88 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
IAN. 31 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, President. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1891. 
Was it the careless man or the industrious 
hen that needed a duty on eggs ? 
If ati acre of your pasture yields you nothing but a V, 
When it might he made to yield an X or two, 
We’ll ai cept the plea that farming is a failure—certainly. 
Rut we’ll put the cause of failure straight on you. 
J efferson : ‘ ‘ The greatest service which can he 
rendered to any country is to add a usef ul plant to 
its culture .” 
The Best Label for Hardy Trees and Shrubs. 
—After many years of experiment, The It. N.-Y. 
thinks it has hit upon a way of utilizing zinc, that 
comes near to solving the vexed label problem. 
An illustrated account will appear soon. 
With how much more heart and earnestness do 
we set ourselves about plans for another season if 
the farm paid a dividend last year. There is a 
mighty difference between putting money in one’s 
pocket and taking it out as the result of the year’s 
toil. Few there are among us who can feel con¬ 
tented in the face of the fact that so considerable a 
part of their lives has been spent without in any 
wise providing for the contingencies of their later 
days. The R. N.-Y. is free to confess that it is fond 
of dividends. They are soothing, you know. 
The R. N.-Y.’s view has always been that too 
much stress is laid by some writers upon the im¬ 
portance of nitrogenous fertilizers. We have 
assumed that nitrogen is neither more nor less im¬ 
portant than minerals; that is, phosphate and 
potash. Hr. Lawes raised potatoes for nine con¬ 
secutive seasons (1) with minerals alone; (2) with 
nitrates alone; (3) with minerals and nitrates. The 
yield from minerals alone was five tons per acre. 
From nitrates alone the yield was but three tons 
per acre. With both minerals and nitrates, the 
yield was eight tons to the acre. 
Canvas back ducks are retailing at from $7 to $8 
a pair, and there is a scant supply at that. These 
ducks are valued so highly on account of their 
sweet, pure flavored flesh, the result of a purely 
vegetable diet. It may be questioned whether a 
ready market might not be found for domestic 
ducks reared exclusively upon vegetable food. The 
“ hygienic ” pigs of Dr. Learned are sold for twice 
and thrice the usual prices of pork products. So, 
too, it is not unreasonable to suppose, in view of 
the outrageously high prices of Canvas backs, that 
vegetable fed, “ hygienic ” ducks would, after 
a while, be highly prized by the McGullisters of the 
country. 
The R. N.-Y. last summer made a cross between 
the best of the old kinds of tomatoes upon the Peach 
Tomato. It also saved seeds of a sport of the Peach 
Tomato differing from the parent in color only, 
being white or a creamy white. The two kinds, 
assuming that the “sport” will come true, will 
make a pretty contrast when placed together either 
in the same dish or canned in glass bottles. A very 
pretty effect might be produced by training a vine 
of each, planted close together, up a trellis or 
the front of any out-building. The vines are vig¬ 
orous and, if most of the laterals were pinched out, 
would no doubt grow to a height of 10 feet or more, 
the white and i*osy-colored fruits intermingling. 
While the farmers of Illinois join the planters of 
the South in their protest against the Conger Lard 
Bill, and in favor of cotton seed oil as a whole¬ 
some and honest ingredient in leaf lard, the 
farmers of Connecticut have just strongly de¬ 
nounced such a mixture as a fraudulent adultera¬ 
tion, injurious alike to the would be consumers 
and actual producers of genuine lard; and, right in 
the teeth of their Western and Southern brethren, 
they have vigorously raised their voices in favor of 
the Conger Bill. It would appear that the interests 
of the growers of cotton in the South, of beef in the 
Far West, and of the lard makers in Chicago, do 
not in all cases coincide with those of hog raisers 
elsewhere. In fact, the more closely farmers come 
together and study the interests of the various sec¬ 
tions of the country, the more clearly do they see 
that in some respects the economic interests of one 
section are more or less opposed to those of another 
or of several others; and the less disposed do they 
feel to merge their local associations into a grand 
national organization. They are learning that 
while they may affiliate with such a body, it will be 
to their interest to preserve intact the independence 
of their local societies. 
A pamphlet from the Nicaragua Canal Company 
gives a history of the efforts made to discover or 
dig a canal across the isthmus between North and 
South America. This history, we are told, dates 
back to 1502, when Columbus expected to sail from 
ocean to ocean. Now, however, the canal seems 
surer of completion than ever before. Congress 
is to be asked to carry the work on, and the people 
of the country are to be asked to provide all or part 
of the necessary money. It is easy to grow eloquent 
over the vast “possibilities” of the canal; but the 
farmer of the New England and the Middle States 
will ask, “What good will it do me ?” For years 
he has been trying to compete with the “ free 
fertility” of the “Great West” and the contest has 
nearly ruined him. Now that he begins to see a 
little light, two new schemes confront him. It is 
proposed to spend some of his money in construct¬ 
ing great irrigation reservoirs that shall render more 
new land capable of competing with his starving 
soil. Now comes this new canal, cheapening the 
rate of transportation for wheat, meats and fruit 
from the vast fertile fields of the Pacific coast! For 
the Eastern merchant or handler as well as for the 
Pacific coast producer this canal will prove a great 
success. How about the Eastern farmer ? 
A gentleman recently returned from a trip to 
North Carolina stated some facts which illustrate, 
in a pointed way, the power of the great railroad 
corporations. He said that a house of given size 
and finish could be built in that State for less than 
half the cost in the vicinity of New York; that the 
best dressed pine lumber costs there but little more 
than one third the price here. At one town which 
he visited on a railroad controlled by the Penn¬ 
sylvania Railroad Company, were two immense 
saw mills, which had formerly employed hundreds 
of hands and turned out millions of feet of lumber 
annually. Since the Pennsylvania Company se¬ 
cured control of the only means of transportation, 
it has placed a virtually prohibitive freight rate 
upon shipments of lumber,and the mills are closed, 
while immense piles of lumber lie rotting in the 
weather. People in other places wish to buy this 
lumber at fair prices; the mill owners and the 
laborers employed by them wish to continue the 
business of manufacturing it. In the latter case it 
means bread and butter and a fair return for in¬ 
vested capital; in the former it means an increased 
supply of a necessary commodity. Both are pro¬ 
hibited from the attainment of their legitimate 
desires by a corporation which holds the key to the 
situation and furnishes a miserable service of one 
train a day. It does seem as though it should not 
cost twice as much to transport lumber the few 
hundred miles covered by this road as it does to 
manufacture it. These are matters that concern 
the whole people, and the people are becoming 
aroused to see the enormous discrepancy that exists 
in these matters. 
To day, in Bergen County, N. J., a bushel of 
sound potatoes is worth about the same as a bushel 
of wheat. One will buy the other. Now let us 
suppose a law to be passed stating that hereafter a 
bushel of potatoes is to be worth as much as a 
bushel of wheat, and that debts can be paid on that 
basis. The thing works well this year and the 
potato farmers are happy. Next year they say 
they will put every acre of ground they own into 
potatoes and buy wheat because they know that 
the wheat contains more nutriment and is worth 
intrinsically more. They will simply make the dif¬ 
ference. On the strength of their prospective for¬ 
tune they obtain credit for fertilizers, improved 
machinery, etc., needed to grow the crop. While they 
are waiting, a few rich farmers and speculators are 
quietly at work buying and storing wheat. They 
exchange all their potatoes for it at even rates and 
they send to Canada and Scotland and buy vast 
cargoes of potatoes, bring them here and exchange 
for wheat, gladly paying the duty, because a bushel 
of wheat in those countries is worth more than two 
bushels of potatoes. Next year we have an enor¬ 
mous potato crop and a poor wheat crop, with the 
surplus grain in the hands of our shrewd buyers. 
The law has decreed that a bushel of potatoes is 
worth a bushel of wheat, but can the potato man 
make the wheat handler give him the wheat for 
his potatoes ? No! the wheat will be held until the 
potato man needs bread so badly that he will be 
forced to give two or even three bushels for one of 
wheat. In the end his increased crop yields no 
more than in former years, while his hoped for pros¬ 
perity has plunged him in debt. The legislation 
has only given the rich man a chance to make the 
real difference in value between wheat and potatoes 
as clear profit. This thing can never happen, but 
is there any parallel between it and “free silver ? ” 
A few years ago, the legislature of Virginia, like 
those of Minnesota, Kansas, and several other 
States, enacted a law prohibiting the sale of fresh 
meats slaughtered more than 100 miles from the 
place of sale, unless first inspected by a local State 
official at a cost of a cent per pound for inspection 
fees. This was evidently intended to operate as a 
prohibition against the sale of meats killed outside 
of the State, and was specially directed against 
Chicago dressed meat in the interest of local 
butchers and stock raisers. The interests involved 
were so great and widespread that a legal decision 
as to the constitutionality of the law was in¬ 
evitable. In Virginia and in every other State in 
which a similar law had been enacted, the United 
States Circuit or District Courts invariably declared 
the laws unconstitutional. Appeals were made to 
thejUnited States Supreme Court, which has just 
handed down a decision in the Virginia case. This 
is equally applicable to all the others, and finally 
settles the law in the matter. In pronouncing 
against the constitutionality of the law, the Court 
observes that while any State may establish regu¬ 
lations to protect its people against the sale of un 
wholesome meats, it must not, under the guise of 
exercising such police powers or of enacting inspec¬ 
tion laws, discriminate against the products and 
industries of the other States in favor of its own or 
those of any other State. Judging by the bitter de¬ 
nunciations, in Minnesota and elsewhere, of similar 
decisions rendered by the lower United States 
Courts, this judgment of the highest court in the 
nation, or, indeed, in the whole world, is likely to 
be soundly amathematized in many parts of the 
country. It should be borne in mind, however, 
that the national Constitution was formulated 
years before any of the Justices was born, and 
that tbe Court does not make the laws but merely 
interprets and applies them. A Constitutional 
amendment alone or a self-stultifying reversal of 
the decision by the august body that rendered it, 
can upset or supersede the present judgment. 
BREVITIES. 
. Some folks need lots of sympathy 
To nurse their vital spark, 
Some folk* need only punching up 
To make them tee th- mark 
Be careful how vou go at folks; 
Punch up the lazy men 
E’en to rheir full capacity. 
They'll turn and thank you then: 
But treat the broken hearted ones 
With gentleness and care, 
Just coax their grit and courage back, 
Then what brave deeds they’ll dare. 
Sand rots an oak post. 
Tongues increase as brains decrease. 
Don’t put an ostrich egg under a hen. 
DISCUSS that apple question on page 83. 
You kick your pocketbook through your cow. 
Do men go into a “ trust ” to make money or to save it ? 
Jefferson : “ Cultivators of the earth are the most valu¬ 
able citizens.” 
No chemist can find any difference between the blood of 
the thoroughbred and the blood of the scrub. 
The gentleness of the Holstein cow has been bred into 
her for centuries—when you go at such a cow with a club 
you simply make a fool of yourself. 
Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher writes that when she sees 
a newspaper attack upon the Jersey cow she feels like re¬ 
senting it as she would an unjust attack upon a personal 
friend. 
The use of tin shingles and metal roofing and siding for 
barns and other farm buildings is increasing rapidly. Mr. 
Hoyt has all his barns tinned at a cost of 1 % cent per 
square foot. 
E. P. Powell : “ The time seems to be coming when 
such a man as Wilder, Downing or Barry will be pre¬ 
ferred by the people tor high official positions to a 
professed politician.” 
When the farm plan Is to sell nothing but finished pro¬ 
ducts—butter, meat, wool, eggs, etc. — the wastes are all 
kept at home. This is an age of saving wastes rather than 
creating crude materials. 
The ability to borrow money easily has proved the 
wreck of many young men. Few people starve to death in 
this country. One never knows what he can go without 
and still be happy till the knowledge is forced upon him. 
IF you only had a portable barn yard now you might 
move it from one side of the barn to the other. While the 
cows ran on the east side a stout crop of corn or cabbages 
could be sucking up the fertility on the west side, that you 
never can scrape up. 
Brunette is a new strawberry of high promise that will 
probably be introduced in a year or so. Mr. G. Cowing, 
of Muucie, Ind., with whom it originated, says that it is the 
most beautiful and delicious strawberry he has ever raised, 
and he has fruited all prominent sorts since the Hovey 
Seedling. 
Will “cheap money” interfere with the tariff system ? 
It is claimed by some financiers that the passage of a sil¬ 
ver bill which is confessedly for the purpose of providing 
currency most advantageous for the debtor classes, will 
deprive the McKinley Bill of some of its protective feat¬ 
ures because duties may be paid in the cheaper money. 
Thousands of acres of Dakota lands which formerly 
grew wheat are now being given up to sheep. Thousands 
of acres of other wheat-growing lands are now turned to 
flax or the dairy. The result will surely be to make the 
wheat crop more profitable on the smaller farms. This is 
as it should be—as it was when farmers were most pros¬ 
perous. 
GEORGIA imposes a liceuse of $500 on the sale of dressed 
meat from a distance. Has the Empire State of the South 
hit upon a constitutional method of preventing the im¬ 
portation of the obnoxious Chicago product, and thus 
succeeded where so many other States have failed ? The 
Armours are protesting against the “ outrageous extor¬ 
tion ” loud enough to give promise of another legal con¬ 
test. 
Marvelous have been the properties always attributed 
to the number three and multiples of it; nor have some 
of these ceased to be operative to the present day. Look 
at those three farmers in the Illinois Legislature I See with 
what anxiety the 101 Democratic and the 100 Republican 
members watch their looks and actions ! In their hands 
rests the election of the next United States Senator, for 
do not those hands hold the balance of power ? Neither 
Palmer, the Democrat, though an ex-General, ex-Governor 
and ex Senator; nor Farwell, the present Republican 
Senator, nor Oglesby, ex-General, ex-Governor and ex- 
Senator and present candidate for Farwell’s seat, 
pleases them ; they insist on the selection of Streeter, an 
almost unknown man, but a staunch supporter of agri¬ 
cultural interests. Will the 101 Democrats or the 100 Re¬ 
publicans abandon their owu candidate and support the 
choice of the three ? The latter are certainly wonderfully 
powerful just now because they are three, because they are 
farmers, and, perhaps, a little, too, because they hold the 
balance of power. 
