THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 29 
142 
THE 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS’ PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established, 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman, Kditor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, 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 29, 1896. 
The term of the present New York State Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture will expire on April 1. If Gover¬ 
nor Morton does not appoint a man to succeed him 
who is in full sympathy with the farmers of this 
State, he will give agriculture the worst sort of an 
April fool’s joke. 
O 
Why handle the harness more than is necessary ? 
There are some good hints in that article on page 134. 
Many -of us lose time and steps in not having things 
handy for feeding the stock. At some of the so-called 
“quick lunches” in New York, they feed 1,000 people 
in a wonderfully short time by having the food close 
to the table. A few simple articles are served, and 
the waiters walk but a few steps to deliver them. It 
is a great object lesson to a farmer to see how many 
people can be fed in this way between twelve and one 
every day. 
0 
In a popular restaurant of this city, hundreds of 
people eat dinner or lunch during the noon hour. 
The food is always clean and well-cooked, and the 
waiters are polite and attentive. Apparently the 
business would run itself without any hitch, yet, all 
through the hour the proprietor stands where he can 
see every table, and notice any mistake or evidence 
of dissatisfaction. The people who work for him are 
the best of their kind, yet they cannot help doing 
better work when they feel that the master’s eye is 
constantly on them. The mere fact that the proprietor 
stands there without saying a word, but eyeing every 
detail, gave confidence to patrons, and made the 
waiters more careful than they would otherwise have 
been. Many a farmer loses money by leaving im¬ 
portant details to others. No matter how painstaking 
or careful they may be, they do not feel the responsi¬ 
bilities of ownership, and they need the restraining 
influence of the master’s eye which, as the old saw 
has it, “ makes the fat ox.” 
0 
The Ohio plan for conducting farmers’ institutes 
is very popular in that State. The attendance at the 
institutes grows greater every year, and in many 
towns is limited only by the size of the halls. This 
success is attributed by observers to the fact that the 
farmers in each county are largely responsible for 
their conduct. Both a State and a county levy are 
made to provide funds. The local officers of two 
institutes in each county are permitted to draw from 
the county funds to pay all local expenses of the in¬ 
stitutes. The State Board of Agriculture sends two 
lecturers to assist in conducting the meetings, and 
they may be required to supply one-half of the lec¬ 
tures upon the programme. The remainder of the 
work is expected from local talent, or men supplied 
by the local officers. The State lecturers, so far as 
practicable, are men whose services have been re¬ 
quested by the institutes. This is a democratic plan, 
and suits the people. The State maintains super¬ 
vision, and sees that the true object of the institute 
is not perverted. If the people at any point fail to 
appreciate its true character, and do not make the 
meeting a success, State aid is not granted the next 
year. Usually there are more than two points in a 
county desiring State aid, and there is rivalry in the 
attempt to show the largest attendance and best in¬ 
terest. When three or more good institute societies 
are formed in one county, State aid is granted all in 
turn, being given to only two in one year. The socie¬ 
ties failing to get State aid, frequently hold an “inde¬ 
pendent” institute, employing their own lecturers, 
and make an admission charge to meet expenses. 
Including “ independents,” over 200 institutes are 
being held in Ohio this season, and in scores of in¬ 
stances, standing room in the halls is at a premium. 
This is a good showing for Ohio. 
O 
A dangerous and insulting bill has been introduced 
in the New York Legislature. It is in the form of 
an amendment to the present laws regulating the 
sale of milk. After prohibiting the sale or exchange 
of adulterated or unclean milk, or of any article of 
food made therefrom, the following absurd clause is 
inserted: 
The doing of anything prohibited by this section shall be pre¬ 
sumptive evidence of the violation thereof, but such presumption 
may be overcome by proof on the part of defendant of the absence 
of criminal intent. This act shall take effect immediately. 
If this were to become a law, it would be almost im¬ 
possible to stop the sale of adulterated milk. The 
Board of Health would be forced to prove, not only 
that the milk was adulterated, but would be forced 
to produce witnesses who saw the adulteration per¬ 
formed, and also prove a-“criminal intent.” This 
would be an impossible task, and impure milk would 
go to a premium. It ought to be enough to prove 
that milk is below the legal standard, or contains in¬ 
jurious drugs. 
O 
The State of Mississippi claims to have solved the 
convict labor question by working the convicts on 
large farms where they are made to produce cotton, 
corn, meat and other products. The State has really 
made a profit by this system, and many of the evils 
of leasing the convicts are avoided. One argument 
advanced in favor of this plan is that “organized 
labor” does not oppose it because the production of 
these raw materials and food does not compete with 
the labor of those who organize. How about the 
farmers ? Suppose the State of Mississippi were to 
produce, on these convict farms, half a million dollars 
worth of cotton and corn and sell it all in the regular 
market ; would not that interfere with the farmer’s 
business just as the same values in shoes, rope or 
tools would interfere with the labor of factory hands? 
This idea that farmers can stand anything, and that 
competition is a good thing for their health, is about 
worked out. It is high time that farmers organized 
if for no other purpose than that of securing the con¬ 
siderations that are given to “ organized labor.” 
© 
Both bouses of Congress have been debating the 
“free seed” question of late. As our readers know, 
last year, Secretary Morton refused to send out the 
immense quantities of seeds that were distributed in 
former years. He claimed that the law demanded 
only the distribution of new and rare seeds for testing 
or experimenting, and was backed up in this position 
by a legal opinion from Attorney-General Olney. 
Congress is now attempting to force the Secretary to 
go back to the old farce of broadcasting turnip and 
carrot seeds all over the country. It is proposed to 
appropriate $150,000 for this purpose, and it is even 
hinted that the Secretary may be “impeached” if he 
does not yield. The whole thing is a disgrace to the 
country. Secretary Morton is just right in his posi¬ 
tion, and we hope that he will stick to it. There are 
good arguments to show why the Government should 
distribute new and valuable seeds or plants, but none 
to prove why it is a good thing to peddle out old 
varieties and worthless seed to help a man plant his 
garden. Some of the arguments (so-called) advanced 
by United States Senators in favor of this farce, are 
unworthy of the consideration of grown-up men ; and 
it is a cause for regret that such people will pose as 
the champions of American agriculture. 
0 
Selling produce is just as much a trade of itself as 
growing it. Many of the most successful city sales¬ 
men would, probably, be completely at sea if they 
attempted to grow the products they sell so well. 
Conversely, many of the best growers might make 
lamentable failures in trying to sell their products in 
our city markets. A large mushroom grower was 
selling his crop through a first-class commission firm. 
This firm got good prices for him, but he got the idea 
that he could save the commission he was paying ; so 
he tried peddling a part of his crop to some fancy 
restaurants. They would buy of him only on con¬ 
dition that he make the price lower than they were 
paying the commission merchant who supplied them 
regularly. This done, he was competing directly 
with his own goods sold by his own agent. The re¬ 
sult was a demoralized market and lower prices. A 
few years ago, a single large firm handled the larger 
part of the hothouse lambs that came to this market. 
They were able to realize fancy prices. Their shippers 
began to divide their shipments, and competition re¬ 
sulted in lower prices. Of course, the larger supply 
had something to do with the reduction, but not all. 
The point is not that farmers should not seek to 
market their own products to consumers, but that 
they should go about it in a businesslike manner, and 
be tolerably sure that they will better matters before 
they overturn existing conditions. Especially is this 
true in markets situated beyond their own personal 
observation. 
e 
In Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland, 
the question of providing a substitute for stable 
manure in order to keep up the fertility of the soil, is 
a very important one. Probably in no other section 
of the country has a combination of chemicals and 
green crops been tried with more general success, 
than on this peninsula. To understand the feeling of 
many farmers in that part of the country, let us read 
this note from one of them : 
We people here, as a whole, are on one extreme of this ferti¬ 
lizer question (depending almost solely on commercial goods) 
while New England and the North, in this feature as it pertains 
to the enrichment of soils, have been so long dominated by the 
German idea that animal excrement alone is manure, that it 
looks to me as though the average Northern farmer would rather 
forsake his church—or, perhaps, his political party—than to 
undertake to substitute anything for stable manure. 
That is very true. These Delaware farmers, with 
their crops of Crimson clover or cow peas, and bone 
or dissolved rock and potash, lmve found a perfect 
substitute for stable manure. You couldn’t make 
some men believe it until you took them down there 
and showed them the actual results from such farm¬ 
ing. Then they might not admit it, though they 
would go home and experiment with it in a small 
way. Don’t think that you must worship a manure 
pile because there is nothing to take its place ! 
0 
BREVITIES. 
AN APOLOGY TO KEIFFER PEAR. 
Oh, Keiffer, I apologize for all the words I’ve said. 
I take back every name I’ve burled at your devoted head. 
1 only knew the way you taste when eaten out of hand, 
I hadn’t had the privilege of eating you when canned. 
I think ’twas Brother Packard—lie who called you “Business Pear’ ’ 
Sent me a peck of Keiffers—they were lovely, I declare 
With yellow face and crimson cheek—believe me when I say 
I took one bite—it was enough—I threw the rest away. 
But Madame gathered up the fruit—as is her wont to do. 
She washed and pared and cored and sliced .and put them in a 
stew. 
She sugared it with liberal hand to suit her cultured taste, 
And in her calm, methodic way, without unseemly haste, 
She canned and sealed her ensilage and laid it safe away, 
Then brought it out to garnish forth our feast on New Year’s Day. 
Oh, Keiffer, I apologize ! Mere words are mean and small, 
And Rural lines are all too short for me to tell it all. 
The odor of long summer days—the dream-days of the South, 
The flavor of a thousand sweets seemed melting in my mouth. 
Go brag and sing of other fruits from quince to eau de vie 
A dish of Keiffer ensilage is good enough for me. 
How’s the Crimson clover looking? 
Is your henhouse a jail or a drawing-room ? 
Jack Frost is the chap that has a cold snap. 
Another big flock of poultry kept in one room—page 150. 
Arizona is evidently not to be a State yet. Why should she be? 
Bring in a few apple boughs and set them in water in a warm 
room. 
You may breed out some diseases by crossing yourself with a 
scrub brush. 
The man who stands for something well despises the fellow who 
forever compromises. 
A real conversation. “ Why did Jones give up his separator ?” 
“ Oh, he soured on the whirried.” 
How does the silver question stand ? The Senate says free 
silver, and the House says freeze silver. 
When you growl you show your hearings. Some people wear 
their house bare of happiness with their bearings. 
Do the bulbs begin to peep above ground ? Wait till the ground 
freezes, and then cover them with a thick coat of manure. 
Never, never, pick your ear—all you folks who h«pe to hear 
right along—with solemn tone we say—let your ears alone ! 
Potatoes are cheap this year, yet we never had so many 
“ soggy” ones served in the restaurants as we find this season. 
A Texas reader speaks of hauling oa ts 60 miles to sell at 20 
cents a bushel, sacked, in order to raise cash for needed expenses! 
It is not impossible that the result of the Cuban rebellion will 
be to give the world two new republics—one in Cuba and another 
in Spain! 
A sieve is always a wholesome device, because it will holp 
some and let others escape. Anything is wholesome that lets 
out a cull. 
A barrel of swill has been known to kill, and for sickness it 
has no superior. When you leave what you spill, it undoubtedly 
will grow into a nest of bacteria. 
Mr. Halladay’s plan of saving tomato seed is like the Southern 
scheme of giving negroes all the watermelon they can eat on con¬ 
dition that they will leave the seeds in a dish by themselves. 
The -old question of rock vs. bone as a source of phosphoric 
acid, is up again Our opinion is that where one can buy at 
wholesale rates, one can obtain more fruit for a dollar with bone 
than with rock and some form of nitrogen. Yet this does not 
answer the real question. Wno can answer it ? 
“Undecorticated’’ is a big word which, when used about cotton¬ 
seed meal, means that the seed was ground up shell and all. It 
is worth only 60 per cent of the seed ground without the shell, but 
is often palmed off on those who do not know, at the same price. 
To test it put a handful of the meal into a glass of water, and 
stir it up. If the ground shells are there, they will fall to the 
bottom and show black “grounds.” 
