436 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 27 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
TEE BUSINESS FARMERS' PARER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Cabman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collengwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dellon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries In the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8s. 6d., or 8% marks, or 10)4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (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 “Adv.,” 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 40 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1896. 
A LIST OF BOOKS. 
Price, Cloth. 
First Lessons in Agriculture.$1.00 
American Grape Training.75 
The New Potato Culture."..75 
The Business Hen.75 
Do you want one or more of these as a present? 
You can have any or all. How ? Get your neighbor 
to subscribe to The R. N.-Y. Send us the dollar for 
a year’s subscription. Let us know which book you 
want. It’s yours at once. Enough said. Now act ! 
© 
The New York State Fair will be held at Syracuse, 
August 31 to September 5, 1890. The managers are 
making preparations for a great exhibition—w r ith lib¬ 
eral premiums in all departments, and “ great attrac¬ 
tions.” The show of live stock and horticultural 
products will, undoubtedly, be larger than ever, in 
fact, an improvement all along the line is to be 
expected. 
© 
An English money-lender, with the suggestive name 
of Rockett, advertised money to be lent at five per 
cent. After getting a fee, he “ sent details,” which 
were to the effect that this meant five per cent a 
month or 60 per cent a year. Thus he lived by ob¬ 
taining fees on false pretenses, and an English court 
gave him six months hard labor in prison, and a fine 
of $2,500. There are lots of dealers right in this city 
who deserve the punishment meted out to Pockett. 
© 
“ The Year Rook for 1895,” is a volume that 
should be in the hands of every farmer in the coun¬ 
try. It is issued by the Department of Agriculture 
at Washington, and is one of the most interesting 
publications ever printed at public expense. As our 
readers know, The R. N.-Y. does not consider some 
of these public agricultural documents of sufficient 
value to warrant us in calling attention to them. This 
“Year Rook” is not in that class. It is worthy of 
the highest praise, and we advise readers to send to 
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and 
ask for it, or write to your Senator or Representative. 
© 
California papers say that thousands of live sheep 
are being sent out of the wool-growing counties of 
that State to Nevada or Mexico. The price of wool 
has gone so low that one of two things must be done— 
kill the sheep or send them to some place where food 
is cheaper. The result is that the sheep are being 
sent away to wilder and cheaper land where rent and 
labor cost less. Of course, this will upset the farm 
conditions in those California counties which have so 
long produced wool. Money will be lost and harder 
times will prevail until new products and new methods 
are introduced. That is the history of every section 
when outside competition forces prices so low that 
old industries must fail or go elsewhere. 
© 
An English chemist points out the fact that, in 
every 10 gallons of urine, there will be found as much 
nitrogen as is contained in seven pounds nitrate of 
soda, 34 pounds of bone meal, or 712 pounds of white 
turnips. This puts in a comprehensive way the loss 
that occurs when liquid manure is permitted to drain 
or soak away. A farmer certainly would not throw 
away a bag of ground bone ; yet he may thought¬ 
lessly lose more than enough liquid manure to pay 
for the bone. Ry the use of absorbents, he may save 
all of the urine, including the water; or by using 
plaster, he may let the water go and save only the 
nitrogen. In any case, it is just as much a mistake 
to let the liquid manure escape as it would be to 
throw a ton of fertilizer into the brook. 
While in Cuba, the rainy season is playing havoc 
with the armies of Spain, in the home country, the 
drought is likely to ruin the classes from which the 
army is recruited. During the past eight months, 
there have been barely 25 rainy days in the agricul¬ 
tural districts of Spain, and crops are threatened 
with nearly total loss. It is a pity (for them), that 
the Spaniards cannot carry a little of the Cuban 
weather back to the old country. From present indi¬ 
cations, they are not likely to win anything more 
substantial than yellow fever in their present contest. 
Cuba is going to be free ! That is right! The world 
will be better for it! 
O 
Congressman Wilber, who was the prime mover in 
pushing the “ filled cheese” bill through Congress, 
says that the secret of the success of this legislation 
was the fact that farmers and business men every¬ 
where poured letters and telegrams upon their Sena¬ 
tors and Representatives, urging them to vote for this 
bill. Congressmen “ heard from their constituents” 
so clearly that they knew just what was expected of 
them and, as a result, they obeyed instructions. A 
few scattering letters sent at random, would not have 
had much effect; but a persistent flood of corre¬ 
spondence indicated organization, and that made it¬ 
self felt with the Congressmen. 
® 
Why not use the cheap, idle horses, harnessed in 
three and four-horse teams, to break up the old, 
daisy-eyed, red-sorrel-nosed, measly, thistle-infested, 
superannuated, “moss-back” meadows, most of which 
yield less than a ton of weeds and hay, mostly the 
former, per acre, and plant to corn, roots, oats and 
peas, and secure from 0 to 30 tons of green material 
per acre, or from 5 to 10 times as much forage as is 
harvested from the old meadows, and that, too, of a 
far better quality ? Only in a few cases, under excep¬ 
tional conditions, can the progressive farmer afford 
to keep any extended area in Timothy meadows. 
Culture and inter-culture are destined to revolution¬ 
ize agriculture, and our methods of providing forage 
for animals under almost every conceivable condition. 
O 
On page 431 will be found another note from Mr. 
Geo. M. Clark the Connecticut grass man. For several 
years past, The R. N.-Y. has told its readers about 
Mr. Clark’s grass experiments. He is the man who 
drained the big swamp, broke up the surface, and put 
it all into grass, thus giving a practical illustration 
of the fact that the swamps of New England are more 
profitable than Western gold mines, when they are 
properly handled. The grass crop is the very founda¬ 
tion of agriculture. It grows so naturally, and is so 
hard to kill out, that many farmers do not think it 
requires the careful culture and feeding that are 
given to other crops. That is where they make a 
mistake, for, as Mr. Clark shows, grass will respond 
quicker than any other crop to a thorough prepara¬ 
tion of the soil, and good feeding. 
© 
Some years ago, there was quite a stir over the in¬ 
troduction of German carp. Some enthusiastic writers 
claimed that this fish would have a marked influence 
upon the American food supply, as it would thrive in 
any water and grow rapidly. To-day, it is pretty gen¬ 
erally admitted that the German carp is a nuisance, 
and that the inland fishing industry would be better 
off if this fish had never been introduced. Its flesh is 
so poor that it cannot be sold except to the lower 
class of foreigners, and even they will not eat it as 
they do other fish. It is called “the hog of the 
waters,” from its habit of eating, not only the eggs, 
but the young of more valuable kinds of fish. So gen¬ 
eral is the complaint against this fish, that New Jer¬ 
sey has passed laws providing severe penalties for 
stocking any of the waters of that State with carp. It 
is as much a nuisance in the water as the English 
sparrow is upon the land. 
© 
Sir J. R. Lawes has been interviewed on the ques¬ 
tion as to whether England could grow wheat enough 
for home consumption. He claimed that it is possible 
for all needed English bread to be grown on English 
soil, and when asked why it was not done he said : 
For one reason only—that she cannot afford to do it. It is only 
a question of money ; and finding fault with the land, is the re¬ 
sult of ignorance. England could grow all the wheat she requires; 
we could grow as much on one acre as they grow on three in the 
United States, and the idea that it cannot be grown consecutively 
on the same soil without damaging that soil, is equally erroneous. 
Wheat will grow upon an unmanured soil, taking what food it 
can find and thriving on the same ; if the weeds are kept out, 
wheat will find food on land that will not nourish anything else. 
I have been growing wheat on the same field, year after year, for 
the last 53 years, and though a portion of it has bad no artificial 
assistance save the removal of the weeds, it still bears more 
wheat per acre than is, probably, yielded by the average crop of 
the world. The British farmer can produce, not only more wheat 
per acre than the farmers of any other country, but more barley, 
oats, more roots, and more meat. We have brought our agricul¬ 
ture to such a state of perfection, that we cannot meet the lower 
prices by increasing the yield of our crops. 
In this country, it is popular to say at the West and 
South, that New England farming is ruined because 
farmers in that section do not grow as much grain 
and meat as they used to do. As a matter of fact, the 
farms of New England are capable of supporting 10 
times the population they once fed, while with the 
advantages of green manuring, chemical fertilizers 
and irrigation, there is no more productive soil any¬ 
where. In New England as in Old England, the best 
farmers do not grow the common, coarser products, 
simply because other crops are more profitable. 
© 
Last week, we referred to the advertisement of the 
“ California Cold Process ” of preserving fruit. This 
advertisement usually takes the form of a letter like 
the following, which is printed in several of the 
religious papers : 
A CHANCE TO MAKE MONEY. 
I have berries, grapes and peaches, a year old, fresh as when 
pickled. I use the California Cold Process, do not heat or seal 
the fruit, just put it up cold, keeps perfectly fresh, and costs 
almost nothing; can put up a bushel in ten minutes. Last week 
Isold directions to over 120 families; any one will pay a dollar 
for directions, when they see the beautiful samples of fruit. As 
there are many people poor like myself, I consider it my duty to 
give my experience to such, and feel confident any one can make 
$100 or $200 'round home in a few days. I will mail sample of 
fruit and complete directions, to any of your readers, for 18 2-cent 
stamps, which is only the actual cost of the samples, postage, 
etc., to me. 
As we have before stated, this is one of the greatest 
humbugs of the day, and we cannot believe that any 
reader of The R. N.-Y. will be so foolish as to send 30 
cents for any such foolishness ! 
® 
BREVITIES. 
There are shadows on life’s pathway, as we journey through the 
years, 
Like great caverns in the sunshine, where the troubles and the 
fears 
Seem to brood and hatch afflictions, that come sneaking, creep¬ 
ing out 
In the days when hope is darkest—whispering awful words of 
doubt. 
God alone knows all the struggles you have made to own your 
home ! 
Now gray hairs have sapped your vigor, one by one the troubles 
come. 
For the lights of home will tremble at the whisper of alarm, 
Of the imp within the shadow of the mortgage on the farm. 
Oh, the cruel, greedy mortgage, eating on through night and day, 
Stealing years of patient labor, stealing life and hope away; 
Ever present, grim and silent, turning courage to despair, 
Reaching out with cruel fingers to demand its hateful share ! 
There’s a life work in its clutches—still it stands beside your door, 
Grinning at your disappointments—ever hoarsely crying, “more!” 
Oh! what buoyant hopes are broken ! Oh! what lives yield up 
their charm, 
To that grim, despotic tyrant—to the mortgage on the farm ! 
Take a day off ! 
Spraying pumps are trumps. 
Don’t forget to try cow peas ! 
A bran new way to cut off Cutworms—page 434. 
Don’t forget that Crimson clover is a cool weather plant. 
One of the things that makes a bright mind is an open eye. 
Ice is now to be used in shipping vegetables from the South. 
Don’t get “ wheel” on the brain and ride your business away ! 
Too much rain at fruiting time will make your berries soft as 
slime. 
Germany passes an anti-option law—this country apparently 
can’t do it. 
The curculio did more damage than frost in the Georgia peach 
orchards this year. 
Try the Mapes plan of killing lice by painting the roosts with 
grease — page 442. 
The man who stops to tell stories will find himself at the tale 
end of the procession. 
Hay crop bad ? Meadow run out? See how Mr. Clark ran his 
meadows in again—page 431. 
The article on cream separators in this week and last, ought to 
go into your scrapbook for reference. 
Your “ hacks,” blowhards, and others of that ilk, preach you 
their cream but live their thinnest milk. 
Is there a useful place for gun or revolver on your farm ? Do 
you want your children to know how to shoot ? Why ? 
We want to know how late in the season we can sow barley— 
alone or with peas—and cut a fair crop of fodder for next winter’s 
feeding ! 
That’s an interesting question about milk—page 430. The 
chances are that the milk will right itself in time, but it will 
breed disaster while it lasts. 
There are few men in this country who have studied the grape 
more carefully than T. V. Munson. Remember that when you 
read what he says on page 437. 
Farmers are sometimes asked to pay money for a new device 
for tying out a horse. The picture on page 431 shows the best 
one yet. You don’t have to pay for it. Make it! 
Just notice what George T. Powell says about Crimson clover 
on page 430. That is a new idea for fruit growers to think over. 
The R. N.-Y. has always claimed that this clover will pay a 
profit, even though every spire of it be killed by the winter. Mr. 
Powell backs that up with 70-acre testimony. 
Referring to what Mr. Buckman says on page 430, about spray¬ 
ing for the curculio, we would state that Prof. L. H. Taft puts it 
this way: “ If you have an abundant crop and can spare some, 
spraying will destroy the pest. If the crop is light, the curculio 
will destroy the rest. In this case, jar the trees.” The spraying 
must be done early. 
