THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MARCH 22 
188 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
(34 Park Row, New York), 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban 
Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
| EDITORS. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1890. 
Clovkr and Corn! Clover and Corn! 
Best combination that ever was born. 
One needs the other 
As you need a brother 
To rub up your weak points 
And tone down your strong points. 
Clover makes lean. 
Corn will make fat, 
Find us a better 
Arrangement than that. 
Odc digs below, 
One mounts on high, 
One works the earth, 
And the other the sky. 
Clover and rorn, clover and corn 
Best combination that ever was born. 
A Deaf man must hear with 
his eyes. A blind man must see 
with his ears. If we could all be 
blind for a year and then deaf 
for a year our eyes and ears 
would be keener. Do you see ? 
What we call misfortunes may 
make us stronger if we make use 
of them. 
Now that another planting season 
draws near, let us arrange so to dis¬ 
tribute evergreen and deciduous trees 
and shrubs that the home grounds 
shall be cheerful in winter a^well as 
in summer. 
Has a farmer any right to put the 
blame for his misfortunes on others 
when he does not farm as well as he 
is capable of doing ? Too many farm¬ 
ers are spending time and money at 
producing half crops, and keeping 
animals that give only half returns. 
In a contest between whole farming 
and half farming there can be but 
one result. Are you a whole farmer 
or a half farmer ? Now is the time to 
ask yourself the question. 
By the time the Ways and Means 
committee are ready to report a tariff 
bill, a representative of almost every 
agricultural industry in the country 
will have been heard. The R. N.-Y. 
has kept track of all the demands and 
arguments. The whole thing can be 
stated in five words: ‘ ‘ Every tariff is 
a compromise; ” that is to say, every 
American wants protection on some 
article that he sells, and “ free trade ” 
on something that he has to buy. 
There is a contest among some 
breeders of draft horses as to which 
can produce the largest animal. The 
argument advanced by these men is 
that the time must shortly come when 
the increased trade in city streets will 
compel expressmen and others to dis¬ 
pense with their two-horse wagons 
and substitute smaller wagons drawn 
by one large horse. This is a plaus¬ 
ible theory; but it does not agree with 
the statements made by the express- 
men who are to buy the horses. The 
R. N.-Y. has interviewed a number of 
them in this city, and all that have 
been seen agree that they prefer two 
active horses to one huge beast. The 
large horses are in good demand for 
trucking purposes, but those who 
breed them with the thought of driv¬ 
ing out the active express horse are 
sure to be disappointed. 
There is one plant that ought to be 
grown in every garden. It thrives as 
well in an humble back yard as in the 
finest conservatory. It thrives out- 
of-doors as well as in the house. It is 
indifferent as to soil, location or cli¬ 
mate. It spreads rapidly and fills the 
air with its delightful fragrance. Its 
leaves are of a brilliant sunny hue 
that can be plainly distinguished in 
the dark. It is well known that 
wherever this plant thrives, the boys 
never leave the farm and the girls 
leave it with reluctance and are ever 
glad to return. But it must have care¬ 
ful cultivation. It is not described in 
the catalogues of seedsmen or of 
nurserymen or in botanical works. It 
can not be bought with silver or gold. 
Integrity, charity, kindliness—these 
alone can secure this plant. Its name 
is Love. 
In the South and Southwest the 
Farmers’ Alliances are taking an ac¬ 
tive part in public matters which af¬ 
fect farm interests. They have com¬ 
pelled fertilizer factories in North 
Carolina to pay licenses of $100. Rev¬ 
enues from this source go to the State 
Agricultural Department, and sam¬ 
ples are analyzed free for buyer or sell¬ 
er by the department chemist. In 
Virginia the Alliance secured the pas¬ 
sage of a “meat tax” of one cent per 
pound on Western beef. As a side 
issue of this movement against 
dressed beef, a rumor comes that the 
meat men propose to boycott Virginia 
tobacco. The Alliance people, be¬ 
lieving such talk to be absurd, invite 
the meat men to begin the boycotting 
at once. As matters stand it is quite 
likely that the meat tax will be de¬ 
clared unconstitutional, while the 
boycott is hardly possible. 
Cattlemen in the Argentine Repub¬ 
lic are complaining loudly at present. 
In fact, there seems to be a general 
depression in cattle and beef all over 
the world, and at the same time a 
general belief that the period is rapid¬ 
ly approaching when the balance will 
be rapidly overturned and we shall 
find that the supply of first-class 
cattle is not equal to the demand. 
Cattlemen in this country have been 
somewhat afraid of competition from 
the Argentine Republic. From infor¬ 
mation just at hand we do not deem 
this competition threatening at pres¬ 
ent. In the way of exports of meat 
from Argentine little has been done 
except in theory. So far as exports 
of live stock are concerned, we are in¬ 
formed that it is absolutely necessary 
to have “tame steers.” The matter 
of taming wild steers for export is 
about as serious as that of raising 
them. 
An interesting debate took place in 
the House last week over the propo¬ 
sition to make the general laws of 
Kansas applicable to the proposed new 
Territory of Oklahoma. Had this 
proposition been accepted Prohibition 
would have been forced upon the peo¬ 
ple in the Territory. The debate ..set¬ 
tled into a general discussion of the 
merits of Prohibition, and the opinion 
of the majority seemed to be that the 
experiment of forcing this policy upon 
a community which had had no chance 
to express an opinion on the matter 
would be a dangerous one. In other 
words, it was practically stated that 
Prohibition will succeed only when or 
where it is demanded by a majority of 
citizens of any community. As was 
stated here two weeks ago, farmers 
all over the country are taking a great 
interest in the saloon question. Next 
week we shall print a plan for promot¬ 
ing the temperance cause, sent by a 
Connecticut farmer, which will strike 
many of our readers as novel, to say 
the least. 
A single firm in Michigan sold, last 
year, over 10,000 tons of a high-grade, 
chemical fertilizer. The fact is that 
thousands of farmers all through the 
Mississippi Valley are using these fer¬ 
tilizers with profit. This statement 
can be proved, though we know that 
it will startle the average Western 
farm writer. The development of the 
dressed beef business has had tbe 
effect of locating fertilizer factories at 
all the great slaughtering places. 
Tons of the bone-meal which formerly 
went East in the live bodies of the 
animals, are now sent back to the 
very farms upon which the cattle 
were grown. The letters of inquiry 
from Western farmers who want to 
experiment with fertilizers were never 
so numerous as now. A friend in 
Ohio wants the opinion of Eastern 
farmers as to the profit of using ferti¬ 
lizers in small quantities on wheat 
where it is desired to sow clover. 
This question, to be treated next 
week, will open a discussion which 
can hardly fail to be of value to all 
who care to make their soil do its 
best. 
What is the matter with the State 
of Louisiana? If reports are true she 
is thinking seriously of selling herself 
for 25 years more to the lottery which 
has so long disgraced her. After fail¬ 
ing to secure a legal foothold in North 
Dakota and Nevada, this lottery 
comes back to its old home to buy a 
new lease of life. The time for mak¬ 
ing the effort is well chosen. Louisi¬ 
ana is crying for money. In spite of 
excessive taxation, her treasury is 
empty and her charitable and educa¬ 
tional institutions are begging for nec¬ 
essary funds. Instead or facing the 
fact that this state of affairs is made 
possible only by such influences and 
practices as are fostered by the lot¬ 
tery, the legislature of Louisiana is in¬ 
clined to look for relief to the money 
which this infamous corporation is 
prepared to pay for its plunder privi¬ 
lege. The State Farmers’ Alliance of 
Louisiana is opposed to the extension 
of the lottery charter, and is making 
a brave fight against it. It may not 
succeed now ; but it will at least place 
itself on the right side of a question 
that has to do with the moral life of a 
State. The latest reports from North 
Dakota indicate that the lottery is not 
done with that State yet. The mana¬ 
gers boast that but a few more votes 
are needed to enable them to rush 
their bills through the legislature— 
even over the Governor’s veto. They 
propose to pay for these votes by offer 
ing to provide seed wheat for the 
farmers who must appeal to the au¬ 
thorities for aid. The R. N.-Y. can¬ 
not believe that the farmers of North 
Dakota will ever sell their State into 
such dishoner. 
“Sales of 23,080,000 bushels futures, 
and 26,000 bushels for delivery ” were 
reported in the wheat market in this 
city on a recent day. That means 
tliat the gamblers and sharks, most of 
whom probably never did and never 
will own, in reality, a bushel of wheat, 
pretended to buy and sell nearly 1,000 
bushels of wheat for every bushel that 
was actually and honestly sold. This is 
not a bou a fide sale in which one party 
gives full value to the other, but a sys¬ 
tem in which one party must lose 
what the other gains. How does this 
affect the farmer? It unsettles the 
markets and prices and injures the 
trade with every connecting market. 
If the “ future ” price of No. 2 Red be 
low, every farmer having wheat to 
sell will be confronted with the fact 
that “wheat has dropped m New 
York,” and he must consequent¬ 
ly take a lower price or hold 
his wheat. But suppose the future 
price be high, then certainly the 
farmer will reap the benefit! Perhaps 
for a few days in which the shrewd 
farmer will do well to market his 
crop, for a higher price means a de¬ 
creased ' export demand, and, ulti¬ 
mately prices much below their nat¬ 
ural level. This system is destroying 
our foreign markets; for foreign 
millers and dealers say they can place 
no dependence upon our markets for 
a regular supply on account of the ex¬ 
treme fluctuations to which they are 
subject, so they are drawing their 
supplies from other sources. This 
thing will continue just as long as the 
farmers of the country permit it, and 
no longer. 
WANTED. A MARKET. 
A CONNECTICUT subscriber 
writes as follows : ‘ ‘ Soon, I sup- 
S ose, the West will ship their butter 
ast by the car-load instead of send¬ 
ing cheap grain, and we will have to 
look lively for something to replace 
our cows.” 
The West already sends a vast 
amount of butter to the East, and the 
probability certainly is that the quan¬ 
tity will increase. The time will 
probably never come, however, when 
all the “cheap grain” will come East 
in its most condensed form. Grain 
will always be sold at the East and a 
market will always be found for good 
butter, no matter -where it is made. 
The R. N.-Y. never expects to see the 
time when first-class butter cows can¬ 
not be made to yield a profit at the 
East. It will always be possible for 
the intelligent dairyman to conduct 
his business on such sound principles 
that he need have no fear ot competi¬ 
tion. Remember, we speak of what 
is possible. The R. N.-Y. expects that 
the production of Western dairy goods 
will be greatly increased without seri¬ 
ously affecting the Eastern markets. 
There is no reason in the world why 
our dairymen should not supply the 
great markets to the south of us. 
There it is possible to dispose of our 
surplus at a profitable figure. We be¬ 
lieve it is possible for the government 
to bring about such trade rela¬ 
tions with the Southern Republics 
that our dairymen and our pork 
producers can build up an ex- 
E ort trade tha,t will relieve the 
ome market and establish business 
on a more satisfactory basis. Dairy¬ 
men and farmers generally are manu¬ 
facturers in the best sense of the 
word. Legislation looking to the bet¬ 
tering of their markets is legitimate 
and desirable. TheR. N.-Y. demands 
towards South America, a business 
policy that will provide an export mar¬ 
ket ior our farm products. An ex¬ 
change of daily goods and pork pro¬ 
ducts for sugar, rubber and coffee 
seems to us like a sound business ar¬ 
rangement. We want this market. 
It is needed. Let us demand it and 
hammer away until we secure it. 
BREVITIES. 
How is the wood pile ? 
Make the dog stay at home. 
A GOOD brain saves shoe leather. 
Don’t try to make a harrow do a plow’s 
work. 
CAN a stone crusher handle small, round 
stones such as we have on the farm ? 
Will not a ton of well seasoned apple 
wood give out as much heat as a ton of 
coal ? 
It appears that the English sparrow does 
not need a perch. He is wicked enough to 
fly in through a knot-hole. 
There are many frozen combs among 
the poultry as a result of the last “ cold 
snap. ” Use sweet oil or glycerine on them. 
It requires a good deal of nerve to run a 
harrow or weeder over young corn or pota¬ 
toes for the first time, but on the right sort 
of soil it pays. 
Why talk about improving the waste 
places of the earth when two-thirds of our 
cultivated fields do not produce one-half 
what they might ? 
The R. N.-Y. is surprised to find how 
many of its readers live in octagon or eight¬ 
sided houses. Plans and drawings of some 
of these houses are in preparation. 
IT is true that the trade in Chicago 
dressed beef may have hurt your cattle 
feeding, but it ought to enable you to buv 
bones cheaper than ever before. Your soil 
needs phosphoric acid. 
“ DOLLAR-HUNTERS ” is what a friend 
calls the products he sends out from his 
little farm. In these times dollars must be 
hunted in a forcible and an original way, 
or they will laugh at you. 
A FRIEND who has made his mark as a 
gardener, says that it cost him more money 
to learn the business of market gardening 
than it cost his brother to learn how to 
practice medicine successfully. 
As a little postscript to an editorial head¬ 
ed, “ Is it Business ?” on page 156, we may 
add that on February 8 American lard sold 
in the Brazilian city mentioned there, at 55 
cents per pound. Who gets the profit ? 
A number of New England farmers seem 
to have half decided that they had better 
get rid of their sheep and go to breeding 
Angora goats. In most cases ugly dogs 
have produced this state of mind. The R. 
N.-Y. is in communication with the leading 
manufacturers of goods in which mohair 
is used. We shall hear what they say 
later. 
Every year about this time we hear a 
good deal about the use of nitrate of soda. 
There is one thing to be remembered if you 
propose to use this substance. Putting it 
into a soil that is deficient in phosphoric 
acid and potash is just as sensible as using 
the whip on a half-starved horse. The 
nitrate will quicken up things if the other 
elements are back of it. 
Those who have not made a study of 
trees and shrubs and who desire to make a 
judicious selection should visit nurseries or 
parks during the growing season, catalogue 
in hand. If the plants are to be purchased 
this spring, it is well to examine catalogues 
carefully, mark those which seem the most 
desirable and then read what trusty authors 
say of them—Scott, Downing and Sargent, 
for example. 
A “ complete” flower in a botanical 
sense is one which has the four sets of 
organs,—calyx, corolla, stamens and pistils. 
Nothing can be added to make it more 
“ complete.” The so-called “complete” fer¬ 
tilizer is one which contains nitrogen, pot¬ 
ash and phosphoric acid, no matter what the 
quantities may be. It is “ complete” merely 
in the sense of containing those important 
food constituents of which most soils that 
have long been cultivated, stand in need. 
As ROADS are improved in comparatively 
level countries, traction engines are intro¬ 
duced. These call for some special road 
laws. The traction engines are more gen¬ 
erally used in Pennsylvania than in any 
other State. There they are held to have 
the same rights that any other wagon or 
vehicle has. In the case of an approaching 
team the men are required to exercise care, 
and they must send a man at least 300 feet 
in advance where they come to a turn iu the 
road so that the engine cannot be seen. 
If you propose to make your living out 
of the world, remember it is your business 
to give the world what it wants—your 
bright side. 
•• The world doesn’t care for your woes, 
Oh, no! 
Not a bit 1 
The man who Is wise never shows 
His foe 
That he’s hit. 
Every one of your neighbors has.griefs of ills own 
He greatly prefers to let your griefs alone. 
And.be doesn’t at all enjoy hearing you groan. 
So take warning, and quit 1 ” 
