56 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 25 
THE 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FA JIM EES' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1895. 
Elbert S. Carman, Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
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Advertisements inserted only for responsible and honorable houses 
We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
office and State, and what the remittance is for, appear in every 
letter. Money orders and bank drafts on New York are the safest 
means of transmitting money. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay- 
able THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1896. 
OUR CATALOGUE REVIEWS. 
Next week we shall begin our reviews of the cur¬ 
rent year's catalogues, and earnestly endeavor to 
make them as impartial and suggestive to our readers 
as our experience in growing plants of nearly all 
kinds—especially those of more recent introduction— 
may enable us to do. For several years past, we have 
devoted the greater part of a single number of The 
R. N.-Y. to these reviews. This has met with the 
cordial approval, in so far as we may judge, of both 
our readers and the catalogue makers. But there 
seems just this one objection that may fairly be urged 
against a single catalogue number, viz., we are 
obliged to wait until rather late in the season before 
all the catalogues have been received. It would appear, 
still further, that if the notices of the catalogues be 
published as received, through several numbers, that 
they will individually be likely to receive more 
thoughtful consideration than if all, or most of them, 
appear in one issue. We urge it upon our readers 
that they send for these catalogues, and that they 
carefully compare them, so that they may be guided 
by the tone of the matter of the catalogue as well as 
by the consensus of opinion l’egarding the best plants 
and seeds to buy, which to select—which to reject. 
We would again caution our friends against unsup¬ 
ported superlative claims, emphasized by absurdly 
exaggerated illustrations. Let them bear in mind 
that good, conscientious firms cannot afford to over¬ 
praise anything they may have to offer. It is only 
those who care less for a permanent reputation for 
fair dealing, than for the money they may make for 
several years through gross misrepresentations, that 
are reckless as to the claims they make for the goods 
they offer. 
0 
Under “ Live Stock ” this week, will be found some 
remarks about shoddy and the damage that is done 
by using this substitute in the place of pure wool in 
clothing. We advise you to take the livest sort of 
stock in this idea. Selling shoddy-made cloth for “all- 
wool” clothing, is just as damaging to the wool-grow¬ 
ing industry as oleo is to the dairy business. It is a 
dangerous counterfeit, and should be exposed. 
O 
Since the year 1878, the sum of .$154,232,800 has been 
lost in this country by defalcations—that is, it was 
stolen by persons in positions of trust. In 1895, these 
thefts amounted to $10,423,205. This vast sum ac¬ 
counts for the stealings of trusted humans only. If 
we could include the money wasted by scrubs—rob¬ 
ber cows, sheep, horses, poultry, etc., the sum would 
be multiplied by three. Down with the barn de¬ 
faulters—the scrubs. 
0 
The Atlanta Constitution offered prizes for the best 
crop of corn, and has just printed an account of the 
crop that won first prize. It was grown in Georgia 
and planted April 1 on good land without manure or 
fertilizer. It was cultivated four times and hoed 
once, with a total cost of plowing and working of 
$9.75 per acre. The yield was 176% bushels of 
shelled corn! The proof of this yield and the estimate 
of the cost were examined by the State Commissioner 
of Agriculture and other well-known men, and are, 
therefore, vouched for. That beats Wisconsin pota¬ 
toes at five cents a bushel, and shows what folly it 
has been for the Southern people to import corn or 
meat from other sections of the country. Another 
prize offer has been made by the Charleston News 
and Courier, which is of interest to farmers. That 
paper offered prizes for an account of the most suc¬ 
cessful pork making experiment, and hundreds of 
farmers have been fattening pigs and estimating the 
value of the food given them. This is excellent work 
for papers to engage in, for every contesting corn field 
and hog pen becomes a local experiment station from 
which the neighbors are sure to learn something new 
about the production of food. 
O 
Take a steam engine. Put it in a tight building, 
and get up steam. The next day, move it out into the 
cold, and get up steam again. It takes more fuel to do 
a certain amount of work outdoors than it does when 
inside. You understand that fullj\ You also under¬ 
stand that a cow is a living engine. Food is fuel. The 
frost in the air eats up the fuel under the boiler ; it 
also eats up the food in the cow. If you have food 
and fuel to throw away—enough said. If not, you 
would better keep a tight board to windward of boiler 
and cow. 
© 
Last week, at the Vermont Dairymen’s Associa¬ 
tion, held in Burlington, some one entered a sample 
of the best oleomargarine. The object was to try to 
obtain a prize for it, and brag that the judges could 
not tell it from good butter. The scheme failed, for 
the judges, without knowing what it was, found the 
sample so low in flavor that it could not win a prize 
anyway. The color, grain and texture of good butter 
were well counterfeited, but the makers could not 
counterfeit the flavor of first-class butter. In Penn¬ 
sylvania last year, these oleo rogues entered fine 
butter, won a prize, then destroyed the sample and 
claimed that it was oleo. In Vermont, they entered 
the real goods and were fairly beaten. Would that 
this could end them ; but no, they will be at it again 
within a month ! 
© 
The 11. N.-Y t . is receiving many words of praise and 
congratulation this season. The one that pleases us 
most of all is the following note from a friend in Iowa: 
A tyje/pryuxw . YUY so 
This man first sent for a sample copy. After reading 
it carefully, he sent his money for a year's subscrip¬ 
tion with this brief but expressive note. That is one 
of the best compliments The R. N.-\ r . ever received. 
We would rather give soluble information than any 
other sort, for, if we are not mistaken, one great 
trouble with the agricultural science of the day is 
that the teachers keep it locked up in insoluble words 
and sentences that have to be planed to make plain 
English out of them. 
O 
We have been waiting for one of those Colorado 
potato growers to give us his estimate of the cost of 
growing potatoes under irrigation. We have it on 
page 51. The heavy yield is largely due to the fact 
that the crop could not suffer from lack of water. 
There was no expense for manure and fertilizer on 
this “ virgin soil,” therefore, the cost of a bushel was 
light. The water for the crop cost $2.25. This low 
rate was obtained because many farmers joined their 
money and forces, and built their irrigating ditch 
together. Why do you let that water run to waste 
through your farm when crops are stunted by drought? 
Can’t stand the expense of irrigating alone ? Well, 
are you on such bad terms with your neighbors that 
you can’t organize as the Colorado farmers have done ? 
How can you keep up with them unless you employ 
the forces they have harnessed ? These forces are 
water and cooperation. 
© 
Some celery growers at Jamaica, L. I., bought, in 
1893, celery seed of a Brooklyn seed dealer. They 
paid for it and planted it, expecting Golden Self¬ 
blanching celery. It proved untrue to name—an in¬ 
ferior sort—and damaged the growers to the extent 
of several thousand dollars. They brought suit 
against the seedsman to recover damages, charging 
misrepresentation of seed. The dealer’s defense was 
that he bought the seed in open market, and sold it 
in the original packages without guaranteeing it. 
Probably each package had printed on it the well- 
known sentences quoted in the article on “ Tested 
Seeds ” on the opposite page. The judge dismissed 
the suit, thus sustaining the seedsman without a trial. 
From a legal point of view, seed buying is a one-sided 
operation so long as the seedsmen sell under that 
stereotyped “guarantee.” If you accept the seeds 
and plant them, you plant with them any legal case 
you might have for damages if they prove untrue. At 
least one seedsman in America has recognized the fact 
that “ tested seeds ” must stand the test, or his repu¬ 
tation, like his seeds, will be declared worthless. 
0 
Another swindle on farmers has come to light in 
New Jersey. Parties in town bought hay of farmers 
at the barn for so much per ton. When starting after 
a load, they put several hundred pounds of stones in 
the bottom of the wagon, had the latter weighed on 
the town platform scales, and on the way to the farm 
left the stones along the road. When the load was 
weighed on the return to town, the original weight 
of wagon and stones was, of course, deducted, thus 
cheating the farmer out of a weight of hay equal to 
the tveight of the stones. Some one finally suspected 
them, watched and saw them unloading their ballast, 
and spoiled their little game. The stones they had 
unloaded weighed about 400 pounds or more. 
0 
At the Connecticut State Grange meeting on Wed¬ 
nesday, a quartette of singers began, without notice, 
to sing America. Out of an audience of 1,200 people, 
at least 1,000 joined in, and sang from memory, not 
one, but three verses of that noble old hymn : 
My country ’tis of thee 
Sweet land of liberty ! 
It was an inspiring moment when 1,000 voices rolled 
out those words. The wonder was that so large a 
proportion of the people had these words packed 
safely away in memory. We doubt whether any 
audience of equal size outside of New England could 
have produced so many people ready, at a moment’s 
notice, to sing that song through without a break. 
Try it yourself. If you can’t get beyond the first two 
lines, we suggest that you can well serve your coun¬ 
try by sitting down to commit it to memory without 
delay. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
Young’ man, a bit of science now for your consideration. 
Heed well the wisdom of these words—make your own application. 
Pop corn ! Why do these little grains snap up and burst with 
heat, sir ? 
While finer looking grains of corn char down to coal complete, sir? 
There is an oil within the shell—all through the season’s cropping. 
Dame Nature has been packing it all ready for the popping. 
And so the heat that “pops” one grain but burns and chars 
another, 
Because the larger lacks the oil found in its little brother. 
And now, young man, bear this in mind, in life’s great field of 
cropping: 
You’ll find a question, like pop corn, that must be solved by popping, 
Go pack it full of honor, truth, of manliness, politeness, 
If you would have that question pop into a ball of whiteness, 
For it will only char and burn, and ruin life’s digestion, 
Unless your’re full of honest love before you pop the question. 
“ Soft jobs ” are scarce. 
The borer is a peach leech. 
Strike the key note keenly ! 
Can a hen stop laying eggs at will ? 
Give us fractional currency again. 
Free trade in cats makes a tariff on rats. 
The hired man may be higher than his employer. 
“ Good roads by bad men ” / Keep a-talking about it. 
Ink is black, but it can be made to throw light through a pen. 
A pig’s squeal is a farm in sty toot very popular on some farms. 
The plum growers don’t seem to take much stock in peach 
stock. 
About the same price—and profit. A bushel of wheat and a 
pound of hothouse grapes. 
North Dakota pays a bounty of one cent a pound on jiotato 
starch made from potatoes grown in that State. There’s “pater¬ 
nalism ” for you ! 
Mr. Munson has it right on page 50, when he says that the con¬ 
stant changes in our experiment stations will preclude any valu¬ 
able scientific work. 
J. H. Hale says that all peach buds but those of the Crosby 
variety, in his Connecticut orchard, were killed last fall. The 
Crosbys are still alive. 
Notice the difference between going into a business and grow¬ 
ing into it. As they say about oysters, an R makes the difference 
between poison and health. 
We are getting many letters from those who oppose building 
and loan associations for one reason and another. We shall 
consider these objections soon. 
The man who starts out to get a big feeding value from boiled 
potatoes, is likely to be disajipoiuted 'unless he remember that 
the potatoes are 85 per cent water. 
The Guernsey men have had a clear field in that dairy discus¬ 
sion thus far. Wait ! A Jersey dairyman will talk next week with 
words fairly plastered with butter and profit. 
Sulphate of henhouse is a first-rate thing to give the hens. How 
do you prepare it ? Turn the hens out of the house. Put sulphur 
in a dish, inside. Pour some alcohol over it, set on fire, and then 
close the house up tight. 
It was a singular fact that, last week, that Massachusetts man 
who spent $138 on an acre of potatoes, told us how he housed 29 
hens at a cost of $7. Really, that is more remarkable in its way, 
than potatoes at five cents a bushel ! 
The Board of Control of the Geneva, N. Y., Experiment Station 
elected Prof. E. B. Voorhees of New Jersey as director. Prof. 
Voorhees has finally decided to remain in New Jersey, and the 
Board of Control must, therefore, try again. 
Did you ever try touching your tongue to a piece of iron or 
steel outdoors tins frosty weather ? If not, try it the next time 
you are tempted to put a frosted bitin a horse’s mouth, and tell 
us how you like it. The bits should be of rubber, or else be 
wrapped in leather during winter. 
