{ title: 'The Otsego farmer. (Cooperstown, N.Y.) 1885-1910, April 03, 1886, Page 1, Image 1', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn87070110/1886-04-03/ed-1/seq-1/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn87070110/1886-04-03/ed-1/seq-1.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn87070110/1886-04-03/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn87070110/1886-04-03/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Fenimore Art Museum
VOL. IX. Death, \Weritten expresqly for the Orszco Fanarsn, as nexson. © \The wind and wave had marred the satlor's frome; And gray hairs showed. that time had. made his claim; M But still the sailor tolled along the beach; While now and then a pearl was thrown in reach, ° And waters wild and weatherbeaten, threw A handsome shell upon the lap of earth. 'The lonely pilgrim walked and watched the sea, And saw the waters mar the vessel's leo; And thus ho thought the things of life are worn, ~*¥hile love of man, and bird, and beast, is borne Beyond the sea of thought, and mind, to God, And fearful live without the knowledge why. Thus ov'ry man a mavigator born; + \The records written 'mid the storms of morn; And then at noon we wander on the strand, And 'mid the ev'ning zephyra we may stand, While thus aur songs of happiness Increase, And dying we shall find our crown of love. a But death is not the end of all our life, 1t only ends the woe, the care, the strife; And singing we shall wave the victor's palm, And change the sailor's life, for that of calm; Whilesallor, statesman, priest no more; we move Around his throne, the Master Mariner. - Farm Hopics. Reminiscences of Farm Life of Olden Times, Stories, &c.=--No, 15. Written expressly for Tix Organ FanxzR, BY m. BAKER. | them, and then our gold. to pay for them. COOPERSTOWN, N. Y., SATURDAY, the children 'of Jacob. Business can no nvore-prosper without-money; than they could make their brick without straw. This point is too often overlooked. Its full force' is not appreciated and under- stood. If our ports are to be open to for- eign goods and our manufacturing com- pelled to compete with foreigners, we should make such foreign manufacturer pay a liberal bonus for entering: our mar- kets and becoming our competitors, The sum so saved is all we have of our money paid for foreign goods. The larger the percentage we thus save, the better for our country and our government, and our home manufacturers. Most people look upon duties paid on foreign goods as a.tax upon the American consumer. We do not view the matter in such a light, Foreign goods do two things to the American customers if of a kind which can be home produced. 'They take from us the work and material to make Thus crippling us in both ways. If by the purchase A, who is not & producer or manufacturer, saves a penny, B, who is a maker of like goods, loses both his busi- ness, and our country the money paid for them. Our people are made idle, and our country poor, Oh we will pay in our cotton, says the southern citizen, or our grain, abd 'our meat, says the Western man. Thus they would not only lose their gold but their soil too. What country on earth is rich stopping this immense national leak to our shit of late, - We have now within the | | United States over 120,000 miles of rail- roads in operation, all of which has been constructed since 1832. Truly we have been allowed to live in a wonderful age, and to witness more civil advancement than any. other people. - The most important in- ventions may be said to have either been nilide or come into use during our lifetime. Railroads, telegraph, telephones, sewing muchines, knitting machines, electrotype, daguerreotype, friction matches, mowing and reaping machines, horse rakes, iron and steel plows, phonograph, rubber goods, driven wells, grain threshing and sowing machines, cast and Bessemer steel, steel springs, circular saw mills, steel roller grain mills, etc., etc. | The discoveries ind inventions of the pust half century are al- most without number, | Their effect upon the industries of our country is great. What we as a nation want at this time, and for the future, to ensure us continued prosperity, is some arrungement which en- able the labor of our people to supply to its utmost all our wants, | If that could be ac- complished, and the different kinds of labor properly distributed, there need hever be any idlepess, nor lack of remunerative em- ployment for all. | The new fields of labor are continually on the increase. Each year adds to their variety and quantity. Every new invention that is useful opens a new field. Every new employment in- cronses to. their vusioty. A FARM AND, FIRESIDE JOURNAL. amman YEAR. Potatoes. Written especially for Tits Otszco Fanuzn, ay in Baxen. Many are the theories of different per- song uon praising potatoes. I notice that the experiments of our State station were more successful with the larger amount of seed used. That such is to be relied upon as proof positive of the best course cannot be established by one or two ex- periments. & ' It is a question which I have been un: suceessfully trying to solve by actual ex- periment for over fifty years, and have set- tled only one fact, and that is that I don't know, neither do I everexpect to. - Butthe evidence so far as I have been able to learn, ity and quantity. It is said that \one: swallow is not sure evidence of spring,\ and I will add that one, or ten, expériments can hardly settle the best amount of seed potatoes to put in the hill, for the result will continually change by circumstances. In 1834 I was planting potatoes in a large garden, and putting a large whole 130390 in each hill. My father came along and noticed my liberal use of seed. \Har- vey,\ said he, \you would raise more pota- toes if you would cut those and only put half one in a hill,\ Ireplied \if half one would do well I think a whole one would do better.\ - \\I will convince you,\ was his reply, \I will drop one row and you cover it and care for it the same as the others APRIL 3, 1886. is in favor of light seeding, Tor bot _ | Cave plaster with other things, hen manure | . yard manure, leached ashes, unleached ashes, plaster and wheat bran, plaster and buckwheat bran,-plaster and salt, plaster alone, and two rows without anything in the hill. I dropped the seed and fertilizer myself, the man- belping doing all the covering alike. I had three kinds of pbin- toes planted but they crossed the rows so that all were tested alike. - All.were cared for in the same way and the 'potato beetle was so plenty that I was compelled to re- sort to Paris Green after trying to kill them otherwise, Dot s When time to dig T was called from home and directed my man to dig those in the garden and othersmall pieces, expect- Fesrefuny-=erefiic result of my ex- periments by testing the rows as recorded in my book. Being detained longer than I expected, when I returned all. was dug up to the two rows which had nothing in the hill, and be was then digging them, Those two rows were nearly eaten up by the- young potato beetles. The first one I teok up I counted twenty-five upon the one potato. I afterwards found forty on a single potato. Not a bug wis found in u row having plaster in the hill, no mat- ter what the manure or thing was which was used with it My man said they all yielded very near alike, except the two rows above named. - Auother picce planted with the plaster in the hill, by the side of one of like size with none, gave just dou- TERMS, $1.50 A _ Farm Notes e Different breeds ore—beep should not be kept together, rs the same conditions ato not equally suited to all. D Do not buy corn neal for feeding in which ont hulls are mixed to make it appear like onts and corn ground together, * ~ Eight and five-eighths pounds per gallon is rapidly becoming' the standard weight of milk in this country and Europe. Keep no more animals than can be com- fortably accommodated; otherwise they prove an expense rather than profitable, Sheep sick and dying. on dry provender bave had the mortality arrested when en- silage diet was substituted says an exchange. A good farm horse should not be sold or swapped. . It is better to keep such animals, some kind. The Poultry Bulletin says: \ Never use wood ashes for a dust bath. 'They will make the brightest plumage rusty. Put the dust-box where the sun will shine on {t longest.\ When the young lamb becomes weak and debilitated, after nearly ready for weaning, it may be strengthened by giving it a feed twice a day of oatmeal gruel and warmed milk. Look affer the small things of the farm. Larger profits in proportion to the cost of production are. realized from sales of but for few horses are exempt from defect of -- 's Darip -or mesos In the year 1817 Daniel D. Tompkins, the Governor of New York, by special message, fecommended the abolition of slavery in this State, advising@Hat-the law take effect in 1827. His recommendation became the law, and slavery in this State was abolished. 'The census of 1820 shows ur State to have had 10,088 slaves. Before 1880 all the Northern states had abolished slavery, yet some were still held in all states except Vermont, who had. not by the terms of emancipation become free, As late as 1840 our State still had four slaves. The entire white population of the Unit- ed States in 1880 was 10,537,878, and sluves 2,009,048. Atthat date, Virginia hada pop- ulation of 1,211,405, being. the third high- est State in the Union, New York and Pennsylvania only exceeding it. In 1810 Virginia was the most populous state in the Union, and in 1820 it exceeded all except New York. Virginia, up to 1880, had in fact been the first state in the Union. It Bad furnished more distinguished men, and possessed naturally more of the clements of wealth, probably, than any other state. The point we wish to make by the above statement and figures is that if Virginia had abolished slavery at the time our state did, there is little if uny doubt but what it would have become the Empire State of tho Union. Its early settlement, its mild elimate, its rich and fertile soil, and its vast resources in mineral wealth, gnve it prominence over al} others. Had all the states become free at that early day, and then carried out the policy of pro- tection of home industrics inaugurated by General Jackson it would be hard to estimate the progress which those southern States would have made before 1860. The advanta- ges they possessed naturally, over the north- era were truly wouderful. They had water- powers unimpeded by frost of vast value if utilized, and the cotton plant was indige- mous to the sofl. The inventions in the preparing of cotton, bad the opportunity been seized upon, would have enabled them to have led the world in its manufacture. Instead of shipping to Europe as for the past fifty years the raw cotton, their facili- thes if improved, would have enabled them ‘ to have supplied the manufactured goods instead, to all the nations of the earth. Bo too with sugar. There is enough un- cccupled end unimproved: sugar land in the southern states, to supply the wants of a population vastly superior to our own. A proper protective policy would have cuough to stand for a long time such de- pletion? _We know of none. Ours cer: tainly is not. aa No question is of half the impoftafice this is to the Ameri@in farmer, He it is who in the end is to suffer the greatest loss, When his soil is exhausted his source of in- come is gone. Gone alike for him and al- so for his posterity. What shall we do for an market? asks the farmer. We will tellhim, We the past year paid about four hundred millions of dollurs for imported goodsof the like kinds which we ourselves produce. We repeat. the saine thing year after year. If enough of those engaged in farming were added to the un- employed in our lund to make even one- half of those goods annually, we would have a home market for all we could ruise, which would be better for us than all for cign markets on earth, And besides, our people would have the money to pay the farmer for his productions every time, This matter must be understood. It must be fully examined. It must be can- vassed in all its bearings. If our interest demands thit we import less,and manufuc- ture more, we increase the duty so as to shut out more of these foreign productions. Our plan would be to increase the duty annually, say on an average of ten per cent each year, until all things we can ourselves produce should be excluded, and our peo- ple bave the work and. the money now thus lost, Such gradual increase would enuble our industries to grow up gradually to the entire wants of our 'people, and no- body be injured, and all benetitted. Such would inake little or no difference with our exports. We now sell nothing abroad unless cheaper than the foreign pur- chaser can buy it at home. And as food products compose nearly all our exports, we would be full as likely to receive a for eign demand as now, even if we imported only the things we could not produce in our own country. We have a demonstration of what even moderate protection does for us in the cen- sus figures for the two decades from 1880 ! to 1880, nithough we were during nearly | five of those years destroying property and life, both north and south, with a ruthless | hand. The whole amount of property in our Union in 1860 was in round numbers six- | teen billions of dollars, and in 1880 forty- three and one-half billions showing a gain of over twenty-seven < billion of dollars in | twenty years, notwithstanding the immense ' 1 ¢ long simee developed it, if those states had been free, and such policy adopted. i Bo to with riceand most kinds of tropi, cal fraits What was not done then re ' raains to be still accomplished. The insti- | degraded Iabor, and re-! tarded southern progress, no longer re-! maitis, and as soon as the people have time to properly educate themselves upon the tre principles of political economy, in a country Hike ours, and under our form of goverment, all will be changed. f The southern people are rapidly awaken- ! ing to their true interests, 'Fhey are shak- ing of the shackles of predjudice, and are welcoming progress and development. | They have vast developed resources. They ways a wealth in forests, and mines, no where dse surpassed, or equaled. Their climate is peculiarly favorable for their de- -velopment. No northern state-cam-pro-| sider thestudy of the bestInterest of them- duce from, marble, coal. phosphate, mica shd many other minerals to compete, when once their mines are fully devel and will ecer give them a decided fA could produce at bome. sum of value in property destroy by the i war during that time. These figures are significant, and their lesson should not be ' overlooked. During the years since the war our nation has too kept a credit it had never had before; extinguished of the pub-! lic debt nearly one and one-half billions | of dollars, paid in pensions the sum of over | six hundred and forty-six millions of dol- lars, besides all the other expenses of our government and improvements made by it. ' It is our belief that all this vast gain is greatly due to the profectize«tariff policy inaugurated in 1861, and we hate no doubt - had the percentage been double, our coun- ; try would have reaped a corresponding in- crease in gains. i Some people think these questions of political eeduomy form no part of the nee | essary information of farmers, but we con- selves the very matters they ought to un- derstand. If by wrong teschings they have imbibed erroncous notions! they ought to lose no time In embracing the right These are notparty questions, but purely those of individual and mational policy. If by annually sending Huedreds of mil Tous of dollars unmevéssarily whroed we If some arrangement wis made by which the excess of wheat produced in years of plenty could, be stored snfelyeand carried\ over to years of scarciy, the changes in. prices of food might be kept nearer their true level. It was said to be the practice ef the ancient Babylonians, to keep twenty years' supply of provisions constantly with- in the walls of that famous city. - No such long term of years of supply are necessary here, but three or four years' storage of ex- cess might often be of advantage. It has been the custom of some nations to never allow the exportation of any food products except when below a certain price. Such policy would certainly tend to the réduction of the price of food to the people where such ; laws were in force. ' The English nation will soon be com- pelled to place a duty on the importation of foreign food products, or else the agri- cultural interests, aod the value of lands will soon greatly reduce the power and wealth of her aristocracy. 'The income of the members of the house of Lords is yearly diminishing by diminished rental of lands, and their power and influence on a corresponding wanes. At the same time their manufacturers are selling us goods, and we are sending them our cheap food in return. Even now the people are be- gining to see the folly and injury, being the ontgrowth of their free trade policy, und clamor for protection, Germany and and at digging time. we willsee which wins.\ mw He took his knife, opgrod4hosmall blade, vane Toes in pIG@Bs funnel shupe, about the size of u large chestnut cach, and dropped three such eye pieces in eich hill, of one row. I covered them the sapie us I did of my own planting, and I drove a stake at the ends of the row so that no mistake could occur. They were all hoed alike. At digging time his row just doubled in amount the rows I had planted with the lurge whole seed of precisely the samekind, not a small potito among them. They were of the round flesh colored variety. The next time I tried it the weight was ja little in favor of the whole seed, but the size of the light seeding fur beter and more uniform. When the Early Rose potatoes came around I paid one dollar and fifty cents for twelve quarts of them. I took of them and cut so us to have one eye on a piece, and planted five rows, each five rods long, across my gurden, with three such pieces in each hill. Four hills would mske a bushel. I never saw such yield. It took but little of the seed as the eyes were numerous on each potato. I bad the re- mainder planted iu the field, and they did no better than the other kind beside them, taking ubout twenty hills for a bushel. Eurly in the decade of 1850 potatoes France bave already, to quite an extent, wdopted a protective policy, in importation } of food, and in part probibitory, i England will, for self-protection, be soon j compelled to fall into the wake. Political steps have already been taken there, which are significant. The clective franchise the | past year bas been extended. to-mearly two ; millions of her citizens. The power exer 1 cised by these exim votes will mot long re- | the crop from the sinall seed of only one | at the same time of those planted seven main dormant. [t will be felt in the near | future, and, too, in a manner which shall inure greatly to the benefit. of the English I laborer 1 It bas ever been the aim of all aristocratic ! governments, to keep labor. servile. It inI their only hope As frst ns it nrises from | thit condition, in like ratio does it break down the walls of distinction between the common people and the aristocracy. When | class distinction is destroyed, the power of | seed. were scarce and high. I planted mbout one-third of an acre with fair sized whole ones, one-third with cut ones, and the re- maining portion of the field, about the sume size, with very small ones. They would not average as large as walnuts. All were the same kind and all planted the sune day, myself dropping and a man cov- ering them. At digging time we found small potato in the hill, to yield in size, quantity and quality, fully as well as the large seed and out seed. From not less than fifty experiments, ex- tending through as many years, the aver- age of three eyes to the hill has fully equaled the lurger amount of, like sized My experiments have been mostly confined to the garden, and scarcely a year has passed in which I have not tried them. The past season I tried from a single eye, Its name may remain, to ten in a hill, and noobservable difference ' and cut enough eyes'ont of-the-large potas-. J gether. precedes, but can only follow them; The | dug the best crop he ever raised. mechanic arts, the railrosd and the tel graph, are to work wonders in the near future among the nations of the earth. warranted by the experience of the past Nots pation exists but what. lewven already at work. monarchy is gone but its spirit has departed. Ruch is what < was seen between the rows at digging is now like leaven working in the very‘time. The more seed the more tops, and heart of the English nation. Whoever | often less sizable tubers. lives a quarter of a century will note the '- In 1883 I planted a single potato of a change effected Either her liberal laws 'new kind, cutting two single eyes, and 'must be repealed, or her throne is doomed. ' from it raised forty-three and one-balf [® whim. ble-the-yickd-whore-the-plasto-war used; and besides smoother and larger, The next year I ised souie \of the ~ whices <a Far $0 no goou. My conclusion of the whole matter is that no certain rules wil} ensure entire suc- cess. But I haye never failed of a crop which paid, although sometimes yielding much less than others, I do not now re- member of ever failing of raiging an aver- age of one hundred bushels per agre, and some times at the rate of five times that amount. * One thing I have learned as best for me, and that is to dig as soon as ripe. I put at 'once into a cool dark cellar, and as put in dust lightly but evenly with air-slacked lime. It prevents rotting and besides helps to preserve them dry and mealy. The past summer I let a piece to plant on shares. When time to dig, the man was away working at hops. I set a man digging my half, digging two rows and leaving two. Mine were all sound and right and are now very fine. His share dug two weeks later were fully one-half rotten, and those not decayed, of an inferior qual- ity. 1 bave tested that matter of digging so that I um sutisfied it is not on all lands? safe to leave potatoes too long in the ground. If rainy and warm, they decay very sud\ denly. Different soils would of course differ. On an avernge, the early planted do best, but sometimes the later planted give dou- ble the crop. If we could know in advance ; the season, we could better calculate for {it. One season planted in my garden in 1 April the Eary Rose. The middle of June I had a small piece, about ope rod square, not used, which I planted, In {six days they were up so as to hoe. In “ix weeks they were ripe and ready to dig C | weeks earlier, and the yield was fully as } good. L With potatoes as with everything else, we should do our duty well, and we seldom | fnil of our reward. The potato as a mar- ; ketable crop, one year with another, pays as well as most others. From seven to ten i bushels of seed I am confident ot year { with another will give as good a crop, as i would double the amount. I prefer good ' sized seed cut. I am satisfied the time or phases of the | moon have no effect upon the planting of. j potatees or any other crop. Most old peo- fple pay great stress on \the right time in the moon,\ but I have tried it until it will , do to go with ghosts and witches. It's only Any person who will test the Liberal ms are her laws and her policy, it pounds of large fine potatoes, and the notion five years will be compel]? jo aban- cannot stand universal suffrage and con- next year I planted part of them and raised tinues monarchy, Freedom of the elective some ten bushels, do not know fust how franchise and a monarchy, cannot exist (o- many planted or the proportion of yield. ‘zzdpgibzinglrz-g: “11133135053;— They are antagonistic. They C41 ; 1 pace seen splendid potatoes raised by not assimilate. | scattering seed on the sward ground and Every passing year shows progress ID covering with straw, no other care. I liberal views among all Eastern nations. , puce Heard an old man say the best crop of The progress of civilization is telling even ' potatoes he even raised, was where he had ; in Arabis and Africa. Whgmwr 58 ! out and hauled off the wood and brush dur- | pioneer, the mechanic arts. advance, civil ing winter. In the spring be planted pots- rogress is sure to follow Mechanic arta ' Education and religious instructfom Never nosed the dead leaves around for hills and | Time, kind. cireumstances and weather, all combine to secure success on failure. ao | In 1894 I planted a piece that I took great Thxsmnoiamndomprcspbecyjmafacg, ins with, used compost in each hill, | planted and boed with care and raed &| I fair omg. On each side of me on Namwwwmfirémfidflmphmedmwaehm even now ferling its power. . May the good work go on and confinue until the highest posihle civilization sball compass the en- tire earth. ° 4@--- . Thks Fa host of evils which sccrue to | are impoverthing dad. olly peo Tt is fieotable feet that fruit-gromers who them planted extremely ermal seed. and with no fertilizer and less care every way, mised a mach better crop than mine, Al planted whole seed, but their's was mock emailer in size than I csed. Oneof Femit people-#rocriscch policy. When cut fegore, our besibess ple, we sarcly to Know i, sod rem edy the evil. | Wee believe that is Loolficete but a few sores cézally Yes$ In twafimtimwphm}, us in worse conti | fost what we. are and that wa og Ton thie CS the task mexters not too soot awakens tothe of lof theis eSorts. <e ~ ~ rewards, as comport with the extent {asd used Eoterent CP to don it. Salt used with care increases the yield the average amount of potatoes used per head in our country bas doubled, if not trebled during my life time. Many farmers have suffered losses among their calves by putting them too early upon a non-milk diet of an unsuitable nature. C .to skins, and covered them with leaves; The stomach of a calf but a few weeks { are ever the leaders of savage Infe‘taws'n'ls and hauled chips on the leaves to hold them {civilization. They areits true missionsti®® betce bigwn off by the wind. He{ old is very tender and delicate, and will wot stand irritation such as is produced by many feeding stuffs that are readily digest: ednamoresdvancaigge. R months; hence they are especially the far mer's hog, for the only profitable pofkis that which is made at an early age: For Cheshire upon good-sized healthy Sows of shy breed, and every pig will be white, cx- “magi“? 39m the main crops. added-rost his ter, eggs, spring chickens, asparagus, etc., \Natness.aho®: C= .. times. | The man Who haf nof pride enough about him to keep his barns and stables clean and neat should not have the pleas ure of owning a good horse. Use plenty of grass seed in order to make an allowance for that which will be destroy- ed or eaten by birds or insects, . A light har- rowing will always prove beneficial upon . newly-seeded grass lands. The hog that receives a variety of food, instead of being fed exclusively upon grain, will not only grow faster but fatten more rapidly when being prepared for the butch er, na well as yield a better quality of pork. ' Only sheep take to beans naturally, and > even they may require some urging. Buf beans are very nutritious, and if there are more refuse orgtained ones than the shebp will consume, fly boiling them, or mixing with oats and grinding, hogs may be in- duced to eat some. -_ According to a recent discussion a grass, in order to be most valuable for pasture, must possess the following characteristics: Be well suited to the locality, both as to soil and climate; nutritious; palatable; capable of growing continuously so as to constantly renew its foliage when cropped; indure the tramping of animals; be easily propagated, Points about hiring farm help: Hire only as many hands as can be kept reason- ably busy; hire only good help; pay fair wages; pay prompily; treat your help with kindness and respect, when you find that your hired man is faithful and trustworthy don't neglect to extend a few extra favors over and above the wages covered by the contract. . ~---@44--- Ko the Young Men. At the present day eminent position in any profession-is the result of hard, un- wearied labor. Men can no longer fly at have got to hammer ft out by steady and rugged blows. The world is no longer penny is surer thin the quick dollst. racer. Gentus darts, flutters tires, but _ wears and wins. The all day wears off the Inurels. The last blowfaish~\' es the nail. Meh. must learn to\ IsbGr a wait if they would succeed. Brains x by use as well as hands. Thegrestest man- is the one who uses his-brains themost, . rile power. , Would you. knva feeter feet, them in the race. | Would you havestrong er minds, put them at rational t They will grow stronger by action... V1? 5 you havegrqfierayum'yse groater, more' rational and constant efforts. .\ Does competition trouble; 40u,- work; .~ ais, ASTaDIG RE ..- away; competitors but resent. \The- one dash into eminent positions: They , clay but fron in the hands of its Workers. i Work is the order of the day. 'The slow , . The slow trotter will out travel the fleet © horse wins the race. The afternoon man :> no matter what the color cf the 40%. fe L2] of every teovews cies