4o4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 23 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A Rational Weekly Journal ior Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, l EDiTORS 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, J 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pietident, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1891. 
Drought.— This is possibly the drought that the 
R. N.-Y. prognosticated for last spring. The trouble 
is that we located its head where its tail ought to 
have been—a slip of terminus merely. (0 
The R. N.-Y. has, this year, a number of crosses 
of the Ignotum, Matchless and others upon the 
Peach Tomato—a combination that may produce 
new varieties of value. By the way, The R. N.-Y. 
would be glad to know the originator and the 
origin of the Peach Tomato. 
Not all who raise asparagus are aware of the fact 
that it is the tops alone of the shoots which grow. 
It follows that if the top or terminal bud is broken 
off, frozen or otherwise injured, that shoot makes 
no further growth. It is quite natural that those 
who do not know this should assume that the 
white or underground portion, being nearest the 
roots, is tender and edible, while, in fact, it is the 
oldest and necessarily the toughest portion of the 
shoot. 
U nleached ashes and raw bone flour make, in The 
R N.-Y.’s estimation, the best dressing for lawns. 
If an immediate effect be desired, a little nitrate of 
soda may be added. The potash of unleached ashes, 
we may assume, exists in a form most acceptable 
to plants, and the same is probably true of the 
phosphoric acid they contain. The phosphate of 
bone is more slowly soluble and its nitrogen will 
feed the grass after the effects of the nitrate of soda 
have ceased. 
The R. N.-Y. repeats its prediction first made 
some six years ago that the gooseberry Dougal No. 
2 will prove a favorite for family use, if not for 
market. It is nearly thornless, and this itself is a 
weighty point in its favor. It is free of mildew ; 
the bush is of upright growth and its leaves are of 
a yellowish green that enables one to pick it out 
though it stood among a collection of all the other 
varieties in the world. The berries are of medium 
size and excellent flavor. 
Dr. Salmon, Chief Of the Government Bureau of 
Animal Industry, is now in the West, for the pur¬ 
pose of establishing government inspectors at the 
various packing houses in accordance with the law 
passed by the late Congress. Before meat can be 
shipped from Illinois or any other “ packing” State 
it must bear the stamp of the government inspector. 
It is thought that this precaution will do away, 
both at home and abroad, with all complaints con¬ 
cerning diseased meat. This is hardly likely, how¬ 
ever, as the complaints have been due as much to 
local fear of competition with cheap Western 
dressed meat as to any dread of disease in it. 
Isn't it too much to expect that farmers will 
agree as to the best laws for thoir highest good ? 
Other classes, whose interests are not so widely 
divergent, are far from a satisfactory agreement. 
Business and professional men differ as to the best 
means of securing certain ends. Is it strange that 
farmers do so ? Many of them have not had oppor¬ 
tunities for observing the effects of certain 
methods. It is a fact that the tax laws in many 
cases work great injustice to the owners of real es¬ 
tate. Many plans have been proposed to remedy 
this injustice. If those proposing these different 
schemes were united, a remedv would speedily be 
found. But they are not. Different people look at 
the same thing in different ways. One’s conclusions 
often depend on the point of view. 
Some of our friends are still very much disturbed 
about The R. N.-Y. s politics. One man says we 
have sold out to the Democrats ; another says that 
“Wall Street” has bought us ; another says that 
the Farmers’ Alliance has bought us in ; while 
another says we don’t say half enough about that 
organization. In the meantime The R. N.-Y. goes 
calmly on its course, very glad that it has stirred 
up so much thought and discussion. One trouble 
seems to be that these friends thmk that we give 
editorial sanction to everything that is printed in 
these columns. Now we have distinctly stated a 
dozen times that we let our correspondents talk as 
they wish. We frequently throw in a note or a 
question for the sake of drawing out comment on a 
point that is not clear. Take the interview with 
Mr. Willits in this issue. We do not indorse all 
he says simply because we print it. We recognize 
the fact that this farmers’ movement is a big thing 
—bigger than the politicians are ready to admit. 
We shall continue to let our readers know just 
what the leaders of this movement want, and we 
shall let all the political leaders have an equal 
chance. 
If the present dry weather continues much 
longer the hay crops in many sections will be 
light—next thing to a failure. The grass is now 
very short for this time of year, and even with the 
most favorable weather from this time on it can 
hardly grow to a full crop. Farmers must have fod¬ 
der of some sort. There is every indication that 
stock feeding will be more profitable than ever 
before this fall, particularly so if the present dry 
weather continues. The silo will enable us to 
defy the drought. There is yet time to plant a crop 
of fodder corn, and those who have no silo can build 
one in the lull after harvest; or, if the silo is out of 
the question for any reason, the well-cured corn fod¬ 
der will make beef, mutton or milk if combined with 
suitable grain foods. Mr. Terry tells us on page 398 
that he is not afraid of a dry season, because by 
properly sympathizing with the face of nature he 
can make the soil water the plant with tears of joy, 
and thus secure a fair crop. So long as his crops 
are good, the worse the season, the better his price. 
It is the same way with the man who grows food for 
stock. He who simply quits when the season fails 
to mature the ordinary crops will fall short of a 
profit. He who calls to his aid new plants and new 
methods better suited to fight against dry seasons 
will win. 
It will be seen that Mr. Willits has a somewhat 
different idea of the meaning of the Farmers’ Alli¬ 
ance from that given by Governor Tillman three 
weeks ago. One would make it first a political 
movement with a not very clear idea of what par¬ 
ticular point to concentrate its energy upon ; the 
other regards it as a business and social movement, 
using political forces only to gain business ends. 
There is less that is inharmonious in these two 
views when we consider that Kansas and South 
Carolina are about as different in political make up 
as two States can well be. In Kansas the first 
thought of the people would be to go to the polls 
and vote a change if they wanted one. In South 
Carolina an effort would be made to so control the 
Democratic party as to make it favor the desired 
change. The Alliance is growing in numbers faster 
than it is growing in unity of thought and purpose 
and the danger of the movement lies in the possi¬ 
bility of its leaders overlooking this fact. Some 
members want a high tariff ; others want free 
trade ; some want “ free coinage others do not : 
some advocate the Sub-Treasury scheme, while 
others oppose it. Some want reduced interest 
rates on Western farm mortgages, while others 
hold these very mortgages, their incomes depend¬ 
ing upon the payment of the interest. Can all 
these apparently inharmonious elements be com¬ 
bined ? Yes, we believe so, but it will have to be in 
the form of a compromise—each section moderating 
its demands or the movement never can become 
National. A good illustration of what we ro-aan is 
found in the little article headed “Not United: 
Therefore Not Winning,” on page 401. 
Colorado and some of the other Western States 
propose to solve the arid land problem by obtaining 
from the General Government a cession of all the 
lands that need irrigation to render them available 
for agricultural purposes. Then each State would 
construct irrigation works at its own expense or get 
capitalists to do the work under proper restrictions. 
It is estimated that all the arid lands in the Cen¬ 
tennial State could be brought under irrigation for 
$15,000,000. The sum is a large one and the under¬ 
taking gigantic ; but there can hardly be a ques¬ 
tion that the expenditure would prove a safe invest¬ 
ment in the end. Why shouldn’t this cession be 
made ? There is no mendicancy about the demands 
of the States which ask for it. It would tend to 
lessen the growing demands the Western States 
have lately been making on the pockets of the rest 
of the country. What reasonable objection can 
there be to let each of the States do this work at 
its own expense ? It would be intolerable selfish¬ 
ness to oppose it merely on the ground that the in¬ 
crease of agricultural products thus rendered pos¬ 
sible would make the competition between the 
products of those States and the rest of the country 
still keener. Such a plea might be valid against 
the taxation of the other States for the benefit of 
those in the arid region; but it should not for a 
moment stand in the way of the freest development 
by the latter of all the resources within their bor¬ 
ders at their own expense or under their own con¬ 
trol. This question is rapidly acquiring great im¬ 
portance in the Far West, and will doubtless be 
one of the most prominent discussed at the ap¬ 
proaching congress at Denver. 
The R. N.-Y. has never hesitated to state its views 
on the temperance question, no matter whether it 
ruffles the feathers of liquor sellers or liquor drinkers. 
We believe that the liquor traffic is the cause of nine- 
tenths of the poverty, shame, crime and mental and 
moral degradation with which the country is 
flooded. In all our large cities will be found thous¬ 
ands of women and children without proper food 
because the money that should have bought that 
food has been spent for liquor. The liquor question 
is the hardest of all our public questions to settle, 
because men cannot agree upon a method of fight¬ 
ing the evil. The great majority of good citizens 
are opposed to the saloon, but they do not realize 
the enormity of the evil. “ I must thank you,” 
writes a Wisconsin friend, “for the stirring little 
temperance lecture on the first page of the last 
Rural. My education and my early inclinations 
were opposed to temperance agitation, but, against 
my will, the truth has come home tome so strongly 
and so frequently that I am and must ever be a 
strong Prohibitionist. The little hit made in the 
last Rural will score more for good than a dozen 
speeches by professed Prohibitionist agitators or 
temperance lecturers.” There are thousands, yes 
millions of men like this one. Just as soon as the 
right way to handle this evil is thought out it will 
be swept away. The Prohibitionist unquestionably 
takes a logical and consistent ground when he states 
that there must be “no compromise” with the 
saloon—it must be no saloon at all or free rum, but 
he gets few to follow him. The trouble is that 
people are not “ educated up ” to a true apprecia¬ 
tion of the horror and loss due to the liquor traffic 
any more than they are to the foolishness of keep¬ 
ing stock that cost more than they bring in. The 
hope for the future lies in the ability of temperance 
teachers to teach their lesson so that the pupils will 
listen to it. Truth and the facts are all on their 
side; how can they graft them into the minds of 
those who are to do the world’s thinking and 
acting ? 
BREVITIES. 
This queetlon Mr. Dairyman, 
I’d have you ponder well — 
When planning out the coming year’s campaign, 
The price of grain Is going up 
And nobody can tell 
At what high point the rise will stop again. 
Now, shall we sell the poorer cows. 
And thus pa}- out less cash 
For grain, and keep the good cows slick and fat ? 
Or shall we keep them all and knock 
The grain food all to smash ? 
Suppose you try some thinking over that 
Any fertility in a hoe t 
Red beets make fine greens. 
An inch is never as good as a mile. 
Try giving the corn a lunch this year. 
Frost is not an unqualified success as a fruit thinner. 
Will your family use more sugar now that it is free ? 
How many are trying to grow Lima beans without poles T 
Last year it was floods; this year it is droughts and 
fires. 
Eat light, keep bright, 
Eat full, keep dull. 
It’s money in your pocket to grow a crop when your 
neighbors’ fail. 
Combinations of manufacturers go merrily on both here 
and in Canada. 
Who tried any method of fighting frost during the 
recent cold wave ? 
The early sown grain got a big start this year. Much 
late-sown is not yet started. 
Don’t throw away cabbage plants. Stick them In some¬ 
where. The cows will need them before the summer is 
over. 
No man ever yet dodged a fact without running into 
something that hurt him more than the fact would have 
done. 
During this unusual drought (May 15) and before pota¬ 
toes are up generally, the soil is alive with the Cucumber 
Flea Beetle. 
An Indiana farmer thinks it pays to hold wheat, he 
having found a pocket-book containing $11,500 in his bin 
while emptying it recently. 
The summer boarder crop will start from the city with 
heavy pockets. Lighten their hearts and lighten their 
pockets, and they will be satisfied. 
Good for the Louisiana Farmers’ Alliance I It has just 
expelled eight prominent members who were members of 
the Legislature, and in spite of the earnest protest of the 
organization, voted for the lottery swindle. 
A GOOD illustration of the shortage of cattle foods in the 
country is given by the prices paid for the by-products of 
rice manufacturing. A year ago rice Dollsh sold at $12 to 
$14 per ton with rice bran at $7 to $8. Tne polish now 
sells at $22 and the bran at $17 in the New Orleans market. 
This little note comes from a Pennsylvania town: “What 
is the matter with the English sparrows ? Are they emi¬ 
grating to some happier clime ? A year ago we had thou¬ 
sands in this little town, now we seldom see one. Good 
riddance!” What is the news from your town ? Isthesoar- 
row still at home there ? 
There is a fine field for the improvement of the lilac, a 
work that Is only fairly begun. We want a bright, true 
blue and a brilliant red and from the results already 
achieved by seedling cultivation, these wants are likely to 
be realized in the not-far future. It is also desirable that 
the new kinds should be mildew-proof. 
The State Board of Agriculture of Nebraska, offers 
nine preminms, running from $10 to $50 each, for the nine 
best quarter acres of sugar beets grown in the State this 
year. In really practical efforts to develop the sugar-beet 
industry, Nebraska is decidedly outstripping all other 
States in the Union, with the possible exception of Cali¬ 
fornia. 
The “precipitated phosphate,” mentioned by a corres- 
spondent on page 308, is a waste product in the manufact¬ 
ure of glue. It is a white powder, fine and dry. It is one 
of the cheapest sources of phosphoric acid, and in many 
cases has proved very efficient. The supply is naturally 
limited, and it will not become much of a factor in the fer¬ 
tilizer market. As a source of phosphoric acid the basic 
slag is promising. 
Governor Hogg, of Texas, owed his nomination and 
election in great part to the farmers’ organizations of his 
State, especially to the Farmers’ Alliance. In the appoint¬ 
ment of officers, however, he has completely ignored them. 
Among other demands they made on him, they were espe¬ 
cially emphatic in their requirement that he should ap¬ 
point Mr. Duncan as one of the Railroad Commissioners 
He has just tartly refused to do so, and appointed another 
man. He appears to think that the Democratic majority 
in the Lone fetar State is so overwhelming that ne can 
afford, with it at his back, to disregard the wishes of the 
farmers. He should bear in mind, however, the lesson 
taught by the farmers of Kansas at the last election to the 
overwhelming Republican majority in the Sunflower 
State. Why shouldn’t the farmers do in the Democratic 
Banner State of the Union at the next election, what they 
did in the Republican Banner State at the last ? 
