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THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
June  18 
THE 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  Tor  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  8.  CABMAN,  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. 0 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  JUNE  18,  1892. 
Thebe  are  at  this  date— June  7— not  less  than  50  of 
The  R.  N.Y.’s  Rosa  rugosa  hybrids  in  bloom.  Ru- 
gosa  is  the  mother  of  every  one  and  yet  no  two  are 
alike  in  llower,  leaf  or  habit. 
*  * 
Lovett’s  Early  is  a  promising  strawberry  as  to 
vigor  and  productiveness,  but  the  “  Early  ”  ought  to 
be  omitted.  Michel  is  again  the  earliest  of  the  70 
varieties  now  on  trial  at  the  Rural  Grounds.  Shuster, 
Gen.  Putnam,  Southard,  Clark’s  Early,  Wentzell, 
Hunt  No.  3,  Reder  Wood  are  all  earlier  than  Lovett’s. 
*  * 
Among  The  R.  N.-Y.  rye-wheat  hybrids  there  are 
perhaps  20  varieties  that  are  unlike  either  rye  or 
wheat ;  unlike  any  other  grain,  for  that  matter. 
Whether  they  will  have  any  especial  value  is  not 
known.> Perhaps  it  will  be  well  to  send  specimens  of 
these  queer  hybrids  to  some  of  our  experiment  stations 
for  trial  and  report.  #  # 
We  had  occasion  to  dig  up  several  Prickly  Comfrey 
plants  that  had  been  growing  in  a  certain  place  for 
not  less  than  12  years.  Each  had  a  tap  root  about 
three  feet  long  of  a  fusiform  shape.  Evidently  these 
roots,  like  clover  roots,  use  some  of  the  food  from  the 
lower  strata  of  the  soil.  Are  they  nitrogen  getters  ? 
Who  knows  anything  about  this  plant  as  a  renovator ; 
or  of  its  value  as  green  manure  ?  According  to  chemi¬ 
cal  analyses,  the  leaves  are  rich  in  carbonaceous  and 
nitrogenous  food.  How  about  the  roots  ?  The  atten 
tion  of  our  station  chemists  is  called  to  this  important 
question.  #  # 
All  farmers  have  noticed  that  in  most  fields  of 
corn  a  kernel  here  and  there  produces  white  plants. 
It  appears,  however,  from  The  R.  N.-Y.’s  inquiries  that 
the  general  belief  is  that  these  white  plants  become 
green  and  thenceforth  grow  as  do  those  which  were 
green  from  germination.  To  test  this,  we  marked 
all  of  the  white  plants  in  a  plot  of  a  variety  which 
always  develops  an  unusually  large  per  cent  of  albinos. 
was  found  that  the  plantlets  lived  just  so  long  as 
the  kernels  supplied  them  with  food,  which  being  ex¬ 
hausted  they  perished,  usually  when  from  two  to  four 
inches  tall.  They  evidently  have  no  power  to  appro¬ 
priate  and  assimilate  food  from  the  soil  and  air  as 
have  green-leaved  plants. 
*  *  • 
It  is  discouraging  to  confess  that  we  continue  to  re¬ 
ceive  letters  like  the  following  : 
In  the  “California  Cald  Process”  for  preserving  fruits  and  vegetables 
us  adveitlsed  by  the  Black  Diamond  Manufacturing  Co.,  Zanesville 
Ohio,  of  value?  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  The  11.  N.-Y.  promptly, 
as  this  is  the  season  for  testing  It. 
We  have  denounced  this  thing  as  a  fraud— under  one 
head  or  another — at  least  a  dozen  times.  It  is  a  scheme 
of  the  notorious  J.  M.  Rain — a  humbug  and  a  fraud. 
So  please  don’t  bother  with  it  again.  Why  will  intelli¬ 
gent  people  continue  to  believe  these  benevolent  frauds 
who  want  to  make  them  a  present  of  something  ? 
Never  deal  with  the  man  who  wants  to  give  you  “some¬ 
thing  for  nothing.”  In  the  end  you  will  have  nothing 
and  he  will  have  the  something. 
*  * 
How  did  The  R.  N.-Y.  first  happen  to  notice  that 
cutting  ol¥  the  tassel  of  a  corn  plant  growing  among 
other  plants  would  increase  the  ear  or  grain  produc¬ 
tion  ?  It  must  have  been  during  the  year  1877  that  we 
first  began  to  detassel  corn.  Selected  seed  was  planted 
in  a  little  plot  (33  x  33  feet  square)  as  far  away  from 
the  main  corn  field  as  the  farm  (80  acres)  would  allow. 
All  plants  that  were  or  seemed  to  be  sterile  or  to  pro¬ 
duce  but  one  set,  or  embryo  ear,  were  emasculated  so 
soon  as  the  tassel  appeared.  The  idea  was  that  only 
the  most  productive  plants  should  be  permitted  to 
bear  pollen  either  for  self-pollination  or  for  pollinat¬ 
ing  any  other  plants  of  this  seed  plot.  It  was  soon 
observed  that  these  apparently  sterile  or  setless  plants 
would  invariably  develop  one  or  several  sets  after  they 
were  detasseled,  whence  it  was  finally  assumed  that 
detasseling,  if  not  carried  to  the  extent  of  causing  an 
insufficiency  of  pollen,  increased  the  yield  of  grain. 
The  same  plan  of  improving  seed  corn  has  been  carried 
on  nearly  every  year  since  and,  without  exception,  the 
same  effect  has  been  observed.  Trials  since  made  by 
several  of  the  experiment  stations  show  that  in  some 
cases  the  yield  has  been  reduced  by  detasseling.  It  is 
a  question,  however,  whether  as  in  these  adverse  trials, 
it  is  well  to  detassel  every  other  row.  Every  other 
plant  in  every  row  would  give,  probably,  a  fairer  ex¬ 
periment. 
Our  readers  are  requested  to  select  a  few  plants  that 
seem  to  be  sterile  or  which  have  not  developed  any 
sets.  Cut  off  the  tassels  as  soon  as  or  before  they  have 
emerged  from  the  leaf  sheaths — the  earlier,  the  better. 
Observe  then  if  these  plants  do  not  develop  sets, 
which,  receiving  pollen  from  neighboring  plants,  will 
develop  ears  and  grain  the  same  as  other  plants  which 
naturally  develop  sets  as  well  as  tassels. 
*  * 
Mu.  P.  H.  Monroe  tells  us  how  he  once  covered  his 
silo  with  chaff  and  litter  from  where  the  separator 
stood  in  thrashing.  In  about  10  days  a  fine  crop  of 
oats  started  up  and  grew  nearly  a  foot  in  height.  Then 
the  heat  and  moisture  gave  out,  and  the  oats  wilted 
and  flattened  down  all  over  the  silo.  The  roots  of  the 
oats  were  woven  into  a  complete  blanket,  which  made 
a  perfect  cover,  in  fact  too  perfect,  as  it  was  hard  to 
handle  out  the  ensilage.  The  silo  as  a  hot-bed  is  pos¬ 
sible,  but  not  profitable.  Ry  the  way,  how  many 
pounds  of  butter  do  you  claim  there  are  in  an  acre  of 
ensilage  corn  ?  Mr.  Monroe  says  his  cows  can  get  1,000 
pounds  of  25-cent  butter  from  every  acre — with  the 
help  of  the  silo.  There  is  more  in  the  cow  than  in  the 
corn. 
*  * 
An  Indian  on  the  Sioux  Reservation  recently  came 
to  the  agency  physician  and  thus  described  his  ail¬ 
ment  :  “I  have  srnallowed  wrong.  As  every  one  knows, 
there  is  one  hole  in  the  throat  for  food  and  another 
for  air  to  breathe.  Some  of  my  food  has  gone  down 
the  air  hole.  I  have  swallowed  wrong  and  am  sick.’’ 
A  good  share  of  the  ills  of  life  are  due  to  the  habit  of 
“  swallowing  wrong.”  Nature  is  orderly.  Follow  her 
laws,  and  the  “wind”  and  the  food  both  seek  their 
proper  “holes,”  and  the  whole  body  thrives  and  is 
nourished.  Disobey  her  and  crowd  work  and  effort 
and  energy  into  the  wrong  place,  and  you  are  sure  to 
“  swallow  wrong  and  be  sick.”  Lots  of  farmers’  or¬ 
ganizations  found  a  hole  for  politics  and  a  hole  for 
improvement  in  farm  practice.  They  forced  all  effort 
down  the  political  hole.  Now  they  find  that  they  have 
“  swallowed  wrong.” 
*  * 
A  short  time  ago  it  appeared  as  if  the  National 
Government  had  determined  to  move  all  along  the  line 
against  Trusts  in  accordance  with  the  Sherman  law 
against  these  oppressors  of  the  people.  There  seems, 
however,  to  be  a  stoppage  in  the  movement.  The  fed¬ 
eral  grand  jury  at  Chicago  has  just  adjourned  without 
bringing  indictments  against  members  of  the  coal  and 
other  combinations  to  which  their  attention  was  called 
by  the  United  States  District  Attorney  under  orders 
from  the  Attorney-General  at  Washington.  In  Roston 
the  indictments  found  against  the  officers  of  the  Whisky 
Trust,  whose  base  of  operations  is  in  Illinois,  have 
turned  out  so  faulty  that  the  United  States  District 
J  udge  has  been  compelled  to  sustain  a  motion  to  quash 
them.  No  conviction  has  yet  occurred  under  the  law, 
though  it  has  been  in  force  considerably  over  a  year, 
and  the  conviction  is  steadily  growing  that  it  *is  a 
farce  and  a  humbug. 
*  * 
The  people  of  New  Orleans,  as  well  as  those  of  Gal¬ 
veston  and  other  Texas  seaports,  are  getting  more  and 
more  hopeful  of  securing  a  considerable  proportion  of 
the  transportation  of  trans-Mississippi  grain  to  Europe 
in  the  near  future.  Already  the  Crescent  City  ships 
about  2,500,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  corn  a  month 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  is  busily  building  new  ele¬ 
vators  to  accommodate  a  larger  trade.  The  other  day 
20  car-loads  of  wheat — 10, COO  bushels — were  shipped 
from  as  far  West  as  Wellington,  Kan  ,  to  New  Orleans 
as  an  experiment.  A  delegation  of  Kansans  with  ban¬ 
ners  and  trumpets  accompanied  it  on  its  slow  and 
devious  course,  “  to  arouse  interest  among  the  people 
of  the  West  and  Southwest”  in  the  enterprise.  Texas 
is  straining  every  nerve  to  obtain  appropriations  from 
Congress  to  secure  one  or  more  “  deep-water  harbors  ” 
as  outlets  to  Europe  and  South  America,  and  even 
eastern  Asia  when  the  trans-isthmus  canal  is  com¬ 
pleted,  not  only  for  her  own  enormous  prospective 
products,  but  also  for  those  of  the  entire  reg-ion  west 
of  the  Mississippi  as  far  north  as  Minnesota.  Within 
another  quarter  of  a  century  she  expects  to  have  within 
her  own  enormous  borders  30,000  miles  of  railroads, 
where  she  now  has  8,000,  besides  numerous  extra-State 
connections  with  the  great  West.  Producers  in  the 
latter  section  are  nearly  equally  anxious  for  such 
Southern  outlets  for  their  produce,  knowing  that  the 
competition  between  the  routes  to  the  Gulf  and  to  the 
Atlantic  would  greatly  lower  the  cost  of  transporta¬ 
tion.  Even  already  they  are  using  the  prospective 
possibility  of  Southern  routes  as  threats  to  Eastern 
seaports  and  lines  of  transportation. 
One  great  advantage  in  a  combination  of  the  pro¬ 
ducers  of  any  farm  product  is  the  fact  that  buyers  are 
forced  to  seek  them  and  compete  for  their  business. 
Let  100  farmers  or  gardeners  sell  as  individuals,  and 
the  middlemen  have  the  advantage.  None  of  the  single 
100  lots  of  produce  is  large  enough  to  seriously  affect 
the  market,  and  each  farmer  must  ship  his  own  goods, 
and  take  his  chance  for  a  favorable  price.  The  farmer 
takes  all  the  risk.  The  combined  product  of  100 
farms  will  make  a  difference  in  the  market,  and  when 
the  buyers  find  that  they  must  take  all  or  none,  they 
come  and  make  a  price  that  takes  the  risk  from  the 
farmer.  It  is  better  to  entertain  a  buyer  than  to  be 
forced  to  visit  him  The  home  man  always  lias  the  ad¬ 
vantage  in  a  trade.  One  objection  to  such  trade  com¬ 
binations  comes  from  the  few  farmers  who  exercise  so 
much  care  and  skill  that  {heir  products  are  sure  to 
command  the  highest  price.  Such  farmers  claim  that 
the  combination  price  would  be  less  than  their  own,  and 
that  the  poor  prices  obtained  by  the  many  are  helpful 
to  them,  as  they  have  worked  up  a  “  trade  mark”  for 
superiority.  As  a  rule,  the  few  successful  farmers  will 
oppose  any  cooperation  that  means  an  average  price 
for  all  instead  of  a  high  price  for  the  few  and  a  low 
one  for  the  many,  and  this  will  be  the  greatest  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  combination. 
*  * 
Beevitie  S. 
My  mother’s  greatgrandfather  boldly  fought  at  Bunker  Hill. 
He  shouldered  his  old  musket  and  went  fiercely  forth  to  fill 
Some  braggart  British  soldier  with  a  charge  of  home-made  shot. 
He  saw  the  white  spot  In  their  eyes,  then  let  ’em  have  it  hot, 
The  good  old  Yankee  farmer — 'tis  a  noble  pedigree 
That  traces  back  directly  to  such  brave  old  souls  as  he. 
My  father's  greatgrandfather  battled  for  the  King  that  day 
To  hold  up  England’s  honor;  and  I’m  very  proud  to  say 
He  fought  with  English  courage  on  that  bloody  battle  field. 
He  marched  up  like  a  bull-dog,  and  they  couldn't  make  him  yield, 
Until  my  mother's  grandpa  sighted  at  him— then  he  fell: 
The  musket  bust  in  firing,  and  the  shooter  dropped  as  well. 
But  why  prolong  the  story  ?  You  all  know  just  how  It  ends, 
One  lost  a  leg  and  one  an  arm— they  got  to  be  good  friends. 
They  married  sisters,  settled  down,  sweet  comfort  filled  their  cup, 
And  stout  and  true  Americans  they  started  breeding  up. 
Hurrah  for  such  old  heroes  !  We  may  surely  “  point  with  pride  ’’ 
To  such  substantial  pedigrees  that  take  in  every  side. 
The  capon  is  coming! 
The  dwarf est  corn  Is  a  giant  grass. 
A  good  sorter  is  known  by  his  culls. 
A  tuead  power  never  loses  time  getting  up  steam. 
Never  try  to  disguise  a  guess  with  the  trade-mark  of  experience. 
Has  any  vegetarian  ever  tried  drinking  tea  from  Timothy  or  clover 
hay?  Better  do  so  ! 
OUR  farmers  will  carry  a  much  lighter  load  when  they  honestly  say 
— “  We  are  proud  of  our  road!” 
A  desert  Is  a  desert  simply  because  water  has  deserted  It.  There 
are  more  swamps  than  deserts  this  year. 
We  hate  to  see  the  cultivator  come  home  at  night  with  Its  teeth  all 
strung  with  potato  roots.  Who  likes  to  see  the  evidences  of  death 
anyway  ? 
We  admire  the  pluck  of  the  Hudson  River  grape  growers.  What 
folly  to  accuse  these  hard-working  people  of  a  willingness  to  poison 
New  Yorkers! 
Would  you  put  a  regular  “  blunderbuss  ”  of  a  hired  man  on  a  two- 
horse  riding  cultivator,  and  turn  him  loose  in  a  potato  or  corn  field  ? 
Would  he  not  do  less  harm  with  a  one-horse  cultivator  ? 
The  green  fly  seems  to  infest  wheat  heads  more  and  more  every 
season.  Its  favorite  place  is  just  beneath  the  breasts  or  spikelets, 
where  it  sucks  the  juices,  the  result  being  that  the  grain  does  not  form 
and  the  breast  soon  becomes  discolored  as  in  ripening. 
The  pictures  printed  this  week,  taken  from  the  Wisconsin  Station’s 
report,  are  excellent.  Such  things  do  much  to  Interest  farmers  in  the 
work  done  by  the  stations.  Everybody  likes  a  good  and  suggestive 
picture.  If  the  horns  must  "go,”  don’t  let  them  come  ! 
Many  a  farmer  fails  because  he  is  not  fitted  to  superintend  hired 
labor  and  yet  will  not  recognize  the  fact.  Lots  of  men  succeed 
when  they  find  the  work  that  they  and  their  family  can  do  well  and 
fail  when  they  try  to  hire  men  to  help  do  twice  as  much. 
James  Rankin  tells  of  a  man  who  had  some  ducklings  to  sell.  He 
starved  them  for  12  hours,  and  then  fed  them  on  meal  and  beach  sand 
mixed  half  and  half,  the  object  being  to  get  them  to  eat  all  they  would 
of  the  heavy  sand,  and  thus  weigh  more.  The  trick  was  discovered, 
and  the  man  who  did  it  was  justly  driven  out  of  the  market. 
Rardridge,  the  Chicago  grain  gambler,  had  about  $41X1,000  of  his 
ill-gotten  gains  squeezed  out  of  him  by  the  recent  sharp  advance  in 
wheat  and  corn.  If  the  hard-working  growers  of  these  staples  had  se¬ 
cured  this  money,  there  would  have  been  some  comfort  in  contem¬ 
plating  the  operation.  But  as  it  simply  transferred  the  money  from 
one  robber  to  another,  the  general  public  is  not  specially  interested  in 
the  matter. 
The  House  has  passed  a  bill  admitting  Arizona  and  New  Mexico 
into  the  Union.  This  is  only  just.  New  Mexico  alone  had  in  1890  a 
larger  population  than  Idaho  and  Wyoming  combined;  while  Arizona 
was  neck-and-neck  with  the  latter  State  in  this  regard.  Idaho  and 
Wyoming  were  admitted  to  the  sisterhood  of  States,  however,  while 
the  others  were  excluded  on  political  grounds.  Now,  however,  the 
question  has  passed  from  the  domain  of  politics  into  that  of  justice. 
Last  Monday  the  Lower  House  of  Congress  passed  the  Anti-Option 
Bill  by  a  vote  of  1(18  to  46.  In  spite  of  this  overwhelming  majority  in 
the  House,  however,  there  is  considerable  doubt  whether  the  measure 
will  pass  the  Senate.  It  is  reported  that  at  present  that  body  is  pretty 
evenly  divided  on  the  matter.  All  the  Exchanges  throughout  the 
country  are  bringing  urgent  pressure  to  bear  on  the  members  for  its 
rejection.  This  should  be  at  once  counterbalanced  by  vigorous  letters 
to  their  respective  Senators  from  those  in  favor  of  this  just  law  in 
every  State  of  the  Union.  Prompt  and  energetic  action  in  this  case  is 
imperative. 
AS  the  Pension  Appropriation  Bill  left  the  Lower  House  of  Congress, 
it  amounted  to  $135,000,000  for  the  next  fiscal  year  ;  the  Senate  has 
added  $11,000,000,  making  the  total  the  enormous  sura  of  $140,000,000, 
every  cent  of  which  will  be  needed.  Commissioner  ltaum  has  just  asked 
Congress  for  $7,000,000  to  pay  pensions  due  on  June  10,  and  this  will 
bring  the  total  for  the  current  year  up  to  $143,000,000.  The  annual  pay¬ 
ment  for  pensions  in  the  United  States  now,  20  years  after  the  war,  is 
greater  than  the  entire  cost  of  the  tremendous  army  of  either  Ger¬ 
many,  France  or  Russia,  including  the  pensions  paid  to  the  disabled 
veterans  of  many  wars.  Still  who  begrudges  the  heroes  who  saved 
the  country  a  pittance  from  its  prosperity?  The  old  adage  that  Re¬ 
publics  are  ungrateful,  however,  no  longer  holds  good  with  this  model 
Republic  whose  patriotic  gratitude  to  its  defenders  is  unparalleled  in 
history  and  is  not  likely  to  be  repeated 
