436 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 6 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A IVatlonnl Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban llomex. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pie»ident. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manner. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1891. 
A successful farmer is generally found on a farm 
that is “ not for sale.” 
The most effective insecticide that The R. N.-Y. 
knows of at this time is the old Gishurst Compound. 
Two ounces dissolved in a gallon of water will de¬ 
stroy lice (aphid*) thrips, slugs and, in short, all 
sorts of insects that infest rose bushes, except rose- 
bugs. It is claimed, also, that it will destroy mealy 
bug, scale and mildew. It is for sale by most 
seedsmen. 
On May 19, the day on which tho great labor con¬ 
ference met at Cincinnati, the Trans-Mississippi 
Congress assembled at Denver. It strongly advo¬ 
cated The Rural’s proposition that the general 
government should cede to the various Western 
States all the arid lands within their borders for the 
purpose of reclaiming them by irrigation at the ex¬ 
pense of the different States. This proposition is 
sure to gain in popularity. 
There appears to be a hitch in the negotiations 
between this country and Spain with regard to 
Cuban reciprocity. The two great importable com¬ 
modities from the “Ever Faithful Island” are sugar 
and tobacco. Sugar is practically on the free list, 
and unless this country is willing to place Cuban 
tobacco on it also, what have we to give in return 
for any concessions made in the way of the abolish¬ 
ment or reduction of taxes on imports of American 
products into the Queen of the Antilles ? The duty 
on tobacco is an essential part of the McKinley Rill 
for “ protecting the agricultural interests and it 
is very doubtful whether even a Democratic Con¬ 
gress and Administration would venture to repeal 
it ; yet without its repeal or material reduction, 
wouldn’t “reciprocity” with Cuba be of a jug- 
handled character, with the handle entirely on the 
American side ? 
“secrets” of manufacture. We have taken this 
item as an example because it was one which occa¬ 
sioned much of the discussion over the McKinley 
Bill while it was before Congress. The pertinent 
question is : Does the American farmer receive 
more for his products, or pay less for his purchases ? 
The introduction of the Babcock Milk Tester 
gives the patrons of a creamery where it is used, an 
eye-opener on the subject of cooperation. One pat¬ 
ron brings milk containing five per cent of fat while 
another’s milk only shows 2 A per cent. Under the 
old system, both men were paid the same price for 
100 pounds of milk. Under the new system, one 
receives pay for five pounds of fat, while the other 
is paid for 2A pounds. In the first case one made 
the other a present of 1% pound of fat in every 100 
pounds of milk. In the second place a man is paid 
for his energy, care and study, or punished for his 
failure to make the most of his cows. It is the 
difference between a pension and a penalty. The 
advocates of Nationalism and general cooperation 
may find something to think about in this state of 
affairs. In the happy state of society which they 
picture, all men are equal, the strong helping the 
weak and the rich providing for the poor. It is our 
belief, however, that all would be happier if some 
influence not unlike the milk tester could put an 
exact and impartial value on the work of each, 
paying for just what is done and no more and 
leaving a free chance for turning care, study and 
work into improved value. 
Two years ago Joseph Bennett of Jewell County, 
Kansas, borrowed some money of a woman school 
teacher in Jewell City, and gave as security a mort¬ 
gage on his farm. He defaulted on the first pay¬ 
ment, and a suit for foreclosure was begun on behalf 
of the lender, who won her case, and the premises 
were bought in for her account by her attorney, 
who, last Saturday, took possession of the place un¬ 
der the decree. On Sunday night a mob of 40 armed 
men forcibly ejected him and put Bennett in posses¬ 
sion of the premises again. It is charged that 
Bennett is a member of the Farmers’ Alliance as 
are also the 40 champions of his cause. Similar ac¬ 
tion has been reported several times in cases of mort¬ 
gage foreclosures by loan syndicates on behalf of 
Eastern lenders; but this is the first instance in 
which a resident of the State and a woman, too, has 
suffered in this way. It has been repeatedly charged 
that the Alliance men in some parts of the West, 
believe that their impecunious brethren are justified 
in borrowing money and defaulting in payment of 
it, and that in such cases they should be supported 
by the order. We believe such charges to be atro¬ 
cious falsehoods; we believe that the Alliance men 
do not desire to repudiate any honest debts, and we 
expect the order to promptly deny all connec¬ 
tion with the above or any similar outrage. An 
indorsement of it, director indirect, by the State Al¬ 
liance would do incalculable injury to the order 
everywhere. 
stititutional as applied to the sale of liquors made 
in any other State and imported and sold in the 
original packages unbroken and unopened, inas¬ 
much as such laws were repugnant to the clause in 
the Federal Constitution conferring on Congress 
exclusively the power to regulate inter-State Com¬ 
merce. For the relief of the States, Congress then 
enacted a law providing that any original package 
brought into any State should be subject to the 
State laws regulating the sale of similar property 
manufactured within its confines. Straightway the 
authorities of Topeka, Kansas, imprisoned a dealer 
for selling liquor imported from Missouri in the origi¬ 
nal packages, and the liquor interest appealed to the 
United States Supreme Court to declare the law un¬ 
constitutional on the ground that Congress could 
not delegate to any State any powers conferred on 
it exclusively by the Constitution; moreover, it was 
alleged that the liquors in question had been im¬ 
ported into Kansas before the law was passed and 
that to prevent their sale in the original packages 
would bo to give the law a retroactive effect, and 
again, it was urged that the Prohibitory Law of Kan¬ 
sas was passed before the Court had rendered its de¬ 
cision, and that to make it effective it would have 
to bo reenacted. In a lengthy and ingenious^opm- 
ion the court has overruled all these points. There 
will be much rejoicing among Prohibitionists over a 
decision which everywhere sustains their legis¬ 
lation. There will also be no small gratification 
among conservative citizens at the estab¬ 
lishment of a compromise between the power 
of the Federal Government over inter State com¬ 
merce and the police powers of the States, without 
infringing upon either. 
BREVITIES. 
Hay will be a light crop. 
A MULCH counts this year. 
A fat man seeks a soft job. 
The skim cheese is a slow seller. 
Poultry promises pretty profits. 
The original package is in a “ box.” 
No weather yet for transplanting tomatoes. 
Corn is like confidence, a plant of slow growth. 
The farmer’s sinking fund should ho in his soil. 
Why is it advisable to wilt soiling crops before feeding 
them t 
We defy you to make up a stable ration that will equal 
green grass. 
How much of your money goes to “ buy a carpet for the 
rumseller’s wife I”’ 
He who will not practice self denial ought to know he’s 
breeding up a trial. 
What Is your explanation of the reason why the cream 
rises In that new separator—page 431 ? 
Duck eggs are preferred by many and, considering the 
size, are cheaper to the consumer at market prices. 
We will support a law making It a crime for a man to 
satisfy himself with an “I guess,” when it should he “I 
know.” 
A PATENT has just been issued for a “ Compound for 
Dishorning Cattle,” consisting of nitric acid, tincture of 
Iodine and burnt sugar 1 
In these days of multitudinous strikes among 
workingmen it is strange there should be such a 
wide difference in their wages in various parts of 
the country. Brickmasons are paid 21 cents an hour 
in Atlanta, while they get 42 cents in St. Louis. In 
Lexington, Va., a carpenter gets 18 cents an hour, 
while his brother in New York gets 38 cents. A 
plumber gets 22 cents in Vicksburg and 40 cents in 
Chicago, while a painter gets 22 A cents in New 
Orleans ; 35 in Memphis ; 51 in Kansas City, and 
52 in New York. Again, a roofer gets 19 cents an 
hour in Atlanta ; 34 in New York ; 37 in Brooklyn, 
and 38 in Santa Fe. Unskilled labor get only 7 A 
cents an hour in Atlanta, while it gets 20 cents in 
Galveston. St. Louis pays the highest price to 
masons ; New York to carpenters ; San Francisco 
to painters ; Chicago to plumbers ; Santa Fe to 
roofers, and Galveston to common laborers. How 
many farmers of the “working” order can make 
such wages as the best of the above by working 
steadily from dawn to dark ? 
A comparison of the imports under the new and 
old tariffs show some interesting facts. It is im¬ 
possible to arrive at exact figures for various rea¬ 
sons, but enough is known to show that the aggre¬ 
gate value of dutiable imports under the new tariff 
for the first six months of its operation equals, if 
it does not exceed, that of the corresponding period 
for the preceding year. The value of non-dutiable 
imports for the same period is considerably larger 
than for the previous year, but about half of the 
increase is of goods formerly dutiable. Were this 
amount added to the value of the imports of duti¬ 
able goods, the imports of the latter would have 
exceeded by a considerable amount those of the 
preceding year. The total imports increased about 
*22,000,000. The imports of wool increased nearly 
50 per cent, the increase being largely in first class 
wool, which increased nearly 200 per cent. Imports 
of shoddy and waste decreased largely. The 
imports of clothing and other manufactured woolen 
goods decreased nearly 25 per cent. That is, while 
the imports of raw clothing materials have largely 
increased, the imports of manufactured goods have 
decreased. This certainly is a benefit to the manu¬ 
facturer, but how fares the producer of the raw 
material ? It is argued that the greater importa¬ 
tion of foreign wool enables the manufacturers to 
use more domestic wool. This may be one of the 
While the McKinley Tariff has caused a consid¬ 
erable increase in the price it has led to a great 
decrease in the number of imported live stock. 
The most expensive animals—registered purebreds 
for breeding purposes—were placed on the free list, 
but the duty on other cattle was raised from 20 per 
cent on their value to $10 per head for all over one 
year old, and $2 on all one year and under. This 
made an ad valorem duty ranging for 30 to 1G0 per 
cent on the import value of last year. During 
November, December, January and February last, 
when the tariff was in full operation, the imports 
of cattle amounted to only 485 against 0,870 for the 
corresponding months of the previous season. As 
was intended, the specific duty prevented the im¬ 
portation of low-priced cattle for consumption. The 
average price per head of cattle—including young 
stock—imported under the McKinley Act has been 
$25 against $0.10 the previous season. The new 
tariff on horses is $30 per head for animals valued 
at under $150 and 30 per cent on those valued 
at $150 and over. For the four months mentioned 
the importations fell off from $11,366, the imports 
of the previous year, to $2,608, while the average 
price this year was $105 against $42 last season. 
The increase of the tax has put almost a complete 
end to the importation of Canadian horses along the 
border, the more valuable horses alone being im¬ 
ported. The imports of cattle for the eight months 
ending with March 1, were valued at only about 
$4,000,000, while the exports were worth nearly 
$24,000,000 to say nothing of the enormous dressed 
beef trade. Of course, the decrease of imports of 
low-priced cattle has had some influence in raising 
the price of native stock as well as of beef, espec¬ 
ially along the seaboard and the Canadian frontier 
The consumer has suffered a trifle ; but has the pro¬ 
ducer gained as much ? 
Last Monday the United States Supreme Court 
unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the 
“Original Package Law,” passed by the last Con¬ 
gress in August, 1890. This law was designed to do 
away with the consequences of the Court’s decision 
with regard to original packages, rendered the prev¬ 
ious April. Before the latter decision it had always 
been assumed that each State might determine for 
itself the prohibition or regulation of the liquor 
traffic within its own borders. That decision, how¬ 
ever, was that State prohibitory laws were uncon- 
The Canadians have sent a representative to France to 
study beet culture and sugar manufacture. It is curious 
that almost every nation is seeking to increase its produc¬ 
tion of sugar. Where will it all be sold ? 
Mu. W. C. Barry tells us that Madam Georges Bruant 
is one of the hardiest roses in his collection. It came 
through the past winter without being injured in the 
least. So said The R. N.-Y. a month ago; so said Mr. Fal¬ 
coner. It is hardy, therefore, thus far In Rochester and in 
Queens County, N. Y. f and Bergen County, N. J. 
There is a serious drought in Louisiana and reports 
come that the cane fields are suffering for water. A few 
planters are Irrigating from the rivers with good success. 
It is only now and then that irrigation Is needed, Out 
when the need comes it is a serious one. The fact is that 
there is hardly a section of the country where irrigation is 
not possible and where it would not prove profitable. 
With that clearness of vision which is the special gift 
of a man endowed with hindsight, ex-Senator Ingalls is 
telling the Republican party, in clarion tones, what it 
must do to be saved. Is the Grand Old Darty, however, 
likely to heed the warnings, or swallow the boluses of a 
physician whose skill could not save his own political life ? 
If ridicule can kill the People’s party, It Is in Imminent 
danger of death from the jeers, sneers, sarcasm, pasquin¬ 
ades and other belittling and depreciating effusions of the 
organs of the two old parties. It seems to be as imper¬ 
vious to their shafts, however, as a rhinoceros hide to 
mosquito bills. After all, ridicule kills only weaklings. 
Is this likely to prove one ? 
Some months ago a Chicago commission firm recovered 
judgment for money advanced and services rendered in at¬ 
tempting to run a corn “ corner.” The case was appealed, 
and the Appellate Court has just rendered a decision re¬ 
versing that of the lower court. It holds that the business 
of organizing “corners” in the necessaries of life is 
“purely against public policy, and under the common law 
as it existed a century and a half ago, would have been a 
criminal offense.” The law will not attempt to adjust 
differences between parties in such cases. Substan¬ 
tially similar judgments have been rendered in other 
States, all emphatically justifying the farmers’ universal 
demand for legislation against “ corners ” in agricultural 
products. 
Of all the strikes that have ever been known that of 
the Belgian workmen which lasted many weeks and 
came to an end the other day was the most remarkable. 
Widespread in extent.lt paralyzed all industries in the 
busiest hive of labor on the globe. It was not for shorter 
hours or higher wages; but for a revision of the National 
constitution, and particularly for universal manhood suf¬ 
frage. In a country of 7,000,000 population the land owners 
and capitalists have doggedly restricted the right to vote 
to 137,000 of their own class and supporters in spite of the 
bitterest agitation bv the disfranchised. Tne latter have 
now won a complete triumph, and the world must rejoice 
with them at the prospect of their speedy relief from the 
galling oppression and intolerable hardships to which they 
have been for generations subjected by a handful of land¬ 
lords and plutocrats. 
