THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 19 
|'184o 
ABOUT THOSE PRIZES. 
It has always been the custom of The Rural New-Yorker to take its readers 
into full confidence as to the policy and management of the paper. When the 
paper is most successful, our subscribers rejoice with us, as we are then able to 
make their favorite paper still more helpful to them. When times are dull, as 
they will occasionally be, we speak of it with equal frankness, double our ener* 
gies, and invite our friends to join us in an extra effort to revive flagging interest. 
During this season up to December 1, we had a dull subscription season. Few 
subscriptions were expiring, hence few renewals, and our agents and club-raisers 
who formerly sent in fairly large clubs at that season, did very little this year. 
The prizes went to winners with hands down, and it did look dull for a subscrip¬ 
tion season, for sure. From week to week, we repeated practically the same story, 
and our friends and readers were in full confidence with us. The result has been 
most gratifying. Since December 1, we have had one of the best subscription 
seasons that The Rural New-Yorker has ever enjoyed, and the returns have been 
steadily and daily increasing. This, however, has not been due to big work done 
by any one person, but to the individual work done by old friends and subscribers, 
who send one, two or three new names, rarely more than five, with their own 
renewals. 
As far as the real agent’s work goes, it remains about the same. The watch 
this week goes for a small list of names, and the largest club for the nine 
premiums January 1, comes from a club raiser who has no idea of working for a 
premium. He simply sends in the renewals of his club as usual, without a thought 
of the premiums. He would be very much surprised to get one. Hence, no 
agent who has an eye on the prizes need hesitate to begin now. Two or three 
days of good work would put any lively club raiser in the lead for the $50 premium. 
Now you have the situation frankly and plainly just as it is ! Do you want 
one of those nine premiums ? Isn’t that $50 one worth making a two weeks’ effort 
for, when you are sure of other ample rewards anyway ? Thanks to the individual 
friends who are making the season’s campaign such a success ! Thanks in advance 
to those kindly friends who always remember us with a Christmas present in the 
way of a new subscription for a neighbor. Success to the man who starts out 
determined to have that $50 ! THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, NEW YORK. 
AS WE GO TO PRESS. 
" THE MOTHER’S SIDE.” 
Last week we had a few remarks about 
a Cheshire pig that is offered as one of 
the premiums to be delivered on January 
1 to one of the successful agents. This 
week, instead of giving a picture of this 
pig, we give one of his mother. This 
male animals that they invented the old 
saying that “ the male is half the herd.” 
That is true, but it is also true that the 
female represents the more important 
half, but some farmers have lost sight 
of that and conclude that any old scrub 
cow, mare, sheep, or pig will do to breed 
from, so long as they have a “ thorough¬ 
bred” male at the head of the herd. The 
now a true American, and anyone who 
looks at its picture—printed last week 
—will see that it carries many of the 
marks of its good old mother. If a young 
man could be induced to view such 
things with a cool head it would be well 
for him to consider the mother and 
grandmother of his sweetheart. The 
chances are that 20 and 40 years hence 
this fair young girl will grow into much 
the same appearance and temper of the 
older women, though the treatment she 
receives through life will have much to 
do with it. In fact there are three great 
influences that have to do with the rear¬ 
ing of a strong and successful animal. 
1. Pedigree: What the animal inherits from 
ancestors. 
2. Food: What the animal is made of. 
3. Environment: Habits and care, outside in¬ 
fluences that surround the animal! 
From this you will see that the father's 
influence is a small part of the result. 
Who cares what variety was the father 
of the Sir Walter Raleigh potato ? Let 
it stay in Belgium, unknown and forgot¬ 
ten. It is enough for us to know that 
Sir Walter’s mother was the standard 
old R. N.-Y. No. 2, and if we give her 
best son good food and care we shall 
have a satisfactory crop. 
And now it only remains for us to say 
that The R. N.-Y. for 1897 will be the 
child of former years. We don’t care to 
discuss the paternal side of the past. 
The paper as it stands is the mother of 
future volumes. We shall use the best 
mental food we can get hold of, and 
wrap the whole thing up in a spirit of 
good nature and earnest effort. This 
we think will insure a successful new 
volume, and if you will go and tell your 
friends and neighbors about it you will 
do us a good turn. See what the Kansas 
man says : 
A CHESHIRE SOW. THE MOTHER OF A PREMIUM. 
is a likeness of a good Cheshire sow. 
There she stands, evidently proud of 
the fact that she has lived to become the 
mother of a R. N.-Y. premium. It is 
not necessary for us to discuss the merits 
of the Cheshire breed of swine. The 
man who wants white-haired pork will 
find the Cheshires well suited to his 
taste. They are “ hustlers.” Put them 
in an orchard, and how they will root 
up the grubs and worms ! The snout of 
a Cheshire is better than a chilled plow 
for turning up a tough sod. As for 
worms in fruit—why they will catch the 
dropping fruit before it reaches the 
ground, and one crunch of the jaws 
makes an end of the worm for all time. 
They are so good-natured that they 
actually laugh out loud instead of 
squealing the way some pigs do. The 
proportion of lean meat or muscle in the 
Cheshire is very large—in fact this pre¬ 
mium is going to broadcast profit and 
pork all over the neighborhood into 
which he goes. 
It may be asked why we print a 
picture of this pig’s mother. We always 
did believe that the maternal influence 
in any pedigree is of the greatest im¬ 
portance. No animal, brute or human, 
can ever amount to anything unless it 
has a good and strong mother. Breeders 
of live stock have been so anxious to sell 
head may be all right, but if the tail is 
all wrong something is sure to suffer. 
Who in the world takes any interest 
in the fathers of suehomen as Napoleon, 
Washington, Lincoln, Garfield, Grant or 
Webster ? The mothers of such men live 
long in history, and justly so, because 
the people almost by instinct recognize 
the fact that the maternal side of the 
pedigree is usually responsible for the 
best work or for the weaknesses of the 
descendant. About all we know about 
Washington’s father is the famous dia¬ 
logue about the cherry tree—and that 
reflects more credit upon the son. On 
the other hand, an association has been 
formed for the purpose of erecting a 
monument to Washington’s mother. To 
take another side of so-called human 
greatness we may state that John L. 
Sullivan’s father was a small inoffensive 
man with not much fight in him—cer¬ 
tainly not enough to start his big son on 
the road to respectability. Sullivan in¬ 
herited his great strength and undoubted 
courage from his mother’s side. So you 
will find it all through life—the maternal 
influence is the most important thing to 
consider in breeding for improvement. 
Why, the new Sir Walter Raleigh potato 
is a case in point. This potato is a 
worthy son of The R. N.-Y. No. 2. Its 
mother emigrated to Belgium, but it is 
Stamp inclosed for Sir Walter Raleigh. I hope 
it may prove valuable. Aside from these gifts 
The R. N.-Y. is easily head and shoulders above 
every other paper of its class. f. e. h. 
Miami County, Kan. 
Now we wouldn’t like to say that, and 
yet you can’t expect us to take valuable 
space in which to deny it! We have said 
that The R. N.-Y. is the mother. Now 
let’s hear a word from the father side. 
Here is one who lives in Indiana : 
I have distributed many copies of The R. N.-Y., 
which you have sent at my request, but have sent 
in but one subscription. I am not a solicitor. I 
would certainly starve if I could make a living no 
other way. I am not built that way. About our 
town is a very successful and progressive farm¬ 
ers’ club, of which I am not a member, but have 
attended on invitation some of their meetings 
At one time the subject for discussion was farm 
papers or periodicals for a farmer, and a leading 
member held up a copy of The R. N.-Y. and said, 
“ There is my ideal of the farmer’s paper,” and I 
murmured, “ Them are my sentiments too,” so I 
am willing to help The R. N.-Y., as I know it will 
help my fellowman, and if you think it may be 
profitable, you may send me about 50 copies, 
which I will have distributed at our institute, and 
what may be left I will distribute at a public sale. 
Of course, we don’t want any friend to 
starve, but we would like to have a few 
good words distributed with these 
sample copies. In some places The R. 
N.-Y. seems to be a perfect flower, be¬ 
cause it produces readers without help. 
In other places, it needs the pollen of a 
good word or kind indorsement from 
some well-known farmer. Those who 
drop the word in are fathers —half the 
herd. Now is the time ! 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
Washington County, N. Y.—The greater por¬ 
tion of the potato crop from this section of Wash¬ 
ington County, has gone to market. j. w. r. 
Cuyahoga County, O.—Tne Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2 is wet and soggy unless raised on high clay 
ground, and if the Sir Walter Raleigh potato is 
dry and mealy it is just what we want; at least, 
we can give it a trial. g. w. b. 
Caytjga County, N. Y.—The Rural New-Yorker 
No. 2 has done well with us; if the new potato is 
better it must be extra. I have tried all that has 
been sent out and of all I like the flavor of the 
Beauty of Hebron best; it is not so heavy a 
yielder, but is good every time. j. f. d. 
Polk County, Iowa. — I grew four acres of the 
Rural New-Yorker No. 2 this year, and have been 
growing them ever since I first get them with The 
Rural New-Yorker years ago. But this year 
there is a change in shape; as probably two- 
thirds or more are elongated or more like the 
shape of the Late Rose. But the crop was good, 
and as I sold early, I got 25 cents per bushel for 
them. Have still got on hand 200 bushels. I have 
been growing the Carman No. 1 for the last three 
years. Although it is always of high quality as 
an eating potato, it does not yield so well, and 
the potatoes do not grow as cl ose together in the 
hill as other varieties I raise. My main crop of 
potatoes is Potentate and Rural New-Yorker No. 
2. There are lots of potatoes b eing held for bet¬ 
ter prices and market, as they sold from 12!4 to 20 
cents this fall. j. b. 
Erie County, N. Y.—We erected two tub silos 
12x24 out of seasoned pine, and have a building 
inclosing them covered with sheathing, tarred 
felt, shingled over all with cedar shingles. Is that 
warm enough ? Can you call to mind a better 
arrangement for 21 cows, 19 winter milkers? We 
have only about 21 acres of tillable soil, remain¬ 
der 70 acres of sidehill pasture and timber lot. 
We raised about 400 bushels of potatoes Great 
Divide and Carman No. 3. We had a large col¬ 
lection of varieties, but No. 3 is our choice for 
everyday eating. They were raised on heavy soil, 
too. 
We also raised about 2,000 quarts of strawber¬ 
ries, a new industry in this section, especially 
good berries such as Jessie, Timbrel], and War- 
field. The last named yielded far better than any 
other. Brandywine and Parker Earle were almost 
a failure this year. We picked strawberries seven 
consecutive months, commencing in May and end¬ 
ing November 1 . How is that? We haven’t dared 
to look for more. The Warfield was the best late 
yielder, with Jessie next. We sold $140 worth 
of strawberries, at an average of over eight cents 
per quart, from one-half acre. 
We ship our milk to Buffalo, and receive 7, 9 
and 10*4 cents per gallon on cars here, and have 
made in six consecutive months commencing June 
1, $462.24 worth of milk, but only had 12 cows 
part of the time, and summer prices, while now 
we are making over $100 worth per month from 
18 cows. We feed bran, oil meal and some gluten 
for milk, with ensilage. w. w. c. 
It Is hard to 
tell sometimes 
whether th« 
shopper or the 
saleswoman feels 
the effect of shop¬ 
ping the most. 
Even the pleas¬ 
ant part of it in¬ 
volves standing, wait¬ 
ing, weariness for both 
of them and more or 
less hurry and neglect 
of regular meals and 
regular habits. This 
leads to dyspepsia or 
constipation or both; 
they are two links in the chain of indi¬ 
gestion; another link is biliousness; head¬ 
ache is another^ then follows backache, 
drowsiness, dizziness, an irritable temper 
and the “blues,” all links of one chain 
binding down your energies and making 
life a burden. The way to throw off the 
whole trouble at once is to put the bow¬ 
els and stomach into condition again. 
Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets do this 
quicker, more comfortably and more 
naturally than any other remedy in the 
world. They actually cure constipation 
so it stays cured; you don’t become a slave 
to their use; they strengthen the intes¬ 
tines to do their own work, tone the 
stomach and gently stimulate the liver. 
They are mild but sure, like Nature it- 
eelf. Don’t let any druggist give you a 
griping pill. Insist on having Dr. Pierce’* 
Pleasant Pellets. 
The People’s Common Sense Medical Adviser 
gives more plain useful information about the 
human-body and all the ailments 
to which it is subject than any 
other single book In the English 
language. It is really a medical 
encyclopedia in one volume, a 
large heavy book of 1008 pages, 
with over 300 illustrations. The 
outlay of money, time and effort 
in producing this great book waa 
paid for by the sale of the first 
edition of 680,000 copies at $ 1.50 
each; and the profit has been 
used in publishing the present 
edition of half-a-million copies to be sent abso¬ 
lutely without price to all who will remit the 
small charge of 21 cents in one-cent stamps to 
pay the cost of mailing only. Address, with 
stamps, World’s Dispensary Medical Association, 
No. 663 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Our Clubbing List. 
The Thrice-a-Week World. 
Gives plenty of reading for the long winter 
evenings. Besides all the important news of 
the world, it gives an excellent series of 
stories by great American and English au¬ 
thors—probably the greatest amount of real 
good fiction ever offered by a newspaper. A 
brilliant page of fun and illustrated articles 
in every issue. Three papers—six pages each 
—every week, 156 papers a year for $1. We 
will send it in combination with The R. N.-Y., 
for $1.65, both one full year. Send now and 
get both papers free for the rest of this year. 
Farm Poultry. 
There is no poultry paper published any¬ 
where which takes the place of Farm Poultry. 
It stands alone as the best up-to-date, prac¬ 
tical guide to profitable poultry raising. 
Edited by men who practice what they preach, 
and teach facts, not theories, about how to 
make money with a few hens. Published 
semi-monthly; price, $1 per year. We can 
send it and The Rural New-Yorker, both one 
year, for $1.75. 
