286 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
APRIL ii 
Close Quarters with the Indians. 
E. E. R., Rusiiville, Neb —The Rural 
never spoke more truly than it did in re¬ 
gard to the Indian question. Those who 
have the most to say in regard to the terri¬ 
ble wrongs of the poor red man are those 
who live where an Indian is never seen. 
Show a settler an item of the “ bosh ” 
current in Eastern papers, and, nine times 
in ten, he will say : “If those people had 
to live where they could see the lazy ras¬ 
cals every day they would change their 
tune.” Still, it cannot be denied that the 
government has committed two serious 
blunders: first, in forcing the Indians to 
surrender so much of their reservations and 
then throwing open more land to be en¬ 
tered, mortgaged, and finally be added to 
the immense tracts already owned by East¬ 
ern corporations, and, second, in failing to 
keep a solemn covenant entered into by the 
representatives of the Great Father. The 
sentiment held by the settlers is best ex¬ 
pressed in the sentence: “ If they will feed 
the red rascals well, we are all right.” 
Well, all is quiet for the present, and I 
sincerely hope that no one who is responsi 
ble for the loss of life and outlay of money 
will ever have to feel as I did when “ warned 
out,” and when I saw my own family and 
those of my neighbors disappear over the 
hills on their way to safety, while I, on a 
fleet horse, staid behind to watch the stock. 
What matter that It was a false alarm—the 
parting was j ust as hard. 
Shall He Burn Manure? 
E. F. Ladd, N. Dakota Experiment 
Station. —Regarding the question asked 
on page 241 about manures in this State : 
Peculiar conditions confront the farmer of 
Dakota, unknown to the Eastern farmers. 
Here where the climate is dry, where the 
wheat seed must needs frequently be cov¬ 
ered to a depth of four inches to insux-esuf¬ 
ficient moisture to germinate and grow the 
young plant, and where the surface soil, 
unless compacted down, is pretty sure to 
find its way across to one’s neighbor’s farm, 
there are conditions unknown where 
greater rainfall abounds. I have not had 
experience enough in the State to warrant 
my becoming an adviser to those who have 
had an extended practical experience here. 
It seems to me, however, that instead of 
drawing the manure out as fast as made, 
farmers in the drier parts will find it neces¬ 
sary to preserve the dung in sheds until they 
are ready to plow and then plow it under 
while fresh from the sheds. If hogs can 
tramp upon it and work it over grdkt gain 
should result. I can not advise the burn¬ 
ing of manure to get the ashes ; for by so 
doing the nitrogen, the most costly parts of 
fertilizing constituents, is lost, for it is all 
driven off with the smoke. The burning of 
straw extensively practiced, is to be de¬ 
plored for the same reason. Right here 
farmers have by-products—wheat bran 
and linseed meal—to feed with the straw so 
that it can be made a source of great profit, 
and at the same time provide an abundance 
of excellent manure. Besides, by adding 
sheep and cattle to the farm stock, the farm¬ 
ers will be less affected upon the failure of 
a single crop—wheat. If the farmers of the 
East on high priced lands can bring Dakota 
wheat bran and linseed meal to their farms 
and feed them at a profit to dairy animals, 
why can not Dakota farmers make a great 
profit having, as they do, better markets for 
dairy products, while their lands are less 
costly and wheat bran and linseed meal are 
In abundance ? 
Petroleum as a Wood Preserver. 
L. L. W., Wkllsville, N. Y.—By The 
RURAL of March 14 I see that Mr. Bradley 
has a wrong opinion of crude oil. He sajs 
that a writer from the oil regions asserts 
that timbers saturated with oil are soon 
rotten and worthless. That may be the 
case with timbers used in building der¬ 
ricks, because they are first set in mud or on 
the ground, then the drilling begins, and 
more or less water is found and brought 
up with sand pumps, so that all the tim¬ 
ber around and under the derrick is soaked 
with water long before any oil is heard of. 
Then, when the oil is struck, everything is 
usually covered with it, which gives it the 
appearance of being sqaked with oil; but 
this is not the case. Within a year the 
Standard Oil Company having cause to 
take down some of their tanks at this 
place, the timbers were found to be as 
sound as when put in, eight years ago, and 
after having been used for outside work 
they do not show the slightest signs of 
decay. 
The Fordhook Squash. 
F. S. W., Des Moines, I a.— I see an occa¬ 
sional mention in The Rural of the Ford- 
hook Squash. I must say I was never 
more disappointed in anything than I was 
in this worthless variety. 
R. N.-Y.—This squash is perhaps not 
suited to our friend’s locality. We do not 
know of any variety that ha3 been praised 
more highly. 
“Market Grapes” Again. 
Grape Grower, Mercer County, N. J. 
—I marvel at the wisdom attributed in 
The Rural of March 21, page 240, to the 
commission merchant who represents the 
Niagara Grape as having a tender skin as 
well as being a poor shipper and keeper. 
“ There are some other varieties of white 
grapes in the markets that are of much bet¬ 
ter quality and more desirable in every 
way than the Niagara,” etc. “Among 
them the Lady and Martha are oftenest 
seen.” Oh my ! there is no accounting for 
tastes. I know Niagaras are put upon the 
market that are no credit to the variety or 
the growers ; but no Marthas or Ladys I 
have ever seen or grown will compare in 
size or eating or shipping qualities with 
my Niagaras. I have sent some to Florida, 
where they arrived in good order. I do not 
doubt I could send them to Europe with 
the same results. Green Ladys might be 
shipped a short distance with care, but 
not ripe ones. Is the above opinion of the 
grapes indorsed by the commission men 
and growers ? Of all the grapes named, 
none except the Champion, Catawba and 
Delaware will ship as well as the Niagara. 
Final as to Japan Clover. 
Henry Stewart, Macon County, N. Y. 
—In the Country Gentleman, page 209, 
March 12, I read: “ I see an inquiry for 
Japan Clover seed. I wish the inquirer 
had all on my land. It is not worth a 
pinch of snuff; it is all alongside of our 
road and old fields and no animals care to 
eat it. A grasshopper can lie on his back 
and play with the bloom with his toes. 
John Wilson, Bertie County, N. C.” 
What is the matter with this strange 
plant ? This is an exact description of it 
as I have seen it as far as 20 miles of this 
place—a sprawling plant that no animal 
will touch and impossible to cut for hay, 
and yet a few persons cannot say enough 
good about it. It seems as if they have got 
hold of the wrong pig by the ear. 
Another Champion Potato Digger. 
J. W. Sivyer, Arenac Co., Mich.— It was 
in the fall of 1875 that the following took 
place: The farm was worked by a man 
named Isaac Payne and his step-brother 
Robert Arden, about a mile east of the 
village of Milibrook in the township of 
Cavan, Durham County, Ontario. The 
piece of potatoes to be dug was a few rods 
over an acre. It was well known that I in¬ 
tended to try to beat a record that had 
been made by another man the year before 
of digging one acre from sunrise to sunset. 
It was very late before we got started; 
George Payne, a brother of Isaac, helped to 
dig for about 15 or 20 minutes and then 
quit to help pick up. I finished the dig¬ 
ging myself and picked up several bushels. 
When done we had two hours for dinner 
and were out of the field in good time. The 
actual time of digging was seven hours. It 
was conceded by all present that I had dug 
one acre in seven hours : the crop was 200 
bushels. I feel confident that any of the 
parties named here would make an- affi¬ 
davit substantiating this statement, if re¬ 
quired. I could refer to several instances 
of what the readers of The Rural would 
call big digging, but will mention only one. 
In the spring of 1884 I was working for 
Brush Brothers, brick manufacturers, 
Buffalo N. Y., when I dug 48 cubic yards of 
brick clay in 9)4 hours, the pit being 3)4 
feet deep; this was witnessed by John 
Brush, a member of the firm and foreman 
of the yard. I am now 48 years old and 
although still able to do a fair day’s work 
yet am not as young as I used to be. My 
height is five feet eight inches and my 
weight 147 pounds. 
R. N.-Y.—Now let the Michigan State 
Fair managers get up a digging contest 
between this man and Ethan Roberts—see 
page 103—and advertise it as extensively as 
they advertise their horse racing ! 
"The Sunday Paper Question.” 
J. H. G., Barrington, R. I.—Annie’s 
objection to Flossie’s statement that her 
teacher would not allow her to read Sun¬ 
day papers, see page 208, is the old excuse. 
We may do wrong in buying a paper on 
Monday which has been composed, put in 
type, and printed on Sunday; but the sin 
is in a sense a secondary one. It is not the 
labor which enters into a Sunday paper 
which makes its circulation objectionable; 
it is the subject matter which it contains. 
No man can leave his after breakfast paper, 
after reading the account of a base ball 
match, a prize fight or the doings of Con¬ 
gress, in a mood for the proper observance 
of the Sabbath. The woman’s departments 
of these papers are filled with scandal, 
fashions, etc., while the advertising col¬ 
umns are full of advertisements offering 
bargains on Monday: could anything be 
more distracting? No wonder ministers 
complain of a want of attention on the part 
of their congregations. No, the mechanical 
part, time of printing, etc., are of but little 
consequence; it is the devotion of one’s time 
to secular subjects which constitutes the 
sin and which makes Sunday papers ob¬ 
jectionable. 
Improves on Terry’s Tiling Tactics. 
S. W., Peru, III.—I do not think that 
Mr. Terry—see page 233—has given the best 
method of preparing the ditch for tile 
drainage. The spade is all right, but all 
diggers here use scoops to be drawn 
towards them instead of being pushed from 
them, to finish the bottom of the ditch; 
some have scoops for both pushing and 
pulling. His method of securing a grade 
is a thing of the past here. No one thinks 
of doing any tiling without having the 
ditch surveyed. The time saved in the 
work more than pays the engineer, and, 
moreover, the ditch will be better. In 
1876 a pond of mine was drained by Mr. 
Terry’s method, and in order to reach it we 
had to cut through a ridge something over 
seven feet high, and as it was a cut-and-try 
method we had to dig on to the pond to 
learn whether the cut was deep enough. 
Everything would have been all right but 
for a rain which flooded the ditch so that 
for two weeks it had to carry off caved-in 
material. We frequently remove the first 
six inches with a plow, and use a plow also 
for filling. Grade pegs are set 50 feet 
apart, then two stakes tall enough to sup¬ 
port a line out of the way of the tools, are 
adjusted to the grade pegs. A stick long 
enougn to reach from the bottom of the 
ditch to the, line is used as a measure to 
finish the grade. The tiles are kept laid up 
to the digging and partially covered, unless 
they are to be inspected. By surveying, all 
unnecessary de?p digging at the beginning 
or outlet in order to b3 sure than the tile is 
in deep enough at the head, is avoided. 
(Continued on next page.) 
lUijsrcilancoujS 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural. 
So Popular 
Has Hood’s Sarsapa¬ 
rilla become at this 
season that it is now 
generally admitted to be 
The Standard 
Spring Medicine and 
Blood Purifier. The 
Peculiar benefit you need 
so much, you will find in 
Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla 
For Internal and External Use. 
Stops Pain, Cramps, Inflammation In body or limb, 
like magic. Cures Croup. Asthma, Colds, Catarrh, Chol¬ 
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35 cts. post-paid. L S. JOHNSON & CO., Boston, Mass. 
BEECHAIVTS PILLS 
(THE GREAT ENGLI8H REMEDY.) 
Cure BILIOUS and 
Nervous ILLS. 
25cts. a Box. 
OF ALL DRUGGISTS. 
MAST, FOOS&CO. 
<b g 
Ck « 
Q £ 
Q> 
C 
CO .5 
ts I 5 
CO .c; 
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, 
MANUFACTURERS OF 
BUCKEYE 
Wind Engines 
Strong and Durable; Hand¬ 
some; simple In eonstruo- 
tion ; and will be sold as cheap or 
cheaper than any other first-class 
Engine. Also manufacturers of the 
Turbine Wind En¬ 
gines, ll ticheye Force 
l*nmps. Buckeye. Blolie 
Champion I,:m n Mow¬ 
ers, Biirkeye Wrought 
Fencing. Cresting, etc. 
WRITE FOR CIRCULARS AND PRICES. 
Farquhar Keystone Corn Planter 
Warranted the best 
Corn Dropper and most 
perfect Force-feed Ferti¬ 
lizer Distributor in the 
, world. Send for Catalogue. 
ADDRESS, 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO. 
1 YORK, PA. 
Send for Large Illustrated Catalogue. 
BERRY CARRIER 
COMl’AN 
ft""- £ ■ 
Midi. 
GREAT SUCCESS:-0ur folding, water¬ 
proof berry basket and novelty crate. 
Cheapest and best in the market. Send 
stamp for sample. 
BEES AND HONEY 
The Dovetailed fttronttcftt. Boat and 
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Cleaning* In Bee Culture (a$l illus¬ 
trated semi-monthly), and a 44 p. illus¬ 
trated catalogue of Bee-Keeper*’ 
Supplied Our A B C of Bee Cul¬ 
ture is a cyclopedia of 400 pp., 6x10, and 
800 cuts. Price in cloth, $1.25. 0^7 * Mention 
~%per. A • I. ROOT, Medina, O. 
I Hnrr Illustrated Publications, with 
■K k MU MAPSj'leserihingMinnesota, 
. North Dakota, Montana,Idaho, 
I I KUt Mm Washington and Oregon, the 
■HHH FKEE««VEKNME.\T 
■ AND CHEAP 
■ NORTHERN 
PACIFIC R. R. . 
Best Agricultural Graz-j 
ing and Timber Lands* 
now open to settlers. Mailed FREE. Address 
CUAS. Ii. LAMBOUN, Laud Com. N. P. It. It., St. Paul, Minn. 
ENGLAND'S 
Finest poultry, cor ect colors 
from life, only fO c. P. A WEB 
STER, Cazenovia, N. Y. 
F Oll SALE.—A pleasant and conveniently lo¬ 
cated home of 20 acres, in No 1 condition ; soil, 
sandy loam; mostly planted to gooseberries, cur¬ 
rants, pears, etc., is giving a good, annual Income. 
Address, BOX 369, So. Haven, Mich. 
“THE FLORIDA REAL ESTATE JOUR¬ 
NAL,” *1.00 a year. Arcadia, Florida. Cheap homes, 
cash or time. Samply copy, with State map, 10 cents. 
HOMES FOR ALL 
in the South 
along tne 
line of the 
MOBILE <fe OHIO RAILROAD. Cheap lauds 
good health, goou water, a nuiu climate, good markets 
for your products, and in fact all that conduces to 
success in Agricultural and Mechanical pursuits. You 
can purchase ROCiM) TRIP LAAD-isK KK Kitts’ 
TICKETS Vl' V TGk >lohll,K A OHIO ItATT- 
jj^TTi^^ron^BT^T7TYTT'5'rH>7o^to"aImosWu?y 
point in our territoryTatver^owTates, GOOD FOR 
rOJJTY DAYS from date of sale, with privilegeF 
K.OPP.AO OFF AT PLEA HU It K south of the 
OHIO IUver!]?or?urnierTnformatTbn in regard tc 
rates address J. IV. EBERLE, Land and Immlgra 
Agent, No. 423 Chestnut Street, ST. LOUIS, 
MO., or G VV. KLYG, General Passenger Agent 
Jl ARi R r R vS , . OB, LK, ALA. Address the ALA. 
R V?I AJc\YlY.;\‘ V S DEVELOPMENT CO. 
or HEIVRY FOADE. Pres., MOBILE, ALA., foi 
circulars or other 
information in re¬ 
gard to land 
an. rre*„ .*1 011 11.r,, ALA,, IC 
IN ALABAMA 
275 ACRE FARM. 
Fertile, warm early soil. 
Good Grass Land. 
Good Butter Farm 
Good Truck Farm. 
Good Fruit Farm. 
n „ , Good Poultry Farm 
Deposit ot Pink Granite. 
Deposit ol Fine Molding Saud. 
Famous Spring of Pure Water 
Twenty-seven miles from Boston. Six good manu¬ 
facturing village markets within seven miles; one 
mile from railroad station, post office, etc. 
C2T FOR SALE AT LOW PRICE 
May be divided Into two farms Two houses, 
barn. etc. 
Address “ FARM.” care Thk Rubai, Nkw Yobkkb 
DEAF 
■NESS & HEAD NOISES CURED t>» 
Peck’s INVISIBLE TUBULAR EA 
__CUSHIONS. Whispers heard. Cot. 
fortable. Suetesifui where all Ilemedie* fail. Bold by K. HISCOX, 
•nlj, 853 Br’dway, New l'ork. Write for book of proofu FKKK. 
PATENTS 
THOMAS P. SIMPSON, Washington, 
D. C. No atty’s fee until patent ob¬ 
tained. Write for Inventor’s Guide. 
