452 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKE 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homea. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD, 
EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pieaident. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
We give considerable space to the progress of the 
farmers’ political movement in Ohio because this 
movement is of national importance in its conse¬ 
quences. The result will be far more significant 
than was that in Kansas. Senator Sherman’s Sena¬ 
torial term is nearly at an end. His successor will 
be elected by the legislature to be chosen this fall. 
It is reasonable to expect that those who oppose his 
financial plans will do their utmost to defeat him. 
Again, the chances are that Mr. McKinley will re¬ 
ceive the Republican nomination for Governor. In 
that case the tariff will be made a leading issue and 
the effect of the election will be felt in the National 
election next year. How will the Ohio farmers 
stand ? They have a good chance to lead the coun¬ 
try one way or the other. We shall keep our read¬ 
ers well informed regarding this political conflict, 
and hope to present the views of all the leaders 
during the campaign. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1891. 
Is the new party to be a mere bugaboo to scare, 
not young innocents, but old reprobates into good 
behavior ? 
A strong plant of the Crandall Currant was sent 
to us by Frank Ford, of Ravenna, Ohio, the intro¬ 
ducer, March 20, 1889. The bush is large and spread¬ 
ing, bloomed profusely, but will bear few berries. 
There seems to be little doubt that this so-called 
variety is the product of more than one seed. 
The older readers of this journal will concede that 
we have never unduly praised the new varieties of 
strawberries as they have been tried at the Rural 
Grounds from year to year. We have now to com¬ 
mend Michel’s Early as, in our opinion, the best of 
the notably early berries in cultivation. In quality 
it is excellent, of medium size, Crescent shape, scar¬ 
let in color, with white flesh, fairly firm. The 
plants are hardy, vigorous, tall-growing and pro¬ 
ductive. 
At the Rural Grounds is now blooming a hybrid 
seedling Rosa rugosa that differs from the mother 
(Rugosa) in the following respects : The leaflets 
are larger. The flowers are larger, measuring 
nearly five inches in diameter. It blooms from 
about May 25 to frost without any cessation. It is 
well known that Rosa rugosa does take a brief rest 
during mid-summer. It further differs from the 
mother parent in that it, as yet, has not produced 
any fruit (hips.) 
There’s grief among the concoctors of patent 
medicine nostrums and similar kickshaws. Hitherto 
by registering the labels at the Patent Office the 
proprietors of the different panaceas secured pro¬ 
tection for their specialties. The United States 
Supreme Court, however, has just decided that 
only such writings and discoveries as are the re¬ 
sult of intellectual labor can be registered and 
copyrighted. Anybody can now make a compound 
and sell it under the name used by another per¬ 
son to describe a similar article. Hasn’t a great 
deal of “ intellectual labor” been devoted to the de- 
visirig of many of the curious and suggestive names 
of a multitude of nostrums ? 
We have seen that tomatoes may be profitably 
grown by the use of concentrated fertilizers. The 
New Jersey Experiment Station tells us that nitrate 
of soda in moderate quantity greatly increased the 
yield. Two years ago about 20 different kinds of 
tomatoes (six plants of each) were grown at the 
Rural Grounds. The soil of the plot was an im¬ 
poverished clay loam and a liberal quantity (per¬ 
haps 1,500 pounds to the acre) of potato fertilizer 
was broadcasted and raked in. The plants grew 
thriftily and fruited abundantly. The notable 
thing about the tomatoes was that all of them were 
more or less changed in color from the crimson of 
the Acme and the commoner red of the Ignotum to 
a yellowish red. Some of the tomatoes were as vel- 
low as the well-known yellow varieties, though in¬ 
clining more to the orange than to a lemon shade. 
Just now the prospects for the next grain har¬ 
vest in this country are unusually promising. This 
should be a source of no small encouragement to 
farmers; for there need be no fear of low prices 
due to over-production. So great is the present and 
prospective shortage of cereals in Europe and, in¬ 
deed, in the rest of the world, that the governments 
of most of the countries which have imposed heavy 
import duties on foreign grain, have either already 
temporarily diminished or suspended such duties or 
contemplate doing so. However abundant our next 
grain harvest, therefore, the prices should be quite 
remunerative, especially as reports of the growing 
grain crops elsewhere, especially in that vast gran¬ 
ary, Southern Russia, are unfavorable. It is doubtless 
against the Decalogue to rejoice at the misfortunes 
of others; but surely there can be no harm in feel¬ 
ing cheerful at our own prospective good fortune. 
How much of this will the politicians lay claim to? 
Political economists tell us that there never has 
been a time since the adoption of the Federal con¬ 
stitution when taxation was less a burden on the 
people than it is to-day. According to them, the 
money raised by taxation in this country, including 
national, State and municipal taxes, is about $1,000- 
000,000 a year. On the other hand, the wealth 
annually produced among us amounts to $20,000,- 
000,000, so that taxation amounts to only about five 
per cent of the product ; while in the earlier days 
of the government, it exceeded 15 per cent of the 
product and prior to the late war was never less 
than 10 per cent. As compared with other coun¬ 
tries, the cost of government in the United States 
is, we are told, considerably less. While, for in¬ 
stance, the cost of government in Great Britain is 
about 23 per cent of the annual product, it is only 
about one fifth that amount in this country. How 
does farm taxation before the war compare with 
that of to-day ? Is the burden of taxation ren¬ 
dered grievous by its weight or by its unjust distri¬ 
bution ? 
A great conflict takes place every year between 
farmers and pot-hunters—the so-called “sports¬ 
men ” of the cities, who seem to feel that they have 
a right to kill game wherever they can find it. Whom 
does the game belong to anyway ? Is it, like money, 
“a part of wealth laid aside for public use,” or does 
it belong to the holder of the land on which it is 
bred or found ? We see no reason why a rab¬ 
bit that has been bred and fed on our farm 
is not as much our property as an apple that has 
grown on our tree. To take the apple without leave 
is stealing. What is it to kill the rabbit ? “Sport! ” 
Our game laws need revision, and the basis of that 
revision should be the fact that the game belongs to 
the owner of the land on which it is found. In 
Germany this right is acknowledged and commu¬ 
nities of farmers sell their right to hunt on their 
lands to clubs of sportsmen, who in turn pay for 
crops that are injured by the game. We are told 
that “our civilization is not old enough” to admit 
of such a plan here. Perhaps not—but we are old 
enough to put a stop to the stealing called “sport.” 
It is the general opinion of shrewd business 
men that- the man who expects to get one dollar’s 
worth of goods for less than 100 cents deserves to 
be and is quite likely to be disappointed. Be this 
as it may, people are ever grasping after “ bar¬ 
gains ” and often buying things they do not need, 
because they appear cheap. Dealers take advan¬ 
tage of this trait of human nature in advertising 
their goods. But there are cases when the appar¬ 
ent reduction is real. A day or two ago a boy 
went through a railroad train leaving this city with 
a large number of memorandum books, each book 
containing five two cent postage stamps, which he 
sold for nine cents per book. Now everybody 
uses postage stamps, but the number who pur¬ 
chased these was limited. Almost every one seemed 
to be afraid there was some fraud somewhere. 
But there were the stamps, bright new ones that 
would cost 10 cents at any post office. How could 
it be done ? The memorandum book was filled 
with advertisements on alternate pages sufficient 
to pay a handsome profit on the venture. It was 
simply a shrewd advertising dodge. The English 
postal officials are contemplating a plan for affix¬ 
ing an arrangement on the nickel-in-the-slot prin¬ 
ciple to the street letter boxes, which for the price 
of a stamp will yield up a little book containing 
the stamp and enough paper to write a letter. The 
revenue is to be obtained from the advertising se¬ 
cured for the book. So there is such a thing as get¬ 
ting more than one’s money’s worth. But some 
people are too cautious to take advantage of a really 
good thing when they see it. 
The law is that all the fruit of a tree growing 
near the boundary fence of a land owner belongs to 
him even though some of the roots extend into his 
neighbor’s land and some of the bearing branches 
overhang it. Even if the fruit falls on the adjacent 
land it still belongs to the owner of the tree, though 
there is some doubt whether he has a right to go on 
the land to recover it. In some parts of certain 
States, however, immemorial custom has given the 
wind falls on the adjacent land to its owner. This 
has been the case at Derby, Conn. A novel suit 
about to be brought by one resident against another 
with regard to such a tree has caused no little ex¬ 
citement and disagreement in the church to which 
the disputants belong and in the local lyceum, both 
R. JUNE i3 
of which have failed in their efforts to settle the 
case. For some time the tree has been loaded with 
“ worms,” which, having ruined all hopes for fruit, 
are dropping “ in countless numbers” to the ground, 
seeking refuge “in every crack and crevice.” The 
prospective plaintiff has demanded that his neigh¬ 
bor should cut down the tree. This the prospec¬ 
tive defendant refuses to do, claiming that while it 
is worthless this year as a fruit tree, it is valuable 
as a shade tree and may bear an abundant crop 
next year. Moreover, he maintains that if the 
worms had been apples no complaint would have 
been made against the tree by his neighbor who for 
years has been accustomed to appropriate every 
apple that fell on his side of the line. Whatever 
may be the decision of the lower court, the case, 
we are told, is certain to be taken to the Supreme 
Court for final settlement. Wouldn’t it be cheaper 
for the prospective plaintiff and more satisfactory 
to all except, perhaps, the owner of the tree, 
for the former to exercise his undoubted legal 
right to cut off all the roots and branches of 
the obnoxious tree up to the line of his land ? 
Strange that neither of the disputants nor any of 
their friends should have thought of this perfectly 
simple and legitimate method of settling the matter. 
BREVITIES. 
You had better learn a lesson 
From the Babcock test, young sir, 
If you have the least ambition 
In the world to make a stir. 
In the milk the active acid 
Holds the casein: after that 
’Tis a simple operation 
To shake out the valued fat. 
Now your brain is like a milk-pail. 
Filled with schemes and plans immense, 
You must treat them with an acid 
That Is labeled common sense. 
It will bold the foolish notions 
Like the acid in the test. 
Then pitch in and wisely “ hustle ” 
And your zeal will do the rest. 
Even the tramp is willing to work to-morrow. 
Eggs are much higher than usual at this time of year. 
Canada now cries for protection from the Yankee hen. 
Pot a polish on your work—it looks better for it. Looks 
make value. 
What legislature can ever permanently help the idler and 
the spendthrift t 
The June “ drop ” is anticipated with much trepidation 
by pfach growers. 
Thunder terrifleth not the deaf man, nor doth it keep 
him awake o’nlghts. 
Heat is needed for food digestion; why then pour ice- 
cold water into the digester ? 
Isn’t the man who is behind the times rather apt to 
backbite or speak ill of them f 
Tell us how you would make a boy understand that 
little chickens need something besides corn meal. 
Will the tariff or currency question lead in the next 
Presidential race ? The odds are now in favor of the latter. 
Give a reason why the maker of a patent medicine 
should not print an analysis of his stuff on the outside of 
the package. 
Now then, how much butter fat have you been giving 
away 1 It’s high time you either found out or stopped 
keeping cows. 
The man with a large amount of unsecured hay is fear¬ 
ful that it will rain. The man with a dry corn field is 
fearful that it won’t. 
If people talked only of what they knew, wouldn’t there 
be so many lapses of silence that deafness wouldn’t be so 
grievous a misfortune ? 
We give, on page 458, what some of the agricultural pa¬ 
pers have to say about the new People’s party. The reg¬ 
ular organs of the Alliance are, as a class, loud in praise 
of the movement. 
Retirement from active business while one is still hale 
and hearty should mean plunging into more important 
work. Retirement from business never means cessation 
of work to a well balanced mind. 
How has the McKinley Bill affected the price of eggs ? 
We want to hear from those who live near the border as 
to the prices in their markets and the prices in the nearest 
Canadian market. What are the facts ? 
Last Monday a negro was called to serve on a jury in 
the court of the General Sessions of this city—the first in¬ 
stance of the kind. We have frequently seen negroes sit¬ 
ting on Southern juries for the trial of both white and 
colored prisoners. 
Is a smart, Industrious, ambitious foreman on a farm 
justified in discouraging, curtailing or embarrassing the 
work of other smart and industrious hands in order, by 
contrast, to selfishly enhance the value of his own labor 
in the eyes of their common employer ? 
An Iowa subscriber says that the best disposition he can 
make of the poultry is to turn the whole stock over to the 
girls 1 As a result of this arrangement, he says: “We 
find it very profitable, for we have all the poultry and eggs 
that the family can use, and I am not called on for pin 
money.” 
Many of the partisan papers are never tired of declar¬ 
ing that the Farmers’ Alliance “ is going down hill rapid¬ 
ly.” Of course it is. All the great battles of history have 
been fought on the plains where vast forces can best con¬ 
tend. Armies may keep to the hills till they’re ready to 
fight; then they challenge combat on the plains. 
One truth about irrigation in the arid regions is that 
many private individuals are Investing their money in 
plans for utilizing the river water so that the now barren 
soil will produce crop 3. They are not asking the govern¬ 
ment to help them, but are doing the work themselves 
and have as much right to do it as Eastern farmers have 
to make cranberry bogs. 
Some six or seven years ago—the date is not legible on 
the stake—a single plant of Magnolia hypoleuca was sent 
to the Rural Grounds by the Parsons’ Nursery ot Flush¬ 
ing, L. I. It is now blooming for the first, the tree being 
some 16 feet in height. It resembles the Tripetala or Ma- 
crophylla in every way except that the leaves often as¬ 
sume a brownish color. The perianth consists of nine 
yellowish-white elliptical petals five inches long and three 
greenish-white sepals. The odor is of a resinous kind not 
agreeable. It blooms in late May with M. macrophylla. 
