Profitable Farming de¬ 
pends as much on sell¬ 
ing as on producing. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER’S 
A crop which is well 
grown is only half 
way to market. 
MARKET, CROP AND NEWS SPECIAL. 
Special to 
Club Organizers. 
The multitude of able men, promi¬ 
nent and progressive farmers ivho are 
notv interesting themselves in organ¬ 
izing clubs of subscriptions for The 
Rural New-Yorker speaks more than 
volumes could of the ivarm feeling of 
personal interest between the Paper 
and its Readers. This practical co¬ 
operation in fomvarding the import¬ 
ant interests of agriculture common 
to all farmers, practical, commercial, 
social, political, is what is actually 
placing The Rural New-Yorker at 
the very head of the farm papers of 
the World, in character, in circulation 
and in influence. By working to¬ 
gether “ we ”— subscribers, readers, 
editors and publishers—shall become 
a compact, strong body of workers 
whose power for good will be limited 
only by our wisdom in using it for the 
furtherance of the objects we all have 
at heart. 
The opportunities for the organiza¬ 
tion of clubs are manifold. The casual 
meeting, at work, on the road, at the 
store, at the Grange, Alliance, Club 
meetings and social gatherings; these 
are the times and occasions for in¬ 
creasing our family of readers and 
subsequent workers in the cause of ad¬ 
vanced Agriculture. 
TRADE WINDS. 
A correspondent of the Live Stock Re¬ 
porter who had traveled extensively over the 
ranges of the West and Southwest during 
the closing days of January and the early 
part of February, gives a good idea of the 
situation and condition of the range cattle 
in that locality. In the southern part of 
Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico the 
drought of last summer had a disastrous 
effect. Cattle are thin, although in rather 
better condition than at this date last year. 
In many places feed is shorter than ever 
before known. Much depends upon this 
month and March as to the outcome. When 
cattle are in low condition the tail end of 
thejwinter is by far the most severe. In fact, 
sometimes more cattle die on the range 
during the last 10 days of March than dur¬ 
ing the six months previous. At that time 
the old cow especially is hunting for grass, 
and not finding it she loses heart and gives 
up the fight for existence. The only storms 
worthy of note this season have been south 
-of Denver, taking in parts of Colorado, New 
Mexico and the Panhandle of Texas. 
Throagh that portion of the country snow 
was lying deep toward the end of January. 
Cattle were drawn considerably, and while 
no loss had taken place, all classes of stock 
had suffered and lost flesh. So far as the 
above storms a~e concerned they generally 
spent themselves before reaching the Cana¬ 
dian River. South of that stream the 
weather has been exceptionally fine. Cattle 
all over the State of Texas are reported as 
above an average in condition, and the 
prospects for early beef are good. Gener¬ 
ally speaking, the condition of range stock 
is above an average, and except we have 
exceptionally hard weather during the next 
two months all classes of Texas and West¬ 
ern cattle will start in upon green gras 3 
with more heart than usual. 
The friends of the New York and New 
England Agricultural Society, which held 
a fair at Albany last fall, hope to secure 
an appropriation for it from the State. 
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
A Kansas farmer has fallen heir^to $7,- 
000,000. 
A Riverside, California, man has secured 
a patent for a new style of tree prop. 
There Is war in Australia between ithe 
union and and non-union sheep shearers. 
The bill, appropriating $300,000 for Cali¬ 
fornia's exhihit at the World’s Fair, has 
passed the Assembly. 
The Baltimore Steam Sugar Refinery 
turned out its first lot of granulated sugar 
of excellent quality last week. 
An establishment in Florida packs 
oranges by steam. It is claimed that eggs 
might be run through the machine without 
injury. 
A decision just rendered by a New York 
court is to the effect that the recently 
organized National Harrow Company is an 
unlawful trust or combine. 
The rainfall in California has been ex¬ 
ceedingly light this winter, and farmers 
have been apprehensive of the result, but 
recent advices tell of copious rains. 
The Patrons of Industry of the County of 
Northumberland, Canada, held a meeting 
last week, at which they declared in favor 
of free trade with Canada and the United 
States. 
The latest report is that the negotiations 
looking toward a combination of the 
barbed wire manufacturers and the pur¬ 
chase of the Washburn & Moen patents 
have collapsed. 
A company with $2,000,000 capital has 
been incorporated to establish extensive 
stock-yards at South San Francisco. Chi¬ 
cago parties, including Nelson Morris and 
C. F. Swift, are interested. 
Any one wishing the Instructions recent¬ 
ly mentioned in these columns regarding 
regulations concerning cattle transporta¬ 
tion can obtain them of the D apartment of 
Agriculture at Washington, D. C. 
The Rockland County, N. Y., Grand Jury 
last week presented an indictment against 
the Rockland County Industrial Associa¬ 
tion for permitting gambling at the fair 
grounds at New City last year. Good ! 
One sanguine individual asserts that In 
a few years California fruit will be carried 
to the Eastern markets by electrical con¬ 
veyances in from 86 to 48 hours at less ex¬ 
pense and with greater safety than at 
present. 
The Vermont farms are not all aban¬ 
doned. On the Billings farm at Wood- 
stock the past season 938 bushels of pota¬ 
toes were grown on acre of old pasture 
land by the use of the Stockbrldge Special 
Manures. 
The Rural New-Yorker offered one 
yearly subscription for the 13 heaviest hens’ 
eggs from one flock exhibited at the exhibi¬ 
tion of the Cleveland Poultry and Pet Stock 
Association. This prize was taken by Mrs, 
A. Wise, of Cleveland. 
President Ingersoll of the Colorado Agri¬ 
cultural College, an alumnus of the Michi¬ 
gan Agricultural College has been made a 
Fellow of the Society of Science, Literature 
and Arts of London, being the first agri¬ 
cultural college graduate to receive this dis¬ 
tinguished honor. 
Governor Fifer, of Illinois, has issued a 
proclamation prohibiting the importation 
of cattle liable to convey Texas fever into 
the State, except subject to the regulations 
of the State Board of Live stock Com¬ 
missioners, from date until December 1. 
The localities named are these given in the 
Federal Government prohibition. 
An English agricultural paper prints a 
harrowing account of the financial troubles 
of the Hornellsville Farmers’ Club, “the 
largest farmers’ club in the United Slates, 
located in Elmira.” Our esteemed con¬ 
temporary confounds two clubs. The 
Hornellsville Club has about 1,503 mem¬ 
bers and is reported to be in a prosperous 
condition, and its headquarters are at 
Hornellsville, about 40 miles from Elmira. 
The Elmira club is reported to Jbe in 
trouble. 
A palace poultry car for the transporta¬ 
tion of live poultry has j ust been placed on 
a Western railroad for the shipment of 
poultry to the Eastern markets. It re¬ 
sembles closely an ordinary freight car ex¬ 
cepting that the sides are constructed of 
fine wire netting. The car is divided into 
128 permanent cages about 10 inches high, 
with wooden floors and wire doors. Each 
coop has a galvanized iron water and feed 
trough. An aisle runs through the length 
of the car, and in the center at the doors is 
an apartment for the attendant. Above 
this compartment is a water tank, holding 
about 750 gallons, and below the floor is a 
place to stow away feed. The chief claims 
for the car are that there is less likelihood 
of suffocation, and that with the Improved 
system of feeding there is less shrinkage in 
weight, and the advantage of holding the 
poultry for the market. The car will con¬ 
tain about 5,000 chickens. It is said to 
have been used extensively in the West. 
The Western Distillers and Cattle-Feed¬ 
ers’ Association, better known as the Whis¬ 
key Trust, has a capital stock of $35,000,003 
and controls the price of spirituous liquors, 
as it controls all the distilleries with two or 
three exceptions. The most important of 
these is that of H. H. Shufeldt of Chicago, 
which has been doing a driving business 
since the establishment of the trust. All 
inducements offered by the latter to join it 
or sell out having been rejected, several at¬ 
tempts have been made to secretly destroy 
the buildings, etc. George J. Gibson of 
Peoria, Ill., was secretary of the trust, and 
it is charged that after a lengthy series of 
soundings and temptings, he finally offered 
a bribe of $25,000 to the government gauger 
T. S. Dewar, on duty at Shufeldt’s distil¬ 
lery, to destroy it by means of an explosive 
worked by machinery. Dewar was selected 
because, having access to all parts of the 
building, he was in a position to place the 
“ infernal machine ” where it would effect 
the greatest amount of destruction. He pre¬ 
tended to accept the offer, but informed the 
authorities at Washington of the whole af¬ 
fair. Officers were sent on to aid in secur¬ 
ing incriminating evidence against Gibson, 
and having secured what was thought 
enough to obtain a conviction, they ar¬ 
rested the secretary just before what he 
thought would be the consummation of 
the diabolical plot. Over 150 men were 
engaged In the works, and such a 
destructive explosion as that planned, 
would have destroyed a large part of the 
building at once and set fire to the vast 
amount of stored spirits which would have 
caused such an Immediate and terrible 
conflagration that few could have escaped. 
Gibson assured Dewar that the clockwork of 
the machine was so regulated that it would 
run 25 minutes after It was started before 
an explosion would occur, but an expert 
examination of the device shows that the 
explosion would have been instantaneous, 
so that Dewar’s knowledge of the con¬ 
spiracy and his claims to the reward of 
$25,000, would have ended with his life as 
the destruction began. The government 
officers hold Gibson’s letters to Dewar, 
and the contract between the two, together 
with the dynamite machine which was 
captured in Gibson’s possession just as he 
intended to hand it over to Dewar. The 
Whisky Trust has accepted Gibson’s resig¬ 
nation pending trial; but fully supports 
him and hai hired the ablest lawyers to 
defend him. 
CROP AND MARKET NOTES. 
Large numbers of almond trees are being 
planted in some parts of California. 
A Florida man received $120 net for four 
crates of cucumbers, containing about 100 
each, shipped to this market. 
A car of white corn, said to be the first 
inspected here for several years, wa3 sold 
last week for 67 cents per bushel. 
A Philadelphia epicure says that fine 
canvas-back ducks equal to our Chesa- 
peakes in flavor now frequent Wisconsin, 
feeding on the wild celery. 
The railroad authorities say there is a 
vast amount of corn and wheat stored 
away in Western Kansas which was raised 
in 1889. The farmers who have been hold¬ 
ing their grain for good prices, are now be¬ 
ginning to ship to the East. The agent at 
Atchison says that more grain has been 
moved in the past two weeks than in any 
like period for several months. 
The tendency among California orange 
growers is to set the trees farther apart 
than formerly. The same experience has 
been had among the apple growers in the 
East. 
Everything indicates an early spring in 
the West and the farmers will be at work 
as early as possible in order to put in a large 
area of grain. The large stocks of grain 
are likely to make a better market for the 
coming crop, and farmers are anxious to 
avail themselves of the almost certain 
higher prices. 
Reports from the West say that the re¬ 
serves of wheat in farmers’ hands are grow¬ 
ing smaller every week, but the movement 
does not increase to any great extent, 
because the wheat is held for a dollar a 
bushel until the status of the coming crop 
is somewhat more fully determined than at 
present. A great deal of wheat continues 
to come from the State of Washington. 
This shows more plainly than anything 
else the deficiency of last year’s crop and 
the closeness with which the reserves have 
been marketed during the present season. 
Secretary Mohler, of the Kansas State 
Board of Agriculture, has received exceed¬ 
ingly encouraging accounts of the con¬ 
dition of winter wheat. In fact, he says 
that it looks much better now than it has 
at any previous season for several years. 
The winter has been favorable, ths land 
was well supplied with moisture, and 
threatened damage from the Hessian fly has 
been averted. These conditions have not 
been peculiar to any part of the State, but 
they have been general. From present in¬ 
dications there is every reason to believe 
that the crop of Kansas for 1891 will be an 
unusually large one. 
Beecham’s Pills cure Costlvsucss and Indigestion. 
FROM CENTRAL AMERICA. 
A Subscriber In Costa Rica describes 
the Climate, Crops and Conditions 
of that Interesting Country. 
Climate. —We are in the dry season now; 
most annual plants are drying up. The 
coffee is ripe and the telegraph poles are in 
full bloom; that is, not all, for some are 
cryptogamous (tree-fern poles are some¬ 
times used in the mountains), but a good 
deal of those around the capital are so. 
These are mostly Coral-tree-posts (Ery- 
thrina), which continue growingand bloom 
every year. The country has three climatic 
zones : the damp, unhealthy, lowlands of 
the East, splendid, rich, banana-land; the 
temperate highlands of the interior, where 
the Irish potato does as well as the banana 
and the Carica papaya; then the rolling 
lands of the Pacific coast, where the atmos¬ 
phere is rather dry and the spontaneous 
vegetation much less luxuriant than on 
the Eastern coast, but where all the tropical 
products do just as well as in the east, 
when cultivated; besides, this zone is 
healthy even for Northern people. Some 
tracts of this part are exceedingly rich, 
while others are unfit for agriculture. Here 
the main cultures are the plantain, the cane, 
the manioca and the cacao; the vanilla grows 
wild and bears very well, but nobody culti¬ 
vates it. As it is so productive here, it 
would be the most valuable thing to raise; 
in most other tropical countries it produces 
but little fruit, unless fecundated artifl- 
cially.There is not enough manioca raised to 
make starch or tapioca, but tfrfcr will be one 
of the greatest industries In the future, as 
the product of an acre of manioca is enor¬ 
mous if it gets any cultivation at all. The 
plantain is raised only for home consump¬ 
tion, but it is destined to become a great 
export article in the evaporated state. I 
have often eaten sun-dried plantains and 
can say that they are better than dried figs 
or dates, both of which they resemble in 
taste. They remain soft and are of a honey- 
yellow color and very sweet and keep very 
long perfectly. When they are^over-ripe 
they dry up rather easily. 
Tropical Products.— Though all the 
tropical fruits do exceedingly well on the 
Pacific side, nobody plants any; neither are 
spices raised. Cotton grows wild near 
the coast and stands for several years, mak- 
