328 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 25 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, President. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1891. 
Wherever in the country coniferous trees grow 
in grass, or where the land is rarely cultivated, 
seedling evergreens may often be found in great 
numbers, and it is a matter of surprise that the 
existence of these little trees is often quite unknown 
to the people about or even to the owners of the 
land. If at this season these seedlings were trans- 
E lanted to nursery rows, in a few years there would 
e an abundant supply at hand to ornament new 
lawns or to fill in wherever needed about the home 
grounds. 
The Inter-State Commerce Commission, after a 
world of vexatious delay, has at length decided that 
the truck farmers of Delaware cannot justly be 
compelled to pay all the profits of their business 
over to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for 
carrying service, merely because the company 
wants to drive them out of the business to build 
up a more distant farming section in order to secure 
a longer haul. The railroad magnates call the 
E olicy practical railroading ; the farmers call it 
areraced extortion and robbery. The Commis¬ 
sion has indorsed the latter by cutting down the 
charges 25 per cent. 
To ascertain the effects of nitrogen upon potatoes, 
whether applied alone or in connection with other 
fertilizers, will be tho basis of our potato experi¬ 
ments this year. Those of last year were unsatis¬ 
factory for the reason that the land had for three 
years previously received varying amounts of 
potato fertilizers, the potash and phosphate of 
which, in part at least, probably remained in the 
soil. This year we use new land that with a single 
exception has never been manured or fertilized. A 
second question which it is desired to answer is 
whether the high grade potato fertilizers of to-day 
contain a high enough per cent of niSrogen. To 
answer these questions 104 trenches have been pre¬ 
pared, planted and fertilized with ingredients and 
m quantity which it is hoped will best serve the 
object in view. 
In the efforts of farmers to equalize the present 
unjust system of taxation, some of the provisions 
of the laws they advocate are really so unjust that 
it is more than probable an enemy to their designs 
has in each case treacherously induced them to in¬ 
sist on such obnoxious provisions with a view of 
bringing contempt and odium on more praiseworthy 
legislation supported by them. Such is an absurd 
provision in the tax bill now before the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Legislature, which provides for the taxation 
of consignments of produce and merchandise in the 
hands of commission men. Such property does not 
belong to the consignee ; the owner may be a resi¬ 
dent of another State and therefore not liable to 
taxation in the Keystone State, or the goods may 
already have been taxed in other parts of that 
State. The courts would promptly declare such a 
law unconstitutional. .Who but an enemy could 
have led the farmers to support it ? 
Where lies the responsibility for the large num¬ 
ber of young men, and women, too, who every year 
leave the farms for the towns and cities ? There 
is doubtless a misapprehension among most of them 
as to the advantages which city life affords. They 
have dwelt upon the bright side of the picture so 
much that the innumerable blessings and advan¬ 
tages surrounding them in the country, sink into 
insignificance. Where is the blame ? We are sorry 
to admit that there are cheerless, unattractive farm 
homes where no ambitious, energetic, self-respect¬ 
ing boy could wish to stay ; but many leave appar¬ 
ently happy, desirable homes. One great cause of 
this dissatisfaction may be removed by education— 
though not necessarily the education of the schools. 
Fathers and mothers, stop grumbling about the mis¬ 
erable lives you lead; teach the boys and girls to see 
the beauties surrounding them on every hand and 
which are inaccessible to the city dweller. Tell the 
boy that the old hard head buried beneath the 
surface and which brought his team up standing 
with the plow handles jammed into his own ribs, is 
a stranger in the land, a “lost rock ” which has 
strayed far from its native ledge perhaps hundreds 
of miles away; that the cobblestones, bowlders, 
etc., were all brought by the same mighty glacial 
force unknown ages since. Show them that the 
different strata in the familiar gravel bed are as an 
open book to the geologist, recording the history of 
their formation long ago. Call their attention to 
the curious things to be learned about the familiar 
weeds, the insect pests, the feathered friends and 
foes, the animals that prey upon the crops ; in 
short, get their eyes open to what is all about them. 
But, you say, you are not capable of doing this ? 
More s the pity. But get them books and encourage 
them. Don’t scold if Johnnie is spending his time 
in examining a curious stone. He may not do so 
much work to day, but, rightly guided, his life may 
be vastly more successful. The boys and girls are 
the best farm crop; make the most of them. This 
is but a suggestion of many ways. 
There appears to be a widening split in the Alli¬ 
ance ranks in some of the Southern States, notably 
in Mississippi. The “ dyed-in the-wool” Democra¬ 
tic members insist that the supremacy of the Demo¬ 
cratic Party must on no consideration be imperiled 
by any doctrine or action of the organization ; 
while the Sub-Treasury wing of the Alliance are 
growing bolder and more determined in their dec¬ 
laration that to receive their support the Demo¬ 
cratic Party must accept their scheme and advocate 
their projects. One of the greatest dangers to the 
Alliance and all similar organizations is that they 
should incur the reputation of being mere tenders 
to any of the old parties; for such a reputation 
would repel or alienate from them the sympathy 
and support not only of all the adherents of the 
other parties, but also of the large body of indepen¬ 
dents and reformers who look to the ‘ ‘ agricultural 
upheaval” for needed reformation in our State and 
National legislation. 
The sort of farming described in this issue by 
Mr. P. H. Monroe, “ pays.” In our opinion, Mr. 
Jay Gould—who is supposed to represent to the 
American boy the highest possibility of money¬ 
getting—cannot buy as much real comfort and in¬ 
dependence as Mr. Monroe has brought out of his 
farm. Young men of to-day may well think this 
thing over. Money doesn’t do it all. Many of the 
best things of life can’t be obtained with all the 
gold that ever was taken out of the earth. One 
must grow into them and make them a part of his 
life. In these times, when the air is filled with 
complaints about hard times and the disadvantages 
of farm life, it is refreshing to read such a story as 
Mr. Monroe has given us. Why should the farm 
pay him while it seems to present a bill to others ? 
Why does one business man succeed while another 
fails ? Is “ success” anything that can be bought ? 
Yes; it is thoroughness and care. There are different 
qualities of brain power. We are not all strong and 
well. We cannot all hope to be masters at accum¬ 
ulating, but we can be taught to save what we get 
and utilize it properly. It’s a sad fact that a large 
proportion of our school children are not taught to 
be accurate, painstaking and observant. Such 
training leads directly to unsatisfactory lives. 
Elsewhere in this issue a correspondent gives a 
g raphic account of the abandoned farms in New 
Ingland and the foreigner-tilled farms of Wiscon¬ 
sin. Indeed he might have truthfully spoken of 
the abandoned farms of both sections ; for a large 
proportion of the farms cultivated by foreigners m 
many parts of the West have been abandoned by 
their owners who have sought a more congenial 
home in the neighboring towns and cities. The best 
information at hand shows that in Illinois, Wiscon¬ 
sin and Iowa, and to a less extent in other Western 
States, more farms have been abandoned by their 
owners than in New Hampshire, Vermont and Mas¬ 
sachusetts. But while the New England owners 
have deserted their lands because the labor bestowed 
on them is no longer remunerative, the native-born 
farmers of the West have left their homesteads be¬ 
cause they could obtain sufficient rent from tenants 
to enable them to live at ease or do a more comfort¬ 
able business elsewhere. The result of this absen¬ 
teeism is that the owners of the soil are no longer in¬ 
terested in maintaining good roads, in supporting 
good schools or in projecting new improvements. 
The property and the labor upon it are so managed 
that everything possible is got out of both. In en¬ 
tire counties in Wisconsin, Illinois and some of the 
other States the English language is scarcely ever 
heard beyond the large towns. The townships are 
inhabited by a hard-working, frugal but ignorant 
and unprogressive tenant peasantry, and resemble 
detached portions of continental Europe. Isn’t 
American farming, like several other American 
industries, suffering more or less severely from an 
excessive influx of “foreign pauper labor ?” 
Germany sends us generally $16,000,000 worth of 
sugar. ,1 ust now this trade is a very interesting 
one for several reasons. We have the power to use 
this sugar trade as a club to open German markets 
to our meats, and we are endeavoring by means of 
bounties to so stimulate the production of sugar 
that we may even have a supply for export. Ger¬ 
many is not a tropical country—how did it ever 
succeed in taking its present position as a sugar 
producer ? What may be called the German sugar 
beet legislation is of great interest and importance 
to American farmers now that a system of boun¬ 
ties has been adopted as our national policy. 
Briefly stated, the German system embraces a tax 
on raw beets destined for sugar making and 
a rebate on the finished product when exported. 
On every ton of beets sent to the sugar factories a 
tax is levied. This law brought about the antici¬ 
pated result—the quality of the beets steadily 
improved. The tax on a ton of beets yielding 100 
pounds of sugar was as heavy as that on a 
ton yielding 300 pounds. Naturally scientists, 
farmers and inventors united in an effort to pro¬ 
duce beets showing a high percentage of sugar, and 
machinery that could extract a maximum quantity 
of it. As a result, where, seven years ago, 15 tons 
of beets were required to make a ton of sugar, now 
eight or even less will do it. At first this tax 
brought considerable money into the German 
treasury, but now it is practically a losing business, 
since manufacturers have been eager to build up a 
large export trade, and thus secure the rebate. 
This explains how Germany has acquired such an 
immense export sugar trade. From one point of 
view sugar is a good thing to send away from a 
country, as it carries little or nothing of soil fer¬ 
tility with it ; but as a source of revenue for the 
government the rebate system is bad business 
policy, as it eats up all the tax on the raw beets. 
It is now proposed to give up both rebate and raw 
beet tax and substitute a consumer’s tax—similar 
apparently to our old revenue tax on matches or 
patent medicines. While as a revenue measure the 
old system was a failure, it did unquestionably 
stimulate and improve the beet sugar industry. 
BREVITIES. 
A blunted conscience hitched to wealth 
Will take the edge from moral health, 
An empty pocket’s bad enough 
But empty head Is twice as rough, 
For pocket cannot furnish brains 
Though head fills pocket with good gains. 
Help the runt to a fair share. 
“ What's The Matter with Oreen?” 
The successful man makes plenty of mistakes, but he is 
sharp enough not to repeat them. 
The man who will not grow and learn is like him who 
will not work—he has no business to eat. 
While you are waiting for the Paddock pure food bill to 
pass, legislate a good reputation for your own goods. 
Plan to evaporate your surplus fruit this year, if pos¬ 
sible. It will bring a good price. We shall tell how to do 
it soon. 
Give us the butter that is lost by poor skimming and 
poor churning and we will pay for every mortgaged Kansas 
farm in 10 years. 
Easter Beurf6 Pears of fine quality and size are selling 
for 15 cents each at the fruit stands. Tomatoes are still 
worth high prices—five to six for a quarter. 
After one has taken great pains to level, rake and seed 
a new lawn, it is gratifying to see the sparrows, like so 
many hens, scratching it all to pieces and eating up all the 
seed. 
What we call “atavism ’’comes through weakness or 
strength on one side or the other. Breed two animals both 
weak in the same way, and you give “atavism” a double 
chance. 
The California Lily is again being sold on the streets of 
New York. Tne price is nut 10 cents now. Last year it 
was 25 cents each. This is the Skunk Cabbage—Sym- 
plocarpus fcetidus. 
Plant a Fortune’s Forsythia (F. Fortunei). It is better 
than than the old F. viridissima ; that is, the flowers are 
larger and of the same color ; the bush is of a more open 
habit. It blooms five days earlier. 
Feed a big green bone to a hen and she could only blunt 
her bill over it. Run it through a cutter and she can eat it 
all and save money for her owner. The cutter represents 
the “ know how.” To one man thousands of chances are 
locked out of reach. Another has the key and can use 
them to make life better and happier. “Knowledge Is 
power I” 
France, the first nation to produce oleomargarine, is 
now the most stringent in its efforts to prevent its sale. 
One measure proposes that the manufacture and sale of 
the stuff shall be stopped altogether; another proposes to 
have it all colored a deep red; while another would put all 
factories under State inspection. Strange to say, the first 
proposition seems most likely to be accepted. 
One of the first things for a poultryman to learn Is the 
fact that soiled and dirty eggs should never be sent to 
market. Many of the eggs that come here are filthy—the 
shells frequently stained with mud or manure. Fastidious 
people—the only ones who are willing to pay a “fancy ” 
price—will never buy such eggs if they can help it. Clean 
the eggs before they come to market. It will pay well to 
do so. 
In many States farmers have declared themselves In 
favor of dividing taxes into two payments instead of pay¬ 
ing the whole in a lump. The California Legislature has 
just provided for a semi-annual tax payment. All taxes 
on personal property and one-half of those on real estate 
are payable 10 days after the second Monday in October- 
delinquent the last Monday in November. The other half 
are payable the first Monday in January—delinquent the 
last Monday in April. 
The Republican papers have become as bitterly hostile 
to Ingalls ds if they were afraid of him. A short time 
back they exhausted the laudatory words in the language 
to heap enconlums on his stalwart partisanship ; now 
they are exhausting its objurgatory words In piling vituper¬ 
ation on him for his change to Grangerism. But while he 
is vilified as a pervert by those whom he formerly de¬ 
lighted, he is not yet hailed as a convert by those whom 
he now seeks to please. 
“ I fed about half my usual number of sheep and yet 
made more money than if I had fed more,” said a western 
New York farmer last week. How was it t He saw that 
the corn crop was a poor one and that Western corn would 
be high. He bought sheep enough to eat up his own corn 
and let the rest go. As a consequence he has no grain bill 
to pay. If the price of corn rises 30 per cent while the price 
of fat sheep increases only 10 per cent, you had better let 
fat sheep alone until there is more equality about the in¬ 
crease. 
Canada has made no reduction In her tariff on sugar • 
but since free sugar has sweetened the United States it 
has also mysteriously made its appearance in the Do¬ 
minion. Retailers are now selling it at a reduction of 20 
per cent in Montreal. As there is a profit of $6 per barrel 
in smuggling sugar across the border, smugglers are get¬ 
ting the credit for the reduction in price. The introduc¬ 
tion of a little legitimate free trade in the United States, 
has therefore, it appears, conferred an illicit and unin¬ 
tended benefit on our neighbors. 
