368 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 9 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, P.«»ident. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1891. 
A balmy, early spring—like an amiable bull—is 
generally treacherous. 
The new Carnation Golden Gate is neither well 
described nor suitably named. As it is now bloom¬ 
ing at the Rural Grounds its color is nearly white 
with a tint of yellow so feeble that it would never 
be suspected but for the name. The description 
says: “Rich, golden yellow, the first of its color 
originating in this country.” 
The Lawes (Sir J. B.) Agricultural Trust has now 
been constituted two years. One of the provisions 
of the Trust deed is that a course of lectures shall 
be given in the United States every two years on 
the Rothamsted experiments. Mr. Warrington, 
Dr. Lawes’s chemist, will give the first course, and it 
is arranged that he shall give six lectures before the 
Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experi¬ 
ment Stations on the occasion of the autumn meet¬ 
ing this year. The first lecture, “On the Roth¬ 
amsted Station,” will be illustrated by magic lantern 
slides. 
The writer knows a young man who rode through 
two years of an agricultural college course on a 
sow’s back ! When he entered college his father put 
aside the best sow on the farm. She was bred 
twice during the year and her pigs were well cared 
for and sold—the money being sent to the boy. This 
with what he earned by working on the college 
farm, paid his way. We do not say that the profit 
on the pigs paid his way ; the gross receipts only 
were counted, the cost of feed and care not being 
considered. Any honest conveyance may be used 
to ride towards an education. The young man 
spoken of has no reason to be ashamed of his 
carrier. 
Farmers in sections of the country where rain is 
abundant think the manure problem is serious 
enough and full of puzzles that seem unanswer¬ 
able. If they lived in the dry “rainless” belt of 
the West they would find their troubles doubled. 
Referring to the note on page 241, wherein was 
shown how rapidly manure dries out, a friend in 
Nebraska writes : “ I think the only way to receive 
any benefit from our manures is to pit them and 
keep them wet. At present I judge manure to be 
an injury to our soil, as it has been so dry that I 
have seen crops ruined by its too free use. Of 
course more moist conditions would produce dif¬ 
ferent results ; and in a wet year I know it to be a 
benefit.” 
More than 20 years ago the “ Mountain Rose,” as 
some seedsmen and florists now call it, was very 
well known in many parts of the country though 
not by that name. Calystegia pubescens (its bot¬ 
anical name) is a double bindweed, the flowers be¬ 
ing two inches in diameter, of a rosy white color, 
appearing in early summer and continuing until 
frost. The vines grow about six feet high and it is 
a very suitable plant for covering screens or rock- 
work. The only objection to it—an objection 
equally applicable to the much-advertised native 
Ipomuea pandurata—is that there will be little 
need of purchasing it a second time. The roots are 
hardy, every little piece of which may be trusted 
to grow as soon as covered with soil. 
There is no doubt that in theory the fairest way 
to make the people of the country contribute to the 
support of its goverment is for evei y man to con¬ 
tribute in proportion to the benefits he receives 
from his connection with the State. To do this 
would he pay direct taxes or taxes on incomes ? 
This form of taxation has, however, been always 
and everywhere exceptionally unpopular, espe¬ 
cially, of course, among those most likely to attempt 
to evade it. The chief charge against it is that it is 
inquisitorial, seeking to make every man set down 
on paper every cent of his income with the particu¬ 
lar source or sources from which he derives it. It 
has already been tried m this country as a war 
means of raising revenue ; but owing to its unpopu¬ 
larity it was abolished soon after the collapse of the 
Confederacy. In England about one-seventh of 
the annual revenue is raised by an income tax, 
and though it is certainly unpopular there among 
the “classes,” the “masses” have insisted on its 
continuance year after year. The reestablishment 
of such a tax, as a just and economical form of 
taxation, is again strongly advocated in this coun¬ 
try, especially by the Farmers’ Alliance and other 
agricultural as well as industrial organizations. 
Indeed, there are many who declare that in order 
to cater for the support of these associations, the 
next Democratic national platform will demand the 
restoration of the income tax ; and there is little 
doubt that, in the absence of a third party, such a 
plank would attract to the party in whose platform 
it was inserted hundreds of thousands of votes 
which would otherwise never be cast for it. 
Let us tell readers for the third time—now that 
it is precisely seasonable—that The R. N.-Y.’s way 
of exterminating the asparagus beetle, or rather the 
grub that does all the harm, or, still again, the egg 
from which the grub issues, is to rub off the eggs 
from the shoots. It is a simple, practicable way. 
Place the hand around the bottom of the shoot and, 
holding it rather closely, rub upwards. The thin 
black eggs are stuck on at right angles to the sur¬ 
face of the stem and a single rub will not fail to 
dislodge and destroy every one. Twice going over 
the plot—a week intervening—will suffice. The R. 
N.-Y. has tried spraying plants (after cutting time 
is over) with Paris-green, hellebore and pyrethrum 
water, but, as is the case with the invincible rose 
bug and cucumber flea beetle, the asparagus grubs 
were apparently unharmed. 
An order of the American Express Company, 
taking effect May 1, requires every employee to 
file a bond with the company to insure it against 
any possible loss from dishonesty, carlessness or 
neglect. What a capital scheme it would be if some 
farm help we have seen were required to do this ! 
The loss from this class of incompetent help is 
enormous. Plowing and other work imperfectly 
done decrease the yield of crops greatly. Over¬ 
driving or overwork injures the work animals. 
Slovenly milking reduces the yield and often per¬ 
manently injures the cow. Carlessness in the 
handling of tools results in breakage and unneces¬ 
sary wear. All this is aside from the out-and-out 
dishonesty of the lazy shirk who does not hesitate 
to steal his employer’s time. We fear many of 
this class would find great difficulty in securing 
bondsmen. The only effective bondsman available 
is the watchful eye of the careful master. 
Last week we mentioned the great boom in the 
price of wheat. There was nothing except a gamb¬ 
ling spirit to warrant such fluctuations as occurred. 
A Western dispatch tells of one operator who made 
$500,000 ; another $400,000 ; another $100,000, an¬ 
other $50,000 and “ scores of others from $5,000 to 
$15,000 each.” Somebody must have lost these 
amounts. Who was it? If a farmer makes $1,000 
from his farm no one is poorer and the country at 
large is richer. Can as much be said of these wheat 
deals? On the contrary, these fluctuations demor¬ 
alize trade. Plenty of foreign markets are await¬ 
ing American wheat and others are opening, but 
these constant manipulations of the market upset 
the exporters so that they are slow to buy. This lim¬ 
its trade, and reacts ultimately upon the producer. 
There are no such violent fluctuations in the prices 
of articles in which the gamblers do not deal. Their 
prices are regulated by supply and demand, and the 
trade in them is unrestricted by any such limita¬ 
tions as harass regular dealers in other articles. 
That overproduction of food products is the chief 
cause of the hackneyed cry of agricultural depres¬ 
sion is acknowledged on all hands. Those who at¬ 
tribute it rather to underconsumption merely cavil 
about the veriest shades in the meaning of 
words. Farmers, like other classes, work for profit, 
and if they raise so many goods as to glut the 
market for them to an unprofitable point, they have 
overproduced, even if half the population are half- 
starved for want of an adequate supply which they 
can not afford to purchase. In spite of this over¬ 
production, however, tens of thousands of farmers, 
especially in the West, where the cry of “agricul¬ 
tural depression ” is loudest, seek to lay enormous 
taxes on the country to irrigate our arid lands at the 
government expense in order to give free arable 
lands to myriads of thriftless natives and undesir¬ 
able foreigners for the purpose of increasing over¬ 
production and thus intensifying our agricultural 
depression. The Western States Congress lately in 
session at Kansas City, heartily indorsed such a 
policy and thus threw no little discredit on several 
very commendable schemes which it advocated. 
What ails the little Jerseys? At the auction sale 
just closed at the American Institute Building, the 
prices obtained were simply astonishing. At the 
first day’s sale the highest price paid was $270, only 
two cows sold for more than $200, and only 15 for 
more than $100. One cow sold for $40 to a breeder 
who is said to have refused $100 for her shortly 
afterward. The second day’s sale showed better 
prices, but the highest paid for any animal was 
$490. The prize for the highest average price for 
five animals was won by a breeder whose average 
was $196. These may seem like good prices to the 
breeder of scrubs, the value of whose cows proba¬ 
bly will average less than $50, but when we take 
into account the care and skill needed in breeding 
these animals, the expense involved, to say nothing 
of the prices formerly realized,these prices seem ab 
surdly low. Some of the high prices of the past 
were doubtless beyond all reason, but the tendency 
seems to be toward lower figures. The reason as 
signed by some for such low prices at these auction 
sales is that breeders formerly sent the culls to them 
and purchasers succeeded in securing only inferior 
animals. Wo do not pretend to account for the 
falling off in prices; but only ask as to what 
ails the Jerseys? We have told our readers time 
and again that these auction sales afford the best 
possible chance to secure bargains in Jersey cattle. 
The figures quoted above prove it. 
There appears to be a curious inconsistency about 
the resolutions adopted by the Western Commer¬ 
cial Congress, which recently met at Kansas City. 
After declaring in favor of a “ tariff for revenue 
only,” the congress proceeded to suggest and de¬ 
mand so many schemes for spending the public 
money that a tariff necessary to raise the needed 
funds would be almost prohibitive. There could 
be no free list at all if all the schemes were carried 
out. Some people seem to have very curious ideas 
regarding the ability of the Government to provide 
money for National expenses. As at present con¬ 
ducted, the Government can give no value to money 
any more than a private business man can. It 
can handle the funds that come to it in the course 
of business, and it can “promise to pay” with a 
safe hope of keeping its promise, just like any man 
who gives his note for a given turn, It is true that a 
certain class of people want the Governnent to t>y 
the experiment of making money, but no good 
business man believes that it can be done. Now, 
if the government plans to do $100,000,000 worth of 
work and has but $75,000,000 of money to do it 
with, $25,000,000 extra must be raised before the 
work can be done. The Government raises money 
by taxation either direct or indirect, the one form 
increasing as the other decreases. For example, 
we are told that $60,000,000 are saved to the people 
by the removal of the tariff on sugar. The expenses 
of the government are not decreased, however, and 
those $60,000,000 must be made up by some other 
form of taxation. Is it not so ? 
BREVITIES. 
The sweet apple question will not down. 
What’s the matter with Lancaster County ? 
Remember the cows when you set out the cabbage. 
Be sure to read Mr. Falconer’s Garden Notes on page 378. 
Only half-starved animals are ever killed by being left 
alone with good food. 
Have any of oar readers ever used the hay slings In con- 
ntetion with a hay-leader f 
Our correspondent, Alva J. Agee, is President of the 
Ohio State Farmers’ Alliance. 
The Jersey cow can work in a milk-pan—she doesn’t 
need a hogshead! Small but active! 
You are sure to encounter a good many “ ifs ” in your 
farm calculations. Get ready for them. 
How many of our readers had corn three inches high, 
April 27 ? See Mr. Falconer’s article, page 378. 
At most of the sheep shearing competitions there is a 
lack of shearers. Shearers and milkers are scarce. 
Don’t breed a horse so large and feed him so fat that he 
can’t work in the middle of the day. Better keep a mule. 
Keep the cork in your ink bottle when not in use. Here 
is the text from which many a useful sermon might be 
preached. 
We have reports of a new apple pest from Seneca Coun¬ 
ty, New York, and shall tell our readers about it as soon 
as positive information is obtained. 
For two seasons Michel’s Early has been the first straw- 
btrry to bloom and last year it was the first to yield fruit. 
This year we shall have the opportunity of comparing it 
with Lovett’s Early. 
IN 1889 this country bought of Sweden $85,277 worth of 
matches. Why do we have to go abroad for a “ light f” 
The other things we bought of Sweden were immigrants 
and iron ore—literally “ blood and iron.” 
Exochorda (Spiraea) grandiflora is a much praised 
shiub. It Is a shrub of the tallest growth, beariDg in 
early spriDg white blossoms that are by no means as pretty 
as those of the plum, quince, or crab apple, which are 
valuable also for their fruit. 
Peach fruit buds, and cherry buds for the most part, 
were destroyed by the frost of the 26th ult. in the region 
about The Rural grounds. Sweet corn on many a field 
was up an inch high, and even Lima beans were breaking 
through with many of the market gardeners that find it, 
year in and out, profitable to take the chances of early 
planting. 
Will it pay you to cut, cure, haul, unload and feed that 
field of clover—not to speak of hauling the manure out 
next spring ? That is a question we ask every year. With 
some men it will pay better to plow the clover right into 
the ground and let it stay there till the potatoes want it. 
At the same time we know that live stock prospects are 
such that animals can make better use of that clover than 
they could last year. 
Within a dozen steps of our barn door is a field of rye- 
thick, green and vigorous. Long before the grass was 
long enough to give the cows a nibble, this rye afforded 
excellent pasturage. The cows can feed on it for a month. 
The field can then be plowed and planted with corn for the 
silo. Many farmers despise rye. They have no reason to. 
It will keep the ground busy during the winter, and be on 
hand earliest in the spring with a mouthful for the cows. 
In the discussions on agricultural college education, but 
little has ever been said about the negro agricultural col¬ 
leges, at the South. In most of the Southern States the 
fund for agricultural education is divided between the 
schools for white and colored pupils. What are the ne¬ 
groes doing at these colleges f Who teaches them and 
what are they learning t The majority of the negroes are 
to be farm workmen; what training are they receiving t 
The R. N.-Y. hopes to answer these questions before long 
in an illustrated article on Negro Agricultural Colleges. 
