1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
64l 
THE PROSPECT. 
No fewer than 23 people are known to have died 
within a radius of 35 miles of New York city during' 
the past fortnight from eating toad-stools in mistake 
for mushrooms, and upwards of a hundred more have 
been made seriously sick by the same cause. Numer¬ 
ous reports of similar disasters appear in the news¬ 
papers of different parts of this and other States, and 
as September and October make up the season for 
wild mushrooms, misfortunes of the kind are likely to 
continue for several weeks. There are over 125 edible 
sorts of fungi found in this country, but there are 
quite as many poisonous kinds and unfortunately there 
is no general rule for distinguishing the wholesome 
from the harmful, hence all these accidents. Old- 
time tests considered infallible for generations are 
found to be fallacious by experiment. Of these the 
most widely known and relied on are silver, onions 
and parsley used in cooking the fungi. It has been 
held as an infallible test that if a piece of silverware 
is placed among poisonous fungi or toad-stools when 
cooking, it will turn black, while an onion will turn 
green and parsley brown; all three have been found 
to fail several times within the past week by medical 
men here who experimented with them. The only 
guide to be relied on, it is now conceded, is an eye 
educated to observe the peculiarities of structure, 
color, etc., which characterize the various species. As 
a general rule, the wholesome sorts have an agreeable 
taste and smell, and all with a repulsive odor and an 
acrid taste in the fresh state should be rejected. 
t X X 
The gigantic enterprise to supply electric power to 
all the manufacturing cities of New York State, by the 
Niagara Falls Power Company, one of the strongest 
corporations in the country, is fast approaching com¬ 
pletion. The organization has secured absolute con¬ 
trol of both sides of the Niagara river near the Falls, 
and will greatly extend the plant now almost ready 
for work. At first 100,000 horse-power will be gen¬ 
erated on the American side and then 250,000 on the 
Canadian. Ultimately, it is planned to have around 
the Falls from (500,000 to 1,000,000 horse-power avail¬ 
able and by means of duplicate transmission systems 
it is designed that the flow of electricity to distant 
points snail be as steady as that of the cataract itself. 
In Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albaiy, Troy and other 
manufacturing centers throughout the State, local 
companies will be organized for the purpose of oper¬ 
ating the enterprise. Each will construct and main¬ 
tain a central power station, and distribute from it 
the electric current for the purposes of power, light¬ 
ing and heating; while Erie and Niagara counties 
will be supplied by the parent organization. At each 
distributing station the powerful current transmitted 
from Niagara will be changed by means of a “trans¬ 
former ” into others of any desirable strength, and 
from these centers adjoining towns and villages can 
be supplied. Already the great tunnel, 21 by 23 feet 
inside measurement, and 8,265 feet long, is finished. 
The canal, 500 feet wide, 1,200 feet long, and 17 feet 
deep, faced with massive masonry, is also completed, 
and gigantic bronze turbine wheels, each representing 
5,000 horse-powers, are nearly ready to be set at the 
head of the tunnel. The power will be supplied at 
such low figures that the manufacturing enterprises 
of the Empire State are likely soon to transcend those 
of any other part of the world. 
t t t 
Who among the general public has bestowed a ser¬ 
ious thought on the development, extent and import¬ 
ance of our street railroads ? In 1880 they extended 
over only 2,050 miles, whilb in 1890 they had reached 
5,783, an increase of 182 per cent in 10 years. Accord¬ 
ing to the census, these 5,783 miles cost $389,330,000, 
or considerably more per mile than steam railroads. 
They also carried in that year 2,023,010,202 passengers 
against 472,171,342 carried by the regular railroads. 
Their earnings in the year were $91,721,844, and their 
expenses $77,388,006, leaving a surplus of $14,333,836 for 
dividends. New York is their best patron in spite of 
the elevated travel; the average number of rides per 
year to each inhabitant being 297, in Kansas City it is 
286, in San Francisco 267, in Boston 225, Cincinnati 
186, Brooklyn 183, Chicago 164 and Philadelphia 158. 
The mileage to-day is estimated at 9,600, as there has 
been greater activity in construction during the last 
three years than ever before. This great impetus is 
due to the application of electricity as a motive power, 
rendering roads practicable in the smaller towns, and 
enabling even small capital to extend them into semi- 
rural districts, so that during the last few years cities 
have been .apidly extending their limits and suburban 
residences have come greatly into favor. Traction by 
sunken wire cables and electricity are fast superseding 
horses as motive powers. The street-car system has 
already greatly changed urban life. It is fast amel¬ 
iorating the evils of congested existence in the over¬ 
crowded tenement districts by affording facilities for 
travel at cheap rates to the outskirts and suburbs, 
where rents are low and the surroundings salubrious. 
The street cars are the carriages especially of the 
poor and to no other class have they proved a greater 
blessing. XXX 
According to the latest and most reliable informa¬ 
tion from all parts of this country and the rest of the 
world, the price of wheat ought to go up. According 
to the September report of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, the spring and winter wheat crops are in the 
aggregate less than any since 1885, and advices from 
the United Kingdom declare that the crop there is 
equally bad, and similar stories come from nearly 
every other country. Last year the actual wheat crop 
of the world amounted to 2,018,413,000 bushels, of 
which the United States produced 515,952,000 bushels. 
This year the estimated crop is only 1,892,200,000 
bushels, of which the United States contribute only 
400,000,000 bushels. The only country having a 
notable surplus is Russia, but that country can by no 
means make good the deficiencies in others which 
usually have a considerable surplus for sale. Within 
the last fortnight there has been an advance of over 
five cents per bushel in this country, and the latest 
London cablegrams tell of a like advance beyond the 
Atlantic, and on both sides of the water the tendency 
of prices is still upward. Reports from Chicago indi¬ 
cate that Addison Cammack, of New York, for years 
one of the heaviest and most successful speculators on 
the Stock Exchange, has for the first time begun to deal 
on the Produce Exchange, having started a “corner ”in 
wheat, of which rumor says he has already bought up¬ 
wards of 10,000,000 bushels in the confident expecta¬ 
tion that prices must rise. It is stated in Wall Street 
that he could sell out to-day at a profit of $400,000, but 
that he is still loading up heavily. “ Unless all signs 
fail,” the price of wheat ought soon to advance. 
XXX 
In his speech, just before the overwhelming rejec¬ 
tion of the Irish Home Rule Bill by the House of Lords, 
after its stormy passage by the Commons, Lord Salis¬ 
bury, leader of the Conservatives and probably the 
ablest statesman among them, declared that he was 
opposed to the measure because its success would be 
injurious to the landlord interests. In this sentiment 
he is certainly antagonistic to the vast majority of the 
population of the United Kingdom, for if there is one 
thing more than another which the multitudinous 
masses are determined to abolish, not only in Irland, but 
also in Great Britain, it is the feudal and exclusive sys¬ 
tem of landlordism still in vogue in the United King¬ 
dom. What does landlordism represent to the masses 
of Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen ? Isn’t it a 
heritage of privileges at once unjust and oppressive, 
one of the last surviving vestiges of feudalism untem¬ 
pered by any of its ameliorations ? The ownership of 
land is as much respected in the United Kingdom as in 
the United States, but the ownership of land and land¬ 
lordism there, generations of suffering and hardships 
among the brawn, bone and sinew of the land, have 
taught to be very different conditions, and though 
Salisbury’s declaration won victory before the House of 
Lords, it is not unlikely to have a very different effect 
before the people at large during the general elections 
which, after the Government’s late defeat in the 
Upper House, cannot be far off. 
X X X 
For the last six weeks, according to Dr. Senner, New 
York Immigration Commissioner, the emigration of 
foreigners from this port has been greater than the 
immigration from Europe and all other parts of the 
globe—an unprecedented state of affairs, whicti is re¬ 
garded as a national benefit by the Commissioner. It 
is attributable chiefly to two causes : first, a more rigid 
enforcement of the contract labor and anti-immigra¬ 
tion laws, and, second, an extraordinary exodus of 
Italians, Poles, Hungarians and Finns, due chiefly to 
the hard times here and the bitter and often turbulent 
competition they have been meeting from natives and 
other nationalities in search of work. As these are 
among the least desirable of immigrants, their de¬ 
parture is hailed as a godsend. As an instance of the 
extent of the efflux, the steamship Werra carried 'Over 
900 steerage passengers for southeastern Europe the 
other day, and was forced to leave behind on the dock 
900 more exasperated people to whom passenger tickets 
on her had been sold but for whom there was no 
room. The German emigration, too, is so heavy that 
the Teutonic lines are carrying away from 1,000 to 
to 1,300 passengers apiece each trip, while the immi¬ 
grants are now numbering only from 400 to 600. The 
strict enforcement of the contract and immigration 
laws has taught the steamship companies that it is to 
their interests to sift the steerage lists abroad more 
thoroughly, as they have to carry back at their own 
expense all rejected passengers, and, moreover, they 
are growing convinced that such lax enforcement of 
our laws as they have hitherto practiced may so arouse 
public opinion in this country as to lead to the total 
stoppage of immigration—for a time at any rate. As 
a consequence, they are more careful in booking pas¬ 
sengers, and lienee we are getting fewer but better 
immigrants. In August, for instance, there was a de¬ 
crease of 4,000, and in July one of 2,500 as compared 
with the corresponding months last year. 
t X t 
The Rhode Island Experiment Station people have 
been trying some interesting experiments with cow 
peas and other green manuring crops. In the last re¬ 
port we find the following : 
For many years the Idea has been prevalent among the farmers of 
southern New England that It does not pay to sow clover. There are 
perhaps two reasons for this, one being the frequent failure of clover 
seed to “ catch,” and the other the fact that the presence of clover In 
any quantity In loose hay injures its price in market, and, as a ma¬ 
jority of farmers sell some hay, but small quantities of clover seed 
are used in seeding. This condition of things is unfortunate for our 
agriculture in the light of the discovery within recent years that the 
leguminous plants are able to use the nitrogen of the atmosphere for 
their growth through the medium of bacteria Infesting a nodular 
growth upon their roots. 
This is very true, as we have often had occasion to 
observe. Where hay is sold these farmers fight shy of 
clover. They are willing to cripple all the other farm 
crops for the sake of obtaining a few extra dollars for 
the hay. Where such prejudice exists, is seems like a 
wise policy to urge the growing of cow peas, soy beans 
and similar crops that will supply nitrogen and still 
not interfere with the quality of the hay crop. 
x X X 
The past dry season has taught many a farmer the 
value of irrigation. England, as a rule, does not 
suffer from drought; generally there is too much 
moisture, but this year even there the crops have 
dried up, and artificial watering has been resorted to. 
The Agricultural Gazette tells us of an irrigating ex¬ 
periment that turned out well. An English maker of 
steam pumps, which are used for irrigating in Egypt 
and Australia, is also owner of a large farm. When 
it became evident that the dry weather would destroy 
his crops he resolved to try for himself a little of the 
medicine he was making for foreigners. So he took a 
six horse-power engine and six-inen pump and began 
raising water from a small stream that ran through 
his meadows. At first he used a hose made of ordinary 
canvas, sewed in a single seam. This answered for 
nearby fields, as the water spouted out the whole 
length of the seam and thoroughly wet the ground. 
For carrying water to distant fields, however, ordin¬ 
ary woven or rubber hose was needed. The experi¬ 
ment was a great success, though commenced late in 
the season. The hay crop was more than doubled by 
the irrigation. The great pump irrigated three acres 
per day at a cost in fuel and wages of $3.48, or $1.1(5 
per acre. The canvass hose was but a makeshift. 
Another year the water will be pumped to the highest 
part of the ground and permitted to trickle down 
over the meadows. Surely if pump irrigation will 
pay in England, it will in this country. 
X X X 
It seems that the Babcock test is gettinginto use in 
England and Ireland, and everywhere its effect is to 
improve the quality of the average milk sent to cream¬ 
eries. A writer in the Dublin Farmer’s Gazette has 
this to say about an experience with Irish dairymen : 
But though I do not believe In Acts of Parliament making men 
honest. I am cynic enough to believe In making honesty proti table and 
dishonesty unprofitable, by an equitable scale of payment based on 
the percentage of butter fat the milk contains. I have tried It In a 
dairy where by some extraordinary arithmetic, which pasaeth the wit 
of man to understand, the adulterators were being paid for their 
butter at the rate of Is 3d per pound; while the honest suppliers were 
getting but 9dl Butter was then selling at about 98s per cwt,-a tribe 
over lO^d per pound! I quickly adjusted things, with the result that 
I had a frantic appeal from the manager in a few days, saying the 
rogues had left the creamery In a body, vowing dire vengeance, and 
asking me what he should do. My reply was laconic, "Let them go.” 
Having tiled one or two other creameries, they came back again. But 
wnat was the actual result? In one week the adoption of an equitable 
system of payment had raised the average produce per gallon from 
5.8 to 6 6 ounces, or over 12 per cent. 
Many a creamery-man in this country will chuckle 
at that, for it will recall a bit from his own experi¬ 
ence. The Babcock test forces milkmen to be honest, 
and no law has ever yet succeeded in doing that. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Mk. E. D. Clarkson, of Tivoli, N. Y., has some of the finest Jersey 
blood In the country, and purchasers are reasonably sure to be pleased 
with his stock. 
J. W. Kerr, Denton, Caroline County, Md., Is an old frlmd of The 
R. N.-Y. He has just Issued his price-list of nursery stock grown at 
the Eaitern Shore Nurseries. No agents employed there—a good 
chance to avoid middlemen. Try It and see ! 
It never pays to put grain in the ground until the soil* Is thoroughly 
pulverized, and a good seed-bed prepared. This can’t be done with 
the oid spike-tooth harrow. Clark's Cutaway, made by the Cutaway 
Harrow Company Higganum, Conn., does the business. 
Nothing makes home on the farm so pleasant and cheerful as 
music to while away the long winter evenings. Almost every family 
has some member with music In her or his ioul that may be developed. 
What a pity to leave It dormant; If you have any love for music, and 
want Instruction or music, write to the Oliver Dltson Comoany, 463 
Washington Street, Boston, Mass. Its place is now, as It has been for 
years, headquarters for all kinds of music and musical literature. 
The hard times have created In the country a general spirit of 
economy that should prove healthful In some direction at least. But 
people should be careful In practising economy as In other things. 
For examp.e. It would not be economy to keep a horse unblanketed In 
a cold staDle, nor leave him uncovered at a hitching post. Neltner 
would It be economy to cover him with a coarse blanket; nor one that 
was falling to pieces after having been used a few times. It will 
always be economy to use a 5 | A horse blanket. It covers a horse com¬ 
pletely, protects him from the cold, and wears long and well. 
