68 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  30 
Fbke  Delivery  Again. — I  have  just  read  the  com¬ 
munication  signed  S.  C.  Hall.  If  he  is  a  farmer,  it  is 
about  time  for  him  to  get  out  of  the  ranks  and  go  into 
some  other  business.  A  great  many  people  don’t  want 
the  farmers  to  have  a  free  mail  delivery,  preferring 
that  they  should  come  to  town  in  person.  Such  per¬ 
sons  are  vastly  more  interested  in  the  farmer’s  pocket- 
book  than  in  himself  and  his  family’s  best  interests.  I 
have  been  a  farmer  for  the  last  25  years,  and  at  no 
time  would  I  have  failed  to  appreciate  the  receipt  of 
a  daily  paper,  without  considering  the  other  advan¬ 
tages  of  a  free  mail  delivery.  The  information  de¬ 
rived  from  papers  and  periodicals  would  make  farmers 
better  citizens,  more  capable  of  forming  a  just  esti¬ 
mate  in  political  matters,  and  in  fact  keep  them  in 
touch  with  the  daily  life  of  the  world.  I  don’t  see  why 
anybody,  unless  from  interested  motives,  should  object 
to  a  trial  of  the  system  when  such  an  authority  as  Mr. 
Wanamaker  states  that  where  tried  the  income  from 
the  increased  amount  of  postage  has  paid  all,  or  nearly 
all,  the  cost  of  delivery.  The  assertion  that  farmers 
would  order  their  mails  to  be  left  in  the  post  office  is 
simply  ridiculous.  I  believe  that  nothing  would  do  so 
much  to  educate  the  farmer  and  make  a  good  and  pro¬ 
gressive  farmer  of  him  as  a  free  mail  delivery.  Give 
it  a  trial.  If  found  wanting,  the  law  can  be  easily 
repealed  ;  but  by  all  means  give  it  a  trial.  c.  G.  s. 
A  Chorus  of  Voices. — Some  farmers’  organizations, 
laboring  under  the  mistaken  notion  that  they  owned  the 
earth  have  asked  Congress  for  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  as 
a  supplement.  At  last  there  is  some  discretion  as  well  as 
judgment  in  the  appeal  for  free  mail  delivery  in  the 
country.  It  is  the  greatest  national  question  of  the  day. 
The  concession  would  injure  none  and  benefit  millions. 
Paternalism  it  is  not,  as  the  cities  are  now  favored 
with  this  richest  of  blessings.  The  farmers  can  well 
afford  to  meet  Uncle  Sam  at  the  gate  by  preparing 
boxes  in  which  the  letters  for  mailing  and  those 
to  be  delivered  can  be  left.  Then  with  a  shrill  whistle 
or  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  the  carrier  may  continue  his 
journey.  Free  mail  delivery  would  make  life  worth 
living  in  the  country,  while  the  difficulty  of  getting 
the  mail  under  the  present  system  is  a  serious  draw¬ 
back  to  contentment  and  happiness.  Let  no  one  argue 
that  we  can  send  if  we  cannot  go  ourselves  ;  it  is  the 
exception  and  not  the  rule,  when  one  gets  his  mail 
when  he  sends  for  it  by  a  neighbor.  From  December 
31  to  January  11,  here  in  Ionia  County,  Michigan,  we 
were  without  our  mail.  During  that  time  I  made  two 
trips  to  one  neighbor’s,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  and 
one  trip  of  nearly  two  miles,  vainly  expecting  to  get 
the  mail,  as  I  had  sent  for  it.  Finally  we  received,  all 
at  once,  nine  papers,  one  catalogue,  one  letter  and  one 
postal  card.  Usually  I  get  to  the  post  office,  four  miles 
away,  once  a  week.  Free  mail  delivery  would  be  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era  for  farmers  ;  for  all  they  lack 
is  a  chance  to  keep  up  with  the  times. 
A  chorus  of  voices  peals  forth  and  rejoices 
That  a  good  time  is  coming  right  soon; 
It  makes  our  hearts  lighter 
And  makes  our  homes  brighter 
To  think  that  it’s  coming  so  soon.  b.  k.  i,. 
Hall  Hauled  Over  the  Coals. — I  think  a  great  im¬ 
provement  would  be  made  in  The  Rural  if  it  would 
require  its  voluntary  correspondents  to  state  what 
business  they  are  engaged  in,  for  oftentimes  the  char¬ 
acter  of  their  vocation  would  explain  why  they  wish  or 
think  this,  that,  or  the  other  thing,  and  save  further 
comment.  I  refer  particularly  to  S.  C.  Hall’s  insulting 
remarks  with  regard  to  farmers,  on  free  mail  delivery, 
on  page  37.  Saloon  keepers  do  not  want  free  mail 
delivery,  for  when  some  farmers  go  or  send  their  help 
for  the  mail  they  visit  the  saloons  and  spend  some 
money.  Men  who  frequent  saloons  do  not  want  free 
mail  delivery,  for  it  would  remove  one  excuse  when 
they  want  to  go  to  the  saloon  and  get  full.  An  unprin¬ 
cipled,  thievish,  petty  middleman  does  not  want  free 
delivery  ;  for  his  time  is  so  little  occupied  that  he  can 
easily  make  a  trip  to  the  post-office  each  day,  and  then 
go  out  and  catch  a  farmer  on  a  fat  calf,  pig,  or  a  few 
dozen  eggs  or  pounds  of  butter,  when  there  is  a  sharp 
advance  in  price,  which  the  farmer  can  know  of  only 
once  a  week.  S.  C.  Hall  says  some  farmers  want  the 
“  earth;”  townspeople  have  come  very  near  to  getting 
it.  Why  would  not  the  special  delivery  stamp  do  for 
the  “intensely  literary” — no,  intensely  selfish  city 
people  ?  Free  mail  delivery  should  have  been  universal 
when  the  post-office  service  was  first  introduced,  even 
if  letter  postage  had  to  remain  at  three  cents.  Give 
us  free  postal  delivery,  no  matter  if  S.  C.  Hall  is  in¬ 
tensely  opposed  to  it,  and  thinks  we  are  so  intensely 
illiterate  that  we  read  only  almanacs.  H.  c.  harvey. 
How  to  Improve  the  Quality  of  the 
Farmer’s  Stock. 
It  is  not  proposed  to  speak  in  this  article  of  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  feeding  and  care  essential  to  the  rearing  of 
good  stock,  but  to  treat  briefly  of  the  influence  of  pure 
blood  in  the  successful  prosecution  of  this  most  inter¬ 
esting  branch  of  rural  industry. 
It  is  an  old  axiom  that  “blood  will  tell.”  Hut  what  is 
blood?  Of  late  years  we  have  heard  much  of  new 
breeds  of  cattle,  horses,  sheep  and  swine.  By  the  term 
blood  as  used  in  this  connection,  by  writers  of  authority 
in  the  breeder’s  art,  was  meant  an  established  breed, 
a  race  bred  with  such  skill  and  care  for  numberless 
generations  as  to  present  uniformity  of  type  and  es¬ 
sential  characteristics  and  capable  of  transmitting  their 
characteristics  from  parent  to  offspring.  But,  besides 
these  desirable  qualities,  the  “  blooded  ”  animal  was 
also  understood  to  possess  a  certain  excellence  and  re¬ 
finement  of  characteristics,  which  stamped  it  as  su¬ 
perior  to  all  varieties  of  common  or  “cold  ”  blood  ;  as, 
for  example,  the  Arabian  horse,  and  the  Barb  and 
Turk,  with  their  thoroughbred  descendant,  the  British 
race-horse,  all  of  which  are  said  to  be  “warm-blooded,” 
while  other  varieties  though  useful  in  many  respects, 
and  possessing  considerable  similarity  of  character  so 
long  as  they  are  bred  together,  are  yet  so  inferior  in  re¬ 
finement  of  character  and  potency  in  communicating 
their  excellence  to  other  varieties. *to  the  matchless 
race-horse,  that  they  are  termed,  in  contradistinction, 
“cold-blooded,”  The  well-established  and  highly  re¬ 
fined  North  Devon  cattle  may  be  mentioned  as  pos¬ 
sessing  in  the  greatest  perfection  the  highest  charac¬ 
teristics  of  “blood”  or  purity  of  breed  in  the  bovine 
race. 
The  average  farmer  finds  it  impracticable  to  stock  his 
land  with  animals  of  the  superior  and  highly-cultivated 
races  whose  genealogy  is  recorded  in  herd  and  stud 
books,  though  he  is  under  the  constant  necessity  of 
having  recourse  to  this  blood  to  maintain  the  excel¬ 
lence  of  his  stock  in  useful  and  profitable  qualities. 
This,  the  reader  will  observe,  is  altogether  another 
matter  from  the  use  by  the  farmer  of  males  or 
females  of  the  best  common  stock  or  sub-breeds  avail¬ 
able.  with  which  to  carry  on  his  breeding  industry.  In 
the  latter  case  he  may,  with  good  grade  stock,  reserv¬ 
ing  the  best  always  for  breeding,  maintain  a  fair  degree 
of  excellence  in  his  herds  for  several  generations  with¬ 
out  recourse  to  the  fresh  infusion  of  the  pure  blood  of 
the  superior  races.  But  this  grade  stock,  however  ex¬ 
cellent  in  appearance,  will  not  transmit  that  excel¬ 
lence  when  crossed  on  other  and  inferior  sorts,  and  so 
the  farmer  who  resorts  to  these  new  breeds  of  cattle, 
horses  or  sheep  to  cross  on  his  common  stock  with  the 
expectation  of  stamping  upon  it  the  characteristics  of 
the  new  varieties  or  sub-breeds,  always  finds  the  result 
disappointing.  Take  as  an  illustration  the  British 
varieties  of  horses  known  as  the  Suffolk  Punch  and 
the  Hackney,  very  useful  animals  for  certain  purposes, 
and,  when  bred  together,  that  is,  within  the  variety, 
they  are  found  to  maintain  a  fair  degree  of  uniformity  ; 
but  when  crossed  on  other  sorts,  they  fail  to  transmit 
their  characteristics,  as  the  race-horse,  the  British  cart 
horse,  or  the  French  Percheron  horse  uniformly  does. 
In  The  R.  N.-Y.  for  December  26  last,  I  saw  a  very 
fine  illustration  of  “  French  Coach  Horses.”  They  are 
handsome,  showy  animals.  What  is  the  history  of  the 
breed  ?  Is  it  claimed  to  have  been  bred  pure  for  such 
a  length  of  time  and  to  exhibit  such  uniformity  and 
potency  when  crossed  on  other  breeds  that  it  can  be 
relied  upon  as  possessing  the  essential  merits  of  an  es¬ 
tablished  race  ?  I  think  there  is  danger  in  this  craze 
for  new  breeds  ;  and  as  regards  horses,  we  are,  I  think, 
underestimating  our  own  American  stock.  With  im¬ 
portations  of  Fandersand  French  draft  breeds,  British 
Hacks,  etc.,  with  some  Spanish  sorts  in  our  early  his¬ 
tory,  we  have  in  the  best  breeding  districts  of  the 
country  always  regarded  the  blood  of  the  British  race¬ 
horse  and  his  Eastern  ancestry  as  the  source  of  all  ex¬ 
cellence  as  regards  speed,  endurance,  courage  and  in¬ 
telligence  ;  and  until  the  recent  rules  in  favor  of  light 
weights  and  short  distances,  the  American  system  of 
breeding  was  better  than  the  British,  for  it  allowed 
more  grazing  and  greater  age  in  the  horse  before  train¬ 
ing  began,  and  consequently  we  had  stouter  stock  ;  and 
some  40  years  ago  the  great  majority  of  stallions  in  ser¬ 
vice  in  the  Middle  States,  at  least,  were  of  this  superior 
blood.  In  conseqence  the  stock  upon  our  farms  was 
superior  in  useful  characteristics  to  that  of  any  other 
country,  certainly  in  the  aggregate,  as  roadsters,  for 
work  upon  the  farm  and  for  the  saddle.  In  corroboration 
of  this  view  I  quote  the  following  from  Walt  Whitman, 
probably  upon  practical  questions  the  ablest  contributor 
to  the  American  literature  of  the  present  day.  Refer¬ 
ring  to  an  incident  observed  by  him  many  years  ago  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  he  mentions  seeing  an  elderly 
gentleman  wrapped  in  furs  carried  down  the  steps 
of  his  residence  and  then  lifted  and  tucked  in  a  gor¬ 
geous  sleigh :  ‘  ‘  The  sleigh  was  drawn  by  as  fine  a 
team  of  horses*  as  I  ever  saw.  Y ou  needn’t  think  all 
the  best  animals  are  brought  up  nowadays  ;  never  was 
such  horseflesh  as  50  years  ago,  on  Long  Island,  or 
in  the  South,  or  New  York  city.  Folks  looked  for  speed 
and  mettle  in  a  nag,  not  for  tame  speed  merely.” 
T.  C.  JONES. 
ANSWER  TO  CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer  to  insure  attention.  Before  asking  a  question,  please  see  if  it  is 
not  answered  in  our  advertising  columns.  Ask  only  a  few  questions 
at  one  time.  Put  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
What  are  the  Roots  Rooting-  For  P 
M.  M.,  Medway,  Manx. — In  grading  around  my  house, 
I  have  uncovered  many  elm  tree  roots,  and  some  pecu¬ 
liarities  of  root  growth  have  attracted  my  attention. 
The  roots  followed  the  layers  of  rich  soil  near  the 
surface  and  spread  their  fine  rootlets  thickly  through 
it,  but  occasionally  a  branch  root  would  strike  perpen¬ 
dicularly  downward,  sending  out  but  few  fibers.  How 
deep  these  downward  growing  roots  penetrate  I  am 
unable  to  say.  One  of  them,  at  a  distance  of  35  feet 
from  the  stem  of  the  tree,  we  cut  off  feet  below 
the  surface  soil,  and  it  measured  fully  three-quarters  of 
an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  point  severed.  How  much 
deepen  it  went  I  know  not,  but  should  think  five  to 
six  feet  by  its  manner  of  growth.  The  soil  is  a  loose 
gravel  and  coarse  sand,  and  apparently  wholly  incapa¬ 
ble  of  furnishing  any  nourishment  to  the  tree.  Now 
the  question  presented  to  my  mind  was,  What  did 
the  roots  go  after,  or  what  caused  them  to  grow  so 
strangely  away  down  into  the  barren  sub-soil  ?  Writ¬ 
ers  often  speak  of  plants  which  root  deeply  as  deep¬ 
feeding  plants,  and  refer  to  Red  Clover  as  a  plant 
which  penetrates  into  the  sub-soil  and  brings  fertility 
to  the  surface.  Is  this  so  ?  To  my  mind  it  appears 
reasonable  that  the  deep-growing  elm  roots  went  after 
water,  and  I  think  the  deep  roots  of  other  plants  go 
down  for  the  same  purpose.  The  roots  which  run  near 
the  surface,  or  as  far  down  as  air  freely  penetrates,  I 
think  feed  the  plant,  while  the  chief  office  of  those 
which  penetrate  deep  is  to  get  drink.  I  have  never 
known  much  benefit  to  growing  crops  from  manure 
placed  more  than  nine  or  ten  inches  below  the  sur¬ 
face.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  presence  of  air  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  enable  plants  to  appropriate  their  food  ?  Can 
The  Rural  refer  me  to  any  experiments  on  the  func¬ 
tions  of  roots  as  suggested  above. 
Ans. — There  is  good  experimental  evidence  that  not 
only  do  certain  deep-rooted  leguminous  plants  derive 
a  considerable  quantity  of  nitrogen  from  the  sub-soil, 
but  that  deep-rooting  grasses  and  other  plants  also  avail 
themselves  of  sub-soil  nitrogen.  There  is  no  doubt  of 
it.  No  doubt  they  thus  obtain  small  quantities,  at  any 
rate,  of  other  food.  Plants  send  their  roots  down  deep 
or  not  as  the  soil  is  dry  or  moist.  A  maple  growing  in 
swampy  woods  will  be  found  to  have  all  of  its  roots  on 
or  within  a  few  inches  of  the  surface.  The  same  tree 
removed  to  a  sandy,  dry  soil  will  send  roots  down  to  a 
considerable  depth. 
Seeds  need  air  to  vegetate.  They  need  the  oxygen  of 
the  air  to  reduce  their  insoluble  food  content  to  soluble 
food  content.  If  planted  in  a  soil  impervious  to  air, 
they  will  remain  for  years  without  sprouting.  Not  so 
with  the  roots  which  travel  in  all  directions  for  mois¬ 
ture  ;  for  food  is  valueless  without  it.  Our  friend  is 
referred  to  Johnson’s  How  Crops  Grow  and  How  Crops 
Feed,  to  Sach’s  Botany  and  to  Gray’s  Standard  Botany. 
Ang-ora  Goats  in  the  Far  West. 
B.  H. ,  Banner,  Wy — Can  somebody  tell  me  all  about 
Angora  goats— where  they  can  be  obtained,  price,  on 
what  kind  of  range  they  do  best,  average  clip,  price  of 
wool,  where  marketed,  etc.,  etc.  ? 
Ans.— Mr.  Daniel  Craig  of  Macleay,  Ore.,  sends  us 
the  following  facts.  Mr.  Craig  has  been  very  success¬ 
ful  with  these  goats.  He  states  that  prices  for  pure¬ 
bred  ewes  are  from  $12  to  $20  each,  and  for  bucks  $20 
to  $30. 
“  A  few  people  have  asked  me  if  the  Angora  goat  is 
not  breachy  and  hard  to  fence  in,  and  they  seem  sur¬ 
prised  when  told  it  is  not.  Their  memory  carries  them 
back  to  their  childhood,  or  to  stories  told  of  the  large, 
spotted,  coarse-haired,  milking  goat  of  our  grand¬ 
fathers,  which,  we  are  told,  used  to  climb  ladders  and 
houses,  eat  old  boots  and  tin  cans,  and  butt  any  stran¬ 
ger  that  would  dare  to  venture  in  their  yard.  The 
beautiful  Angora  goats  must  not  be  confounded  or 
compared  with  them.  I  find  them  very  easy  to  fence 
in — much  easier  than  horses — a  seven  or  eight-rail 
fence,  or  six  strands  of  barb  wire,  or  a  five-board  plank 
fence  ;  or,  what  would  be  better  than  either,  a  slat  and 
wire  fence  (the  best  fence  there  is)  would  confine  them 
so  that  they  would  give  no  trouble.  Angora  goats  will 
eat  all  kinds  of  brush  indigenous  to  Oregon  or  Wash- 
