, yet we saw 
them milked, and under unfavorable conditions, the 
long-legged cow gave considerably more milk than 
her companion. Nine men out of ten would have 
picked out the first cow as the better animal—know¬ 
ing nothing of her pedigree. The instant that was 
examined, however, the value of the cow was seen. 
Father, mother and grandparents were perfect milk 
machines. This cow could not help making milk—no 
matter what her shape might be ! This is but one 
illustration of the advantage of breeding, at least a 
part of our own dairy stock. The whole story of the 
cow is not printed on her hide and horns. What she 
has inside the hide was put there by her ancestors. 
If we know them thoroughly, we know their daughter 
and what she can do, and that is the only way to 
know her. 
The prospects for higher prices for wheat continue 
to improve. In the face of a reported large harvest 
in this country, prices slowly increase and foreign 
buying is lively. Europe will need our surplus wheat 
this year, and even Asia is buying larger quantities 
than formerly. We also expect to see fair prices for 
potatoes and several other farm products, including 
beef cattle, butter and cheese. These signs are cer¬ 
tainly encouraging. A few cents increase in the price 
of a bushel of wheat or of potatoes will mean, in the 
aggregate, millions of extra dollars for American 
farmers to handle. This money will pass into circula¬ 
tion in exchange for needed articles, and thus start 
up the business of the town and city. We have always 
believed that prosperity must start from the farm in 
the increased ability of the individual farmer to pay 
his debts and buy needed articles. The past few 
years have forced us all into habits of economy and 
self-denial. Do not cut these habits away at the first 
hint of “ prosperity ”, and on the other hand do not 
try to live closer than you need to live. 
© 
An original plan of conducting farmers’ institutes 
is to be carried out in California. The regents of the 
university control such institutes, and the State is 
divided into two sections with a conductor for each 
section. The qualifications for the position of con¬ 
ductor are given as follows : 
University or college education and proper appreciation of the 
interests of the higher education generally; a broad and accurate 
knowledge of agricultural conditions and methods, and ability to 
speak acceptably in public assemblies and to conduct the dis 
cussions thereof; experience and skill in organizing and promot¬ 
ing public meetings, and winning popular interest therein. 
In order to secure an institute in any given locality, 
an application must be made and signed by, at least, 
20 farmers who pledge themselves to attend and help 
make the meeting a success. Since tfle original farm¬ 
ers’ institutes were started, many new plans for their 
conduct have been jnit in practice. Some of the most 
successful institutes have been held in States where 
the idea of university extension has been carried out. 
In this way, the work of the agricultural college is car¬ 
ried close to the farmer’s home, and the institute be¬ 
comes a short school where the principles taught in 
the college class room are explained and simplified 
0 
BREVITIES. 
The wild Alaskan mountains stood for ages grim and cold, 
And guarded well the treasure that the silent valleys hold; 
Grim, awful, brooding miserly above their golden prize, 
The hills have kept the secret well from prying human eyes, 
For cruel icy lingers lurked along the hunter’s track, 
And frost and snow like sentinels have turned his footsteps back 
For God gave o’er the treasure to the keeping ol the frost 
And bade him guard it truly, never reckoning the cost, 
Until the world should need it for the glory of His name 
To weigh against the errors of its poverty and shame. 
But now across the mountains crawl the men—insane for gold, 
Who dare the awful anger of the bitter frost and cold. 
“ There's gold along the Klondyke" ! IIow that message stirs the 
world, 
What notes of grim defiance from the savage hills are hurled. 
For ere the frost surrenders and gives up its ancient trust, 
Ten thousand of the weaklings will be crushed and ground to 
dust. 
Oh, yellow gold of Klondyke! In that lonely, savage place, 
What purpose have you brooded—will you bless or curse our 
race ? 
What secret, closely guarded, through the ages dim and vast, 
What secret of earth’s destiny have men set free at last ? 
Oh, giant! free from prison, may you bring the world good cheer, 
Forget your years of slavery and bring earth’s freedom near. 
Oil up— or toil down. 
Don’t break the brake. 
Watered milk is well fed. 
Old clothes are X rai-ment. 
Tue boy calls work a bad dis play 
Cooling eff the heir—bathing the baby ! 
A practical article on tub silos—page 517. 
Strychnine is sure death to the bark on a dog. 
Coughy grounds ! The lower fields this wet weather. 
Nothing dangerous about the groan of a growing boy. 
The scrub has steal teeth that harrow your pocketbook. 
No lack of pasture yet. The rains keep the grass green. 
Certainly— a Minorca rooster is a good case of black male. 
There’s a great decrease in the stock of available elbow-grease 
New York does not quarantine against cattle from other States. 
A big, fat baby, fine as silk, is the very best can of condensed 
milk. 
Which is the better friend of rainy weather—the weed or the 
lazy hired man ? 
The South will come nearer supplying its own meat, hay and 
corn this year than ever before. 
The very best of cow’s milk is only a substitute for what Nature 
intended as food for children. What can you say of poor cow’s 
milk ? 
The yellow plant that twines around the clover is dodder. It 
is a parasite—feeding on the clover and killing it. Cultivation or 
hand-pulling are the only remedies. 
Prop. Plumb told us last week that no fakirs or side shows are 
allowed on the grounds of the English Royal Show. “It’s Eng¬ 
lish, you know ! "—and a good t Rng, too. 
Trace up a life failure and you are likely to find duty set at too 
low a standard. Saying to yourself, “ That’s good enough!” 
when you know better, shuts yon olf from the top. 
