5oo 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 25 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS ’ PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established. 1850. 
Klbebt S. Cabman, Kdltor-ln-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
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8s. 6d., or 8 y t marks, or 10V4 francs. 
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of 10 or more lines, and 1,000-line orders, 25 cents per line. 
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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 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets. New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1896. 
That is a useful experiment with Bordeaux Mix¬ 
ture detailed by Mr. Lodeman, on page 494. It shows 
clearly that this mixture should be applied as soon as 
possible after mixing. The longer we wait, the 
harder it is to keep the mixture thoroughly stirred 
up. This is a good point to bear in mind. 
O 
Better keep this sign up in some prominent place 
on your farm : 
* *************************** * * ************* * 
* Our Hours for Discussing Politics are before * 
% 7 a. m. and after 6 p. m. on Week Days; ^ 
| and at No Time on Sundays. * 
* * 
******************************************* 
Elevate that sign, and see that it is lived up to. 
© 
The San Jos6 scale may not be an unmixed evil 
after all. Prof. Slingerland says that, never before, 
have they received so many specimens of different 
kinds of scales, all sent under the impression that 
they might be the dreaded San Jos6 scale. The fruit 
growers have been aroused by the stories of the 
terrible depredations of the latter, and have discov¬ 
ered other enemies of whose existence they were 
before ignorant. It sometimes does people good to 
scare ’em a little. 
© 
The recent article describing Mr. Peter Porter’s Ohio 
farm, has called out considerable comment. Mr. II. 
E. Van Deman says that Mr. Porter was a prosperous 
farmer when he was a baby, some 50 years ago—in 
fact, the place where the old log house stood is in one 
of Mr. Porter’s present corn fields. From what The 
R. N.-Y. said about plain living, it must not be sup¬ 
posed that Mr. Porter has not kept fully up with the 
procession indoors and out. There are the best of 
tools outside, and a piano inside, with skilled fingers 
to handle all. 
O 
It is pretty well understood that celery contains 
medicinal properties of considerable importance. Its 
extract is largely used in treating nervous disorders. 
Some people are quite ready to spend good, hard cash 
for Brown’s or Smith’s “ Celery Compound,” and they 
imagine that they are greatly helped by it. These 
are times when cash outlays should be avoided if, by 
means of a little extra work, we can make labor save 
money. Why spend cash for “ celery compound ” 
when you can make a better mixture of your own ? 
Spade up the garden, set out 50 or more plants of 
celery, and take care of them. Then eat your full 
share of the crop. That is a better compound than 
you can ever buy in a bottle. Your nerves are likely 
to be shaken before the year is over. Better lay in 
a stock of celery, with celerity. 
0 
There is always more or less dissatisfaction with 
the school readers used in country school districts. 
We suppose that the object of those who compile 
these readers is to make a collection of extracts that 
will not only give exercise in elocution, but also a 
taste for good literature. Complaint is made that 
these short selections lead the pupils to nibble at 
literature rather than to bite down into it for a full 
meal. It is more in the line of a lunch counter, rather 
than a regular dinner. To remedy this, some districts 
have adopted the plan of using an entire book as a 
school reader. Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast 
has had a large sale for this purpose, and has given 
excellent satisfaction. A cheap edition of Longfel¬ 
low’s Evangeline is another excellent school reader 
that might well be used for an entire term. One of 
the best books for this purpose is Edward Everett 
Hale’s The Man Without a Country. As an example 
of pure and beautiful English, it cannot be excelled, 
while its lesson of lofty patriotism might well be 
grafted into every childish mind. The book costs but 
20 cents, but will be worth $20 to any child who can 
grasp its true lesson. 
© 
In a recent issue of Hoard’s Dairyman, we find the 
following: 
This is how a rhyming contributor to the Melbourne Leader 
enforces the maxim, “ Cull the dairy herd under the direction of 
the Babcock test.” 
The Dairyman then goes on and prints some verses 
that were printed originally in The R. N.-Y. three 
years ago. One or two lines have been changed, and 
that is all. They were stolen by the “ rhyming con¬ 
tributor.” It is bad enough to steal facts, but when 
a man steals poetry, look out for him, even if he hails 
from Australia. 
0 
Read Mr. Eastman’s letter on page 501. These rail¬ 
roads seem determined to do all they can to prevent 
the sale of mileage books, and they are squarely dis¬ 
obeying the law in doing so. They should be pulled 
up with a short turn, and every farmer who is inter¬ 
ested in this matter, should follow them right up. 
Now is the time to make the complaint. Make the 
railroad commissioners understand just what you 
want. The law gives you the right to buy these 1,000- 
mile books, and public sentiment will force the rail¬ 
roads to sell them properly. Let us combine and 
make the public sentiment. 
© 
Commissioner of Agriculture Wieting has not yet 
appointed an assistant for the district embracing New 
York and Brooklyn. This is, by far, the most im¬ 
portant district in the State, and for the past 12 years, 
B. F. Van Valkenburgh has conducted the affairs of 
the office in a satisfactory way. Some weeks ago, 
he was asked to resign, and it was rumored that 
James H. Baker, of Brooklyn, would be appointed. 
The city dealers in butter and cheese opposed this 
appointment and, last week, Baker was indicted for 
selling adulterated milk ! Under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, this would seem to dispose of Mr. Baker; but 
the political snarl surrounding the department does 
not seem to be an ordinary one. The best way out 
would be to retain Mr. Van Valkenburgh. 
© 
We have just had a great object lesson as to the 
value of spraying. About 250 large elm trees in our 
town were sprayed to kill the Elm-leaf beetle, and, 
possibly, 75 more were left unsprayed. Stand under 
the unsprayed trees to-day, and look up, and you will 
find the leaves riddled like a sieve and already turn¬ 
ing brown. Look up through the sprayed trees, and 
you will find hardly one-fourth of the leaves injured, 
while the greater part of the foliage is green and 
thrifty. There could hardly be a more striking illus¬ 
tration of the value of spraying. On one street, is a 
huge tree standing bare and dead ; three years ago, 
it was in full leaf, but the beetles have destroyed the 
leaves so that, from trunk to limb, the tree is as dead 
as a post. It is now cracking down the trunk, and 
there is danger that the next high wind will send it 
crashing down upon the nearby houses. 
Q 
Some weeks ago, The R. N.-Y. mentioned a new 
milking machine invented by De Laval of separator 
fame. U. S. Consul O’Neil has inspected this machine 
in Sweden, and praises it highly. The lactator, as 
the machine is called, in its working, gives an imita¬ 
tion of the human hand pulling and pushing down 
upon the cow’s teat. Mr. O’Neil describes this opera¬ 
tion as follows : 
The milking is done by two special “organs,” or a pair of 
cylindrical rubber rollers, that catch the teat at the root, thus 
shutting off the milk therein. The rollers then move downwards 
to the lower part of the teat, from whence the milk is squeezed 
out by two plates moving parallel with each other. The function 
of the rollers is rendered possible by a hold above—the so-called 
roof that is regularly moved against the udder, whereby a slight 
thrust is given to the udder, something like knocks that the calf 
gives when sucking, which facilitates the descending of the milk 
in the teats as well as the secretion of the milk in the vesicles of 
the udder. 
Most of the other milking machines have tried to im¬ 
itate the action of a calf sucking the cow, being 
merely small suction pumps, one for each teat. The 
“ lactator ” is strapped around the cow by means of a 
belt that buckles over the back. A shaft running 
over the heads of the cows furnishes the power, and 
cords running from this shaft to each little machine 
keep the rollers moving up and down. The milk is 
drawn through various cups and tubes into a tin pail 
that is placed above the cows. It is said that two 
persons can attend to 10 machines. It is claimed that 
satisfactory tests have been made to show that these 
machines milk clean, and that they do not hurt the 
cows. As we understand it, the belt is strapped over 
the cow’s back so that the “ machine ” falls under the 
cow’s udder. The pairs of rollers are put over each 
teat. A cord or belt running on the overhead shaft 
is then put on a little wheel at the side of the ma¬ 
chine, and this works an axle which sends the rollers 
working up and down on the teat, and squeezes out 
the milk. Before we condemn this machine as im¬ 
practicable, we must remember that when De Laval 
started out to make a machine that would separate 
cream from milk by centrifugal force, he had about 
as hard a problem to solve as he now has in making a 
satisfactory milking machine. Such a machine is, no 
doubt, possible, but in our opinion, it will be a sorry 
day for the small dairyman when it is perfected. 
Why ? Because it will break up the present monopoly 
of the human hand in milking, and give the larger 
dairies an immense advantage over the smaller ones. 
© 
From all over the country come reports of the dam¬ 
age done by army worms. Mr. Slingerland gives an 
excellent picture and an interesting story of this pest 
in the present issue, and details about the only prac¬ 
tical means of fighting it. In June, 1880 , millions of 
these worms came upon The R. N.-Y. farm on Long 
Island, and caused immense damage to corn, grain 
and grass, principally to the wheat. After about a 
week’s injury, they suddenly disappeared. At the 
Rhode Island Experiment Station, last week, these 
worms did considerable damage, but were finally 
checked and turned by running furrows around the 
fields. The progress of the army was timed, and it 
was found that the worms went steadily ahead at 
the rate of one foot a minute. A potato field well 
poisoned with Paris-green, lay directly in their 
course, but, before reaching it, they turned at right 
angles, and marched past it to other crops. 
O 
BREVITIES. 
Some scientific feller, nosing ’round through Nature’s space 
In search of new discoveries to vex the human race, 
Has found that plain mosquitoes, if they want to, can convey 
The germs of chills and fever—otherwise malaria. 
And that makes ague catching—like the measles or like sin, 
When some tormented ’skeeter comes along an’ pricks it in. 
And still another feller with a heap of care and pains, 
Has cornered up the microbe that produces crazy brains, 
Insanity is catching—if this learned man is right. 
And still another scientist has turned his searching light 
Into a piece of mince pie and discovered, lurking there, 
Some life-destroying ptomaine or another—I declare 
That life won’t be worth living when these scientific men 
Have time to write out all they know and print it too—for then, 
We’ll be so mighty fearful that we won’t know where we stand. 
We’d better put a tariff on this scientific band 
An’ go back to the good old days before we knew about 
The way these ’tarnal microbes go a pokin’ in their snout. 
Take a day off ! 
Stbawberey number ! 
Chemicals, clover and cows ! 
The army worm is doing battle. 
It takes pluck to face “ dumb luck.” 
Kill the culls, don’t cultivate them ! 
What’s wrong when “ the truth hurts ” ? 
The weed grows with speed from the seed. 
Discuss politics after the weeds are killed. 
An exploded notion—that tomatoes do best on poor soil. 
Cut the oats for hay rather than let the army worms feast on 
them. 
It will be a tough woodchuck that will stand the treatment out¬ 
lined on page 494. 
We would like to give that wolf at the door a genuine case of 
“ wolf in the tail” ! 
The “ old issues ” orator will be up a stump for an argument 
on this year’s stump. 
Be sure and read the reports on page 505. These reports will 
be made a feature of The R. N.-Y. hereafter. 
The cow pea is the Southern man's bean. With lean razor-back 
pork it will discount the New England baked beans. 
Or all the brutes that chew or suck there’s nothing beats a 
Pekin duck in its capacity to eat and lay on solid, toothsome 
meat. 
Don’t be too sure about high prices for hay ! The crop is light, 
but the crop of hay substitutes will be heavy. That will hurt the 
demand. 
It is reported that sweet pea flowers are offensive to house flies, 
and if kept near a sick person, will help keep the flies away. Who 
has observed this ? 
You may have plenty of “ hard ” water in your well, yet the 
land may need lime. Plaster might make the water hard, yet not 
sweeten the soil properly. 
In one of its free seed distributions, The R. N.-Y. sent out 
packets of Johnson grass seed. Now we see in the Southern 
papers, advertisements of special machines for killing out this 
grass ! 
A manure pile or a straw stack will leave its mark in a corn 
field for 10 years after it is removed. The plant-food may not last 
that long, but some effect upon the soil certainly does. So will the 
effect of good tillage make itself manifest in after years. 
What are you doing for childhood this year ? Got any little 
children at your house that wouldn’t have had any vacation if 
you hadn’t taken them in ? No ? Too much bother, eh ! Wonder 
if folks will say that about you when your second childhood 
comes ! 
During the convention, a blackboard 50 feet long was placed in 
front of one of the newspaper offices, and all day long, a man 
chalked up the returns in full view of the crowd. A smaller 
blackboard in your barn or kitchen would keep many a useful 
thing in black and white. 
