1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
853 
Plans and Hopes for 1897 
" THE NEW JOURNALISM” 
has made itself felt among agricultural papers in a 
striking manner. The Rural New-Yorker is 48 
years old. You could not hope to teach new tricks to 
a dog of that age, but there is a difference between 
dogs and agricultural papers. The R. N.-Y. is learn¬ 
ing “new tricks ” all the time. 
Forty years ago, The R. N.-Y. was chiefly a story 
paper. At that time, there were but few good literary 
papers in the land. The soil was newer and naturally 
stronger. There was not the fierce competition of 
the present day. The millions of foreigners had not 
rushed across the sea to take the cheap Western land 
and grow food upon it, with which to compete with 
native Americans Experiment Stations were un¬ 
heard of. “ Agricultural science ” was locked inside 
the skulls of a few learned men. There was no great 
demand for it. Farmers demanded, in their farm 
paper, stories, poems and simple records of every day 
events. The R. N.-Y. of that date was alive to the 
needs of the hour, and gave its readers what they de¬ 
manded. It was progressive—a good example of the 
netv journalism of that day. 
After Two Score of Years, 
The R. N.-Y. finds a new situation. The old paper 
could not live to-day. This is an age of specialties. 
Papers and magazines, cheap and excellent, now 
make a specialty of stories, poetry, news, religion 
and philosophy. A new class of farmers has been 
formed, and every course at an agricultural college 
and every farmers’ institute or convention serves to 
increase this class. A new farm paper is demanded, 
for farming has become a science. Competition is 
fierce. The land is poorer and needs more careful 
tillage and fertilizing. There is a demand for a clear 
and fair discussion of the fundamental principles 
that underlie the science of agriculture. The R. N.-Y. 
has decided to make this its special field. This is one 
part of the new journalism. We leave society news, 
politics, literature and philosophy to others, and con¬ 
fine ourselves to a discussion of the problems that 
underlie the varied life of the farm and garden. 
“ A Farmers' Institute at Your Own Fireside! ” 
That is what the new journalism attempts to give 
you. If we were to adopt a coat of arms for The 
R. N.-Y. we would take this 
YOU ASK! 
p 
WE ANSWER ! 
The best evidence of the awakening of a child’s mind 
is its inclination to ask questions. Men are but chil¬ 
dren of a larger growth, and the best evidence of 
progress that a man can give, is the fact that he be¬ 
gins to ask questions, and thus admits that there are 
some things he does not know. 
The R. N.-Y. has been peculiarly fortunate in the 
past in its ability to draw out questions from its 
readers. In some operation in field, house or stable, 
a farmer runs against a problem that he cannot solve 
with the information within his own reach. He has 
never been called upon to face just that situation 
before. His neighbors can only guess at it, and his 
books give him scarcely a hint. The problem follows 
him about, and haunts his waking hours until, at 
last, he comes to The R. N.-Y. for help to broaden 
the view from his farm. 
He Knows Where to Come. 
Why should he come to The R. N.-Y. for assistance ? 
Why should he have confidence in its answers or sug¬ 
gestions ? Let us consider a few facts. We are 
located in the greatest market on the western con¬ 
tinent, within half an hour’s ride of the great centers 
of trade, where prices are made and where a nation’s 
crops are sold, and within a short walk of the most 
complete libraries on this side of the water. We 
have the personal acquaintance of every agricultural 
scientist of note in the land. We will guarantee to 
reach a practical expert in any ordinary branch of 
soil culture. From the time the seed is put into the 
soil until it goes back to the soil again as some form 
of fertility, a thousand changes and modifications 
take place. The culture of the soil in which its roots 
develop, the food it eats, the way it grows, the 
insects that injure or benefit it, the animals that 
utilize it as food—at every point along the line, a 
question stands out as a puzzle to some ripening mind 
that will not be satisfied with anything short of the 
truth. We confidently claim that Tift: R. N.-Y., by 
reason of its location, its reputation and acquaint¬ 
ance, its own experience in experimenting and the 
production of new varieties, and its wide, personal 
observation, is as well able to secure authentic infor¬ 
mation as any agricultural paper in the land. 
Judge the Future By the Past. 
This we are very willing to do. During the past 
year, we have broadened the view from hundreds of 
farms. Never before did an index cover such a wide 
range of topics. During 189(3, we printed in all 860 
pages of matter. There were 284 illustrations. By 
actual count, we have printed answers to 1,481 direct 
questions, and have answered nearly as many more 
by mail. Of these questions, 158 were so important 
that we made them targets for symposiums. In 
other words, we sent copies of these to from five to 
fifty of the best posted men in the country and in 
Europe. The answers were boiled down and grouped 
together. By actual count, 1,310 different men and 
women have helped us prepare these answers. The 
fact is, that every line that has appeared in The R. 
N.-Y. has been written in reply to a question either 
directly asked or anticipated. 
With this record behind us, we do not hesitate to 
say that we expect to do better next year. We have 
learned a number of “ new tricks” of late. We have 
formed new acquaintances, made new investigations 
and studies, gained in experience, and discovered new 
fields for work. We shall make use of all these things 
in our work for 1897, striving harder than ever to be 
true to the principles of the new journalism. Our 
great ambition is to broaden the agricultural view from 
your farm by giving you a chance to confer with those 
who have had more experience, or who have been able 
to give more study to the problems of agriculture 
than you have. Naturally, the “ know-it-all” man 
cannot expect much help from such service. Do not 
subscribe to The R. N.-Y. expecting us to discuss 
politics or to print stories and news gossip, for you 
will be disappointed if you expect it. The one thing 
we promise above all others is that we will help you 
in your search for the true principles that lie at the 
base of agricultural science and practice. That is 
our special field, and we shall cultivate and fertilize 
it as we have never done before. 
A Few New Features. 
Pursuing the same general plan as last year, we 
expect to introduce a few improvements. 
Primer Science. —This popular department will be 
continued. We expect to take the reader into the chem¬ 
ist’s laboratory and show him how foods and ferti¬ 
lizers are picked apart, and what the different parts 
represent. 
Good Grass. —The articles describing Mr. George 
M. Clark’s grass crop created a wide interest. Hun¬ 
dreds of people have attempted the new method of 
culture. We shall have comparative notes from many 
of them. We have, also, been studying the remark¬ 
able grass experiments of Mr. J. B. Olcott, of Connec¬ 
ticut. 
Fertility from Tillage. —A series of articles show¬ 
ing to what extent a proper working of the soil may 
be expected to take the place of manure or fertilizer. 
In this connection, we shall discuss the real service 
performed by humus or vegetable matter. 
The Breeds of Live Stock. —More attention will 
be paid to live stock than ever before. Special atten¬ 
tion will be paid to the characteristics of breeds 
and the principles of breeding. 
Plant Life. —A series of interesting notes on the 
life and growth of plants, showing how they feed and 
grow. 
Symposiums. —As in former years, this will be one 
of the strongest features of the paper. We expect to 
send your question to the wisest and most practical 
people in the land, when it is of a character to de¬ 
mand a general discussion. 
The Experiment Stations. —During the year, we 
expect to discuss the leading bulletins as they ap¬ 
pear. We shall try to give real studies of these bul¬ 
letins, not mere “reports”. We also expect to visit 
most of the stations, and thus give personal reports 
of the work they are doing. We shall also interview 
dozens of farmers in various parts of the country 
who, by concentrating their energies upon some one 
branch of soil culture, have made their farms prac¬ 
tical experiment stations. 
With this statement of its objects and desires, The 
R. N.-Y. confidently opens the season of 1897. 
AMONG THE MARKETMEN. 
WHAT I SAW AND HEARD IN THE PHILADELPHIA MARKET 
Although not containing so large a population as 
New Y’ork, Philadelphia is a large city, and requires 
an immense amount of produce to supply the needs 
of its inhabitants. The two markets are similar in 
many ways, and dissimilar in others. Both are dis¬ 
tributing points for a large extent of territory, New 
York supplying much the larger area. The latter 
city has, also, a larger foreign trade, its exports and 
imports covering the entire globe. It has also a 
much more cosmopolitan population, and its markets 
require a wider range of products, though Philadel¬ 
phia is becoming more cosmopolitan. As a general 
thing, prices range much the same in the two mar¬ 
kets, and the leading commercial paper of New York 
is taken as a guide in Philadelphia. Often, too, there 
is an interchange of commodities between the two 
cities, when there is a shortage or a surplus in either. 
Philadelphia has its wholesale markets or commis¬ 
sion districts, the same as New York. Probably the 
most extensive is the Dock Street Market, and here is 
the fish market corresponding to our Fulton Market. 
Around this market for many blocks extend the stores 
of the commission merchants. They receive shipments 
and sell on commission the same as the New York 
merchants, but they tell me that they usually charge 
10 per cent for selling, while the charge in New York 
for most goods is five per cent. They should secure 
higher prices to earn this higher commission. The 
charges on apples are uniform, so much per barrel, 
whether the price be high or low. The Philadelphia 
commission men do not start business so early in the 
morning, as those in New York ; in fact, there isn’t 
the push and hustle that we find among the business 
men of the metropolis, though, as the old song has it, 
“ they get there just the same.” 
An enumeration of the products on sale would cover 
pretty much those of the whole country. Immense 
quantities of sweet potatoes are on every hand ; these 
come largely from south Jersey, and growers and 
dealers complain of the low price they are now forced 
to accept. The reason for this seems to be that they 
are grown much farther north than formerly, hence 
the demand from the north is lessened. Then, too 
there was a large crop this year. Both red and yel¬ 
low are grown, the latter being in larger quantity. 
On the farmers’ market, prime sweets were selling 
for 20 cents per half-bushel basket, and seemed to be 
going very slowly at that. All kinds of vegetables 
were in large supply and, as a general thing, prices 
ruled low. 
There was a large supply, in fact a glut, of New 
York State apples. Dealers were exerting themselves 
more to sell these than any other produce. Baldwins 
and Greenings were freely offered at 90 cents to §1 
per barrel, Kings and Northern Spys a little higher. 
Most of them were undersized, and many showed 
signs of careless sorting and packing. 
I saw few grapes in market, while, at the same time 
there was a large supply in the New York market. 
This would seem to indicate that it would have been 
wise to examine other markets rather than to ship 
so many to New York. This sort of distribution—too 
much in one place and not enough in another—shows 
the need of a central bureau of information among 
growers and shippers to collect and disseminate news 
about the supply and demand of different products. 
The farmers’ market on South Second Street, is sim¬ 
ply a part of a street which is set aside for the farm¬ 
ers, where they can come and sell their products direct 
from their wagons. They pay a nominal license fee 
of 50 cents a year. 1 found, in talking with those 
on the market, that they were unanimous in the 
opinion that trade isn’t what it used to be. One said 
that it is because their products are so cheap ; that 
people buy more when prices are high. These farm¬ 
ers sell to retailers or consumers, anybody who wishes 
to buy. They bring all sorts of produce, drive their 
wagons to the curb, put their horses in the stable, 
and wait for customers. Housekeepers wishing to 
buy direct from the farmers, here have their oppor¬ 
tunity. In another article, I shall speak more of the 
retail market. F. H. v. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
We are in receipt of a notice from the De Laval Separator Co., 
from their general office, 74 Cortlandt Street, New York, to the 
effect that their Western offices, stores and shops at Elgin, Ill., 
have been removed to Chicago, III., better to accommodate their 
customers and facilitate the increased production to meet con¬ 
stantly increasing demands. The Western office is at 43 West 
Randolph Street. The company urges that all parts of the 
machine be kept in perfect repair, in order to maintain the best 
results, and promises prompt attention to repairs or inquiries for 
essential parts. They will send lists of parts on application, and 
recommend that the lists be kept on hand for immediate use 
when needed. 
Housewives who have long bent over a bowl and with a knife, 
hacked and chopped till their muscles ached and the meat was 
minced, will really rejoice in the Enterprise new meat chopper. 
It is valuable in the preparation of sausage, mince meat, hash, 
hamburg steak for dyspeptics, chicken and lobster for salads, 
suet, tripe, codfish, clams, cocoanuts, meat for beef tea, scrap 
meat for poultry, corn for fritters, etc. They are also makers of 
another useful device—the Enterprise raisin and grape seeder. 
“ The Enterprise Housekeeper”, containing 300 recipes, besides 
valuable information for the house wife, will be mailed for two 
two-cent postage stamps to all who apply to the Enterprise Mfg 
Co., of Philadelphia, Pa. 
We are frequently asked by readers about those houses which 
give country people “ profitable employment at home,” and we 
get more such inquiries just now than usually, because one or two 
such houses are advertising in most of the country papers. In 
fact, one of them got into Tue R. N.-Y. for one or two insertions 
through an oversight, but it was promptly thrown out, and the 
yearly order for it canceled. These companies or bureaus send 
a partial sample list of persons classified as having certain dis¬ 
eases, with prices attached, which are very alluring. You are, 
however, required to send about $3, a little less, usually, for 
blanks, rules and stationery. This you get at a cost to the com¬ 
pany of a few cents, but the rules are such that you cannot make 
out an acceptable list, and you have heard the last of your 
“bureau.” After looking up these “companies ” several times 
we are satisfied that the scheme is one simply to get your first 
remittance, and that there is no possible chance of your ever 
getting your money back, to say nothing about getting paid for 
your time. 
