1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
553 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
Supposing that you were to letter your covered 
market wagon with big letters stating your name and 
business ! Where would you mark it ? Why, on the 
sides of course You want the lettering where people 
can see and read it. In the city, many of these busi¬ 
ness wagons are also lettered on the top for the same 
reason. Of course, the signs are on the sides, also, 
but people looking down into the streets from many 
of our high buildings couldn’t see these signs, so the 
shrewder of the firms paint signs on top. This wouldn’t 
be of much use in the country, but it goes to show 
that advertising must be adapted to the place, and to 
the people it is intended to reach. 
X X X 
On page 521, I referred to the fact that a western 
New York fruit grower was looking for the best mar¬ 
ket for his fancy peaches. We have just received a 
letter from a grocer in a nearby town, who wishes 
the name and address of this grower. We cannot 
furnish it, for, after the letter was answered to the 
best of our ability, it was destroyed. We cannot 
undertake to preserve the names and addresses of cor¬ 
respondents. But it strikes me that it would be an 
excellent idea for those having such special crops to 
sell to advertise them in The R. N.-Y. The same is 
true of those wishing to buy. In this way, buyer 
and seller may be brought together to their common 
advantage. 
X X X 
During the summer, large numbers of sheep, lambs 
and calves are sent to the city markets alive, as well 
as some cattle. The wagons which transfer these 
animals from the cars to the slaughterhouses are 
built especially for this purpose. They belong to a 
regular live stock express company which makes a 
specialty of this business. They are a familiar 
feature on the North River ferryboats these days. 
The trucks are very heavy, capable of carrying a con¬ 
siderable load. The body of the wagon is hung as 
low as possible, is about four feet wide and consists 
of a solid bottom and high sides and ends, the upper 
part of the latter being slatted. There are, also, 
movable slatted partitions crosswise the wagon so 
that it may be divided into compartments. The 
animals are loaded into these wagons from the cars, 
and then are driven directly to the slaughterhouses. 
City marketmen prefer city-dressed meat to supply 
their trade during the summer months. 
X t X 
A few weeks ago, I spoke of one of the street lem¬ 
onade venders having adopted a new scheme for 
attracting custom. Around Printing House Square, 
during warm weather, numerous venders are always 
to be seen selling cheap lemonade at one cent a glass. 
But this shrewd individual came out one day with a 
new, clean, brightly painted tub on a pushcart. The 
taking feature of this rig, however, was the lettering 
on the tub—OLD OAKEN BUCKET LEMONADE. 
I have been much interested in watching develop¬ 
ments. Trade seemed to go all his way. The men 
who formerly sold from pails were in despair. The 
rig with its unique sign caught the popular fancy. A 
couple of the other venders provided themselves with 
pushcarts and tubs, lettered more or less like the 
other, but the original seems to be holding the fort 
and doing a rushing business. It’s an effective ex¬ 
ample of the value of advertising one’s wares in an 
attractive, taking way. 
X t X 
A great feature of the wholesale markets just now 
is the large number of market wagons loaded with 
sweet corn. They are piled high with the green ears, 
some of them containing thousands. They begin to 
reach the city before dark, and continue to come 
until well towards morning. If one go out on the 
main roads leading into the truck country, he will 
meet these loaded wagons coming in at almost all 
hours of the night, and in the early morning they 
will be going the other way. Sometimes each is 
loaded with a single product like corn, cabbages, 
potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and sometimes a load is made 
up of a variety of products. But just now corn pre¬ 
dominates. The load is generally covered over with 
a heavy canvas cover well fastened down, which pro¬ 
tects it from dust and sun, as well as from rain. 
Sometimes, the owners of these wagons drive directly 
to the store of some commission merchant and leave 
their loads for him to dispose of, but sometimes they 
drive to the market and sell out their products them¬ 
selves. Some of these wagons come from quite long 
distances. This business involves much night work, 
as many of these people leave home late in the after¬ 
noon and spend all night on the road and in disposing 
of their truck. How would our grain farmers like 
that sort of work ? 
X X X 
About a month ago, a friend in Kentucky wrote 
about his crop of strawberries, yielding about 250 
bushels per acre. He said that he had them on his 
table every day throughout the season until July 4, 
and “presumes there was not another quart of straw¬ 
berries in the United States south of the Ohio River 
at that time.” He says that it is possible to have 
them there from May 10 to July 10. He plants very 
early and medium varieties, and Gandy for late, and 
puts Gandy in cold storage when just ripe. He says 
that the Gandy berries are so firm that they will keep 
for two weeks in cold storage if picked when just 
right, and will bring a fancy price after the regular 
season. Then he wishes to know how late New York 
gets strawberries from Oswego County, and presumes 
not later than July 4. He evidently has a “bee in his 
bonnet.” That’s right; we like to see progressive 
people reaching out for new ideas and new markets. 
The date which marks our last strawberry receipts 
here is a variable one. It varies considerably with 
the seasons,but is usually somewhat later than July 
4. I have seen strawberries in market here the last 
week in July, but they are not, usually, in large quan¬ 
tities after the first 10 days of that month. If straw¬ 
berry growers adopt the cold storage system, perhaps 
we may have them much later. But this method 
wouldn’t pay except for fancy fruit. f. h. v. 
Prizes for House Plans. 
$15 $10 $5 
the following letter will explain itself. 
Comfortable Farm House Wanted. 
Husband and I have been reading about an 
up-to-date barn, in Tub R. N.-Y., and discussing 
its merits. We often see good plans for barns, 
but I wish to ask for a plan of an up-to-date farm 
house—not a house for the retired farmer, but for 
those who are bearing the heat and burden of the 
day; one where all the employees through seed¬ 
ing, planting, haying, harvesting, thrashing and 
caring for the stock in winter, can be fed and 
lodged conveniently and economically to the 
farmer’s wife, and comfortably to the family the 
year through. There are so many demands upon 
the farm house that it ought to be the best struc¬ 
ture that can be designed. I am not asking for 
an expensive house, that would be out of keeping 
with the price of land and farm produce, but for 
a convenient, comfortable, shapely dwelling for 
plain farmers. a farmer's wife. 
The R. N.-Y. will offer prizes of $15, $10 and $5 for 
the first, second and third best plans for such a house 
as is called for in the above letter. 
We want drawings or photographs and estimates 
of cost. 
The contest will close on December 1, 1897. 
The judges will be the woman who wrote the above 
letter, the editor of The R. N.-Y., and a third party 
to be selected by the two first-named judges. 
Put on your thinking cap, and bufrd your farm castle 
WHAT WE HEAR. 
The last Legislature of Maine, enacted a law regu¬ 
lating the sale, inspection and chemical analysis of 
the various by-products sold as concentrated feeds 
for cattle. It had been found by dairymen and others 
that samples of cotton-seed meal, linseed and various 
products derived in the manufacture ot corn starch 
and sugar, varied greatly. Some samples of cotton¬ 
seed meal contained nearly twice as much muscle- 
makers as others. It has been observed that the per¬ 
centages of fat in the gluten feeds have been greatly 
diminished, although prices have not been reduced 
proportionately. The dairymen therefore, demanded 
a law which should protect them as well as farmers 
are protected by the fertilizer laws. As a result, 
Maine now has a law covering all feed stuffs except 
hay and straw, whole seeds and meals of wheat, rye, 
barley, oats, Indian corn, buckwheat, brans and mid¬ 
dlings. Other feeds like linseed, cotton-seed meal, 
oat feeds, etc., must now be sold under a guaranteed 
analysis, which is to show the per cent of muscle- 
makers and fat contained in the food. The law is 
much like the fertilizer laws, samples being drawn 
and analyzed by th« State chemist, and taxes paid by 
dealers and manufacturers. We believe that this is a 
step in the right direction. We have bought so-called 
horse feed, which consisted chiefly of indigestible oat 
hulls, and we have good reason to believe that plaster 
and oak sawdust have been used to adulterate bran 
and middlings. We believe that, sooner or later’ 
Maine will be obliged to enlarge the list of feeds that 
are to be sold under this guarantee, because it is too 
easy to adulterate bran, middlings and corn meal. 
No one questions the wisdom and value of our ferti¬ 
lizer laws, because it is easy to see how, without such 
inspection, farmers would be at the mercy of the fer¬ 
tilizer manufacturers. It seems to us equally clear 
that ground cattle feeds should, also, be subject to in¬ 
spection, because it is just as easy to adulterate a 
sample of cotton-seed meal, as it is to mix ground 
leather or raw phosphate rock into a “high-grade 
fertilizer.” 
© 
Proper care of the expectoration of patients suffer¬ 
ing from contagious diseases affecting the air pas¬ 
sages, is much too often neglected. By the lack of 
such care, the danger of the spread of consumption, 
diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, and smallpox even 
is increased, especially that of the first two men¬ 
tioned. An effective agent for rendering the expec¬ 
toration of these subjects harmless, is a mixture of 
sulphate of copper and corrosive sublimate, 160 grains 
of the former with 40 grains of the latter dissolved 
in one quart of water. If a liberal portion of this 
solution be kept in a suitable vessel—glass or crockery 
—within easy reach of the patient to spit in, and be 
faithfully used, there need be no further fear of any 
harm resulting from this cause, provided that the 
vessel be allowed to stand for an hour or two after 
being last used before it is emptied. In this connec¬ 
tion, it may be well to direct attention to the danger 
that attends the common practice of disposing of the 
excrements of typhoid fever patients by digging a 
hole in the ground and burying them in it without 
having first disinfected them. This is the very worst 
way that is possible of getting rid of them short of 
putting them directly into one’s own or one’s neigh¬ 
bor’s well, for to the one or the other of these they 
are likely by percolation through the soil to find their 
way with the disease-engendering germs that they 
contain still potent for mischief. 
o 
Free delivery of the mail in rural districts is now 
being tried at 42 post offices in 28 States. We are in¬ 
formed by the Post Office Department that two special 
officers are now investigating the results of the ex¬ 
periment. On March 1, 1897, Postmaster-General 
Wilson reported that the service has given very gen¬ 
eral satisfaction. The 82 letter carriers received 
$283.09 per year, and each traveled an average of 22 
miles per day. In 51 working days of December and 
January, these carriers handled an average of 51 
pieces of mail matter each day. The lowest cost 
was about half a cent for each piece, the highest 6% 
cents, and the average 1% cent. The R. N.-Y. is col¬ 
lecting reports of its own from persons in localities 
where the experiments are being tried. The follow¬ 
ing report from Kalamazoo County, Mich., is a fair 
one, and covers the ground well: 
Rural free mail delivery from the Climax post office is giving 
good satisfaction to the farmers who receive it, and they would 
feel lost if it were taken away. There are some who do not care 
for it, and would prefer an excuse for coming into town; but the 
number is small, and they are pretty sure to find an excuse of 
some other kind for coming. It has slightly increased the amount 
of mail matter handled at the post office, and has reduced the 
revenue of the office from box rent. Farmers who have their 
mail delivered every day at their homes stop renting boxes. The 
sentiment in regard to free delivery is that, if the Government 
delivers mail free to people in cities who can readily step in the 
office and get their own mail at any time, it should, also, deliver 
mail free to farmers who cannot reach the office so readily. My 
own judgment is that the Government should provide for local 
mail delivery in those communities which are willing to pay the 
cost, and to no others. Each community should pay its own cost 
of delivery. The tradespeople in the village object to the free 
delivery of farmers’ mail. One of them said to me that they lose 
trade by it. Tne farmers do not come to town unless in need of 
something. When they had to come to town for their mail every 
few days, they bought a good many things they did not need, and 
a large share of that trade is lost. This may be a little rough on 
some dealers, but how about the farmers’ side of it? f. hodgman. 
The estimated cost for the extension of the service to 
all rural neighborhoods is from $45,000,000 to $50,000,- 
000. Smaller appropriations for rivers and harbors, 
and fewer warships, would enable the Government 
to provide this service without increasing expenses. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Hogs often do more damage rooting valuable land than they 
are worth. With the Wolverine hog ringer and rings, you can 
easily stop them. They are for sale by most hardware stores, or 
by the manufacturers, Heeson Bros. & Co., Tecumseh, Mich. 
Those who have read the accounts of Mr. Clark’s remarkable 
yields of grass understand that he used nothing but fertilizers 
in the way of plant food. There are all sorts of fertilizers—good 
and bad. The brand used by Mr. Clark was the grass mixture 
made by the Bradley & Hubbard Co., of Middletown, Conn., and 
nothing else has ever been put on this grass Held. This house is 
well situated for supplying farmers east of the Hudson River with 
chemicals or mixed goods. Our readers will do well to write to 
them for catalogue and prices. 
It is a recognized fact that cattle, hogs and poultry will fatten 
quicker and with less food if, at least, a portion of the food is 
cooked for them. Tais is a fact so well known that thousands of 
farmers feed cooked food. There are many more who would do 
so if they had the proper facilities. Tne Granite State Evapo 
rator Co., with offices at 527 Temple Court, New York, recently 
placed on the marKJt a light, well-made cooker which sells for 
$12 to $24, according to size. The cooker can also be used for 
heating water for the many uses on the farm. 
