i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
857 
Thoughts on Billy. 
Geraldine Germaine, McKean Co., 
Pa.—I was much interested in the history 
of the two horses, Billy and Dolly, in The 
R. N.-Y. of November8, and thought while 
reading it, how like poor Billy are many a 
farmer’s wife and children and many times 
the hired help on the farm. Who has not 
seen the wife commanded to make “ bricks 
without straw,” trying to do her work and 
her duty as best she could with meager 
means and poor surroundings, plodding on, 
year after year, without help or encour¬ 
agement, with only rebuffs, naggings and 
fault findings for her reward until she has 
felt that life was not worth living and has 
become hardened, shrinking, drooping and 
discouraged, just like old Billy? Who has 
not seen the boy or girl who went willingly 
to the tasks assigned them and really tried 
to do their best, yet received no word of 
commendation for their efforts, only angry 
blows and sharp reproofs for not having 
succeeded better? Who has not seen this 
course of conduct kept up, day after day, 
until the boy or girl has become so hardened 
as to be impervious alike to praise and re¬ 
proof, to kindness and harshness, and in¬ 
different as to how the work was performed; 
and all because those having charge over 
them did not realize that well-meaning ef 
fort deserves appreciation and reward as 
well as success? 
There are many instances in which good 
help on the farm and in the household are 
spoiled through lack of kind words and 
good usage, while poor help, that might 
have been made better by kindness and en¬ 
couragement, are made worse by the treat¬ 
ment which they receive. Some people 
are afraid to treat any one in their employ 
decently for fear they will get “abovetheir 
business,” when, on the contrary, nothing 
will make a truly good workman contented 
with his situation or satisfied with his 
work like kind, respectful treatment and a 
word of praise when he has done unusually 
well. In fact, there is no spot or place in 
this world where kind, encouraging words 
and good usage do not pay. And one of 
the greatest lessons to be taught men and 
women is that every harsh word, every 
abusive or neglectful act to any being, brute 
or human, in their power and possession, 
is a loss to themselves, and that only as 
all are made comfortable and happy can 
any real profit be derived from them. 
The Mission of the Country Boy.— 
This country boy of Nazareth, came forth 
to atone for the sins of the world and to 
correct the follies of the world and to 
stamp out the cruelties of the world and to 
illumine the darkness of the world and to 
transfigure the hemispheres, spoke Dr. 
Talmage in a recent sermon. So it has 
been the mission of the country boys in all 
ages to transform and inspire and rescue. 
They come into our merchandise and our 
courtrooms and our healing art and our 
studios and our theology. They lived in 
Nazareth before they entered Jerusalem. 
And but for that annual influx our cities 
would have enervated and sickened and 
slain the race. Late hours and hurtful ap¬ 
parel and overtaxed digestive organs and 
crowded environments of city life would 
have halted the world, but the valleys and 
mountains of Nazareth have given a fresh 
supply of health and moral invigoration to 
Jerusalem, and the couutry saves the town. 
From the hills of New Hampshire and 
the hills of Virginia and the hills of 
Georgia come into our national elo¬ 
quence the Websters and the Clays and 
the Henry W. Gradys. From the plain 
homes of Massachusetts and Maryland 
come into our national charities the George 
Peabodys and the William Corcorans. 
From the cabins of the lonely country re¬ 
gions come into our natioual destinies 
the Andrew Jacksons and the Abraham 
Lincolns. From the plowboy’s furrow and 
village counter and blacksmith’s forge come 
most of our city giants. 
Prickly Comfrey.—The R. N.-Y. has 
never quite given up all hope that Prickly 
Comfrey may yet be found a very valuable, 
cheaply-produced food. Caldwell Brothers 
of Albany County, N. Y., tell the Country 
Gentleman that from time to time they have 
noticed inquiries about Prickly Comfrey,its 
value for feeding, etc. They have fed it for 
two years to 500 ewes, besides cows, horses, 
hogs, ducks and chickens, and desire to in¬ 
form those who would feed it, that they 
consider it a very valuable early to late 
green fodder. It yields immensely, is easily 
cultivated, and is eaten by the animals 
mentioned above with great relish and 
profit. They have a number of acres of it, 
upon which they turn their sheep for a 
change. It makes a rich flow of milk, and 
is a first class food. 
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
Nothing better illustrates, says Prof. 
Storer, the high repute in which tillage 
has always been held among practical men 
than the fact that tbe original meaning 
of the word manure was manoeuvre; that 
is to work or cultivate with the hand. 
Fallow land meant originally red land, as 
in the term fallow deer . 
A drained soil is not only drier in a wet 
season than one which is undrained, but it 
is moister in dry seasons ; is warmer in 
cold weather and cooler in hot weather.... 
That sentiment of Mr. L. W, Cighty in 
last week’s R. N.-Y. is worthy of repetition: 
“ When we find a paper that has backbone 
enough to tell the truth, let us have back¬ 
bone enough to help it along.”. 
John Burr’s Ideal, Paragon and Eclipse 
(red, black and white) are considered in 
Kansas the three best native grapes yet 
brought into notice. . . 
Mr. Taos. S. Ware, a seedsman of Lon¬ 
don, accuses the well known artist of Phila¬ 
delphia, Mr. Blanc—in the London Garden 
—of appropriating many of the engravings 
which have appeared in his (Ware’s) cata¬ 
logues and selling them as originals. 
At the New York Flower Show last week 
orchids played an important part as well 
as “ mums,” or shall we call them “ Chry- 
ses ?” Or how would Anthems do ? There 
are ghostly orchids in infinite variety, says 
a N. Y. Herald reporter. And, by the 
way, the orchid is the most weird, uncanny, 
and exquisite product of the soil. There is 
something supernatural about it, a deli¬ 
cacy of coloring, a semi transparency, a far¬ 
away, unearthly appearance which rather 
repels intimacy while claiming admiration. 
Gov. Hoard says the best sign of a good 
cow is that she is so built that when in 
milk a portion of her udder can be seen be¬ 
hind her legs, as a side view is taken. The 
more there is to be seen the better; and if 
at the same time the udder comes forward 
so as to cover a goodly portion of the belly, 
she then can be, and quite likely will be, 
a copious milker. But before a very big 
price is paid for her, the quality of her 
milk should be tested, and if the buyer is 
particular she should be of the breed he is 
most interested in... 
Mr. W. H. Bowker, alluding to the influ 
ence of the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College and its alumni in combatting the 
unpopularity of agriculture in some sec¬ 
tions, told of an ex-mayor of Boston who on 
meeting the governor on his way to an 
agricultural fair remarked: “I am glad I 
have not got down to that yet.”. 
Prof. Storer in his book (Agriculture) 
quotes an experiment made by Prof. San¬ 
born, which we do not remember to have 
seen before. He plowed two plots of land, 
each one-tenth of an acre, seven inches 
deep, and then subsoiled one of them to a 
depth of nine inches more, so that this plot 
was stirred to a depth of 16 inches in all. 
After drought had become severe, he drove 
gas-pipes into the earth so that samples of 
the soil could be taken up from both plots 
do a depth of 15 inches. In the earth from 
the subsoiled plot he found 10 per cent of 
moisture, while in that from the other plot 
(not subsoiled) there was only 8>£ per cent. 
The subsoiled plot yielded corn at the rate 
of 70 bushels to the acre, and the other plot 
yielded only at the rate of 49 bushe's to the 
acre. 
The Ohio Station during the past season 
tried various ways of killing or driving off 
the Striped Cucumber Beetle from squash, 
melon and cucumber plants. The seeds 
came up early in June, and the first Striped 
Beetles appeared soon after. Then they 
came in great numbers, and destroyed a 
large number of plants before they could 
be treated. 
Two general methods of treatment were 
employed : 1. Coating the plant with pois¬ 
onous substances, and, 2, fencing out the 
insects by mechanical barriers. The best 
success was attained in the first class of 
remedies, by the use of tobacco powder— 
the refuse packing of the cigar factories. 
A number of barrels of this substance were 
obtained at a cigar factory. A shovelful 
of the powder was thrown on each hill. 
The first application was made to SO hills, 
on June 12. Rains coining soon after, it 
was repeated June 14, 16 and 17. The re¬ 
sults were excellent. The beetles seemed 
to dislike working in the tobacco, and the 
plants on all the hills so treated came 
through in good condition. Aside from its 
value as an insecticide, the tobacco acts 
both as a mulch and fertilizer. Chemical 
analysis shows that its market value as a 
fertilizer is $25 per ton. In many Eastern 
cities it is being utilized, but in Columbus 
and other Ohio cities many of the factories 
are glad to give this refuse to any one who 
will take it away. 
The Ithaca people found that trimming 
tomato plants, or heading back from three 
to six inches all the leading shoots from 
late July until late August, while all the 
sprouts from the base were removed, in¬ 
creased the yield and there was an impor¬ 
tant gain in earliness. The labor of trim¬ 
ming is slight. The heaviest yield of to¬ 
matoes The R. N.-Y. has ever had was 
from vines supported by a trellis and se¬ 
verely pruned during the entire middle 
season. . 
A test of seeds against cuttings showed 
that the former are the more productive. 
The cuttings were made March 29, and were 
afterwards handled as seedlings. Seeds of 
two kinds were sown on April 1, and of one 
kind on Janury 15. The seedlings gave by 
far the earliest and largest returns. 
Prof. Bailey, unlike The R. N.-Y. folks, 
finds that very heavy manuring does not 
lessen productiveness. In our own trial, 
the vines grew nearly twice the size of 
plants in poor soil, and failed to ripen their 
fruit, which was borne abundantly enough, 
before frost. 
WORD FOR WORD. 
-Rev. Dr. Eaton: “If we are to give 
credence to a recent book of a leader of 
society, ‘ coats, not character,’ serve best 
as the means of judging and classifying 
men.” 
-John Thorpe : “ Commercially consid¬ 
ered, the chrysanthemum is now.of as 
much importance as any other flower in its 
season. Millions of plants are now sold 
annually where but a few thousands were 
sold ten years since. Good flowers of chrys¬ 
anthemums realize as much as the very 
finest roses do in the depth of winter. I 
saw the other day a basket of 35 flowers 
arranged by Thorley sell for $100, and $18 
a dozen was frequently paid for fine flowers 
last season. The very plants these flow¬ 
ers were from can be purchased for 25 cents 
each.” 
-Denver Road : “ Horse talk and horse 
sense are two different things.” 
Prof. A. J. Cook: “Most orchardists, 
either through ignorance or neglect, will 
not fight the insects, so the fruit will be 
scarce and the price, high. Thus our best 
plum growers say that the curculio ad¬ 
vances the price of plums far in excess of 
the expense of so fighting him as to secure 
a crop of finest fruit. 
“ Its habit of falling to the ground, 
and its general timidity suggest a 
method of combatting the curculio. Thus 
it is often found that by keeping a 
large flock of poultry among the trees, or 
even many hogs or sheep, a full crop of 
fruit can be secured each year. In this 
case the insects are eaten up, trodden on or 
frightened away. I know of farmers who 
have in this way secured full crops of 
plums with almost no exception, while 
neighbors have obtained no plums at all. 
Often a tree close by a door or path bears 
heavily each year, while others not thus 
situated suffer severely. Here the insects 
are probably frightened away. 
Maine Farmer: “A Little Chat in 
the Garden.—* Pretty bad soil here for a 
garden, isn’t it ?’ said a potato vine. * I 
should think it was,’ said the onion. ‘I’m 
losing strength every day, and I never had 
much to begin with. I don’t get along 
worth a scent.’ * I can’t get ahead here,’ 
said the cabbage; ‘I’m going to leave.’ 
* I know I can’t get ’long at all,’ said the 
cucumber. ‘Nor I,’ cried the asparagus, * I 
don’t get ’long at all.’ ‘This place isn’t 
fit for a berrying ground,’ said the straw¬ 
berry, but here comes the sun, so dry up, 
all of you.’ ” 
Itti.sccUancou.s gUvcvtissing. 
IN writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural New Yorker. 
THE SPANGLER 
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for sowing fertilizer broad- 
east ; also tne Single Row 
Fertilizer Distribute , < 'o n 
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Send for free lilustra ed 
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A new book of charming short 
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Short Stories for the Home 
and the Kindergarten. By Kate 
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Nora A Smith. With illustrations. 
$ 1 . 00 . 
THE ATLANTIC 
FOR 1891 
will contain 
“The House of Martha,” 
Frank R. Stockton’s Serial. 
Contributions from 
Dr. Holmes, Mr. Lowell, and 
Mr. Whittier. 
The Capture of Louisbourg will be treated in 
A Series of Papers by Francis 
Parkman. 
There will also be Short Stories and rketches by 
Rudyard Kipling, 
Henry James, Sarah Orne Jewett, Octave Thaset. 
TERMS: $1.00 a year in advance postage free 
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order , draft, or registered letter, to 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
4 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 
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Over 100,000 copies of this little book have been sold 
for ten cents eaca. 
We now propose to put it into the hands of those 
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Metal Shingles and Rooting we manufacture. 
THE NATIONAL SHEET METAL HOOFING CO., 
510 to 520 East 20th St.. New York City. 
Illustrated 
Catalogue 
free. 
“OSGOOD” 
U. S. Standard 
312N $35, 
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Sent on trial. Freight paid. 
Other sizes proportionately 
low. Fully Warranted 
Buckeye Wrought Iron Punched Bali Fence 
Also, manufacturers of Iron Cresting, Iron Turb¬ 
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SCRIBNER'S 
LUMBER 
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