88 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 8 
THE 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
T1IE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National WeekLv Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. Copyrighted 1885. 
Et.bebt S. Carman, Edttor-in-Cbief. 
Herbert W. Colunuwood, Managing Editor. 
John J Dillon. Business Manager. 
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able THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1896. 
It is reported that sales of seed potatoes to the 
South are far ahead of anything ever known before. 
Southern planters appear to have taken advantage of 
the low price of good seed, and are stocking up 
heavily all ready for an increased planting. This 
crop will reach the northern market in June and 
July, and from present appearances, will come with a 
rush. 
O 
The Connecticut Sheep Breeders’ Association will 
pay 310 for every dog caught killing sheep, or for 
every dog against which mutton murder can be 
proved. The it. N.-Y. hopes that this sort of warfare 
will be more effective than the old plan of paying for 
sheep that were killed by dogs. Stories are told of 
smart Yankees who bought old sheep in order that 
they might thus sell them to the town as dog food. 
0 
There seems no limit to the devices of swindlers. 
A man has been traveling through parts of Illinois 
and Wisconsin selling memberships in the National 
Butter and Cheesetnakers’ Association. Of course, he’s 
a fraud. Why will people be so foolish as to patronize 
utter strangers who tell a plausible story, and pay 
them good money ? An old proverb tells of a class of 
persons who are soon parted from their money. 
© 
That boy, page 89, tells a hen story that will cause 
many a man to rub his head and look ruefully out at 
the hen jail politely named “house.” The boy’s show¬ 
ing is a good one. He has learned one valuable 
thing, and that is to kill the surplus roosters as soon 
as they indicate their sex. That's right. The surplus 
rooster causes a deficit in the poultry business. If 
you could pick him out at 10 days old, it would be 
cheaper to kill him and throw him away than to feed 
him to full size. That boy does well to end the days 
of the surplus rooster. 
0 
In the report of the meeting of the Cheshire Swine 
Breeders last week, it was stated that Prof. Roberts 
urged the various stock-breeding associations of the 
State to combine and hold their meetings together— 
at the same date and place. This would bring a great 
many breeders together, where they could form new 
acquaintances and have a much better opportunity 
for learning what is going on among stockmen. Re¬ 
duced railroad rates could be secured, and there are 
many other advantages that the single association 
cannot secure. The Ohio breeders have made a great 
success of this joint gathering, aud New Yoik might 
well do the same. 
O 
The R. N.-Y. has repeatedly called attention to the 
virtues of vaseline and bicarbonate of soda when used 
in the nose ana throat. Continued use of this treat¬ 
ment will relieve many mild eases of catarrh, and 
often prevent a “cold” if u^ed in time. Dr. Bulkiey, 
in the Medical Record, recommends the use of bicar¬ 
bonate of soda as an internal remedy when threat¬ 
ened with a common cold. When the first symptoms 
of shivering, sneezing, etc., begin, he gives 20 to 30- 
grain doses of the soda in water—three doses, half an 
hour ap irt. f uen. after an hour, another one is given. 
After waiting several hours, if it seems necessary 7 , the 
doses are repeated. In this way, taken in the earliest 
stages of the trouble, he has been very successful in 
treating colds. The philosophy of the treatment is 
that an acid condition of the system is developed 
which irritates the terminal endings of nerves aud 
skin, and renders them more susceptiole to colds. 
Relieve this acid condition, and the normal condition 
returns, and the danger of contracting a cold is les¬ 
sened. Some people seem peculiarly susceptible to 
colds—no matter how much care they take of their 
clothing and habits. It might pay them to try this 
soda treatment: certainly it can do no harm. In any 
event, we would use bicarbonate of soda every morn¬ 
ing as a snuff, and keep the nose well smeared with 
vaseline. 
G 
A genius in New York State, who has been married 
43 years, figures out that during that time his wife has 
put into ihe kitchen stove, 1.260 cords of wood, and 
the stove is still in use Tne husband modestly admits 
that he has cut all this wood, just as a good husband 
should. The wood would make a pile four feet high 
aud \ % mile long. Think of that, ye husbands who 
don’t lurnish a good wood pile for your patient wives! 
Think of a woman putting 1,260 cords of wood into 
one stove, a stick at a time. That speaks volumes for 
that woman. If she hadn't been earelul and pains¬ 
taking, sbe would have smashed that stove long ago. 
Wonder if the husband is using the same implements 
he had in use 43 yrnars ago ! 
© 
It is hard to kill the Creamery Shark. The Western 
firm that earned the title failed, and for a time little 
was heard about the fraudulent methods that gave 
them their blackened reputation. Now we learn of 
a smaller concern in New York State that has picked 
up one of the old Creamery Shark’s scalawag agents, 
and is sending him out on his old-time tricks. It is 
the same old game of trying to locate creameries by 
bluff and bribery. They “influence - ’ a few “leading 
citizens” and then try to make the farmers pay twice 
what the building and fixtures are worth. This 
Creamery Shark thought that he was so small that we 
could not see him. We have an eye on him, however, 
and may have a hand on him later. 
© 
Whittier has sung the joys of being Snow Bound, 
but more practical men tell in prose how to get coun¬ 
try roads unbound of snow. In Vermont, they have 
about as much snow as anywhere in the country, and 
this is the way they keep the roads clear : 
When Whittier was a boy, yokes of oxen dragged a sled through 
the drifts, as you may read in Snow Bound. Now, from one to 
three pairs of horses draw a roller over the roads. Different sec¬ 
tions of country have different methods; but in northern Ver¬ 
mont, the roller is used without other tools, except that drifts are 
shoveled out so that the horses can get through. The rollers are 
made of two-inch plank, are in two sections, each section being 
usually five feet long, with a space of a foot betweeu them. On 
the main roads, rollers 10 or 12 feet in diameter are used. They 
weigh a ton and a half. It may be imagined what a fine road they 
make. On the back and hilly roads, smaller ones are used, and 
answer the purpose well. I do not know of any objection to 
them. I tbiuk that everybody likes their work. Teams can turn 
out anywhere without trouble, aud in the spring, wagons can go 
on the packed snow when it gets dirty and worn through in spots. 
I have seen a harrow used on a back road, but never iu connec¬ 
tion with a roller. j. w. newton. 
They are keen men, these Vermont Yankees, and dis¬ 
like to waste force. 
0 
We are glad to see that the women in many coun¬ 
try neighborhoods are demanding a place for one of 
their sex on the local school board. In New England, 
and especially where the Grange is strong, this feel¬ 
ing is quite pronounced. As one woman said at the 
Connecticut State Grange, “The trouble with most of 
our local school boards is that they have been fathered 
to death. They need more mother in them !” That is 
the point exactly. The mothers always have most to 
do with the education of the children. In every 
school district are to be found one or more women 
who have taught school, acid who are well qualified 
to look after the school’s interest. In some school 
districts, the election of school officers is regarded as 
a sort of j ike, and the last man to get married, or tlie 
latest comer to the neighborhood, is generally 
selected. What a mistake that is while bright and 
earnest women are to be found who would take a 
real interest in the school, and raise it to a higher 
grade. By all means let us have more “ mother” in 
our school boards. 
© 
What a wonderful personage “They Say” is ! How 
often we hear the most absurd and ridiculous state¬ 
ments credited to “They Say!” Perhaps if we 
demanded good, reliable authority for all such stories, 
their number would grow beautifully less. On page 
95 a correspondent says that the authority in question 
furnished the information that a sow would not have 
live pigs after being on the ears fora considerable 
time. At the fall fairs all ver the country, we find 
plenty of sows heavy with pig, which are exhibited at 
fair after fair, in many different States, are carried 
hundreds of miles on the ears, and are loaded and 
unloaded man.y times. Not only this, but pigs are 
often farrowed at these fairs, and we have seen many 
fine litters under these circumstances. Of course, the 
sows are carefully handled, and there is, probably, 
no particular advantage in transporting them in this 
way. Yet this is a good example of the correctness 
of “They Say’s” statements. And there are hundreds 
of eases where great harm is done ; unsuspecting per¬ 
sons are deceived, reputations are besmirched, much 
suffering and sorrow are occasioned, and all on the 
flimsy say so of this contemptible “ They Say !” Let’s 
demand bett» r authority before we accept any story, 
no matter how plausible! 
0 
Every year enforces more strongly the fact that 
fresh goods are wanted by consumers. On the last day 
of J inuary, limed and refrigerator or cold-storage 
eggs were selling at wholesale for an average price of 
about 10 cents per dozen. This is due, of course, to 
the large supply and comparatively low prices of 
fresh eggs. Just three years ago, when the winter 
was cold and fresh eggs very scarce, these held eggs 
were selling for 25 to 26 cents. Held dairy butter is 
selling, too, for as low as 10 to 12 cents per pound, and 
receivers are in despair to know what to do with it. 
Much that is said to be fresh made isn’t any better 
than the held stock. Evidently there is some winter 
dairying that doesn’t prove profitable, and liming or 
refrigerating eggs doesn’t always insure satisfactory 
returns. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
‘•That man’s a fool !” said Farmer Brown, as he drove slowly 
home from town, 
Where at the Institute he sat, and listened closer than a cat, 
To thoughts he never dreamed before—that rubbed bis methods 
raw aud sore. 
“ The man’s a fool !” and yet he took, around his farm a keener 
look 
Than was his custom—there they were—the cattle with their 
crumpled fur, 
The squealing swine, the windy crack, the hens that drooped 
beside the stack 
With less of eggs than exercise—the farm spread out before his 
eyes 
With not a blade of clover there, to “suck the niter from the air! 
“The man’s a fool !” was all he said—yet there were microbes in 
bis head. 
The microbes of a better farm with fewer scrubs to breed their 
harm. 
And .they were put there by that “ fool”—these microbes—every¬ 
one a tool, 
A haunting thought which, with its stings, would stir him up to 
higher things. 
Talk earnest words, ye learned men, be not discouraged, now 
and then. 
On some waste place you’ll drop your seed and prove a very 
friend in need. 
A five-toed hen is V toed. 
If you must kick—kick yourself. 
A chrysanthemum is a wry flower. 
There’s no principle to excessive interest. 
Don’t tempt a rat by building holes for him. 
A coat of manure will match the good corn har vest. 
It doesn’t pay to select fertilizers by the stench system. 
Many a man has been raised to greatness by woman power. 
No man can follow exactly in another’s tracks and be successful. 
Better broadcast a strawberry fertilizer before the plants start 
to grow. 
The smallest fit of temper you can show will be too large for 
your family. 
The young man who knows only the spending value of money, 
is only waste high. 
What scrub is nearer Godliness than the thoroughbred? The 
scrub that cleans. 
“Bread cast on the waters ” always comes back unless you 
sink it by begrudging the gift! 
Better buy the boy one tool at a -time aud show him bow to 
use it before getting a full set. 
Henry Hales says that a dirty henhouse is enough to make a 
hen stop laying. We don’t blame her a bit. 
Now, boys, we have some articles on simple, civil engineering 
coming that will be worth a little fortune to you. 
Read Mr. Miller’s caution about “ straw potatoes,” page 84. 
Don’t plant potatoes under straw on low ground. 
Would putting more mother into the schools make them more 
vinegary ? We know an old bachelor who says, Y es! 
Don’t you wish you lived in Texas, with such a fertilizer mine as 
that man (page 84) has in free ashes and sheep manure? 
A bill before the New York Legislature provides for factory in 
spection of all butcher shops or places where provisions are sold! 
The Michigan Agricultural College will issue a weekly paper- 
object, to keep the college before the public and interest the 
students in journalism. 
From the best we can learn, we would say that farm institutes 
in the East are barely holding their own in interest, while those 
in the West are gaining. What’s the matter ? 
Our poultry experts are not very anxious to put themselves on 
record in regard to that egg-laying question—page 83. We still 
want to know how the hen “holds up” her eggs. 
Thousands aud thousands of bushels of potatoes are being fed 
to stock this winter. Tons of beef will be made from them. In 
theory there won’t be much need of potatoes with that roast beef ! 
At many farmers’ gatherings this winter, a portion of the 
session is set apart for a woman’s meeting, which is conducted 
by women exclusively, aud which is given up to the discussion of 
topics of special interest to women. A good idea. 
It used to be said that the wastes in slaughterhouses are so 
well utilized that everything is saved but the squeal of the 
pigs. A showman has now utilized that in a phonograph which 
he turns loose iu a show of the inside of a packing house. 
