548 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, EDITOR8 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON valentine Pieiident. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR M LIBS Y Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright. 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
oppression is likely to be experienced! Already in 
accordance with a suggestion that appeared in The 
Rural New Yorker several months ago, most of 
the agricultural organizations of the State are ap¬ 
pointing agents to treat directly with the E astern 
holders of farm mortgages for renewals of the latter 
without the intervention of the Western agents 
with a view to the abolition of the oppressive com¬ 
missions, bonuses and other iniquitous perquisites 
of these grasping middlemen. The security will, 
of course, remain equally good, nay, it will be en¬ 
hanced by improvements on the land and the nat¬ 
ural increase of its value in a new country, so that 
the mortgagees can well afford to relieve the mort¬ 
gagors of the obnoxious “ middlemen’s share.” 
Wouldn't such a plan be beneficial in other mort 
gage-burthened sections also? 
-ATURDAY, JULY 25 1891 
The interesting fact that wheats may cross nat¬ 
urally is shown by the results of experiments made 
at the Rural Grounds during the present season. 
The details appear on page 544. 
There doesn’t appear to be much room for the 
improvement of the dahlias except it be to invest 
them with a pleasing odor. The dahlia is a charm¬ 
ing flower in spite of the French proverb : “ La 
beaute sans verlu est une fleur sans par fume ”— 
beauty without virtue is a flower without fragrance. 
It will be remembered that we found that rose- 
bugs dropped upon the soil in the sun were in¬ 
stantly killed—the thermometer showing 129°. 
There were three successive hot days during the 
rose bug season, when the thermometer rose to 
95 0 in the shade. It was observed that the rose 
bugs disappeared sooner than in any season during 
the preceding three years, which were notably cool 
and moist. Was this owing to the heat ? Does 
this account for the fact that the rose bug is not a 
pest of the South ! 
He doesn’t believe in fruit growing—no money in 
it, all bother, fruits won’t grow anyway. Some¬ 
times the wife and children go out and hunt among 
the weeds till they find a few strawberries which 
are served in puny little dishes—about as large as 
butter plates. Meat, potatoes and patent medicines 
are the chief articles of diet in his household. If 
any such man sees this issue of The R N.-Y. we 
ask him to read Mr. Terry’s strawberry article on 
page 542. Read it, sir, and think it over and then 
ask yourself what you think of yourself for neglect¬ 
ing one of the choicest rights of an American farm 
er. Go forth and repair the damage you have done 
to society ! 
Our readers will find a very simple and cheap 
method of testing milk described on page 549. Ic 
was devised by Mr. J. R. Hutton, of the Storrs Ag¬ 
ricultural School, Connecticut. Mr. Hutton has 
tested the method fully, obtaining results that ac¬ 
curately follow those obtained with the Babcock 
and other tests. We feel sure that any ingenious 
country boy can make the whirling machine. That 
made, the cost of the test is very small. Where 
one farmer would buy an expensive tester we be¬ 
lieve a dozen may be induced to make this cheap 
one. The boys, and girls, too, will take an interest 
m this test. It will teach them a very interesting 
lesson in chemistry and put them on the track of 
facts that will prove of great business importance. 
The results obtained from testing the cows of any 
neighborhood will prove as exciting as any game 
that can be played. Now, boys, here’s a cheap 
chance to show the folks a little practical science. 
Of the $9,000,000,000 lent on mortgages through¬ 
out the country, a large proportion is of course on 
town and city property, but as the vast army of 
census agents’ merely obtained abstracts of all the 
mortgages on record in every county of the country 
and no attempt has been made to classify these, the 
proportion of money lent on this kind of property 
can be only estimated. Of the farm mortgages by 
far the larger proportion—in most cases about 90 per 
cent—were incurred for the purchase of the land or 
improvements on it—and figures sho w that the total 
amount of such mortgages has been grossly exag¬ 
gerated. For instance, in the great agricultural 
States of Alabama and Iowa less than one-tenth of 
the land is mortgaged in the latter, and only a little 
over one twentieth in the former. Kansas has of 
late acquired a rather unenviable reputation for the 
number of mortgages that burthen her farms and 
the difficulty of collecting mortgage indebtedness. 
Recent reports, however, emphatically show that 
this reputation is undeserved. In spite of the 
shortage in crops last year and the 1 w prices for 
agricultural products a large decrease was effected 
in the mortgage indebtedness of the State. In the 
month of May alone the total amount of recorded 
new mortgages was only $670,582, while the total of 
released mortgages was $882,862, showing a decrease 
of $212,280 Of this amount $129,490 or 20 per cent 
was released in Eastern Kansas; $66,278 or 30 per 
cent in Central Kansas, and $17,693 or 48 per cent in 
Western Kansas. This was ol course in addition to 
the amounts paid for the use of the money. In view 
of the splendid crops of the Sunflower State this 
year, and the excellent prices which are nearly cer¬ 
tain for most of them; what a i elief from mortgage 
The legislature of Illinois lately passed an act 
providing for the payment of a bounty of two cents 
apiece for every English sparrow killed and offered 
as a voucher on the State Treasury. There appears 
to be a general impression that the act went into 
effect on July 1, and that the bounty can be col¬ 
lected at any time thereafter. This is a mistake. 
True, the law became operative at that date ; but 
practically the bounty is confined to the three win 
ter months, for then only can it be collected. Small 
as each individual bounty is, the aggregate is likely 
far to exceed the calculations of the Solons who 
passed the act. Owing to the gregarious character 
of the imported pests and their preference for the 
bustle and noise of towns and cities to the quietude 
and silence of country places, the town folks are 
likely to profit more by the bounty than their coun¬ 
try cousins ; but the latter are sure to gain most by 
the vigorous onslaught which will certainly be 
made on the despised foreigners as a result of the 
largess. _ 
In a private letter a correspondent says that 
tons of cherries were sold in his village for two 
cents per pound, while his own crop, nicely pack¬ 
ed and sent directly to the city, averaged over 
seven cents net. This is a practical illustration of 
the different methods different farmers have of 
doing business. One sells for whatever price is 
offered him ; another seeks the best market and 
places his produce where he can realize the most 
from it. In buying supplies the same tactics are 
followed. One seeks to buy from headquarters at 
as nearly first cost as possible ; the other buys the 
needed supplies at random and pays whatever 
prices are asked If business men, the country 
through, followed these practices, 99 out of every 
100, would be bankrupt in a very few years. Many 
farmers complain that this condition has been 
forced upon them. This may be so to a certain 
extent, but it is largely the fault of themselves. A 
determined effort to do business on business prin¬ 
ciples would vanish a large part of the apparent 
obstacles to success. 
Several of the States, mainly under pressure 
from the agricultural element, have already passed 
alien land laws providing that no alien or person 
not a citizen of the United States, shall acquire 
title or own any interest in lands within their bor¬ 
ders, and some of the laws further provide that 
aliens who already hold lands by purchase, devise 
or descent shall close out their interests in them 
within a specified period—usually six years. Sev¬ 
eral other States are contemplating the enactment 
of similar laws. Of course, the clear meaning of 
such language is not only that no aliens shall ac¬ 
quire hereafter title to any lands within the con¬ 
fines of the several States, but also that no aliens, 
not even those who had already bought or inherited 
lands in such States, shall “own” such property 
after the period specified for disposing of it. Such 
aliens, however, hold deeds of the property either 
to “themselves and their heirs forever, or to their 
heirs or assigns forever, ” and it is held by many 
high authorities that all legislation invalidating such 
deed is unconstitutional, because it is directly vio¬ 
lative of the obligations of one of the few contracts 
considered so sacred that a formal acknowledgment 
and seal are required to bind it, while the Federal 
Constitution expressly forbids all legislation viola 
tive of the obligations of contracts. On this ground 
alone it is maintained that the courts must declare 
all laws of the kind unconstitutional. Again, ic is 
asserted that the right of all aliens to acquire and 
hold real property in the United States is a matter 
within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal 
government as the only treaty-making power with 
other nations. Indeed, the first treaty with Eng¬ 
land provides that Englishmen had the right “to 
take and acquire, hold and dispose of real and per¬ 
sonal property of every description, and to trans¬ 
mit a title to land in all respects as natural born 
subjects ” of the United States. In the case of Chi- 
vac vs. Chivac, the Supreme Court of the United 
States held that a treaty with France giving her 
citizens the right to “purchase and hold lands in 
the United States removed the incapacity of alien¬ 
age and placed them in precisely the same position 
as if they were citizens of this country.” The same 
doctrine has been reaffirmed by the Court in a num¬ 
ber of other cases ; while provisions giving aliens the 
right to acquire and hold real property in this coun¬ 
try are, we are assured, embodied in a score of treat¬ 
ies between the United States and other nations. 
Now it has been held by the United States Supreme 
Court that “every treaty made by the author¬ 
ity of the United States is superior to the laws and 
constitution of any individual State. If the law 
JULY 25 
of a State is contrary to a treaty, it is void.” 
Hence it is strenuously claimed that all alien lands 
are void ab initio Indeed the national platforms 
of various parties have frequently contained planks 
appealing to Congress for the regulation of this and 
other questions relating to alienage. Both the St. 
Louis and Ocala platforms of the Farmer’s Alliance 
contained planks of this kind, while Democratic 
statesmen, from Calhoun to George, as well as 
Republicans from Web3terto Edmunds, have been 
emphatic in their opinions on the paramount au¬ 
thority of Federal jurisdiction as against State 
legislation in matters affecting our treaties with 
other countries Of the evils of alien ownership of 
land in this country there is not a scintilla of doubt, 
but should relief be sought through Federal or 
State legislation ? 
A bitter struggle is going on in Louisiana over the 
proposed extension of the charter of the Louisiana 
Lottery. “ The revenue amendment,” is the polite 
name given this scandalous measure by its support¬ 
ers. The advocates of the lottery argue that an ex¬ 
tension of its charter will increase the business of 
the State, put extra money in circulation and di¬ 
minish taxes. The “antis” point to the shameful 
record of the State, and argue that it is “ now or 
never” for cleaning Louisiana politics. The “antis” 
should have the support and good wishes of all who 
recognize the power for evil of this lottery com¬ 
pany. We regret to say that the present chances 
are that the gambling element will win. At the 
same time we believe such a victory would do more 
to break up existing party lines in Louisiana than 
any event that has yet occurred. Efforts to break 
the “ Solid South” by means of the People’s Party 
do not seem to meet with success. It is evident 
that Mississippi and South Carolina will repudiate 
the Sub Treasury scheme by a decisive vote. If that 
measure cannot win in these two purely agricul¬ 
tural States, what chance can it have in the others? 
BREVITIES. 
The farmer pointed o’< r his farm, 
With satisfaction on his faee, 
And called his visitors to ma’k 
The profit written on the place. 
“ 1 planned all that," he said with pride, 
" I workt d and studied lonpr and well; 
W hen others quit. I still worked on. 
Good pluck and judgment always tell.” 
Old Jack, the horse, and B^ss. the cow, 
And Ret, the sheep and Bid, the hen. 
All thought: See here, we did our siiar,?, 
Why can’t he give us c edit then ?” 
We all well like to show success 
But let’s be ever just an 1 fair ; 
Let every worker, great and small, 
On creult’s page receive a share. 
Drought, dust, moles. 
Peach basket makers are happy. 
Those who succeed are like canary birds I 
Mr. Woodward’s bheep are light sleepers ! 
The raspberry season is at an end—burnt up. 
Australian apples in New York ! What next ? 
The R. N -Y.’s tomato experiments promise to be very 
interesting. 
Better a codfish dinner, paid for, than roast turkey 
bought “on tick.” 
A sense of richness must be Terry’s, after those 60 
quarts ot berries ! 
Good mutton sheep, good mutton sheep, excellent stock 
for the farmer to keep. 
Extremes Meet: The goiDg out of green psas and the 
coming in of sweet corn. 
Buy no fertilizers and sell clover hay, and soon you’ll 
be stating that “ farming don’t pay.” 
There would be money enough in circulation if every 
man who is able to pay his debts would do so. 
No matter how large the tomato crop may be, it looks 
as though the canners would Ketchup with it. 
Our potato crop has received from the drought a check 
from which there is little or no chance of recovery. 
Another reason in favor of planting celery in trenches : 
it stands drought better and is more easily watered. 
If every time a hobby comes along, you try to mount, 
you’ll never draw the ribbons o’er a lively bank account. 
The Trumpet Flower and the humming bird. If only 
to attract these fairy little creatures, we should plant the 
vine. 
How much is lost to the world because people who know 
haven’t the faculty of Imparting their information to 
others. 
Take all the list of farmers’ friends, and scan them 
keenlv over, and from the middle to the ends there’s none 
line Uncle Clover. 
The hungry summer boarder is a very useful crop, for 
paying pretty profits he ranks up near the top; just keep 
him fat aud nappy—fill him up on wholesome lare, and 
let him fill his lungs up with tne sweetest country air. 
We find that the Industry Gooseberry, which fails et 
the Rural Grounds on account of mildew, thrives in per¬ 
fection 25 miles away, viz., at Jamaica, Queens County, 
N. Y. Here it grows as large as the illustrations repre¬ 
sent it, and it is absolutely free from mildew both as to 
leaf and berry. 
An American patent has just been issued to an English¬ 
man for a process of making “milk wine.” The milk is 
first boiled. Then galactose, a product of the decomposi¬ 
tion of milk sugar, is formed aud pure brewers’ yeast is 
added. Tne result Is an alcoholic drink said t > be in¬ 
toxicating 1 Tnls is pretty business! Have we not intoxi¬ 
cants enough without going to milk for more ? 
A WESTERN friend writes this : “ The neat boxes of cher¬ 
ries snipped by tne Californians are the result of cneap 
Cbinese labor, and The Rural would hardly be the party 
to expect the Eastern American farmer to compete witn 
this class ol’Uriental labor.” is there any reason wny an 
American cannot be as neat as a Chinaman ? “Oriental 
labor ” is not to blame for the poor ttuff that clogs our 
markets. 
The R. N. Y. has always believed that if most of the re¬ 
ports of injury caused by feeding cotton seed or linseed 
meal were investigated it would be found that the trouble 
came from constipation caused by too much dry food. As 
a friend in New York puts it: “ With regard to constipa¬ 
tion in feeding dry hay, i think the hay Is as bad as the 
cotton seed meal, especially ripe hay.” The time is com¬ 
ing when the stock feeder that will not provide roots or 
ensilage must farm at a loss or quit. 
