February  20 
120 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
THK 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
*  * 
ELliERT  8.  CARMAN.  Editor  In  Chief 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY.  FEBRUARY  20.  1892. 
THE  COURT  SUSTAINS  THE  R.  N.-Y. 
Three  years  ago  The  R.  N.-Y.  made  a  statement  in 
the  Eye-Opener  department  warning  its  readers  against 
the  Empire  Cooperative  Association.  The  association 
brought  suit  for  libel,  placing  the  damages  at  850,000 
The  case  was  finished  last  Friday  before  Judge 
McAdam  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  the  jury,  after 
being  out  scarcely  five  minutes,  brought  in  a  verdict 
for  The  R.  N.-Y.,  thus  vindicating  the  good  faith  of 
the  editors  in  striving  to  protect  their  readers  against 
unfair  dealings  of  every  degree.  We  may  be  mistaken 
at  times,  but  we  bear  no  malice  against  any  man  or 
house  spoken  of  derogatorily  in  these  columns.  We  criti¬ 
cise  men  and  their  methods  in  the  hope  of  forcing  them 
up  to  the  plane  of  square  dealing  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  term,  and  to  save  our  patrons  meantime  from  losses 
due  to  such  unworthy  practises.  The  next  libel  suit 
brought  against  The  Rural  New-Yorker  is  that  of 
John  Lewis  Childs,  who  claims  damages  in  the  amount 
of  875,000.  We  hope  that  this  will  come  to  a  speedy 
trial,  for  which  we  shall  try  to  be  ready.  These  law¬ 
suits  are  discouragingly  expensive  affairs;  but  we  enter 
upon  them  with  a  fair  degree  of  cheerfulness  in  order 
to  maintain  the  reputation  of  The  R.  N.-Y  for  fearless 
reliability  and  fair  dealing. 
*  * 
The  Iron  Trust  and  the  Barbed  Wire  Trust  have — 
temporarily,  at  least — collapsed. — Sic  semper  tyrannis! 
*  * 
The  attention  of  every  reader  is  called  to  our  cata¬ 
logue  reviews  on  pages  118  and  119.  We  have  en¬ 
deavored  to  be  generously,  not  captiously  critical. 
*  * 
All  work  on  the  great  Nicsragua  Canal  is  reported 
to  have  been  suspended,  and  it  is  said  that,  like  the 
Panama  project,  the  scheme  has  collapsed.  There  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  no  chance  that  the  present  Congress  will 
guarantee  or  contribute  the  8100,000,000  sought  by 
the  promoters  of  the  work,  and  while  anxious  to  make 
fortunes  from  Government  largesses,  these  appear 
unwilling  to  risk  the  loss  of  fortunes  by  investing  their 
own  money  in  the  gigantic  undertaking.  The  Pacific 
Railroad  scandals  are  likely  to  prove  a  check  for  many 
a  day  on  reckless  donations  of  public  money  for  private 
emolument. 
*  * 
At  several  of  the  meetings  of  Western  beef  cattle 
breeders,  buyers  have  stated  that  it  is  harder  than 
usual  to  pick  up  good  steers  for  feeding.  The  reason 
given  is  that  there  has  been  such  an  increase  in  dairy¬ 
ing  that  the  tendency  is  to  breed  cattle  of  the  milking 
type  rather  than  of  the  beef  stock.  The  steers  from  this 
dairy  breeding  do  not  give  full  satisfaction  as  feeders, 
and  the  fact  accounts  largely  for  the  rush  of  poor 
cattle  into  the  markets.  There  does  not  seem  much  to 
discourage  the  feeder  of  well  bred  beef  cattle  in  this 
state  of  things.  There  will  always  be  a  demand  for 
extra  prime  beeves,  and  the  poorer  the  second-class 
stock  the  better  will  be  the  demand  for  the  first-class. 
The  same  will  hold  true  of  breeding  bulls  of  the  beef 
breeds — there  will  be  small  sale  for  the  poor  ones. 
*  * 
Younger  men  of  to-day  can  hardly  understand  how 
highly  guano  was  esteemed  by  scientific  and  practical 
men  of  40  years  ago.  That  was  before  the  days  of  the 
large  sales  of  the  present  mixtures  of  chemicals,  and 
guano  was  considered  the  nearest  approach  to  a  “  com¬ 
plete  ”  condensed  manure  on  the  market.  It  was 
deemed  useful  not  only  to  be  used  alone,  but  also  as  a 
“  medicine”  or  tonic  for  enfeebled  plants.  For  instance, 
Stockhardt  wrote  :  “  The  farmer  should  make  use  of 
guano  as  the  physician  employs  Peruvian  bark,  as  a 
universally  invigorating  or  strengthening  remedy  for 
sowings  of  all  kinds  that  have  suffered  by  the  severity 
of  winter,  or  which  from  want  of  power  in  the  soil,  or 
from  any  other  causes,  are  backward  in  their  growth.” 
A  “  dose  ”  for  such  “  run  down  ”  plants  was  150  to  200 
pounds  of  guano  per  acre.  Many  farmers  still  recog¬ 
nize  the  value  of  this  treatment,  only  they  use  nitrate 
of  soda  instead  of  the  guano.  It  was  also  thought  in 
those  days  that  guano  would  prove  a  good  insecticide. 
“  Guano  water”  was  to  be  used  and  we  find  that  farm¬ 
ers  were  advised  to  use  it  for  killing  the  plum  cureulio 
and  other  fruit  insects  !  The  introduction  of  guano 
gave  European  agriculture  a  basis  upon  w'hich  to  build 
the  science  of  practical  commercial  fertilizers.  It  was 
the  first  complete  manure  containing  so  little  water 
that  it  might  be  transported  from  place  to  place  at  a 
reasonable  rate.  Subsequent  complete  fertilizers  may 
be  said  to  be  imitations  of  guano  changed  and  modi¬ 
fied  to  suit  different  soils,  plants  and  climates. 
*  * 
YVe  understand  that  the  Board  of  Agriculture  in 
Michigan  has  adopted  something  of  a  new  idea  in  hold¬ 
ing  farmers’  institutes.  An  experiment  was  recently 
made  of  holding  a  week’s  institute  at  one  town.  Reg¬ 
ular  classes  were  established  and  lectures  given  three 
times  a  day  by  members  of  the  agricultural  college 
faculty.  Many  farmers  with  their  wives,  sons  and 
daughters  attended,  and  regular  recitations  and  exam¬ 
inations  were  held.  They  were  managed  much  like 
the  butter  schools  in  this  State,  only  that  several 
branches  of  science  were  started.  It  is  a  good  thing 
for  the  agricultural  college  to  go  to  the  farmers — not 
to  wait  for  them  to  go  to  it.  We  shall  soon  print  an 
article  by  Prof.  C.  M.  Weed,  which  will  show  how 
these  colleges  can  get  in  line  for  the  University  Ex¬ 
tension  idea. 
*  * 
Consul  Denby  of  Peking,  China,  reports  that  in  1889 
from  one  port,  Ichang,  there  were  exported  13,000 
pounds  of  tigers’  bones.  For  use  as  fertilizers — the  only 
use  intelligent  people  seem  to  have  for  dead  tigers— 
these  bones  might  be  worth  8150,  yet  they  were  entered 
at  a  value  of  83,000  even  wrhen  the  price  was  governed 
by  the  “  pauper  labor  ”  of  China.  They  are  to  be  used 
as  a  medicine  !  From  them  will  be  made  a  “  tonic  ” 
which  the  Chinese  invalid  believes  will  impart  to  him 
some  of  the  tiger’s  strength  and  fierceness  !  For  the 
same  “medicinal  ”  reason  9,000  pounds  of  “  old  deer’s 
horns”  were  valued  at  81,700.  Many  of  us  who  are 
filled  with  disgust  at  the  folly  of  such  absurd  beliefs 
are  now  keeping  up  old  customs  and  habits  that  are 
almost  as  absurd  and  expensive,  in  the  light  of  modern 
progress,  as  this  tiger  bone  tonic  ! 
*  * 
There  really  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  any  one 
should  die  nowadays,  except  from  old  age.  A  new 
remedy  which  we  have  seen  advertised  in  a  Southern 
religious  paper,  claims  to  cure  all  diseases,  except  “hy¬ 
drophobia,  lockjaw  and  strychnine  poisoning.”  “  In 
such  cases  it  seems  to  be  harmful.”  How  it  could  ag¬ 
gravate  the  latter,  is  one  of  the  things  we  cannot  un¬ 
derstand.  Just  think  of  this  glorious  remedy.  Con¬ 
sumption  will  have  no  more  terrors  and  a  prompt  ap¬ 
plication  of  the  machine  will  save  the  would-be  suicide 
who  has  swallowed  “  rough  on  rats.”  Bright’s  disease 
will  disappear,  and  cancer  will  cease  to  kill;  grip  will 
be  as  harmless  as  a  gum-boil  and  the  fires  of  fever  will 
be  extinguished.  The  beauty  of  all  this  is  that  the 
machine  “  is  so  small  that  it  can  be  carried  in  the 
pocket,  etc.”  Goto  !  Where  is  the  Fool-killer?  Let  him 
try  this  “remedy.”  #  * 
Successful  agriculture  is  largely  a  successful  hunt 
for  nitrogen — the  substance  that  demands  of  the  farmer 
a  high  price.  The  man  who  pays  least  for  it  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  amount  of  his  sales,  is  doing  the  best 
farm  business.  Cheap  supplies  of  potash  and  phos¬ 
phoric  acid  are  assured — the  problem  is  to  reduce  the 
cost  of  nitrogen  !  This  problem  is  as  old  as  agricul¬ 
tural  science.  Stockhardt  had  a  vision  of  the  time 
when,  by  some  undiscovered  process  the  hydrogen  in 
water  and  the  nitrogen  in  the  air  could  be  united  to 
form  ammonia.  His  dream  has  not  been  fulfilled  and 
probably  never  will  be,  and  it  may  be  well  that  this  is 
so.  It  may  be  a  wise  economy  of  nature  that  cheap 
nitrogen  is  only  for  those  who  are  willing  to  study  out 
the  laws  that  govern  it.  If  nitrogen,  the  great  force 
that  gives  growth  and  speed  to  vegetation,  were  made 
as  free  as  air,  one  of  the  surest  and  truest  rewards  of 
the  patient  and  studious  farmer  would  be  taken  away. 
*  * 
James  Caird,  a  celebrated  Scotch  agricultural  econ¬ 
omist,  died  last  week.  He  became  prominent  40  years 
ago  by  printing  a  treatise  on  “  High  Farming  as  the 
Best  Substitute  for  Protection,”  in  which  he  argued 
that  better  skill  and  judgment  on  the  part  of  the 
British  farmer  would  fully  take  the  place  of  a  protec¬ 
tive  tariff.  In  1850  he  visited  Ireland  to  make  a  study 
of  the  best  measures  to  be  taken  for  a  revival  of  agri¬ 
culture  after  the  great  famine.  He  conducted  many 
such  investigations  and  researches,  the  results  of 
which  when  published  were  widely  copied,  and  did 
much  to  educate  the  people,  In  185(5  he  visited  the 
United  States  and  wrote  a  volume  on  the  possibilities 
of  our  prairie  States  for  food  production.  He  did  much 
both  as  a  practical  farmer  and  as  a  legislator,  to  intro¬ 
duce  new  agricultural  methods  and  promote  legislation 
that  would  benefit  farmers.  He  easily  took  rank  as 
one  of  the  ablest  of  English  farmers. 
The  London  police  authorities  have  just  succeeded 
in  breaking  up  the  business  of  the  Empire  Claim 
Agency  with  offices  in  London  and  New  York.  It  was 
a  pretentious,  bogus  affair,  like  those  which  have 
from  time  to  time  flourished  so  rankly  in  various  cities 
in  this  country.  For  over  a  year  the  United  States 
Legation  and  Consulate  in  London  have  been  so  over¬ 
whelmed  by  letters  from  the  dupes  of  the  concern,  which 
had  advertised  a  multitude  of  vast  “unclaimed  estates” 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  finally  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  State  at  Washington  found  it  necessary  to 
issue  a  special  circular  on  the  subject,  showing  that 
such  estates  had  no  existence  except  in  the  fraudulent 
advertisements  of  the  schemers.  The  English  govern¬ 
ment  also  took  a  hand  in  suppressing  the  swindle  by 
arresting  two  of  its  principal  concoctors.  The  Rural 
New-Yorker  has  exposed  a  large  number  of  such 
frauds  at  home  and  abroad,  but  new  ones  are  sure  to 
start  up,  Phoenix-like,  from  the  ashes  of  the  old,  and 
straightway  a  multitude  of  dupes  hurry  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  to  pour  their  hard-earned  dollars  into 
their  promoters’  dishonest  coffers.  “What  fools  we 
mortals  be  !  ” 
Brevities. 
I  knew  a  strapping  fellow  once  wbo  ran  his  health  all  down, 
By  drinking  this  and  eating  that  carousing  ’round  the  town, 
And  then  he  called  the  doctor  in,  his  folly  to  confess. 
The  doctor  grimly  mixed  him  up  a  vile,  ill-smelling  mess, 
And  said— while  patient  whimpered  loud,  to  show  the  pluck  he  lacked— 
“  Stand  up  and  take  your  medicine— don't  play  the  baby  act !  ” 
You  all  know  folks  who  run  around  and  never  come  out  square, 
Who  take  it  out  in  putting  in  complaints  that  are  not  fair: 
And  when  at  last  Miss  Justice  comes  and  takes  them  by  the  neck, 
They  bawl  for  sympathy,  but  we  can’t  muster  up  a  speck; 
We  only  feel  like  yelling  in  their  ear  until  it’s  cracked. 
“ Stand  up  and  take  your  medicine— don't  play  the  baby  act  l " 
Bk  what  you  wish  to  be  thought. 
A  GOOD  word  is  said  as  soon  as  an  ill. 
A  POOR  planter  is  known  by  his  skips. 
In  what  way  does  a  land  roller  pay  its  rent  ? 
Little  use  putting  potash  on  soil  that  groans  for  bones. 
The  man  who  can’t  stand  trouble  deserves  no  good  luck. 
He  who  puffs  himself  with  pride  will  grease  a  toboggan  slide. 
The  first  American  post  office  was  established  at  New  York  in  1672. 
You  had  better  stand  a  heap  of  clawing  than  try  to  take  it  out  in 
lawing  ! 
What  material  thing  in  the  world  affords  such  opportunities  for 
study  as  agriculture. 
Let  some  friend  of  humanity  arise  and  show  us  how  to  make  one 
weed  grow  where  two  grew  before. 
You  say,  “My  horse  does  better  on  oats  than  on  any  other  grain  !  ” 
Do  you  know  that,  or  do  you  just  guess  it  ? 
Is  it  training  or  breeding  that  makes  a  cow  keep  herself  clean  when 
in  a  box  stall  where  there  is  plenty  of  room  .' 
Now  then,  friend,  which  one  of  those  demands  of  the  New  York 
State  Alliance  do  you  object  to?  Let’s  hear  from  you! 
A  bag  of  clover  seed  costing  $3,  contains  fertilizing  possibilities  worth 
$300.  Put  the  seed  in  the  soil  and  water,  heat,  air  and  time  will  do  the 
rest. 
Let  every  good  flock-master  make  up  his  mind  to  sow  a  small  patch 
of  rape  and  tend  to  it  carefully;  then  he  will  find  ’twill  keep  his  sheep 
in  fine  shape. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Ponderosa  Tomato,  as  It  has  been 
named,  is  offered  in  most  catalogues  under  its  provisional  name  of 
“400.” 
IN  his  argument  that,  for  the  average  farmer,  feed  and  selection 
beat  breed  in  making  a  dairy  herd,  Henry  Stewart  gets  strong  backing 
from  Prof.  Roberts  in  this  issue. 
The  latest  use  for  the  Keiffer  Pear  is  suggested  by  an  Ohio  grower, 
who  says  he  plants  the  trees  on  the  road  to  protect  his  orchards.  The 
boys  get  a  taste  of  the  Keiffer  and  stop  ! 
Balance  up  your  rations  that  you  do  not  feed  too  much  fat.  Surplus 
fat  goes  to  the  gutter  when  it  might  make  first-class  butter,  and  there’s 
one  true  thing,  that  s  sure— it  is  worthless  as  manure. 
The  education  of  the  public  taste  for  fresh,  sweet-milk  butter  means 
fresh  hope  for  Eastern  farmers  who  can  compete  with  the  West  only  in 
shortening  the  life  of  their  farm  products.  The  public  want  youth  not 
old  age  in  what  they  buy. 
The  Iowa  Republicans  appear  to  have  a  good  deal  of  virtuous  back¬ 
bone.  In  spite  of  a  natural  desire  to  fill  their  political  opponents  with 
despair,  they  have  resolved  to  stand  stoutly  by  Prohibition  and  have 
thus  filled  the  Democrats  with  joy. 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  had  quite  a  little  to  say  about  the  “  one-horse  Jer¬ 
sey  farm"  of  Mr.  Johnson,  from  which  $4,000  worth  of  produce  are  sold 
each  year.  Mr  J.’s  latest  step  of  progress  is  to  put  up  an  irrigating 
outfit  of  windmill,  tank  and  pipes.  This  outfit  would  have  paid  for 
Itself  in  the  dry  strawberry  season  of  last  year. 
Fifty-five  cents  apiece  for  peaches  1  That  was  the  price  paid  the 
other  day  at  Covent  Garden  Market,  London,  for  the  pick  of  a  lot  of 
Cape  Colony  peaches.  The  fruits  had  been  brought  from  Africa  in  a 
cool  room,  each  wrapped  in  cotton  wool.  Others  carried  in  a  case 
in  a  refrigerator  room  for  experimental  purposes  were  spoiled.  The 
whole  shipment  averaged  36  cents  apiece.  At  anything  like  such  prices 
the  South  African  peach  trade  is  likely  to  have  a  big  boom. 
In  Missouri,  and  to  a  less  extent  in  several  of  the  other  Southern 
and  Western  States,  the  warfare  between  the  Farmers’  Alliance  and 
the  Anti-Sub-Treasury  Alliance  is  growing  fierce  and  rancorous,  just 
as  disagreements  between  the  members  of  a  household  are  often  more 
bitter  than  those  among  neighbors  or  strangers.  There  is  to  be  a  con¬ 
vention  of  the  recalcitrant  seceders  at  St.  Louis  on  February  22,  and  it 
is  fiercely  denounced  by  their  opponents  as  guilty  of  “  a  violation  of 
every  principle  of  the  order.” 
In  a  current  market  report  we  find  the  following:  ‘-The  wheat  market 
continued  to  tell  the  old  story  of  long  selling  and  resulting  low  prices.” 
It  is  no  wonder  that  legislation  is  asked  to  prohibit  gambling  in  the 
necessaries  of  life,  when  the  baneful  results  of  this  pernicious  type  of 
business  are  so  manifest.  The  buying  and  selling  of  options  is  gamb¬ 
ling  pure  and  simple  and  in  morals  is  no  better  than  gambling  with 
cards  or  at  the  roulette  table.  What  one  gains  another  loses,  and 
great  harm  is  done  by  it  to  legitimate  business.  We  shall  doubtless 
learn  to  properly  estimate  these  speculative  methods  ere  many  years 
go  by. 
In  brief,  by  the  Reciprocity  treaty  just  concluded  between  Germany 
and  the  United  States  the  former  admits  the  products  of  the  latter  at 
the  same  rates  of  duty  charged  on  similar  products  of  Austria-Hun¬ 
gary,  Italy  and  Belgium,  with  which  commercial  treaties  on  specially 
favorable  terms  have  recently  been  concluded.  In  return,  the  United 
States  Government  stipulates  not  to  tax  German  beet  sugar,  as  it 
might  have  done  under  the  Reciprocity  clause  of  the  McKinley  Bill. 
Flour,  Indian  meal  and  cereals,  together  with  cattle  and  other  live  stock 
are  the  chief  American  agricultural  products  whose  importation  into 
the  Fatherland  will  be  promoted  by  the  new  treaty. 
