616 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 18 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-iu-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 
6s. 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 fine. 
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 sender, with name of 
Post-office and State, and what the remittance is for, appear in 
every letter. Money oi ders and bank drafts cn New York are the 
safest means of transmitting money. 
Address all business communications and make aii orders pay 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 18. 1897. 
We will send you a choice of these books for four 
subscriptions for the rest of this year at 25 cents each : 
The Forcing Book, by Prof. Bailey. 
The Nursery Book, by Prof. Bailey. 
The New Potato Culture, by E. S. Carman. 
The Business Hen, by H. W. Collingwood. 
These names will count for the premiums, if you de¬ 
cide to get up a larger club ; and by the way, there is 
a good chance for you to earn a good cash premium, 
if you give a little time to this work for the rest of 
this month. 
0 
The R. N.-Y. need make no apology for giving so 
much space to the Japan plums at this time. We de¬ 
sire to place before our readers all the information 
procurable respecting this recent and most valuable 
addition to our hardy fruits, so that they may oe the 
better guided in their selection of varieties for this 
fall’s planting. 
O 
The first set of plans in competition for the farm 
house prize has reached us—coming from Pennsyl¬ 
vania. There ought to be a good contest over this 
matter. We would like to have the prize go to some 
one who has already built the ideal farm home. Are 
there not R N.-Y. readers who have built houses that 
are quite satisfactory ? Possibly, however, the only 
satisfactory house is one in which a little something 
is left to be put in “ the next house we build.” 
G 
The dreaded San Jos6 scale insect has certainly 
found its way into eastern orchards. There can be 
no doubt about that, and the question now is, How 
shall we fight it ? Our entomologists have not been 
very hopeful about the treatments they have recom¬ 
mended, but Prof. J. B Smith, of the New Jersey 
Station, no?v suggests the following plan : 
Spray thoroughly in September, all infested bearing apple, 
pear, plum and peach trees, with undiluted kerosene, during the 
middle of a clear, sunshiny day. 
By “ undiluted kerosene,” is meant the ordinary fluid 
used in lamps—just as it is purchased. The finest 
possible spray is to be used, and every part of the 
tree should be wet. Do not use the kerosene on nur¬ 
sery stock or very young trees. Older trees have not 
been permanently injured by it. We are promised 
fuller details about this kerosene spraying, but those 
who have scaly stock should certainly try this simple 
treatment without delay. 
© 
During the last week in August, English wheat 
sold in London at $1.08 per bushel. At the same date, 
French wheat sold at $1 50 per bushel. England and 
France are separated by only a narrow sea, and the 
cost of carrying a bushel of wheat from one country 
to the other is but a trifle. What, then, makes the 
difference of 42 cents per bushel in the price? In 
Eagland, there is no tariff on wheat. The whole 
world is invited to pour its grain into the English 
market. England is a manufacturing nation. Its 
rulers prefer to cheapen the loaf of the factoryman 
rather than to increase the price of the farmer’s bushel 
of grain. In France, the reverse of this is true. The 
French farmer has a stronger influence with his gov¬ 
ernment, and he is protected by a tariff of about 37 
cents a bushel on his wheat. The Paris members of 
the French Chamber of Deputies recently asked the 
government to reduce the wheat duties and thus 
cheapen the price of flour and bread. The authorities 
in farming districts were quick to protest against 
this, and, thus far, they have prevented it. Thus 
England legislates in favor of the factoryman, while 
France put the farmer’s interests foremost. An Eng¬ 
lish agricultural commission has just reported, after 
months of investigation, that foreign competition is 
slowly killing English agriculture, and that the land 
is going back to grass and pasture almost as com¬ 
pletely as it was four centuries ago. 
© 
It is reported that the butterine manufacturers of 
Illinois purpose to defy the State law which is in¬ 
tended to prohibit them from coloring their product 
in imitation of butter. Their plan, evidently, is to 
carry the matter into court and delay it as long as 
possible. While they are quite sure to be defeated in 
the end, this method will give them a year or more 
longer in which to defy the law. It seems to us that 
good business men ought to see the folly of such a 
course. By fighting in this way, they will only 
strengthen the public sentiment against them, and 
the end of the matter will be the enactment of a strict 
National law in line with the present Illinois State 
law. These manufacturers will punish themselves in 
the end, and it may be well to let them make the rope 
with which their fraudulent business is to be hung. 
© 
South Carolina has, as most of our readers know, 
a singular law regarding the sale of liquor. The 
liquor trade is controlled by the State, and liquor is 
sold only in “dispensaries” by State officers, and 
under strict regulations. Of course the liquor sellers 
have fought this law because it meant an end to their 
business. A judge has decided that the State cannot 
exclude imported liquors, or prevent their sale in the 
original package in which they were shipped. A 
California vineyard manager is said to have received 
an order for 1,100 gallons of sherry wine. It was to 
be placed in 1,100 demijohns of one gallon each, and 
each to be packed in a box. This made it necessary 
to mark the address on 1,100 separate boxes, and make 
out and sign 1,100 shipping receipts, but it had to be 
done in order to get the liquor into South Carolina in 
order to sneak around the law ! The liquor trade cer¬ 
tainly necessitates more sneaking and crawling than 
any other business that has ever been legalized. 
This “original package ” scheme was the old trick of 
the “ oleo” men, but they were forced out of it by the 
United States Government. We hope now that the 
Government will take a hand in this South Carolina 
liquor trade and prevent this dealing in “original 
packages.” 
© 
The Farmers’ Congress recently held at St. Paul 
asked the Government to continue the experiments in 
free delivery of the mail in rural districts. The Post- 
Office Department sent us a list of the 42 post offices 
at which the experiment was being tried. We were 
pleased to find that there were regular subscribers to 
The R. N.-Y. at most of these points, and we have, 
therefore, made something of an investigation of our 
own regarding the value of this free delivery. With 
one exception, these reports are all in favor of the 
system. The chief opposition seems to come from 
people in the towns who live on the trade of the 
farmers. These men seem to think that, every time 
a farmer comes to town, he is bound to spend some¬ 
thing ; therefore, the oftener he comes, the more he 
will buy. It is not surprising that most reports in¬ 
dicate that the saloonkeepers are loudest in opposing 
free delivery. The advantages to farmers of free de¬ 
livery are so evident that future experiments can only 
result in an increased demand for it. We regard it 
as one of the developments of American country life 
that must come sooner or later. Advantages of trade 
and money making are too one-sided. They have run 
too much to town and city. A good daily mail service 
will give the farmer a fairer chance to keep up with 
the rest of the world. 
© 
The interest that has been awakened by The R. 
N.-Y. in improved land culture, in old lines, has been 
of very great value, but few of our readers have ever 
thought of the value of the water privileges—as we 
may say—of their farms. Some years ago, the mat¬ 
ter of irrigation discussed in these columns started a 
lively interest in this use of water, which has devel¬ 
oped into considerable proportions. Now the water 
itself may be turned to several uses, and new products 
—rapidly coming into demand—may be cultivated in 
thousands of localities where, so far, nothing of the 
kind has been thought of. Markets are now brought 
by rapid transit very close to thousands of farmers, 
and practical lessons may be learned from what has 
been done in other thickly populated countries in de¬ 
veloping the water privileges—as it may be termed— 
which are now unthought of. European countries 
have long made these uses of water exceedingly 
valuable, and as our consuming population is increas¬ 
ing and the old-line farming has become subject to 
ever-widening competition, we must diverge into 
every new line that may be opened, and create de¬ 
mands by offering supplies of what are desirable as 
articles of food. And the culture of the waters of 
farms offers in several ways opportunities of adding 
to the income of thousands of farmers who are situ¬ 
ated favorably for this class of products. 
O 
A large fruit dealer in New York is authority 
for the statement that the regular price for black 
grapes this fall will be 50 cents per 25-pound basket, 
or $40 per ton. If this statement is true, let us see 
what the prospect is for the fruit growers in the Hud¬ 
son River Valley. Before a ton of their grapes can 
be sold, the following expenses must be met : 
Eighty 25-pound crates at 12 cents.$9.60 
Freignt to New York. 4 00 
Cartage, 80 crates at 5 cents.4 00 
Commission, 10 per cent of $10. 4 00 
Total.$21.60 
If the ton of grapes sell for $40, the grower will have 
$18 40 with which to pay for cultivating, gathering 
and handling to his local shipping point. Who can 
figure out any profit on such a basis ? The items of 
freight and cartage in this estimate are too high. The 
steamship lines of the Hudson River can make an ex¬ 
cellent profit on fruit at $3 per ton. It is absurd that 
cartage on a ton of fruit should be more than half 
the freight. With freight at $3 and cartage at $1.50 
the grower would realize $22 10 per ton for grapes, 
which might leave a fair margin. The transportation 
committee of the Hudson River Valley Horticultural 
Society should take hold of this matter at once, and 
obtain statistics to show just how these transportation 
rates compare with those in other sections. The cost 
of cartage on such fruit is altogether too high, and 
should be cut down at once. 
0 
BREVITIES. 
Buck and Bright are in the pasture. Haw! and Gee! and Whoa! 
Have no sort of terrors for them as they wander slow, 
Feeding on the juicy herbage—but the heavy yoke 
Still rests on their necks securely—’tis a cruel joke. 
Farmer Green is fat and lazy—well enough he feels 
That without the yoke his oxen would wear out his heels. 
’Tis a hardship past enduring, when old honest Bright, 
Sees a bunch of juicy grasses close off to his right. 
But he finds that fate is cruel, and he mourns his luck; 
He is anchored past all moving to the stupid Buck. 
So they wander through the pasture, neither satisfied, 
For the galling badge of labor holds them side by side. 
Buck and Bright are only oxen—stupid brutes, I know, 
Yet, like them, poor human beings wander to and fro, 
Up and down life’s pleasant pasture, tied by cruel bands 
To an ev.l self that ever like an anchor stands, 
Holding them from truer purpose and from higher deeds 
To a selfish, mean existence in life’s bitter weeds. 
Time to get ready for frost. 
Deprave your own depravity. 
Don’t mix dollars with scents—use sense. 
The man who “knuckles” seldom chuckles. 
Why not discharge the cider barrel this year? 
Tue age that makes old stock young is ensilage. 
Drinking distilled liquor will mean dis tilled soil. 
The moulting hen may lay—but don’t set the egg! 
It’s Only noble not to gobble—the rights of others. 
The English have a lawn mower that is run by steam. 
“ Science from the Stations! ” New department—page 620. 
The quickest way to get in clover is to sow the Crimson variety 
A reign beau—giving up the parlor to the daughter’s young 
man! 
“Twinter,” in the north of England, means a two-year-old 
sheep! 
How much of the domestic. sigh ence in your family traces back 
to you ? 
What plant can sprout well In lumpy soil? Not wheat. Pul¬ 
verize and roll. 
Back bone —with muriate of potash—and you have a good fer¬ 
tilizer for fruit. 
One way to head off the elevator man is to build a granary on 
your own farm. 
We are having an agricultural lime revival. There should be 
sale for any form of carbonate of lime just now. 
The 25th biennial session of the American Pomologicai Society 
was held at Columbus, O., September 1 and 2; a report next week 
There is said to be another boom in immigration to Kansas 
and Nebraska. Some of ^ those who left these States are going 
back. 
“ I keep ham mering away”, said the Berkshire hog. “ I am 
saving my bacon”, said the Cheshire. “As for me, I will try my 
luck in lard”, said the Poland-China. 
Bran is getting too high. We were able to buy a car-load last 
winter for $11 a ton delivered. Present quotations are $14. Is 
this one of the blessings of dollar wheat ? 
A railroad has been built across the island of Newfoundland. 
This means more lumber and minerals from that country. It also 
means an ocean trip to Europe of only three days. 
Don’t expect too much from Crimson clover. You cannot plant 
corn in August and expect a crop of grain. You cannot sow this 
clover in September and expect a full crop next spring. 
It is reported in the newspapers that several persons at the 
Kansas Agricultural College have contracted tuberculosis from 
cattle sick with that disease. We expect to have the facts soon. 
Don’t you wish you had put more fertilizer and care on the last 
wheat crop ? You thought then that there was bound to be “over¬ 
production” anyway, therefore, it did not matter how you farmed. 
A mistake! 
Jesse II. Sharpless, the originator of the Sharpless strawberry, 
a portrait of whom with a sketch of his life appeared in The R. 
N.-Y. of October 24, 1896, died at his home in Catawissa, Pa., 
September 10, in the 80th year of his age. 
