3o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 18 
peppers 3x3 inches about April 20, after which they receive 
the same attention as tomatoes till ready to go into the field. 
Field Culture. —The peppers are set in the open ground 
about May 25, if the weather is fine, in rows 3% feet apart, 
and from 20 to 22 inches apart in the rowp, one ton of 
stable manure and 30 pounds of commercial fertilizer 
being used in the row to every 300 plants If the 
soil is poor I side dress it at the second tending with 
some good fertilizer. This should be in about two weeks 
after the plants have been set. I cultivate the same as 
any hoed crop, keeping the ground loose and free 
from weeds. The pepper delights in a moist, loamy 
soil, one that never suffers from drought. I commence 
picking my first fruit about June 30. At that time the 
peppers usually sell in Washington Market for about $3 
per crate of three pecks; but that price does not last. When 
they become plentiful the average price is about $1 per 
barrel. A good crop ought to yield from 65 to 70 barrels 
per 1,000 plants, or from 400 to 500 barrels per acre. 
Melon Growing. —I raise musk-melons only: variety 
Early Hackensack. I will simply tell you how I grew 
$425 16 net of musk-melons on one measured acre. The 
ground was broadcasted in February with 12 tons of street 
manure and 65 bushels of night soil mixed together: this 
manure was spread on top of green rye. All was plowed 
under the last week in April: seed planted May 7 and on 
the 14th, In squares 5>£ x 6 feet, with a small shovelful of 
well rotted horse manure in each hill. I thin to three 
plants in a hill as soon as they have formed two rough 
leaves. About the time they begin to start runners I side- 
dress with either fish scrap or the same ground fine, a good- 
sized handful on each side of the hill. After this all that 
is necessary is to keep the ground mellow and free from 
weeds till the melons begin to form, after which all culti¬ 
vation must cease. 
Packing for Market. —In putting up my melons for 
market I make three assortments—“primes” including 
those intended for shipping; “ firsts,” those a little too ripe 
for shipping; and “ culls.” From this acre I sold 219 bar¬ 
rels and saved six pounds of seed from the choicest melons 
in the patch. It must be borne in mind that last season— 
1890—was an exceptional year for high prices on melons. 
My produce is all sold in Washington Market on commis¬ 
sion, and all charges are deducted. c. c. huLsart. 
Monmouth Co., N J. 
MR. FALCONER’S HORTICULTURAL HINTS. 
Viburnum dilatatum.— Now this is a shrub our nur¬ 
serymen could use as a novelty with pretty good grace. 
It is a native of Japan, and although introduced to culti¬ 
vation in Europe and America several years ago, it is 
an almost unknown plant in our gardens. Indeed, Veltch 
& Co., of London, who flowered it 15 or 16 years ago, have 
not even got it in their catalogue, and I cannot find 
it in any other commercial list that I have seen. 
In a garden sense we have three kinds of vibur¬ 
nums, namely, “ double” flowered ones as the Snowball, 
“ half-single ’’-flowered ones as the High Cranberry-bush, 
and “ single” flowered ones like our common Sheep-berry 
(V. lentago) and all, except the Snowball varieties, are 
more or less conspicuous beiause of their ornamental 
fruit. There are also evergreen viburnums, but they are 
not reliably hardy with us, and I would here remark that 
there is some confusion in the nomenclature regarding a 
good many viburnums. 
But let us come back to Viburnum dilatatum: it is a 
vigorous, branchy shrub and more comely in form than 
any of its relatives. Its foliage is thick and deep green, 
and in shape not much unlike that of our native Arrow- 
wood (V. dentatum) or may be a Hazel-nut bush, and it 
retains its bright and healthy appearance all summer long. 
We have a specimen between ‘eight and nine feet high, 
broad, bushy and in vigorous health, and it grows well, 
blossoms fully and fruits abundantly every year, and it 
seems to be absolutely hardy. The flowers are white, per¬ 
fect, and grouped together in rather broad cymes, but 
they are of brief duration, that is, they last for a few days 
only. This shrub is in full bloom with us about the first 
days in June ; the rose bugs come then, too, and these 
pests have an especial fondness for viburnum blossoms, 
and infest and destroy them. But the great beauty of 
Viburnum dilatatum is in its cymes of bright scarlet 
fruit that begin to get red about the end of August and 
last in all their beautiful fiery glow till about Christmas ; 
after that the first severe frost shrivels the fruit consider¬ 
ably, but it neither rob3 the berries of their glowing color, 
nor causes them to drop off the bushes. This winter these 
berries have stack to the bush till March. 
Tiie New Chinese Weeping Lilac may cost $5 a plant, 
but let me ask you two questions: as a lilac do you know 
a poorer flowering species ? and as a weeping tree what 
has it to commend it ? [The R. N.-Y. has not seen It. 
Eds ] 
Hydrangea vestita, page 267. We have had it for sev¬ 
eral years and it is perfectly hardy here and grows and 
blooms well with us, and I have not a moment’s hesitation 
in pronouncing it, so far as its flowering is concerned, the 
poorest exotic hydrangea in our collection. 
Georges Bruant, the Rugosa-Tea rose, has also sur¬ 
vived the winter with us and without a speck of Injury. 
Root crops never kept in better condition with us than 
they have done this winter. 
We used to get fresh Maine seed potatoes every year, 
but $5 a barrel, the price asked by our merchants here in 
town, is a little too stiff, so I’m cutting up our own grown 
potatoes for sets. 
April 2, and still lots of celery. It has kept capitally. 
We often read about celery being good for brains, and an 
antidote for neuralgia and other physical ailments. Per¬ 
haps it is, but I don’t believe it. It is simply a wholesome 
food apd pleasant to the taste, We have used it freely a[l 
winter long, cooking it like other green vegetables and 
serving it with sauce. 
Green Vegetables —We have some kale yet. We 
sifted it late in fall and heeled it in closely with heads up 
in a cold-frame, which we covered with sashes and leaves, 
with straw over the sashes In this way we could get It 
any time we wanted to in winter. The sashes kept the 
mulching up off the kale, and we didn’t need them in mid¬ 
winter for anything else. Cabbages are just done. Early 
cabbages started about six weeks ago, are now fine, large 
plants in four-inch pots and are almost ready to set out. 
Spinach wintered well and we have lots of it. We.sowed 
more out of-doors a week ago. Dandelions out-of-doors 
have been boarded over and will be fit to cut in a week. 
They are late this year. We have lots of spring lettuces. 
They were sown in boxes indoors in January, then potted 
singly, and planted out into hot-beds in the third week in 
February. These young plants are immensely better than 
those saved over from last fall. I don’t expect out door 
asparagus before the end of April, but to help matters I 
have lifted a row and packed the roots close together on 
top of the manure pile (in which there is some heat yet) 
with a little earth under and over them and a mulching 
of strawy litter over all. The heat underneath starts the 
“ grass ” in a hurry at this time of year and the straw on 
top preserves It from cold above, and also whitens the 
“grass.” Fashionable? Oh, yes: and toothsome as well. 
We have just finished planting young asparagus. We set 
it out in rows four feet apart and the plants about two 
feet asunder in the row; although I plant the crowns 
about eight to ten inches below the surface of the ground, 
the large market growers around us here (Oyster Bay) 
plant them exactly 16 inches below the level of the ground. 
Out of-doors I have sown round and Alpha Peas, Early 
Horn and Half Long Carrots, leeks, lettuces, beets. Strap 
Leaf Turnips, chervil, dandelions and parsley ; but, except 
of leeks, dandelions and parsley, only a small sowing of 
each. These early sowings are put in quite shallow ; if deep 
the seed is apt to rot. We have planted onion and garlic 
sets, a few early potatoes and full crops of Jerusalem Arti¬ 
chokes and horseradish. william falconer. 
Queens Co., N. Y. 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for jt. 
DOWN WITH RUM AND ITS PARTNERS. 
Let us all take a hand in politics with a view to its purifi¬ 
cation and the relief of the masses. The destiny of this 
nation depends on the character of its citizens. If that is 
founded on intelligence, truth, honesty and sobriety, the 
nation will; weather every storm in safety; but if it is 
based on ignorance, profligacy and debauchery, the end 
will be ruin. 
Our representatives must adopt and execute that public 
policy which will guard the nation from ignorance, waste 
and debauchery, which are a continual menace to national 
perpetuity. We do not have to look far to see the most 
fertile cause of these vices. It is the saloon system which 
has been made possible, which has in fact been built up 
by the policy which has separated it from other kinds of 
business, and, after making it criminal, throwing around 
it the protection of the State and making it a powerful 
machine for collecting revenues. 
I am in full accord with the Prohibition Party in the de¬ 
mand that “ the saloon must go,” and believe that a na¬ 
tional vice must have a national remedy. The policy of 
the nation on this question must be the same as the policy 
of the State, and the policy of the State the same as that 
of the counties. The farmers should break the organized 
saloon system by aiding in the prohibition of the manu¬ 
facture and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. It 
is the only way out of the trouble. Prohibition is the 
language of the law. But there is an organized body of 
moneyed men who are in open rebellion against all the re 
strictive laws we have, and who propose to defy all law 
which is prohibitive. This calls for party enforcement. 
We have right and justice on our side. The United States 
Supreme Court says, in the case of California vs. Christian¬ 
sen : “ There is no inherent right in a citizen to sell in¬ 
toxicating liquors by retail; it is not a privilege of a citi¬ 
zen of a State, or of a citizen of the United States,” and in 
the case of Stone vs. Mississippi, it declared: “No legis¬ 
lation can bargain away the public health or the public 
morals. The people themselves cannot do it, much less 
their servants. Government is organized with a view to 
their preservation, and cannot divest of the power to pro¬ 
vide for them.” 
But, it is possible for a whole people to be satisfied with 
themselves and drift to ruin. Bayard Taylor, in speaking 
of Egypt, said: “ Satisfaction is the basis of all conserva¬ 
tism and of all decline.” While the conservative element 
is a very necessary and Important factor in rendering 
all governments stable, new questions must be answered, 
new duties must be met and reformation must be accom¬ 
plished. Old parties cannot grapple with new questions, 
because too full of conservatism. The policy of a party 
must be, at first, to produce a change; at last, to preserve 
the change produced by it. The conservatives never think 
the doctrines are firmly enough fixed to change, and the 
radical element would be a minority which would be 
powerless. 
Legislation should be made to prevent waste of life or 
of resources. “ Waste not, want not, is a maxim I would 
teach,” and also the duty of breaking up monopoly and 
the robbery of ths masses. The coining of silver or the 
isspe of paper money by the government wi 11 not relieve the 
masses, because they can not get either from the govern¬ 
ment unless they work for it, or from the owners of the sil¬ 
ver unless they give security and pay interest. 
It has been said that prices depend on supply and de¬ 
mand. This is not quite true. Prices depend on the sup¬ 
ply and the ability to buy. Man’s wants increase just in 
proportion to his ability to supply them. (This is, I think, 
true of all except the miser and the money lender.) There 
is no such thing as over-production; but, there may be ill 
adjusted production caused by meddlesome interference, 
obstacles being put in the way of fair exchange in the shape 
of tariffs of various kinds which produce loss and waste, 
affecting both the producer and consumer. 
If there is not overproduction, what pinches us ? Waste 1 
The largest item of waste is from the diversion of the re¬ 
sources al r eady in the hands of the masses, directly and 
indirectly by the liquor traffic. The consumption of 
Intoxicating liquors for the year 1890 was 971.272 770 gallons, 
or 15.51 gallons per capita. Very little of this is used in 
the arts, If by prohibition even one-half of this waste 
could be stopped, there would be an era of prosperity such 
as this country has never seen. No other legislation could 
attempt to put $750,000,000 into legitimate business. What 
rejoicing we would hear! How the wheels of industry 
would spin ! What a demand there would be for our 
wool, cotton, breadstuffs and meat! Everybody would 
have to go to work because there wonld be the ability to 
buy. Every form of monopoly is linked together to levy a 
tax on the individual, none the less real because indirect. 
The question of taxation is so important that it occu¬ 
pies a large part of our legislation. How are the taxes 
levied ? Ex Governor St. John says that “30,100 persons 
own over half of the property of the United States and 
ought to pay over half of the taxes. ” Equity is the fairest 
word in the English language, and the taxes should 
be so adjusted that there would be equity in their dis¬ 
tribution. Persons should pay part for protection of 
person and part for protection of property ; but I do not 
believe that farm property should pay for the protection 
of manufacturing property and for that of stocks and 
bonds. What shall we do, then ? Be iconoclasts. Break 
up old parties whose conservative elements will not let 
them take up the new issues of the day, and rally around 
the standard of some new party which offers to fight the 
battles of the people, so that there may be a readjustment 
of the American people upon these questions. 
Let us set forth our views to be tested by the white 
light of reason, and adopt those methods which will pro¬ 
hibit a tariff which debauches our citizens, bribes our 
rulers and wastes our resources; and let us crystalize 
around that party which declares for equity In the assess¬ 
ment and collection of taxes; but it must be a party for 
the whole people and not for a class. c. E. hogeboom. 
Alabama. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, pleaBe 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Cotton-Seed Meal For a Pregnant Mare. 
J. H. H., Cedarville, N. Y.—Oats and wheat shorts are 
scarce here, so I am feeding my breediag mare, when 
working every day, about eight pounds per day of a ration 
composed of one part each of cotton-seed meal and old- 
process oil meal, two parts of corn meal, and three parts 
of wheat middlings, with all the good hay she will eat. 
Will the linseed oil meal have a tendency to cause her to 
abort, or would it have that effect on any other stock in 
small regular feeds ? 
Ans.— The linseed oil meal will have no injurious effect 
upon your mare ; it is the cotton-seei meal which is to be 
dreaded. This feed is not desirable for horses and should 
be left out. The other parts of the mixture are not objec¬ 
tionable, but on account of the condition of the mare it 
would be advisable not to feed the mixed meal and mid¬ 
dlings dry on account of the possible danger that they 
might ball in the stomach and cause indigestion. The hay 
should be cut fine and wetted and the meal mixed with it. 
This will make it more digestible. Cotton seed meal has 
a constipating effect on the bowels, and this is injurious 
to any pregnant animal; linseed meal, on the contrary, is 
laxative and healthful when given in moderate quantity 
as mentioned. 
Peas Out of Season. 
G. T. S., Swanton, Md .—Since reading Mr. Proctor’s 
article on page 242, I want to ask him a fe v questions. I 
am just starting here and had blocked out my rotation as 
follows: 1 . Clover mowed twice and an immediate applica¬ 
tion of lime, potash and phosphoric acid; 2. June 1, I 
would plow the clover under, and after a month of weed 
killing with the harrow, set late cabbages; 3. April 1, I 
would set strawberries and drill spinach between the 
rows, applying nitrate of soda. In winter I would cover the 
plants with stable manure and, 4 , follow the berries with 
turnips and seed to clover again. Can I put peas in the 
place of cabbages (sowing them about July 1) and leave 
the ground in as good shape for the berries ? 
Ans.— I must plead lack of experience in the matter of 
profitable growing of peas out of season. Gregory’s cat¬ 
alogue states that they are grown on Long Island as a fall 
crop, having been planted on August 1. My only trial of 
this plan was a failure, the season proving too short. 
Summer planted peas, to ripen in August, are also a general 
failure. As the inquirer is about three degrees south of 
this, I hesitate in advising peas, as they seem to do best in 
a northern climate. I would recommend that the crop be 
divided between cabbages, as proposed (if they are in de 
mand at satisfactory rates), peas and sweet corn. As feed 
is a consideration, the last will furnish an abundance of 
