852 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC 13 
PUT THESE NOTES IN FATHER’S STOCKING. 
Ask the farmer who is selling out or being sold out at 
auction if he uses tobacco. The chances are he has chewed 
and smoked half his mortgage. A man who will waste 
money on tobacco will waste it on other things. He has 
bad habits of economy. Economy does not mean being 
stingy but using common sense. 
What we need is a compulsory educational law covering 
families as well as schools. 
Those who stop studying when they begin practical work 
soon become cases of arrested development. They will need 
auctioneers shortly. 
If you wish to get rich and starve your children, cut down 
all your woods. If you wish to live comfortably and give 
your children a chance after you, plant forests. 
Get out of the ruts; try new ideas; work earnestly; ex¬ 
periment; have a trial garden. 
One of the Western farmers who had a lot of swamp land 
on his hands began goose farming. He got rich; and others 
are on the same track. 
If one rut is bad, two are worse. Keep your wheels oiled 
and free to move in the direction of the hay stack. 
I met one farmer, the other day, who could tell me why 
the tent caterpillar disappeared so rapidly in 1890. He 
could not pronounce ichneumon correctly; but he had dis¬ 
covered that curious worm destroyer at work, and under¬ 
stood the effects of its labor. He has bought the farms of 
two neighbors who were turned out-of-doors by the bugs, 
and is getting rich because he has his eyes open. 
There are thousands of men around who get beaten every 
time a new bug comes along, or a new weed. Well, the 
world belongs to those who come out ahead. 
What we want is not more agricultural colleges but 
agricultural common schools. The trouble is that the 
farmers’ boys do not learn about anything to make the 
farm interesting. m 
Drawing is more important to the farm boy than fine 
penmanship; for if he can draw well he will write well 
enough. Drawing makes him see things accurately. 
The first and best lesson is accurate observation. 
Oneida County, N. Y. E. P. powell. 
A FRUIT FARMER’S CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS. 
W. W. FARNSWORTH. 
Joseph Harris once wrote that he was glad he was not a 
perfect farmer, for if he were he would have no chance to 
improve, and would thus lose a great pleasure, and the 
ruralist is to be pitied who looks back upon the past year 
without seeing wherein he can improve. One of the first 
lessons of the season was taught me by the excessively wet 
weather, which reminded me that the farmer or fruit 
grower must not only plan carefully, but when his plans 
are drowned out by water, nipped in the bud by frost or 
scorched by heat and drought, he must be ever ready with 
a full supply of good “uncommon” sense to form new 
ones suited to the changed condition of affairs. The entire 
season taught me that “poor years” are often “good 
years ” for those who stand near the head of the class. A 
few of us who grew 200 bushels per acre of 80-cent potatoes 
this summer have good reason to think so, at any rate. It 
was done by doing everything thoroughly and planning 
two years ahead. 
Again, from seven acres of strawberries under good field 
culture I sold over $2,000 worth of berries, which helped to 
make a good year. This was done by careful attention to 
details. I was forcibly reminded this year that the best 
way to plant black raspberries (when the plants are to be 
moved but a short distance) is to allow the young shoots 
to grow three or four inches above ground; then (on a 
cloudy day, if possible) take up the plants with the adher¬ 
ing earth and immediately reset. We put planks on the 
wagon and drove the team astride of a row (one year 
planted) and got along nearly as fast as we could have 
done by the ordinary method, and with much better 
results, as the plants all grew and could be cultivated im¬ 
mediately, so that we got the start of the weeds. 
It has often been brought to my mind during the past 
summer that a single profitable acre is better than 100 un¬ 
profitable ones. One of my neighbors owns six acres of 
land devoted to small fruits carefully tended, mainly by 
himself, and always under the master’s eye. He has 
money at interest from the profits of his six acres and is 
constantly adding to it, and does not live in a miserly 
fashion either. Another neighbor farms 500 acres just as 
cheerfully and is yearly growing poorer. We are told by 
some chronic grumblers that as soon as a man has a good 
crop every one else has one and consequently prices are 
low. Does not such a complaint acknowledge that the 
grumbler is so unskillful that he can raise a good crop only 
when every one else does so by reason of a very favorable 
season. Let him reform and raise a good crop when 
“ every one else ” fails, although a good crop is far better 
than a poor one even in a year of low prices, and is usually 
fairly profitable. But by all means let us avoid changing 
our plans with every ebb and flow of the market. Let us 
remember that “ all things come to him who waits,” and 
if our rotation is well adapted to our soil, climate, loca¬ 
tion and ability, let us stick to it. Let each of us perfect 
himself in it, get to the head of the class, stay there by 
constant effort and work and wait. 
I would not by this imply that any one should be a 
fossil and resist all changes that mean improvement. If 
the demands of the market are changing from yellow¬ 
legged chickens to black-legged, the poultry raiser must 
change in accordance with the demand, as long as the 
public are willing to pay for their fancy, but he should not 
sell out of the poultry business entirely because his last 
lot of fowls did not pay expenses. He should rather re¬ 
solve to raise some next year that will pay a good profit. 
One of the fatal weaknesses of the average American is a 
lack of stability in his plans. In these days of small 
margins and sharp competition, is it not far better to 
make a special effort to better our condition by rising 
higher in our present vocation than to accept heavy odds 
by engaging in a new business in competition with those 
whose life training has been in that line ? We should 
have weighty reasons before doing so. 
Lucas County, Ohio. . 
DRINK FROM -THIS SPRING, FARMER ! 
What a multitude of poems tell us something about the 
cool, delicious waters of a spring situated at the foot of 
some hill, or trickling from some rocky cavern, as if 
specially designed to quench the thirst of some weary per¬ 
son who might chance in that unfrequented way. This soli¬ 
tary spring, however, would, if properly taken care of and 
given a fair opportunity, confer upon the farmer on whose 
[See Poem on First Pnge.l 
land it may be, one of the greatest of benefits. And what 
farm is there on which there are not one or more springs ? 
And what farmer is there who does not keep cows ? Yet, 
what arrangement does he make for the proper handling 
of their product ? His wife and daughters are furnished 
with a cellar under the house, though maybe they have 
only the pantry. A dash churn, a butter bowl and paddle, 
some crocks and a cream jar, with the addition of a barrel 
of salt, constitute the whole stock of implements with 
which they are to convert the cow’s milk into a salable 
form. Is it any wonder that they shirk every part of the 
work they can ? Nothing is convenient, nothing handy, 
and they take no pleasure in their work, consequently the 
butter is of an inferior quality and no regular amount is 
ever made. There is no demand for it and they have no 
ready sale for it. Yet this same farmer will say: “Cows 
don’t pay,” and when his wife or daughters ask for a new 
dress a little better than usual he commences the old story: 
“I can’t afford it; butter has dropped to eight cents a 
“Hang up the Farmer’s Stocking, be sure you 
don’t forget.” 
po^nd this week, and the grocery-man says it will be six 
next, and we’re making as much as we can, now, too; 
there’s the taxes to pay this fall, and I wanted to buy a 
little phosphate to put on the hill field, to try and see if it 
pays or not, so I guess you will have to do without your 
flxin’s this year.” 
All this, while a never-failing flow of cool spring water 
is constantly making its way out from a vein in a bank 
not 20 yards from the house. So he talks of poverty and 
lets all that cool, fresh water go to waste. Does he know 
that with the expenditure of $100 or a trifle more he could 
build a nice, substantial house of two rooms ? The smaller 
one, or milk-room, should be about five by eight feet, with 
stone troughs laid the length of each side below the floor, 
which should consist of only one large, flat stone about five 
by five feet. The walls, too, should be of stones, or, if 
bricks are handier, they would do. The ceiling, also, should 
consist of one large, flat stone. There should be no wood¬ 
work in this room except the door frame, and the troughs 
containing the spring water must be below the floor, so 
that the cans of milk can be the more easily lifted out. 
The larger, or churning room should be built in front of 
the milk-room and should be 12x12 feet, with a floor of 
large, flat stones, and the walls should be laid like those of 
the other room. The front of this room-—the only side that 
would be exposed to view, the rest being built in the hill 
—should be made of boards with a two-foot space in the 
middle to be filled with sawdust. This, with a door and 
window with double glass, would keep out unnecessary 
warm or cold air. The space between the ceiling and the 
roof should be filled with sawdust. A ventilator should 
run from each room and a drain should run from the 
churning-room. Such a structure would be the best pay¬ 
ing building on the farm. Then the farmer should get 
milk cans—the trough must be made deep enough to hold 
them—a swing churn, butter-worker, butter-press and a 
good butter-maker’s guide, and put his wife and daughter 
in there, and if they have one particle of spirit or industry 
they will appreciate the advantages of this easier way of 
making butter, and enter heartily into the work. 
The farmer must do his share. The cows must be of the 
best strain for butter purposes. He must feed and stable 
them well, and, above all, have them come in in the fall, 
for it is the winter butter that pays. Let the wife and 
daughter experiment and work for a year; then engage 
the butter at a uniform price the year ’round, for, at the 
end of a year’s practice, they ought to make a pretty fair 
article. The spring will flow merrily on while furnishing 
all the elements necessary for the cooling of the milk, as 
well as pure, cold water for the thorough washing of the 
butter, and, above all, it will keep the milk-hou3e at a 
cool, even temperature in summer and at a warm, pleasant 
one in winter. In a little while one girl, if she is handy and 
neat, can take possession of this milk-house and make all 
the butter from 10 or 15 cows, with, of course, the help of 
a boy to do the churniug, and the same boy can pack all 
the milk and strain it into the cans. Then let the 
daughter ask for a nice dress and she will get it. She can 
then feel that she has rightfully earned it. At the end of 
one year let the farmer settle up his butter sales, and see 
if he has not profited by using the spring water and build¬ 
ing the milk-house. As a guarantee that the butter will 
be well made, let him give the girl a share of the proceeds. 
farmer's girl. 
POLLED CATTLE SIRED BY A SAW. 
PROF. A. J. COOK. 
I was much interested in the editorial remark in a 
recent issue of The Rural New-Yorker to the effect that 
the dishorning of male cattle was already affecting the 
offspring of such males. It is a very interesting question, 
and is so important in its scientific aspect that I wish to 
know more in relation to it. Just at present there is a 
very earnest discussion going on among scientists on this 
very question. Weisman contends that accidental pecul¬ 
iarities like the loss of horns or pathological disturbances 
are not inherited. Many others, like Cope of our own 
country, believe that these lost characteristics may be 
transmitted. Gov. Luce, of our State, tells a very good 
story, in substance as follows: Once Prof. Church, a 
teacher of distinction in our State, told his class that if 
any organ of an animal was repressed in growth, cut short 
or destroyed by man or accident, there would be a tendency 
towards such modification in the progeny of the unfortu¬ 
nate parent. If such mutilation was continued its trans¬ 
mission to offspring would be almost sure. A bright boy 
raised his hand, and then queried: “ How is it that our 
lambs all have long tails, when farmers have practiced the 
pruning of these organs for years?” The professor was 
vanquished. 
I believe that accidental peculiarities are often trans¬ 
mitted ; else, how does man establish breeds by better 
care, coupled with selection. I believe the better care de¬ 
velops finer organs, which are inherited by succeeding off¬ 
spring. Whether such mutilated organs will be inherited 
or not, may depend somewhat upon their importance in 
the life economy of the animal; possibly upon the fact of 
the continuance of the impression or friction which in¬ 
duces the first modification, and possibly upon the close¬ 
ness of the relation of the mutilated organ to the repro¬ 
ductive system. A sheep’s tail is not a very important 
organ functionally ; nor would clipping it or its loss make 
much of an impression upon the general organism of the 
animal. The horns, on the other hand, are functionally 
important, their loss changes the spirit of their former 
possessor, and, again, they are closely coordinated with 
sex, as we know that in many ruminants only the males 
have horns. Hence, if what The Rural says be true, we 
need not so much wonder, yet I am surprised that the 
effect is so speedy. Can there he any mistake about the 
matter ? It is so important a fact scientifically that I wish 
any who have evidence that dishorning does tend to reduce 
or destroy the horns through inheritance, would write to 
me fully of the facts, or write to The Rural, as they pre¬ 
fer. I am sure in a matter of so much importance every 
fact should be published. 
Agricultural College, Michigan. 
R. N.-Y.—We received our information from one of the 
most careful observers we know, and have received similar 
information from several stockmen. Most of the cattle 
mentioned in these reports were beef stock. We shall be 
pleased to print any additional facts bearing on this 
subject. _ 
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 Ton Ithe! corner. 
