io4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 15 
THE 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. 
Ki .bert S. Carman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8*4 marks, or 10>4 francs. 
ADVERTISING KATES. 
Thirty cents per agate xine (14 lines to the inch). Yearly orders 
of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adfl.,” 75 cents per 
count line. Absolutely One Price Only. 
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 10 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1896. 
The poultry show in progress at Madison Square 
Garden, has brought together as fine a lot of fowls of 
all the leading breeds as one would wish to see. Next 
week, we shall give some notes on it, with special 
reference to the points that seem to recommend cer¬ 
tain breeds as the ones for business fowls. Some com¬ 
paratively new breeds seem to have strong points to 
recommend them in this direction. 
G 
Retailers object to the practice followed by some 
producers of fancy eggs, of stamping the name and 
date on each egg. They object to the name, because 
they are thus advertising another man to their own 
customers. This is reasonable. They object to the 
date because in case of a glut and slow sales, when it 
is necessary to keep the eggs several days, the eggs 
advertise their age to the buye s. Such a prac¬ 
tice seems adapted only to a private or special market, 
where the eggs are delivered regularly and quickly. 
G 
For several years, the Hoard of Agriculture and 
the State Grange of New Jersey, have agitated the 
question of teaching the principles of agricultural 
science in country schools. In 1894, Prof. E. B. Voor- 
hees of the experiment station, was asked to prepare 
a suitable text book for use in these schools. The 
book has been published, and the State Board of 
Education will be asked to help place it as a part of 
the rural school course. Thus New Jersey is ahead 
of Connecticut in this matter, though the latter State 
may start the actual work of teaching these studies 
first after all. 
O 
A new thing in farm gatherings will be an Inter¬ 
national Institute to be held at Watertown, Wis., 
March 13. This is to be a convention of institute 
workers, and it is expected that speakers from all 
over the United States and Canada will be present. 
This is a new thing, and it shows how these farmers’ 
meetings are being organized and developed. The 
institutes have accomplished much good—more per¬ 
haps, by suggesting and inspiring than by actual 
teaching. Why are the western meetings more suc¬ 
cessful than those at the East? That's what we 
want to know. Is it the fault of the teachers, or of 
the pupils ? 
G 
Congressman Loud, of California, has introduced a 
bill at Washington which changes the rates of postage 
on what is known as second-class mail matter. At 
present, the Government carries, at the rate of one 
cent a pound, a vast quantity of circulars made up to 
imitate newspapers, but really issued in the interest of 
some trade or business. By this means, a horde of 
cheap and often scandalous papers, are broadcasted 
over the land, injuring the business of reputable 
newspapers, and hurting the trade of legitimate busi¬ 
ness men. The Government loses nearly $ 1,000,000 
each year in carrying this heavy mail at the cheap 
rate of one cent a pound. If this could be avoided, 
the Post Office Department would be about self-sus¬ 
taining, and the Loud bill is designed to avoid this 
loss by taking out of this cheap postage privilege a 
class of matter that is not justly entitled to it. Should 
it pass, all “sample copies,” reprints and circulars 
will cost for mailing one cent for four ounces—form¬ 
ing a class by themselves—distinct from the legitimate 
newspapers and magazines. This will be an excellent 
thing for such publications, for it will put them in a 
class apart from the cheap trash with which the 
country has been flooded. The R. N.-Y. favors the 
Loud bill, and hopes that it will pass. We are will¬ 
ing to pay our own way, and do not ask special favors 
of the Government, or of any one else. At the same 
time, we object when special favors are given to 
others. That is just what happens when the law per¬ 
mits a mere advertising sheet to enjoy the benefits of 
second-class postage. 
© 
It is stated that in Kansas, last year, there were 
grown 184,198 acres of Kaffir corn. This plant seems 
to be gaining in popularity throughout the south¬ 
western part of the country, and seedsmen are 
attempting to “ boom ” it as a fodder crop suited to 
all parts of the United States. This is a mistake. 
Kaffir corn may excel in some parts of the West and 
South, but in other sections it will not begin to com¬ 
pare in value with the common Indian corn. Don't be 
carried away by wild statements regarding the great 
value of Kaffir corn. Buy a little seed and try it. 
That’s well enough, but don't let any advertisement 
push you into planting a large acreage without trial. 
© 
We notice in many of the agricultural papers, the 
advertisement of a wonderful book, by Prof. A. Cor¬ 
bett, offering to tell how to make 
$500 Profit From 12 Hens. 
This is so far ahead of five-eent potatoes, that we 
determined to examine the book before advertising it. 
The copy sent us is a cheap little volume of 133 pages, 
of which nearly 50 are devoted to telling how valuable 
the other 80 are. It is a very commonplace treatise 
on incubation as it was practiced 25 years ago, evi¬ 
dently reprinted from old plates—on quite inferior 
paper. It is of no earthly use to a poultryman of to¬ 
day, and it is little short of a humbug to offer this 
book with its startling title for SI. 
G 
Last fall, we started the potato growers going on 
the subject of the cost of an acre of potatoes. Some 
of them got it down so fine that their points pricked 
up our readers to a good discussion. Now the friends 
of the Jersey cow and the Leghorn hen are coming 
in with some remarkable figures and statements that 
bid fair to make as much talk as did Chapman’s potato 
article. Here’s a man who claims that four cows pro¬ 
duced the fat needed to make over a ton of butter in 
one year. Here’s another man who claims to have 
made his 200 hens lay 27,257 eggs at a cash cost of 
$332.15. That is almost as remarkable as five-cent 
potatoes ! Can anybody do it ? Not a bit of it. There 
are years of study and skill in that estimate that can’t 
be figured at a cash valuation. You can begin to work 
up to that point—that's about all you can do now. 
© 
The R. N.-Y. has urged that it is only fair that 
manufacturers of woolens who use shoddy should be 
required to affix a label upon their goods, showing 
the per cent of shoddy or other substitutes for wool 
used in their manufacture. We are glad to see that 
Ohio wool growers are working to secure the legisla¬ 
tion needed to compel such labeling. The plan is to 
enlarge the duties of the Dairy and Food Commis¬ 
sioner so as to embrace this work. There is no reason 
why consumers of woolens should have shoddy thrust 
upon them, and the State can protect them in this 
matter just as efficiently as in the matter of foods 
subject to adulteration. The producer of wool and 
the would-be consumer are wronged by the fraudu¬ 
lent substitution of shoddy for wool. The manufac¬ 
ture of shoddy cloth is legitimate, but it should not 
be marketed.upon the strength of its similarity to 
honest woolens. Labeling will cause it to be sold 
upon its merits. 
G 
Shippers should stop sending dairy butter to this 
market, for a time, at least. It is now almost impos¬ 
sible to sell it. At this writing, best creamery is sell¬ 
ing at 18 to 19 cents a pound, with a trifle more 
sometimes given for small lots of gilt edge. At these 
prices there is little chance for dairy butter. One 
reason why retailers prefer creamery is its general 
uniformity. This cannot be secured in dairy butter 
—it varies greatly in quality, in degree of saltness, in 
color, in size and in every conceivable way. It can be 
sold only to a poorer class of trade, and to this only 
because it is cheap. Small dairies should endeavor to 
secure private customers. The outlook for choice 
creamery butter is good, as there is some export de¬ 
mand ; this is what cleaned up the market last fall, 
and made the December boom. At the latter time, 
however, prices went higher than circumstances 
would warrant, and the result was a drop of more 
than one-third. What we need is a good export mar¬ 
ket, and that is just what we would have if cream¬ 
eries would always furnish the same uniform grade 
of butter, packed in uniform packages, so that when 
a purchaser secured goods that suited him, he could 
always duplicate the purchase at any time. 
Full returns from the Department of Agriculture 
show that last year’s potato crop covered 2,954,952 
acres and aggregated 297,237,370 bushels. This was 
an increase of only seven per cent over the acreage of 
the previous year. The average yield of over 100 
bushels per acre was the largest for 20 years. It is 
not likely, in our opinion, that we shall have so high 
an average yield for another 20 years. There is no 
use getting discouraged over potatoes unless they 
cost you more than the average price in the last five 
years. If they could be kept from one year to 
another, the whole aspect of the business would be 
changed—but that is not possible, and each year’s 
crop must stand by itself. 
Q 
Apropos of building and loan associations, a gentle¬ 
man connected with a large business firm of this 
city, tells us of an office boy who got $25 a month, 
who, a number of years ago, took 10 shares in one 
of these associations. This meant the payment of $10 
each month out of his earnings, and $25 a month in 
the city, is not a munificent salary. But the boy 
managed to get his $10 together each month, though 
he sometimes had to go without his lunch, or deny 
himself in other ways to do so. But now he has the 
satisfaction of knowing that payments on his shares 
are nearly completed, and he will soon have $2,000 in 
a lump as a starter in business. This is one of the most 
valuable features of these associations—the teaching 
of habits of economy and thrift. It gives a young 
man a feeling of independence and manliness to know 
that he has property of this kind. Hundreds of young 
men—and many young women, too—who would prob¬ 
ably let slip the most of their earnings were it not for 
this feeling of responsibility, will manage in some way 
to save the sum necessary to make the monthly pay¬ 
ments, and in a few years the money that would 
otherwise have been frittered away in small sums, 
will amount to enough to give them a good start in 
business. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
Come all ye thoughtful Western men, and listen to my song ! 
You’ve got to come to potash if you’re hoping to prolong 
The virtue of your clover fields—you’ll find them turning sick, 
Unless old Brother Potash comes a-turning up the wick, 
That lets the little clover plant reach up into the air, 
And catch the lazy nitrogen that’s loafing’round up there. 
So keep your eyes wide open—look around you every day, 
And when some foolish fellow undertakes to throw away 
A bunch of unleached ashes—don’t you sit there in a trance, 
But hop like any jumping-jack and gather in the chance. 
And tbo’ these be “gold standard” days, don’t hesitate to pay 
Good silver for the privilege of hauling them away. 
Take our advice and do this thing without a bit of fear, 
And coming generations, sir, will hold your memory dear. 
“ Good roads by bad men ! ” 
There’s no alcohol in a level head. 
Read the article on fleas—page 99. 
Don’t let folks justly call you a dazey. 
Sternly dealt with—the punished baby. 
The man who knows it all is apt to nose it all, also. 
We want a white light turned on that grub question. 
Down with shoddy when it masquerades as “ pure wool ! ” 
Stanchion, halter and chain are stockholders in the American 
barn. 
Wnicu does more damage on your farm, the pot hunter or the 
market hunter ? 
We have a letter from the man who burned up his paper, which 
we expect to print ere long. 
An electric machine on the buzz-saw principle, for cutting ice, 
is reported from New England. 
In order to make some good fellows enthuse, you must promise 
an hour for to air up their views. 
A law in Arizona prohibits the growing of sunflowers, while 
four States declare the Ox-eye daisy an outlaw. 
Young man, don’t run away from the farm after a soft Job till 
you see how many feathers Mrs. Hen can put in your cushion. 
Here’s a man who says his hen ration is “ whole corn, cracked 
corn and corn meal.” The ratio of that is about one egg to the 
peck of food ! 
Cribbing or wind sucking is a disagreeable habit in a horse, 
but does it really injure him? How? Read what Dr. Kilborne 
says—page 110 . 
Don’t make the institute a high school—that is too high for the 
beginner. Otherwise, the beginner will be an ehder so far as 
coming again is concerned. 
It is reported that the anthracite coal presidents have met and 
agreed upon rates for the next year that mean an increase in the 
price of coal. That’s nice news for “ hard times.” 
They do all they can to make the Western farmers’ institutes 
popular. At one place in Michigan, the county clerk sent two 
couples into the institute to be married before the audience ! 
We are told that in Holland the ewe is to take the place of the 
goat as a family milk producer. They are breeding ewes that 
yield considerable milk, and also shear a good fleece of wool, thus 
making the most economical animal a poor family can secure. 
The Government’s call for a “ popular loan ” of $100,000,000 in 
gold, called out bids for $684,262,850. As a result, Uncle Sam will 
sell his $100 I. O. U. for about $111 against $104 when the bankers 
had all the chance. Now, then, who will explain why these 
bankers had it all ? 
That matter of feeding ensilage and bran, is up again What 
are the arguments against it ? So far as theory goes, you can 
write a page against it, but Mr. Glass can put 22,240 gallons of 
milk from 25 healthy cows against that page and beat it. We 
know another man who feeds only ensilage and clover hay—but 
he doesn’t get so much milk. 
