596 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 5 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Coli.inowood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
PRICE, ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 
8 s. 6 d., or 854 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
ADVERTISING RATES. 
Thirty cents per agate line (14 lines to the inch). Yearly order.- 
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. 
Ad vertisements 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 n; me 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 to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1896. 
UNTIL JANUARY 1, 1897, FOR 25 CENTS. 
Wa want our friends not to forget that we are will¬ 
ing to send The R. N.-Y. for the rest of this year for 
25 cents. Have you not one friend or neighhor who 
needs it ? 
0 
Look over that book list on page 599 . Don’t you 
need one of those books ? No doubt that a minute’s 
talk to one of your neighbors will secure it for you. 
G 
The article on our first page will, no doubt, sound 
like rank heresy to some of the orchardists who have 
been planting apple trees 40 to 50 feet apart. But 
the advocate of this new apple culture presents a 
strong case. The trouble with many planters is that 
they will lack the nerve to cut out a part of the trees 
when they become so thick that such a proceeding is 
imperative. 
© 
The reports as to the condition of potatoes printed 
on page 601, indicate that, on the whole, the crop will 
not be as large as was anticipated. Remembering 
last year’s experience, many farmers, evidently, ex¬ 
pect to sell as soon as they can after digging. Of 
course it will not do to base any definite conclusions 
on these reports. They are quite widely scattered, 
however, and give a fair idea of the feeling among 
potato growers in different localities. 
© 
The article on “Lightning Rods”, by Prof. An¬ 
thony, printed on the next page, is, probably, the 
clearest and simplest statement of the matter that 
has ever been made in a short article. As was said 
last week, “ lightning rod agents ” are again at work 
in certain sections, and, of course, they tell remark¬ 
able stories about electricity, and the value of the 
rods they have for sale. Prof. Anthony’s article may 
be regarded as accurate in every way. It will pay 
you to keep it for reference. 
© 
Credulity and carelessness often go together. We 
are in receipt of an inquiry from a subscriber who 
was either so forgetful or so modest that he didn’t 
sign his name. But he wishes to know about one of 
the fake “ electrical agencies,” and the benefit to be 
derived from their so-called appliances. Credulous 
people are the ones usually taken in by such swind¬ 
lers. If the inquirer hadn’t been careless in reading 
The R. N.-Y., he would have seen this class of char- 
litans denounced time after time. Then, too, if he 
hadn’t forgotten to sign his name, his inquiry would 
have been answered. 
© 
Prof. E. B. Voorhees of New Jersey, in a recent 
address, gave a forcible illustration of the difference 
to be found in different samples of milk. He has ex¬ 
amined hundreds of samples, and finds the amount of 
fat varying all the way from less than three per cent, 
to more than eight. It is ridiculous to say that three- 
per cent milk is worth as much as milk that averages 
six per cent. A grocer would not give a customer his 
option of 12 or 20 ounces of butter at the same price ; 
yet that is what a milkman does when he sells “milk” 
at a uniform rate, without regard to its quality. The 
trouble is that most consumers regard milk as a lux¬ 
ury rather than as a food. Most families buy a little 
milk for coffee, or to eat with oatmeal or mush. That 
should not be, for clean, rich milk ought to be used 
as a food the same as meat or potatoes. Prof. 
Voorhees has devised a simple system of testing milk 
so that the milkman may guarantee a certain per 
cent of fat, and then supply samples of definite rich¬ 
ness. He believes that milk dealers can educate the 
people to understand that they buy milk, not for the 
water it contains, but for the solids or actual food. 
When they understand that, they will be able to dis¬ 
tinguish different values in the different samples of 
milk, as they now do in flour, tea or coffee. The 
Babcock test has enabled the patrons of creameries 
and cheese factories to take advantage of quality, 
and future success in the retail milk business is likely 
to be along the same line. 
O 
We are often asked to state how prices for farm prod¬ 
ucts are made. Of course, there must be some basis for 
the prices that are printed in the market reports, and 
telegraphed all over the country. On page 592, is 
given an actual report of a meeting of the Elgin Board 
of Trade, at which prices for butter were made. Some 
months ago, we had a similar account of a meeting of 
the New York Mercantile Exchange. This is a fair 
illustration of the way in which dairy prices are 
regulated. These figures are telegraphed all over 
the country, and upon them are based numberless 
trades in dairy produce. Wheat, grain and provisions 
are priced in much the same way, with enough added 
or deducted to cover the cost of shipping to or from 
the market where the price is arranged. 
© 
The correspondent on page 595 , who commiserates 
Mr. Clark on having such difficulties to overcome in 
raising six tons of hay per acre, thinks that he should 
come to the State of Washington where all things are 
favorable for growing large crops. Most farmers 
must make the best of the conditions surrounding 
them. All can’t live where everything is favorable. 
If Mr. Clark has produced such a yield under difficul¬ 
ties, it reflects all the more credit on him. But does 
he need any sympathy of this kind ? After the Wash¬ 
ington farmer has grown his enormous crops so easily, 
for how much can he sell them? How much of a market 
has he ? Measured by its purchasing capacity, how 
does his price compare with that received by the 
eastern farmer ? Do his advantages so greatly ex¬ 
ceed those of the latter, or are they more apparent 
than real ? In short, is the condition of the western 
farmer superior to that of his eastern brother? We 
can’t all go West, even though it were desirable ; but, 
then, we’d just like to know, you know ! 
0 
The R. N.-Y. has urged its New York State readers 
to apply for mileage railroad books whenever they 
were needed, and in case of a refusal of the railroad 
managers to comply with the law, to bring suit. A 
member of The R. N.-Y. staff tried to buy such a 
book from the Erie officials, but could not obtain sat¬ 
isfaction. He brought suit against the company, and 
has just obtained a judgment for $50 and costs. The 
company pleaded that the law is unconstitutional, 
and also that such sales would injure their regular 
passenger traffic ; but the case was decided against 
them. If 1,000 farmers, in different parts of the State, 
who are unable to buy these books, would bring simi¬ 
lar suits, that law would be quickly obeyed. It was 
passed chiefly for the benefit of country people, and 
enables them to obtain a wholesale rate of travel. 
It is a singular thing if the railroads think them¬ 
selves powerful enough to defy the law, and compel 
farmers to pay retail rates. The remedy is very sim¬ 
ple, and The R. N.-Y. has shown the way to compel 
the railroads to come to time. 
O 
There has been considerable trouble in New York 
State about the sale of skimmed milk. In Connecticut, 
there is a large factory population—people who de¬ 
sire to use large quantities of skimmed milk for 
drinking and cooking. It was thought necessary to 
frame the laws regulating the sale of milk in such a 
way that these people could procure skimmed milk. 
At the same time, it was thought necessary to prevent 
the sale of such milk for the perfect article. The sec¬ 
tion of the dairy law covering this point is as follows : 
Sec. 2660. No person shall sell, offer or expose for sale any milk 
from which the cream, or any part thereof, has been removed, 
without distinctly and durably affixing a label, tag, or mark of 
metal in a conspicuous place upon the outside, and not more than 
six inches from the top of every can, vessel, or package contain¬ 
ing such milk, and such metal label, tag, or mark shall have the 
words “ Skimmed Milk ” stamped, printed, or indented thereon 
in letters not less than one inch in height; and such milk shall 
only be sold or retailed out of a can, vessel, or package so marked. 
We believe that this law has worked reasonably 
well. Immense quantities of skimmed milk are sold 
at 10 cents a gallon, and at that price both producer 
and consumer are benefited. It will be interesting to 
see how much of this skimmed milk was sold for the 
pure article. Dr. E. H. Jenkins states that 105 samples 
of milk were taken from grocers and bakers in New 
Haven. Twelve of these samples were, evidently, 
adulterated, 11 more, or 23 in all, were so inferior that 
their sale might fairly be prohibited. In speaking of 
a milk standard for Connecticut, Dr. Jenkins says : 
We believe that, in this State, milk which is sold at the usual 
market rates, ought to have a specific gravity between 1.029 and 
1.033, with not less than 3.5 per cent of fat and 11.50 per cent of 
solids; and if any two of the three fall below the minimum 
named, the milk should be declared unsalable. 
0 
Up among the hills of northern New Jersey, is a 
summer boarding house at which 30 or 40 city people 
are stopping. In the farmhouses ’round about, are 
hundreds of other city folks engaged in the pleasant 
task of manufacturing the pure air and water and the 
solid food into highly-colored flesh and firm nerves. 
A dairyman supplies cream to the boarding house 
mentioned above. It is separator cream, and the 35 
people use two quarts per day. In the farmer’s own 
family, two persons use a full pint for oatmeal and 
coffee at breakfast alone ! The city people may go 
into ecstacies over that cream, but they get only a 
taste of it at best—and that taste is, probably, diluted 
with skim-milk. They do not know what it means to 
use half a pint of cream at a meal for one person ! 
Nor are city people alone in this. A good many 
farmers do not know what it is to use cream as a 
food. With butter selling at Elgin at 14 % cents a 
pound, the home consumption of pure cream might 
well be doubled. Use it with oatmeal or mush! 
Freeze it for hot days ! Eat it up ! It is a good food 
and a medicine combined, and you will feel better for 
living on it! 
O 
Some' of our readers are interested in the business 
of feeding lambs. Of late years, large numbers of 
lambs have been fed in Colorado and adjoining States 
where Alfalfa, sugar beets and cheap grain enable 
the feeders to make up a very cheap ration. This 
competition has been seriously felt by farmers nearer 
the eastern markets, and their feeding during the 
coming winter will be determined somewhat by the 
condition in the West'. They will be interested in the 
following note from Lirimer County, Colo. : 
There were some 75,000 lambs fed in this county last year for the 
Chicago market. We feed mostly Alfalfa hay, oats and corn, the 
latter shipped in from Kansas and Nebraska. Lambs cost us 
last year $1.65 per head laid down here with freight paid to 
Omaha. This year, owing to a short supply of water for irriga¬ 
tion, there will not be more than two-thirds of a crop of hay, and not 
more than 50,000 lambs will be fed. The farmers do not raise the 
lambs; they are shipped from the ranges of New Mexico. They 
weigh from 50 to 60 pounds each when bought, and when fattened, 
from 75 to 90 pounds. In Chicago, we usually get about five cents 
per pound. j. s. mcclelland. 
Sheep feeding in Colorado is comparatively a new 
industry. It has come into practice chiefly through 
the growing of Alfalfa. This crop has provided an 
abundance of excellent fodder and has thus given the 
irrigated portions of the West a great advantage 
from the feeder’s standpoint. 
0 
BREVITIES. 
MRS. CITY COUSIN TALKS. 
We’re going, Uncle Farmer, and we’re mighty sorry, too; 
We'd like to stay right by you all the while. 
We’ve been here all the summer making company for you, 
And trying hard to give your farm some style. 
We kept the horse a-going ti'l we foundered him with work, 
We sampled all your butter, cream and milk; 
We sat on the piazza while you labored like a Turk, 
We’re going home as fine as any silk. 
We’ve had a splendid summer, we’re as fat as seals, you know 1 
From baby up to mother. Now it’s cool, 
I guess we’ll have to leave you, though I’m really loath to go. 
But William must be started in his school. 
So till our trunk with apples and potatoes, and with cheese, 
And send some ham and butter by express, , 
And in around the corners we will see if we can squeeze 
A dozen jars of jelly, more or less. 
We’re going. Uncle Farmer, and I must confess, we hate 
To leave you, but, somehow, it has to be, 
For we are somewhat doubtful if you quite appreciate 
The benefits of our society. 
Divorce is a pair blight. 
Knife, not life, for the scrub. 
Dendrolene again—page 592. 
A minister’s milk business — page 602. 
The fat hog is a good thing to lean upon. 
A heated argument will not always sterilize a lie. 
Sod is a “root” crop for hogs wheu there are grubs in it. 
This is a bored dough mixture—said the cook as she cut out the 
biscuits. 
Fifty cents a barrel offered for good sorted apples in central 
New York 1 
“ Scents make dollars.” So say the rose grower and the fer¬ 
tilizer dealer. 
Read those articles on the cost of raising scrub or thorough¬ 
bred-page 602. 
“ Root hog or die 1” Under that constitution, the scrub beats 
the thoroughbred. 
Notice what Mr. Gale says on next page about hiring your own 
boy and not paying him. 
The exhibits of “ fakirs ” at the county fairs seem to be as large 
and noisy as ever this year. 
You will never know what poultry keeping may represent unt l 
you eat “ fried chicken ” on a southern farm 1 
The country girl should be well bred in the art of bread mak¬ 
ing. Get her used to the flour of the family. 
The worst piece of “ road repairing ” we ever saw was in Dela¬ 
ware last week. The sod at the sides of the road was plowed and 
scraped into a high ridge two feet high at the center. It was 
hardly possible to drive on any part of the road and not have 
one wheel 18 inches higher than the other. 
