56 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN 25 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
(34 Park Row, New York), 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban 
Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1890. 
SPECIAL NOTICE. 
I ''HE R. N.-Y. offers two special 
premiums which, it is believed, 
will prove highly satisfactory to our 
readers and agents. 
blakelee's industrial cyclopedia . 
We can only repeat what we have 
already said about this work. It is 
the most useful farm hook we have 
ever examined. It is well bound, 
well written and well printed. 
THE MANHATTAN WATCH. 
We know from experience how 
handy a watch is on the farm. This 
is an accurate time-piece and fully 
guaranteed. The horse-timing move¬ 
ment is a special feature which every 
boy will appreciate. 
Special attention is called to these 
premiums because they are good and 
serviceable, and because we are in a 
position to offer special terms on 
them. Write for full particulars. 
The R. N.-Y.’s prize of $10 for 
the best “ Notes on a Back Num¬ 
ber ” has been awarded to Mr. J. 
W. Newton. There were 47 en¬ 
tries in all. Most of those who 
entered were comparatively un¬ 
accustomed to writing for the 
press, though many of them give 
evidence of considerable ability. 
During the coming year the 
R. N.-Y. hopes to introduce the 
most promising of them to its 
readers as regular correspond¬ 
ents. 
‘ ‘ My silage this winter is entirely 
sweet. Such silage is the salvation of 
the farmers.” Prof. Cook, page 54. 
•‘The dwarf Lima bean may be a 
question of small interest to a man in 
a wooded section, but to us on the 
treeless plains, where it is many miles 
from the garden to the “pole-patch ” 
in the Rockies, how shall we grow 
Limas in satisfying quantities without 
too heavy a drain on time or purse ? 
Give us the dwarfs by all means.” 
See page 51. 
Eli Minch, writing from Shiloh, 
New Jersey, says : 
“ The peach trees in some orchards 
are in blossom, and in almost all are 
well swollen. Wet weather followed 
by a sudden sharp freeze will destroy 
all peach buds that started freely. 
Dry cold will do less injury and 
would perhaps make the crop. The 
present prospects are not flattering. ” 
‘ ‘ This is the ninth year during which 
I’ve taken the R. N.-Y. It is now 
worth more to me than any other 
paper. The conductors of other papers 
as times get close, reduce their sub¬ 
scription price and also the value of 
their papers. The difference is that 
the owners ot the Rural maintain the 
price of the paper, but make up the 
difference by giving us a better paper. 
This plan I indorse. Count me a life¬ 
time subscriber. ” t. a. s. 
Wartrace, Tenn. 
Here we have a suggestive state¬ 
ment made by a Pennsylvania sub¬ 
scriber : 
“ I left 320 acres in western Kansas 
two years ago to come here to make a 
living off of 12 acres and I am ma kin g 
a success of it, and money beside. I 
was on the ‘ plains ’ for 12 years, and 
from personal observation know what 
it is to boom land in the West, and I 
was much pleased to note the bold 
and fearless stand the R. N.-Y. took 
in the matter.” 
The R. N.-Y. borrows a cut from the 
Cornell Experiment Station to show 
an excellent device for leaching man¬ 
ure. This cut is made directlv from 
a photograph. The R. N.-Y. will agree 
to find plenty of barn-yards with just 
such a leaching attachment as is here 
shown. The water, you see, has an 
excellent chance to trickle through 
the manure, and carry away 40 per 
cent, of its value. There is one way 
in which this leaching may pay—you 
do not have quite so much manure to 
haul out in the spring and, of course, 
that makes less work. Quite a saving 
in muscle you see! That is about the 
way some folks go at business. Is it 
any wonder “ farmin’ don’t pay ?” 
Most of us know all about the loss 
from leached manure, and yet how 
many of us have enterprise enough to 
stop the leak ? 
An enterprising man in Indiana 
writes us that he has four acres of 
land so poor that clover will not grow 
on it. He wants to try the plan out¬ 
lined in the record of the R. N.-Y.’s 
account of its potato crop. In short, 
he proposes to use 1,500 pounds of a 
potato fertilizer per acre on this worn- 
out soil, get a crop of potatoes, and 
then seed to wheat and clover. His po¬ 
tatoes are worth 25 cents per bushel 
at digging time and the point is, will it 
pay at this price to use fertilizers or 
are they profitable only where higher 
prices can be obtained. The R. N.-Y. 
will watch this experiment with a 
great deal of interest. It has not the 
least doubt about the possibility of 
improving the land by the use of fer¬ 
tilizers, but can this be done at a 
profit with potatoes at 25 cents per 
bushel ? 
Mayor Creiger of Chicago and the 
city health authorities have just de¬ 
served well of beef consumers wher¬ 
ever Chicago canned and dressed meat 
finds its way to their tables. The 
State Live Stock Commissioners had 
authorized the shipment to the city of 
a lot of cattle badly affected with that 
loathsome and infectious disease, 
lump-jaw. on the pretext that they 
were to be killed at once and convert¬ 
ed into fertilizers ; but the sturdy 
Mayor, knowing well how often dis¬ 
eased animals find their way to the 
canneries, and backed up by the 
Board of Health, positively forbade 
the importation of the beasts on any 
pretex.t. This action of the city au¬ 
thorities, if a fair indication of their 
future conduct, will afford the outside 
ublic a better guarantee than they 
ave hitherto possessed of the whole¬ 
someness of canned and dressed meat 
from Chicago. 
The silo men tell us about feeding 
their product to horses. How much 
more do we know about it ? With the 
evidence at hand, would you feed it to 
your horse or would you not do so ? 
The R. N.-Y. is inclined to agree 
with H. S. Weeks in his remarks about 
corn-fodder and well made silage. 
One thing that all must have noticed 
about silage is the fact that no stand¬ 
ard analysis of this product has yet 
been quoted. Hay is not hay, corn is 
not corn, and so on to the end of it, 
but the margin of difference is not 
wide enough to prevent chemists from 
stating a standard analysis. It is not 
so with silage, evidently. It is made 
in different ways and with different 
varieties of corn cut at different 
stages of maturity; consequently we 
have differences in the product. Mr. 
Colcord’s silage is made by means of 
a uniform process. Let it be taken 
as the standard. 
There has never been a time when 
theR. N.-Y. received more or stronger 
letters of commendation and en¬ 
couragement from its subscribers 
than at present. Pages of such notes 
might be printed, if we thought our 
friends cared to read them. The R.- 
N.-Y. contents itself with thanking its 
friends for their good words and 
promising to try to be worthy of all 
the kind wishes so earnestly given. 
The following note from an Ohio sub¬ 
scriber may be permitted to appear 
here: 
“There are a few 50-cent and $1 
papers that have quite a large circula¬ 
tion here and it is very hard to get 
persons interested in anything that 
costs more. They are somewhat like 
a man I heard of near here who went 
to the post-office to subscribe for a 
newspaper. He looked them all over 
and then measured them and sub¬ 
scribed for the largest, saying that it 
would go farthest on the buttery 
shelves. Nevertheless I shall continue 
to say a good word for the R. N.-Y., 
for though, like a Jersey cow, it 
doesn’t ‘ make as much swill for the 
hogs,’ it makes more butter, and if I 
cannot take more than one paper that 
one will be the Rural.” 
A Decision just rendered by the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is of 
much interest to hotel and restaurant 
keepers and their guests as well as to 
dairymen. In the Keystone State the 
law imposes a penalty of $100 for sell¬ 
ing oleomargarine under the guise of 
butter. Some time ago a Pittsburg 
restaurant keeper placed some “oleo ” 
instead of butter before two cus¬ 
tomers who, having paid for their 
meals, carried off the stuff untasted, 
and brought an action against the 
proprietor of the place. The case was 
carried to the Supreme Court where 
it was contended on behalf of the de¬ 
fense, that, in a legal sense, no sale of 
the concoction had been made inas¬ 
much as it ought to have been par¬ 
taken of on the premises and not 
carried off, a thing which the men 
had no right to do. The Court, how¬ 
ever, overruled this plea. Judge 
Clark who voiced the sentiment of 
the majority, said: “It is certain 
that the oleomargarine composed a 
part of the meal, the price of which 
was paid, and was embraced in the 
transaction as an integral part of it.” 
This decision will have much weight 
as a precedent not in Pennsylvania 
alone but in other States also. 
DEATH OF PETER HENDERSON. 
I T is with deep sorrow that we an¬ 
nounce the death of our friend 
and contributor Peter Henderson, the 
eminent florist and seedsman, at the 
age of 66. The sad event occurred 
yesterday—January 17—at his home 
in Jersey City after a week’s illness 
and was caused by pneumonia, super¬ 
induced by an attack of the prevail¬ 
ing epidemic—the grippe. Mr. Hen¬ 
derson was born at Castle Head, near 
Edingburg. Scotland in 1823, and at 
the age of 16 was apprenticed to a gar¬ 
dener, and a year later received the 
gold medal offered by the Botanical 
Society of Edingburg for the best 
scientifically arranged herbarium. 
In 1843, when in his twentieth year, 
Mr. Henderson came to this country. 
He had no capital except plenty of 
brains, energy and pluck. He worked 
for florists and gardeners for four 
years, during which he saved enough 
money to start in business for himself. 
This he did in 1847 by establishing 
himself as a market gardener in Jer¬ 
sey City. 
His highly successful career since is 
well known to our readers, and his 
several publications on gardening and 
floriculture are household words. 
Probably not another seedsman or 
florist was more widely respected and 
beloved. 
CAUTIONARY AS TO OATS. 
W HAT oats yield the best? What 
oats have the strongest straw? 
What is the most profitable variety to 
cultivate? The R. N.-Y.’s records 
show that nearly every variety, or 
so called variety, has been tried at 
the Rural Grounds and, except dur¬ 
ing the past three or four years, the 
results have been placed before its 
readers. With what result ? That 
there are only about half a dozen dis¬ 
tinct kinds that are worth cultivating 
at all, while th^se are offered by the 
seedsmen of the country under not less 
than 25 different names. The R. N.- 
Y. pressed this fact upc n the atten¬ 
tion of growers and seedsmen for a 
number of years with so little avail 
that- it has held its peace for the past 
two or three seasons. As again we 
see so-called new varieties offered at 
very high prices, we would again cau¬ 
tion our readers against purchasing 
them, except in trial lots. 
Dakota Chieftain, White Belgian, 
Race Horse, Clydesdale, Australian, 
Badger Queen, and White Canadian 
are all the same, viz : White Austra¬ 
lian or Welcome. Yankee Prolific, 
Zealand, and White Novelty are the 
White Russian. Mold’s Ennobled is the 
Black Tartarian. Pringle’s Hulless 
is the Chinese Hulless. Many other 
varieties, such as Triumph, Improved 
Swiss, Challenge, American Beauty, 
American Banner, and Challenger, 
though differing from older kinds to 
some extent are, in fact, in no way 
superior so far as our trials have de¬ 
termined. We would as lief to-day 
take our chances for a good crop with 
White Schcenen as with any of them. 
Try new varieties of oats in a small 
way. 
AS WAS INTIMATED. 
A S has already been stated in 
JljL these columns, the Spring- 
field, Mass., people (owners of the 
Farm and Home, New England 
Homestead, American Agricul¬ 
turist et al ), awarded a prize of 
$500 to Charles B. Coy of Presque 
Isle, Maine, for the largest 
yield of potatoes on one acre of 
land. The Bowker Fertilizer 
Company of Boston, also awarded 
Mr. Coy $600 for the prize yield, 
as the crop was raised with 
the Stockbridge fertilizer. The 
method by which the crop was 
raised was described in the Jan¬ 
uary Agriculturist issued late in 
December, and it was manifest¬ 
ly that of the R. N.-Y. Trench 
System, though the Rural’s 
name was not mentioned in the 
report. We thereupon wrote to 
Mr. Coy requesting light upon 
the subject and we append his 
answer: 
January 10.1890. 
“ Dear Sir : I was induced to 
use the Trench System in plant¬ 
ing my prize acre by seeing a re¬ 
port of some very large yields 
raised by that method, in the 
Bowker Fertilizer Company’s 
hand-book. The large yields 
I refer to were raised by you on 
the Rural Experiment Grounds. 
I shall plant all my potatoes that 
way another year. I think the 
system a grand success. 
CHAS. B. COY.” 
Presque Isle, Maine. 
The efforts which the Spring- 
field people have made to pro¬ 
mote the interests of agriculture 
by offering large prizes for the 
heaviest yields, are certainly 
commendable. We may be suf¬ 
fered to add, however, that they 
would have shown a more disin¬ 
terested zeal had they, in their 
congratulatory exuberance, men¬ 
tioned the fact—though so trivial 
in itself—that the R. N.-Y.’s 
patient efforts on small plots 
during the past 10 years towards 
economically increasing the po¬ 
tato yield, have been attended 
with results which may not justly 
be characterized as “ worse than 
useless.” 
BREVITIES. 
Now is the time to handle the potatoes. 
Stop the sprouting. 
Another prognostication by theR. N.-Y.: 
“No peaches for next season. N. B.” 
Probably, for home use, there is no 
more desirable early red raspberry than the 
old Turner 
Why do the hens celebrate a sudden 
change in the temperature by increasing 
the egg yield ? 
Baked potatoes are excellent for the 
hens—served hot. The horses like the 
baked tubers too. 
Attention is called to the discussion on 
“Sincerity” in the Domestic Economy 
Department of this week. 
What a rush there will be to haul the 
manure out next spring. In a cold winter 
many farmers would be doing it now. 
The R. N.-Y. for two seasons has tried 
the sweet corn offered in catalogues as 
“Honey Sweet.” Tt ripens nearly with 
Crosby and, except that it may yield more, 
is in no way superior to it. The tassels and 
silk are purple, and often the husks are 
purple too—an objection in a market va¬ 
riety. 
The following from a Nebraska subscri¬ 
ber, is not very bad : “Will it pay to try to 
increase the crop or product next year ? To 
increase the bushels, Yes; the acreaee, No; 
to impove the quality of the stock, Yes ; to 
increase the numbers, No. The great sins 
here are too many acres, too many head of 
stock, and their poor quality.” 
