294 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March Si, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS EAhMERE PAIER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert w. Colling wood. Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, I Associates 
Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, ^ Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. Gd., or 8V 2 marks, or 10 Vi francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper Is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly sure 
we will make good any loss to paid subscribers sustained 
by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our col¬ 
umns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. We 
protect subscribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee 
to adjust trilling differences between subscribers and honest, 
responsible advertisers. Neither will we be responsible for 
the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one 
month of the time of the transaction, and you must have 
mentioned The Rural New-Yorker when writing the adver¬ 
tiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance 
Is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express order, 
personal check or hank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 190G. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive 
intelligent farmers who do not now take it, we send it 
10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory purposes. 
We depend on our old friends to make this known to 
neighbors and friends. 
* 
In spite of the damage done by Bordeaux Mixture 
last year in some parts of the country we believe that 
most fruit growers will spray as usual this year. Some 
of the damage done last year was unaccountable. The 
regular mixture was used and properly made, yet the 
foliage and in some cases the fruit was scalded. It will 
be a mistake to stop spraying. We believe some of the 
conditions last year were responsible, and it is quite 
likely that they will not return this year. We shall use 
the Bordeaux. 
* 
In this part of the country we were congratulating 
ourselves that Spring had come, and that there was to 
be no Winter. Just as the plows were ready to start 
the worst storm of the season appeared, followed short¬ 
ly by another. “Spring work” is now indefinitely post¬ 
poned except by those who did most of it in February. 
No use growling. No one needed the snow, but it must 
disappear in the old-fashioned way. If it had been cold 
weather the ice men would have had what they wanted, 
and the peach growers what they didn’t want. 
* 
Some of our readers are receiving circulars of what 
is called “Butter Quick”—also a free sample package of 
the substance. The “churnless” process of making but¬ 
ter consists in scalding the milk, then cooling, skimming 
after 24 hours, dusting the “Butter Quick” over the 
cream and stirring it with a wooden paddle. We sent 
a sample of this remarkable stuff to Dr. Van Slyke of 
the Geneva Experiment Station. lie says it appears to 
be a mixture of salt and granulated sugar with a little 
coloring matter! Of course no reader of The R. N.-Y. 
will pay a dozen prices for sugar and salt! 
* 
Galen, one of the greatest of early anatomists, 
learned much about the human body—almost entirely 
from a study of lower animals. Some 14 centuries later 
it was shown by actual dissection of the human body 
that some of the views of Galen were wrong. Rather 
than admit this, Vesalius, who made the discoveries, 
actually claimed that the human body had changed since 
Galen’s time. Absurd as this may seem to us to-day, 
can you not recall people who in their own little round 
of discoveries are as obstinate in admitting that their 
early opinion or conclusions were wrong? 
* 
One of the most frequent questions this year has been 
the old one about the possible danger of using fresh 
sawdust as manure. People are hunting more and more 
for wastes that can be used for fertilizing purposes. 
Straw brings a good price near large towns, and if g 
farmer can sell straw and substitute sawdust for bed¬ 
ding he is ahead. We are using considerable sawdust 
this year as bedding. The fresh sawdust is sour. It 
turns blue litmus paper red, and we would not care to 
put it directly upon the ground without adding lime. 
We find that after the sawdust has absorbed the liquids 
in the stalls and heated up with the manure it does not 
change the blue litmus paper, and this would be our 
test in using it. We have been asked if the sawdust 
can be mixed with the manure and changed by the fer¬ 
menting so that it will be safe. We think so. but the 
litmus paper test will settle it. Sawdust contains very 
little actual plant food, but when rotted makes a good 
absorbent, and gives good spreading quality to the 
manure. We expect to use some of it this year around 
apple trees, with a sprinkle of lime over it. 
* 
This is a good time to study the road question, be¬ 
cause we see our roads at their worst in Spring. As 
we toil through the mud we realize better what “good 
roads” mean. In connection with a reprint of Mapes’s 
article we give a picture of the King drag, which will 
probably not be new to many readers. This plan of 
scraping the road with a split log has gained a popu¬ 
larity in the West which most of us fail to understand. 
W. D. King, who devised this plan, has done much to 
arouse popular interest. We wish he could be induced 
to come to New York and talk “roads.” As noted re¬ 
cently, Clark Allis, of Medina, N. Y.. has been trying 
to get Mr. King to come East and give some object 
lessons. It •would be an excellent thing for farmers to 
combine and do this thing themselves. Let those who 
are interested write Mr. Allis before the mud dries up. 
* 
Diseased feet in horses are often the result of stand¬ 
ing in wet or filthy stables or yards, and any horse that 
is “worth 20 shillings” is deserving of having the ac¬ 
cumulations of filth scraped out of his hoofs once in a 
while. The writer’s rule is to look over the horses’ feet 
when they are put in the stable at night. This takes 
less than five minutes, and is time well spent. Dirt, 
manure and gravel are removed, and any irregularities 
noticed. Some horses are touchy about having their 
hind feet picked up, but in most cases this bad habit 
may be cured by gentle treatment. Tie the touchy horse 
to a post out doors, where he can see just what is being 
done, pick up his fore feet, scrape around his shoes. 
Then lift the hind feet in the same manner, and, unless 
the animal is really vicious, you will have but little 
trouble. After a few lessons of this sort he will get 
over it entirely, and the blacksmith who has been yanked 
about the floor at every shoeing time will be thankful. 
♦ 
It seems that most of the temperance people and pro¬ 
hibitionists favor the plan to remove the tax from de- 
naturized alcohol. It would not increase to any great 
extent the amount of of drinkable alcohol now sold, 
while it would provide new uses for it. Whenever one 
talks about curtailing the amount of liquor he is met 
with the argument that this would injure the farmer by 
destroying a market for his grain. There never was 
much force in the argument, but there will be nothing 
whatever in it if the tax is removed, because the alcohol 
will be used for manufacturing, fuel or light and there 
will be no need of using it for liquor. We have been 
asked what farm crops will represent if made into al¬ 
cohol. Secretary James Wilson says that an average 
yield of potatoes, which he calls 300 bushels per acre, 
will make 255 gallons of alcohol, while 50 bushels of corn 
will make 140 gallons. Our opinion is that some farm¬ 
ers are far too sanguine as to the great benefit agricul¬ 
ture will receive from the removal of the tax. The 
manufacturers will doubtless receive most benefit, yet it 
will in time prove a help to farmers, and they ought to 
favor the measure. 
* 
The promised articles by Mr. Garrahan begin this 
week. He will tell his story in his own way—the object 
being to show how a worn-out farm can be brought back 
to very profitable production by the sensible use of 
chemicals and green crops. We shall find that after 
all this is not the entire story, for some of the fields 
were smoothed and drained before they could be han¬ 
dled profitably. For many years farmers were taught 
that the only way to keep up the fertility of a farm is 
bj r feeding live stock—particularly dairy cows. We 
shall ask those who still teach that doctrine to look over 
Mr. Garrahan’s figures and results, and tell us how much 
quicker, easier and cheaper live stock could have saved 
the farm than chemicals and cow peas have done. It 
is interesting to compare this farm of Mr. Garrahan’s 
and that farm in the Blue grass section of Kentucky 
described on page 229. That Blue grass soil is about 
the best on earth for general farm crops and the spirit 
of the farmer has much to do with it too. In Kentucky 
the main business was farming. The farmer’s treasure 
was in his soil, and of course bis heart was there too. 
In Pennsylvania mining and other industries have sur¬ 
passed agriculture in profit and general interest. With 
this difference we should naturally expect the Kentucky 
soil to be better kept and more productive. Mr. Garra¬ 
han’s demonstration is of great value, since it shows 
what can be done with cheap land. 
* 
A case has just come to our attention which shows 
one way in which farming is changing along the At¬ 
lantic coast. A farm within driving distance of New 
York has changed hands. It had been in a family of 
farmers for three generations. All made money on it. 
The last owner, a man in the prime of life, sold to a 
foreigner who came to this country some years ago a 
poor man, and who on a little place has made enough 
to buy this fine farm. Now the American retires from 
his paternal acres and the foreigner takes his place. 
Why? The American was not forced away by financial 
matters—he made money and sold the farm at a good 
price. He made a good bargain. One of his chief rea¬ 
sons for selling was his inability to obtain good help. 
The nervous strain and risk of raising perishable crops 
like sweet corn and melons—at the mercy of care¬ 
less and dishonest helpers—was too much. The for¬ 
eigner has a large family and, for some years at least, 
will be free from the help problem. The American 
might have changed his plan of farming, seeded down 
his farm, cut hay or pastured horses, and done what 
he could with his own family with some favorite crop. 
That is one way out, and a good one, but he preferred 
to sell. The help problem on farms near the large 
towns and cities is simply overpowering. It is chang¬ 
ing the character of farming—driving the farms into 
the hands of farmers with large families who are will¬ 
ing to work, or taking farms out of cultivation and into 
pasture. 
* 
In our series of letters from Congressmen on the 
parcels post question we print this week one from Con¬ 
gressman Landis of Indiana, written to a R. N.-Y. 
reader: 
I have your letter of the 1st instant advocating the es¬ 
tablishment of a parcels post system. I am unalterably 
opposed to this proposition at this time. There are many 
things we would like to have through the Government, just 
as we would like to have them for ourselves, hut this would 
mean increased taxation in some new direction. I would 
also like to see one-cent letter postage, which benefit the 
whole people, and under which the benefits would be more 
generally distributed. 
The Government is now paying an average of three hun¬ 
dred dollars per year for every R. F. D. route over and 
above all receipts from postage on matter collected, as 
well as delivered, on these routes. I am in favor of the 
system, nevertheless, but we cannot have all things we 
would like at one time. c. b. landis. 
Mr. Landis does not dodge at least. He is opposed 
to the parcels post. If we lived in his district we would 
vote against him. The following letter from the man 
who wrote Mr. Landis covers the point: 
“There seems one great difference between parcel post 
and the rural mail system. The latter was a great 
thing for the spoilsmen. If there is a deficit it is largely 
their fault. The rural carriers get $2.40 per day for 
some seven hours and a 24-mile drive, while the Star 
Route carrier used to get less than 40 cents for 22 miles 
and about the same time and no side line. The drivers 
of the creamery wagon, just as competent and well 
educated, get 90 cents and house rent for a like drive, 
but must take care of a lot of cows in addition and 
work the balance of the day. There is a general feel¬ 
ing that the examinations are a ‘snap’ affair, and cer¬ 
tainly nothing like the effort is made that there is now 
to get men for the army and navy or was made by the 
old Star Route contractor. There is also a feeling that 
the best equipped man is liable to have his paper cred¬ 
ited to some ignorant henchman. The service certainly 
isn’t what it should be for the money, for I have count¬ 
ed 17 pieces of other people’s mail in my box in one 
month, not counting paper I take, and was given wrong 
copies of or my mail that went astray. The carrier used 
t d be glad to bring us groceries, bread, hardware o- 
anything for a small charge. Now it is handier to sen 1 
to a mail-order house for things we cannot raise or 
make ourselves, for we only make few trips to town 
and have to buy in quantity anyway.” 
BREVITIES. 
IIOG-KILLING Is a trying time for the women folks. 
Read the advice about selecting brood mares on page 
290. 
An Italian was recently held In $200 hall for keeping a 
Plymouth Rock hen in this city ! 
When a man stands In his own light It Is seldom possi¬ 
ble to move the light. You must move the man ! 
It will make some difference to the world whether you 
take the most hopeful things from your experience to give 
others or whether you hand down only the hitter parts of it. 
Do not carry an ax on your shoulder when walking with 
others. We have seen men slip and in trying to keep from 
falling strike a horrible blow with the ax. Carry it under 
the arm 1 
A novelty In this city recently was an elephant walking 
In the snow and hauling a load of women. When a farmer 
hitches a trotter to his sleigh he often drives a very useless 
white elephant. 
We are asked if we would advise a man who has never 
seen it done to test a cow with tuberculin. No. It seems: 
a simple thing to take a cow’s temperature, inject a little- 
tuberculin and then take her temperature again, but some- 
of the simplest things are incomplete without long practice.. 
In his excellent hook “Forty Years Tn the Medical Pro¬ 
fession.” Dr .T, J. Black quotes from a lecture by Dr. Stahl, 
addressed to doctors : “Whenever you prescribe an alcoholic, 
whether to man or woman, whether to the young or to the 
old, remember well and ponder well on the terrible weapon 
you are using both for good and evil. I beg of yon not to 
use it therapeutically in a reckless manner, and I pray God 
to especially guide you in prescribing it to the young and 
susceptible.” 
