1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
7oi 
“  What  pears  would  you  plant  ?” 
“  That  depends  on  the  ‘  ifs  ’  again.  If  I  were  going 
to  plant  a  pear  orchard,  it  would  not  be  here,  but 
where  land  was  cheaper,  and  I  would  plant  with  the 
intention  of  providing  an  ice-retarding  house,  so  as  to 
hold  the  fruit  until  the  market  would  take  it.  Bart¬ 
lett,  Bose,  Giffard  and  Clairgeau  and  possibly  Anjou 
would  be  my  chief  varieties.  As  to  plums,  my  ex¬ 
perience  has  not  been  extensive  enough  to  enable  me 
to  answer.” 
Mr.  Williams's  farm  in  the  borders  of  Montclair 
village,  has  become  an  expensive  piece  of  property  for 
cultivation.  The  very  many  expensive  public  improv- 
ments  which  have  been  carried  on  there  have  made 
taxation  very  onerous — too  much  so  for  practical 
farming.  A  farm  taxed  at  a  valuation  high  enough 
for  village  lots,  comes  rather  high  for  fruit  growing. 
He  will  doubtless  reap  his  reward  when  the  growing 
town  demands  his  farm  for  building  lots,  if  he  is  not 
taxed  out  of  the  town  before  that  happy  time  arrives. 
WE  ARE  A  NATION  OF  “TRUSTS” 
The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  chief  trusts 
that  at  present  oppress  and  swindle  the  nation.  In 
view  of  their  colossal  growth  and  formidable  strength 
and  the  pernicious  influence  they  exercise  in  every 
walk  of  life,  one  can  hardly  realize  that  the  oldest, 
wealthiest,  most  powerful  and  unscrupulous  of  all  the 
pestiferous  brood  is  scarcely  20  years  old.  This,  the 
Standard  Oil,  the  prototype  of  all  the  others  and  the  pat¬ 
tern  on  which  they  substantially  modeled  themselves, 
was  founded  in  Cleveland,  O. ,  as  late  as  1872.  As  it  is 
one  of  the  cardinal  points  with  most  of  these  schemes 
to  maintain  the  utmost  secrecy  with  regard  to  their 
affairs,  even  the  capitalization  of  all  except  those 
which  wish  to  have  their  stock  sold  in  the  Exchanges 
of  the  country  and  therefore  are  compelled  to  get 
“  listed,”  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  the  public 
have  reached  pretty  close  to  the  truth  in  nearly  all 
cases.  The  figures  here  given  are  taken  from  a  speech 
in  Congress  by  Representative  John  De  Witt  Warner, 
of  New  York,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  session,  and 
the  best  attainable  other  sources  of  information  : 
Name  of  Trust. 
Standard  Oil . 
Cotton-seed  Oil. . . 
American  Type-Founders’ 
Anthracite  Coal . 
Barbed  Wire . 
Biscuit  and  Cracker . 
Brewers’  (Chicago) . 
Bolt  and  Nut . 
Boot  and  Shoe . 
Cartridge . 
Condensed  Milk . 
Casket . 
Celluloid . 
Cigarette . 
Copper  Ingot . 
Cordage  .  . 
Cotton  Duck . 
Envelope . 
Flint  Glass . 
Fork  and  II oe . 
Lead . 
Linseed  Oil . 
Lithographic . 
Locomotive . 
Match . 
Musical  Instrument . . 
Oatmeal . 
Bice . 
Rubber . 
Safe . 
School  Book . 
Sewer  Pipe . 
Western  Union  Telegraph 
Smelters’ . 
Soda-Water  Machinery... 
Spool,  Bobbin  and  Shuttle. 
Starch . 
Steel . 
Sugar . 
Trunk . 
Wall  Paper . 
Capitalization. 
.  $110,000,000 
41,700,000 
9,000,000 
.  613,000,000 
5.000,000 
12,000,000 
5,000.000 
6,000,000 
5,000,000 
7,000,000 
3,000,000 
15,000,000 
5,000,000 
11,500,000 
25,000,000 
20,000,000 
15,000,000 
10,000,000 
7,000,000 
4,000,000 
1,000,000 
90,000,000 
18,000,000 
11,500,000 
15,000,000 
6,000,000 
5,000,000 
3,500,000 
2,000,000 
60,000,000 
5,000,000 
18.000,000 
5,000,000 
85,000,000 
40,000,000 
9,000,000 
7,000,000 
10,000,000 
35,000,000 
75,000,000 
2,500.000 
20,000,000 
Water. 
$45,000,000 
25,0(10,000 
3,000,000 
75,000,000 
4,500,000 
2,(00,000 
2,000,000 
2,000,000 
3.000,000 
2,000,000 
3,000,000 
5,000,000 
2,000,000 
60,000,000 
12,000.000 
23,000,000 
3,000,000 
50,000,000 
3,000,000 
50,000,000 
6,000,000 
Here  are  43  trusts  whose  aggregate  capitalization 
is  known  or  shrewdly  estimated  to  be  $1,352,700,000. 
It  is  the  general  opinion  of  those  economists  who 
have  made  the  closest  study  of  these  business  mon¬ 
strosities  that  the  capitalization  of  the  most  “  solid  ’» 
of  them  is  at  least  one-fourth  “  water,”  while  that  of 
the  majority  of  them  is  still  much  more  diluted.  In¬ 
deed  it  is  pretty  clearly  known  that  the  capitalization 
of  some  of  the  largest,  like  that  of  the  Lead  and  Sugar 
Trusts,'is  upwards  of  two-thirds  fictitious.  The  public, 
however,  will  be  forced  to  pay  heavy  interest  on  all 
this  bogus  capital  just  as  if  it  represented  sterling 
money,  while  the  coffers  of  the  concocters  and  pro¬ 
moters  of  the  monopolistic  schemes,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  magnates  who  were  early  let  in  “  on  the  ground 
floor,”  have  been  dishonestly  filled  by  the  rascally 
trickery.  The  names  of  some  of  the  largest  and  most 
rapacious  of  the  nefarious  brood  have  been  omitted 
here  because  no  trustworthy  statements  or  estimates 
of  their  capitalization  are  at  hand.  So  have  the 
names  of  all  those  which  deal  wuth  purely  American 
products,  and  are  therefore  Dot  helped  in  their  extor¬ 
tion  by  the  tariff.  The  Standard  and  Cotton-Seed  Oil 
Trusts  would  be  included  in  this  list  were  it  not  that 
both  largely  swell  their  enormous  profits  by  heavy  in¬ 
vestments  in  interests  affected  by  it.  To  save  space, 
the  names  of  63  other  trusts,  with  a  capitalization  of 
less  than  $5,000,000  each,  now  before  us,  are  also 
omitted.  Of  course,  most  of  the  concerns,  including 
even  those  which  were  the  first  to  assume  the  now 
odious  designation,  repudiate  the  name  of  Trust,  a 
thing  which  is  now  illegal,  and  profess  to  carry  on 
their  business  as  legitimate  corporations  ;  but  this  is 
a  mere  subterfuge,  for  their  principles,  methods  and 
constitutions  are  those  of  the  execrable  monopolies 
branded  with  that  name. 
A  HOME-MADE  SPRAYER. 
The  cut  below  represents  a  home-rule  oil  can,  minus 
cover.  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  are  attachments  I  have 
placed  on  it.  At  F  I  attach  a  rubber  hose  three  feet 
long  and  at  the  other  end  a  spraying  nozzle  of  my 
own  make.  G  is  a  copper  tube  with  a  screw,  H, 
dropped  into  the  small  end  and  soldered  fast  three- 
quarters  around  the  end.  The  board,  A,  is  nailed  into 
a  wheelbarrow  to  keep  the  can  from  falling  out  and 
is  screwed  to  the  bottom  of  the  can.  The  whole  is  a 
cheap  and  handy  sprayer  which  costs  but  $2. 50,  and 
it  can  spray  12  feet  on  either  side.  I  used  it  for  grape 
vines,  currants  and  small  trees.  It  will  throw  the 
Bordeaux  mixture  satisfactorily.  C.  H.  F. 
Rives  Junction,  Mich. 
HOW  THE  FOULTRY  INDUSTRY  IS  RECOGNIZED 
Smith  said  he  was  going  to  attend  the  great  Agricul¬ 
tural,  Mechanical  and  Stock  Exhibition  of  X  County — 
wouldn’t  miss  it  for  money,  and  he  wanted  me  to 
accompany  him.  I  asked  him  what  he  was  going  to 
exhibit.  “  Exhibit !”  he  almost  howled.  “  Why  don’t 
you  know  I’ve  entered  Flying  Catastrophe  in  the  ‘free 
for  all  ?’  Where  have  ye  been  at,  ?”  Blessed  if  I  knew 
anything  about  it.  I  had  noticed  him  and  his  slab- 
sided  bay  filly  going  up  the  road  at  a  great  pace  every 
morning  for  some  time  past,  but  I  just  supposed  he 
was  airing  himself,  or  strengthening  the  beast’s  legs 
and  wind  for  next  season’s  plowing.  I  had  no  idea 
that  she  was  a  Flying  anything. 
“  What’s  the  premium  on  flying  horseflesh  this 
year?”  I  asked. 
“  $250  to  the  winner,  $100  to  the  second,  $50  to  the 
third,  in  my  class  !  Hain’t  ye  got  a  premium  list  ?’ 
No,  I  hadn’t. 
Then  it  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  enter 
a  few  pedigreed  fowls  for  a  premium.  I  thought  that 
as  the  poultry  industry  in  the  United  States  amounts 
to  over  $600,000,000  a  year,  the  Agricultural  Society  of 
X  County  would  certainly  recognize  the  high-bred 
fowl  in  a  becoming  manner.  So  I  immediately  went 
down  to  Brother  Smith’s  house  and  borrowed  his 
premium  list  for  the  purpose  of  posting  myself  on 
rules,  methods,  etc.,  etc. 
The  pamphlet  was  nicely  got  up,  and  highly 
decorated  with  advertisements  and  engravings  of 
pianos  and  pants,  and  horses,  and  hay  rakes,  etc.,  etc. 
Scattered  along  here  and  there  was  the  list  of  prem¬ 
iums  offered  for  animals,  fowls  and  products.  Horses 
that  could  travel  as  fast  as  a  good  bicycle  were  rated 
so  high  that  I  felt  sad  because  I  didn’t  possess  a  dozen 
or  so — $250  for  one  that  could  trot  a  mile  the  quickest 
the  same  to  one  thatcould  gallop  a  mile  faster  than  any 
other  on  the  grounds,  and  $150  for  the  liveliest  pacer. 
Then  I  rolled  over  several  pages  of  advertisements 
and  found  what  I  was  looking  for — “  The  Poultry 
Department.”  At  the  head  was  “  Grand  Sweepstakes 
For  Best  and  Largest  Display  of  Fowls  ;  Not  Less  than 
Five  Varieties,  $3.”  I  at  once  decided  that  here  was  a 
terrible  typographical  error  that  had  been  passed 
unnoticed.  The  printer  had,  I  felt  certain,  left  out  a 
cipher.  That  the  Grand  Sweepstakes  was  $30  instead 
of  $3  must  be  evident  to  any  person  who  knew  any¬ 
thing  at  all  about  the  vastness  and  importance  of  the 
poultry  industry.  $3  !  The  idea  !  “  The  printer  who 
would  make  such  a  glaring  error  as  this,”  said  I  to 
myself,  “  ought  to  be  gently  led  behind  the  wood  pile 
and  thoroughly  shot  I” 
Then  I  read  on.  “  For  best  trio  of  Light  Brahmas, 
$1.”  Here  was  another  error.  Another  cipher  left 
out.  Evidently  the  typo  was  boozy,  or  somebody  had 
tampered  with  the  form.  Why,  the  old  cock  in  my 
backyard  cost  six  times  that  sum  ! 
But  I  read  on.  “  For  best  trio  of  Plymouth  Rocks, 
$1.”  Then  the  truth  burst  upon  me  like  the  boiler  of 
a  sawmill. 
Best  trio  of  Plymouth  Rocks  $1 !  ! 
Free  for  all,  mile  and  repeat,  for  such  wild-eyed, 
skeleton-framed,  grasshopper-built  horses  as  Smith’s, 
$250  !  I ! 
And  this  in  the  premium  list  of  “  A  Society  Organ¬ 
ized  to  Promote  the  Interests  of  Agriculture,”  located 
in  the  midst  of  a  magnificent  farming  country  popu¬ 
lated  by  rich  and  progressive  husbandmen,  10  of  whom 
sold  enough  poultry  products  last  year  to  buy  half  a 
dozen  such  horses  as  Smith’s !  One  dollar  premium 
for  three  birds  representing  a  National  industry  ex¬ 
ceeding  $600,000,000,  ana  $250  for  a  spindle-shanked 
horse  that  represented  merely  a  lot  of  cranks,  gamb¬ 
lers  and  suckers !  Verily,  I  am  constrained  to  exclaim 
with  the  Quaker,  when  he  buried  a  neighbor’s  dog  in 
his  bean  field  by  the  light  of  the  sad-eyed  moon, 
“  Mysteriously  occult  are  many  of  the  ways  in  which 
agriculture  is  promoted.  fred.  grundy. 
Christian  County,  Ill. 
QUESTIONS  ABOUT  CHEMICALS  AND  CLOVER. 
Having  read  “  Chemicals  and  Clover  ”  and  J.  W.  New¬ 
ton’s  articles  on  fertilizers  with  great  interest,  I  am 
trying  to  digest  the  information,  but  it  only  makes  me 
hungry  for  more.  I  am  trying  to  apply  the  methods 
of  Mr.  Lewis,  with  such  modifications  as  my  circum¬ 
stances  and  environments  will  admit,  and  I  want  to 
know  :  1.  How  does  Lewis  manage  the  corn  stubble  ? 
Does  the  old  stubble  interfere  with  the  culture  of  the 
potato  crop  ?  Or  does  he  use  a  special  tool  for  work¬ 
ing  down  or  wearing  out  the  stuble  ?  If  so,  what 
tool?  2.  As  far  north  as  Columbus,  O.,  would  Crim¬ 
son  Clover  stand  the  winter  well  enough  if  sown  at 
the  last  working  of  corn,  to  prevent  loss  by  washing 
through  the  winter  and  also  furnish  enough  plant  food 
for  the  succeeding  crop  to  be  profitable  ?  3.  How  much 
potash,  nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid  do  100  bushels 
of  potatoes  remove  from  the  soil  ?  4.  What  would  be 
a  liberal  dressing  of  muriate  of  potash  for  a  soil  that 
will  produce  60  bushels  of  shelled  corn  per  acre  to 
make  it  produce  a  good  crop  of  potatoes  ?  5.  What 
additional  chemicals  are  needed,  and  how  much  ? 
6.  Where  can  I  get  muriate  and  nitrate  of  potash  and 
soda  ?  7.  How  many  pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda  must 
I  buy  to  get  100  pounds  of  nitrogen  ?  8.  Will  potatoes 
grown  after  corn  be  more  likely  to  escape  grubs  and 
wire  worms  than  when  grown  on  clover  sod  ?  j.  M.  d. 
R.  N.-Y. — 1.  Mr.  Lewis  cuts  the  corn  in  the  ordinary 
way,  by  hand — cutting  as  close  to  the  ground  as  possi¬ 
ble.  In  the  spring  the  ground  is  carefully  plowed, 
turning  the  stubble  under.  He  does  little  or  no  har¬ 
rowing,  but  runs  the  potato  rows  between  the  old  corn 
rows.  He  uses  no  special  tool  for  cutting  up  the  corn 
stubble  ;  if  he  needed  any,  he  would  probably  use  the 
Cutaway  or  disc  harrow.  2.  It  is  doubtful  if  Crimson 
Clover  would  stand  the  winter  so  far  north.  It  would, 
however,  make  considerable  growth,  and,  even  if  it 
died  down,  would  be  useful  to  prevent  washing.  If  it 
died  during  the  winter,  it  would  furnish  some  plant 
food,  but  not  enough  for  a  full  crop.  Rye  would  do 
better,  as  it  would  give  a  good  green  crop  to  plow  under 
in  spring.  You  would  need  to  use  fertilizers  with 
the  rye,  however,  to  make  a  good  crop,  as  rye  is 
not  a  “  nitrogen  producer.”  3.  Assuming  that  all  the 
vines  go  back  to  the  soil,  100  bushels  of  potatoes  con¬ 
tain  about  21  pounds  of  nitrogen,  35  of  potash  and  10 
of  phosphoric  acid.  4.  Mr.  Lewis  uses  200  pounds  of 
muriate  per  acre,  in  addition  to  the  potash  contained 
in  1,200  pounds  of  high-grade  fertilizer.  If  the  land 
were  ours,  we  should  apply  at  least  300  pounds.  5.  We 
cannot  say.  To  obtain  the  equivalent  of  1,000  pounds 
of  potato  fertilizer,  you  should  use  400  pounds  of  dis¬ 
solved  bone  black,  or  500  pounds  of  acid  phosphate  and 
200  pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda.  It  is  impossible,  how¬ 
ever,  to  give  with  certainty  any  mixture  for  such  a 
soil  without  knowing  more  about  it.  The  way  to  learn 
whether  a  home  mixture  will  pay  or  not  is  to  use  vary¬ 
ing  quantities  of  a  complete  potato  fertilizer  and  learn 
how  much  of  it  the  soil  can  profitably  use.  Then  make 
your  home  mixtures  and  use  them  against  the  manu¬ 
factured  goods.  6.  Of  the  Mapes  Fertilizer  Co. ,  New 
York;  Cleveland  Dryer  Co.,  Cleveland,  O.;  Homestead 
Co.,  Detroit,  Mich.  7.  The  average  nitrate  of  soda  con¬ 
tains  about  16  per  cent  of  nitrogen  ;  about  600  pounds 
will  give  100  of  nitrogen.  8.  We  think  so,  particularly 
if  chemical  fertilizers  are  used. 
The  chemicals  certainly  seem  to  have  the  effect  of 
preventing  damage  from  grubs.  This  matter  of  ‘‘home 
mixing  ”  fertilizers  has  many  sides  to  it.  Most  of 
those  who  advocate  it  have  used  the  manufacturers’ 
mixtures  long  enough  to  obtain  a  stand  for  compari¬ 
son  and  have  found  that  they  are  paying  too  much  for 
expensive  nitrogen,  and  the  hope  of  the  “home  mixer” 
is  to  let  leguminous  plants  capture  the  most  of  it. 
