898 
December 26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Americans Ran from “Paternalism.” 
E. J\ Powell, Oneida County, N. Y.— 
One of The Rural contributors grumbles 
because we have not more paternalism in 
government, to the extent of making 1 bet¬ 
ter roads. Paternalism is contrary to 
American instincts. We ran away from 
England to escape paternalism. Under 
the Jameses and under the Charleses 
there were laws regulating how many 
cattle a farmer might keep, and ordering 
the proportion of land to be used for 
wheat and for grazing. Then as colonies, 
we were pestered with paternalism as to 
our markets. We were told where we 
might sell and where we might not sell 
our products. The result was that we 
had to cut loose from our pater or rnater. 
‘ ‘ Infant ” industries sometimes require 
paternalism or maternalism. The farmer 
does not feel sure that he gets much help 
thereby. We have a solitl bottom for 
progress in the will of the people. The 
town meeting arranges all taxes. Put in 
our cities people get more paternalism. 
Streets are laid out or torn up or used for 
“ public improvements” without the vote 
of the people ; and taxes are levied pater¬ 
nally. As a result Gladstone says that 
America has failed to show her ability to 
manage municipalities. Seth Low insists 
that it is a great anomaly that city govern¬ 
ments can levy taxes and borrow money 
and bankrupt the people without a vote of 
the people, while in a village or anywhere 
outside municipal lines this cannot be 
done. On the whole we had better go 
slower on public improvements rather 
than be saddled with more paternalism. 
Louis Napoleon tore Paris down by whole 
blocks to build it up more gorgeously; 
that was paternalism. Bellamy has a 
system of State umbrellas; that is lov¬ 
ingly paternal. We are enduring bad 
roads until the people can see and feel the 
need of better ones. They are beginning 
to do so and to act. 
Hybrid Grapes in Kentucky. 
W. F. A., Lexington, Ky.—M y first 
planting of vines on my own account was 
in 1873, and since then I have planted six 
blocks of vines, embracing nearly every 
prominent claimant for popular favor. In 
my first, second and third plantings were 
interspersed many of the hybrids of 
Rogers, Arnold and Ricketts—not less 
than five vines of any kind, and of many 
50 or more. The vineyards have all had 
ordinarily good care, better I should say 
than the average in Kentucky. Many 
purely native varieties have been unsat¬ 
isfactory, but the hybrid vines, without a 
single exception, have been unremunera- 
Amenia, wisely adds that it is rarely 
planted, being a hybrid, showing that 
wen in a favored locality there is such a 
thing as failure. 
The dispensation of the gifts of Nature 
are uniform. Here in the Blue-Grass we 
plume ourselves on our horses and hemp, 
our cattle and corn, but I am inclined to 
admit that the “ Penny-rail and Bear- 
grass ” sections of the State can down 
us on grapes. We cannot raise hybrids, 
not even the Niagara with its trace of 
Vinifera, but in view of other blessings, 
let us eat in content those with more of 
the native aroma, and still be happy. 
New Eng-land Wood Lots All Rigrht. 
E. E. Brown, Connecticut. —What was 
the matter with B. F. Johnson’s spec¬ 
tacles (page 840) when he visited New 
England ? Once before he has given im¬ 
pressions apparently gathered through 
dark green spectacles, with dust on them. 
Ilis statement of the comparative prices 
of wood now and 40 years ago is more 
absurd than anything else I have seen. I 
own wood lots here in New England, and 
have talked with old farmers here who 
well remembered prices of wood for the 
past 40 years, and they all agree with me 
that cox’d wood is worth as much now as 
the average price for the past 40 years. I 
have sold the wood standing on a wood 
lot on this farm, to be cut this winter 
and next, and the buyers pay me $1.75 
cash per cord net, for the wood measured 
on the lot. They also agree to cut clean 
and take away the small wood. They pay 
all bills for cutting and hauling, etc., and 
then pay me $1.75 besides. Doesn’t this 
look as if wood were worth something 
more than the cost of cutting and haul¬ 
ing ? Wood never has sold much higher 
here during the last 40 years. Of course, 
clear timber has sold higher than cord 
wood and does now for car timber, etc. 
B. F. J. speaks of a lot where a portion 
of the wood not suitable for sawing was 
left on the ground. It is quite a common 
custom with the steam sawmills the world 
over to leave the tree tops. They are 
after money, and when they can make 
more money by cutting out the best of a 
new wood lot they natui*ally won’t bother 
with the tops, especially when, as is 
often the case, they pay to the owner of 
the lot so much pei'thousand feet sawed. 
Wood Ashes for Peach Trees. 
J. S. U., La Crescent, Minn. —With 
regal’d to the discussion between S. A. 
Little and J. S. Woodward as to the ef¬ 
fects of wood ashes ai’ound peach trees, 
my experience extends back for more 
than 50 years. Half a century ago, I 
lived in Ohio in a heavy clay section, and 
we used unleached wood ashes freely 
about the trunks of our peach trees and 
they never produced injurious l'esults, 
but were often beneficial, so that we 
came to believe they were a specific 
medicine for ailments of the peach. I 
used to believe that chip “dirt” fi*om 
tive. We have gathered some magnificent the wood yard was good for apple trees, 
fruit, but between rust, rot, mildew and but a few years since I lost a number of 
phylloxera, the returns have been so un- trees that had been banked with it for 
satisfactory that failure is written 
broadly over the entire series of experi¬ 
ments. If the conviction that hybrid 
vines are not valuable on the lower 
Silurian plateau of Kentucky rested on 
my own experience only, I should not 
hold that belief so firmly. As a nursery¬ 
man. I am in communication with hun- 
dreds of fruit g-rowers on this same 
plateau, and I mei’ely reflect an opinion 
that represents a common experience. 
My friend Wood can and does raise superb 
hybrid grapes. The peculiar conjunction 
of upper and lower Silurian, and Devonian 
soils seems to make a blending in Jeffer- 
son County, that suits them. Let them 
then be planted for their many excel¬ 
lencies. Were I a resident of Jefferson, 
I would plant hybrids and be inclined to 
scoff because my Blue Grass friends did 
not do likewise. But even in this Arcadia 
there seems to be a little bitter mixed 
with the sweet. Mr. Wood, after telling 
us of the excellencies of this type and 
particularizing the many good points of 
winter protection. When spring opened 
I found that the bark at the surface of 
the ground was dead and had parted 
from the wood. I have never repeated 
the experiment, but I do not believe that 
the chips were the px-ime cause of the 
damage. 
Sweet Potatoes. 
W. F. Massey, North Carolina Agri¬ 
cultural College. —C. C. L. D., Dills- 
bui’gh, Ala., wants some information 
about what is called there the Bunch Po¬ 
tato. The Southern Queen, in its earlier 
growth, has somewhat of the habit he 
describes, but the vines run rampant 
enough later on. The only sweet potato 
I ever saw that had this bushy habit well 
developed is a vai’iety we used to grow 
before the war, and which I have not seen 
since. We called it the Anguilla or Angola 
Potato. It made very lai'ge tubers with 
white skin and flesh and was enormously 
productive. If C. C. L. D. has this potato 
I would like to get it again. The South¬ 
ern! Queen should be called Hayman, its 
original name. It was brought to this 
country by Capt. Hayman, of Bertie 
County, N. C., from South America. He 
was an old sea captain who was noted 
for the fact that he had 42 children. The 
Hayman Potato was secured by Mr. B. K. 
Bliss soon after its introduction, and sent 
out under the name of Southern Queen. 
Here it has always been known as Hay¬ 
man. It has steadily improved in quality 
in this climate, and is now one of the best 
grown, and is more productive than any 
other except the great, unwieldy Pea¬ 
body, which is fit for use only when half 
grown. 
Lindens for Shade. 
I. II., Queens County, N. Y.—Maples 
are deservedly the most popular kind of 
trees for street planting and for the adorn¬ 
ment of the home, yet the eye is tired of 
monotony and is ever seeking for variety, 
and no other class of trees will give it 
better variety than the lindens. There 
are many kinds to choose from, but 
with us on Long Island some are far bet¬ 
ter than others. Two varieties—the 
White and White Weeping Lindens—are 
about the finest in all respects. Thrifty 
and hardy, full of leaves, which, when 
stirred by the wind, are strikingly orna¬ 
mental, clean, holding their leaves un¬ 
til killed by severe frost, they are truly 
desirable. The first has strong, upright 
branches, symmetrical, robust and dis¬ 
tinct. But a nicely-grown White Weep¬ 
ing Linden in my estimation surpasses 
all other shade trees. There are but a 
few large trees of the kind as yet, as the 
vai’iety is compai’atively new, and is in¬ 
creased by gi-afting; but it must ere 
long hold a prime place in public favor. 
Another variety—Speciosa—has larger 
leaves of a bright-green color, and will 
give great satisfaction to the lover of 
beautiful trees. In growth it resembles 
the American linden (basswood) ; but it is 
a finer tree. A cheaper and more common 
tree is the basswood; but a properly- 
ti-ained specimen when young, with a 
leading trunk, intermixes well with the 
maples and affords a pleasing contrast. 
There is a European variety called Broad- 
leaf (Platyphylla) which in this section 
does not do well. In the latter part of 
summer a fungus attacks the leaves, 
which tui-n brown and prematui-ely drop, 
thus disfiguring a symmetrical and other¬ 
wise desii’able tree. The variety called 
Eux-opean, although not as regular in out¬ 
line or so large in leaf, withstands the 
attacks of the fungus and holds its leaves 
quite late, and is more thrifty and hai’dy. 
Some varieties with golden bark and red, 
fastigiate leaves, are pretty, but they do 
(Continued on next page.) 
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Ix writing to advertisers please always mention 
Tun RUliAIj New-Youkeb. 
Fast Eating 
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and am glad to, for I consider it a great medicine.” 
C. I. Trowbridge, Travelling salesman for Schlot- 
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1 ...c la\. 
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Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
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Sold by Druggists. 
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f £ELF FEEDER —W 
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THEi 
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is indispensable to any farmer who has 
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stalks as valuable for feed as the grain. 
W e prove this. Can you afford to miss it ? 
Waste not, want not. Write for book, 
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Mention this paper. 
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THE STEVENS 
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—11 
</> 1 
HOW TO RID 
Buildings and Farms 
OF 
RATS, 
Mice, Gophers, Ground Squirrels, 
Prairie Dogs, Rabbits, Moles, 
Minks, Weasels and other Pests 
quickly and safely. How to snare 
Hawks and Owls. 
Valuable Hints to Housekeep¬ 
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Keepers. 
By “PICKETT.” 
PRICE, 20 CENTS. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO.. 
Times Building, New York. 
