8i6 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
Dec.  10 
THE 
Rural  New-Yorker 
TIMES  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
A  Rational  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  S.  CARMAN,  Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor 
ERWIN  G.  FOWLER,  Associate  Editor. 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  10,  1892. 
Now  then,  what  has  your  community  done  about 
that  black  knot  law  ?  You  see  how  it  goes  from  read¬ 
ing  the  reports  on  page  813.  In  places  where  plum 
growers  make  up  their  minds  that  they  want  the  law 
enforced — it  is  enforced  and  that’s  all  there  is  about 
it.  The  R.  N.-Y.  wants  to  jog  your  conscience  a  little. 
Why  don’t  you  as  a  citizen  and  well-wisher  of  your 
town  start  a  crusade  in  your  neighborhood  and  bring 
black  knot  to  a  timely  end  ?  Do  this  or  never  again 
complain  if  your  plum  trees  are  taken  sick. 
*  * 
Apropos  of  Mr.  Woodward’s  remarks  on  the  value 
of  education,  particularly  as  a  means  of  making  people 
think  to  the  purpose,  is  there  any  other  class  to  whom 
the  faculty  of  thinking  clearly  to  the  purpose  is  so 
beneficial  as  to  farmers  ?  While  their  occupation  gives 
plenty  of  employment  to  their  hands  and  other  bodily 
members,  is  there  any  other  that  ordinarily  leaves  the 
mind  such  opportunities  for  thinking  ?  It  should  be 
remembered,  too,  that  if  the  mind  is  not  occupied  in 
thinking  clearly  to  a  purpose,  it  is  very  likely  to  potter 
stupidly  or  dreamily  over  trivialities  and  steadily  be¬ 
come  muddled.  For  the  mind  as  well  as  for  the  body 
brisk,  intelligent  movement — movement  for  a  purpose 
— is  most  conducive  to  health  and  vigor — dawdling  is 
equally  injurious  to  both.  Hence  the  great  advantage 
to  the  farmer  of  learning  how  to  think  clearly — logi¬ 
cally — to  the  purpose. 
*  w 
In  the  year  covered  by  Secretary  Rusk’s  latest 
annual  report,  40,000,000  pounds  of  inspected  pork, 
which  without  inspection  could  not  have  found  a  mar¬ 
ket  abroad,  have  been  exported.  Again,  comparing 
the  prices  for  September,  1892,  with  those  for  Septem¬ 
ber,  1890,  the  year  before  pork  inspection  was  adopted 
here  by  the  efforts  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
there  was  an  increase  of  80  cents  per  100  pounds  in 
favor  of  ’92,  an  average  of  32  per  head  on  every  hog 
sold.  Thus  not  only  have  our  exports  of  hog  products 
been  very  much  larger,  but  the  price  of  hogs  for  home 
and  foreign  consumption  has  been  very  materially  in¬ 
creased.  This  is  but  one  of  a  multitude  of  advantages 
secured  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  the 
farmers  of  the  country,  and  therefore  for  its  people  at 
large  ;  and  yet  many  of  the  city  dailies  are  blindly 
clamoring  for  its  abolition. 
*  * 
Isn’t  it  a  gross  mistake  to  suppose  that  because  the 
“visible  supply”  of  wheat  is  greater  this  year  than 
last,  the  supply  available  for  export  during  the  whole 
of  the  year  will  be  greater  ?  Isn’t  it  a  fact  that  with 
the  growth  of  facilities  for  getting  wheat  from  farmers’ 
hands  to  market,  the  grain  has  naturally  gravitated 
out  of  producers’  hands  in  larger  and  larger  propor¬ 
tions  soon  after  the  harvest,  particularly  since  the 
development  of  organized  speculative  facilities  ?  And 
doesn’t  such  grain  constitute  the  “  visible  supply  ?” 
The  fact  that  there’s  a  big  rush  early  in  the  year  is, 
therefore,  no  trustworthy  indication  that  the  amount 
available  for  exportation  until  the  next  harvest  comes 
into  market,  will  be  greater  than  usual,  because  the 
facilities  for  marketing  the  crop  are  greater  this  year 
than  ever  before.  Hasn’t  this  assumption,  however, 
had  a  great  influence  on  the  low  price  of  wheat? 
«  * 
It  is  very  evident  that  something  has  to  be  done 
about  the  question  of  foreign  immigration  to  this 
country.  The  fact  is  becoming  apparent  to  all 
thoughtful  men  that  it  is  time  to  call  a  halt  on  the 
hordes  of  criminals,  paupers  and  other  undesirable 
men  and  women  who  have  been  swarming  to  our 
shores.  We  still  have  places  for  those  whose  true 
ambition  is  to  become  American  citizens  in  the  best 
sense,  but  let  us  put  up  the  bars  against  the  scum  of 
the  European  pot  that  is  kept  boiling  by  discontent 
and  anarchy.  It  is  probable  that  the  nations  of 
Europe  will,  before  long,  take  steps  to  sift  out  their 
emigrants.  The  new  German  army  bill  is  regarded 
by  many  as  a  quiet  scheme  for  obtaining  a  stronger 
legal  hold  upon  young  Germans  and  keeping  them  at 
home  for  army  service.  In  Sweden  and  Denmark 
good  domestic  servants  are  said  to  be  hard  to  obtain, 
so  great  has  been  the  emigration  to  this  country. 
We  may  expect  a  general  movement  among  European 
nations  to  prevent,  by  legal  enactment,  the  departure 
of  persons  who  would  make  useful  citizens  of  their 
own  country.  Coupled  with  this  will  be  an  effort  to 
encourage  the  coming  to  us  of  the  very  class  we  d  o 
not  want— those  who  for  one  reason  or  another  are 
detrimental  to  the  welfare  of  the  country.  We  have 
more  than  we  want  of  that  class  now.  Shut  the  door 
in  the  face  of  the  procession.  The  R.  N.-Y.  favors 
the  proposed  law  prohibiting  immigration  for  one 
year  as  a  preventive  measure  against  the  cholera. 
Let  us  see  how  such  a  law  works. 
*  * 
The  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture 
has  been  printed.  It  is  a  very  able  document,  giving 
a  review  of  the  work  done  during  the  past  year,  and 
in  a  general  way  of  the  matters  accomplished  under  the 
present  Administration.  Secretary  Rusk  has  been  a 
worker  and  the  business  of  American  agriculture  has 
been  greatly  helped  by  his  energetic  administration. 
Two  things  are  of  special  importance  to  our  farmers, 
viz.  :  the  withdrawing  of  Europeon  prohibition  against 
American  pork,  and  the  inroduction  of  our  Indian 
corn  as  a  human  food  abroad.  Secretary  Rusk  says 
*  that  his  has  been  largely  foundation  work — those  who 
are  to  follow  him  will  build  on  what  he  has  started 
and  give  detail  to  his  plans.  We  can  only  hope  that 
in  his  successor  the  American  farmers  may  have  as 
honest,  sturdy  and  fearless  a  champion  as  they  had  in 
Secretary  Rusk.  #  # 
At  its  26th  annual  convention  the  other  day,  at 
Concord,  N.  H.,  the  National  Grange  advocated  re¬ 
newed  efforts  to  secure  the  early  passage  of  the  Wash- 
burn-natch  Anti-Option  Bill  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress— to  open  before  this  paper  reaches  our 
readers.  Speculators  and  Boards  of  Trade  throughout 
the  country  are  already  exerting  *beir  best  efforts  to 
secure  the  defeat  of  the  measure,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
strong  support  it  received  in  the  last  session,  they  are 
likely  to  succeed  unless  the  supporters  of  the  bill  take 
prompt  and  earnest  action.  Master  Brigham’s  declar¬ 
ation  that  in  tariff  legislation  all  the  farmers  of  the 
country  want  of  the  new  Administration  is  that  the 
same  consideration  given  to  other  interests  should  be 
accorded  to  agriculture,  precisely  covers  what  The 
Rural  New-Yorker  has  always  maintained.  In  the 
Master’s  words:  “Let  the  cleaver  of  free  trade  de¬ 
scend  upon  every  protected  industry  (if  descend  it 
must),  and  not  alone  upon  agriculture.” 
*  * 
Sugar  planters  from  all  parts  of  Louisiana,  Florida 
and  Texas  are  showering  letters  on  President-elect 
Cleveland  and  the  Democratic  leaders  in  Congress, 
urging  the  repeal  of  the  bounty  system  and  the  restor¬ 
ation  of  the  duty  on  sugar,  in  a  modified  form.  They 
are  willing  to  accept  a  duty  of  1%  cent  per  pound  in¬ 
stead  of  the  bounty  of  two  cents  per  pound.  The 
bounty  system,  they  claim,  is  undemocratic  and  de¬ 
moralizing.  Alien,  worse  still,  they  have  had  to  wait 
six  months  for  their  share,  meanwhile  borrowing 
money  at  8  per  cent.  Their  profits  have  been  cut 
down  and  their  credit  hurt  and  the  annoyances  they 
have  suffered  from  government  inspectors  have  placed 
them  oh  the  obnoxious  footing  of  whiskey  distillers. 
Five  hundred  thousand  people  are  dependent  on  the 
industry  in  Louisiana  alone,  and  the  planters  there  sell 
$25,000,000  worth  of  sugar  a  year.  To  avoid  embar¬ 
rassing  the  Democratic  party  in  its  crusade  against  the 
evils  of  a  protective  tariff,  the  planters  will  simply 
suggest  that  sugar  is  a  good  article  to  tax  for  raising 
the  necessary  revenue.  Their  efforts  will  be  vigor¬ 
ously  opposed  by  the  sugar  refiners  of  the  North— that 
is,  the  Sugar  Trust— who  are  satisfied  with  the  present 
system,  and  they  will  also  be  confronted  by  the  people 
at  large  with  whom  cheap  sugar  is  probably  the  only 
thing  provided  by  the  McKinley  tariff,  which  meets 
with  general  approbation. 
*  * 
Various  opinions  regarding  the  probable  effect  of 
“  wool  ”  are  given  this  week— others  will  follow 
in  subsequent  issues.  It  will  be  seen  that  opinions  dif¬ 
fer  as  to  the  results  of  a  removal  of  the  tariff  on  wool. 
While  some  farmers  are  confident  that  it  will  ruin 
wool-growing  as  a  business,  others  claim  that  it  will 
stimulate  the  industry  because  it  will  so  increase  wool 
manufacturing  in  this  country  that  much  more  wool 
will  be  needed!  We  do  not  exactly  understand  the 
logic  of  this  last  assertion,  for  it  seems  to  us  that  the 
price  of  our  wool  will  always  be  regulated  by  the  price 
at  which  foreign  wools  can  be  sold  here,  just  as  the 
price  of  our  wheat  abroad  is  determined  by  the  price 
at  which  foreign  wheat  can  be  delivered  in  England. 
It  is  also  claimed  that  cheaper  wool  will  prevent  man¬ 
ufacturers  from  using  shoddy  in  their  cloth,  which,  if 
true,  will  prove  a  blessing  indeed.  The  one  thing  upon 
whiph  sheepmen  seem  to  agree  is  that  “free  wool”  will 
cause  a  radical  change  in  sheep  breeding.  The  fine- 
wooled  sheep  with  a  big  fleece  and  poor  mutton  car¬ 
cass  wall  disappear  except  on  farms  where  thorough¬ 
bred  stock  are  grown  and  on  the  big,  wild  ranges  of 
the  West.  The  sheep  for  the  ordinary  farm  will  have 
more  or  le  the  blood  of  the  true  mutton  breeds, 
and  within  a  few  years  immensely  increased  quanti¬ 
ties  of  mutton  will  be  offered  for  sale  Will  this  com¬ 
pete  in  the  already  crowded  meat  markets  or  will  it 
not  interfere  with  sales  of  beef  and  pork. 
*  * 
A  Western  creamery  bought  a  Babcock  tester,  and 
because  the  milk  of  one  of  the  patrons  did  not  contain 
fat  enough  to  come  up  to  the  given  standard,  the  milk  of 
those  cows  was  excluded  till  they  made  a  better  show- 
ing  ?  Oh,  no!  The  tester  was  thrown  away  and  the 
poor  man  who,  the  managers  were  satisfied,  was 
honest,  and  neither  watered  nor  skimmed  his  milk, 
received  the  same  per  pound  as  those  furnishing  the 
richest  milk.  The  puzzled  directors  couldn’t  think  of 
any  easier  way,  and  decided  that  the  test  was  a  failure. 
They  were  evidently  under  the  impression  that  the 
tester  would  cause  the  cows  to  put  more  fat  into  the 
milk,  and,  as  it  failed  to  do  this,  of  course  it  was 
worthless.  As  well  expect  the  scales  used  to  weigh 
the  produce  from  the  land,  to  increase  the  number  of 
bushels  of  potatoes,  corn  or  wheat.  This  is  the  most 
idiotic  nonsense  of  which  we  have  yet  heard.  No 
wonder  cooperative  creameries,  as  well  as  other  co¬ 
operative  concerns  are  failures  when  run  on  such 
lines.  There  is  no  incentive  to  improvement  of  the 
product,  or  to  honest  endeavor  in  any  direction. 
Deterioration  must  result,  and  hence  loss  and  dis¬ 
appointment.  # 
BREVITIES. 
You  let  me  feed  a  sheep  just  as  I  say — 
One  whole  Tear  through  ;  one  month  I’d  stuff  It  tight 
With  a  1  the  good  sound  grain  and  clover  hay 
That  It  could  eat^and  house  It  day  and  night. 
Another  month  I’d  take  away  Its  feed. 
And  turn  It  on  the  stack  of  stiff,  hard  straw, 
Where  It  might  stand  and  bleat  about  its  need, 
Too  stiff  and  cold  its  wretched  food  to  gnaw. 
And  I  will  guarantee  Its  wool  will  show 
Each  month’s  poor  feeding  in  a  dead,  weak  spot, 
Just  where  the  fiber  failed  to  thrive  and  grow 
While  that  starved  sheep  bewailed  its  wretched  lot. 
You  let  me  take  a  child  and  rule  Its  life, 
One  month  within  a  home  of  sweet  content 
And  happiness;  and  then  a  month  where  strife 
And  bitter,  aDgry  words  are  made  the  stent, 
And  I  will  guarantee  to  And  a  stain 
On  that  child’s  character  in  after  life. 
A  blot  that  touches  both  the  heart  and  brain, 
For  every  month  of  anger  and  of  strife. 
You  can’t  make  Jelly  out  of  green  fruit. 
The  potato  beetle  has  deserted  Missouri. 
A  sheep  is  less  fond  of  a  bath  than  a  cat. 
Have  you  settled  the  fence  question  yet  ? 
A  Sheep  fat  on  December  1,  is  half  wintered. 
Pity  the  man  who  takes  a  mouthful  of  fresh  air;  take  a  noseful. 
He  fills  ths  market  up  with  drugs  who  keeps  on  raising  useless  plugs. 
The  R.  N.-Y.’s  apology  to  the  Fibro  Ferro  Feeder  Co.  will  be  found 
on  page  822. 
A  CROSS  between  a  Leghorn’s  comb  and  a  snow  bank  will  always 
breed  an  egg  famine. 
No  use  trying  to  make  a  good  citizen  out  of  a  child  that  doesn’t  like 
to  sing  Home  Sweet  Home! 
A  high-spirited  horse  or  boy  never  can  be  lazy.  If  either  pokes 
about  it's  a  sign  he  isn’t  well. 
A  Leghorn  can  lay  the  eggs,  but  It  takes  a  Wyandotte  to  hatch 
them.  That  Is  a  true  division  of  labor— unless  an  incubator  can  re¬ 
lieve  both  hens. 
J.  H.  Hale  read  the  article  on  Georgia  Peach  Growing  now  printed 
on  page  811  and  said.  “It’s  correct  except  that  he  Is  too  modest  In  the 
possibilities  of  the  thing.” 
It  is  stated  on  the  best  authority  that  the  loss  from  damages  by  the 
coddling  moth  In  Nebraska  alone  In  the  past  season  amounted  to 
$2,000,000.  How  many  farm  mortgages  would  that  pay? 
Which  will ‘‘toughen  ”  a  colt  the  more  for  future  usefulness— to 
give  It  a  warm  shelter  and  fair  feed  during  the  coming  winter,  or  to 
expose  it  to  the  Inclemency  of  the  weather  and  scrimp  its  rations  ? 
We  understand  that  Prof.  Goff,  of  the  Wisconsin  Experiment  Sta¬ 
tion,  has  devised  a  pump  and  nozzle  by  which  kerosene  and  water  are 
mixed  at  the  nozzle  and  thrown  in  a  fine  spray  without  any  need  of 
emulsification. 
Doctors  now  assure  us  that  the  falsetto  voice  can  be  cured.  The 
high  squeak  Is  simply  due  to  a  faulty  use  of  the  voice  If  the  patient 
will  only  convince  himself  that  he  can  talk  lower  If  he  wants  to,  there 
will  be  no  trouble. 
To  several  farmers  wbo  have  asked  questions  about  the  wisdom  of 
fermenting  manure  rather  than  applying  It  fresh  to  the  land,  we  say 
that  we  have  two  excellent  articles  on  the  subject  by  thejate  Joseph 
Harris,  which  will,  we  think,  answer  all  questions. 
People  who  are  looking  for  an  easy  road  to  wealth  will  be  Inter¬ 
ested  in  this  from  a  Georgia  correspondent:  ‘‘Nothing  on  earth  can 
keep  a  man  from  getting  rich  If  be  will  plant  a  field  of  asparagus  In 
Georgia,  large  enough  to  be  able  to  ship  by  the  car-load.” 
While  the  agricultural  press  is  earnestly  urging  the  cotton  growers 
of  the  South  to  curtail  their  production  of  the  staple,  how  many  of 
them  have  advised  the  wheat  growers  of  the  North  to  adopt  a  similar 
policy  ?  Are  Dot  the  conditions  similar  in  both  cases  at  present  ? 
When  there’s  little  or  none  of  feed  in  the  soil  where  the  roots  all 
run,  then  the  ugly  and  selfish  weed,  eats  its  till  and  has  all  the  fun. 
When  food's  plenty,  the  useful  crop,  plucks  up  courage  and  makes  a 
fight— soon  goes  sailing  away  up  top,  leaving  the  weeds  quite  out  of 
Bight. 
Of  late  years  we  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  reasons  why 
farmers  should  act  together  politically,  and  about  the  best  methods 
of  doing  so.  Wouldn’t  it  be  at  least  quite  as  beneficial  to  discuss  the 
reasons  why  they  should  act  together  commercially,  and  the  best 
means  of  doing  so  ? 
Just  think  of  it!  Of  the  $1,000,000,000  representing  the  exports  of  the 
United  States  during  the  past  year,  80  per  cent,  or  $800,000,000  worth, 
consisted  of  agricultural  products!  Were  it  not  for  the  farmers  of 
the  country,  what  a  disastrous  “  balance  of  trade  ”  would  be  against 
us.  if  our  present  rate  of  importing  foreign  goods  could  by  any  possi¬ 
bility  be  maintained  ! 
Should  a  young  orchard  be  taxed?  This  question  is  agitating  the 
California  fruit  grower  a  good  deal.  When  he  sets  out  an  acre  o 
vines,  for  example,  the  value  of  the  land,  for  taxation,  Is  at  once 
raised  and  it  increases  year  after  year,  even  before  the  land  is  pro¬ 
ductive  at  all.  Fruit  growers  seem  to  think  that  the  valuation  should 
not  be  increased  until  the  vines  or  trees  earn  something  n  fact,  some 
of  them  declare  that  the  State  ought  to  pay  a  bounty  Jai  very  such 
acre  of  fruit  planted,  instead  of  increasing  taxation 
