628 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AUG. 29 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIME8 BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, 
| EDITOR8. 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, President. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H. LIBBY, Manager. OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1891. 
Neither in France nor Germany, nor, indeed, in 
any other European country, is there a trace of an 
embargo on the American Hog—“dressed” as a 
tourist. 
“ Closer to the farmer ! ” “Nearer to the soil!” 
appear to be favorite “ war cries ” with the two 
great political parties. It’s just wonderful how 
truly ruralward their policy is drifting. 
A note from Prof. T. Y. Munson, of Denison, 
Texas, states that his “ Carman Grape astonishes 
everybody with its wonderful productiveness. 
Two-year-old vines bore 12 pounds of fruit each. 
It will give two-pound clusters, I believe, when 
fully developed.” 
The Department of Agriculture wants a new 
Botanical Clerk capable of passing a Civil Service 
examination that would puzzle a Linnaeus, a Gray 
or a Humboldt; a man with a thorough scientific 
and technical botanical equipment—salary $900 a 
year! * ‘ Farmin’ don’t pay. ” 
The Paragon chestnut tree (illustrated last year, 
page 721) planted in the spring of 1888 and now 
about nine feet high, is bearing 43 burrs. Another 
E lan ted in 1889 and seven feet high bears seven 
urrs. A Reliance chestnut tree, but two feet two 
inches high, bears three burrs. It bore several the 
year before in the nursery row. 
It is well to remember just now, when wild flur¬ 
ries in wheat and other grains are the “order of 
the day ” in all the chief produce markets of the 
world, that in periods of general excitement Hyber- 
boie is by turns a giant and a pigmy in size, but in 
both forms a fiend in mischief. It is more than 
E robable that neither will the crops of this country 
e so large nor those of other countries so small as 
Rumor reports them. 
The partisan papers, for political purposes, are 
disconsolate because the mortgages on the homes 
and farms of the country amount to $2,500,000,000. 
They all forget to state, however, that the value of 
the property is over $25,000,000,000. At the outside 
the mortgages on farms do not cover more than 
one-tenth of their value. What have these papers 
ever done to prevent; what are they now doing 
to lighten the burden they so lugubriously deplore? 
What has become of the ancient German polled 
cattle ? Just about 1,800 years ago Caius Cornelius 
Tacitus, in his work on Germany and its people, 
speaks of the country as “covered with woods and 
morasses, well adapted for pasture and carrying 
numerous herds of small sized polled cattle in which 
the chief wealth of the natives consists.” Strange 
that in all our histories of polled cattle, no reference 
to this numerous ancient race is made. 
The Ohio political campaign will be of national 
importance. The discussions on the tariff, “free 
coinage ” and taxation will be particularly interest¬ 
ing to farmers. We have arranged for and shall 
soon print interviews with the three candidates 
for governor, Major McKinley, Republican, Gov. 
Campbell, Democrat, and John Seitz, People’s 
Party. In these interviews each candidate will 
endeavor to show why American agriculture would 
be benefited by a triumph of his party’s principles. 
This discussion will make one of the most instruc¬ 
tive and thoughtful word duels ever printed, and 
will be fair and just to all. 
In the loan market in New York city it has be¬ 
come quite common of late to make a difference in 
the interest on loans payable in gold and in dollars. 
At present, while the rate on notes running a year 
and payable in gold, is usually 4% per cent, that 
on the same class of notes payable in dollars, is six 
per cent, and the discrimination is likely to become 
general throughout the country. This is the first 
visible manifestation of the effects of the move¬ 
ment in favor of the free coinage of silver. The 
extra IK per cent represents the amount of risk 
that, before the maturity of the loan, the coun¬ 
try will be on a silver or at least off a gold 
basis. We shall, it is alleged, be off a gold basis 
whenever gold commands any premium, however 
small, over “current funds,” and, strictly speak¬ 
ing, we shall be on a silver basis only when gold 
commands a premium over “ current funds ” equal 
to the difference between gjold bullion and silver 
bullion under our legal ratio—about 24 per cent at 
present. In proportion to the amount of capital 
owned by them per capita, there is no class likely 
to be more seriously affected by the volume and 
value of the currency than farmers, and it behooves 
them, therefore, to keep a watchful eye on every¬ 
thing that may affect either. 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. are requested to bag a 
few tomatoes selecting those of small size—an inch 
or so in diameter. Then let them mark other to¬ 
matoes of the same size for comparison. If, as has 
occurred at the Rural Grounds, the bagged speci¬ 
mens ripen fully and evenly a week or more before 
those not bagged, it is evident that bagging the 
earliest set fruits will prove a profitable thing for 
those who aim to be among the first in the market. 
For several years past the earliest tomatoes have 
brought such high prices as to render culture un¬ 
der glass remunerative. Oddly enough, bagging 
intensifies the color and causes the flesh about the 
stem to ripen as early and perfectly as any other 
part. _ 
A man in this city located next door to a liquor 
saloon sells over 150 quarts of milk every day, by 
the glass. We know that many men drink this ice- 
cold milk, who would otherwise drink beer. The 
sale of milk by the glass has largely increased dur¬ 
ing the past few years and this increased trade is 
about the healthiest temperance sign we know of. 
Anv one who knows the life of our large cities must 
understand that a harmless substitute for the saloon 
is necessary if real temperance progress is to be ex¬ 
pected. Theory is one thing, an actual fact is an¬ 
other. There are thousands of men who drink 
liquors, even to excess, because they do not find a 
non-intoxicant that they like. Pure, cold milk 
suits them and they will drink it in place of beer. 
Let the temperance organizations spend some of 
their money in locating these milk saloons close by 
the door of every rum shop in the city. They will 
thus do practical work for temperance and at the 
same time provide a new market for milk. 
Great are protection and exclusion. Our govern¬ 
ment is in a quandary. A World’s Fair, otherwise 
known as The Columbian Exposition, is to be held 
at Chicago in 1893. The authorities naturally 
wishing to have a full house and a successful show 
sent out a general and formal invitation to all the 
governments of the earth to attend and participate. 
But here arises a lion in the way. The subjects of 
the Flowery Kingdom are not permitted to come to 
this country at will, and now the question arises 
will our invited guests from the land of the pig tail 
be permitted to land? It is a delicate question. 
The exposition authorities have referred it to the 
Treasury Department; the latter seeks advice of 
the Attorney-General. To whom he will appeal 
for help in his quandary remains to be seen. This 
is but one of the peculiar positions resulting from 
our peculiar foreign regulations. It takes more 
brains to interpret and apply some of the laws than 
it ever did to enact them. If the Chinese are not 
to be admitted, it is to be hoped that they will be 
so informed before reaching our doors. 
It is now nearly 40 years since W. I. Chamber- 
lain laid his first underdrain. In that one cobble¬ 
stones were used for tile. He has now, as he tells 
us elsewhere, 15 miles of tile on his farm. The ar¬ 
ticle printed in this issue gives the conclusions 
drawn from 40 years of actual observation of the 
effects of tile drainage on a soil that is typical of 
thousands of acres in Ohio and millions of acres in 
this country. A dapper young minister once asked 
Dr. Lyman Beecher, after listening to one of his 
great sermons : “ How long did it take you, Dr., 
to write that sermon ? ” “ Forty years! ” was the 
instant and emphatic reply, and it was a fact, be¬ 
cause the ideas advanced in the sermon were based 
upon the thought and observation of that length 
or time. In like manner we may safely say that 
Mr. Chamberlain has been 40 years writing this ar¬ 
ticle on drainage. As to our opinion of its value, 
we can only say that if any better statement of the 
matter has ever been printed, we want to know 
where it is that we may publish it in The R N.-Y. 
We like these 40 year articles so well that we have 
planned for a number of them during the coming 
year. _ 
From present indications it appears not improb¬ 
able that in the warfare against insects injurious 
to vegetation, the insecticides hitherto employed 
will, ere long, be superseded in many cases by the 
propagation among them of contagious diseases of 
bacterial or fungous origin. A series of experiments 
in this line lately carried on by the Department of 
Agriculture have, according to official reports, been 
measurably successful in several cases, notably as 
regards cabbage caterpillars and chinch bugs. A 
contagious disease was noticed to be very fatal 
among the former in Florida, and the germs of it 
were shipped to Washington, where the bacteria 
were artificially propagated by myriads. The prepa¬ 
ration containing them is sprayed upon the infested 
cabbages, and all the worms that touch it not only 
die within a few hours, but spread the disease to 
others, so that the patch is entirely cleared in short 
order. Against the chinch bug a fungous disease 
of a very contagious character is used. Congress 
has appropriated $7,000 to test this remedy, and the 
experiments hitherto made are reported to be highly 
successful. Numerous other experiments in this 
direction are under way with what are considered 
satisfactory results. It is a theory of scientists that 
there is some fatal disease, fungous or bacterial, 
that can be readily propagated among every species 
of insect pests, and that nature spontaneously pro¬ 
vides the remedy, but, having ages to work in, 
operates slowly. The aim of entomologists, there¬ 
fore, is to expedite matters by artificially propa¬ 
gating these diseases, and thus destroy the insects 
before much harm has been done to the crops. 
BREVITIES. 
There is land that gits In sorrow, weeping cold and heavy tears 
Where no decent crop can prosper through the long and weary years. 
Splendid soil—both rich and fertile, yet it sits there In Its pain; 
How like magic would Its aliment disappear into a drain. 
Though you tickle It forever 
With the best tools you can find, 
Harvest cannot make It laugh away Its bile, 
For It 8 logy, cold and sullen. 
To relieve Its burdened mind, 
You had better give a double dose of tile. 
Underdrainage Is the treatment that your hard and heavy clay 
Needs to cure It! Feed It capsules of hard tiles without delay. 
Lighten, loosen up the subsoil! make it pleasant for the roots. 
Let the plants dry out their stockings, and sell off their rubber boots. 
Then wlih decent cultivation 
Tickle up your well-drained field, 
And the crop will fairly shake Itself with laugh, 
And you’ll need a big new wallet, 
For the merry-hearted yield 
Will inflate your bank account by fully half. 
Consistency Is a jewel seldom worn. 
Who ever found any real pleasure In shirking ? 
A hasty temper often puts the right man in the wrong 
man’s hole. 
The best way to win a good first prize Is to work so 
that yon will last. 
What makes the cosy New England villages the pleas¬ 
antest In the world ? Trees? 
Now if no other job on the farm you can see, go ont In 
some corner and plant in a tree. 
Will eggs be fewer or their prices higher on account of 
the ascending figures for grain ? 
If your clothing must carry economy’s tags, remember 
that patches rank nlgher than rags. 
Readers are requested to advise us as to the deport¬ 
ment of the R. N.-Y. Long-Keeping Tomato. 
The prize-takers among the R. N.-Y. hybrid wheat 
contestants will be published In a week or so. 
The best sort of credit of which we have heard, is to 
hear of a man-“ You can bank on his word.” 
Cut a crop of clover and leave it on the ground, next 
year plant potatoes—they’ll be big and sound. 
Nature can do much but she can’t make milk without 
water. She can’t make good milk from bad water either. 
Is there anything wrong about the proposition that the 
greater our foreign trade the sounder must be our money 
system ? 
Does Pennsylvania beat Alabama In the climate that 
enables it to carry apples so that there will be fruit from 
the farm every day in the year? r 
The song of the hen is a comfort when fresh eggs are 
scarce and high, bnt we’re seldom thrilled when the mar¬ 
ket’s filled, and we’re sick of custard pie. 
The interior leaves of the Yellow Wood are thus soon 
changing to yellow and dropping upon the lawn. It is 
really a serious objection to this tree of many good quali¬ 
ties. 
Give the wife and children a good honest share of the 
cash to be spent—or don’t go to the fair. In the final ac¬ 
counting you’ll feel very small If the record reads thus : 
Mister Hog spent It all. 
In this era of embezzlement and defalcation when a 
missing clerk or business man’s accounts are found all 
right, it’s hardly strange that the public should straight¬ 
way pronounce him insane. 
It Is just the time now to cut out the female (berry¬ 
bearing) plants of asparagus. If left later, many berries 
will ripen and drop, sowing the seeds which will grow 
next spring. Seedlings are hard to exterminate. 
Mr G. T. Powell seems to have reached a most practi¬ 
cal solution of the liquid manure problem. Cheap absorb¬ 
ents over concrete and below a grate seem to catch and 
hold the liquids In such shape that they can be easily 
handled. 
Mr. Buckman’s attack on the birds on page 571 has 
started an Interesting discussion. So accurate an observer 
as Prof. J. L. Budd says that it is a question “ whether 
the time has not come to make war on certain birds. Sen¬ 
timent has gone too far.” 
When produce is low and times are hard the political 
papers delight to remind the farmer of the venerable 
axiom about “ supply and demand,” but when produce is 
high and times are easy, they want him to forget ail 
about it, especially if the remembrance of it is likely to 
better his condition. 
They tell the story of an Alliance speaker in Ohio who 
found, after the meeting, that there were more people in 
the audience who had money drawing interest in banks, 
stocks of various kinds, loans, etc., than there we e 
who owed money. We would like to know how the 
ordinary farmer audience in other States and counties 
would stand in this respect. 
The R. N.-Y. has had quite a little to say about the 
Jersey as a family cow. Our Jersey was a special purpose 
animal, small, active, intelligent, an easy kfeper and a 
long-continued milker of very rich milk. We now pro¬ 
pose to test the “general purpose” animal as a family 
cow and have bought a big animal fat enough for beef 
and yet a good milker. To our family at least it will be 
an interesting test. 
Mr. Wyckoff who writes on “Breeding Laying Leg¬ 
horns,” page 634, owns the model hen farm described on 
i iage 147. In our opinion Mr. Wyckoff is without a rival 
u his success in breeding for increased egg production in 
the hen. His article is of great value to those who desire 
to turn hen-food into eggs. Readers will notice what he 
says about hens that “sing their lay” all through their 
“ moult.” We want more of such hens. 
In Mississippi, both Walthall and George, open oppon¬ 
ents of the Farmers’ Alliance Sub-Treasury scheme, are 
assured of reflection to the United States Senate, having 
already secured an overwhelming majority of the legisla¬ 
ture; while Barksdale, an earnest supporter of the measure 
and the Alliance candidate, is out of the race. Any dis¬ 
tinctively Alliance measure appears to have slim chance 
of success in the “Solid South,” when the Democrats have 
finally made up their minds to oppose it. 
