THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 24 
7o8 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
, THE B USINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 18 50. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-in-Chief. 
Herbert W. Coli.inowood, Managing Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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We must have copy one week before the date of issue. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with m. 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, OCTOBER 24, 1S96. 
A LIST OF BOOKS. 
Price, Cloth. 
First Lessons in Agriculture.$1.00 
American Grape Training.75 
The New Potato Culture.75 
The Business Hen.75 
Do you want one or more of these as a present? 
You can have any or all. How ? Get your neighbor 
to subscribe to The R. N.-Y. Send us the dollar for 
a year’s subscription. Let us know which book you 
want. It’s yours at once. Enough said. Now act! 
© 
E. S. Carman’s address, until next May, will be No. 
5 West 82nd Street, New York. 
o 
Here is a man with a large milk dairy. It pays 
him to sell a calf when four days old for $1.50. Here 
is another man like Mr. O. W. Mapes, with a small 
dairy. It pays him to give $1.50 for that calf, let one 
of his cows nurse it for a month, and thus make the 
$1.50 grow to $9. So long as these two men realize 
that point in a calf’s life at which profit with them 
begins and ends, their milk will bring them the most 
money. When they begin to guess at it, they are 
likely to lose money. It is so in every trade or busi¬ 
ness. Those who do the most guessing take the most 
risk. 
O 
We are sorry to see some of our contemporaries giv¬ 
ing up the battle for Crimson clover. The fact that 
this clover has made but a feeble growth in dry sea¬ 
sons, and has failed to live through some hard winters, 
is enough to make some people discard it. That is a 
mistake. Crimson clover will pay for itself, in a fair 
season, even though every plant die in the spring. 
When it forms a thick mat over the soil before Thanks¬ 
giving, it has done its full duty. Let us learn to farm 
so as to feed Red clover to stock and Crimson clover 
to the soil. In other words, make the Red clover into 
hay, and use the Crimson as a “ winter overcoat ” for 
the soil to be plowed under in the spring. The R. 
N.-Y. stands by Crimson clover. It is a valuable 
plant to feed to the soil. 
' © 
More than a year ago, The R. N.-Y. gave an account 
of a local fair held in the streets of Greeley, Col. We 
notice that these street fairs are becoming very popu¬ 
lar throughout the country. The farmers of a com¬ 
munity meet on the streets of their market town, and 
make a display of their products right from their 
wagons. This is like going back to the old-time coun¬ 
try fair without the disreputable features that have 
crept into the large exhibitions of modern times. 
These street fairs are sure to bring neighbors and 
friends together. A friendly rivalry is created that 
is sure to result in an effort to improve stock or crops. 
Smaller farmers feel that they have a better chance 
to win a prize at such an exhibition. We believe that 
these street fairs are, on the whole, more useful to a 
community than the larger exhibitions. 
© 
One of the great railroads centering in New York, 
has just run one of its annual popular excursions to this 
city. Eight large trains were required, and a large 
part of the great number of passengers were farmers, 
or village people. Such trips will do them good. They 
will be broadened and educated by such outings, and 
most of them will go back to their homes better fitted 
to live useful lives, and more content with the quiet, 
restful life of the farm, away from the hurly-burley 
of life in the great city. It is curious what ideas some 
city people have regarding country people. One writer 
in a daily paper has made the astonishing discovery 
that the cartoons we often see representing the hon¬ 
est farmer, are not true to life. He has found that 
these excursionists are an intelligent appearing lot of 
people, that few of them wear the typical chin whis¬ 
kers, that none of them has hay seed in his hair, and 
that while their clothes are not always of the very 
latest cut, they are all of good quality, and compare 
favorably with those worn by city people. Great head 
to discover such things ! Of course, they open their 
eyes widely over some of the great and novel sights, 
our high buildings towering 300 feet in the air, and 
such unusual things. But we warrant that their eyes 
are no more widely opened than those of some city 
people who go to the country, and the stories that 
farmers can tell about the city innocents who have 
toyed with the frisky country bulls, affectionate yel¬ 
low jackets, and other peculiar country institutions, 
will equal any of the city tales. Welcome to the 
farmer, the hope of the nation ! 
O 
It looked, at one time, as though the smaller fer¬ 
tilizer factories would be crowded out of business by 
the large concerns. Instead of that, we find new ones 
starting up near the smaller cities. They generally 
start with a capacity regulated chiefly by the number 
of dead horses and other animals found in the town 
or city. In fact, their chief trade lies in working up 
these animals, rendering the grease and mixing the 
bone and meat with potash to be used as a fertilizer. In 
some places, the choicest parts of the carcass are 
cooked, dried and ground for poultry feed. These 
local fertilizer factories are useful institutions, and 
so long as they limit operation to the handling of 
local carcasses, they are pretty safe from competition. 
O 
An ignorant Italian in New Jersey recently shot a 
blue-jay. He was arrested, tried and fined $20, and 
in default of payment was sent to jail for 30 days. 
Then it was learned that the laws of New Jersey do 
not prohibit the killing of blue-jays, so that the man 
was not guilty of any crime. Two men were talking 
about this matter, and one of them said that the con¬ 
stable and justice ought to be punished for such an 
outrage. “ Oh !” said the other, “It doesn’t matter— 
he’s only an ignorant Italian, anyway !” That is no 
way to talk. A man may be ignorant and a stranger, 
but that is no reason why his legal rights should be 
disregarded. One good way to manufacture an 
anarchist is to disregard the legal rights of a poor 
man ! 
© 
One thing that has enabled the farmers of Oktib¬ 
beha County, Miss., to succeed so well at breeding 
cittle, is the fact that the State Agricultural College 
is located in that county. This college has, without 
doubt, been a help to nearby farmers. Its work has 
been of a practical nature. One of the first creamer¬ 
ies established in the State was started there, and 
excellent experiments in growing fodder crops and 
feeding stock have been carried out. The college has 
attracted thousands of visitors from all over the 
State. All this has served to advertise Oktibbeha 
County, and farmers have been smart enough to take 
advantage of it. We doubt whether any agricultural 
college in this country has had more real influence in 
determining the character of the agriculture of its 
particular locality than this one in Mississippi. 
© 
The past season seems to have been particularly 
favorable for the production of large or abnormal 
fruit. As stated two weeks ago, Mr. M. N. Cook, of 
Genesee County, N. Y., sent to the New York market 
a lot of Duchess pears, 124 of which filled a barrel. 
Mr. Cook tells us that these pears averaged 1% pound 
each. They were selected from a lot of 30 barrels. 
He has never been able to grow such large pears before. 
Mr. W. F. Taber, of Dutchess County, N. Y., has a 
Concord grape vine which, since 1893, has made a won¬ 
derful showing with large bunches of grapes. Of this 
year’s crop, he says : 
There was no greater weight than upon many other vines, there 
being 25 pounds; but the clusters were very much heavier, and 
the berries larger, many of them one inch in diameter. One clus¬ 
ter weighed 21 ounces, another 19 ounces, one pair 30 ounces, 
another pair 29 ounces, and all of those on one" arm of the vine 
and within two feet of the head of the vine. I have considered 
the showing so remarkable that, to remove alldoubt, I have had 
them photographed; three single and two double clusters full size, 
make a picture 16 by 22 inches. 
Reports from the Hudson River district are that pears 
have shown remarkable differences from standard 
types this year. Bose pears have been exhibited in 
which the long, tapering stem had been filled out so 
that the fruit would almost pass for Buffum. Other 
varieties have been so changed in shape and color as 
to deceive judges at fruit exhibitions. In fact, this 
seems to have been a ‘ ‘ record breaker ” for strange 
behavior in fruits. We would like to see what cut¬ 
tings- from the vine of Mr. Taber would amount to. 
The apple crop throughout New England is said to 
be immense, and thousands of barrels of second grade 
fruit will be permitted to rot under the trees. The 
Boston Globe has advocated a “ fruit mission” by 
means of which these apples might be sent to the city 
and distributed among the poor people. The plan is 
to raise money enough to buy barrels and bags, and 
carry them to the farmer’s railroad station. The 
farmer is to fill these packages and put them on the 
cars. In most cases, the railroad companies will haul 
them for nothing, and in the city, they are distributed 
to the poor. These shipments have already begun, 
and the chances are that many car-loads that would, 
otherwise, be devoured by fungi, will now be eaten by 
humans. It is a noble charity, and will not be likely 
to interfere with the market for first-class fruit. In 
fact, it is an advertisement that will give good re¬ 
turns when better times appear. 
O 
Some weeks ago, we told our readers how the coun¬ 
cil of the borough of Columbia, Pa., had passed a 
resolution prohibiting the sale of milk from cows that 
had not been tested by State veterinarians. It seemed 
to us like a ridiculous thing for the council to pass 
such a resolution, when they must have known that 
they could not enforce it. One of the members of the 
council is a subscriber of The R. N.-Y. At last week’s 
meeting, he had the secretary read what we said on 
page 612, and he thus describes the result: 
Our secretary read your editorial, much to the surprise of the 
council, and you will please see by the inclosed council proceed¬ 
ings that the ordinance relating to the sale of milk has been post¬ 
poned indefinitely. 
That is a diplomatic way of announcing that the 
whole thing was a ridiculous proceeding. These men 
took hold of the hot end of the poker, and held it 
longer than they should have done. 
BREVITIES. 
I ain’t no hand to brag my children uj> 
Above all others, but I’ll tell you now, 
That little girl of ours does win the cup— 
In my estimation, anyhow. 
I’ll guarantee a dozen folks have said, 
“ She looks jest like her mother ”—don’t it please 
My wife to have ’em say so ? She gits red 
As fire, her heart’s so full she has to sneeze. 
An’ smart ? Why, I’ll bring folks to guarantee 
They never saw her beat—I’ve heard ’em say 
In that respect she sorter favors me. 
Her smartness ’pears to trace right back, my way. 
She don’t weigh over 30 pounds, and yet, 
Her little fist can pound away our care. 
You bring a million dollars and I’ll bet 
That you can’t buy that baby’s smallest hair. 
Tiie tramp is a beg bug. 
Weed seeds seldom die of old age. 
How many cans of human ensilage have you ? 
Read Mr. Woodward’s article on fruits, page 706. 
A Keiffer pear is just as respectable a fruit as a quince. 
Two sides of the “ road working ” question, pages 702 and 713. 
Handle bisulphide of carbon as carefully as you would gun¬ 
powder. 
Yes, sir, cotton-seed meal is the most dangerous hog food that 
is known. 
“Cut the young Wilder currant bushes back to five buds,” says 
W. D. Barns. 
Read about those cheap stock rations the Colorado farmers are 
feeding. Clover does it ! 
Look at the grindstone—page 702. A sprocket wheel and chain 
beats your wife’s arm and back. 
You don’t sow wheat and reap chess. You don’t reap the 
whirlwind after sowing “ wind ” with sense to it. 
The first hard frost nipped the life out of the cow peas, but the 
jCrimson clover alongside is as green and fresh as need be. 
Where is the market gardener who can buy potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid cheaper than Mr. Simpson gets them, page 704 ? 
Now is the time to kill the surplus rooster. He will make nice 
“ fried chicken.” Left to himself, he will produce legs rather 
than eggs. 
Try to get the best grocerymau in your town to sell your milk 
for you. Advertise it in the town papers—that is, if you can take 
oath that it is absolutely clean and pure. 
Prof. Roberts, of Cornell, writes that his present class in agri¬ 
culture is nearly twice as large as any previous one. He expects 
a very large class in the short-term course. 
The English jjotato crop is said to be rotting badly. Wholesale 
prices in London are from $15 to $18 per ton. In Australia, the 
average wholesale price is 45 cents a bushel. 
That is an interesting account of the Grape Phylloxera on page 
704. It is a singular thing that while the insect is a native of this 
country, our American varieties of grapes are best suited to with¬ 
stand its attacks. 
Yes, we know that the experts tell us that the Gulf States 
possess neither the food nor the climate needed to produce good 
dairy cows—but what about those Mississippi grade Jerseys? 
There they are—look at ’em ! 
Mr. L. C. Breyfoglk, of Indiana, sends us this little note: “ In¬ 
closed you will find a Crimson clover plant from seed sown August 
7; it was dug yesterday, and the root was an even 18 inches long, 
without stretching the truth or the root.” 
Some great scientist has discovered, after much experimenting, 
that the average woman has 57 percent of the strength-of the 
average man. According to that, your wife should do only about 
37 per cent of the work of your family. We will guarantee that 
she does over 50 per cent of it. 
