826 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV. 29 
*Rough on Rogues .’ 
LOOKOUT 
ALMANAC 
LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE. 
DECEMBER, 
Look out for “quack” doctors 
who offer to practice the Koch 
cure for consumption. The facts 
made public about this remarkable dis¬ 
covery have attracted widespread attention 
and medical men generally are greatly in¬ 
terested in it. Out of the excitement 
and public interest many conscienceless 
“ quacks ” hope to reap a rich harvest by 
advertising the cure. They know that the 
consumptive will “grasp at a straw” and 
pay out his last cent for a new “ cure ” if 
he can be persuaded that it is at all re¬ 
liable. A very plausible lie can be made 
up by using the name of Prof. Koch. Let 
such humbugs alone. If this discovery 
proves of real value, it should be made as 
free and cheap as vaccination for small 
pox. * * * The Farmers’ Review tells 
this story about a smart butter fraud. 
“An Indianapolis chemist bought a pound 
of sweet butter the other day, and, taking 
it home, put it on the ice. Although it had 
a good taste, its failure to harden aroused 
his suspicions and led to an investigation. 
An analysis brought to light the fact that 
this apparently sweet butter had been 
made of rancid butter, which had been de¬ 
prived of its rancidity Oy means of washing 
with ice-water and soda. Then soda, Ro¬ 
chelle salts and alum in small quantities 
had been dissolved in sweet milk, and the 
butter and milk in equal proportions had 
been mixed together by churning. This 
butter, though costing but six cents a 
pound, excepting the labor, sold for 15 
cents on the market. A good profit on a 
bad business! ” 
* 
• * 
Tnfiodav Look out for bogus catarrh rem- 
^ edies. A patent has just been 
2 * issued for a “ remedy ” composed 
of sugar, lime and milk. You will proba¬ 
bly be called upon later, to pay $1 for a 
small bottle of this mixture. * ** Lookout 
for the Tanguerey Portrait Society of 
Brooklyn. This concern sends out a type¬ 
written circular containing the following : 
“ In order to introduce our elegant and ar¬ 
tistic crayon portraits among your acquain¬ 
tances and friends, we make you the follow¬ 
ing bona fide offer, viz.: If you will send 
us a photograph of yourself or any member 
of your family, we will make from it one 
of our finest three-quarter life size crayon 
portraits absolutely free of charge. Our 
nameiaud reputation are already well known 
throughout the United States, but we de¬ 
sire to increase our customers in your vi¬ 
cinity, hence the above special offer made 
to you. We believe that one of our elegant 
crayon portraits placed in your home will 
do us more good than any other advertis¬ 
ing.” This looks reasonable enough. Every 
family in the country wants a good portrait 
of some loved member. There is nothing 
like getting things free, you know, so dozens 
of people send their pictures along. Do 
they get the portrait? Yes, but they have 
to pay for it in a big price for a frame. The 
society makes its profit on the frame, which 
it insists upon selling you—in fact, you will 
have a job to get your “ free picture” until 
you agree to take this frame which is sold 
for enough to pay a profit on the whole 
thing. * * * 
Wpdnpsdav Look out for the danger that 
^ may lie in simple little pram¬ 
s' tices which seem harmless 
enough to you. Bread sold by a baker in 
Chicago was recently found to be poisonous 
because it contained oxide of lead. Where 
did it come from ? From the stenciling 
of the name of the miller on the bag con¬ 
taining the flour from which the bread was 
made. Whenever you handle things that 
may be of injury to other people, you can¬ 
not be too careful ***** It some¬ 
times pays to startle folks into an effort 
which they would not make unaided. Look 
out for that fact. A famous French surgeon 
was once called upon to treat a lady for 
contraction of the muscles of the jaw. She 
had been unable to speak a word for some 
months. The surgeon walked up to her 
and gave her face a vigorous slap. Was 
she angry? Well, somewhat! She shouted 
to the servants to put the wretch out of 
the house and they did so in the most 
approved style. But she talked ? Cer¬ 
tainly, and but for the slap in the face she 
would not have thought talking possible. 
Thursday ^ook ou ^ * or the '* North Amer- 
^ ican Lightning-Rod Company,” 
4- or “J. W. Gray & Co.” These 
folks are playing the old-time lightning- 
rod swindle—playing it with great success, 
too. * * * * A farmer in Texas has the 
following to say about the way some mer¬ 
chants do business. Is there any man like 
this near you ? If there is, look out for 
him: “A merchant that was not able to buy 
more than one sack of coffee, wanted all the 
different grades. So he got three flour bar¬ 
rels and divided his one sack into three 
parts; put each part in a separate barrel 
and carefully marked and classified by 
labeling: This barrel contains Rio coffee ; 
No. 2 contains Rio fair; No. 3 contains Rio 
ditto. So, when the farmer comes in to 
purchase 50 cents’ worth of coffee, round 
from behind the counter comes the man of 
knowledge, his face aglow with smiles. 
He grabs the farmer by the hand, gives 
him a hearty shake. 
‘ Why, I am glad to see you. How is 
your family ? I hope they are all well,’ 
and so forth. * Well, Mr. B., what can I 
do for you to-day ?’ 
B.: ‘ I want some coffee.’ 
‘ What class will you have, Mr. B ? Of 
course you want the best. Just come this 
way. Mr. B. Here is the best coffee on the 
market,’ pointing to barrel No. 1, marked 
Rio coffee. ‘ This coffee is fresh from the 
stalk, for I handle none except of the best 
quality.’ Here he points to barrel No. 
2, marked Rio fair. ‘This coffee is also 
very fine; its flavor is not as acceptable as 
that in barrel No. 1, yet it’s mighty good 
coffee. Well, here is another lot of coffee I 
just got in (pointing to barrel No. 3 marked 
Rio ditto). This is a new brand to me, but 
the merchant of whom I buy all my coffee 
recommends it very highly, yet I would not 
dare to recommend it to an old customer 
like you.’ ” 
# 
* * 
Friday Look out that you do not wake 
J up in old or middle age to find 
5* that you have lost your inde¬ 
pendence. Plenty of men do that. They 
start off in youth determined to be honest, 
manly and independent. Before long they 
find that it is no great fun to build up a 
reputation for independent honesty. It is 
easier to “ follow the crowd,” to knuckle 
down to the rich or the powerful, and to 
stifle one’s own ideas of right and justice 
for the sake of ease, or some little lease of 
power or place. Little by little this grows 
on one until he wakes up at last to find 
that his independence, hatred of wrong and 
contempt for injustice have passed away— 
never to return. It is a very unsatisfactory 
feeling—look out for it. You can win no 
possible fortune equal in value to the sat¬ 
isfaction of self-respect. 
• 
• * 
Qaim-day William J. Cook is a young man 
. J who recently came to this city 
from a small town in North 
Carolina. His first experience in hunting 
for* work may be useful to other young 
men. He saw the following advertisement 
in a daily paper: “Driver—Young man to 
drive light wagon; must know city; $12 per 
week. Call between eight and nine at 593 
Third Avenue.” The house proved to be 
vacant with a “ For Rent ” sign in the 
window. While William was looking at 
it two well dressed men stopped and began 
to talk to him. They told him it was a 
shame for anybody to cheat him so, and 
finally stated that they represented one of 
the largest dry goods houses in the city, 
and would give him a job as a driver. They 
got a hoise and wagon by filling out a 
blank order form and started off down 
town with William after a big bill of 
goods. William went into the store to get 
the goods, and after waiting a while, to 
his great surprise was arrested for trying 
to defraud. His new found friends had 
cleared out, leaving the horse and wagon 
in the street. Then William realized that 
he had been used as a decoy. If the two 
scamps could have captured the goods they 
would have sold them. As it was, William 
was the only person the police could hold. 
BIG EGGS-GREEN FOOD. 
Why not offer a prize at your poultry ex¬ 
hibition for the 13 heaviest eggs from one 
flock ? The markets demand large eggs, 
though we do not believe these big eggs 
are as good in quality as smaller ones. 
Bantam eggs are the finest we have ever 
tasted. Still, if the people demand large 
eggs, it is our business to supply them. 
Some breeders say they can induce their 
hens to lay large eggs by feeding certain 
foods. Do you believe it ? 
Green Food for Poultry.— The advice 
about giving green food to chickens in 
winter, which lately appeared in Tue 
Rural, is good and timely. For years I 
have made it a rule to sow a patch of fall 
rye for green food for the little thiugs. It is 
surprising how fond they are of it, and 50 
or 00 of them will keep half an acre of rye 
well picked off We also feed green cab¬ 
bages in the fall. We gather the loose 
heads, throw them in our hotbed pits, 
pitch a little earth on them to keep them 
fresh, and when the weather gets cold, put 
on grass and the glass, and in this way we 
have green food for our chickens all the 
wiuter, at a very small cost. 
Polk County, Ta. F. S. WHITE. 
ANOTHER HAND-BOOK FOR THE RURAL-GARDEN FAMILY. 
NTOVELi — CONCISE—PJl ACTICAL. 
THE NURSERY BOOK. 
A Complete Hand-Book of Propagation and Pollination. By L. H. Bailey. Uniform in Size and Style with 
Rule-Book of 189 1 Edition Profusely Illustrated. 
T HIS valuable little manual lias been compiled at great pains. The author has had 
unusual facilities for its preparation, having been aided by many experts in 
many directions. The book Is absolutely devoid of theory and speculation. It 
has nothing todo with plant physiology, nor with any abstruse reasons of plant growth. 
It simply tells plainly and briefly wfcat every one who sows a seed, makes a cutting, 
sets a graft, or crosses a flower wants to know. It is entirely new and original in 
method and matter. The cuts number almost 100, and are made e peelally for it, direct 
from nature. The book treats of all kinds of cultivated plants, fruits, vegetables 
greenhouse plants, hardy herbs, ornamental trees and shrubs and forest trees. 
CONTENTS. 
Chapter 1.—Seed age. 
Chapter 11 .—Separation and Division 
Chapter 111.— Leverage. 
Chapter IV.—Cuttage. 
Chapter V.-Grafta*e. Including Grafting, Budding, Inarching, etc. 
Clinpter VI.—Nursery List 
Tnls is the great feature of the book. It is an alphabetical list of all kinds of 
plants, w ith a short s'atement telling which of the operations described In the flrst 
flve chapters are employed In propagating them. Over 2,000 entries are made in 
the list. The following entries will give an idea of the method : 
ACER (Maple). Sapindacecc. Stocks are grown from stratified seeds, which should 
be sown nn inch or two deep -, or some species, as A dasycarjium, come readily 
if seeds are simply sown as soon ns ripe. Some cultu'nl varieties are layered, 
but better plants are obtained by grafting Varieties of native species are 
worked upon common or native stocks. The Japar.es- sorts are winter- 
worked upon imported A pnlymorphum stocks, eitner by whip or veneer- 
grafting. Maples can also be buddeu in summer, and they grow readily from 
cuttings of both ripe and soft wood. 
PHYLJ.OCACTUS. PHVLl.flCEREUS. DIKOCACTUS (Lkaf-Cacius). Cactece. 
Fresh seeds grow readily. Sow in ratln-r saudy soil, which is well drained, 
and apply water as for common seeds. When the seedlings appear, remove 
to a light position. Cuttings from mature shoots, three to six Inches in length, 
root readily In sharp sand. Give a temp- rature of about 60 degrees, atm apply 
only sufficient water to keep from flagging. If the cuttings are very Juicy, 
they may be laid on dry sand for several days before planting. 
GOOSEBERRY. Seeds, for the raising of new varieties, should be sown as soon as 
well cured, in loamy or sandy soil, or thev may be stratified and sown 
together with the sand in the soring. Cuttings, 6 to 8 it ches long, of the 
mature wood, inserted two thirds their leng'h, usually grow reatlly, 
especially if taken in August or September and store t during wiuter. 
Stronger plants are usually obtained by lay- rs, and the English varieties are 
nearly always layered in this country. Mound layering is usually employed, 
the English varieties being allowed to remain in layerage two years, but the 
American varieties only one (Fig. 'J7I. Layered plants are usually set in 
nursery rows for a year after removal from the stools Green-layering during 
summer is sometimes practiced for new or rare varieties. 
Chapter VII.—Pollination. 
This book is now completed, and it will be on sale promptly by January 1st. * 
A fLOWER OK " NICOTIANA AFF1NIS,” AND ONE PREPARED toll POLLINATION 
Price, in library style, cloth, wide margins, fl.OO; Pocket style, 
paper, narrow margins, 50 cents. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
|^gr Will be ready for mailing in December. Orders filed consecutively as received , 
