724 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 81 
The Rural New=Yorker. 
i TEE BUSINESS FARMERS' PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Elbert S. Carman. Editor-In-Chief. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Managing' Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
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able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Corner Chambers and Pearl Streets, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1896. 
PLEASE ANSWER THIS. 
To what extent has the rise in the price of icheat helped 
you or the farmers in your township or county ? What 
proportion of the crop remains on hand? What is the 
price in your market as compared with the price on Sep¬ 
tember 1 ? Will the increased price amount to enough to 
pay your taxes or mortgage interest ? 
© 
WHAT CAN I DO? 
Who are you ? If you are a man with eyes, ears, 
legs and tongue of average capacity, you can secure 
a new subscription for The R. N.-Y. 
WHAT GOOD WILL IT DO ME? 
Why, you may retain the usual commission, or 
take your choice of the following books : 
Price, Cloth. 
First Lessons in Agriculture.$1.00 
American Grape Training. .75 
The New Potato Culture. \ _” .75 
The Business Hen. 75 
Your work will count. Read “Single Strands” on 
page 728. 
© 
It might be well for apple growers to consider the 
suggestion contained in Mr. Green’s article on the 
next page, in regard to markets for apples in the 
South. There may be many parts of the country 
where apples are not grown, but will be needed, and 
these may furnish a much better market than the 
great cities, or the European markets, to which the 
bulk of apples seem to be tending. Investigate some 
of these before shipping 1 
o 
The R. N.-Y. has given a description of the great 
chestnut orchard of H. M. Engle, at Marietta, Pa, 
Mr. Eagle sends us this report of this year’s prospect: 
So far as tree growth in the forest is concerned, it is a success. 
Their bearing habit is also quite satisfactory, but the past few 
years, the weevil has been unusually destructive. Should they 
continue thus, or get worse, chestnut culture on sprout land would 
be discouraging. On planted trees away from chestnut timber 
land, we find very little damage from this cause. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Eagle’s orchard is on 
“ sprout land”. The wild chestnut trees were cut off, 
and improved varieties were grafted on the sprouts 
which grew from the stumps. It will be very unfor¬ 
tunate if an insect is able to offset, by its destructive 
work, the many advantages of this method. 
© 
Mr. Hodgman’s articles on swamp lands lead us to 
refer again to the vast quantities of plant-food that 
are held in swamps, marshes and other low places. 
These spots have, for many years, received the leach- 
ings from the higher ground that surrounds them, 
and this soluble fertility has been stored away for 
future use just as a barrel of earth under an ash 
“ leach” would hold the potash that washed out by 
water. Yet, as they stand, these low places are of 
no value to agriculture. Nothing but coarse and 
worthless vegetation will grow there, because the 
soil is too wet and sour. Acidity and dampness stand 
in the swamp like dogs in the manger, and keep use¬ 
ful plants from feeding upon the plant-food that has 
been stolen out of their own feeding place. The 
swamp must be dried and “ sweetened ” before it can 
work for the farmer. One way to do it is to haul the 
“ muck ” or swamp'soil out upon dry ground, mix it 
with lime, potash and bone, put it in piles and start 
it into a ferment. In that way, you may make it 
equal to manure, ton for ton. Another, and better, 
way is to go down into the swamp and drain off the 
water. Dry it out and work air-slaked lime into the 
surface soil. Take the crops to the soil, instead of 
taking the soil to the crop. A five-acre swamp that is 
capable of drainage, is also capable of producing as 
large a crop a> any 10-acre upland field on your farm. 
Get up fresh courage by going down into the swamp. 
You may be thankful that Nature has held out a hand 
in that low place in which to catch a part of the 
fertilizer and manure your neighbor puts on his hills. 
© 
During the past few weeks, the price of wheat has 
been slowly rising. On several occasions, it has gone 
up with a jump and, to-day, the price in New York is 
about 15 cents per bushel above the recorded price 
two months ago. The price has also risen in the 
English markets in consequence of reported shortage 
in the Indian crop. So far as public statistics may be 
relied on, it seems likely that the last total wheat 
crop of the world is considerably less than the 
previous one, and there will, evidently, be a demand 
from England and India for all the wheat and flour 
this country can spare. It is not safe yet to estimate 
as to the probable course of prices. Far more satis¬ 
factory estimates can be made after the election. 
Just at present, some one is making money out of 
wheat. To what extent is the farmer helped by the 
increase in price? That is the question which most 
concerns us, and we welcome the actual figures from 
any of our wheat-growing readers to show whether 
this extra price has brought extra money into their 
pockets. We shall be pleased to receive accurate re¬ 
ports from individuals. 
On pages 730 and 731, we present a symposium from 
some of the winners in the dairy contest at the New 
York State Fair. They tell us how their butter was 
made, and describe the cows and the feed that pro¬ 
duced the milk. We call particular attention to Mr. 
Van Alstyne’s note. His butter' scored 100, and he 
gives us in detail the operations required to duplicate 
it. Mr. Johnson, whose butter won one of the prizes, 
also tells us how he proceeds to obtain good cus¬ 
tomers. Among other forms of advertising, the fol¬ 
lowing, much enlarged, is distributed through the 
towns nearby: 
THIS BUTTER 
Is made at East Schuyler, N. Y., by the “ Separator 
Proci 8 s,” under our own supervision. To be genuine, 
“ J” must be plainly stamped in the butter on top 
of each package. We have pure water and aim at 
the strictest cleanliness in its manufacture. If it 
pleases you, order another package of 
who ha.... the exclusive sale of our butter. If you 
wish to return this package, thoroughly cleanse it. 
If at any time you do not find our butter at the usual 
place, write to us at once, and we will either inform 
you where you can get it, or bring it to you. 
This is put on every jar of butter, and also used on a 
card. Farmers might well use more printer’s ink in 
these forms. The first thing, of course, is to make an 
article that you can honestly talk about. Having 
done that, a good supply of attractive advertising 
matter, well placed, will be pretty sure to attract 
trade. 
© 
Farmers must not think that their business is the 
only one that has suffered of late years from low 
prices and heavy cost of transportation. A New Eng¬ 
land manufacturer recently told us that he pays $22 
for a car-load of coal, while the freight on the car is 
$80. In other words, it costs nearly four times the 
actual value of the fuel to haul it from the mines. 
This man’s product formerly sold at 12 cents a pound 
or over. Now, it must be sold at five cents. In order 
to save the awful cost of fuel, he is going back to the 
old-time custom of utilizing the power of the stream 
that supplies water to his factory, and has put in 
water wheels which, in the rainy seasons, can develop 
300 horse-power. A farmer with a running stream or 
a swamp on his farm, may follow this manufacturer’s 
example, and use the now wasted water power to 
enable him to double the producing capacity of his 
best fields. 
O 
In 1875, there were, in this country, 43,951,000 peo¬ 
ple. At that time, each individual required 11.90 
pounds of raw cotton, 5 38 bushels of wheat, 18.66 
bushels of corn, 43.6 pounds of sugar, 7.08 pounds of 
coffee, 1.44 pound of tea, and 6.71 gallons of malt 
liquor. In other words, that was the per capita con¬ 
sumption, or the total of these articles used during 
the year divided by the total population. In 1895, 
the population had increased to 69,753,000, while the 
individual requirement was 22.48 pounds of raw cot¬ 
ton, 4 54 bushels of wheat, 16.98 bushels of corn, 62.6 
pounds of sugar, 9.22 pounds of coffee, 1.38 pound of 
tea, and 14 95 gallons of malt liquors. Thus the aver¬ 
age citizen is eating more sugar, using more cotton, 
drinking more coffee and liquor, and eating less wheat 
and corn than he did 20 years ago. The decrease in 
the consumption of flour and meal is, we think, partly 
accounted for in the increased use of the “cereal” 
preparations and potatoes. We observe that most 
families of our acquaintance eat less bread than they 
formerly did. 
© 
About a year ago, M. Crawford told us that he ex¬ 
pected to be able to fruit strawberries every month 
in the year. It is evident, from the notes on page 
722, that some of our friends are learning how to 
make the strawberry plant work right up to the time 
of frost, in the open ground. Ye*rs ago, it was 
thought that 30 days was a long fruiting season for 
strawberries. The remaining 335 days of the plant’s 
year were devoted to “rest and recreation.” Now it 
seems that people are learning better, and with new 
varieties and new methods of culture, we shall be 
able to make the plants do double duty. That is 
right. When the manufacturer is obliged to harness 
the water that flows under his mill, or to sift the 
smoke that issues from his chimney, and the farmer 
must go to the neglected swamp for fertility, the 
fruit grower may well study to make his strawberry 
vines bear a second crop. The strawberry is about 
the only crop that is never “ out of season”. It will 
sell at any time. 
O 
The Breeder’s Gazette makes the following list of 
“ educational exhibits ” provided by the Illinois Board 
of Agriculture at the last Illinois State Fair : 
The Petrified Woman. 
A Circus with Oriental “ Dancing” Girls. 
Largest Den of Snakes in the World. 
Oriental ** Dances ” and other attractions. 
‘‘He, She, or It ” (with nude view for 10 cents extra—“purely 
for scientific purposes”). 
Black Africa. 
Snide-jewelry vender. 
Wild Jim, the Texas Cowboy. 
Twentieth Century “ Dancing ” Girls, and the Lady with the 
Horse’s Mane. 
Living Pictures. 
The Lion-Clawed Mexican Wild Man, and the Wild Double 
Woman. 
At the same fair, the board invited the Christian En¬ 
deavor Society to hold a convention on the ground ! 
We are glad to learn that this society denounced these 
indecent exhibits, and put itself on record as hostile 
to the fair while thus managed. It is high time for 
self-respecting people to take a hand in this matter, 
and boycott all fairs that give “ freaks and fakirs ” 
the choice of positions. Farmers can get along without 
these exhibitions ! Down with them ! 
O 
BREVITIES. 
The watcher in the desert—far removed 
From old-time home and friends—with thoughts that bring 
But saddened memories of forms beloved 
Which closely to imagination cling, 
The farmer in the lonely hillside glen, 
The sailor on the vast, unmeasured sea, 
These lonely ones—denied the sight of men— 
Turn to the stars for hope and sympathy. 
For, from those calm and tender eyes of night— 
God’s windows—shines a message clear and true 
From friends and loved ones standing in the sight 
Of one who guides them all their journey through. 
And so, to lonely ones—fainthearted, sore, 
On desert, farm or on the restless sea, 
The silent, steadfast stars will evermore 
Give hope and comfort from their mystery. 
How is the grass seeding 7 
A stony hillside will put a metal wheel on its mettle. 
The tobacco-eating habit leads a man to littery chewing. 
Does your fall lawn look forlorn ? Brighten it up a little! 
What is handsomer than an oak leaf after the first biting frost? 
Read Prof. Roberts’s article on feeding cows—page 721. Think 
it over. 
What incubator maker will guarantee uniform heat all through 
his machine ? 
We believe that forest leaves used in the stable, will leave the 
manure richer. 
Advice to the potato planter: “ Don’t give up the skip.'* Raise 
a corn stalk on it. 
Yes,” said the scales, as they weighed the old hen, “lam 
great on fowl tips.” 
Our readers are beginning to tell us why they keep certain 
breeds of live stock. Let’s have a full statement ! 
See what the little beavers have done in Mr. Hodgman’s coun- 1 
try—page 719. Wonder if any of your work is going to show in 
after years! 
Mr. Gale, page 719, thinks the manufacturer should take the 
risk of breakdown of his goods. He should, certainly, assume a 
fair share of it 
We believe that a shipment of Keiffer pears to England, unless 
they were distinctly marked, “for canning”, would give American 
pears a bad black eye. 
This season has been a great “ starter ” for Crimson clover. 
The little tubercles on the roots will cure the consumption of 
nitrogen by previous crops. 
For many years, Sir J. B. Lawes has made annual estimates of 
the wheat crop of the world. This year, he seems to be of the 
opinion that prices must continue to improve. 
Read the hog reports on page 729. One man says that the 
amount of “try” for improvement is not very noticeable. Another 
thinks tbatit is better to use the Berkshire than to try to “ reor¬ 
ganize” the Poland-China. 
That is a curious fact about the tuberculin test mentioned on 
page 720. A second test, within a few weeks of the first one, will 
not cause a reaction in some cows. This, certainly, does not in¬ 
dicate that the tuberculin starts “ latent germs into active life.” 
