i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
23i 
TIMELY TOPICS. 
That old scheme of aline of trans- Atlantic 
steamers starting from the eastern end of 
Long Island has been revived In conse¬ 
quence of the recent Congressional act 
subsidizing American steamships. The 
plan is under the direction of Austin Cor¬ 
bin who controls the Long Island rail¬ 
roads. It is proposed to build eight first- 
class ocean steamships of 12,000 tons each, 
capable of making 24 knots per hour. 
These will cross the Atlantic in a little less 
than five days. A train of the finest 
vestibuled cars will carry passengers from 
New York to Montauk Point, the place of 
embarkation, In two hours’ time. The 
trans-Atlantic point of debarkation is Mil¬ 
ford Haven, two hours from London, so 
the passengers, according to these plans, 
will be taken from New York to London in 
a trifle over five days. No heavy freight 
will be carried, nothing but the mails, light 
packages and passengers’ baggage,a loading 
very similar to that of the express trains 
on our railroads. Such steamships would 
draw $4 per mile subsidy from our Govern¬ 
ment. It is proposed to have the first two 
of these steamships in commission within 
two years. The accomplishment of this 
scheme will mark a new era in the history 
of ocean travel. A trip round the world in 
80 days which was once considered vision¬ 
ary, may have to be reduced by half that 
time to come within the bounds of the 
possibilities of our modern methods of 
travel by steam and electricity. 
Close of an Extraordinary Sena¬ 
torial Contest. 
Probably the most remarkable Senatorial 
contest of the century ended in the Illinois 
Legislature last Wednesday—March 11—by 
the election of John M. Palmer, Democrat, 
to the United States Senate by one majority 
over all opposition on the 154th ballot. The 
contest had lasted upwards of eight weeks, 
and caused intense political excitement not 
only in the Gopher State, but, hardly to a 
less extent, in all parts of the Union. 
Last Fall’s Illinois election left the legisla¬ 
ture with 101 Democrats, 100 Republicans 
and three representatives of the Farmers’ 
Mutual Benefit Association. The propor¬ 
tion of Democrats and farmers elected was 
greater than these figures indicate, as a 
larger proportion of Republican than of 
Democratic senators “held over,” hence the 
Democrats claimed that they represented 
the present sentiments of the people more 
truly than was indicated by their plurality. 
In the previous legislature there were no 
representatives of any distinct farmers’ or¬ 
ganization, though in that, as in the pres¬ 
ent body,there was a fair sprinkling of farm¬ 
ers elected by the two old parties, and these 
voted, not with the Big Three, who held 
the balance of power; but with their respec¬ 
tive parties. A majority of both Houses 
of the legislature, or 103 in all, was neces¬ 
sary to a choice, and it took 58 days, 154 
votes and an outlay of $150,000 to the State 
to secure it. There is no doubt that the out¬ 
side expenses of the contest amounted to 
considerably more than that saddled on the 
public treasury. 
At the outset the 101 Democrats voted 
solidly for Palmer and stuck unwaveringly 
to him throughout the entire contest. The 
Republican 100 voted solidly at first for 
Oglesby; but after a few wlfeks of vain 
efforts to win over two or all of the Big 
Three to his support, abandoned him, and 
showed a readiness to nominate any Repub¬ 
lican who could secure enough holders of 
the “balance of power” to elect him. 
Later, a majority of them expressed a 
willingness to vote for any candidate of 
the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit Association 
who would support the chief Republican 
measures that might come before Con¬ 
gress, or, in fact, who would be least likely 
to oppose them, or who would be least 
likely to oppose the least number of them. 
All through their efforts were directed, 
first, to elect a Republican, second, the least 
obnoxious farmer, and first, second, and all 
the time to defeat the Democrats at any 
cost. Messrs. Cockrell, Moore, and Tau- 
beneck, comprising the Big Three, nomin¬ 
ated A. J. Streeter as the candidate of the 
Farmers’ Mutual Benefit Association, and 
stnck closely to him for several weeks. At 
last they presented J. P. Stelle, and H. H. 
Moore, one of their own number, for the 
consideration of either of the other parties 
who might prefer either of them to 
Streeter. 
Palmer had four advantages in his favor; 
first, the Democrats never wavered in his 
support; second, having 101 Democratic 
votes he needed only two others to se¬ 
cure his election : third, during the previ¬ 
ous campaign he had canvassed the State 
as a Senatorial candidate for election by 
popular vote, instead of that of the legis¬ 
lature, and had, he claimed, obtained a 
plurality of 30,000, and although the Fed¬ 
eral Constitution rendered this mode of 
election impracticable, the excellent show¬ 
ing he made greatly strengthened his posi¬ 
tion in popular opinion; and, fourth, dur¬ 
ing the struggle for the election of United 
States Senator in North Dakota, negotia¬ 
tions were opened between the farmers and 
Democrats of that State and those of Illi¬ 
nois, and Parson Kyle, the Alliance candi¬ 
date, was elected in Dakota by Democratic 
aid in return, it was supposed, for a recip¬ 
rocal favor in Illinois, should the farmers 
there fail to secure the election of their 
own candidate. 
At one time during the contest 95 of the 
Republicans voted for the candidate of the 
F. M. B. A.; but five obstinate obstruction¬ 
ists prevented his election. There was a 
world of “ trading ” and “ dickering ” and 
it was alleged that Streeter had made 
various promises to the Republicans which 
the majority of the Big Three disapproved; 
any how at the end he appeared to have 
forfeited the confidence of Cockrell and 
Moore, who withdrew his name and cast 
their votes for Palmer. Before doing so, 
however, they had an interview with him, 
in which it is stated that he expressed 
views in conformity with theirs on the 
Pacific Railroad indebtedness, the Govern¬ 
ment control of the railroads, the cur¬ 
rency question, and several other matters 
of general interest to farmers. His elec¬ 
tion was, of course, greeted with the wild¬ 
est Democratic rejoicings not only at 
Springfield and Chicago, but to a less ex¬ 
tent throughout the country. Some de¬ 
clare that the action of the majority of the 
Big Three will ruin the F. M. B. A., because 
It proves—what has repeatedly been assert¬ 
ed—that the organization is merely a ten¬ 
der to the Democratic party, and that 
most of the Republican members are there¬ 
fore likely to abandon it, bat of course such 
vaticinations come almost exclusively from 
the defeated party. 
The New Orleans Lynching. 
On the night of last October 15 David C. 
Hennessey, the popular Chief of Police of 
New Orleans, was shot dead near his home 
by a party of ambuscaded Italians belong¬ 
ing to a criminal Sicilian secret society 
called the Mafia, which has a large mem¬ 
bership in the Crescent City, where the 
Italian colony is exceptionally strong The 
society is composed of desperate criminals, 
organized for robbery and blackmail, and 
during the last few years has been guilty 
of over 40 brutal murders in New Orleans. 
Conviction of the assassins has been almost 
impossible, as the society has so terrorized 
witnesses that it has been next to impos¬ 
sible to secure sufficient evidence. Hennes¬ 
sey had been diligent in hunting up proofs 
against the miscreants, and had accumu¬ 
lated sufficient evidence to suppress the 
Mafia, though he had been frequently 
threatened with death if he persisted in his 
course. His murder excited intense indig¬ 
nation in the city, and a committee of 
prominent citizens was appointed to see 
that justice was done. Nineteen Italians 
were arrested and nine of them were tried. 
The trial lasted over a month and cost the 
city upwards of $30,000. Last Friday the 
jury acquitted six of the accused, and dis¬ 
agreed with regard to the other three. A 
howl of wrathful indignation arose on all 
sides at the gross miscarriage of justice. 
It was charged that the jury had been 
bought by the friends of the prisoners, and 
prominent citizens at once set about meas¬ 
ures for punishing the guilty. Under their 
lead an orderly mob of upwards of 5,000 
men assembled on Saturday morning, and 
headed by 200 armed men, marched to the 
city prison, which they entered without 
opposition, and seven of them shot nine of 
the Italian prisoners, while the mob hung 
two others. The whole proceedings occu¬ 
pied only three-quarters of an hour, and 
the mob quietly dispersed at 11.20 A. M. 
Neither Mayor Shakespeare nor Gov¬ 
ernor Nichols, nor any of the other author¬ 
ities attempted to interfere, and the 
police cheered the marching citizen mob. 
All the best citizens fully approved the 
measure, and the Board of Trade as well 
as the business exchanges, after the lynch¬ 
ing, passed resolutions justifying it. No 
attempt was made at concealment, and 
daytime was deliberately chosen instead of 
night to prevent the possibility of mob out¬ 
rage beyond the end sought. The jury have 
been practically ostracised, and some of 
them have left the city through fear of 
violence. No one will work with the others 
or hold any dealings with them. O’Malley, 
a detective, who is charged with jury brib¬ 
ing, was warned to leave the city on pen¬ 
alty of death If found there, and has dis¬ 
appeared. Of the men killed four had been 
acquitted by the jury, three had a mis trial 
and four had not been tried. Three of the 
victims are reported to have been subjects 
of the King of Italy and their deaths may 
give rise to international complications; 
the others had been either born in this 
country or naturalized here. Italians 
throughout the country are greatly excited 
and highly indignant at the failure of the 
city and State authorities to protect their 
compatriots. The general impression is 
that the lynching was a justifiable outrage, 
which will have a salutary effect on the 
criminal classes not only in New Orleans, 
but elsewhere also. There Is a decided 
conviction that murderers and other out 
rageous criminals are treated too leniently 
and afforded too many legal loopholes for 
escape from their just desserts. 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention The Rural New- 
Yorker. 
Ornamental Trees 
SHRUBS AND CONIFERS. 
Finest collection In New England Includes tho best 
novelties. 90-page catalogue full of good bints. 
LARGE and SMALL FRUITS 
Proved for New England climate. 23-page catalogue 
with culture. 
HARDY BORDER PLANTS 
Finest collection In America. 60 page catalogue. Over 
8 (H) varieties described. The most complete on the sub¬ 
ject in America. The above are “ Three Valuable 
Hand-books.” *11 plants can be seen at the Nurserv, 
which wai establlshe t In 1851. 
JACOB W. MANNING, 
The Reading Nursery, Reading, Mass. 
All Catalogues Free. 
By the 
Million 
All sizes. 
r or Avenue, Lawn, Park and Cemetery Planting. 
Ca F/iKK es Tlie Win. H. Moon Co., Morrisville, Pa. 
HEADQUARTERS 
FOR 
WETHERSFIELD GROWN ONION SEED. 
R. D. HAWLEY & CO. 
are Headquarters for the Genuine Wethersfield 
Large Red and Danvers Yellow Globe Onion 
Seed and guarantee every see i crop of 1890 clean 
and solid, and grown from Extra Selected Stocks. 
Our Seed 1* strictly choice home grown, and should 
under ordinary cultivation yield double that of 
California or Western Seed*. Send for our Seed Cata 
logue. free to all. Special Discounts on large orders. 
No charges for postage or express. 
R. D. HAWLEY & CO., Seedsmen, 
498 and 500 Main Street, Hartford. Conn. 
Farmers 
Should 
Keep 
Accounts 
April 1st Farmers commence 
active operations. Every Farm¬ 
er Should purchase a copy of 
Rogers’s Farm Account Book 
and Keep a brief yetcomplete 
and comprehensive system of 
Accounts. Each book Is ar¬ 
ranged to contain all Cash, 
Credit, Stock and Crop Ac¬ 
counts for one year on an ordi¬ 
nary farm. Price, prepaid, 
50 cents eacn,; $4.00 per dozen. 
Order to-day. 
GEO. A. ROGERS. 
No. Andover Denot. Mass. 
McKENNEY’S 
one for Distributing Ferti¬ 
lizers and Ashes. Send for 
Circulars and Prices to 
a. McKEANEY, 
Taunton, Mass. 
“HAIL COLUMBIA!” 
The Columbia Chilled Plow is the lightest draft, 
easiest to handle, strongest and most durable, does 
better work In all soils; In short the be*t plow In the 
market. First premium every year 1882-1890, Inclus¬ 
ive at Berkshire County Fair Plow Trials. Don’t fall 
to try a Columbia before purchasing any other. 
Address COLUMBIA PLOW WORKS, 
Copake Iron Works. 
Mention this paper. Columbia County, N. Y. 
12 
PACKETS FLOWER SEEDS, 
H. F. BURT, Taunton, Mass. 
10 ° 
SELL MUSIC 
VVe will pay 
a liberal Sal¬ 
ary to Agents 
who will take 
subscribers for 
Woodward’s Musical Monthly. Send four cents and 
receive sample copy with, five complete pieces of latest 
vocaland Instrumental music. Address Woodward’s 
Musical Monthly, 842 Broadway, New York. 
I will mail free to any suf¬ 
ferer a 82 page pamphlet, 
which tells what Rheuma¬ 
tism really Is. the cause of the pain, and how to ob¬ 
tain a cure. Address 
F. W. KIMBALL, 3 Union Square, New York. 
BIND YOUR 
PAPERS 
A Handy Binder that will hold 
compactly and conveniently fifty- 
two numbers of The Rural New- 
Yorker, will be sent by mail on 
receipt of 75 cents. Address 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
Times Building, New York. 
READY. 
“The N ew Polalo Culture 
I 
By ELBERT S. CARMAN. Editor of The Rural Nkw. 
Yorker. 
F OR the past fifteen years, during the 
growing season, the author has given 
a part of his time to potato experimenta¬ 
tion, in the hopes that he might throw 
some additional light upon the various 
questions involved in the central problem, 
“How to increase the yield without pro¬ 
portionately increasing the cost of produc¬ 
tion.” It often happened that, in the soil 
of his home grounds, some hills would 
yield enormously, while others would yield 
little. What was this owing to ? What 
kind of manure or culture—what prepara¬ 
tion of the soil would insure the maximum 
crop ? Would stable or cow manure, hen 
manure, or a compost of the three ? Would 
lime, plaster, salt, muck, wood ashes, 
muriate or sulphate of potash, bone, phos- 
phatic rock, fish, flesh, blood, sulphate of 
ammonia, nitrate of soda, separately or in 
any combination, effect this T Would it 
be possible so to fit the soil as materially 
to increase the yield ? What would be the 
best depth to plant the seed ? How much 
seed should be planted—single eyes, two, 
three, or four eyes; half potatoes, whole 
potatoes, stem-ends or seed-ends ? Should 
the manure or fertilizer be placed under 
or over, and how much should be used T 
Should the soil be firmed or rendered as 
loose and friable as possible ? 
These were the individual questions sug¬ 
gesting themselves which made up the 
central problem, “ How can we increase 
the yield of potatoes without proportion¬ 
ately increasing the cost of production ? ” 
As experiments were carried on from 
year to year, it was found that the yield 
from the experiment plot was increased at 
the rate of from 100 to 600 bushels to the 
acre; that portions yielded at the rate of 
over 1,000; that certain hills and certain 
varieties, treated apparently the same as 
the rest, yielded over 1,500 bushels to the 
acre. Would it be possible to ascertain 
what the exact conditions were which gave 
such yields ? Would it be possible to ap¬ 
proach them on acres instead of plots? 
Would it be possible to furnish equiv¬ 
alent conditions to acres in an eco¬ 
nomical xvay ? 
The reader who has the patience to con¬ 
sider with some care THE NEW POTATO 
CULTURE, may judge for himself whether 
any approach to a positive answer has been 
made by the results of the work therein 
recorded. 
Its object will be to show all who raise 
potatoes, whether for home use solely or 
for market as well, that the yield may be 
increased threefold without a correspond¬ 
ing increase in the cost; to show that the 
little garden patch, of a fortieth of an acre 
perhaps, may just as well yield ten bushels 
as three bushels; to induce farmers and 
gardeners to experiment with fertilizers 
not only as to kind, that is to say, the con¬ 
stituents and their most effective propor¬ 
tions, but as to the most economical 
quantity to use. These are among the sub¬ 
jects considered, not in a theoretical way 
at all, but as the outcome of fifteen years 
of experimentation earnestly made in the 
hope of advancing our knowledge of this 
mighty industry. It is respectfully sub¬ 
mitted that these experiments so long car¬ 
ried on at the Rural Ground, have, directly 
and indirectly, thrown more light upon the 
various problems involved in successful 
potato culture, than any other experiments 
which have been carried on in America. 
Price, Cloth, 75 cents ; Paper, 40 cents. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
Times Building, New York. 
