6l2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AUG. 22 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, ) ED | TOR8 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, ) 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Prasident. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1891. 
BAGGING TOMATOES. 
ANOTHER R. N.-Y. DISCOVERY. 
Tomatoes bagged at the Rural Grounds just after 
the fruit had well set have ripened at least 10 days 
earlier than the rest, being as much improved in 
appearance as grapes are improved by the same 
treatment. It is further worthy of note that the 
bagged specimens ripen about the stem perfectly. 
That grapes should be somewhat retarded in ripen¬ 
ing by bagging and tomatoes advanced is not easily 
explained. If during other seasons as well as the 
present it should appear that the ripening of toma¬ 
toes may be hastened by a week or 10 days in this 
way, it will prove a valuable discovery, since it is 
very easy to bag the tomatoes at a trilling cost. 
That wheat plant shown on page 606 is having a 
hard life. Nitrogen has whipped it up till it has 
grown too fast for its own good. It is top heavy 
and ready to stagger. Wet weather has turned the 
hose on it and about drenched its vitality out. The 
saw fly has come to get in practice on its straw, and 
friend Silica has deserted it. The wheat will go 
“ down,” just as hundreds of acres have gone this 
year. We can break Nitrogen’s whip, and we don’t 
care much about Silica, but the other two members 
of the quartette are bound to give us trouble. Their 
attack is certain—what is to be the defense ? 
Whatever policy the farmers of the United 
States may adopt with regard to the sale of their 
wheat crop, the Canadian farmers appear anxious 
to hurry theirs without delay to market. The Can¬ 
adian Pacific Railway has 50 new locomotives and 
cars in proportion to move the Manitoba wheat crop 
to the seaboard, and still its transportation facili¬ 
ties are, we are told, likely to be taxed to the 
utmost for the next three months. There is no fear 
that enough wheat will not be marketed as soon as 
possible after harvest, to supply all consumptive de¬ 
mands ; the main question is, shall the producers 
or the middlemen own and store the temporary sur¬ 
plus and secure the probable advantages of better 
prices later on. The retention of a part of the crop 
now will aid materially in securing fair prices for 
the remainder. 
Why shouldn't the inhabitants of small towns 
and dwellers in isolated places have the benefits of 
a free postal delivery ? The city resident insists 
that it would cost too much in proportion to the 
service rendered. The business man claims that 
the class he represents furnishes most of the rev¬ 
enue from which expenses are paid, and is therefore 
entitled to special privileges. These are the main 
arguments against the system. In regard to ex¬ 
pense, the postal system is not intended as a money¬ 
making institution. Its object is to serve the peo¬ 
ple, and it is manifestly unfair to deny the benefits 
of this service to one citizen while granting them to 
another. It is not contended that a system of rural 
delivery should give as prompt service as our 
crowded cities receive where deliveries and collec¬ 
tions are made hourly. This is neither necessary 
nor desirable. A more infrequent service would be 
entirely satisfactory. In regard to the second argu¬ 
ment noted, the average country or village resident 
is a much larger patron of the post-office than the 
average city resident who receives his mail at his 
door. Farmers and isolated dwellers receive large 
numbers of periodicals and do a considerable busi¬ 
ness in plants, seeds, books, merchandise, etc., 
through the mails. They contribute much more 
largely to the postal revenues than the residents of 
the cities outside of the business houses. England 
maintains a free postal delivery throughout town 
and country, and her postal department is self-sup¬ 
porting. Deliveries are made twice daily, many 
of the carriers employing tricycles furnished by the 
government to make their rounds. Numbers of the 
carriers are mechanics who follow their trades be¬ 
tween the morning and evening deliveries. One 
thing in their favor, however, is the excellent roads 
over which they travel. An arrangement recently 
made public that has been in use in North Caro¬ 
lina for several years has proved a great boon to 
its projectors and their neighbors. A Northern 
family who had always lived almost in the shadow 
of a post office settled where they were several 
miles from one. By consent of the postmaster and 
mail carriers all who desired erected posts for the 
reception and protection of small mail bags in 
front of their residences at a cost of $2 each per an¬ 
num. Mail was delivered daily. Each family was 
privileged to place money for stamps, postal cards, 
etc., in its bag. All mail matter except registered 
letters was placed therein. The system was so suc¬ 
cessful that others living off the route sought its 
benefits through their neighbors. In addition to 
the great convenience, it is said that more daily 
papers are taken on this route than on all other 
local routes in that part of the State, and that firms 
doing business through catalogues have a largely 
increased trade. The people are brought into 
closer relations with the outside world. The scheme 
has been brought to the attention of the Postmaster 
General. Sooner or later something of the kind 
must be provided for the farming classes. It must 
be developed and extended gradually. 
Two weeks ago we printed the political prophecy 
of Senator Peffer in which he stated that the Demo¬ 
cratic majority in Kentucky would be nearly or 
quite wiped out. Since then the election has been 
held. The Democratic candidate for governor was 
elected by an increased majority, the candidate of 
the People’s Party cutting a very small figure. In 
the legislature, however, quite a change was made. 
While there is still a large Democratic majority, 
many of the Democratic members were indorsed by 
the Alliance or nominated by its influence. On 
the whole, Senator Peffer’s prophecy as regards 
Kentucky has not been fulfilled. The fight is now 
moved to Ohio, where a desperate effort will be 
made to defeat Senator Sherman. The managers of 
the People’s Party do not hesitate to say that this 
is their main object. They consider the tariff as of 
minor importance; all their efforts are directed 
against Sherman as the ablest and most influential 
opponent of “free silver coinage.” Moreover, they 
attribute to him chiefly the demonetization of silver 
in 1873. If they can defeat him they will be happy. 
The question is—can they do it ? As an educational 
campaign the Ohio contest will take first rank. 
The Russian Government has issued a ukase pro¬ 
hibiting all exports of rye. This means that Rus¬ 
sia has no bread to sell to the rest of the world. In¬ 
stead of being an exporter, she may become or desire 
to become an importer. This Russian ukase will 
fall hardest upon Germany, which country looks to 
Russia for a large proportion of its purchased grain. 
The grain situation certainly becomes more and 
more interesting to the American farmer. One who 
has studied the world’s grain markets for years re¬ 
ports : 
It seems as }f Nature were stimulated to overwhelm this 
continent with prosperity, while at the same time she re 
duces Europe to a condition of famine. There can be only 
one result from these tvyo extremes. The extraordinary 
surplus of breadstuffs that this country is producing must 
be transferred to Europe. The operation means handsome 
returns to producers, enormous traffic for the railways ; it 
means, in brief, that a fresh and desirable impetus will be 
Imparted to every industry. And as a return of some sort 
flows into this country it is bound to find employment, and 
then the question as to whether our supply of money is ad¬ 
equate to our needs, which many have been straining over, 
will be answered. 
We believe that the price of American wheat will 
rove very satisfactory this year, but the greatest 
enefit to American agriculture will arise from the 
fact that Europeans will be forced to investigate 
the food values of maize. The Department of Agri¬ 
culture can do no better work this year than that of 
advertising American corn. 
Most of the partisan papers that lack effrontery 
enough to brand with the name of “trust” the 
farmers’ movement which seeks to prevent a glut in 
the wheat markets for the benefit of speculators and 
other middlemen, delight in anathematizing it as 
a “corner.” Are these a whit less mistaken or men¬ 
dacious than those with a larger superabundance of 
gall? Hardly. Like “trust,” the word “corner” 
has acquired a very definite meaning, and the thing 
itself has very marked characteristics. In the first 
place, it is undertaken and engineered, not by mil¬ 
lions, but by either a single wealthy speculator or a 
small coterie of conspirators of the same stripe. 
Then, it is clandestinely in active progress weeks 
and often months before the general public or its 
intended victims get any inkling of its existence. 
In produce, its object is to enable its concoctors by 
purchase or otherwise, to control the supply and 
consequently the price of the “ standard” grade of 
a particular product in a special market on the day 
of “ settlement” at the end of the month for which 
the article has been “cornered.” It is purely a 
gambling transaction undertaken by one set of 
unscrupulous speculators who can set whatever 
price is permitted by the Board of Trade on a par¬ 
ticular grade of a particular product in a special mar¬ 
ket on a special day, to the detriment of another 
equally unscrupulous set who have sold a great deal 
of that product for delivery at a specified price at 
that identical time, though nob a particle of it may 
have come into their possession. In order to fill 
their contracts therefore, they have to buy from the 
very party or parties to whom they have to make 
delivery and pay whatever figures the victors in 
the transaction have the power or heart to demand. 
All parties are gambling for their own profit with 
the products of other people’s labor. Of course, the 
consumers temporarily suffer from the transaction, 
but their loss is merely incidental ; a corner is 
really a battle of one set of speculators against 
another. What resemblance has such an unscrupu¬ 
lous transaction carried on with the results of other 
people’s labor by a coterie of gamblers, with the 
temporary, open withholding of produce from sale 
by millions of producers themselves, acting inde¬ 
pendently, to obtain a fair reward for their labor or 
make good past losses ? In this as in other years, 
the price of wheat to the consumer will inevitably 
be ultimately regulated by the relation of supply 
and demand. Shall the producer or the speculator 
gain most of the profits from the exceptional nature 
of that relation ? Which is the more deserving ? 
We shall have considerable to say this fall about 
the benefits of tile drainage. There can be no doubt 
that many hard and cold soils are greatly improved 
by the admission of air and the removal of surplus 
water. After tiling they become warmer, lighter 
and more easily worked. The best soil for potatoes 
is light, warm and porous—one that in an average 
season needs irrigation rather than heavy drainage. 
Most farmers who are located within reasonable 
distances of a good market are coming to believe that 
the potato crop is a most useful one in any general 
rotation from the facts of its profit, its ability to 
make good use of fertilizers and the excellent con¬ 
dition in which it leaves the ground for seeding. 
Shall potato growing be confined to those farms or 
fields that contain “natural potato soil”—warm, 
airy and “ quick ”—or can one by means of tiles so 
change hard, cold soils that they will present a good 
imitation of the “ natural ” soil? Tile drainage can 
do much—but how much? This is the point we want 
to find out, will tiles turn cold land into potato soil? 
BREVITIES. 
Come, wife, put on your wedding dress, 
Crimp up your hair to-night. 
Fill all the wrti kies, paint your eyes 
With happiness so bright 
Don’t let the wedding day go by 
Like every other day. 
Don’t let the rosy hopes of youth 
Fade into mournful gray. 
So, wife, tut on your wedding dress, 
B“ ever young and fair 
In heart at least, wbat’er old time 
May do to face or hair. 
Brace 1! 
How lazy do you dare to be ? 
Don’t put a handle on yourself for your enemy to take 
hold of. 
What’s economy on one side of the fence, Is often mean¬ 
ness on the other. 
It’s a poor stick who isn’t a hero to his own wife—for 
the first six months at least. 
A steep roof gives quick drainage. Shingles dislike 
wet jackets as grapes dislike wet feet. 
A tanned calfskin cannot grow! You will find this 
out if you make that calf stay out in the hot sun. 
Uncle Jerry Rusk seems to be granting The Rural’s 
appeal for hotter weather for “ King Corn’s” sake. 
Friend “ Jerseyman” attempts to give the land loan 
scheme a spank. Does he, or does the other man write 
himself down—“ a crank ?” 
You may hunt and search till doomsday; you may 
scratch and hoe and plow after “ chances, ” but you’ll 
never find a better chance than “ now.” 
The land loan scheme is a pretty dream, but dreams 
have very little body; we’ll get cool when our thinking 
men find out that the dream’s very shoddy. 
Our correspondent, Alva Agee, would have been nomin¬ 
ated for governor by the Ohio People’s Party had he not 
positively declined. The party went further! 
We lose from five to 30 minutes every time a subscriber 
writes us a Utter omitting his State or post-office address. 
It is an easy matter to save this time for us. 
If people would only know just when to stop, and not 
try to cripple their reach, there would be more society up 
at the top and a good deal more “ bloom to the peach.” 
The writer bought a basket of excellent peaches last 
week for 60 cents. Last year the price was $1.50. We do 
not know where or how to get more good summer food 
for 60 cents. 
In the ordinary rotation we should use the subsoil plow 
for potatoes, If at all, running it if possible in the bottom 
of the trench. If no potatoes were grown we should use 
It on the corn. 
Now. then, you strawberry men—don’t you want 
that $100 hung up by Mr. Smith on page 608 ? One 
dozen plants would weigh about eight ounces. Of this, 
80 per cent would be water I Thus you will sell water at 
the rate of $500,000 per ton. 
The most pronounced change in wheat growing prom¬ 
ised for this season Is the fact that hundreds of farmers 
will use fertilizers for the first time while thousands will 
use more than ever before. How many of them must 
learn by experience that fertilizers demand a finer prepar¬ 
ation of the soil than stable manure f 
The sale of the Indian reservations is generally more 
profitable to the Indians than even to the “ booming” set¬ 
tlers. Few of the latter could sell their new claims for 
$1,100 ; yet that Is about the sum which each of the 426 
Cceur D’Alene Indians will soon get from the $500,000 the 
United States has just paid for a part of their reservation. 
This note from a New York state Subscriber we appre¬ 
ciate ; “ I think The R. N -Y. is the best agricultural pa¬ 
per In the United States. Rather than do without it for 
one week I would go ten miles through the storm to pro¬ 
cure it.” It is also pleasant to think that many of our 
friends would gladly take the stormy journey for the sake 
of the rain it would represent. 
Breathes there some poor sad bit of clay, who really 
don’t know how to play ? Who grunts and groans in sor¬ 
row deep, when happy hearts just cannot keep from bub¬ 
bling o’er with happiness? if such there breathe I must 
confess, I would not change with him my place though 
fortune, power and wealth might grace his lot; let him 
sit sad and sour while I take my vacation hour. 
Last week a Pennsylvania farmer told us that he had 
never seen gold money. Now a friend In Arizona tells us 
that he never sees paper money out there. Gold and sil¬ 
ver coins are used entirely, merchants frequently refusing 
to take paper. You see this is a great country of ours. A 
measure that might give great satisfaction to a State or a 
community will not answer for a National law. 
“I will not beat thee,” quoth the straight-laced Quaker 
to the offending dog, “but I will give thee a bad name;” 
and forthwith ne lustily yelled : “ Mad Dog 1 Mad Dog I ” 
and the towns folks gathered from all sides and did poor 
sane Tray cruelly to death. So the partisan press hope to 
secure the same fate for all farmers’ economic movements, 
by stigmatizing them as “trusts” or “corners.” If they 
don’t know It already, however, they are sure soon to learn 
the difference between dealing with farmers and with dogs. 
