388 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MAY 16 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
American floriculture as a commercial industry 
has made a wonderful advance in the past 10 years, 
as we learn from a circular sent out by the Superin¬ 
tendent of the Census. The value of the flowers 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. and plants sold in 1890 was $26,211,805.77. The 
- business gave employment to 16,847 men and 1,958 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. WODien. There were 4,659 establishments in the 
- country—of which 312 are owned and managed by 
elbert 8. carman, 1 editors women. The business nearly doubled between 1880 
Herbert w. coLLiNQwooD, f ’ and 1890, and it is growing so rapidly that another 
- decade will witness an enormous increase. The 
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, MAY 16, 1891. 
florist sells water in its most valuable form. The 
water in a January rose is worth twice its weight in 
gold. Over 90 per cent of the products for which 
these $26,000,000 were paid was water. Next to air, 
pure water is the cheapest product in the universe; 
yet Nature, with man’s assistance, stands ready to 
mix it into the most precious compounds. Sell all 
the water you can. Mix it in the most profitable 
way. _ 
The Farmers’ Alliance of Texas not only repre¬ 
sents the original formation of the present national 
organization, but is also the most numerous State 
association in it. A portion of the members openly 
indorse the sub-Treasury scheme, while a majority 
repudiate it. The latter are now earnestly at work 
to secure the condemnation of the former at the 
next State convention. Even on the most radical 
point of faith of the Alliance, there is a wide diver¬ 
gence of opinion all through the South, and this 
divergence is likely to lead ere long to an open 
rupture in the oldest and strongest State Alliance. 
The State of New York upends annually over 
$3,000,000 on its cafaals. There have been grave 
charges from responsible parties that the 
“ canal ring ” is one of the most wasteful and cor¬ 
rupt in the State. The Republican Senate proposed 
to investigate these charges, but the Democratic 
House and Governor whose party has for years ex¬ 
pended the funds, have resolutely refused to permit 
investigation. The management of the canals 
should be taken out of politics; and it’s a burning 
shame that politics should prevent an investigation 
with regard to the questionable manner in which so 
many millions of the people’s money have been 
spent. __ 
The directors of the County Poor Farm at Read¬ 
ing, Pa., are in a squabble. Some beef cattle fed 
there during the winter beoame “too fat for the 
inmates to eat.” The directors decided to sell them 
and buy lean ones to feed the paupers. One director 
was willing to accept $5.50 per 100 pounds for the 
fat kine ; but the others objected. Sealed proposals 
for the fat cattle are now in order. The highest 
bidder will take the tallow. The lowest bidder will 
sell the lean cattle to feed the paupers. And the 
directors will pat each other on the back for their 
shrewdness. And the paupers will have a plentiful 
supply of soup bones. And the tax payers will re¬ 
joice in the great economy. 
Give your boy a chance to do some business for 
you. Let him understand the particulars and then 
send him off to conduct the bargain and see what 
sort of a trade he can make. And carry out the 
terms of his bargain without fault finding or sneer¬ 
ing—no matter if you could have done better your¬ 
self. Get him started on the road to business—he 
must walk before he can run. Some of our people 
are telling us about giving the corn crop a lunch of 
some soluble fertilizer just as it begins to “ear.” 
The theory is that this late application may make 
up for a short supply of manure or fertilizer earlier 
in the season. This may answer for the corn, but 
it won’t answer for a boy. You can’t make up in 
manhood for the mistakes of early training. Can 
you straighten out a tree after it has once hardened 
into crookedness ? A boy’s habits of industry, read¬ 
ing and business are formed before he is able to 
apply them to the task of bread winning. At least 
they ought to be, and hundreds of life failures are 
due to the fact that they are not. 
Every successful breeder knows the importance 
of mating animals that match in color, shape or 
inherent qualities if any special point or character¬ 
istic is desired. In dairy cows especially, shape, 
size and special points of form are particularly de¬ 
sirable if improvement is to be made by breeding. 
This teaches the necessity of selecting a certain 
“type” of cow for the herd. In many herds are 
cows of two or three different types, long bodied, 
short-bodied, thick necked, thin-necked, and so on 
through the list. A bull is selected to head the 
herd, and he may be perfect in every way, yet 
only half the cows may be such that they “ mate ” 
or “nick” with him, and produce well shaped 
calves. The others will most likely be “misfits” 
without proper shape or form, because there was no 
uniformity between sire and dam. It will thus be 
seen why a dairyman with only one bull should 
select and breed his cows for a type and make that 
type as uniform as possible consistently with pedi¬ 
gree and individual excellence. 
The French have decided to make a temporary 
reduction in the tariff on wheat for this season. 
This is done because of the prospect of a poor home 
yield—it is evident that France must buy much of 
her bread abroad, hence she will look to the interests 
of consumers as well as those of producers. The 
French economists seem to feel that this “sliding 
tariff” gives the ideal protection. It is a tariff to 
match the supply of food. With a home crop nearly 
large enough to supply the home demand, the tariff 
is raised and French farmers have the benefit of the 
increased price. With a short crop at home, the 
tariff is lowered, thus giving the consumers the 
benefit of the reduction. 
The New York State Farmers’ Alliance at its 
convention at Hornellsville the other day, de¬ 
manded that the $2,213,330.86 direct tax money 
lately received from the National Government, 
and now lying idle in the State Treasury, should be 
returned to the counties and applied on their taxes. 
This would have been a boon to the farmers of this 
State in this year of agricultural depression. The 
Democratic majority in the Assembly, however, 
steadily refused to pass this measure in spite of 
strong pressure brought to bear on them to that 
end. When the farmers are hard pressed to pay 
their taxes they should remember such things; nor 
should they forget them on election day. 
On page 382 is presented a symposium on the sub¬ 
ject “Whence Comes Potato Flavor?” The state¬ 
ments which are deduced from field experiments 
and chemical analyses, made by Prof. E. B. Voor- 
hees of the New Jersey Experiment Station, are 
highly interesting and instructive whether they be 
considered from a practical or scientific point of 
view. It is found that both manure and fertilizer 
increase the water content of the tuber ; that the 
form of potash used influences both the water and 
starch contents, kainit giving the most water and 
least starch ; next come yard manure, muriate and, 
finally, sulphate of potash, the last giving the high¬ 
est content of starch excepting only the tubers 
raised without manure of any kind. As to quality , 
the difference in flavor was marked. Those raised 
with sulphate were decidedly superior to all others ; 
those from yard manure next, from the muriate 
next and, finally, those from the kainit ranked low¬ 
est. As to yield, it appears that muriate stood first, 
sulphate next, kainit next and yard manure last. 
The fact that one man’s gain is another’s loss 
is exemplified just now in the price of beef. Stock 
raisers are receiving higher prices for their cattle. 
The wholesalers at Chicago have increased the 
price one third during the past few weeks. The 
retailers in this city, and probably in other places 
as well, have increased the prices of different cuts 
from one to five cents per pound. The greatest in¬ 
crease has been in the price of the choicest cuts, so 
that the people using tne cheaper meats have not 
been much affected as yet. Whether the increase 
received by the farmers is sufficient to more than 
cover the increased cost of 'feed is a question. If 
not the increase may be no gain after all. With 
many consumers the increase means less meat and 
more of other foods. The recent scarcity of butter 
in Philadelphia is said to have largely increased 
the sale of molasses, thus tending to reduce the sur¬ 
plus of that commodity. The high price of meats 
is likely to increase the demand for cheese and thus 
be a boon to dairymen. Fruit growers are also 
likely to profit by it, as many use more fruit and 
less meat when the latter is higher. Poultry raisers 
will also profit in increased prices both of fowls 
and of eggs. _ 
SMALL PLOTS VS. LARGE PLOTS. 
Prof. C. S. Plumb, Vice-Director of the Indiana 
E S , (Lafayette) condemns small plots for experi¬ 
mentation. “The smaller the individual plot test, 
the greater the liability to wrong conclusions.” 
“In fact,” he continues, “among station investi¬ 
gators of reputation, the plot system is considered 
an enigma that yields more dissatisfaction than 
profit.” Prof. Plumb's “plot experimentation” 
was conducted, for the most part, while he assisted 
Dr. E. L Sturtevant, the first Director of the N. 
Y. E. Station. Dr. Sturtevant also condemned the 
use of small plots in toto. There was little or noth¬ 
ing to be learned from them in his opinion. 
The R. N.-Y. believes this to be unsound and 
harmful teaching. The fact is, as we belive, that 
the trial plots of the stations are too large instead 
of being too small, and that the larger the plot the 
greater is “the liability to wrong conclusions.” 
What is needed is a greater number of repetitions 
of the same trial and a greater number of interven¬ 
ing plots to show the natural productiveness of the 
soil. And the plots should be distributed over the 
entire field under experiment with tolerable uni¬ 
formity. Rarely do we find even a single acre of 
land which will not yield more on some parts than 
on others. Now, if we alternate or distribute small 
experiment plots over the acre with, say, 44 trials 
of 10 different experiments (making 440 in all) the 
average results will, reasonably, tend with more 
certainty to solve the given problem than if only 
four experiments were made, each taking up one- 
quarter of the acre. In most of the potato experi¬ 
ments, e. g., made by The R. N.-Y., each “plot” 
has consisted of just 33 feet. As the trenches are 
three feet apart, we are enabled to repeat a given 
set of experiments (the set, let us say, to consist of 
10 trials) 44 times. To illustrate : The problem is 
to ascertain how much high grade potato fertilizer 
may be profitably used. Trench No. 1 receives at 
the rate of 220 pounds per acre ; No. 2, nothing ; 
No. 3, 440 pounds ; No. 4, nothing ; No. 5, 880 
pounds ; No. 6, nothing ; No. 7, 1,320 pounds ; No. 
8, nothing ; No. 9, 1,760 pounds ; No. 10, nothing. 
This experiment, we say, may be repeated 44 times 
and it is submitted that the average results of these 
will be more trustworthy than if the same ex¬ 
periment were made but 10 times, or less, on the 
acre. Why not ? This is the way by which The 
R. N.-Y. has determined for its own experiment 
field, approximately, what amount of potato fer¬ 
tilizer may profitably be used ; that incomplete 
fertilizers do not profitably augment the crops ; that 
small pieces for seed do not pay ; that whether the 
fertilizer should be placed under or over depends 
upon the season ; that four inches, one year with 
another, is the best depth to plant, etc., etc. Had 
we been obliged to use quarter, half-acre or acre 
plots for each experiment, in order to learn all 
this, the experiments would never have been tried. 
The thing is impracticable. The object of these re¬ 
marks is to induce farmers to experiment for them¬ 
selves and not be discouraged therefrom by the 
positive assertions of those who deem small plot 
investigations time and trouble thrown away, 
BREVITIES. 
Lettuce have salad 1 
Cultivate a clinch on your work. 
Is England to beat us at agricultural education ? 
The pretent contest with Italy costs 37 cents a word. 
White frost and green corn make a black outlook for a 
crop. 
Did the cherries bloom before the peaches with you this 
year f 
Form a Wide Wagon Tire Association in your township 
and save the roads. 
The men who undertake to prove that root growing Is a 
failure In this country, surely cannot believe in Ameri¬ 
can sugar. 
The trouble about Mr. Gould’s corn cutting machinery, 
page 389. is that men who can cut fodder corn as fast as 
the one in his field are not bred fast enough to supply the 
demand. 
The R. N.-Y.’s next interview will be with J. P. Willits, 
the National Lecturer of the Farmers’ Alliance, and the 
man who came within 6,000 votes of being elected Gov¬ 
ernor of Kansas on the People’s ticket. 
A NUMBER of farm doctors are telling what in their 
opinion is “the matter with Green.” Surely Green has 
stirred folks up to a white heat, and made them red in 
the face as they disclose our blue prospects. 
Last year The R. N.-Y. tried the experiment of bagging 
racemes of grape buds—two bags being placed upon the* 
racemes of each of some 10 kinds. No berries formed upon 
several: upon others a few formed and matured; while 
others gave full and perfect bunches. A notable fact is 
that with several (the Eaton is recalled as one) one raceme 
was fertile and gave a full bunch, while t>he other raceme 
aborted. 
Farm implements, wagons and the like which are really 
more than half worn out, if patched and painted up a 
trifle, s<em cheap if at the country auction they sell at 
half their first cost The point we wish to make is that 
generally these second-hand articles are not just exactly 
what is needed, so that, besides paying more for them than 
they are actually worth, one does not purchase just what 
is desired. 
The most delicious vegetables—which are they ? Which 
are those that, all things considered, we may raise with 
greatest satisfaction i If The R. N.-Y. were confined to 
three kinds, it would select, first, sweet corn ; second, 
asparagus; third, peas. If confined to four, Lima beans 
would be added in the fourth place. If farmers were con¬ 
fined to one kind, no doubt sweet corn would receive a 
large majority of votes. 
While the good prices for grain and hay are highly 
satisfactory to the farmer with both products to sell, 
these same high prices cause misery to other workers. 
Perhaps the worst sufferers are the city teamsters and 
txpressmen who own their own teams. The increased 
cost needed to keep their horses fit for their hard work is 
a very serious thing, and none of their customers thinks of 
paying them extra rates to make good the greater cost. 
The repeal of the duty on raw sugar has already caused a 
considerable export trade in refined sugar, the imported 
raw sugar having been refined here and then exported, 
and the trade is likely ere long to reach large proportions. 
Since our manufacturers in this line are able to compete 
fuccessfully with their European rivals in neutral mar¬ 
kets, it Is evident thit theirs can no longer be called 
•• infant industries,” anu therefore they can need no pro¬ 
tec ion against their rivals in the home markets. There 
can therefore be no necessity of retaining the duty of half 
a cent per pouna put on refined sugar by the McKinley 
Bill, 'l he opponents of this bill declare this tax was im- 
jostd for the benefit of the home manufacturer at the 
expense of the consumer. Wouldn’t its needless retention 
tend to confirm their charge ? 
Contrary to expectation, Ohio, after a good deal of 
hesitation and delay, has passed an election law based on 
the Australian system. For years the Buckeye State has 
not kept pace with the other States in the line of election 
reform. Only a short time ago the large cities, like Cin¬ 
cinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Dayton, had 
not even registration laws, and opportunities for frauds 
on the ballot box were unlimited. The recent tidal wave 
of reform, especially among the agricultural classes, has, 
however, proved too powerful for the old sticklers for 
ballot-box stuffing, bribery and corruption, and the agita¬ 
tion has finally resulted in a law whicn promises to correct 
many of the evils which abound in Buckeye politics. 
Pure elections are the very foundation of liberty and 
good government in a republic, and the “ farmers’ move¬ 
ment” has already deserved well of the country for all its 
earnest efforts for reformation in this direction. 
