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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 777 
Business. 
Tpie R. N.-Y. receives the following note :—“ How can I 
obtain authentic information as to the American potato 
crop and the districts from which New York derives her 
supplies. I have lately arrived from England, and have 
to report to exporters in London if it would pay to ship 
potatoes to New York this winter.” It appears that, in 
spite of the losses in Ireland, the crop in England and 
Scotland is good—fully equal to the average, and the Eng¬ 
lish are keenly watching this market. The McKinley Bill 
adds ten cents per bushel to the cost of bringing potatoes 
to this country, and at this rate it will not take many 
thousand bushels to pay the expense of sending a special 
agent here to investigate the real condition of the crop. It 
is the general belief that Great Britain, and probably Ger¬ 
many, too, will ship us a good many potatoes before 
spring. The monthly reports by the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Washington, D. C., and the occasional reports by 
different State Boards of Agriculture are the best sources 
of information with regard to the conditions of the crop in 
various sections. 
“Fancy Butter” Business.— We are frequently asked 
to tell how the proprietors of “ fancy ” (high-priced) butter 
dairies advertise their product and get it before the public. 
One of the most successful of these dairies near New York 
is ‘ The Old Brick,” located at Roslyn, L. I. We have 
just received a little pamphlet which answers some of these 
questions. It has four pages of heavy paper. On the first 
page is printed 
“ THE OLD BRICK.” 
with the name and address of the dairyman. On the 
second page is the following :— 
GUERNSEY BUTTER, 
MILK and CREAM 
FBOM MY 
THOROUGHBRED HERD, 
SUPPLIED TO A FEW FAMILIES. 
THIS BUTTER IS MADE DAILY. 
NO COLORING MATTER IS USED, AND WE BELIEVE A CRITICAL 
TEST WILL PROVE IT TO BE EQUAL TO THE BEST. 
ITS PURITY IS GUARANTEED. 
THIS BUTTER MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DAIRY. 
OR FROM 
Then follows a blank place for the name of the dealer who 
supplies the butter. The third and fourth pages are 
devoted to short testimonials from people who have used 
the butter and like it. These pamphlets are put into 
every package, every letter and every pocket that leaves 
the dairy. It is a very effective way to advertise. Cannot 
you make use of it ? 
A KANSAS APPLE BUSINESS. 
EDWIN TAYLOR. 
I inclose a clipping from the Tonganoxie Mirror of 
October 30, relative to the orchard of Wellhouse & Son, 
as an object-lesson to a generation of farmers who have 
reversed the proverb : “ Not many things, but much.” I 
know these gentlemen well, and can assure readers of The 
Rural that their success is no accident. They have illus 
trated the possibilities of agriculture when conducted as a 
business enterprise. There is no difficulty in keeping “The 
Boy” on such a farm as theirs. In this instance the son 
has left a business in the city to take an interest with his 
father in the orchard : 
Tne people of Leavenworth County scarcely realize that 
within the county’s border the largest bearing apple 
orchard in the United States exists. Wellhouse & 
Son have in Eairmount township 437 acres of bearing 
fruit trees, and this year the eleventh crop has been har¬ 
vested. The laud is owned by L. B. Wheat, of Leaven¬ 
worth, and Wellhouse & Son receive half the proceeds for 
their care and attention. This year’s crop has been all 
gathered and we are indebted to Mr. E. Wellhouse for 
some interesting figures and facts. There was a yield of 
79 170 bushels, more than double any of the previous yields, 
the next largest having been gathered in 1836, amounting 
to 34,909 bushels. The gross receipts of this year’s crop were 
$50 000. For several months 160 men have been employed 
gathering the fruit, and $7,000 were paid in wages and for 
getting the crop to market. Thus it will be seen that 
nearly $100 was cleared off every acre. On the 437 acres 
grow six varieties of apples : Ben Davis, 225acres; Missouri 
Pippin, 70; Wine Sap, 70; Jonathan, 40; Cooper’s Early, 16 
and Maiden’s Blush, 16 acres. It is no doubt of interest to 
our readers what Mr. Wellhouse considers the most profit¬ 
able varieties. He says the Cooper’s Early is not worth 
planting, the Wine Sap does not pay, and the Maiden’s 
Blush does not pay well. He considers the Missouri Pip¬ 
pin the best paying apple in his orchard, the Ben Davis 
next and the Jonathan third. Wellhouse & Son have re¬ 
cently set out an orchard of 800 acres in Osage County, and 
in the spring will set out 320 acres in this neighborhood. 
WHO GETS THE SUGAR BOUNTY? 
Cooperative sugar factories are being discussed in Cali¬ 
fornia, particularly among members of the Grange. The 
beet sugar industry promises to reach vast proportions in 
that State, and farmers are asking rhemselves if they can 
haudie it as farmers in other sections handle the butter 
business by means of cooperative creameries. “ Who will 
get the sugar bounty?” This question, asked by the Pacific 
Kural Press, has much to do with interesting farmers in 
this matter. The Government now proposes to pay a 
bounty of two cents per pound on cane, beet, sorghum and 
maple sugar made in this country by any party in amounts 
of 500 pounds and upwards. It is evident that the manu¬ 
facturer of the beet sugar will draw this money, but will 
he pay any more for the beets which farmers grow ? .In 
other words, will the bounty benefit the manufacturer or 
the grower? The maple sugar maker who draws the sap 
from his trees, boils it down and markets not less than 500 
pounds of sugar in a season, is entitled td the bounty. The 
beet grower and sorghum grower could clearly also collect 
the bounty, provided they could themselves put forth over 
500 pounds of sugar; but as sorghum and beets are grown 
at present, this is well nigh impossible, and the manufac¬ 
turer will draw the bounty. As the Rural Press says:— 
“ Will Mr. Spreckels, for example, pay more for beets next 
year? We have seen no statement from him on the sub¬ 
ject, and, in the absence of any, there is the common 
business inference to be drawn that Mr. Spreckels desires 
to make money and will not pay more for beets than the 
price at which he can secure a supply; consequently, so 
long as he can secure all the beets he wants by growing 
them himself or buying them at the old rates, he will turn 
the bounty to his own account.” Some beet growers would 
try to sell their beets on analysis, as dairymen try to sell 
milk for the fat there is in it. That is, they would have 
chemical analysis made to show how much sugar they sold 
in a ton of beets. This would be impracticable, however. 
Another plan is to cooperate and control the crop and then 
refuse to sell, except when the price represents a fair share 
of the bounty. It is certainly well enough to understand 
all these points before farmers get into beet farming too 
deeply. ___ 
AN AUSTRALIAN SHEEP-SHEA BING MACHINE. 
For the past ten years two machines have been loudly 
called for—a milking machine and a power sheep shearer 
The nearest approach yet made to the first was described 
on page 390 of The Rural New-Yorker. This machine 
is really a small pump with a number of small rubber 
tubes, which reach to each cow’s teats, and are fastened 
Shearing Sheep by Machinery. Fig. 35S. 
by means of small rubber cups. When the pump is started 
the milk Is pumped or literally sucked out of the cow’s 
udder. There are some serious objections to this plan, 
and it is very doubtful if it will ever come into general 
use. The human hand is the only perfect milking machine. 
The sheep shearing machine, however, seems to be com¬ 
ing. This has naturally been developed in Australia, the 
Inside View of Sheep Shears. Fig. 359. 
land of immense flocks, where hand-work must, if pos¬ 
sible, be dispensed with. A number of machines have 
been invented, and the Agricultural Society of New South 
Wales offered a prize of $250 for the most successful 
shearer, cost, simplicity, strength, excellence of work all 
to count. The prize was won by a machine which makes 
use of compressed air as a motive force. Pictures of the 
How the Shears are Held. Fig. 360. 
parts of it are shown on this page, reengraved from the 
Town and Country Journal. The outfit consists of an air- 
compressor, and suitable pipes to convey the air to the 
shears. The air-compressor resembles a steam water 
pump. It is really an air pump, which forces or com¬ 
presses the air into the pipes. At Fig. 358 the shears are 
shown at work. Each man holds a sheep between his 
knees with the shearer in his right hand, and his left hand 
holding the fleece. It will be noticed that what look like 
small pipes run back from the shears, up overhead, to a 
large pipe. These small “pipes” are ordinary %-inch 
rubber hose. 
The shears are shown at Figs. 359 and 360. It will be 
seen that they are very similar to those used by barbers 
for “ close cropping.” Fig. 359 shows the interior mechan¬ 
ism, and Fig. 360 shows how the shears are held in the 
hand. As shown at Fig. 360, the back of the shears is like 
the steam-box of a locomotive. The compressed air simply 
pushes the piston from side to side, and this works the 
three pronged cutter over the pivot at the center. The 
comb at the end of the shears prevents the cutters from 
touching the skin and holds the wool in position. 
We now see how the machine works. The big air-pump 
compresses the air in the pipes. The shearer takes hold of 
the shears, and turns the little faucet which connects the 
shears with the hose. The compressed air immediately 
rushes into the little box at the rear of the shears, and 
moves the piston to and fro just as the steam in the 
locomotive forces the driving-rod in and out. The thing is 
simple in the extreme, there being no cogs or wheels to get 
out of order. The flexible rubber hose enables the work¬ 
man to work all around the sheep. This, we believe, is the 
simplest machine yet devised. The cost of the original 
plant is, of course, considerable, and the machine is only 
suitable for the owners of very large flocks, where some¬ 
thing must be done to avoid hand labor. We understand 
that this is an Australian invention, not yet for sale in this 
country. It ought to find sale here, one would think. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
Corn Hubker.—No man who has any respect for his 
hands will try to husk corn without some hand protector. 
Iron has no skin to wear off; no nerves to convey pain ; or 
blood to be shed. Your hand has all these. Substitute 
iron for it. In other words, use a husking peg. The 
R. N.-Y. offers as a premium one that will save your hands. 
Try it. 
Low-Down Milk Wagon.— The man who still says it is 
just as cheap to lift corn-stalks and hay into a high wagon 
when he might save a lift of two feet by putting them on 
a low-down truck, is surely behind the times. The same 
is true of the milkman who says it is “ just as easy ” to 
deliver milk from a wagon that carries the can far up 
above the wheels. A wagon is made by the J. R. Parsons 
Wagon Works, of Earlville, N. Y., that carries the cans 
within 18 inches of the ground and saves an immense 
amount of work in lifting and dipping. 
Wagon Box Lifter. —A genius who does not wish to 
have his name mentioned, sends us a picture of the design 
illustrated at Fig. 361. It will probably work better with 
a heavy farm wagon box than with the light box shown 
in the picture. The plan is easily understood. There are 
Wagon Box Lifter. Fig. 361. 
three pulleys—one on the beam above the wagon, one above 
in the corner, and one in the lower corner. A rope runs 
through these pulleys, and is fastened above the wagon to 
a stout stick which has ropes at each end long enough to 
pass under the wagon box. The wagon is backed under 
the beam, the ropes on the stick being passed under the 
box and fastened. Then the other end of the rope is hooked 
into the hind axle of the wagon and the horse is started 
up. As the rope is pulled ahead, up goes the wagon box ! 
One cent will mail this paper to your friend 
in any part of the United States, Canada or 
Mexico, after you have read it and written 
your name on the corner. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., KECEIVED. 
T. S. Hubbard Co., Fredonia, N. Y.—A small but well 
arranged catalogue of small fruits. A new departure Is 
that of rating the qualities by numbers, 1 representing the 
highest or most perfect quality, 10 the lowest. Thus a 
page is made to give the information which wonld other¬ 
wise require a dozen. Hints for vineyardists cover the 
whole ground of planting, care, diseases, etc., in a plain, 
compact manner. 
We have received from the Herendeen Manufacturing 
Company, Geneva, N. Y., a photograph of the members of 
the Society of American Florists, taken on the Hunnewell 
estate at Wellesley, Mass., during their session last Aug¬ 
ust. The photograph includes several hundred persons 
and is an extremely good one for so large a group. The 
Herendeen Company is sending copies as souvenirs to all 
who were in attendauce. This company received a very 
flattering notice from the committee appointed to examine 
its various kinds of heating apparatus on exhibition at the 
meeting. 
New Knapsack Sprayer.— The Field Force Pump 
Company, of Lockport, N. Y., issue a little circular which 
describes a new portable sprayer which they are manu¬ 
facturing. It also gives full instructions for preparing the 
Bordeaux Mixture. 
