THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August i 
5i6 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
a. National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
WMabLixfWd I860 
Klbebt 8. Cabman, Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Colunowood, Managing Editor. 
John J Dillon. Business Manager. 
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able 10 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Cham her, P“ar' Streets New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1896. 
FRUIT REPORTS. 
You will notice that these reports are coming in. 
We want a full crop of them. Tell us what new 
varieties are best on your soil, what sort of soil you 
have, what tbe standard sorts are—and while you are 
about it—put down anything else you have learned. 
Give us the whole story. 
© 
It costs $37 to carry a horse from Chicago to Ire¬ 
land and feed him on the way. At a recent auction 
sale in Dublin. American horses brought all the way 
from $97 to $214 Tbese horses were, mainly of ’rot 
ting blood, and averaged six years old Tnere seems 
to oe a sma 1 m trket for good horses in Iceland but 
it would seem that a six-year-old horse must bring, 
at least, $200 in order to pay any protit. 
O 
Where do the army worms go ? They appear sud¬ 
denly, and as suddenly disappear. They don’t go 
away at all. They are still with you like an evil 
spirit, waiting for a favorable season. Wtien the con¬ 
ditions are favorable again, they multiply by the mil¬ 
lion and go forth on the march. When you fail to 
notice them, you miy know that they are still with 
you, but in numbers too small to do damage. They 
are not likely to do damage two years in succession. 
Our Oklahoma correspondent, on page 523, gives 
the price of cheese as being higher there than that of 
butter, which seems strange to those living in the 
East, where butter prices are generally more than 
double those of cheese. Tbe price of milk, too, as he 
gives it, is out of all proportion to the price of either 
butter or cheese, and no one can afford to make 
either at those prices It seems odd that the propor¬ 
tionate prices of these articles should vary so widely 
in different parts of the country, and it would be 
interesting to know the reasons. 
p 
Last spring. Prof Watson sug rested rape as green 
food for poultry, and it seems th -t a number of our 
readers have tried the crop for this purpose. Fred 
Grundy writes this report: 
I am feeding rape to confined poultry this year for the first time, 
and tne way they tear tne oroad leaves to bits and swallow them, 
would surprise a pig. In fact, I had to confine them to prevent 
them from entirely destroying the one-eighth acre of rape that I 
sowed as an experiment. 
At the Rhode Island Experiment Station, this year, 
rape has been used for pasturing geese, with great 
success, as it grows up rapidly after being eaten 
down, and gives a heavy yield It is worth trying. 
It is not yet too late to sow the seed. 
© 
We have had a good deal to say about the value of 
swamp lands. These low places have, for ages, re¬ 
ceived the drainage from higher places. Soluble 
fertility has been leached out into the swamp, and 
while some of it has. undoubtedly, passed away, most 
of it remains, either in its original state, or in the 
form of decayed vegetable matter. The soil of swamps 
is good enough to use as manure on the lighter hill¬ 
sides. The plan of carting muck out of the swamp to 
the upland, is an old one, and is scientifically correct, 
for we thus replace the fertility that has been leached 
away. Another plan for utilizing the swamp is to 
drain it—take out the water—and then plant such 
crops as hay or corn. These will grow on the rich 
soil, provide food for stock, and make manure that 
can be used on the lighter soils. It is a question of 
carrying the swamp away as muck or as stock food. 
Mr. Speer has utilized the swamp in a new way. 
Undrained, it is a reservoir and, with his simple irri¬ 
gating plant, he is able to make the swamp water his 
berries at will. A man may take his choice of these 
methods of utilizing the swamp, but surely he should, 
at least, think about one of them. 
© 
The Department of Agriculture mentions three 
cases where horses have been killed by eating Crim¬ 
son clover hay. Death was caused by the formation 
of balls in the stomach or intestines. These balls 
vary from 3 to 4J{ inches in diameter, and weigh 
about four ounces. They are composed of the stiff 
hairs found on the overripe Crimson clover heads, 
mixed with a small proportion of earthy matter. 
Crimson clover pasture, or hay cut before the plants 
are f ulty ripe, would not be likely to cause this trouble. 
In most of the reported cases, the horses seem to have 
been fed on clover straw or vines left after thrashing 
out the seed. In such cases, the heads were hard and 
stiff—in just the right condition for forming these 
bails. 
© 
It is evident that the managers of the railroads 
runoing through New York State have determined to 
do all they can to prevent the sale of 1,000-mile b:>oks. 
The law requires them to sell these books at all sta¬ 
tions as readily as they sell single tickets ; yet they 
still attempt, in various ways, to make it as difficult 
as possible for a customer to secure these books. 
They are liable to a fine of $50 for every such refusal 
and. if farmers who have been unable to buy the 
books, would bring buit at once, the railroads would 
soon learn to be reasonable. An individual suit here 
and there will never move them, but thousands of 
such suits, pouring in from all quarters, will quickly 
bring them to time. A representative of Tue R. N.- 
Y. has entered such a suit, and if half of our New 
York State subscribers would do the same, these mile¬ 
age books would soon be about the easiest things to 
buy at the railroad stations. 
O 
The State of Connecticut has the reputation of 
giving greater encouragement to sheep killing dogs 
than any other State in the Union. There are thou¬ 
sands of acres of wild land well suited to sheep pas¬ 
tures ; yet the laws are such that dcgs get most of 
the mutton. A writer in the American Sheep Breeder 
copies this advertisement from an agricultural paper : 
SHEEP KILLER FOR SALE-Price $25. The thoroughbred 
Engilsn mastiff, Druid, very large, and handsome; affectionate, 
obeuieut, and fond of children. Does not molest poultry or horses. 
Has only the one fault specified. 
Such a dog as that, kept in some little town, would 
soon ruin the sheep industry in his neighborhood for, 
as this same correspondent says : 
All other domestic animals are under legal restraint here, but 
the lineal descendant of the woif goes scot free in four cases out 
of five, because the village skeep killer generally does the killing 
two, three or live miles from home, and the law says the damage 
must be paid where the damage is done. 
We have heard of sharp Connecticut Yankees who 
bought a Hock of cheap sheep expecting to have them 
killed by dogs in order to have the town pay more for 
them than they originally cost. We have albO heard of 
men who bought cows that they knew had tubercu¬ 
losis, on purpose to have them tested, condemned 
and paid for by the State ! The farmers of Connecti¬ 
cut cannot say that their laws are made by towns¬ 
people, for they have a majority in every legislature. 
Tney are themselves responsible for the dog laws. 
0 
Denmark, not twice the size of Massachusetts, and 
with a much smaller population than that State, ex¬ 
ported into England in a single year, 10 times as 
much butter as the whole exports of the United 
States, and 20 times as much as we exported to 
England. And this trade is on the increase, too. 
Why? Denmark has no advantage over its competi¬ 
tors in facility or cost of transportation. A special 
correspondent of the Journal of Commerce sa;ys that 
the butter of Denmark is bought in England for 
British consumption because it is found to possess 
qualities superior to the product of other countries. 
The superiority is ascribed to the practical education 
given to farmers’ sons and daughters. In the schools, 
instruction is given in all that concerns agriculture. 
Agricultural papers are generally read. Practical 
lecture courses are given in every village during the 
winter months and are generally attended, too. The 
Danish farmer, like the American, has met hard 
times; he has found his grain growing unprofitable, 
and turned to cattle raising only to have that become 
in turn, unremunerative. But his thorough, practical 
education stood him in good stead, and he has 
achieved success in the production of butter. lie 
meets the requirements of the market he seeks to 
supply. He packs his butter in tins of varying sizes 
which are so packed in cases as to protect them from 
the heat. The Danes have built up such a trade in 
their butter for export that they are said to import 
butter, and even oleomargarine for their own use, so 
as to have more butler to sell for high prices. buch 
is the value of a reputation. In eating oleo them¬ 
selves, they are equal to some Yankee dairymen 
about whom The R. N.-Y. has told. These people 
are also making plans for the shipment of frozen 
milk to England, and other places. They also have 
an immense butter trade on the continent of Europe. 
Where are the progressive American farmers? 
G 
We learn that F. E. Diwley has been appointed 
director of the New York State farmer’s institutes, 
by Agricultural Commissioner Weiting. Mr. Geo. M. 
Smith, the former director, has been made the dairy 
expert of the department. Mr. Dawley’s appointment 
is supposed to have been made from the civil service 
list; but we understand that there was no competitive 
examination for the position, and that the civil ser¬ 
vice commission agreed to allow Mr. Weiting to select 
a candidate from the eligible list of milk experts ! 
They, probably, thought that a milk expert must 
combine all the qualities required to conduct our 
institutes. Events are proving the truth of The R. 
N.-Y.’s charges that this “ agricultural” department 
is a mere politician’s nest. Mr. Dawley earned his 
appointment by circulating petitions and “ working 
up an interest” for Mr. Weiting. Now is a good time 
to read over the articles printed on page 405. 
0 
The Southern Farmer, ia discussing the agricul¬ 
tural situation, says, among other things : 
One of the best tbiDgs that each and every farmer can do, is to 
produce as nearly as possible at home, all of those articles re¬ 
quired for home consumption, the doctrine of the advantage of 
division of labor to the contrary notwithstanding. If the agri¬ 
culturists of tbe United States were to-day as economical as are 
the people of France, our country could readily sustain triple or 
quadruple its present population, with but iittle evidence of 
severity in our modes of life. The great secret of economy at the 
present time is to utilize the resources that surround us; to avail 
of the ad vantages that Nature has given us, and to learn to be 
self-sustaining in every possible direction. The problem of life 
that confronts the American farmer is one that each one can 
solve for himself if he will do the very best that he can with the 
resources under his control. 
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the 
majority of American farmers accept the advice and 
go back to old-time principles. What would become 
of the thousands of workmen in town and city who, 
at present, wait on the farmer ? These men may not 
like to have the thing put in just that way, but in 
truth, they do wait on the farmer. Their chief busi¬ 
ness is to manufacture and carry to him articles that 
he needs, and carry away from his railroad station 
his produce in exchange for these articles. Let the 
farmers of this land actually make on their farms 
everything that can be made there, and pay as little 
cash as possible for articles made by others, and the 
whole business fabric of town and city will fall down, 
because the town cannot live without the trade of the 
farm. The trouble with the country to-day is that 
cash has been driven out of farming districts into the 
cities. It is for lack of the cash trade from the 
farm that business stands still. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
“MALARIA.” 
Despair sits at the door—in every bone 
A pain lies ambushed—misery is near 
And, hateful, chuckles witn exultant tone 
As courage struggles in its fight with fear. 
The head is full of buzzing, whirling souud, 
And hateful voices whisper in the dark, 
How Hope was murdered ; shadows gather ’round 
The home—pale specters, hideous, grim and stark. 
Hot Fever’s hauu comes with its touch of fire, 
Tin n, swift «s thought, the very chill of death, 
Cooling mad Fever’s furnace of desire. 
Chilling the very heart—stopping the breath. 
Dragging the verj soul to dark despair, 
Blunting the conscience, darkening the mind, 
Turning to foulness all that we hold fair. 
Malaria—thou bane of humankind. 
Bobbow rhymes with sorrow ! 
The “ Ah Me ! ” worm is abroad ! 
Ever know a dog to kill a belled sheep ? 
Are they overdoing the plum business ? 
Oil ! If the army worm would only eat rag weed ! 
“ Lie low !” Lie in whispers if you must lie at all. 
The best New England market demands a big strawberry. 
Another report of a “frog farm” turns out to be a “ fake.” 
When Pyretlirum is “ caught on the fly,” the fly is certainly put 
out. 
Winter lettuce without frames—page 513. We want all possible 
facts about it. 
With us the Tetofsky is a very satisfactory early apple. It is 
just coloring now. 
Don’t forget that hay is a very different thing from grass. Get 
them as close together as possible. 
One of our readers reports damage done to peach trees by 
dendrolene. Who can give experience with it? 
Don’t let any one paint an advertisement on your barn or fence 
except it be your name or the name of your farm. 
A pair of rubber boots can be bought for the cost of one doctor’s 
visit, a bottle of liniment and a bottle of rheumatism cure. 
What sort of milk will we get by feeding a healthy cow of 
nervous temperament on a ration of corn meal and green celery ? 
We would like to see it tried. 
Don’t use profanity at the army worm—call it by its scientific 
name as hard as you can—Leucania unipuncta. That sounds 
enough like swearing to give you a great reputation—if that is 
what you are after. 
