228 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MARCH 21 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A /National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Hornet. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINOWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LXWSON VALENTINE, Piesident. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1891. 
The Rural New-Yorker is doing all in its 
power to put a stop to the outrageous exag¬ 
gerations and falsehoods, both as to illustra¬ 
tions and descriptions, with which the cata¬ 
logues of many of the seedsmen, florists and 
nurserymen are well filled. We propose to 
continue this work at any cost, for the rea¬ 
son that we know of no more effective way 
to serve our patrons and the public generally. 
Now, we call upon our friends to aid us in 
this work. Have you bought high-priced 
novelties to find them new only in name ? 
Have you bought high-priced novelties to 
find them inferior to old varieties of the same 
class ? Have you been unfairly dealt with 
by those who issue such catalogues, and in 
what way ? Let us hear from all our readers 
who approve of The R. N.-Y.’s course. 
cious “Napoleons of Finance?” Not innocent Hay¬ 
seed, Mossback and Wayback ; but keen eyed, 
hawk-beaked Shylock, bent beneath hoary ages of 
inherited craft in shekel grubbing and hoarding; 
harsh faced, thin lipped Gradgrind with a joyless 
lifetime’s experience in extracting lucre alike from 
the pinchings of poverty and the thriftlessness 
of wealth without too great a risk to his own neck 
or liberty; and sleek, rotund Moneybags, many of 
whose inherited or accumulated millions are often 
dissipated in wild cat schemes. Why, then, snicker 
or sneer at the petty greed or gullibility of country 
folks while indulgently tolerant of the monstrous 
greed and gullibility of city people ? Like every 
other form of crime and rascality, swindling finds 
far richer and easier opportunities in towns and 
cities than in country places, and 
Though (rainful the sharper who’s glib-tongued and keen, 
Where ( r .in-fl, Ids and pastures, like th’ owners, are green 
More gainful the sharper who's sleek and profound 
Where bulls, -bears” and ‘ lambs” iu gray Wall Street abound 
A CAUTION. 
Those who propose to raise the Rural Thorough¬ 
bred Flint Corn the approaching season should 
bear this in mind if their aim be to nroduce a 
maximum crop of grain, that they should not plant 
closer than 2A by 4 feet; that is to say, each plant 
should have 10 square feet of area. To insure a 
full stand, the grains, of course, may be planted 
much closer together, the above distance being at 
length secured by cutting out the necessary 
number of plants during the first hoeing. 
If you want a “Tree Tomato,” set out in rich 
soil and at the base of a pole or any tall, upright 
support, a single plant of any of the strong-grow¬ 
ing varieties, such as Ignotum, Perfection, Potato- 
Leaf, or Long-Keeper, (R. N.-Y.) and, as it grows, 
pinch out every lateral bud and secure the main 
vine to the support. Before frost the vine will 
have grown 10 or 12 feet. A more rapid growth 
may be secured by picking off the flowers as they 
bloom. The R N.-Y. begs to inform its readers, if 
they do not know it already, that there is no 
variety which more than another is entitled to the 
name of “ Tree Tomato.” 
Last summer at the Rural Grounds pollen of the 
best kinds of tomatoes was applied to the emascu¬ 
lated flowers of the Peach Tomato. The crossing 
was done so late that the resulting tomatoes were 
not half matured when frosts made it necessary to 
pluck them. The seeds of these green, ill-shaped 
tomatoes were planted in pots the same day that 
seeds of a dozen other kinds were planted. It is 
worthy of record that they germinated and the 
plants were an inch high before there were any 
signs of germination in the other pots. Was this 
precocity owing to the fact that the seeds were im¬ 
mature or to the fact of their hybridity ? 
New and radical departures in agricultural 
methods have become so frequent as to cause little 
surprise. In the large wheat fields of the West 
where steam plows are in use, artificial light en¬ 
ables the work to proceed without interruption 
night and day. A prominent Californian now pro¬ 
poses to utilize the electric light in the orchards and 
vineyards of his State during the fruit-picking. 
The climate of much of the fruit-growing districts 
is very hot during the day in harvest time and the 
laborers work with great discomfort. The extreme 
heat is also injurious to some of the fruits to be 
handled. It is proposed to use a movable electric 
light plant to aid in harvesting fruits during the 
cooler hours of the night and also to work day and 
night shifts of men when it is desirable to prosecute 
the work with greater rapidity. Some of the most 
perishable fruits are now lost through inability to 
secure them during the day. The scheme seems 
practicable and will probably be tried. 
During the recent canvas for members of the 
legislatures in the various States, the candidates of 
both parties were, as a rule, loud in their approval 
of the Australian ballot system as the best availa¬ 
ble means of securing or promoting purity at the 
polls. This was especially the case in agricultural 
districts where farmers were generally emphatic in 
their demands on this point. Since the elections, 
however, a large proportion of the legislators, who 
owed their positions in part at least to their advo¬ 
cacy of reformation in this line, have either become 
very lukewarm in their support of it, or have gone 
back on their promises altogether. Thus while the 
Republicans of Maine in their latest platform of 
principles were earnestly in favor of the system, 
the Republican majority of the legislature now re¬ 
fuse to pass a ballot reform law, on the partisan 
pretext that the election laws of the State need no 
amendment. Again, the Republican majority in 
the Pennsylvania Legislature seek to defer action 
in the matter on the poor pretense that the mem¬ 
bers want more information on the provisions of 
the system, although it has been thoroughly dis¬ 
cussed throughout the country and is already in 
force in 18 of the States. During the recent cam¬ 
paign the Republican as well as the Democratic 
farmers of the Keystone State loudlv demanded 
this reformation. Is it worthy of the" Grand Old 
Party which has honorably accomplished so many 
achievements, and which prides itself on being, par 
excellence , the Party of Moral Ideas, to practice par¬ 
tisan duplicity in this, the great need of the times ? 
The pea, like clover, can get a part of its nitrogen from 
the air. Sown thicklv enough, a heavy crop of vegetation 
can be plowed in. if we, at the No r th, could grow the 
Southern cow pea, nothing better could be asked for for a 
green manuring crop. For the past three years It has been 
raised without difficulty on the farm of the Massachusetts 
Experiment Station, the weight of the crop being about 10 
tons in the last two years, and seven tons in the first year. 
So said Prof. G. C. Caldwell in an address de¬ 
livered before the Western New York Horticul¬ 
tural Society. We can assure Prof. Caldwell, as 
the result of trials made at the Rural Farm about 
10 years ago, or more, that there are several 
varieties of the cow pea that, though planted in hills 
five feet apart, will cover every inch of soil before 
frost and, at the same time, easily mature seed. A 
full account of these experiments, with illustrations, 
will be found in The R N.-Y. of October 9, 1880. 
That tin plate question is still lively. On page 
1G4 we gave some statements taken from the Pio¬ 
neer-Press to the effect that “ American tin-’plate ” 
was made from imported plates and imported tin 
by imported workmen. Mr. Hodgeman, who sent 
the original question, wrote to Norton Bros, to ask 
if these statements were correct. They reply, “It 
is not correct.” The facts, as they give them, are 
that they have just erected a rolling mill at May- 
field for making the steel plate, that the tin is im¬ 
ported—but not from Wales—and that the dipping 
is done by Welchmen who have been in this coun¬ 
try for many years and are naturalized citizens. 
The R. N.-Y. has no special pleas to make in this 
matter. We want the facts, no matter whom they 
burn, and the facts about the reason for any 
changes in the prices of tinware would be most 
interesting of all. 
In the past few years wonderful advancement 
has been made in devices for determining the value 
of different samples of milk by measuring the 
amount of butter fat contained therein. The 
simple glass tube in which the cream was permitted 
to separate from the milk, was supposed to be an 
accurate test. It is of little value as compared 
with the modern chemical tests with the tubes; 
unless the milk was thoroughly mixed and the 
temperature of the air or water in which the tubes 
were placed kept exactly uniform, the results were 
unfair, and the poor cow, backed by the most fav¬ 
orable circumstances, might excel the best cow 
hampered by adverse conditions. The cheap chem¬ 
ical tests now sold by the leading dairy goods 
dealers for a small sum give every cow a ‘ ‘ fair 
show.” because all the butter fat in the milk has to 
come out and show itself. 
The R. N.-Y., has contended that it does not pay 
to gather leaves for their manurial value. If they 
must be raked up and carted off the place for clean¬ 
liness’ sake, that is different. The leaves certainly 
have some value, but that value, it is contended, is 
not great enough to pay for the cost of collecting 
and rotting them. Gathering leaves is slow, put¬ 
tering work, and it may well be doubted whether 
the quantity that a man can gather per day would 
pay for bis day’s wages. According to our best in¬ 
formation, there are in a ton of autumn leaves about 
<) pounds of potash, 10 pounds of nitrogen and 2w 
pounds of phosphoric acid, not counting the lime 
and silicic acid as worth taking into the account. 
If these existed in soluble forms, (which is not the 
case) the ton would be worth less than $2. Now, how 
long would it take a man with horse and wagon to 
collect one ton of leaves? 
All the year round the papers delight to dilate 
on the multitudinous tricks played by dishonest 
city vagabonds on farmers, appearing half inclined 
to condone the rascality for the amusement 
afforded by the deftness of the culprits and the 
losses of the victims. True, farmers do occasionally 
suffer rather severely from urban dishonesty in 
tricks and trade, but for one dollar they lose 
through the machinations of sharpers, wide-awake 
city workmen, clerks, tradesmen, merchants and 
capitalists, whose wits are sharpened by the daily 
papers and constant attrition with each other lose 
tens or even hundreds. Who blindly intrust their 
hard earned savings to mushroom confidence 
schemes that promise bewildering profits, flourish 
for a season like the sun-flower, then vanish, like the 
Arab, with the plunder of their dupes ? Not the 
unsophisticated farmer; but the wily city fellow. 
Who recklessly invest millions in the South Sea 
Bubbles of the Wards and Iveses and other preco- 
A ltilitarian scheme of practical beneficence is 
proposed from an interior town. The plan is to pro¬ 
vide a town stone yard, where able bodied appli¬ 
cants for charity may be employed at a fair com¬ 
pensation in breaking stones for the public roads 
and thus be furnished with the work so many of 
them are glad to do, but are unable to obtain. 
The stones are to be drawn by the farmers from 
their fields at a remuneration sufficient to recom¬ 
pense them for their labor. There are several good 
features in this scheme. The fields will be rid of 
troublesome obstructions, the farmers will be fur¬ 
nished with employment for their teams at leisure 
times; the roads will be benefited and a charity 
that often degrades will become, instead, an aid 
toward honorable self-support. Moreover, the in¬ 
tolerable nuisance from vagabond tramps would 
be lessened or altogether removed. The plan is a 
credit to the brain which originated it. 
At the election held last Tuesday in the writer’s 
township one ticket contained the following : 
llesolved , That all the roads In-Township and the re- 
pa rinx of the same, and the making^f new roads laid out 
or that may hereafter be laid out, and the general care and 
management, of the same, shall be under the control and 
direction of the Township Committee of said township. 
The other party ticket declared in favor of leaving 
the control of the roads in the hands of the road- 
masters, of whom there are a dozen or more 
Both tickets appropriated^,000 for highway repairs! 
The office of road master is a time-honored institu¬ 
tion. It has been passed around from one to an¬ 
other for “ what there is in it,” and the roads have 
been barely patched because, as the money was 
divided, there was not enough in any district to do 
anything well. It was thought the vote would be 
against the proposed change, but the majority in 
its favor was 63, while the regular party majority 
"was but 35. The town committee can now go 
ahead with a road machine and other tools and 
make at least a portion of the roads good. Under 
the old system the town spent nearly $35,000 in 
patching. It pays to combine energy and capital. 
Sheep and clover, steers and stover. 
Do you feed yourself a “ balanced ration i” 
Let the women tell us what they think about wills. 
Why not name the “Four Hundred ” Tomato the Mc¬ 
Allister ? 
There will be an extra large crop of field peas sown this 
spring for hog food. 
Is it a characteristic of farmers more than of other peo¬ 
ple to be less gracious and considerate to the members of 
their own families than they are to mere acquaintances ? 
Make a sponge of yourself to the extent of absorbing all 
the good you possibiy can from those you come in contact 
with. Ihen don t forget to squeeze yourself for the good 
of others. & 
A new tuberous begonia named “Rosebud” will be 
offered for sale by an English firm in a year or so The 
flower resembles a doable camellia about %% inches in di¬ 
ameter. The seedling tuber was valued at 50 guineas. 
In a quiet way, but none the less surely, the question of 
government control of railroads is being discussed and 
matured. By letter, circular and speech the leaders in 
this movement are spreading their ideas, and it is a fact 
that they are constantly gaining converts. 
In the late Parliamentary campaign of our northern 
neighbors, the lines of vision of the Tories and the Grits 
were at right angles to each other; for while the former 
looked loyally to the east across an ocean to their sover¬ 
eign ; the latter looked philosophically to the south across 
an imaginary line to their best material interests. 
T . H 5 h . as drilled in seed-corn, using a one-horse 
seed-drill, for at least 12 years. The saving of time is the 
important item. The com sprouts just as soon as when 
planted by hand. The on y objection is that crows and 
black-birds follow the drills and destroy the sprouting 
germs more readily than when they have to hunt about for 
A bill is now before the English House of Commons to 
prevent the adulteration of feeding stuffs. It will com¬ 
pel dealers to guarantee all feeding articles sold Thev 
must mark packages of feed as fertilizers are now marked 
giving the nature of the article and whether manufac¬ 
tured in England or abroad. County chemists, paid bv 
the public, are to analyze and estimate the value of the 
foods : in short, the trade is to be supervised even more 
careful y than our trade in fertilizers. There is “me 
opposition to the law on the score of expense and trouble 
to the respectable dealers. 
The cross country journey of the body of the late multi¬ 
millionaire Senator Hearst, of California, with its accom¬ 
panying escort of Senators and Representatives, will cost 
the country $15,000 in addition to the ordinary exDenses of 
over $20,000, which add economical to other reaSf^ the 
country s regret at the death of a Congressman. Isn’t 
this constantly recurring junketing of pleasure Darties 
under the guise of funeral corteges, at heavy public el 
indecent, and isn’t it a flagrant demonstra¬ 
te 11 .^ a weak sense of Congressional responsibility—one of 
the baneful results of an overflowing public treasury ? 
