288 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AHRIL ii 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. • 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homed. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pie«ident. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
its product is still protected by a duty of half a 
cent per pound on any foreign competitor. Already 
rumors are rife that Claus Spreckels, the Trust’s 
only formidable-competitor, has agreed to sell to it 
his large Philadelphia refinery, with its capacity 
of 2,000,000 pounds per dav, and that the pair of 
monopolists have conspired to plunder the public 
harmoniously, the combination operating on this 
side of the Rockies and the Sugar King on the 
other. Certain it is that the annual loss of $65,- 
000,000 in the income of the nation must be made 
good by taxes on other objects, much less of which 
than of the duties on sugar will find its way into 
the National Treasury. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1891. 
Bear in mind that as potatoes are sprouted they 
are weakened for seed. 
In the selection and purchase of novelties , mix 
one part each of caution, progressiveness and com¬ 
mon sense. 
Suppose that every one were perfectly fitted for 
the business in which he is engaged—what would 
be the consequence ? 
Talk of the monotony of farm life ! There isn’t 
a more varied pursuit. True, life in lonely country 
sections is tame enough. But that’s not necessarily 
farm life. We are prone to ask for too much— 
brains, energy, ancestry, wealth and every social 
advantage. Ah, go to the city for those. You will 
find them amplitudinousiy combined in every other 
fellow you meet. 
The R. N.-Y., having tested so-called novelties 
for upwards of 20 years, dares to maintain that 
those farmers who keep their eyes and ears open as 
to new things and judiciously invest in them ac¬ 
cording to their means, are the prosperous farmers 
of to-day. We may safely avoid being influenced 
in our selections by those catalogues which, to 
thoughtful people, are plainly a conglomeration of 
cunningly put-together stuff. But it is not every 
bell that sounds an alarm. 
Ex-Senator Farwell, of Chicago, and his asso¬ 
ciates obtained 3,000,000 acres of Texas public lands 
a few years ago for building the State Capitol at 
Austin. At the time it was worth about $1 an 
acre. To boom it, Farwell now declares that Texas 
paid $20,000,000 instead of $3,000,000 for her Capi¬ 
tol. Do the ex Senator and his associates pay taxes 
on a $20,000,000 valuation ? We advise the assessors 
in the Panhandle to investigate the matter. What 
a marvelous difference sometimes exists between the 
values put on property for booming and taxation ! 
The politicians point to the last session of the 
Kansas Legislature as an example of the folly of 
sending farmers to such bodies. What has the 
Alliance done ? they sneeringly ask. Why not be 
fair and say that the Alliance was powerless to 
enact legislation, having control of the House 
only, with the Senate and Governor against it ? 
The Senate and Assembly simply “sawed each 
other off,” one proposing laws it never expected to 
see pass and the other killing bills it believed just, 
simply to spite its opponent. One measure, how¬ 
ever, was passed, which promises interesting de¬ 
velopments. It was an alien land law, which re¬ 
quires all aliens to dispose of their Kansas land in¬ 
side of six years. The cracker to this whip is that 
it recognizes a power in the State to say by whom 
land snail be (or at least shall not be) owned. 
This year the aliens are to be ousted. Suppose next 
year all non-residents or their agents meet the 
same fate. What then ? There are interesting 
times ahead out in Kansas. 
The new immigration law which went into force 
on April 1. is more stringent than any of its prede¬ 
cessors. It provides for the exclusion of certain 
classes of undesirable immigrants and for the send¬ 
ing back of all who come here unlawfully, includ¬ 
ing those who become a public charge within a 
year from the time of landing. It provides for the 
prompt and thorough inspection of the new-comers 
by authorized officials empowered to determine 
their right to land. It puts a check on the opera¬ 
tions of steamship companies in Europe by pro¬ 
hibiting them from stimulating immigration to 
this country. The fear of its provisions has in¬ 
creased immigration during the past month by 
upwards of 16,000 as compared with that of March, 
1890. All over the country tens of thousands of 
foreign born people who either claim American 
citizenship or enjoy American hospitality are 
clamoring to a foreign sovereign for revenge by 
arms or diplomacy on account of an act of the 
citizens of New Orleans. How can the Republic be 
protected against the constant menace to its peace 
and safety arising from the presence among us of 
immense bodies of foreigners so far out of sym¬ 
pathy with us, our customs and our laws as, under 
any provocation, to appeal to a foreign country for 
intervention in our domestic affairs? 
Complaint again comes from the cane sugar 
makers of Louisiana of inability to utilize waste 
molasses. The making of rum seems “ the way 
out.” Let the molasses be used with cotton hulls 
and meal for beef-making. Better make meat 
than drunkards! Prof. Gulley’s experiments 
clearly show that cattle do better when something 
is added to the ration of hulls and meal, and also 
that molasses not only makes this food more 
palatable but supplies carbohydrates in a cheap 
form. There is too much liquor in the world now 
—and too little good beef. 
The bounty on sugar has received the first seri¬ 
ous blow in the great sugar-producing State of 
Texas, where Governor Hogg has vetoed a bill allow¬ 
ing the State to accept the bounty of two cents per 
pound on sugar raised by convict labor on the ex¬ 
tensive State farm. Briefly condensed, his veto is 
based, first, on the proposition that the law granting 
it is a violation of “State rights,” inasmuch as it 
presupposes Federal investigation into matters 
within State jurisdiction ; and, second, on the 
ground that the tariff is an iniquity. “States 
rights men” and “free traders” declare that a 
Hogg with such sentiments would fill the Presi¬ 
dential chair just as fittingly as his namesake 
would grace Prince Bismarck’s table. 
On April 1, the law which decreased the govern¬ 
ment’s income by $55,000,000 a year in sugar duties, 
and increased its outlay by $10,000,000 in sugar 
bounties, went into effect, and there was an aver¬ 
age decrease of about two cents per pound in the 
prices of sugar throughout the land. The partisan 
ress take diametrically opposite views of the 
oon. While the Republican papers are jubilant 
that “the heaviest burthen of the American 
people” has been “ rolled off by the much-maligned 
McKinley Bill ; ” their Democratic contemporaries 
are exultant at this flagrant acknowledgment that, 
after all, the tariff is a “burthen,” and that it isn’t 
the foreign producer, but the American consumer, 
who has to pay it. Of course, they insist, too, 
that, in the end, the Sugar Trust will be the chief 
gainer. Under the old law, the Trust had to pay 
an average of two cents per pound on its raw ma¬ 
terial, while its refined product was protected by a 
duty of one and one-half cent per pound ; under 
the new law it gets its raw material “free,” while 
The last New Jersey Legislature, in compliance 
with a forcibly expressed popular demand, defeated 
a bill to legalize book making on the race tracks of 
the State. The best element in the State did every¬ 
thing in its power to accomplish this result, and is 
consequently highly elated. Ever since this com¬ 
mendable result has been reached, the majority of 
the daily papers have been howling about the 
short-sighted policy of the New Jersey lawmakers 
in failing to provide “ protection ” for the “ legiti¬ 
mate ” industry. According to these self-constituted 
mentors, this action will result in the closing of the 
race tracks and the withdrawal from the State of 
its chief attractions ; the summer resorts will be 
deserted ; the money formerly expended will go to 
other places which “ encourage” and “protect” 
“ legitimate ” sport, and the little State of Jersey 
will become a howling wilderness. The people of 
the State think otherwise. Any one who has seen 
the mobs who habitually attend these races will 
agree that the State is well rid of them. Why is 
the daily press so solicitous in relation to this ac¬ 
tion ? Simply because the race tracks and the rail¬ 
roads which are their chief backers are heavy ad¬ 
vertisers and furnish fertile fields for news gather¬ 
ing. It is a purely mercenary interest they have 
in the matter. Not so the people of the State. 
They have decided not to sell the fair fame of the 
State for a money consideration. It is to be hoped 
that they will not only adhere to this resolution, 
but will apply the same principle to other forms of 
vice and that other States may do likewise. 
LIME. 
Few questions are oftener asked The R. N.-Y. 
than those touching the action of lime, either ap¬ 
plied by itself to the land or in connection with 
ashes, hen. manure or chemicals. As most soils are 
tolerably well supplied with it, it is evident that an 
additional quantity is not needed as a direct plant 
food. And yet it is well known that crops on such 
soils are at once and for several years, it may be, 
largely increased by the addition of lime or plaster. 
Indirectly, lime may increase fertility in several 
ways. It may lessen the closeness, adhesiveness or 
plasticity of clay land, rendering it more mellow 
and porous. It is known that a clay soil may con¬ 
tain all the elements of plant food, and in larger 
quantity than a loamy soil, and yet be far less fer¬ 
tile, owing to its imporosity. Again, Heiden has 
shown that lime may unite with the silicates in the 
soil, so as to set free magnesia, potash and am¬ 
monia, though gypsum, for this purpose, is deemed 
more effective. Caustic lime may also decompose 
humus and release various nitrogen compounds, an 
effect, as Storer remarks, which is probably one of 
the most important of those produced by it. Ex¬ 
periments by Warrington show that the nitric 
ferment thrives best where there is an excess of 
lime carbonate. Prof. Voelcker has said that on 
soils destitute of lime, most crops are subject to 
disease, and root crops, especially, are apt to fail 
entirely, even though liberally manured with dung 
or guano. The cure for such failures, which are 
common enough where poor, sandy soils prevail, is 
a good dose of lime, and then manure may be ap¬ 
plied to the best advantage. The most liberal ap¬ 
plication of farm manure never produces so benefi¬ 
cial and lasting an effect on poor, sandy soils, as 
when they have been previously well limed. 
Liming land is known to improve “sour” soils 
by neutralizing their acidity. It induces fermenta¬ 
tion in organic matters and, as Storer says, it is 
probably this tendency to destroy organic matter 
that makes the too frequent use of lime pernicious 
and justifies the old saying : “Lime enriches 
the father and beggars the son.” Manyafield.it 
may be wisely concluded, has been rendered abso¬ 
lutely sterile by the continued use of lime, because 
the entire available supply of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphate has been exhausted. Let us not forget, 
says Prof. Storer, that all evidence teaches that 
lime is no substitute for manure ; it is a mere addi¬ 
tion or reenforcement which may occasionally be 
employed with advantage. 
BREVITIES. 
If you’re selling lots of water, 
In the crops that leave your soil, 
You are doing as you orter. 
You’ll have recompense for toil. 
If it’s lots of ash you're selling, 
You are running down your farm ; 
In a few years you’ll be dwelling 
On the future with alarm. 
Get on time and be sublime. 
Get the potatoes in early. The early planting fools the 
worm. 
Has each member of the family a little flower garden ? 
So live in the present that in the future you will not b e 
ashamed of your past. 
Conservatism is an elastic word. It is often obliged to 
shoulder a heap of laziness. 
Do you read simply to provide yourself with an argu¬ 
ment ?. If you do you have lots of company. 
A winter henhouse with a laying breed will pay you 
better than & winter breed in a summer henhouse. 
Complaints of sows eating their pigs are surprisingly 
numerous this year. How do you avoid such trouble ? 
Come with us, progressive, wide-awake farmers. Let us 
together work for enterprise and prosperity in farming. 
One of the New York seedsmen has just had an order 
from Europe for 1,000 pounds of wild teasel for trimming 
ladies’ straw hats. 
The Farmers’ Alliance has elected three United States 
SeAators—an editor, a lawyer and a preacher. Who shall 
dare henceforth to say that all the farmers want are the 
offices ? 
We learn through Mr. Charles Henderson that the rose, 
Mrs. DeGraw, is a seedling of the Bourbon Rose Pierre de 
St. Cyr. It was raised by Wm. Burgess, of Glen Cove, 
Long Island, about 15 years ago. 
Congressman Jerry Simpson, of Kansas, is, at pres¬ 
ent, the best advertised agricultural statesman in the 
country. An account of his appearance before an au¬ 
dience in this city will be found on another page. 
Those who have not considered the following questions 
during the past winter have not lived up to the possibili¬ 
ties of profitable farming: 1st. What implements, seeds 
and plants do I need T 2nd. What manures and fertilizers, 
and in what quantities, may I profitably use t 
The alert farmer or gardener should know what is the 
earliest, what is the most productive, what will best suit 
his soil and climate among potatoes, sweet corn, field 
corn, cabbages, beans, celery, tomatoes, beets, onions, etc. 
This can be ascertained only by trial. Examine the cata¬ 
logues. Try the most promising novelties. Try them 
gently—but try them. 
The French Chamber of Deputies has agreed to remit 
the taxes on all lands sown to spring wheat, such remis¬ 
sion amounting to over $1,000,000. The indications are 
that the European crop w ill be short, and the French are 
ready to take extreme measures to provide bread foi the 
people. What would be thought in this country if the 
taxes on wheat lands in Dakota and Iowa were 
remitted ? 
It is only a few years since the partisan press persist¬ 
ently preached to farmers that their best interests lay in 
attending strictly to the raising of crops and stock for the 
food of the world, leaving absolutely to their betters all 
legislation affecting the prices of their products, the 
charges on them, and the pittance from them they might 
apply to their own needs. What has become of their Pick- 
snlffian platitudes and patrician patronage nowadays ? 
Only a short time ago the newspapers were filled with 
reports of the diplomacy exhibited by Minister Phelps in 
securing admittance to Berlin for American beef. It now 
appears that the enterprise of a firm of American packers 
first conceived the project of giving the phlegmatic Ger¬ 
mans a taste of good Western Deef, and thus reaching tneir 
heads through their stomachs, a method, by the way, well 
known for a long time to American housewives. Great is 
Yankee enterprise 1 
It has always been claimed, heretofore, that the English 
will buy maize only when the price is low. In years past 
when the price, consequent upon a small crop, went above 
a certain point, linseed meal and similar foods took the 
place of maize, which was then fed almost entirely to farm 
animals. This was in the past; now the fact is that with 
ma'ze higher than before, England is buying more than 
ever. Tne English must learn, some day, the value of 
maize as a food for human beings. America will then be 
called upon to furnish more than ever. 
Since 1861 no less than 181,000,000 acrA of the public 
laDds have been given to the railroads, yet the people have 
to pay dividends on tens, yes, on hundreds of millions of 
dollars of “ water ” in railroad stocks. Small wonder that 
farmers growl at the plethoric coffers of the Huntingdons, 
Stanfords, Goulds and other railroad magnates, who in 
less than half a life-time have piled up more wealth from 
the plunder of the people than the oldest aristocratic fami¬ 
lies have accumulated by centuries of extortion. 
