6l2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 12 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
TUB BUSINESS FARMERS' TAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Managing 1 Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SrUSCRJ PTIONS. 
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8s. tid., or 854 marks, or 10*4 francs. 
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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 12, 1896. 
Three experiments with cow peas are recorded on 
the next page. The peas were sown with oats, and 
have not given satisfactory results. This is what we 
should expect. These peas should be sown alone to 
do their best. They are really beans, and do not have 
the upright growth of the Canada field pea. In the 
South, they are used alone, occupying the entire 
ground—either for stock food or for plowing under. 
© 
Judging from the appearance of many of the potato 
fields we have seen this year, digging will be a hard 
job, and it is likely to be particularly tryiDg to the 
machine diggers. A tremendous crop of weeds com¬ 
pletely covers nearly every field. To make any head¬ 
way at all, it will be necessary to remove these, and, 
probably, the quickest way is to mow and rake them 
off. We don’t believe that there is a machine made 
which will work in some of these weed-covered fields. 
© 
Some years ago, The It. N.-Y. gave a drawing of 
Mr. Macomber’s method of laying down peach trees. 
Now we are glad to be able to give a better picture 
with a likeness of Mr. Macomber himself. This plan 
of treating the peach tree as one would a grape vine, 
may seem theoretical to some of our readers who 
number their trees by the thousand ; but they must 
remember that the readers of The R. N.-Y. are 
actually scattered all the way from Alaska to Pata¬ 
gonia. This method will enable some of them to grow 
peaches who would, otherwise, go without. 
O 
What Mr. Manchester says, on page 607, about buy¬ 
ing the winter’s supply of grain, is as sound as a nut 
—all the way from the rat-proof granary to buying 
through the creamery. Bran is very cheap in Chicago 
just now, and it will keep better, perhaps, than any 
other broken grain or by-product. The creameries 
are able to order in bulk, and with the system of pay¬ 
ment mentioned by Mr. Manchester, the trade is easy 
for all hands. But don’t buy good grain and put it into 
old bins honeycombed with rat holes ! Men do not 
put new wine into old bottles, neither do they put 
good bran into bad grain bins—at least, sensible men 
do not. The most profitable exercise a rat can have 
is to dull his teeth trying to gnaw into that sheet iron. 
O 
Our friend, the minister, who concludes his milk 
story on page 618, has given us an interesting account 
of the development of a small dairy. Most of us have 
learned something from it—either a new fact or some 
old truth presented in a forcible way. It is a wide 
plunge from such a dairy to the great milk farm of 
Mr. Francisco in New Jersey. Only last week, we 
found 350 cows in milk at the latter place. Every 
cow was as clean as brush could make her, and every 
appliance known to the trade was employed to hasten 
the milk into glass bottles. The daily milk trade now 
amounts to nearly 3,000 quarts, with cream in addi¬ 
tion. We say it is a wide plunge into such an estab¬ 
lishment from the humble dairy described in this 
issue and the last one. The point to be remembered 
is that Mr. Francisco started with 12 cows and, at one 
time, peddled 35 quarts of milk per day out of an 
ordinary can. From 35 to 3,000 quarts is, certainly, 
a big jump ; yet it has not been a jump at all, but a 
steady growth. The quality of the milk has forced 
the demand for quantity. Mr. Francisco’s opinion 
ought to be worth something, and he says that there is 
no opening in any business to-day equal to that of 
producing a uniform grade of pure, clean milk that 
will be recognized in the market as food, like sugar, 
Hour or meat. 
Wherever we go, we find large fields of fodder 
corn. This was planted to help out the hay crop, 
which is short in all parts of the country. In the 
majority of cases, this corn fodder has been sowed too 
thick, and will make very poor feed. It is making 
small, spindling, light-colored stalks which contain 
little substance. Some farmers seem to think that 
they must plant corn by the handful when they want 
fodder. That is a great mistake. Corn is a sun plant, 
and cannot grow to perfection where it is crowded. 
There is always more butter in an acre of stalks 
planted as for grain, than in the great weight of puny 
stalks that result from this thick seeding. 
G 
The Council of the Borough of Columbia, Pa., 
passed a resolution to the effect that no milk should 
be sold in Columbia except from cows that had been 
tested by the State Veterinarians, and guaranteed 
free from tuberculosis. As we expected, the author¬ 
ities have not been able to enfore this resolution, and 
milk from non-tested cows is now sold in the town. 
They ought to have known that it could not be 
enforced. It is a dangerous thing for men who know 
little about such matters to pass resolutions and make 
laws that may vitally affect the business of honest 
men. They are likely to turn a good thing into a 
ridiculous failure, or to injure some deserving man’s 
business. 
© 
In spite of the low price of bran, dried brewers’ 
grains find a fair sale. As we have often stated, the 
brewer seeks to turn the starch of the grain into 
sugar and then into alcohol. This is done by the use 
of moisture and heat, and after the process of malting 
is finished, the grains are dried and sold like oats or 
bran. Thus it is that, while a whole grain of barley 
may contain 10 per cent of muscle-makers, dried bar¬ 
ley grains, after malting, may contain 23 per cent by 
weight—having given up a good proportion of their 
fats and fat-formers. Prof. Voorhees figures that, at 
$18 per ton, dried brewers’ grains are equal in value 
to oats at 27 cents a bushel, and that is, probably, a 
fair basis for comparison. 
© 
Cotton growers throughout the South are having 
a serious discussion over the question of ties for cot¬ 
ton bales. Of late years, the favorite tie has been a 
flat band of steel, but this year, for some reason, the 
Trust wfiich controls the manufacture of this tie, has 
raised the price. No fair reason, that we have noticed, 
has been given for this increase. Southern farmers 
are considerably worked up about it, and have at once 
begun experiments with ordinary steel wire to see 
whether this cannot be used in place of the ties. It 
is believed that the wire will answer, and that, in the 
end, the Trust will be forced to reduce its price even 
below former figures. We hope so, for cotton is too 
low to warrant any increase in the cost of sending it 
to market. 
© 
An attorney of the Post Office Deparment has de¬ 
cided that it is unlawful to send an ordinary letter by 
express, or otherwise outside of the mails unless it be 
inclosed in a Government stamped envelope. Also that 
it is unlawful to inclose a letter in an express package 
unless it pertain wholly to the contents of the pack¬ 
age. We would like to be shown the law that such a 
procedure violates. There may be one, but if so, the 
quicker it is repealed, the better. Laws are supposed 
to be founded on common sense and justice, and there 
is neither in such a law. A friend couldn’t send a 
written message by another, according to this decision, 
without violating the law. The United States mails are 
for the convenience of the public, but there is no power 
on earth to compl any one to use them. The tre¬ 
mendous assurance, stupidity and insolence of some 
of these Government menials who, though “clothed in 
a little brief authority,” are nothing but the servants 
of the people, are amazing. They should be inocu¬ 
lated with a little common sense. 
© 
Are you a tool or a toy ? Possibly you can spend 
a profitable half hour by sitting right down and think¬ 
ing out that question. What is the difference between 
a toy and a tool ? Both require force to put them in 
operation. The work of the toy gives brief pleasure, 
and is then forgotten. There is nothing substantial 
about it. With the same force, the tool may produce 
something that will live for years as a monument to 
industry. The toy turns force into play, while the 
tool transforms it into useful work. A woman may 
be a toy, in her own home, or she may be a tool 
shaping the character and life of husband and child¬ 
ren so that the world would be made better. A man 
may be a mere toy—spending his powers on trivial 
things that live but in memory. He may, if he will, 
be a tool with clear, sharp edge that will cut through 
the crust that has grown over society, and leave the 
good and the true in all their beautiful proportions. 
You are a tool, of course, but are you keeping your 
edge sharp ? Where is your edge ? It is inside your 
head ! 
© 
We have been hearing much about the use of Al¬ 
falfa in the Far West, and the wonderful help it has 
been to farmers and stock feeders. In parts of the 
Gulf States, also, this plant has proved a great suc¬ 
cess, and is entirely changing the character of farm¬ 
ing in many southern counties. In parts of Missis¬ 
sippi, for example, stock raising has become an im¬ 
mense industry. The mild winters keep the pastures 
open, so that stock need but little housing, while 
Alfalfa, hay, ensilage, cotton hulls and meal make 
the cheapest possible ration. Within the next 10 
years, this part of the South is destined to make 
wonderful progress in the production of beef, pork 
and butter. The southern people are already raising 
so much of their own pork that the decreased demand 
has lowered the price to the western hog raiser !• 
© 
English potato buyers go to a point in France each 
year to buy the local crop for the London market. 
Prices are low, and the buyers seem to have agreed 
to offer no more than $8.50 per ton. The growers 
refused to sell for less than $12.50, and stuck to their 
demand. The Mark Lane Express tells this little 
story : 
One English agent, who had refused to accept a cargo at the 
price demanded, was hung over the water until he agreed to the 
peasants’ terms. This was somewhat on the same principle as 
the suggestion for the prevention of railway accidents, that a 
director should always be made to ride on a buffer of the engine. 
This was certainly an effective way to advance the 
price. If Uncle Sam could only muster up courage 
enough to hold some of these big corporations over 
the “ water ” they have placed in their own stock, 
he might frighten a little liberality into them. 
© 
BREVITIES. 
I like to read an article that figures tilings out clear, 
That sort of cleans the answer up and sets it down so near, 
In words so plain and simple that it seems jest like two friends 
A settin’ by the kitchen stove an’ sorter matchin’ ends. 
You go an’ send a telegram—the feller sets right there, 
A pickin’ at his instrument, but you can’t never swear 
That all that click is sayin’ what you wrote out with the peu. 
It makes a feller cautious to depend on other men. 
But talkin’ through a telephone is quite another thing. 
You don’t trust no man’s fingers, for the living wire will bring 
The human voice right to ye—though ye may be miles apart, 
There’s brotherhood and confidence strung out from heart to 
heart. 
So one of these here articles from earnest, kindly men, 
Comes to ye like a message on the telephone, for then 
You feel that right behind it is an honest heart and true 
That sends an honest message of experience to you 
Jack Frost has a sharp tooth. 
A jaw brake for the politician. 
Don’t forget that milk is a food. 
Will sour dough make cross bread ? 
Try a dish of baked Hubbard squash. 
“ Sweat ” your sweet cider to harden it. 
You can be laid up without lying down. 
Read Mr. Wing’s article on lamb feeding. 
“ Good roads by bad men ! ” Put the convicts at work. 
What is a fair charge for broken or lost glass milk bottles ? 
Let’s hear from those who have tried cow peas for the first time. 
The ounce of prevention is often found in the “ bounce ” of some 
old scrub. 
Capital without good judgment for investments is a dangerous 
thing to borrow. 
More dangerous than the unthinking are those who think in 
the wrong direction. 
It needs but a feather added to this weather to bring doubt 
and gloom together. 
Is there any better grain than cotton-seed meal to feed with 
windfall apples ? What is it ? 
Selling bottled milk is one of the worst things you can do, 
unless you understand what c-l-e-a-n spells ! 
“ Something to sell every day in the year” ! That is the motto 
for a farmer who wants a regular payday. 
Mu. Keiffkr pear has deserted our markets this year. We 
shall miss him when the human ensilage is opened. 
The Argentine farmers have made havoc with prices of wheat 
and meat, and now it is said that they purpose raising potatoes 
on a large scale ! 
Make use of the local paper in selling your produce. See the 
way Mr. Manchester does it. Advertising has cured many a bad 
business. It may cure yours ! 
The Connecticut food inspectors found that 89 per cent of the 
ground coffee they examined was adulterated. The adulterants 
were chiefly peas, wheat, rye and chicory. Harmless frauds ! 
“Autocar” is the name given to carriages propelled by steam, 
gas or some power besides animals. A name is the first step to¬ 
wards practical service. Look out for the autocar—ye horse 
breeders ! 
By next year, probably, some of our farm contemporaries will 
begin to talk about the effects of Dendrolene. Have you noticed 
that most of the new ideas in agriculture and horticulture start 
through The R. N.-Y. ? 
Prof. Latta, of the Indiana Station, after investigating the 
behavior of winter oats in that State, considers them unreliable. 
He would sow them only where spring oats are unprofitable, and 
then only in a small way. 
