1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
465 
THE PROSPECT. 
One of most surprising experiments we have ever 
heard of is recorded in Bulletin 23 of the Arkansas 
Experiment Station. The point to be decided was 
whether it was more economical to cut and feed pea- 
vine hay with cotton seed, or to use the vines as green 
manure, with the seed as a direct fertilizer. This is 
certainly an important thing to know. The Station 
folks picked and sold the peas on one quarter acre, 
leaving the vines on the ground. On the other quar¬ 
ter acre they cut and cured 426 pounds of dry hay 
which, with 426 pounds of cotton seed were fed to a 
steer. The manure made by the steer was put back 
on the quarter acre plot from which the pea vines 
were cut, while 426 pounds of raw cotton seed were put 
on the other plot—where the pea vines were left stand¬ 
ing. Both plots were planted to cotton under very 
similar conditions. Now comes the strange part of 
the experiment. The plot that received no manure 
gave $11.68 worth of cotton and $6 worth of peas— 
total $17.68. The one with the steer’s manure yielded 
$10.91 worth of cotton, while the increased weight of 
the steer was worth $3 69, or a total of $14.60. The 
cost of picking the peas and cotton was $4.07, while 
the cost of cutting the hay, feeding it and picking the 
cotton was $3.19. Thus on the first face of the re¬ 
turns the value of the pea-vine manuring exceeded 
the cost by $13 60, while the steer-feeding experiment 
ga»e a like difference of only $11.41. Yet the station 
people reach this remarkable conclusion ; 
It Is more profitable to feed pea hay and cotton seed to stock before 
applying them to the soil as fertilizers for cotton; It Is more profit¬ 
able to do so when the Increased yields of the crop are considered 
alone and independent of the profits from the animals fed. 
The facts of the experiment are directly against the 
conclusion. The vines and seed that were not fed to 
the steer produced more cotton than did the manure 
from the similar plot. Instead of showing that, the 
station people argue that if the season had been differ¬ 
ent the manured plot would have been better. They 
also say that the “ animal’s original live weight ” was 
increased in value $13.61 by the feeding of 426 pounds 
each of pea-vine hay and cotton seed. What is the 
use of such experiments ? 
X X X 
Six years ago a battle took place in the streets of 
Chicago between organized bands of Anarchists and 
the police, in which many of the latter were killed 
and wounded by the use of dynamite. It is still fresh 
in the minds of the public how the leading Anarchists 
were tried and convicted—some to d?ath and others to 
imprisonment. In the minds of a vast majority of all 
law abiding citizens the outcome of the trial was con¬ 
sidered just and right, but now comes Governor Alt- 
geld, of Illinois, with a statement tint practically up¬ 
sets the whole thing. He has pardoned the imprisoned 
Anarchists and, in a long statement, almost made 
martyrs of those that were hung. He criticises the con¬ 
duct of their trial and goes so far as to infer that the 
judge and jury were dishonest and prejudiced. All in 
all, this is about the most remarkable action ever 
taken by the governor of a great State, and it meets 
with general condemnation from law-loving people. 
The Anarchists all over the country are delighted as 
they well may be, at such encouragement. 
t t t 
The financial situation in this country is critical. 
Failures have been numerous and business is demor¬ 
alized. The immediate cause is the stringency in the 
money market, the available circulating medium 
being insufficient for the transaction of business. 
Another disturbing element is the uncertainty as to 
future tariff legislation. Popular opinion ascribes 
the present condition to the infamous Sherman Silver 
Law, requiring the purchase of a fixed quantity of 
silver bullion each month. A remote cause may also 
be the previous heavy exports of gold. Certain it is 
that a money panic was narrowly averted in this city 
Thursday when loans were made at a rate that, re¬ 
duced to common English, meant upwards of 74 per 
cent per annum. The New York banks, however, 
came to the rescue, and by issuing upwards of $8,000,- 
000 of Clearing House certificates, in addition to 
nearly as much previously issued, tided over the sit¬ 
uation. Meanwhile silver has been gradually declin¬ 
ing in price, until at this writing it is worth 62 cents 
per ounce, making the silver in one of our cart-wheel 
dollars worth in round numbers 50 cents. News 
from the silver mining districts is that all the mines 
will be closed, the number of men thrown out of em¬ 
ployment in Colorado alone being estimated at 85,000, 
And the end is not yet, and what it will be needs a 
prophet to foretell. 
X t X 
The financial world was startled last week by the 
announcement that the mints of India will be imme¬ 
diately closed to the free coinage of silver. While the 
gold standard will not be at once introduced into 
India, it is intended sooner or later to make gold the 
sole legal tender. It is early yet to say just what the 
effect of this will be on the silver question as it re¬ 
lates to American politics. At first thought it seems 
to deprive the silver men of some of their chief argu¬ 
ments, because they have claimed that the use of 
silver in India has enabled Englishmen to buy wheat 
with cheap silver and thus cut under the price of 
American grain. One effect of this change will un¬ 
doubtedly be to still further reduce the price of silver. 
Those who oppose free coinage of silver in this coun¬ 
try seem to believe that the closing of the Indian 
mints will kill all chance that the silver men here 
have ever had. The latter denounce the new move as 
a “ gigantic conspiracy fraught with greater danger 
to man than anything that has before transpired 
within this century.” 
X X x 
The It. N.-Y. has often exposed the “Black Pepsin” 
fraud. It seems to be cat-like in its hold on life and 
every week we see articles or letters in the papers 
advocating its use. In fact, so persistently has this 
fraud been advertised that the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture has been forced to take hold of the matter. In 
Farmer’s Bulletin No. 1 II. W. Wiley, the Government 
Chemist, describes the various nostrums that have 
been advocated for increasing the butter yield. They 
are all very much the same and produce very similar 
results, but as “ Black Pepsin” is the one most com¬ 
monly sold, we will consider what Dr. Wiley has to 
say about that. , 
This stuff is sent out by the “ U. S. Salyx Co.” of 
O, io. The favorite advertising scheme was to write 
an innocent looking letter to the agricultural papers 
telling how some farmer’s wife had doubled the yield 
of butter by using “ Black Pepsin.” Many of the 
papers printed this letter and we know that many 
well-informed persons were deceived by it and induced 
to buy the compound. This stuff is sold in two-ounce 
boxes for $2 50. The directions are to take a pint of 
warm, unskimmed milk, a pound of soft butter and a 
pinch of the “Black Pepsin”—put all into a churn and 
churn the whole mass into “ butter.” Thus, it was 
claimed two pounds of good, butter would result—that 
is, the pint of milk would unite with the pound of 
butter and double its weight. Experiments proved 
that something of the sort really did take place. The 
churning turned out a pasty mass weighing two 
pounds which could be colored to look like butter. 
But was it butter ? What is butter anyway ? A sub¬ 
stance that contains just enough fat to smear properly 
on our bread. Legal butter shou’d not contain much 
over 12 per cent of water and should have at least 80 
per cent of pure fat. Some of this pepsin stuff was 
analyzed and found to contain 32 per cent of water 
and 67 per cent of fat. It was therefore a bogus 
article. , , % 
What is “ Black Pepsin,” and what does it do ? 
Dr. Kedzie, of Michigan, analyzed the stuff and found 
the following: 
Salt.percent. 83 
Annatto. “ 15 
Hennet . “ 2 
100 
The annatto was used simply to color the substance. 
The part that makes the “milk into butter” is the 
rennet. Those who have seen cheese made know 
what happens when rennet is put into milk. The “two 
pounds of genuine butter,” which this “ U. S. Salyx 
Co.” brag about are simply the good butter mixed with 
the soured or curdled milk which the annatto has col¬ 
ored to look like butter. There may be simple-minded 
people in the world who will eat such stuff and think 
they save the price of a pound of butter by so doing, 
but who is blockhead enough to suppose that such a 
mess could be sold for the genuine article except in 
the poorest and cheapest markets ? That is all there 
is to this “ Black Pepsin ” fraud. The same results 
can be obtained by using alum, bicarbonate of soda 
or other drugs. They do not add an atom of fat to 
the milk, but simply curdle or thicken it, and permit 
it to be mixed with the fat. The two-ounce box 
which the “Salyx Co.” sells for $2.50, can be dupli¬ 
cated for three cents. “ Black Pepsin ” butter is far 
more of a fraud than “oleo.” 
WHAT ABOUT WOOL? 
This is the question that thousands of farmers are 
asking. The price is down—lower than in years past. 
What shall the sheep man do—sell his wool for what 
he can get or hold it in the hope of securing higher 
prices by so doing. To learn what the dealers have 
to say a representative of The R. N.-Y. recently called 
upon the Macnaughtan Co., of this city, one of the 
most extensive wholesale wool dealers. His report 
follows: 
“What is the trouble with wool that makes the 
price so low in the country and what is the prospect 
for the future ? ” 
“ When you ask about prospects for future prices, 
you are asking a hard question. We are right on the 
ground, have facilities for keeping posted on all points 
of the trade, and we can’t tell what the future will be. 
It is all uncertain. It is safe to say that the money 
market has little to do with it. The uncertainty as 
to future tariff regulations is the main cause of the 
dull market, and of the low prices. Manufacturers 
have to plan a long ways ahead. They will not buy 
wool now for manufacturing except at free wool 
prices, because free wool is a possibility. The con¬ 
sequence is that they have not only cleaned up all the 
wool on hand, but every loft and store room has been 
scraped until they haven’t a crumb left. This, of 
course, has lessened the present demand for wool, and, 
as I said before, if wool is sold it must be at prices 
that would rule if free wool were an actual fact. The 
greatest depression is in Territory and Texas wools. 
The growers there haven’t the money to enable them 
to hold their wool, so it has been thrown on the mar¬ 
ket at low prices. Fleece wools haven’t been offered 
so freely.” 
“ What is the distinction between Territory and 
fleece wools ? ” 
“Fleece wools are washed wools, such as are pro¬ 
duced in New York, Ohio and Michigan. They are 
produced by farmers who are not in the sheep busi¬ 
ness so exclusively as are most of the Western wool 
growers. The Territory wools are unwashed.” 
“Is it advisable for the producers of fleece wools to 
hold them for higher prices ? ” 
“ Yes, for the price won’t be lower, even though 
free wool should become an actual fact. These men 
are mostly able to hold their wool; they aren’t, as a 
general thing, forced to sell as the Western growers 
are, and as manufacturers have practically no wool on 
hand, the producers are likely to get higher prices 
than at present. You can do your readers a great 
service by explaining to them just now the situation, 
and advising them to be in no hurry to sell.” 
“ In the event of free wool, what grade of wools 
will suffer most from the foreign competition ?” 
“ The fine wo As. They are the ones of which the 
manufacturers use the least, and of which large quan¬ 
tities are imported. -Many of our large wool growers 
realize this, and are changing their fine-wool sheep 
for the coarser-wooled ones. There is no question but 
that the safest sheep for the farmer to breed is the 
coarser wools.” 
“ Do you handle wools direct from the growers ? ” 
“We do, if they are sent to us, but we don’t solicit 
consignments of such small lots, as they are too much 
1 rouble. It is just about as much work to sell a lot of 
three sackp, as it is one of 300.” 
A gentleman connected with the company had just 
returned from a trip through Texas in the interest of 
his house. Of him I asked as to the prospects of the 
wool industry in that State : 
“The breeders there have been selling off their 
sheep in large numbers. They have been shipping 
them by the car-load and train-load, until they 
have about glutted the market. Lots of them have 
saved themselves by so doing, too, for when they 
began shipping, the market was in good condition, 
and they obtained high prices. But now it is flat. 
But you can’t get any mutton at the hotels in Texas. 
They have mutton on the bill-of-fare, but when you 
get it it’s nothing but goat. When they can buy 
goats tt 75 cents apiece, it doesn’t pay them to use 
mutton. But Texas is an immense State; and it has 
great possibilities in the sheep business.” f. h. v. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
IN a note recently referring to the Fine Tree Farm of Jamesburgh, 
N. J., we said there are 2,000 square feet of buildings. We should have 
said 20,000 square feet, and the floor space exceeds this. 
We learn that the Buckley watering devices have been put Into 
the live stock department at the World's Fair. Superintendent 
Buchanan has ordered tubs for 400 head of cattle. This Is the device 
manufactured by C. E. Buckley & Co., of Dover Plains, N. Y., and we 
doubt If Superintendent Buchanan could have made better u e of 
the money Invested. These tubs keep fresh water before the stock 
every hour of the day, and they are so arranged that water never 
flows Irom one to the other. This feature is especially valuable as a 
precaution against the spread of tuberculosis or other contagious 
diseases. 
Tub Johnston Harvester Co., of Batavia, N. Y., tell us that they are 
preparing to send out three train-loads of harvesters for the seaboard 
each train to consist of 30 cars of the machines. This will practically 
complete the export orders for the present season. They have made 
large shipments to Europe every week since early last winter. The 
home trade has also been lively. Besides the harvesters and mowers, 
the spring trade has required nearly 100 car-loads of disc harrows and 
cultivators. The company have already begun to enlarge their 
shops, and will at once commence the manufacture of machines 
for 1894. 
The object of manuring Is to Increase the yield on a given area, and 
thus save time, labor and land. Manure provides a substitute for 
your time and labor by making the plant do extra work. Manure is 
out of the question on many farms, and the extra fertility needed to 
push along the plants must be obtained In bags—fertilizers. In the 
present low price of wheat there are two things to be done—stop 
growing the grain or decrease the cost of growing a bushel. The lat¬ 
ter can be done by Increasing the yield per acre. The Bradley Fertil¬ 
izer Co. make a great feature of wheat fertilizers. Send to Boston, 
Mass., for their catalogue. 
Why It Pays,— r .'hls Is what K. N.-Y. readers want to know, es¬ 
pecially If It refers to farming or farm work. We refer more particu¬ 
larly. at the present time, to the use of ensl.age. The opinion of 
practical dairymen and stock feeders of to-day Is that It does pay. 
Whatever may have been the adverse opinion of theorists when the 
silo was first introduced, practical experience has brushed it all 
aside, and the silo, as an Indispensable aid to the successful feeding 
of stock, has come to stay. Why this Is so Is clearly, plainly and con¬ 
vincingly told in a 72-page Illustrated catalogue, devoted chiefly to 
the Smalley ensilage and fodder cutters, published by Mlnard Harder, 
Coblesklll, N. Y., one of the most reliable and longest established 
manufacturers of agricultural machinery In this country, who seems 
to have made a special study of the ensilage subject with a view of 
supplying all necessary Information in regard to silos and the best 
machinery for the cutting of ensilage and the filling of silos with the 
most economical power. The opinions, suggestions and experience s 
of others that are given In this catalogue are valuable, anu persons 
contemplating anything in this line will certainly be the gainers by 
reaoing this work, which will be sent free on application to Mr. 
Harder, as above, to all readers mentioning The Kuhal New- 
Yokkek, who we feel safe In saying will take no risk In dealing with 
this old estaollshed house, which has oeen some 35 years under the 
ownership and management of its present proprietor. 
