254 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
April  16 
Secretary  Rusk  Talks. 
General  Rusk,  Secretary  of  Agriculture, 
was  last  week  interviewed  by  a  New  York 
Herald  correspondent:  the  most  interest¬ 
ing  portions  of  his  talk  are  given  below: 
He  talks,  says  the  Herald  reporter,  best 
around  his  own  fireside.  He  is  one  of  the 
best  conversationalists  in  public  life. 
His  big  head  is  packed  full  of  good  stories, 
and  he  is  like  Abe  Lincoln  in  that  he  il¬ 
lustrates  his  points  by  anecdotes.  He  is 
like  Lincoln  also  in  that  he  is  a  man  of 
the  people.  There  is  not  an  ounce  of 
snobbery  in  his  250  pounds,  and  he  is  as 
democratic  in  his  manners  to-day  as  when 
he  began  life  in  Ohio  as  a  stage  driver 
more  than  40  years  ago. 
He  is  not  ashamed  of  .his  stage  driving 
days.  I  asked  him  during  my  talk  about 
his  boyhood  and  he  told  me  he  was 
brought  up  on  a  farm  and  that  his  father 
had  a  half  section  of  land  in  Morgan 
County,  Ohio. 
“  I  was  14  years  old,”  said  General 
Rusk,  “  when  my  father  died  and  left  me 
to  manage  the  farm.  I  had  been  used  to 
horses  since  I  was  a  baby  and  I  knew 
how  to  drive  long  before  I  became  con¬ 
nected  with  the  stage.  At  that  time  the 
chief  travel  from  the  East  to  the  West 
was  by  stage  and  I  was  given  a  coach 
which  ran  from  Zanesville  to  Newark. 
It  was  a  big  Concord  coach  with  four 
horses,  and  I  sat  on  the  box  and  drove  a 
four-in-hand.  I  afterward  owned  about 
140  miles  of  stage  lines  in  Wisconsin,  and 
I  ran  these  lines  for  some  years.” 
“It  was  as  a  stage  driver  that  you  first 
met  James  A.  Garfield,  was  it  not  ?” 
WRESTLED  WITH  GARFIELD. 
“  Yes.  Garfield  was  driving  a  mule  on 
the  canal.  He  came  down  as  far  as  New¬ 
ark  with  his  canal  boat  and  we  met  a 
number  of  times.  I  was  a  good  deal  of  a 
boy  in  those  days  and  was  very  fond  of 
wrestling.  This  was  the  chief  amuse¬ 
ment  of  the  boys  of  my  time,  and  Garfield 
himself  had  some  reputation  as  a  wrest¬ 
ler.  Well,  whenever  we  met  we  wrestled 
together,  and  in  this  way  got  to  be 
friends.  You  don’t  forget  a  man  after 
you  have  wrestled  with  him,  and  neither 
Garfield  nor  myself  forgot  each  other. 
While  I  was  still  driving  the  stage  he  left 
the  canal  to  go  to  school.  He  entered 
college  at  Hiram  and  then  went  east  to 
Williams.  But  I  did  not  see  him  after  I 
left  him  there  on  the  canal  until  we  met 
in  the  army.  It  was  at  Chattanooga.  He 
was  on  the  staff  with  General  Thomas, 
and  I  had  command  of  a  regiment.” 
“How  did  you  come  to  go  to  Wisconsin, 
General  ?” 
“  Tt  was,  I  suppose,”  said  Secretary 
Rusk,  “largely  due  to  that  spirit  of  young 
America  which  teaches  all  our  boys  to 
strike  out  for  a  new  country.  I  wanted 
to  get  a  farm  and  I  wanted  to  make  my 
fortune.  After  my  stage-driving  experi¬ 
ence  I  tried  railroading  for  a  time,  and 
helped  to  build  a  road  near  my  home.  As 
soon  as  I  got  to  Wisconsin  I  bought  a 
farm,  and  I  own  the  same  farm  to-day. 
It  contains  about  400  acres,  and  I  can  get 
more  fun  out  of  it  in  a  week  than  I  can 
out  of  my  life  here  at  Washington  in  six 
months.” 
“  I  have  seen  it  stated,  General,  that 
you  learned  the  cooper’s  trade  when  you 
were  a  boy.  Could  you  make  a  barrel 
to-day  ?” 
“  Yes,  I  could,”  replied  Uncle  Jerry. 
“  I  think  I  could  make  any  kind  of  a 
barrel  or  cask  you  might  want.  But  it  is 
a  mistake  to  think  I  was  apprenticed  to 
a  cooper.  All  of  the  farmers  in  our  re¬ 
gion  made  barrels  when  I  was  a  boy.  It 
was  our  winter’s  work,  and  I  got  so  that 
I  could  make  six  good  barrels  any  day. 
I  have  made  as  high  as  10  in  a  day,  and 
as  we  got  from  25  to  30  cents  a  barrel  you 
see  the  work  was  quite  profitable.” 
“  Twelve  years  ago  our  5,000,000  farms 
were  worth  $10,000,000,000,  and  they  pro¬ 
duce  yearly  crops  worth  more  than 
$4,000,000,000.  We  talk  of  the  poverty 
of  the  farmer,  but  by  the  census  of  1880 
the  stock  on  the  farms  alone  was  worth 
over  $1,500,000,000,  and,  by  statistics 
which  we  have  over  at  my  Department 
to-day,  our  live  stock  is  worth  nearly 
twice  as  much  now.  We  know  how  to 
prevent  diseases  of  stock,  and  we  have 
gained  also  in  better  breeding  and  better 
feeding.  To-day  our  best  beef  is  sold  at 
two  years  old.  It  was  not  manjf  years 
since  beef  was  not  thought  to  be  beef 
unless  the  animal  was  at  least  four  years 
old,  and  yet  the  meat  of  the  two-year- 
old  beeves  of  to-day  is  of  the  finest 
quality,  and  it  surpasses  in  weight  that 
of  the  average  four-year-old  of  20  years 
ago.  Where  beeves  can  be  turned  off  in 
half  the  time,  a  man  can  raise  twice  as 
many  off  the  same  land,  and  the  early 
maturity  of  our  mutton  and  swine  is  to¬ 
day  as  marked  as  that  of  our  beef. 
“It  is  the  same  in  all  branches  of 
farming,  and  I  believe  that  the  prosper¬ 
ous  era  of  the  farmer  is  just  beginning. 
The  people  of  this  world  have  to  be 
fed,  and  their  food  must  come  from  the 
soil.  We  have  05,000,000  people  here  to¬ 
day.  Twenty  years  from  now  we  will 
have  100,000,000,  and  in  less  than  two 
generations  200,000,000  Americans  will 
wake  up  every  morning  in  these  United 
States  and  cry  to  the  farmers  for  break¬ 
fasts.” 
CROPS  CAN  BE  INCREASED. 
“  The  land  will  produce  more  in  the 
future,  will  it  not  ?  ” 
“  Yes,”  replied  Secretary  Rusk.  “  We 
could  get  50  per  cent  more  off  our  lands 
if  we  farmed  them  in  the  right  way,  and 
if  we  did  not  add  another  acre  to  the  area 
now  under  cultivation,  we  could  make 
our  agricultural  production  half  again  as 
large  as  it  is.  Take  the  matter  of  wheat 
alone.  If  we  were  to  bring  our  lands  by 
means  of  fertilization  and  cultivation  up 
to  the  standard  of  the  wheat  lands  in 
England,  or  even  those  of  Belgium,  we 
would  double  our  average  annual  wheat 
crop  without  increasing  the  wheat  area 
a  single  acre.  It  is  so  with  other  things, 
and  as  the  country  grows  older  and  our 
population  increases  we  will  have  better 
farming.  Farming  is  fast  becoming  a 
science  in  the  United  States.  The  farmers 
are  studying  more,  and  they  know  more 
to-day  than  ever  before.  They  have  bet¬ 
ter  advantages  for  study.” 
“  How  about  our  farmers’  boys  ?  Will 
they  continue  to  leave  the  farms  for  the 
city  ?  ” 
“  I  think  not,”  replied  “  Uncle  Jerry.” 
“  The  boys  of  the  country  will  soon  see 
that  they  can  make  more  by  staying  at 
home  than  by  running  off  to  town.  The 
farm  is  a  far  better  place  than  the  city, 
and  the  farm  of  the  future  will  be  cov¬ 
eted  by  the  people  of  the  cities.  As  it  is, 
our  farmers’  boys,  if  they  will  use  on  a 
farm  the  same  study,  brains  and  energy 
which  enable  them  to  live  from  hand  to 
mouth,  as  it  were,  in  the  city,  can  make 
a  success  of  it,  and  can  grow  up  into  a 
life  of  independent  manhood  such  as  they 
can  enjoy  nowhere  else.  The  farmer  of 
to-day  has  most  of  the  advantages  of  the 
city.  He  lives  better  than  his  city 
brother,  and,  with  his  books  and  his 
papers,  he  has  the  leisure  to  live  an  intel¬ 
lectual  life  which  his  city  brother  cannot 
have.” 
“  Will  our  farmers  ever  live  in  villages 
as  they  do  in  Europe  ?  ”  I  asked. 
“  I  think  not.  I  don’t  believe  it  would 
be  as  well  for  our  farming  if  they  did  so. 
The  best  manure  for  lands  is  the  foot  of 
the  owner,  and  they  would  not  attend  to 
their  fields  so  closely  if  they  were  far 
away  from  them.  I  believe  that  the 
average  sizes  of  our  farms  will,  however 
be  less  in  the  future  than  they  are  now 
but  we  will  never  get  down  to  the  insig¬ 
nificant  patches  which  are  common  to 
many  of  the  sections  of  Continental 
Europe.  There  is  no  reason  for  the  vil¬ 
lage  system  with  the  social  facilities 
offered  by  modern  invention.  The  appli¬ 
cation  of  electricity  to  locomotion  and  to 
all  means  of  communication  will  bring 
the  farmers  nearer  together.  The  day 
will  come  when  every  farmer  will  have 
his  telephone  and  when  he  can  discuss 
matters  with  his  neighbors  without 
going  out  of  his  parlor.  His  advantages 
in  the  way  of  keeping  pace  with  the 
times,  and  with  the  other  classes  will  in¬ 
crease  from  year  to  year,  and  our  farmers 
of  the  future  will  be  a  sturdy,  intelligent 
and  independent  yeomanry,  and  they  will 
never  degenerate  into  a  mere  peasantry.” 
■Worth  Noting. 
Oenothera  speciosa  var.  Mexicana  is 
now  blooming  under  glass  at  the  Rural 
Grounds,  a  plant  having  been  purchased 
by  a  friend  a  month  or  more  ago  of  our 
friend  (?)  J.  L.  Childs,  who  has  advertised 
it  liberally  in  the  papers  as  the  Mexican 
Primrose,  a  very  suitable  name.  Few  but 
Mr.  Childs  would  have  called  it  “new.” 
Few  others  would  have  risked  thousands 
of  dollars  in  advertising  it  as  he  has  done, 
when  he  must  have  known  that  in  the 
near  future  its  real  name  would  be  given 
to  the  public.  This  The  Rural  was  the 
first  to  do  some  six  weeks  ago.  The  second 
paper  to  publish  its  true  name  has  not 
yet  been  heard  from.  Seeds  of  the  Mex¬ 
ican  Primrose  may  be  purchased  of  lead¬ 
ing  seedsmen  for  five  cents  the  packet. 
As  Mr.  Childs  charges  40  cents  fora  single 
plant,  our  readers  will  no  doubt  prefer 
the  seeds.  The  habit  is  scraggly,  the 
foliage  poor  enough.  The  flower  is,  as 
represented,  of  a  pink  color  with  a  white 
eye  and  about  two  inches  in  diameter.. . . 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  known  the  Trifoliate 
Orange  for  years,  but  for  some  reason 
has  overlooked  its  several  merits.  Its 
oranges  are  small  and  sour,  but  still  at¬ 
tractive  as  borne  on  the  shrub.  The 
flowers  are  large,  white  and  fragrant, 
blooming  in  the  spring.  Two  plants  of 
( Continued  on  next  page.) 
If  you  name  The  R.  N.-Y.  to  our  advertisers  you 
may  be  pretty  sure  of  prompt  replies  and  right 
treatment. 
You  Need  It  Now. 
To  Impart  strength  and  to  give  a  feeling  of  health 
and  vigor  throughout  the  system,  there  is  nothing 
equal  to  Hood’s  Sarsaparilla.  It  seems  peculiarly 
adapted  to  overcome  that  tired  feeling  caused  by 
change  of  season,  climate  or  life,  and  while  It  tones 
and  sustains  the  system,  it  purifies  and  renovates 
the  blood.  We  earnestly  urge  the  large  army  of 
clerks,  bookkeepers,  school-teachers,  housewives, 
operatives,  and  all  others  who  have  been  closely 
confined  during  the  winter  and  who  need  a  good 
spring  medicine,  to  try 
Hood’s  Sarsaparilla 
now.  It  will  do  you  good. 
HOOD'S  PILLS  cure  liver  Ills,  constipation,  bilious¬ 
ness,  jaundice,  slch  headache,  Indigestion. 
Mother 
Should  Have  1 1  In  The  House. 
Dropped  on  Sugar ,  Children  Dove 
to  take  Johnson’s  Anodyne  Liniment  for  Croup, Colds, 
Sore  Throat,  Tonsilitis,  Colic,  Cramps  and  Pains.  Re¬ 
lieves  all  Summer  Complaints,  Cuts  and  Bruises  like 
magic.  Sold  everywhere.  Price  85c.  by  mail;  6  bottles 
Express  said,  $2.  LS.  JOHNSON  &CO„  Boston,  Mass. 
45  sold  in  ’88 
2,288  sold  in  ’89 
6,268  sold  in  ’90 
20,049  sold  in  ’91 
60,000  will  be  sold  In  ’Q2 
A  Steel  Windmill  and  Steel  ' 
Tower  every  3  minutes. 
CtT  These  figures  tell  the 
story  of  the  ever-growing, 
ever -going,  everlasting 
Steel  Aermotor.  Where 
one  goes  others  follow, 
and  we  “take  the  country." 
Though  sold,  we  wereunablo  to  make  all  of 
the  20,049  Aermotors  in  ’91.  Orders  often 
waited  8  weeks  to  be  filled,  hut  now  we  have 
vastly  increased  our  plant  and  are  pre¬ 
pared  promptly  to  plant  our  increase  In 
every  habitable  portion  of  the  globe. 
Are  you  curious  to  know  how  the  Aer¬ 
motor  Co.  In  the  4th  year  of  Its  exist¬ 
ence,  came  to  make  many  times  as 
many  windmills  as  all  other 
makers  combined  ?  How  we  came 
,  .  tooriffinate  the  Steel  Wheel,  the 
n  X  Steel  Fixed  Tower,  the  Steel  Tilting 
3  C  Tower? 
to  ist.  we  commenced  In  a  field  in 
O  which  there  had  been  no  improve- 
merit  for  25  yeare%  and  in  which 
3  ©  there  seemed  no  talent  or  ambition, 
O  £  and  none  has  yet  been  shown  except 
g  in  fttbit  imitation  of  our 
5  ®  Inventions. 
2  UJ  2d-  Before  commencing  the 
__  manufacture,  exhaustive  scien* 
£  c  tifle  investigation  and  experi- 
©  Cfl  ments  were  ma<le  by  a  skilled 
v  mechanical  engineer,  in  which 
C  3  over  5.000  dynamometric  tests 
©  o  wore  made  on  61  different  forms 
j-J  jc  of  wheels,  propelled  by  artificial! 
^♦fand  therefore  uniform  wind, 
C/)  £  which  settled  definitely  many^ 
questions  relating  to  the  proDerfe.™^  ..  .. 
•—  0  speed  of  wheel,  the  best  form,  hr '  •* 
o  £  angle,  curvature  and  amount  of  sail  surface,  the  reslst- 
3  ft  ance  of  air  to  rotation,  obstructions  in  the  wheel,  such  as 
0)  >  heavy  wooden  arms,  obstructions  before  the  wheel,  as  in 
^  £  the  vaneless  mill,  and  many  other  more  abstruse,  though 
<D  H  n°t  less  important  questions.  These  Investlga- 
£  f  tlons  proved  that  the  power  of  the  best 
>  wind  wheels  could  be  doubled,  and  the 
5  AERMOTOR  dally  demonstrates  It  has 
O  3  been  done. 
5  O  3d.  To  the  liberal  policy  of  the  Aermotor  Co  ,  thatguaran- 
RJ  £  tees  Its  goods  satisfactory  or  pays  freightboth  ways,  and  to 
C  theenormous  output  of  Its  factory  which  enables  It  to  ftir- 
3  ntsh  the  best  article  at  less  than  the  poorest  Is  sold  for.  For 
ffi  O  '92  we  furnish  the  most  perfect  bearings  ever  put 
c  *!n  «  windmill,  and  have  made  an  exhaustive  re- 
o  vision  of  the  Aermotor  and  Towers. 
q  Ifyou  wanta  strong,  stiff,  Steel  Fixed  Tower— or  If  yon 
*  want  the  tower  you  don't  have  toclimb  (the Steel  Tilting 
O  Q  Tower)  and  the  Wheel  that  runs  when  all  others  stand  stll 
E  that  costs  you  less  than  wood  and  lasts  ten  times  as  long 
J-  C  (The  Steel  Aermotor)  or  Ifyou  want  a  Geared  Aermotor  to 
®  e  churn,  grind,  cut  feed,  pump  water,  turn  grindstone  and 
*4  >  saw  wed.  that  does  the  work  of  4  horses  at  the  cost  of 
<p  ®  one  ($100),  write  for  copiously  Illustrated  printed  matter, 
SZ  ><  showing  every  conceivable  phase  of  windmill  construction 
«-  a  and  work,  to  the  AERMOTOR  CO.  12th  and  Rook, 
well  Ste.,  Chicago,  or  12  Main  St,,  San  Francisco. 
GENUINE  PHILADELPHIA 
Lawn  Mower. 
In  the  Field. 
HAND  SIZES  10  TO  20  INCHES. 
BOTH  OPEN  AND  SOLID  CYLINDERS. 
PONY  AND  HORSE  30  AND  36  INCHES. 
LAWN  SWEEPERS  and  GRASS  EDGERS. 
GRAHAM,  EMLEN  &  PASSMORE, 
631  Market  St.,  Philadelphia,  Peas. 
BUCKEYE 
SPRAYING ' 
PUMPS, 
Also  BUCKEYE  Force 
and  Lift  Pumps, 
COLUMBIA  Steel  &  Iron 
Turbine  Wind  Engines , 
STEEL  DERRICKS,  Iron 
Fence,  BUCKEYE  Lawn  , 
Mowers, &c.  Sendforcircular 
MAST,  FOOS  A  CO.,  SPRINGFIELD,  0. 
WANTED  ON  SALARY 
r  or  COMMISSION,  to  handle  the  New 
Patent  Chemical  Ink  Kraslng  Pencil.  AgpntS  making 
$50  per  week.  Monroe  Eraser  Hf’g  Co.  x  175,  LaCrosse,  WU. 
AGENTS 
•  •  Patent  ('Ksmlral  In 
_  Shrewd  farmers  get  the  “  PI anet  Jr Catalogue  to  st u dy  it.  Be  sure  you  have  the  5 
Z  latest  (1892)  edition,  for  some  novelties  have  been  added  which  surpass  all  previous  Z 
“  machines.  Sent  free  on  application  to  the  manufacturers. 
S.  L.  ALLEN  &,  CO.,  1107  Market  St.,  Philadelphia.  5 
niiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiEmsiiiiimiiiimiimmmimiimiiimiiiie 
1892. 
w^SEEB^- 
KAtaloMI 
(892. 
For  Over  Thirty  Years 
:  have  always  had  very  pleasant  dealing's  together,  the 
public  and  myself,  and  I  again  have  the  pleasure  of 
presenting  to  them  my  Annual  Vegetable  and 
Flower  Seed  Catalogue.  It  contains  .the  usual 
immense  variety  of  seed,  with  such  new  kinds  added 
I  as  have  proved  to  be  real  acquisitions.  Raising  many 
of  these  varieties  myself,  on  my  four  seed  farms, 
and  testing  others,  I  am  able  to  warrant  their  fresh¬ 
ness  and  purity,  under  such  reasonable  conditions  as  are  con- 
w  tained  in  my  Catalogue.  Having  been  their  original  intro- 
~  ducer,  I  am  headquarters  for  choice  Cory  Corn,  Miller  Melon, 
,  -  Eclipse  Beet,  Hubbard  Squash,  Deep  Head,  All  Seasons  and 
Warren  Cabbage.  Etc..  Etc.  Catalogue  FREE  to  all. 
J.  J.  II.  GREGORY  SON,  Marblehead,  Mall, 
