564 
AUG. i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
EDITOR8. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINQWOOD 
l, ) 
ered from the cutter and they could be carried out¬ 
side the field and stacked or spread out to cure ? 
Why not? The ground would then be left clear and 
at least three handlings of the stalks would be saved. 
The fact that bare land in winter is not only a 
nuisance but a harbor for agencies that steal fertil¬ 
ity is becoming recognized by many of our best 
farmers, and they want a crop of rye to hold the 
ground until the spring plowing. Are they sensible? 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Pr.*id.nt. 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
CopyrlRht, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1891. 
NEW WHEAT PRIZES. 
The R. N.-Y. will give two cash prizes of 
$10 and $5 respectively for the best and sec¬ 
ond best heads of the R. N.-Y. wheats con¬ 
taining the greatest number and heaviest 
weight of grains ; not less than three heads 
of a kind to be selected and forwarded to this 
office before August 15, 1891. 
Last Monday the French Chamber of Deputies, 
by an overwhelming majority, voted to remove 
the embargo that for the last 12 years has shut out 
American hog products from France. The consent 
of the Senate, however, is necessary for the pas¬ 
sage of the measure, and that dignified, old fogy 
institution has thought fit to shelve it temporarily, 
by refraining from action on it. It cannot, how¬ 
ever, long resist pressure brought to bear on it from 
above by the ministry and from below by the popu¬ 
lar branch of the legislature. Not only in France 
but in all other European countries from which it 
has of late been unfairly excluded, the American 
hog bids fair soon to root its way under all pro¬ 
hibitory fences to the tables alike of the “ masses ” 
and the ‘ ‘ classes. ” 
The Russian Government is said to be preparing 
a ukase which orders that foreigners doing business 
there who fail to become naturalized citizens with¬ 
in five years shall be expelled. What an admir¬ 
able method that would be if applied to this coun¬ 
try ! It is all very fine to talk about America as a 
refuge for the oppressed of all lands, ad infinitum , 
ad nauseam , but this nation was never intended by 
its founders for a cess pool for the scum of all the 
nations of the earth. Would we naturalize every 
applicant ? No, sir. Have an educational as well 
as other qualifications. Make them good and strong, 
and say to every man who receives the benefits of 
this government, who doesn’t appreciate them 
enough to qualify and become an American citizen : 
“ Your room is desired for more progressive peo¬ 
ple.” Such a policy might have a tendency to re¬ 
duce the supply of timber for aldermen for some of 
our larger cities, and perhaps for some other offices, 
but we could probably manage to struggle through 
in some way. 
At last the United States Attorney-General has 
instructed the United States District Attorneys 
throughout the country to prosecute all illegal 
trusts and similar combinations to the full extent 
of the anti trust law passed by the last Congress. 
Like the public at large, he believes they are “ great 
abuses” which should be promptly suppressed if 
our present legislation can reach them. Can it ? 
We greatly doubt its power to harm them. All the 
most powerful and therefore the most obnoxious of 
them have been formed under the most skillful 
legal advice in the country with the special object 
of evading hostile legislation. The Sugar Trust 
alone paid $250,000 to lawyer Parsons for formulat¬ 
ing the New Jersey charter under which it is now 
bidding defiance to the antagonistic laws of New 
York and other States. Is it likely that the care¬ 
less legislation of our cheap Congressional and State 
legislators can easily upset the careful work of such 
high priced experts ? The great trouble is to for¬ 
mulate laws which will suppress these pestiferous 
monopolies without at the same time injuriously 
affecting wholesome, legitimate enterprises. 
For a century or more American farmers have 
cut their corn stalks to cure in the field, each shock 
requiring a good-sized piece of land and necessi¬ 
tating half a dozen handlings before it is husked and 
housed. In many rotations wheat follows corn, 
and in fitting the corn stubble for wheat, perfect 
plowing or seeding is impossible while the shocks 
of corn are in the way. These facts have led many 
farmers to change their rotation and either substi¬ 
tute oats for the corn or sow wheat after potatoes. 
This latter plan works particularly well in sections 
where large quantities of chemical fertilizers are 
used. Those who grow ensilage corn, however, find 
no difficulty in properly seeding to wheat because 
the stalks are all removed and the land is clear. Is 
there any reason why corn that is grown for dry 
grain and stalks must be field-cured as it is ? Why 
will not the machine described by Prof. Roberts on 
page 461, be equally useful for harvesting corn not 
intended for the silo? A man on the wagon could 
easily tie the stalks into bundles as they are deliv- 
Our readers may have observed that the R. N.- 
Y. No. 2. Potato has been spoken of as an early va¬ 
riety by many, notably by Prof. Massey of the 
North Carolina Station. In such cases we were 
obliged to assume that some other variety must 
have been planted since the vines of the No. 2 do 
not die until late in the season. On July 20th, the 
writer of this note dug several hills of Early Rose, 
Beauty of Hebron, etc., the vines of which were 
dying, and several hills of the R. N.-Y. No. 2, the 
vines of which were still green and growing. It 
was a surprise to find that the latter averaged much 
larger than the early varieties. There were, more¬ 
over, fewer very small tubers, while all were far 
more shapely. The farmer upon whose land they 
were dug expressed a determination to harvest and 
market them at once, remarking that their large 
size, white skin and perfect shape would insure a 
ready sale at a higher price than any of the early 
kinds would command. The discovery that the 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 may be utilized as a very early 
as well as a late variety is one of no mean import¬ 
ance. 
The R. N.-Y. is gratified to know that its notes 
on the “chemicals and clover” farming in southern 
New Jersey have caused a good deal of discussion. 
We are pleased to see that our point is clearly un¬ 
derstood—that this system of farming pays only 
when the conditions are such that the cost of chem¬ 
icals and clover sod is less than that of the manure 
made from hay and grain. Working out this prob¬ 
lem of comparative cost is about the most difficult 
thing in the farmer’s arithmetic, and yet it must 
be decided before he can “ pass ” into profit. We 
feel sure that there are hundreds of farmers who 
make stock keeping the basis of their farming at a 
loss. There are others who fail with fertilizers be¬ 
cause they use poor goods, not enough to support 
the crops, or because they do not recognize the ne¬ 
cessity of making a strong sod a part of every ro 
tation where fertilizers are used. Few men have 
ever failed from using too much fertilizer. The R. 
N.-Y. does not urge its readers to plunge in and 
buy a lot of fertilizers off hand. It does, however, 
urge them to figure on the cost of the nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid and potash found in clover sod and 
chemicals as compared with the cost of making 
stable manure. 
Secretary Mohler of Kansas suggests a sensible 
experiment for farmers in the dry Western part of 
that State. There is a theory that deep subsoiling 
will, in dry, hard soil, improve the chances for a 
crop. The deep stirring of the soil creates a sort of 
reservoir in which water will remain somewhat as 
it remains in a sponge, or in a piece of soft, rotten 
wood or a bunch of rags. Crops in western Kansas 
frequently fail from insufficient rainfall. Some of 
the rains there are very heavy—so heavy that the 
water runs off the land into the streams. The sub¬ 
soiling, it is argued, would hold much of this water 
and thus utilize it during the protracted droughts 
that follow the heavy rains. Some of the farmers 
on these lands claim great benefit from subsoiling, 
while others deny that it has any advantages. Sys¬ 
tematic and accurate experiments have never been 
made and therefore Secretary Mohler urges several 
farmers in every western county to combine and 
secure subsoil plows. Two or three strips of ground 
two rods in width are to be subsoiled, across the 
field, 16 to 20 inches deep, and the rest of the field 
treated as usual. Let the surface cultivation and 
seeding be the same all over the field, and plant the 
field across the subsoiled strips. The R. N.-Y. con¬ 
siders this a practical and valuable experiment, and 
we hope it will be carried out on several farms in 
every western county. Reports of subsoiling are 
apparently conflicting because they have often been 
conducted on soils that did not need the deep stir¬ 
ring—that needed packing rather than loosening. 
It seems to us that a good deal of this Western 
Kansas soil is of a character requiring deep stirring 
and thorough loosening. 
The Democratic papers all over the country are 
loudly laughing at the Republicans of Iowa for hav¬ 
ing just nominated the Hon Hiram C. Wheeler, a 
Sac County farmer, for Governor, “ in order to at¬ 
tract the farmers’vote.” When, at the last election, 
however, the Democrats of Tennessee nominated 
farmer Buchanan, and those of Georgia, farmer 
Northen “ to attract the farmers’ vote,” not a 
chuckle or giggle came from any of these papers. 
Catering for the farmers’ vote in both the latter 
cases was crowned with success; how will it be in 
the other? The main charges against Wheeler are 
that he has provided an elegant and well furnished 
home for his family, and has secured $70,000 on 
mortgage on his farm of 6,175 acres, though, only 14 
years ago, he bought the property for $21,627. 
Every farmer, however should be ambitious of a 
comfortable home for those dear to him, and though 
a heavily mortgaged farm is seldom a sign of a 
good farmer, the increase of at least $45,583 in the 
estimated value of the property in so short a period, 
shows either excellent judgment in locating his 
homestead originally, or in improving it since, or 
great financial shrewdness in obtaining so much 
money on its security. 
At the last election the Farmers’ Alliance elected 
G. W. McKay, a farmer who had never studied 
law, County Judge of iarper County, Kansas, and 
as a slim preparation for the discharge of his new 
functions, proposed to send him to the Ann Arbor 
University, Michigan, to study Blackstone and 
other legal luminaries for a single term. Contempt 
for legal knowledge coupled with economical mo¬ 
tives, however, prevented this step, and a short 
time back the new judge began his official career 
untrammeled by any legal knowledge or experience. 
As was to be expected, several of his decisions have 
excited the disapprobation even of friends and the 
ridicule of the Philistines. He has just deliberately 
or ignorantly come into collision with his Appellate 
Court, the Supreme Court of Kansas, by disregard¬ 
ing or rather overruling an order issued by it. He 
has accordingly ju 9 t been summoned before it to 
show cause why he should not be punished for con¬ 
tempt of it. In this and other countries many of 
the lower judges have for generations been elected 
or appointed from the ranks of those who have had 
no legal training; but it is more than doubtful 
whether here or elsewhere such a practice has been 
for the public advantage. It is no easy matter for 
an ordinary citizen to maintain respect for laws 
administered by an ignorant Dogberry. 
Kentucky whisky distillers are reported to have 
a surplus of 40,000,000 gallons of whisky on hand on 
which they will have to pay a tax of about $18,000,- 
000 this fall unless the Federal Government can be 
prevailed upon to extend the three-years bonded 
period now allowed by law. The distillers expect 
this will be done. In fact, it has become customary 
for the liquor element to expect their interests to 
be considered, and past experience confirms them 
in their expectations. At the behest of the brew¬ 
ers the Department of State directed the consuls 
throughout the Spanish-American countries to 
collect information with a view to extending the 
trade of the brewers in those countries. A few 
days ago a vessel left Boston for Africa heavily 
laden with rum, and the statement was made that 
the value of the rum trade with that continent had 
doubled within a few years. Nothing has ever been 
sent to that country which tends to degrade the in¬ 
habitants like this; it is stated that the intoxicants 
sent there have done more injury than the mission¬ 
aries have ever done good. The leading nations 
drew up an agreement binding upon all only when 
ratified by all, pledging themselves to abolish this 
trade with Africa. Every nation except the United 
States ^signed it, and the United States Senate, in 
spite of the petitions of the best class of citizens, 
has refused to ratify it—another case of subservi - 
ency to the rum power. Similar instances, though 
perhaps on a smaller scale, are numerous, almost 
numberless. 
BREVITIES. 
. There’s music In the air. 
When the child that’s stuffel with meat 
Lets angry passions rise. 
Ugly from excessive heat. 
Meat makes all the glands expand, 
Oh ! that folks would understand, 
Acts that gluttony prepare, 
Make the muse sick of tne heir ! 
Ensilage Is all the rage. 
A big hat needs a big head. 
Wheat will earn interest in the grain bin. 
How long does the average hen’s “ moult” last ? 
Nail yourself down, nail yourself down, stick to one 
thing and just do it up brown. 
If you want your stomach to work as it orter, you’d 
better steer clear of excessive ice water. 
Grass that has ripened seed in the field before being cut 
is not hay—it is straw and poor straw at that. 
Few newly mentioned insecticides have been so gener¬ 
ally tried this year as tobacco dust for melons. We would 
lute to learn the experience of all who have tried it. 
In a recent issue, we stated that Prof. C. S. Plumb had 
been elected Director of the Illinois Experiment Station 
Tnis was a mistake; he is Director of the Purdue Univer¬ 
sity Experiment Station, La Fayette, Indiana. 
Don’t spend time in bragging because you are rich, for 
all of your wealth had to come from the ditch Well 
brag of your mind ? As through life you may go, you’U’ 
feel less like bragging the more that you know. 
In the last issue of The Rural, in the last column of 
the editorial page, at the end of the second line from the 
top, the word "laws” was accidentally omitted. The 
sentence should have been: "Hence it is strenuously 
claimed that all alien land laws are void ab initio .” 
The ability and Inclination to eat any sort of sweet and 
wholesome food is a very valuable point in a cow’s favor. 
The Holstein cow is about the most generous feeder In ali 
the ranks of dairy animals. She will make a better use of 
rough forage than any other cow except the Ayrshire. 
We have, in preparation, an exhaustive article on the 
effects of tile drainage in orchards and for wheat by Dr 
W. I. Chamberlain, which, with photographic views, will 
be, as he promises, “ as striking a thing as has appeared 
even in The R. N.-Y. for many a day!” We are always 
after striking things. 
At many Australian railroad stations, cold storage 
rooms or houses have been erected to accommodate shippers 
of fruits, butter or other perishable products. When such 
articles are to be shipped they are not left on the platform 
to bake and stew in the hot sun, but are held in the stor¬ 
age room until the moment of snipping. Such things are 
needed in American fruit shipping districts. 
The French have followed the Garmans In placing a tax 
on raw sugar beets as they are brought to the mill. This 
tax is levied by the ton. The result In Germany was that 
the beets were greatly improved in quality—the effort 
being to get as much sugar as possible Into the ton of 
beets. Having, by means of the tax, greatly increased the 
percentage of sugar in beets, Germany has now removed It 
and placed a direct tax on sugar consumption. 
