648 
September 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
The Agent’s Share. 
We don’t quite understand why our agents and friends have 
not taken more interest in our present Subscription Contest and 
Cash Premiums. The winners of these premiums hardly send money 
enough for subscriptions to pay for the weekly premiums, to say 
nothing of the larger premiums which are to go out September 30. 
Here are the winners for last week : 
$3_KONSON GERMAN. Michigan. 40 Trial Subscriptions. 
$2—C. R. FARNUM. Massachusetts.28 Trial Subscriptions. 
*1-b! P. SCHOOMAKER. New York. 20 Trial Subscriptions. 
The fortunate new agents last week were : 
$3—F. N. LEWIS. New York. 8 Trial Subscriptions. 
82—M. ISBELL. Michigan. 6 Trial Subscriptions. 
81—T. BAILEY. New York. 5 Trial Subscriptions. 
Only one more week is left, and then $50, $30, $20, $10 and $5 
will go out to the agents who have sent the largest number of trial 
subscriptions since August J5. There is yet time enough for any 
one to win the $50 premium. We have, heretofore, had any number 
of agents get names enough in one day, to come in ahead on this 
contest as it stands now. Would not one of these checks come 
handy to you ? THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
" MUSCLE-MAKERS 
During the past two years, The R. 
N.-Y. has given “ quite some” attention 
to “ balanced rations.” We all under¬ 
stand that “ muscle-makers ” represent 
those parts of food that go to make 
muscle or lean meat. It is no more pos¬ 
sible to make muscle out of fat or starch, 
than it is to make a nail out of brick. 
There is one side of this matter that we 
have never gone into very deeply, and 
that is the different forms of muscle- 
makers. It is evident that there must 
be different forms of these substances in 
different foods. When we speak of 
“ board”, or “ plank”, we don’t speak 
intelligently until we state, also, the 
wood from which the board or plank is 
made. Naturally, an oak plank is worth 
more than one of hemlock ; while all 
may be classed under the general name 
of wood, oak, pine, cedar, mahogany, 
and have their different proportions 
and values. 
We were led to speak of this by hear¬ 
ing a man tell about the food needed in 
his family, and how different mem¬ 
bers had different tastes and “ feeding 
habits”, as you might say. I will give 
you what he said, in his own words, as 
nearly as possible. 
“ You talk about eating oatmeal ! 
Now I can’t eat it with any satisfac¬ 
tion. Let me eat a dish of oatmeal, and 
I would feel uncomfortable for 24 hours. 
On the other hand, my wife almost lives 
on it, and she is just as healthy as I am. 
One of the three children takes after 
her in most ways, and he craves oat¬ 
meal. The other two are like me, and 
won’t touch it. If you figure up the 
different rations, you will find that the 
oatmeal eaters pick out, from choice, 
about the same proportion of muscle- 
makers to fat-formers that the two boys 
and myself do, with meat as the basis. 
The fact is that I need my share of 
muscle-makers in the form of meat. 
Give me a good slice of beefsteak, and 
I will do a big day’s work ; let me eat 
the same weight of muscle-makers in 
oatmeal, beans, eggs, or what not, and 
I am dull and ‘tired.’ On the other 
hand, as I have said, my wife and one 
of the boys, will eat oatmeal and such 
food and be as bright and vigorous as 
can be. It doesn’t make so much differ¬ 
ence with me what sort of meat it is— 
beef, ham, mutton or chicken—so long as 
it is meat or a concentrated form of food. 
He went on to give some interesting 
facts to show how this same thing held 
true with animals. He once had a cow 
that did her best when fed on pure corn 
meal for a grain ration. Some cows will 
take, with safety, a great deal more 
cotton-seed or linseed meal than others. 
Western horses brought to the East, 
have to learn to eat oats or chopped 
feed before they can do their best work, 
and it often takes them a year to get 
into shape. The lesson he drew from 
all this was the necessity of learning the 
individual taste of each member of the 
family, or each cow in the barn, and 
then catering to that taste, if you want 
to make the best man, woman or cow 
that can be made. Food is the basis of 
the whole thing, and it is the form in 
which that food is given that keeps the 
animal keyed right up to its best work. 
X X X 
Now we make two applications from 
this. Last week, six persons won pre¬ 
miums in our subscription contest. Why 
were these six selected from the rest of 
our readers ? The muscle-makers in 
their ration pushed them on to extra 
work. Maybe one wants these muscle- 
makers in meat, another in oatmeal, an¬ 
other in beans, and so on. It wouldn’t 
do to pick out any of these rations as a 
standard, because it’s a case of “every 
man to his taste”. 
During the wai, some one came to 
President Lincoln and complained that 
a famous general was drinking heavily. 
Lincoln said, “ What brand of whisky 
does he use ? I would like to give it to 
my other generals!” Whatever the 
form of muscle-makers that made energy 
for these six agents, they have honestly 
earned their money. They have had so 
little opposition that it looks as though 
the rest of them were eating food that 
doesn’t agree with them. 
There is still one week left. Our ad¬ 
vice to you is to eat a big beefsteak—or 
whatever tastes good to you—and then 
go out and scour the neighborhood for 
subscribers. Turn your muscle-makers 
into money-makers this week. You can 
do it ! 
Another thing we want to say is that 
The R. N.-Y. is a mental muscle-maker. 
We try to make it sharp, concentrated 
and soluble. After all is said and done, 
you will notice that most hard workers 
demand solid and soluble food. Meat is 
the basis for most meals, and we try to 
fill The R. N.-Y. with meat—notsausage 
meat or hash—but good, sweet meat, 
the best cuts to be had. Some people 
may not like their mental food quite so 
strong, and others may want more red 
pepper. That is all right, but all we 
try to do is to furnish the meat. You 
may dilute it with doubt, or add the red 
pepper of over-enthusiasm to suit your¬ 
self. 
One of our esteemed contemporaries 
recently bragged that it gave a feast of 
“fat things.” We hope to try most of 
the fat out, and give you lean soluble 
thoughts and suggestions, for we thiok 
that you can fill in the fat right at home, 
with little cost. The “fat” we want 
from you is the starch needed to stiffen 
up our subscription list. Bring it along ! 
And here is the final shot. On page 
600, it was stated that Mr. E. F. Babcock, 
of Washington, won a three-dollar pre¬ 
mium. Of course, Mr. Babcock received 
his money in due time. This is what he 
says about it: 
T gave it to my wife for a new bonnet at 
once ; didn't put it in my pocket. 
Hurrah for Mr. Babcock ! All our 
women folks will want to know what 
he likes to eat ! They will try the same 
sort of muscle-makers on the good man 
at home ! _ 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
Pike Countv, 111.—Wheat was good, aud corn 
the best in years. Potatoes are fair aud scabby. 
Berries were good, peaches one-half crop and 
apples a failure. There is the usual number of 
hogs, and cholera is bad. A greater number of 
cattle are being fed. Land is in fine condition, 
aud more wheat than usual is being sown. 
M. si. L. 
Richland County, III.—In this section, the corn 
crop has become uncertain, owing to Chinch bugs. 
We have had a singular season—very wet in the 
fore part, and now extremely dry, with the mer¬ 
cury at.present 100 degrees in the shade. Last week 
was almost cool enough for frost. Indeed, some 
claim that there was frost, but no damage re¬ 
sulted. Wheat and oats were a practical failure. 
Large areas of wheat were not cut at all. Oats 
had heavy straw, but did not fill, and were badly 
damaged with smut. b. t . k. 
Ogle County, III. —We have had a remarkable 
season in some respects; not a great amount of 
rainfall, but so evenly distributed through the 
season as to make the most perfect growth. Some 
have cut three crops of clover for bay. Potatoes, 
both early and late, were injured by blight. Our 
22 acres will, I think, yield 200 bushels per acre. 
Twenty acres were subsoiled 12 inches deep, in 
the fall of 1895. One acre -was subsoiled in the 
spring of 1896, and one acre was not subsoiled. 
In the growth of vine, there has been no percepti¬ 
ble difference between the subsoiled and the un- 
subsoiled; there is a marked difference between 
the fall aud spring subsoiling in favor of the fall. 
Of the new varieties of potatoes, the Vigorosa 
from L. L. Olds, aud the FJegle, from M. Craw¬ 
ford, are the most promising. Everett’s Early 
Thoroughbred is as late as Carman No. 3; at least, 
it is this year. Varieties, in some instances, 
seemed to have changed their characteristics. 
World’s Fair, a medium early variety, is greener 
now than the R. N.-Y. No. 2. The latter have set 
an unusually large number of tubers; usually, 
from two to six has been the average per hill in 
past seasons; this year, they will average from 
6 to 12, one hill had 16,13 being marketable. If 
no blight had occurred, I believe that our field 
would have averaged 400 bushels per acre. 
Crimson clover, sowed in corn (18 acres), the 
middle of July, has made a tremendous growth. 
If this does not survive the coming winter, it 
never will. A neighbor seeded 20 acres with oats; 
it made a good growth until July, when the hot 
weather was too much for it. It is now in bloom, 
but short and small. He is plowing itunder. d. h. 
OUR RURAL BOOKS. 
Any Book on this List will be forwarded 
promptly on receipt of price. 
Accidents and Emergencies. 
G. G. Groff, M. D. What to Do In—Home 
Treatment of—What to Do ’till the Doctor 
Comes. Sunstroke, poisoning, broken bones, 
cuts, bites of mad dogs, insects, snakes, etc., 
freezing, bruises, burns, choking, colic, 
drowning, exhaustion, explosion, suffocation 
by gases; what to do in storms, being stunned, 
wounds, etc.20 
A Fortune in two Acres. 
Fred Grundy. This is a story of how a work¬ 
man in a small market town gained inde¬ 
pendence and a fortune on two acres. 
Paper.20 
Chemicals and Clover. 
H. W. Collingwood. A concise and practical 
discussion of the all-importaut topic of com 
mercial fertilizers, in connection with green 
manuring, in bringing up worn-out soils, and 
in general farm practice. Paper.20 
Country Roads 
I. P. Roberts and others. Expert opinions 
upon laying out, constructing and maintain¬ 
ing publie highways. Highway laws. Illus¬ 
trated. Paper.20 
Fruit Packages 
A description of the current styles of baskets, 
boxes, crates and barrels used in marketing 
fruits in all parts of the country. How to 
grade and pack fruit. Illustrated. Paper..20 
Fertilizers and Fruits. 
H. W. Collingwood. How the Hudson River 
fruit growers cultivate and market their 
crops, and especially shows how these skill¬ 
ful men are feeding their vines and trees. 
Paper...20 
Fruit Culture. 
W. C. Strong. Laying out and management 
of a country home. Illustrated. Each kind of 
fruit treated separately. Injurious insects 
described. How to fight them. Cloth.$1 
Horses, Cattle, Sheep and Swine. 
Geo. W. Curtis, M. S. A. Origin, History, Im¬ 
provement, Description, Characteristics, Mer¬ 
its, Objections, Adaptability South, etc., of 
each of the Different Breeds, with Hints on 
Selection, Care and Management. Methods 
of practical breeders of the United States and 
Canada. Superbly illustrated. About 100 
full-page cuts. Cloth.82 
How to Rid Buildings and Farms of 
Rats, Mice, Gophers, Prairie Dogs, Ground 
Squirrels, Rabbits, Moles, Weasels, Minks and 
other Pests, Quickly and Safely. How to Snare 
Hawks and Owls. Valuable Hints to House¬ 
keepers, Farmers and Poultrykeepers.20 
£,tti.o'rcUnnrmus gJvntijsing, 
When two CHna- 
ni e n meet, their 
way of saying 
“How do you do?” 
is “ How are your 
.bowels?” It 
amounts to the 
'same thing. If the 
bowels are in good 
condition the res) 
of the system is 
pretty sure to be all 
right. But when 
they are consti¬ 
pated, it has a half- 
paralyzing effect on 
the rest of the body 
—and the mind too. 
Headaches, dyspep¬ 
sia, biliousness, 
nervousness, poor 
sleep, weakness, heart palpitation and 
gloomy spirits, all come from constipa¬ 
tion. And that isn’t the worst of it: It 
lays your system open to all sorts of 
serious and dangerous illness. 
It isn’t safe to neglect constipation and 
it isn’t safe to use dangerous wrenching 
carthartics, to overcome it, either. They 
leave you worse off than before. _ What 
is needed is a mild natural laxative like 
Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets. They act 
surely but without any violence. They 
regulate and strengthen the intestines to 
do their own work. When the “ Pleas¬ 
ant Pellets” cure you, you are acred. 
You don’t become a slave to their use. 
Take care the druggist doesn’t give you 
something else he calls “just as good.” 
It may be for him, but how about you f 
You might learn a thousand valuable 
lessons about preserving your health by 
reading Dr. Pierce’s Common 
Sense Medical Adviser. It is 
a grand book and the present 
edition is absolutely free to 
all who send 21 one-cent 
stamps to cover cost of mail 
ing only. It contains 1008 
pages and over 300 engrav 
ings. 680,000 cloth-bound cop 
ies have been sold at $ 1.50 
_ each. This free edition is 
strong manilla paper covers, otherwise 
is just the same. Address World’s Dis- 
ensary Medical Association, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Improving the Farm. 
Lucius D. Davis. Methods of Culture that 
shall Afford a Profit, and at the same time In¬ 
crease the Fertility of the Soil. The contents 
treats exhaustively on renewing run-down 
farms. Cloth.$1 
Milk : Making and Marketing. 
E. G. Fowler. Selling Fat and Water. An 
illustrated account of the methods, herds 
and appliances of several remarkably suc¬ 
cessful milk-produciDg farms.20 
My Handkerchief Garden. 
Charles Barnard. An explicit account of Mr. 
Barnard’s actual operations on a suburban 
village house-lot. Interesting aud valuable 
to all suburban dwellers, professional men 
and mechanics.20 
Plant Breeding. 
By L. H. Bailey. (Cross-breeding and Hybrid¬ 
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Facts and Philosophy of Variation; the Phil¬ 
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by which Garden Varieties Originate; De¬ 
tailed Directions for Crossing Plants. Cloth, 81. 
How to Plant a Place. 
Elias A. Long. A brief treatise, illustrated 
with more than 60 original engravings, and 
designed to cover the various matters per¬ 
taining to planting a place. Paper .20 
Popular Errors About Plants. 
A. A. Crozier. A collection of errors and 
superstitions entertained by farmers, garden¬ 
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refutations. Valuable to practical cultiva¬ 
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work. Cloth.81 
Spraying Crops 
Prof. Clarence M. Weed. Why, When and How 
to Do It. Illustrated. Covers the whole field 
of the insect and fungous enemies of crops for 
which the spray is used. Paper.25 
The Modification of Plants by Climate. 
A. A. Crozier. Influence of climate upon size, 
form, color, fruitfulness, acclimation, etc. 
35 pp. Paper.25 
The New Botany. 
J. W. Beal, M. Sc., Ph. D. A Lecture on the 
Best Method of Teaching the Science. Valu¬ 
able to Students and Amateurs, being a 
useful guide in studying “The Beautiful 
Science.”.25 
The Bubal New-Yobkeb, New Yobb. 
