68 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
JAN. 24 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National .Weekly .Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, ) ED|T 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, ) ° R8, 
Rural Publishing Company: 
HWSON VALENTINE, P.esident. 
ED jAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
tumn of his sixteenth year he became principal of 
RlIP A T TvTl7 , tX7 r th ®. business department of a flourishing school, 
IV U KAL lNh W" Y ORKER, and 18 now filling the position with honor to him¬ 
self and satisfaction to all concerned. This grati¬ 
fying result was possible to this young man only 
because he made the most of his opportunities. 
There are thousands of men, young and old, who 
spend their time and strength in proclaiming what 
they might do if they had this one’s “ chance,” or 
that one’s money. Are you acquainted with any 
8a ch l bbd they make the most of the opportunities 
they have had ? In spite of all that may be said 
about the advantages of those possessed of wealth 
and influence, the fact remains that no country on 
earth offers such opportunities to the young man— 
or woman of brains and pluck, as our own Amer¬ 
ica. The “ grasping monopolists,” about whom we 
hear so much, Gould, Rockefeller, Armour, and 
many others, began in poverty and rose by hard 
work and shrewd foresight. You, young reader, 
have the benefit of the past experience of thousands 
of successful men without cost. "Will you use it? 
Any young man who has a sound mind in a healthy 
body ought to be ashamed of spending his time in 
lamenting over the things he might do if he only 
had some other man’s money. There’s a weak spot 
somewhere about the individual who permits such 
fancies to blind him to present possibilities. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1891. 
Applications are now in order from our subscrib¬ 
ers for the six kinds of seeds mentioned below and 
described more in detail on another page: 
1. The Long Keeper Tomato. 
2. Rural Thoroughbred Flint Corn. 
3. Thorburn’s Everbearing Cucumber. 
4. Vau Cluse Red-Seeded Watermelon. 
5. Silver Beet. 
6. A mixture of the finest varieties and strains of 
poppy. 
The first two originated at the Rural Grounds. 
The Cucumber is a novelty of last year. The 
Watermelon is a novelty of decided merit. The 
Silver Beet is prized both as an ornamental plant 
and for its tender, succulent midribs when cooked, 
the same as asparagus or chard. The poppies are 
a choice selection of the leading kinds now offered 
by seedsmen. 
Any efforts that farmers may make to subjugate 
the English sparrow must prove unavailing while 
these pests are sheltered, fed and propagated in the 
cities. 
The weeds of our fields appropriate a great deal 
of nitrogen. This nitrogen is not lost, to be sure. 
But, as Dr. Lawes puts it, to turn nitric acid into 
organic nitrogen, which some day will again be¬ 
come nitric acid, is not a profitable process. 
Prof. Georgeson, now of the Manhattan Agri¬ 
cultural College, while in Japan made a special 
study of Japanese economic plants and their uses. A 
series of illustrated articles from his pen, will begin 
in these columns in a few weeks. The leading topics 
considered will be the Culture of Rice and other 
Cereals; the Breeding of Silk-worms and the Culture 
of the Mulberry for their Food; the Culture of Fiber 
Plants and the Manufacture of Paper and Coarse 
Linen; the Culture of Dye Stuffs, etc., etc., all in¬ 
teresting in their way, while many lessons of value 
to this country may be learned from them. 
Upon the assembling of the Kansas Legislature, 
it was heralded all over the country by the press 
dispatches that the appearance of the Granger legis¬ 
lators was a surprise. “They are,” we were told, 
“a most respectable looking set of men, with much 
intelligence expressed in their faces.” Shades of 
our first farmer President! Are “respectable¬ 
looking” “Granger” legislators such a rarity that 
their appearance should create “surprise?” If so, 
let us be thankful that the unusual sight has been 
presented in many capitols. The fact of the matter 
is that professional politicians have so long re¬ 
garded the farmers as a set of mossbacks without 
opinions of their own and of no particular account 
except when their votes were needed, that they are 
genuinely surprised when the agriculturists show 
themselves possessed of ideas and intelligence far 
beyond the average politician’s. The farmer legis¬ 
lators may not be dudes in dress. They may not 
be Depews in eloquence. They mav not have the 
political shrewdness and trickery" of the party 
heelers. They do have “ horse sense, ” and that is 
more than many of the old-time political hacks 
have ever given evidence of having. They will 
undoubtedly make mistakes—that is human—but 
these mistakes will be errors of judgment: they 
will not deliberately misrepresent their constit¬ 
uencies. They have an immense amount of 
opposition and partisan prejudice to overcome, but 
with clear heads and honest hearts they may 
demonstrate to the world that the soundest rulers 
of a republic are to be found among the tillers of 
the soil. 
We hear a great deal of talk about the railroads 
nowadays. The tendency of the times is unques¬ 
tionably towards government supervision of the 
railroad traffic. Does anybody know what the 
country’s railroad business amounts to? We have 
never seen any condensed statement of it, and have 
therefore prepared the following table from the 
last report of the Inter State Commerce Commis¬ 
sion: 
Total number of railroads in the United States.. 1 478 
Total mileage. . 157.758.8 
N umber of men employed. 704 743 
Illinois has the greatest mileage, viz., 9,829 miles- 
Kansas is second with 8,770, and Texas third with 
8,347. 
Railroad capital (stocks, real property, etc.) $4 251 190 719 
Bonds and other mortgages. 4,267,527,’859 
lotal earnings. 964,816,129 
SUMMARY OF EARNINGS. 
Passengers. $254,039,665 
Ma 11 . 21,923,031 
Express. 19,736,411 
freight. . 644,777,801 
Telegraphs. 12,809,306 
Miscellaneous. 6,767*347 
Total earnings and other incomes_. 1 089 985 831 
Total operating expenses. 644 706 701 
Dividends, taxes, interest, etc. 343’890 394 
As a matter of fact, practically no provision has 
been made for paying off the bonds and mortgages 
which constitute about one-half the railroad cap¬ 
ital; but about 12 per cent, of which falls due be¬ 
fore 1900. The evident desire is “ to make railroad 
obligations a permanent indebtedness on railroad 
property,” say the Inter-State Commissioners. In 
other words, the railroads never expect to pay 
their bonds. To quote again in substance from 
this report, the financial policy of the railroads is 
second only in importance to the government’s 
financial policy, and the arguments against a per¬ 
manent national debt are sound against a perma- 
nent lailroad debt. Many of the roads are highly 
successful as business investments, while others are 
failures. We lump the entire system in the above 
hgures, assuming that if the government ever does 
step into control it will absorb all, with “special 
favors to none.” Would the government be called 
upon to pay the debts which the railroads them¬ 
selves never expect to pay, or would it merely pay 
interest on them as the railroads propose to do? 
society receive from the enactment of good laws if 
they are not enforced ? Statistics show that not 
one twentieth of the bills introduced into Congress 
and the various State legislatures ever become 
laws; and every-day experience notoriously demon¬ 
strates that a large number of the laws passed— 
many of them among the best-—are enforced very 
inadequately or not at all. Some law makers are 
corrupt; are any of the officers whose duty it is to 
enforce the laws incorruptible ? From the governor 
of the State to the village constable or the city 
policeman, are not all more deeply interested in ad¬ 
vancing their own interests or those of their 
political party, than in enforcing the laws ? 
Is it not notorious that the laws with regard 
to the liquor traffic are in many places set 
at scornful defiance and in most places openly 
violated with impunity? Is it not notorious that 
men with political influence or “ backing” can and 
often do easily escape the penalties for their flagrant 
Txru^i es the civil and criminal laws ? 
While such a superabundance of talent and genius 
is all over the country busily toiling to devise new 
laws for the enrichment of the classes, the relief of 
the masses and the betterment of mankind in gen¬ 
eral, wouldn’t it tend to the greater security, ad¬ 
vancement and happiness of the people if associa¬ 
tions were formed and means devised for holding 
the officers charged with the enforcement of the 
laws already on the statute books to a stricter ac¬ 
countability for the performance of their duties ? 
We learn of a country boy who worked in an 
evaporator during the autumns of his thirteenth, 
fourteenth and fifteenth years, attending district 
school during the intervening winters. His total 
earnings were about $250. The winter of his fif¬ 
teenth year he attended a business college, from 
which he was graduated with honors. The au- 
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS. 
Just now the air in all quarters of the country is 
m Wlth new and nove l schemes of legislation 
While some of the suggested laws would, no doubt' 
greatly advance the national welfare without much 
disturbance of the existing order of things many 
others would revolutionize not only political but 
also social economy; not only change the form of 
government, but also the daily lives of the people. 
Indeed, there appears to be a national craze for em 
pineal legislation. From the professional politi¬ 
cian through all ranks of society up to the practical 
farmer, hardly can a dozen men meet together to 
discuss topics of general interest without the pro- 
duction or concoction of as many different projects 
of iaws. Indeed, one of the main objects of nearly 
ail the multitudinous associations of manufactur¬ 
ers, workingmen and farmers, that have of late 
been rapidly formed in all parts of the countrv, has 
been to influence legislation—to impel or compel 
the repeal or amendment of existing laws or the 
enactment of new ones. But while the legislative 
departments of the State and National govern¬ 
ments are receiving perhaps almost too much pub¬ 
lic attention, the executive departments are cer¬ 
tainly receiving by far too little. Good govern¬ 
ment consists essentially as much in enforcing the 
laws as in making them, and experience has 
amply shown that while all government opera- 
tions, like all other human efforts, are imperfect,and 
all legislative work is very defective, that of the 
executive department is by far the most inade¬ 
quate, inefficient and scandalous, alike in the 
Nation, State and municipality. What benefit does 
BREVITIES. 
!! sald Grandpa, pointing straight at me 
Keep her off the seeding where the lawn will be.” 
Then he whipped up Nancy and rode fast away, 
I got tired of watching, so I went to play; 
cow came walking where the yra«s was sown ; 
Great big hoofs made havoc, I was scared I own • 
Rut a rain came, washing big tracks out of sight 
All was mud, and Grandpa thought that all was right. 
,, Mind the cow,” said Grandpa, once s gain to me’: 
Keep her off the seeding.” l could only see 
Mighty chance for playing, for the rain, thought I, 
Washes out the cow-tracks while you wink vour eve 
So the cow, unh eded, walked across the lawn; * 
& a ' n J ame tben ? No, no. sir. Sure as you are born, 
Weath“r came up colder; frozen were the tracks- 
Grandpa came and found them: stiu 1 feel the whacks 
That his slipper gave me out behind the Shed: 
Bread and water supper, oft l trudgtd to bed. 
I have learned this lesson: often we neglect 
Buries that are Irksome, seeming to expect 
Kaln to wash t” e traces - just remember then 
£, r< ; < L z , es bea * Che rainfall nine times out of ten. 
Nothing so dl -graceful—that I must confess - 
As the frozen record of unfaithfulness. 
Court the silo. 
Are all your folks “ doing well ” this winter ? 
Is money worth what it costs to get it, or less ? 
Can you answer those dairy questions on page 73 ? 
ab ° Ut ““ thW6 U t0 8 ° y COn “ r,ll “8 
b0 G b O o O nght T to!°o r aS lhapplne88 when J'° udecide that It can 
h RA< i7 f ells of Nebraska farmers who sell 15-cent 
corn and buy Kalamazoo celery J 
hfWbaLr 6 about “ hogging ” clover, let us remem¬ 
ber that clover varies and so do soils and hogs. 
th , nT he ^ t T eve ^ S0 hghBy—if there is danger that 
the roots will be broken by the action of frost. 
a , flne business opening for the man who will 
make good cheeses of 10 to 15 pounds’ weight. 
It seems a little remarkable that not one of the varieties 
land raWberrIeS whlch are P°P ular here is popular in Eng- 
A CHILD can beat any grown person at asking “ why ?” 
answer 1 the °‘ whysJ* y eduCHtion pop U P as y° a try to 
, the fo /the agricultural depression given 
by Governor Abbett of New Jersey, are bad country roads 
woret UDJU8t fmght char « es - The bad roads are the 
The New Jersey Agricultural College will begin a short 
winter course in agriculture, February 3. On page 62 Pro? 
^oorhees .shows how a farmer can save enough to send his 
boy to college for a year. 
The Chinese are said to be “eating their way ” into the 
flower trade of San Francisco. It would seem as though 
the pretty girl florist might laugh at Chinese competition 
but it appears sue can’t. p > 
tw J f apan U° Ver had ?° other valuable property than 
P. rovldla £ a quick, strong sod on “washed” hill- 
SSL 1 ” 8 ,or that 1,10,16 on Mii ’ 8ldes Md 
CAN you buy ‘‘shorts” for feeding now? This feed 
seems to have disappeared in many sections. It is now 
generally mixed with the bran. Unfortunately too much 
cheat and hull go in with it. LU . 
A? le £ 8 ^ on< L of the ex Perimentstations is making a trial 
of Mr. Colcord s system of preserving forage Two vears 
ago one of the governors was put in a wooden silo which 
has not been opened yet. Other stations ought to try this 
system. J 
With each year comes stronger evidence of the value 
of cassava as a food for stock at the extreme South All 
ea ^ ^ well; it can be grown and harvested 
with less labor than any other edible root, and can be left 
in the ground all winter if necessary. left 
The lecturers at farmers’ institutes find, as they go the 
rounds year after year that their audiences grow g more 
critical and exacting. Second-hand talk will not answer 
U r “ ers are doiD K an immense amount of reading Ind 
°f sr d d fl w ^, uoto who lB jyss 
t£L w L h n a » 
fJS CO w’,f°r er . t or lat6r ' wfceiapp&MMMtarf™ 
wTiLL w eI i but they can always be fed to stock. They 
will pay for feeding as well as roots for any animal on the 
place except, possibly, the dog, and if the poor kinds are 
* n way ’ f be bet ^ er sorts will bring all the 
higher prices. No stock can live and thrive on apples 
alone, but just as you feel better when you havefruit 
with every meal, so stock will “do better’’ with apples 
