1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
321 
THE PROSPECT. 
At every farmers’ institute somebody praises clover 
because of its power to “take nitrogen out of the air.” 
The writer recently made this statement: “ One little 
clover plant can steal more of the free nitrogen out 
of the air than the biggest steer that ever breathed.” 
A man in the audience undertook to “call the speaker 
down ” by saying that all clover could do was to utilize 
the nitrogen that was washed out of the air by rain, 
snow or fog. A recent bulletin from the Storrs Ex¬ 
periment Station (Connecticut) on “ The Fixation of 
Free Nitrogen by Plants ” illustrates what is really 
known in regard to this matter so well that it is well 
enough to give the facts here. While clover is most 
commonly referred to as the “ nitrogen fixer,” peas, 
beans and other legumes have much the same power. 
t X X 
In the last experiment at Storrs, pea plants were 
grown in sea sand which had been washed and burned 
to drive off all possible nitrogen. The plants were 
fertilized with a solution of minerals in water which 
contained no nitrogen, while they grew in a case into 
which only “washed air” was admitted. By “washed” 
is meant air from which all surplus nitrogen such as 
comes from decay or burning had been taken. Noth¬ 
ing but absolutely pure air waB admitted to the case. 
Thus the plants grew with no nitrogen in their food 
and none in the air that could be washed out by rain 
or dew. The plants developed and were analyzed so 
that the nitrogen contained in them could be meas¬ 
ured. The amount contained in the original seed was 
known, nothing was added that chemistry could take 
out of the air supplied, and yet the grown plants all 
contained more than was found in the seed—in some 
cases more than twice as much. Where did it come 
from ? The free nitrogen of the air alone was present, 
and it must have come from that source. 
X X t 
That is about the extent of the matter. The nitro¬ 
gen certainly was added to the plants, and there was 
no other source save the pure, washed air. It is not 
yet settled whether plants acquire this nitrogen of 
the air through their roots entirely or whether part 
is obtained through their foliage. That they can take 
it seems to be as well settled as hundreds of other 
agricultural rules that are accepted as facts. The 
more vigorous the clover and pea crops, the greater 
the extent to which this free nitrogen can be taken ; 
hence the necessity of supplying these crops with an 
abundance of phosphoric acid and potash. Does the 
farmer need to buy nitrogen if the clover and pea will 
capture it for him ? That is the most important ques¬ 
tion in agriculture, and it might be answered in a 
dozen different ways. 
X X X 
Another interesting experiment recorded in this 
bulletin was that of the effect of nitrogen on grass 
both as to yield and quality. Potash and phosphoric 
acid alone increased the yield of clover, but did 
notiof the grasses. Nitrate of soda on the grasses 
increased the yield in every case—the most profit 
being obtained from a dose of 320 pounds per acre. 
This corroborates the former report that clover is a 
nitrogen collector, while grasses like Timothy are 
nitrogen consumers. It also explains the philosophy 
of using liquid manures and other substances con¬ 
taining soluble nitrogen on grass in the spring. It 
was also found that the application of nitrogenous 
fertilizers increased the proportion of protein in the 
grasses—making hay of higher feeding value. Fertil¬ 
izer farmers using large quantities of soluble nitrogen 
often claim that the hay they grow is very superior 
in quality and greatly preferred by stock to that 
grown on poorer soil. This experiment shows that 
they are correct. XXX 
Two important iaamigration conventions have been 
held in the South—the first at New Orleans, and the 
second, including the Governors of nearly all the 
Southern States, at Richmond. The object of both 
was to devise the best measures for attracting to that 
section immigrants from Europe and the Northern 
States. At present vast tracts of forest and mineral 
lands are being bought up there by European and 
Northern capitalists, and there is a widespread appre¬ 
hension that this policy will furnish, ere long, a land 
problem to that section such as is witnessed in Ireland 
at present where the country is under the control of 
foreign and non-resident land-owners who spend in 
distant homes the profits of the soil, thus depleting 
the States of their wealth to be spent in splendor else¬ 
where. Immigrants with small means and home¬ 
builders are much preferred to these, for by their 
efforts the country could be developed and the fruits 
of the mines, forests and farms be spent at home. 
The number of foreigners settling in the South at 
present is beggarly small. Of the 375,000 immigrants 
who landed at the port of New York last year only 
166 were bound to South Carolina, 299 to Georgia, 297 
to Alabama, 342 to Florida, 388 to Tennessee, 358 to 
Arkansas, 551 to Louisiana, 324 to Virginia and 201 to 
Mississippi. Not far from half of the whole inrush 
remained here in New York, while the great majority 
of the other half were bound for the Western and 
three of the New England States. To Illinois 28,080 
went, to Michigan 9,039, to Wisconsin 7,745, to Iowa 
5,948 and to Minnesota 9,802. Massachusetts received 
15,219, Connecticut 8,189 and Rhode Island 2,814. 
These figures are striking. The South contains a very 
small proportion of foreign-born citizens and is really 
the most American part of the Union. The great 
objection working foreigners entertain against immi¬ 
gration to that section is the inevitable competition 
with cheap negro labor ; this the South cannot dis¬ 
pense with, and so long as it continues a prominent 
factor, it is to be feared that the best efforts of the 
Southern people to attract white labor from other 
parts of the world will meet with only very moderate 
success. XXX 
During the past week New York harbor has seen 
the grandest and most remarkable naval display ever 
witnessed on the globe. Thirty- five of the finest though 
not the most formidable war ships of the world, repre¬ 
senting 10 nations, among them the most powerful 
on the earth, assembled in honor of the discovery of 
this continent by Columbus, 400 years ago. Taking 
part in a mission of peace and good-will to men, they 
represented the latest efforts of genius, skill and 
wealth in the construction of the fleetest and most 
destructive war machines that have ever terrorized 
the seas. Built especially for speed as well as strength 
in order to overtake and capture or destroy any mer¬ 
cantile vessels afloat, for two days they made the 
welkin thunder with their broadsides of peace and 
salutation as they passed up and down the Hudson 
River between gaily bedecked lines of sailing vessels, 
coasters and ocean flyers, some of which were nearly 
twice the size of any of them, but not one of which 
could remain afloat five minutes beneath the fire of the 
least among them. They were manned by upwards 
of 10,000 sailors, engineers, firemen and marines, and 
their evolutions were witnessed by fully 1,000,000 
spectators who thronged the multitude of craft of all 
kinds in the rivers and bay, darkened the surrounding 
heights and housetops of New York, Brooklyn, Staten 
Island, Jersey City and Hoboken, or lined the wharves 
and watersides commanding a view of the scene. From 
far and near, from this side of the Pacific and the other 
side of the Atlantic, crowds flocked to behold the 
greatest illustration this or any former generation has 
seen of the material progress of the world, and of the 
good will of its people in peacefully celebrating a 
peaceful event—the discovery of a new world where 
the redundant population of the old might find the 
homes, comforts, liberty and prosperity denied them 
in the lands of their birth. 
X X t 
At no earlier centenary of Columbus’s discovery was 
such a gathering of war-ships of so many nations pos¬ 
sible, not only because without modern discoveries 
the production of such marvels of naval architecture 
was impossible, nor because some of the countries 
represented had no independent existence even 100 
years ago ; but also because at no similar epoch has 
such widespread peace prevailed. A hundred years 
8go France was in the throes of the Terror and 
all Europe in arms was leagued against her. A cen¬ 
tury earlier, the case was even worse ; for then 
diplomacy meant treachery, and hereditary enmities 
were as great a force as conscienceless ambition, and 
the powers of the Old World distrusted each other’s 
good faith even when acting together in their schemes 
of conquest and plunder. In view of the marvelous 
progress in material prosperity, intellectual growth 
and civilization made by the nations in the last cen¬ 
tury and the fact that the world moves constantly 
onward, what halcyon days may not be expected when 
our descendants 100 years hence shall celebrate the 
fifth centenary of the discovery of a new world which 
to-day feeds and clothes a greater number of the 
inhabitants of the Old World than the whole of 
Europe contained in the days of Columbus. Just as 
the introduction of fire-arms put the infantry of the 
Middle Ages on a level with the heavily armed 
Knights whose protected prowess had formerly been 
so formidable, and as the revolver of to-day robs the 
truculent bully of nearly all his advantages over the 
nervy but peaceable citizen, so the sight of these 
armored cruisers, with the strength of a death-dealer 
and the speed of an ocean flyer, is a warning to the 
world that no nation can with impunity rush lightly 
into war with a maritime power, however compara¬ 
tively weak, if provided with even a few of these com¬ 
merce-destroyers ; for even Argentina or Brazil with 
only a single swift cruiser could inflict incalculable 
injury in a short time on the commerce of the most 
powerful maritime power on the globe. 
In the financial affairs of the country the outflow of 
gold is still phenomenal. Last Saturday alone no less 
than $6,000,000 was exported. To meet the extraordi¬ 
nary demand on it, the Government has had to draw 
on the reserve of $100,000,000 kept for years in the 
Treasury especially to meet the payment of green¬ 
backs, should a special run be ever made on it in that 
line of national securities. The whole trouble is due, 
outside of the legitimate course of trade, to the attempt 
of speculators, foreign and domestic, to use the public 
funds and the government officials to promote private 
schemes and bolster up financial fallacies for their 
own benefit. The emergency has given rise to many 
wild theories for the prevention of shipments of gold 
to other countries, some of which have been broached 
by prominent bankers, and others by even members 
of Congress. The most notable of these is that the 
President, anticipating the action of Congress, should 
lay so heavy a tax on the outflow of gold as to prevent 
the shipment of a dollar. Others insist that for this 
and other purposes a special session of Congress should 
be called, to pass a stringent law “to stop the passage 
of a single gold coin from our ports under heavy pen¬ 
alties.” All the theorists agree that the law should 
intervene and arrest the outward movement of the 
yellow metal. j j ^ 
Even among educated people there appears to be a 
vast amount of ignorance with regard to the powers of 
the Federal Government. Doesn’t the Federal Consti¬ 
tution provide that “ No tax or duty shall be laid on 
any articles exported from any State ? ” Neither the 
President nor Congress can therefore by decree or en¬ 
actment stop the export of gold by levying a tax on 
the shippers. The Supreme Court of the United States 
has decided that the above clause deprives Congress of 
all power to interfere with the export trade, so that it 
cannot prohibit the shipment of any article it may de¬ 
sire to retain in the country. There is, however, ab¬ 
solutely no cause for anxiety with regard to the finan¬ 
cial condition of the country—the richest on the globe. 
The drafts already made on the $100,000,000 “ gold re¬ 
serve ” are likely to be made good by the banks East 
and West within a few days. Even if the export of 
gold should continue till the whole of the reserve is 
exhausted, then more coin can be easily obtained by 
the sale of bonds. There is no fear of insolvency in 
the public Treasury or of the financial credit of the 
United States ; and every dollar that goes abroad is in 
payment of some form of national, corporation or in¬ 
dividual indebtedness, or for the promotion of business 
purposes or legitimate private enjoyment. It should 
be remembered, too, that no small addition to the ex¬ 
portation of gold is caused by over $100,000,000 spent 
abroad every year by American tourists ; while during 
the present Columbian year about twice as much is 
likely to be spent in this country by foreign visitors. 
XX X ■ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Don’t you feel tired of llftlag those whltfletrees around and hav¬ 
ing the horses go stumbling over the traces? Wide-awake farmers 
have quit that business for good. They turn the plow team quloker 
and easier and don't go barking all the trees In the orchard. 
How? Why they use the Sherwood steel harness—made by the Sher¬ 
wood Harness Company, Syracuse, N. Y. 
No sheep—no matter what the breed—can make good mutton or 
wool while Infested with Insects. Dip the sheep to save the clip both 
In quantity and also In quality. The Cooper sheep dip has been In 
use 50 years and probably over 100,000,000 sheep are annually dipped 
In It. Its advantages appear to be: Its fitness to be used with oold 
water; the fact that It doesa t dlseolor the wool; Its freedom from 
strong scent, and Its cheapness and effectiveness. Cooper A 
Nephews, Galveston, Texas, will mall a Guide to Dipping free to all. 
We are glad to learn that Leggett Bros., manufacturers of Leggett's 
I’arls-green or dry powder gun, have been able to reduce Its size, 
and consequently Its cost, without Impairing Its usefulness. We have 
thoroughly tested the smaller one In comparison with the larger one: 
and, while the former costs only about half as rnnoh as the latter, we 
prefer It. It Is made In every respect aB substantially as the larger one, 
and Is lighter to carry and easier to operate, while distributing the 
powder Just as fast and as satisfactorily. We would advise all In¬ 
tending purchasers to order the small one. This puts a valuable im¬ 
plement within the reach of all. 
WE were so well pleased with the appearance of the Diamond 
Balance churn at Madison Square Garden last fall that we had one 
sent to the dairy for trial. We don’t know how churning can be 
done with less labor than with this churn. The churn Itself is In 
a diamond or lozenge shape, and after the cream Is put In ready for 
churning, a center board Is put In, dividing the cream In two parts, 
so that one part balances the other, making the work of turning 
the crank comparatively easy. In our flrst trial the cream was put 
in at a temperature of 84 degrees, and In just 17 minutes the butter 
came in nice granular form. The buttermilk was easily and quickly 
drawn oil without loss of a grain of butter, and after washing, the 
churn was simply turned half way over by the crank, and the butter 
rolled out on the tray that had been placed on the platform to re¬ 
ceive It. Compared with the barrel churn It requires less power to 
run It, the buttermilk and butter are more easily removed, and we 
think It Is more easily cleaned. 
No one can appreciate a farmer’s wants so well as a farmer, or one 
who has been one. This, we think. Is why Mr. Mlnard Harder, of 
Coblesklll, N. Y., has been able to anticipate the farmers needs In 
farming machinery. It would be Indeed a difficult matter for any one, 
except a man In full sympathy with the farmer and his occupation, to 
prepare such a complete catalogue as Mr. Harder has just Issued of 
his Fearless thrasher, horse powers and other farm machinery. We 
have never seen a more complete and detailed description of ma¬ 
chinery than this presents. Every little detail of the machinery Is 
pictured in the most carefully drawn Illustrations, and described In 
the plainest language. When one has read this catalogue through, 
he Is about as familiar with the points of the machine as he can well 
be without actually seeing It in operation. When the writer was yet 
too small to handle sheaves of rye or oats, he cut bands for this 
machine, and with boyish curlOBlty studied It all over after tho men 
had quit for the day. The different Improvements made since have 
kept the Fearless In the front rank, and It Is as mueh a favorite In our 
native town to-day as It was 30 years ago. 
