394 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 10 
marked talent for speaking and writing was developed. 
During the last two years of his college course he was 
an almost constant contributor to the columns of the 
Detroit Free Press, then owned by the late Wilbur F. 
Stcrey, and in later years he frequently contributed 
to the Chicago Times, when under the management 
of Mr. Storey. His early work in Nebraska was as 
editor of the Nebraska City News. His public 
speeches are universally acknowledged, even by those 
who disagree with him, as of marked ability. There 
are few, if any, more apt and pleasing after-dinner 
speakers. He has ever at command a store of rare 
an<l pleasing anecdotes, which he has the happy 
faculty of prese ting to the best possible advantage. 
While the father of J. Sterling Morton was a staunch 
Republican, he has been an uncompromising Demo¬ 
crat from boyhood. Since he came to Nebraska he 
has been a leader of his party in all its hardest fought 
campaigns, and all at his individual expense. In 
politics, as in all else, he has always been character¬ 
ized for fearless and bold expressions of honest con¬ 
victions, in which he knew no compromise or yielding 
to policy. During the late campaign as a candidate 
for Governor, his position on the money question 
alienated many of his Democratic associates, who 
charged him with aiding the Republican party. He 
was three times a candidate for Governor of Nebraska 
and twice for Congress. He was at one time beaten 
as a candidate for the Nebraska Territorial legisla¬ 
ture because of his opposition to granting wild-cat 
bank charters during his membei ship at a preceding 
session. He was appointed by 1‘resident Buchaaan 
as Territorial Secretary for Nebraska, and became 
acting governor after the resignation of Governor 
Richardson. He was always the prominent man cf 
his party for United States Senator. At the last 
election for Senator from Nebraska, 45 Republican 
members of the Legislature, in caucus, agreed to sup¬ 
port him in preference to any Populist. 
The writer and Mr. Morton have ever been of differ¬ 
ent political affiliations. As opposing editors of news¬ 
papers in earlier days, swords were crossed times 
without number, and unsparingly. As personal friends 
and co-laborers for over a third of a century in ef¬ 
forts to unfold and develop the home of our adoption, 
wc- have never permitted aught to stand between us, 
From this standpoint, to speak briefly in the highest 
praise is pleasure immeasurable. 
(HX-GOV.) ROBT. W. FURNAS. 
NOTES FROM THE WORLD’S FAIR. 
[EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.] 
Oood weather at last; tine fruit exhibits ; peculiarities of 
apples grown at the West; don't hurry about coming, 
wait for better rates. 
Chicago, May 24. —The reign' of Jupiter Pluvius in 
Chicago has at last ended, and the week ending May 
20, has been, in the main, very pleasant, though the 
earlier part was unusually cold. Hut the mud has 
dried up, and for this we are properly thankful. 
The wisdom of the advice given in a former article, 
urging intending visitors to the Columbian Exposition 
to delay their coming until .Tune 1, or, better still, June 
15, is perfectly apparent to any one visiting the 
grounds to day. Not a single building in the “ White 
City ”—as the Chicago press has poetically christened 
the grounds—has the exhibits arr.. nged so that they 
may be seen. Horticultural Hall is probably as near 
completion as any, and this is still far from being com¬ 
plete. Next to this, the United States Government 
Building and the Fisheries Building are nearest ready. 
Every conceivable effort is being made to push for¬ 
ward the work, but there is so much of it that a long 
time will be required. The middle of June will hardly 
find the Exposition completed. Still, if there be any 
who, by nature of their occupations must come now, 
or not at all, by all means, let them come. Though 
incomplete, there is enough to see—more than any one 
can properly absorb in 10 days of the most industrious 
sightseeing. 
Most people have experienced, when seeing Niagara 
Falls for the first time, a greater or less feeling of 
disappointment, but the longer they remain there the 
more wonderful does it become, and this is true of the 
“White City ” on the shore of Lake Michigan. Its 
manifold beauties, the vastness of the buildings, the 
innumerable beauties of the place, grow on one daily, 
and it becomes more and more interesting, more and 
more wonderful, with each successive daily inspection. 
I have scarcely been outside of Horticultural Hall, 
so engrossing have been my duties in this department, 
but the student of horticulture may easily find a field 
here of sufficient importance to consume weeks of his 
time. Of course the great fruit show of the fair will 
be in September and October, but there is sufficient 
now to make the study a most interesting one. In the 
south wing of Horticultural Hall is the wine exhibit, 
of which I shall speak later. In the corridor leading 
from this northward, is the fresh fruit exhibit. 
California’s exhibit is mainly the citrus fruits— 
oranges of the various types, lemons, grape fruit, 
shaddock, pomelo, citron, etc. They are beautifully 
arranged, and are shown in quantities which require 
carloads of the fruit. 
Florida, in addition to her citrus display, shows 
cocoanuts and pineapples potted and bearing fruit, 
ripe Peen-to peaches, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, 
etc. Many of the .States have chosen to show fruits 
in large glass jars, preserved in antiseptic solutions, 
rather than attempt to keep them in cold storage. 
Oregon, Missouri, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, New 
Jersey and some other States make notable displays 
in this direction. New York State has much the 
largest showing of fresh apples, having 101 varieties 
on exhibition, after having been passed upon by the 
commiitee on nomenclature. This committee, by the 
way, had an arduous task. It was composed of Messrs. 
J. C. Evans, President of the Missouri Horticultural 
Society, George T. Powell and E. G. Fowler of New 
York, C, L Watrous of Iowa, W. A. Stave of Nova 
Scotia, and E. F. Babcock of Little Rock, Arkansas. 
Oregon’s show in prunes is a wonderful one—it is a 
revelation to most Eastern men to learn that this 
State is so successfully growing prunes—prunes that 
are unexcelled in beauty, size and excellence by any 
in the world. This State shows about 20 varieties of 
apples, in addition to the canned fi uit exhibit. Mis¬ 
souri, Washington and Idaho also make very credit¬ 
able exhibits of fresh fruits, and our friends from 
Canada were well in the front rank. Other notable 
displays were made by Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine 
Illinois and New Jersey. 
The careful observer notes the wonderful variations 
in apples, caused by soil, climate and altitude. All the 
old well-known varieties, originating in the East, when 
grown in the Northwest or on the Pacific coast, become 
A. G. Chapman’s Cream Brooder. Fig. 143. 
radically changed. It is difficult for an Eastern man 
to identify the Newtown Pippin, the Rhode Island 
Greening, the Blue Pearmain, Vandevere or Roxbury 
Russet, when grown in Oregon, Idaho, Washington or 
California. Three things are especially notable: First, 
a tendency to elongate the apples; second, a deepening 
of the calyx cavity; third, an increase of the corru¬ 
gations in this cavity, or their appearance in the cav- 
it’es of apples which in the East are perfectly smooth. 
In addition to this, they invariably grow much larger. 
The exhibit of Blue Pearmains from Idaho, Washing¬ 
ton and Oregon illustrated these points perfectly. 
They were fully three times as large as any specimens 
we have been able to procure in New York, while the 
Newtown Pippins have outgrown all resemblance to 
the original. 
New South Wales, Australia, succeeded in sending 
over a few varieties of fresh fruit and grapes in tol¬ 
erably good condition. Among the apples was a beau¬ 
tiful one which they called the “Five-crowned Pippin.” 
The writer after examining carefully without tasting 
it, about concluded that it was our old-time friend, the 
Newtown Pippin, thus changed by the environment 
of Australia. In conversation with Mr. Babcock of 
Arkansas, a few days later, we found that he inclined 
to the same opinion; but it is not shared by the grow¬ 
ers of the apple. It takes its name Five-crowned from 
th-' fact that the ridge surrounding the calyx has five 
crowns, or protuberances in a circle. This same feat¬ 
ure, though not so pronounced, is easily discovered in 
the Newtown Pippin of Oregon and Idaho. 
Some of the annoying features insisted upon by the 
management have been eliminated, but there is still 
room for improvement. For instance : New York and 
other States have apples in cold storage warehouses 
in the city, where they have been since last fall. When 
a part of them, say five or ten barrels at a time, are 
brought to the Exposition, they are met at the gate 
by an official who insists upon weighing them and 
charging the exhibitor six cents per hundred for doing 
so. The average exhibitor doesn’t want his fruit 
weighed, and cannot understand why he should be 
made to pay for the gratification of other people’s 
curiosity. As a matter of fact, it is simply a little en¬ 
forced tax, and will probably be discontinued now that 
the exhibitors are kicking so vigorously. This is only 
one of a long list of annoyances, and it is simply 
quoted as a specimen. 
We still advise Eastern people to remain at home 
until more reasonable railroad rates are given them, 
which, it is safe to say, will be the case ere the season 
is over. The cutting of rates from points west of Chi¬ 
cago is already in full blast. Later in the season, too, 
it is likely that the hotels will see the folly of their 
extortionate methods, and put down their rates to 
those which prevailed before the fair—so take your 
time. In a later letter we shall try to give some points 
as to the best methods of living here at reasonable 
rates. e. g. f. 
A. G. CHAPMAN'S CREAM BROODER. 
“ What is that box you have there ? ” 
“ A cream warmer.” 
“ What is that for?” 
“ It is a good deal of trouble to keep cream at a 
proper temperature in winter. If the whole milk- 
room is kept warm, it costs a good deal for fuel, as no 
fire is needed where the creamer is used. If the cream 
has to set behind the stove in the living room, it is 
much in the way, and may absorb some of the odors 
from the cooking vegetables. It makes a good deal of 
hard lugging for some one, so I concluded to make a 
small room on the principle of the brooder ” 
“A brooder for cream! That’s cute. How is it 
made ? ” (See Fig. 143.) 
“ Make a box wide and high enough to hold a cream 
pail and long enough to hold all the cream pails you 
have. Make a cover that can be laid on and will be 
tight. Cut a hole a foot square in the bottom and 
line the edges with tin. Stop this up by nailing a 
piece of sheet-iron over it on the outside. Nail on some 
legs so as to raise it up from the floor high enough to 
put a lamp under it. If in a room where wind will 
blow, get a box without a cover and put a door in the 
side and set the big box on it. Put your lamp inside 
and shut the door. Make a slat rack and place inside 
to set the pails on to keep them up from the bottom of 
the box so that the air can pass under them. Any ordi¬ 
nary lamp can be used, but a tin one with a good-sized 
burner and a sheet-iron chimney is best. By regulat¬ 
ing the flame, one can get just the degree of heat 
needed. A little practice and a thermometer are all 
that are needed to get excellent results.” c. e. c. 
WHAT THE NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EX¬ 
PERIMENT STATION IS DOING FOR 
THE FARMER. 
The agricultural papers and farmers’ institutes fre¬ 
quently refer to different lines of important work for 
the farmers accomplished at the N. Y. State Experiment 
Station. The names of about 7,500 farmers are on its 
bulletin mailing list. But of the 380,000 farmers in 
the State, probably half are ignorant of its existence, 
and a far larger proportion have erroneous ideas of its 
scope and the value to them of the work actually 
accomplished. To give a brief synopsis of what has 
been and is being done is the object of this communi¬ 
cation, and it is believed that with this information in 
their possession, the farmers of the State generally 
will speedily avail themselves of the results of careful 
experimentation in the line of farming in which they 
are particularly interested. 
Locality. —On June 26, 1880, an act was passed by 
the New York Legislature establishing an agricultural 
experiment station “for the purpose of promoting 
agriculture in its various branches by scientific inves¬ 
tigation and experiment. In February, 1882 a deed 
was executed transferring to the State of New York 
about 125 acres of land near the village of Geneva, 
Ontario County. Since then it has regularly published 
an annual report, and in addition many bulletins have 
been issued. The soil of the farm is a clayey 
loam, thoroughly underdrained, very fertile and well 
adapted to growing all sorts of grains, vegetables and 
fruits, with perhaps the exception of grapes. 
The Dairy Interests. —When we consider the fact 
that about 300,000 more cows are kept in the State of 
New York than in all the New England States, New 
Jersey, Delaware and Maryland combined, we can ap¬ 
preciate the importance of the dairy interest. In this 
line the work of the station has been comprehensive 
and of great practical value. It embraces, the com¬ 
parison of dairy breeds of cows with reference to the 
production of milk, butter and cheese; and experiments 
relating to the manufacture of the last. 
Breeds. —At the station are, or were, four typical 
cows of each of seven breeds—Ayrshires, Devons, 
Jerseys, Guernseys, Short-horns, Holsteins and Holder- 
ness are there. The friends of each breed selected the 
animals, before they were bred, as representative spec¬ 
imens of the breed. All have been fed the same ration 
in such quantity as each individual would eat. The 
feed of each animal is weighed, and so is the milk 
product of each animal itself. From these data, the 
cost of one quart of milk, one pound of butter, and 
one pound of cheese produced by the cows of each of 
