THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 20 
420 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established I860. 
Elbebt S. Carman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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able 40 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1896. 
We shall soon begin the publication of a series of 
articles entitled, “A Jar of Jelly,” written by a 
woman who has made a business success of preparing 
table delicacies for market. Starting in a small way, 
under conditions similar to those experienced by the 
average farmer’s wife, she has enlarged her business 
until now it has assumed large proportions. The arti¬ 
cles will tell the whole story, and we feel certain that 
our readers will learn something from them. If we 
are not mistaken, they will be of value to those women 
who desire to be self-supporting, and have the knack 
of preparing food in an appetizing way. 
© 
Nut culture promises to be a recognized industry 
in this country within a few years. Many groves of 
chestnuts have been started, and along the Pacific 
coast, filbert culture is being considered. In the last 
three months of 1895, France alone sent us $295,890.85 
worth of nuts, of which $84,529.70 went for walnuts. 
Spain sent $47,439.28 worth of nuts, mostly filberts 
and almonds. Italy sent $93,017.79 worth—about 
$5,000 worth of almonds and the rest nearly equally 
divided between filberts and chestnuts. These figures 
cover only one-quarter of the year, and it is evident 
that there is an opening here for the American nut 
grower to add to his revenue. 
Q 
The makers of a certain cereal preparation, put 
into each package a small circular advertising, in a 
few words, the merits of other preparations made by 
them. Every package that goes into the kitchen tells 
the housewife about the other good things the firm is 
ready to sell her. Why isn’t this a good scheme for 
the farmer ? If he send barrels of apples to market, 
why not make them advertise the fact that he also 
has choice butter and eggs to sell, or fancy grapes or 
pears ? Of course, to be effective, the quality of his 
goods must be first-class, or they would counteract 
the advertisement. No one but the middleman would 
have any grounds for complaint, and his objections 
are not worth listening to. 
© 
A Western New York paper reports that a farmer 
of that vicinity has buried 100 bushels of potatoes 
with the intention of keeping them until another 
season. He thinks that he has them covered in such 
a manner that they will keep in good condition 
through the summer. If so, this opens up a new 
outlook for potato growers. One disadvantage of this 
crop has always been that it could not be held from 
year to year like grain or wool, although the holding 
of the latter has not always proved an advantage. 
But if potatoes can be kept in usable condition over 
summer, it may relieve the market in times of plenty, 
and help to equalize things all around. We shall 
await the outcome of this experiment with great 
interest. 
O 
An effort is being made in England to organize a 
society “ for the growth, collection and distribution 
of British produce.” The plan is to induce farmers, 
middlemen and consumers to take shares in the enter¬ 
prise, and so conduct the business as to pay only four 
or five per cent interest on shares—the balance to be 
paid to consumer and producer. In theory, such a 
scheme ought to work well; but there are hundreds 
of obstacles to it in real practice. Society, as at 
present constituted, is on a selfish basis. The pro¬ 
ducer is eager for the highest price he can obtain, and 
the consumer wishes to pay as little as possible. The 
middleman wants the largest share he can get hold of 
for handling the goods. In order to harmonize these 
antagonistic elements, something besides a mere 
business arrangement will have to be made. Number¬ 
less schemes for bringing producer and consumer to¬ 
gether have been suggested, but they are all likely 
to fail until business methods become less selfish, and 
both sides are ready to “liveand let live.” 
O 
A writer in the Iowa Homestead has this sensible 
note: 
Farming on wheels is the keynote of the methods of the present 
day. I was once rash enough to say that when I became too old 
to farm afoot, I would quit. I am riding now all I can, and sav¬ 
ing myself, and I haven’t quit, neither have I any idea of doing 
so. I hope some enterprising genius will make it possible for me 
to farm for a good many years yet. Good farming tools are 
being manufactured now that do the work satisfactorily and well, 
and a man is not a dude who is seen riding a plow or cultivator 
or any other tool, any more than he is when he rides a planter, 
rake or mower. Ride! Why should I not? 
Certainly ; why not ? It is no disgrace for a farmer to 
ride when he can, or to get under the shade of a 
canopy while riding. Most of the riding, however, 
will be done on the large farms. The smaller farms 
require more hand work. There is very little riding 
in the cultivation of small fruit or truck. 
O 
There is food for thought in the article on scrub¬ 
breeding on page 426. There is no use denying the 
fact that poultry breeders have nearly ruined the use¬ 
fulness of several breeds by mating their birds so as 
to reproduce exterior and non-essential points and 
markings. This is not quite so noticeable in the lay¬ 
ing breeds as in those that are used to produce broil¬ 
ers. The layers are not heavily fed until they are 
nearly mature ; but the broilers are forced almost 
from the time they are hatched, and they must be 
strong and vigorous if they are to stand the forcing. 
It makes no difference with a broiler how perfect its 
comb or tail feathers would have been if it had been 
permitted to grow up. In a genuine broiler breed, 
these markings should be of small importance beside 
the chick’s ability to gorge and digest its food for 10 
weeks. We would sit down hard on any “ standard ” 
that tends to weaken constitution by arbitrary selec¬ 
tion for exterior points. 
O 
As is usually the case at this season of the year, our 
readers begin to write letters asking about the great 
“ California process ” of preserving fruit. Under one 
name or another, this humbug bobs up every year, 
and many good people are induced to spend their hard- 
earned money in paying for worthless recipes or 
“secrets.” This great process consists in putting 
some unknown substance into the cans, either with 
cold water or when the fruit is partly cooked. Gen¬ 
erally borax or salicylic acid is used for this purpose, 
and both of these substances are injurious to health, 
and very dangerous in the hands of amateurs. In 
some cases, the “ process ” consists in burning a cer¬ 
tain powder near the jar of fruit under a tight cover. 
The powder contains sulphur, and the fumes are sup¬ 
posed to be absorbed by the water in the jar, and 
thus act to “ preserve ” the fruit. The whole thing 
is a dangerous humbug. Far better let the “ Cali¬ 
fornia” process alone, and stick to the good old Metho¬ 
dist formula of using heat to get rid of bad influences. 
© 
At the Ellerslie Farm, the dairy room is fitted with 
every appliance for handling milk in the cleanest and 
most satisfactory way. Devices for aerating, cool¬ 
ing and bottling are all the best that money can buy, 
and the cost has not been considered in securing the 
outfit. A farmer might say, “ That is of no value to 
me, because I have not the needed capital to buy such 
an outfit.” And because of this idea, he might not even 
try to improve on his present system. Mr. Cottrell 
tells of a farmer who came to see the dairy house, 
and looked it over carefully. He saw that the most 
important things were a water-tight floor that could 
be washed off, walls without cracks or useless corners, 
and abundant supplies of hot and cold water. He had 
an old building on his farm, and with an outlay of 
$50 in cash, he has fitted it up so that he can cool and 
bottle his milk as well as they can at Ellerslie Farm. 
His homemade contrivances work well, and he is now 
prepared to go ahead and work up a trade in guaran¬ 
teed milk. There was a man who turned his brains 
and pluck into capital. That paid him better than it 
would to borrow the cash to buy the outfit. 
© 
Some weeks ago, The R. N.-Y. suggested that there 
is a chance in almost any fruit-growing section, for 
an enterprising man to secure the proper outfit and 
go into the business of public spraying. This idea is 
now in actual practice. We know of a man in west¬ 
ern New York who has a complete outfit of boiler, 
engine, steam pump, tank and hose, mounted on his 
farm wagon. A 12-year-old boy has run this outfit 
successfully in neighboring orchards—driving the 
wagon and keeping up steam. The charge is $5 a day 
—the owner of the orchard providing the spraying 
mixture, and men to hold the nozzles. With this out¬ 
fit, it is possible to spray out 1,500 gallons of poisoned 
water in a day, and the first cost of the entire outfit 
was but $250. This man could not begin to accom¬ 
modate those who wanted to hire his spraying outfit. 
In 50 days of outside work, he will pay the entire first 
cost of the apparatus, while the pump, boiler and 
tank are, doubtless, good for 1,000 days’ work without 
repair. Here is an inkling of what is coming. A 
man with the needed capital, and the proper mechan¬ 
ical skill, has a chance to make some money as public 
sprayor. 
© 
There is a good deal of vague statement made con¬ 
cerning the values of the agricultural products im¬ 
ported from Canada into this country. The following 
table shows the values of five farm products brought 
from Canada during the three months ending Decem¬ 
ber 31, 1895 : 
Eggs. $7,874.15 
Poultry. 16,204.76 
Apples . 58.489.45 
Hay. 136,039.45 
Potatoes. 834.70 
These three months are, probably, the heaviest for 
apples, hay, potatoes and poultry, while more eggs 
are, probably, sent earlier in the year. The fact is 
that during the past year, the imports of almost all 
farm products except hay, have fallen off. The fol¬ 
lowing table gives a comparative statement of the 
imports for 10 months ending May 1 : 
1895. 1896. 
Potatoes. $505,913 $78,450 
Hay. 1,136,009 2,420,069 
Eggs. 289,562 79,914 
The heavy imports of hay are accounted for in the 
fact that the American crop was short last year, 
while prices were so low for potatoes and eggs that it 
did not pay to bring them in from abroad. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
Old Major Drought comes marching with his minions through the 
land; 
And Hay and Clover vainly strive to stay the cruel baud. 
But not a single cartridge of good water have they there, 
For Col. Irrigation has retreated in despair; 
And without ammunition, they can only stand and die. 
No wonder that they watch the foe with sad and anxious eye; 
Defeat means death and famine to the good four-footed friend 
That in the barn, all through the year, its hard-earned savings lend 
For hog and horse and sheep and cow—the mighty farm quartette, 
Will die if Hay and Clover be not led by Captain Wet. 
But, courage ! Hay and Clover ! There’s a mighty substitute, 
To stand between old Major Drought and every faithful brute ! 
His name is Sergeant Fodder Corn, the Silo is his fort; 
He waves his standard at the front, whenever feed is short. 
And Major Drought consumes himself with fierce, impotent rage 
Whene’er his nostrils get a whiff of Fodder’s ensilage. 
Then rouse ye, Mr. Farmer, and send out a skirmish line 
Of corn, and let his banner green along your army shine ! 
Push the pigs—into pasture. 
The Filled Cheese bill is now a law. 
It’s now or never for the Elm-leaf beetle. 
Don’t promote the mote that is in thine own eye ! 
To reach the dyspeptic’s heart, avoid his stomach ! 
An interesting article (page 427) on the control of the glands of 
the body. 
The mill due on grain is the toll for grinding it. What cures it ? 
The silo. 
“ Don’t do as I Jo—do as I say ! ” The words of the practiceless 
preacher. 
Don’t try to hull the Crimson clover seed you have saved— sow 
it in the chaff. 
Don’t let the mower bite off more grass than you can cure. It’s 
not very likely to this year, anyway. 
The entomologists report this to be a very “ buggy” season, 
with lots of insects hunting for our crops. 
The advantage of knowing “on which side your bread is but¬ 
tered,” consists chiefly in not dropping it “ butter side down.” 
The man who says (page 425), that he can afford to sow Crim¬ 
son clover every year if he can obtain one good crop in three, has 
the right idea. 
The long vacation at the Michigan Agricultural College has 
formerly been held in the winter. It is now proposed to change 
and have it come in summer. This seems like a good plan from 
every point of view. 
You will frequently see a grown-up woman who can make 
beautiful stitches, but who cannot easily go ahead and plan out 
a garment. Why ? When she was a girl, she was taught details 
only—not the faculty of organizing these details. 
The latest dictionaries inform us that “ cheek ” and “ gall ” are 
slang words meaning vulgar assurance. They are not yet so 
firmly planted in the language that one may say, “ Whoso smites 
thee on thy right ‘ cheek,’ turn on him thy ‘ gall.’ ” 
The horn fly will soon begin operations. It works at the base 
of the horns and along the backs of cattle. Two parts of some 
cheap oil and one part of thin tar, with a little carbolic acid 
added, will keep the fly away. Paint the stuff on with a brush. 
In the recent London cart-horse parade, there were single korses 
hauling four tons and over. Of course this was under the best 
circumstances of smooth streets and perfect wagons. It shows, 
however, how the English have developed the size and strength of 
the Shire horse. 
An English writer claims to have lost a horse recently which 
had 14 pounds of fine sand in its intestines. This sand was taken 
in while drinking from a pasture stream. The drought had so 
reduced the water, that the horse could hardly drink without 
sipping up more or less of the sand. His system became consti¬ 
pated, with the result that the sand clogged up the intestines and 
killed him ! 
