1901 
111 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
BOOK BULLETIN 
IFOR SALF ny THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
•A.m\iAL Breeding, by Thomas Shaw. A 
Valuable work for all interested in the in¬ 
tricate problems of breeding and rearing 
live stock; 400 pages. Price, postpaid, $1.50. 
Cut-price BooKS.^-Any of these 20-cent 
pamphlets sent postpaid for 10 cents: 
^'lailt iPaekages. 
V:ountr.y tloads. 
41ow to Plant a Place. 
A’heftiicals and Clover, 
itt'e’mory Training. 
’Canning and Preserving. 
THE RURAL NEW YORKER. 
409 Pearl St., New York. 
ate-priced hotels and restaurants to see a 
customer ask for poached eggs, and got 
them fried or scrambled. The waiter .is 
very sorry, but understood the customer 
tf> give the order in that way, and in most 
cases the man will not care to send them 
back and wait for another order. The 
trouble was that the cook did not have 
any eggs that would poach properly.” 
^_ w. w^ H. 
MARKET NOTES 
Street artisans.—T he traveling 
knife grinder has been mentioned in this 
eolumn. Another of these street mechanics 
often seen about the markets is the saw 
Ol-eA Almost anyone can hold a knife on 
grindstone, but considerable skill is re¬ 
quired to sharpen a saw properly, and a 
greenhorn can easily spoil the tool. His 
vise Is fastened to a light frame which can 
be carried about and set up where desired. 
Constant practice makes him an expert at 
the business, and it is surprising to see the 
.speed with which he can handle the file, 
oven on the fine teeth of meat saws. On 
isaws that require setting he uses a small 
Shammer, hitting every other tooth a light 
blow; then turning the saw over and going 
ithrv)ugh the same operation on the other 
Jstde. Another street genius goes about the 
up-town residence districts. His outfit is 
more extensive, as he has a horse and 
covered wagon with tools for doing all 
kinds of household mending. Leaky pans, 
broken umbrellas and disabled chairs are 
speedily put in order at a reasonable price. 
POTATOES.—For the past two or three 
weeks prices have been on a decline. There 
appears to be no well-grounded reason for 
believing that the crop is much larger than 
was expected earlier in the season. The 
large receipts at present are accounted for 
by the fact that just now a great many 
people are digging, and it is a custom with 
isome to sell at digging time, when a fair 
price is to be had, rather than take the 
risk of Winter storage. There is consider¬ 
able said about foreign potatoes, and im¬ 
ports are rather large at present. Buyers, 
however, do not take hold of these foreign 
receipts very readily, as size and quality 
are rather under the average of home¬ 
grown stock. In one bag of German pota¬ 
toes that I examined the tubers would not 
average one inch in diameter, and some 
were but little larger than buckshot. Just 
why such a lot of culls should be shipped 
such a distance is a mystery. Sweet pota¬ 
toes are considerably under Irish in price, 
and are being used to some extent as a 
substitute. 
HONEY.—The yield this year appears to 
be above the average. It is thought that 
California wili ship nearly 300 cars, about 
four times last year’s output. Prices are 
slightly lower all around, but the most 
noticeable reduction is in extracted. There 
is seldom any excess of the better grades 
of comb in the New York market, and the 
price will probably continue high. On ac¬ 
count of the difficulty in transporting 
comb honey any great distance, a large 
part of the California and West Indian 
product is extracted and shipped in casks. 
It is doubtful whether much adulteration 
is done at the shipping points, as the honey 
itself is there w'orth but little more than 
the adulterants that might be used. The 
dealers here, however, take it from the 
casks, melt and doctor it up, and doubt¬ 
less many of them work in low-grade 
syrups. Still by buying of responsible 
dealers it is possible to get a fair quality 
of extracted honey which is nearly pure. 
Of course, it cannot be expected that the 
extracted goods, though entirely pure, will 
equal in flavor that put up by the bees in 
air-tight cells, which are not broken until 
they reach the table of the consumer. 
EGG NOTES.—“Yes,” said an extensive 
e.gg man, “strictly fresh eggs are offered 
for .sale in New York, but in reality very 
few have any right to that name. For 20 
years I lived in the city, and did not know 
the taste of a really fresh egg until I 
moved out where I could keep hens myself. 
Any quantity of eggs that are put into 
the refrigerators in good condition, especi¬ 
ally April receipts, are, after several 
months’ storage, taken out and Sold as 
fresh. Even the best groceries that cater 
to the fancy trade, handle them, and most 
people don’t know the difference. There 
is one purpose, however, that they will not 
do for, and that is poaching. If at a hotel 
you get a poached egg that does not break 
and holds its shape well, you may be rea¬ 
sonably sure that it is fresh. Dealers often 
come to me for eggs that will poach, and 
I have to refuse them, for I know that 
even the best of held eggs will not be .sat¬ 
isfactory. I have been amused at moder- 
FARMERS’ NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
The Delegates.— The twenty-first an¬ 
nual session of the Farmers’ National Con¬ 
gress was held in Sioux Falls, S. D., the 
first week in October. There has been 
some criticism of the personnel of this 
Congress. It has been claimed that it did 
not fairly represent the farmers’ views 
and interests. No such criticism could 
fairly be made of the present body. As 
far as I was able to learn every delegate 
owned and operated a farm, though some 
of them had other interests also; but more 
important is the fact that they were a 
clear-headed, intelligent, and fair-minded 
body of men. The different propositions 
received deliberate consideration. The 
farmer’s position wms brought out with 
great clearness, and his rightful interests 
were supported in every contention. I 
have attended farmers’ meetings for 20 
year.s. Never in that time did I meet a 
more representative class of farmers, and 
never were the agricultural interests more 
clearly separated from the deceptive con¬ 
tentions of other enterprises. 
Subjects of Discussion.— The Important 
commercial interests discussed were: Ship 
subsidy, the Nicaragua Canal project, the 
irrigation of arid lands and oleomargarine. 
How the friends of the Subsidy scheme 
got before the Congress no one seemed to 
know. It was introduced in a paper read 
by F. B. Thurber, of New York. He had 
not proceeded far when it was apparent 
that there was no sympathy with his 
proposition, nnd his resolution favoring 
the scheme was promptly turned down in 
the committee. It was the first emphatic 
rebuke to those who would use the influ¬ 
ence of the Congress to further ends of 
the farmers’ enemies. The proposition to 
irrigate the arid lands of the West re¬ 
ceived less support than I had anticipated. 
Some of its advocates are willing to con¬ 
cede that the necessity for it does not ex¬ 
ist at the present time, and most of them 
are content for the present if they can 
prevent the lease or grant of them under 
any terms to syndicates, who would con¬ 
trol them, to the exclusion of actual set¬ 
tlers. The importance of the Nicaragua 
Canal to the farmers of the Southwest was 
ably discussed in a paper by Hon. Harvie 
Jordan, of Monticello, Ga., agricultural 
editor of the Atlanta Journal. He was 
entirely familiar with the subject, and the 
sympathy of his hearers was with him 
from first to last. His resolution favoring 
the early construction and control of the 
Canal by the National Government was 
promptly approved. 
The Oleo Question.— This developed 
considerable interest. Chas. V. Knight, of 
Chicago, opened the subject in a paper 
entitled “The Truth About Oleo.” He told 
the truth and apparently the whole truth. 
He showed by letters from manufacturers 
to dealers that the retailers were incited 
to violate the law governing its sale, by 
assurance of unusual profits, and protec¬ 
tion in case of prosecution. These letters 
had guaranteed to imitate any color of 
butter produced by the farmers in the re¬ 
tailer’s neighborhood, and assured them 
that the oleo, which costs nine cents a 
pound to manufacture, could then be sold 
as butter for 25 cents a pound, the then 
prevailing price of butter. He also showed 
that the talk about its being the poor 
man’s butter is a cheat, because the poor 
man always thinks he Is getting butter, 
and pays butter prices for it. The value 
of the trade to the cotton grower and live 
stock grower was shown to be insignifi¬ 
cant, if Indeed It is of any value to them 
at all. He also showed that taking the 
statements of oleo makers they could get 
but 75,000.000 nounds of oleo oil from the 
animals slaughtered in this country, while 
they require 166,000,000 pounds for their 
products as reported. Hence, the 91,000 (i 
pounds must come from sources which oleo 
makers are not inclined to reveal. Hon. 
J. Sterling Morton, ex-Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture, took up the oleo side. He had a 
hopeless task. The facts were against 
him; also the sympathies of the audience, 
and the strongest champions in the country 
of honest butter. He rested his case on 
the plea that cornstalks are about to be 
utilized for the manufacture of paper, 
and the assumption that coloring of steer 
and hog fat was on the same principle as 
coloring the corn pulp for different tints 
of paper. The point was far fetched, and 
the argument was weak. Most of us were 
disappointed that he had not put up a 
better argument for oleo. Mr. Knight hajl 
apparently laid all the planks in the anti- 
oleo platform, and as Mr. Morton did noth¬ 
ing to disturb them there seemed nothing 
left to do; but ex-Gov., Hoard proceeded 
to nail them down tight, which he did 
with sledge-hammer blows. The ex-Sec¬ 
retary came forward to disturb them 
again and a most lively running fire re¬ 
sulted between himself and Messrs. Hoard 
and Knight. This was interrupted by 
Hon. Geo. L. Flanders, First Assistant 
Commissioner of Agriculture of New York 
State, who turned the platform upside 
down and clinched the ex-Governor’s nails 
down so tight on Mr. Knight’s planks that 
the attempt to disturb it further was 
abandoned, and when the resolution came 
up demanding the early passage of the 
Grout bill by Congress, there was not a 
voice raised in opposition to it, and it was 
v'oted as the unanimous conclusion of the 
Farmers’ Congress that the fraudulent oleo 
made in color of butter should be taxed 10 
cents per pound, while that not colored 
need pay only one-fourth of one cent per 
pound. I was pleased ahd edified by the 
position of the ■Western, southern and 
southwestern farmers ort this subject. As 
soon as they saw that the dairy interests 
were asking only to legislate the fraud 
out of oleo, as Mr. Flanders put it, they 
realized the justice of our contention at 
once, and expressed their sympathy and 
assurance of support. “If we cannot carry 
on our industries,” one man said, “with¬ 
out helping to perpetrate a fraud on an¬ 
other agricultui-al industry, then we should 
and must take up some new line of pro¬ 
duction.” That seemed to express the 
feeling of all. It confirmed my faith In 
the native honesty and abiding justice of 
the American farmer. 
Topics Talked About.— There were sev¬ 
eral papers on practical farm subjects that 
were both interesting and instructive. 
They embraced “The Present Status of 
Wool Growing,” by J. R. Dodge, Wa.sh- 
ington, D. C., and “The Rice Industry.” 
by J. B. Foley. Foley, La. Neither of 
them was able to be present, but their 
papers were read and both proved inter¬ 
esting subject.^ for discussion, especially 
that on rice. The use of rough rice—rice 
with the hull on—as an egg-producing food 
for chickens seemed to be a new sugges¬ 
tion to many. Dr. Andrews, of the Uni 
versity of Nebraska, read a scholarly 
paper on “How to Make the Farmstead 
Beautiful.’-’ It applied particularly to the 
prairie farms of the West, and Prof. H. 
W. Campbell, of Kansas, read a most val¬ 
uable paper on the subject of storing water 
in the soil, and preserving moisture in the 
semi-arid lands of the West. All told, it 
was nothing more or less than the sur 
face cultivation that has been advocated 
in the East for the last 12 or 15 years, and 
practiced by many for several years 
Prof. Campbell predicts great possibilities 
in this culture in the West, and I do not 
think ho has over-stated the possibilities. 
Two papers of great interest were “The 
American Girl and the Home,” by Mrs. 
Bertha Dahl Laws, of Minnesota, and 
“The Farm Home Life,” by M. F. Greeley, 
of South Dakota. 
The Election op Officers.— This was 
for the ensuing two years, and created 
considerable interest. Geo. L. Flanders, 
of New York, was unanimously elected 
president. The other officers elected are 
as follows: First vice-president. Col. Har¬ 
vie Jordan, Georgia; second vice-president. 
Col. B. Cameron. North Carolina; secre- 
tary, John H. Stahl, Illinois; first assistant 
secretary, E. A. Callahan, New York; 
second assistant secretary. Geo. M. Whit¬ 
taker, Mas.sachusetts; third assistant sec 
rotary, Joel M. Roberts, Nebraska; treas 
urer. Dr. J. H. Reynolds. Michigan. Ex¬ 
ecutive committee: Col. B. F. Clayton, 
Iowa; Col. Wickey, Missouri, and W. L. 
Ames. Wisconsin. The people of Sioux 
Falls gave us a cordial welcome. The 
propriety, simplicity and effect of the 
decorations in the auditorium surpassed 
anything of the kind I ever saw. It was 
all accomplished by use of the grains, 
grasses and fruits that grew on the farms 
in the vicinity. The accommodations of 
the Cataract Hotel were ample, and the 
proprietor did everything to make his 
guests comfortable. I know no eastern 
hotel that sets a table with such an abund¬ 
ance of fresh, well-cooked food at equal 
rates. The local committee, the people of 
the town, and the local farmers all showed 
a kindly interest in the visitors, and suc¬ 
ceeded in making them feel welcome. It 
iS true that one of the local committee lost 
his balance and became offensively per- 
.sonal in a debate on the election of an of¬ 
ficer, but the good sense and forbearance 
of the one attacked made this a trivial in¬ 
cident. and the offender was promptly re¬ 
buked by a vote of nearly two to one in 
the defeat of his candidate, a man who 
under other circumstances, would have re-^ 
reived a unanimous vote. We left Sloiix 
Falls with admiration for the sturdv 
northwestern farmers, with a kindly feel- 
ing for the cordial people and gratitude 
for their hospitality. j, j. 
1 
BETTER LATE 
T HAW WEVE RV 
ILIES TO 7 |hE 
►FOrWerce’s 
.en Medical 
Iscovery 
Tak^n early it ivill 
CVItE THECOI OH 
Taken whenllhe 
Lun are affected 
IT WILL CUKE 
w 
ST©__ 
AND RESTORE 
SOUND BODILY 
HEALTH. 
ITALWAYS HELPS 
ITiUNOSTALWAVS HEALS. 
J 
LOCOMOTIVE 
LEARN TO 
FIRE A - - 
THOROUGH IN.STRUC- O'S. 
TION AT HOME—only 
Kallroads want edncateci men. Good pay and chance 
tor promotion. Recommendation tor employment 
on proper qiiallHcation. Full particulars on request 
TUB KAlLWA’if EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATlONi 
425 Sumner Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Buy Jones Scales 
Send a postal for Bargain Catalogue. 
JONES (HE PAYS THE FREIGHT). 
BINGHAMTON, N. Y. 
FflR White Leghorn Hens; good 
■ breeders, good laiers and good 
size, 75c. each. Cockerels, $1. “ 
GEO. L. FERRIS & SON, Atwaters, N. Y, 
GOOD RESULTS. 
Good Rotatoes. —T^ast Spring I wrote 
you asking your advice in regard to sprout¬ 
ing seed potatoes, etc. In my letter I sug- 
gested my purpose to try the Cornell 
method of culture, and In your kind an¬ 
swer you said you would be glad to know 
I have just harvested 
over 200 bushels (early varieties) from not 
quite an acre. In view of the fact that 
my neighbor’s early potatoes were almost 
a total failure this year. I think mine did 
very well. f. ^ p 
New Hampshire. 
To be absuJutely sure about It use tba 
RELIABLE INCUBATORS & BROODERS 
^ It the eggs are right, you can’t make a 
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— - I()-lialile will do the rest OUR 20TI4 
CENTURY POULTRY BOOK, mailed for 10c, tells a/I about it ana 
other thinps you snould know. We have llSyards of thoroughbred 
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■ ^ ■ Illustrated Kook free. 
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gOZEND.4L,E HERD Hrown Swiss Cattle. 
Calves of both sexes for sale. Milk and butter 
strain. d. U. COOK, M. D., Albany, N. Y. 
Cheviot Sheep. 
We have 50 Thoroughbred Cheviot Sheep for sale 
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Eureka Stock and Poultry Farm, 
HENRY VAN DRE8ER, Proprietor, 
_ COBLESKILI i, N. Y. 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVB 
Half the Cost—with the ^ 
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GRINDS 
MD CRUSHES 
Ear and Shelled 
, —. Corn, Oats. Rye, Etc. 
wa medium deKtedoftiueneu for reeding purpoeea. 
Crusher roll crushes the earsandat end of crusher 
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, .FINE PLATES shelled com, oats| 
J J rye and other small grain, where agood meJ 
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PLATES are for ear or shelled com, 
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Crushing Ear Corn 
Ml a V —-to prepare it for a I’ reach burr or any other 
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MARVIN SMITH CO., SS-S9 N. J'^ilerson St, Chicago, III. 
