1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
657 
THE PROSPECT. 
Tiik growing of the seeds of sugar beets in France 
affords a good illustration of the scientific possibilities 
of agriculture. The object was to increase the per¬ 
centage of sugar in the beets and seed growers went 
about it just as they would have tried to increase the 
dairy capacity of a breed of cows. The plan was to 
select for seed only the beets that gave a high analysis 
of sugar and to feed them just the right sort of fertil¬ 
izer. To produce the seed crop of France requires 
25,000 mothers—as the seed beets are called. These 
“mothers” are all selected beets, each of which 
has been sampled and analyzed. A small bit of each 
is taken out with a gouge and tested for sugar, and 
only those that show a high analysis are planted. No 
. stable manure is used for growing this seed, but care¬ 
fully prepared chemicals are mixed on the farm. As 
a result of this careful work, continued year after 
year, the amount of sugar in the beet crop has been 
increased by nearly five per cent, while the total 
weight of the crop has been at least maintained. The 
beets have simply been bred to produce more sugar, 
filie French government has always encouraged such 
improvement—by legislation if necessary. Sugar 
makers pay a tax on their product, but if the amount 
per 100 pounds of beets runs above a given standard, 
they pay no taxes on the increase. This is an induce¬ 
ment to breed and feed better beets. 
X X t 
Ihk French have followed somewhat similar meth¬ 
ods in improving the potato. France ranks second in 
the amount of her potato crop—Germany alone pro¬ 
ducing more. The crop there is used for many pur¬ 
poses that are practically unknown here, so that the 
quality of the potato, its percentage of starch and 
other dry matters, is almost as important as the amount 
of sugar in beets. M. Ain6 Girard has, for the past 10 
years, been at work to increase not only the gross yield 
of potatoes, but the percentage of starch also. Im¬ 
provement has resulted, as with the beets, from both 
breed and feed. He has selected seed from the most 
vigorous and productive hills of a variety noted for its 
high per cent of starch. Whole tubers were planted 
and chemical fertilizers alone used. These are but 
illustrations of the progress scientific men are making 
by working in harmony with the laws of Nature. 
X X X 
Among the numerous causes assigned for the grow- 
ing depression in trade, transportation and commerce 
of recent years, which has reached a climax during the 
current financial panic, how many have given a promi¬ 
nent place to the increasing distress of late years 
among farmers ? Hardly one. Yet it is certain that 
no other single cause, and probably not all other 
causes combined, have contributed so much towards 
the present business collapse. When agriculture, in 
which over 30,000,000 of our people, or nearly half the 
population, are engaged, is prosperous, and' the farm¬ 
ers get good prices for their products, every other in¬ 
dustry thrives, chiefly because farmers have plenty of 
money to make extensive purchases and thus give an 
impetus to all kinds of business. Mills, factories and 
workshops run over-time, trade flourishes, purchases 
are heavy and collections easy ; rail and water lines 
are taxed to their utmost; workmen are in demand a p 
high wages, money is “easy,” and seeks employment 
with confidence, and the whole country is joyful and 
j ubilant. At the close of the war farm products brought 
such prices that every farmer’s pocket-book was ple¬ 
thoric, and his purchases of manufactured goods so 
many, varied and expensive that hundreds of factories 
had to run day and night to supply his demands. Was 
there ever such an era of prosperity in the history of 
the country ? Did farm products ever before or since 
bring such high prices ? These soon began to decline, 
however, and with them fell off the purchasing power 
of the farmers, and the era of extraordinary national 
prosperity began to wane. The proportion of the 
population engaged in farming also commenced to 
diminish. In. 1870, 52 per cent of all the males en¬ 
gaged in business were employed in agriculture ; in 
1880 the proportion had fallen to 49 per cent, and it is 
only about 45 per cent to-day. 
X X X 
Foa upwards of 15 years—1878 to 1893—all the chief 
agricultural products have been declining in price; 
although there have been occasional fluctuations in 
favorable times and places, still the plane of prices at 
the close of each year has been lower than at its open- 
cost of production, however, has remained sub¬ 
stantially the same, as most of the great labor-saving 
devices had been introduced before 1878. While the 
cost of production has not been materially reduced 
since 1875, according to statistics carefully compiled 
by the New York Sun, prices for staple farm products 
averaged 82 per cent higher during the five years end¬ 
ing with 1875 than now. This has been especially the 
case as regards the five staples—corn, wheat, oats, 
nay and cotton, which occupy 195,000,000 out of the 
400,000,000 acres now devoted to staple crops. 
The following table, shows, in five-year averages, 
the gold value per acre, in the local markets, of the 
products of these five staple articles since 1860, and an 
estimate of the value, with average yields, of an acre 
under such staples in 1893 at current prices : 
GOLD VALUE OF AN ACRE’S PRODUCT. 
Corn. $12.84 
Wheat. 13.16 
Oats. 10.92 
Hay. 
Cotton. 
Totals. $78.21 
Average per acre.$15.64 
1866-70. 
1871-75. 
1876-80. 
1881-85. 
1886-90. 
.. $12.84 
$11.30 
$9.62 
$10.25 
$8.81 
,. 13.16 
11.90 
12 00 
10 20 
9.07 
.. 10.92 
9.81 
8 68 
9.17 
7.60 
,. 13.28 
14.38 
11.57 
11.15 
10.19 
. 28.01 
28.55 
17.65 
15.63 
13.84 
. $7S.21 
$75.94 
$59.42 
$56.40 
$49.44 
. $15.64 
$15.19 
$11.88 
$11.28 
$9.89 
1893. 
$8.35 
6.00 
5.75 
10.00 
10.65 
$40.75 
$8.15 
It is highly probable, therefore, that the 30,000,000 
inhabitants of the farms of the country have for the 
last eight years received, on an average, no more than 
laborers’ wages and could therefore purchase only 
bare necessaries. What wonder therefore that all 
other industries have shared in the financial stringency 
so widely prevalent among the most numerous class 
of workers in the nation. 
X X X 
The cost of production having been deducted from 
the selling price, the acre revenue for the staple crops 
from 1866—70 was $7.59 or 93 per cent greater than in 
1893 ; from 1871-75 it was $7.04 or 86 per cent greater 
than in 1893 ; from 1876-80 it was $3.73 or 46 per cent 
greater than in 1893 ; from 1881-85 it was $3.13 or 38 
per cent greater than in 1893, and from 1886-90 it was 
$1.74 or 21 per cent greater than in 1893. Moreover, 
in the above statistics no account is taken of the 
reduction in the value of animals and the thousand 
and one other things produced on the fax-ms of the 
country. As there are 206,000,000 acres under staple 
crops this year, the power of the farmers to make 
purchases is $1,563,000,000 less than it would be if they 
received the prices of 1866-70 ; $1,450,000,000 less than 
if they got the prices of 1871-75 ; $768,000,000 less than 
if they secured the prices from 1876-80; $645,000,000 less 
than if they scooped in the prices from 1881-85, and $358,- 
000,000 less than if they enjoyed the prices from 1886- 
90. These are, of course, round figures, but do they 
not afford ample ground for reflection as affecting the 
present business depression throughout the country ? 
t X X 
Trustworthy information from Germany indicates 
that the hop crop is 15,700,000 metric pounds, or one- 
third of the output of 1892, less this year than last. 
For years this country has been exporting more hops 
than it has been importing, and in the first seven 
months of this year three times as much have been 
exported as in the corresponding period of 1892. Al¬ 
ready five car-loads of this year’s crop have been ex¬ 
ported from Tacoma, Wash., to London, and Germany 
expects to be a heavy importer from this and other 
countries. The crops have been excellent in yield 
and quality in Austria, England and Belgium, and 
though the New York crop is short in this country, 
those of the Pacific slope are abundant, and all are 
above the average in quality. It is estimated that 
the crop in the United States amounts to 40,000,000 
pounds, a gain of 4,000,000 pounds ; and the world’s 
total production will reach 146,000,000 metric pounds 
—a net deficit of 7,000,000 pounds from last year. 
Foreign hops are imported not on account of their 
price, but of their peculiar quality. From present 
indications on both sides of the Atlantic, hops should 
be a remunerative crop this year ; though they may 
not bring the extravagant profits realized in some for¬ 
mer years. 
XXX 
How many have any adequate idea of the extent, 
cost and importance of the levees along the Missis¬ 
sippi ltiver in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana ? 
The alluvial lands of the Mississippi Valley cover 19,- 
065,000 acres, or 29,790 square miles. If under culti¬ 
vation, they could produce cotton enough to supply 
the wants of the world, and sugar and rice enough to 
satisfy the United States, but as a matter of fact not 
over 2,750,000 acres, or barely one-seventh, are culti¬ 
vated, although every acre should be producing crops 
when the levee problem is solved. Since the war 
there have been expended on the levees of the above 
three States $42,103,968, or nearly $1,500,000 annually, 
although little substantial work was done prior to 
1882. The United States government has guai-anteed 
$1,500,000 a year towards the completion of the work, 
while the States, districts and parishes affected con¬ 
tribute about $2,750,000 more, making total annual 
appropriations of $4,250,000, and as three new levee 
districts have lately been organized, the revenue is 
sure to be increased, so that it is safe to estimate for 
the future an income of $4,500,000 annually, even if 
the United States should fail to be more liberal. So 
earnest are some of the parishes that they submit to 
a tax of 3 ]4 per cent on the assessed value of their 
property, for levee purposes, without a murmur. 
Mississippi has by far the best levee system to date, 
not a single crevasse having occurred in it for the 
last two years. The Louisiana levees are from three 
to four times longer, and injuries from crevasses are 
much more frequent and disastrous. Arkansas has 
only recently begun levee building, and her entire 
system is very weak and defective. Since the war 
the total losses by flooding the rich bottom lands 
have aggregated $87,015,260, the heaviest single loss 
having been in 1882, when it amounted to $27,238,000. 
All along the farmers and planters have been by far 
the chief sufferers. The season for levee construc¬ 
tion is now beginning, and the work will be pushed 
more vigorously than ever before, and at the next 
high water the levees will be in better condition than 
they have ever been. 
X X t 
Last Saturday the great scrub race on horse-back, 
bicycle, railroad cars and foot was begun at noon by 
from 100,000 to 150,000 people into the Cherokee 
Strip for the settlement of the territory. The whole 
proceeding was a disgrace to the age which practiced 
it, and a shame to the govei-nment which not only 
tolerated but promoted it. It put the “ boomers” 
and “sooners,” the land speculators and grabbers, the 
railroad officials and their protegees, the roughs, 
toughs and rustlers in possession of the valuable parts 
of a territory 65 miles wide and 185 miles long, while 
the honest farmers who intended to settle there and 
develop the country were shut out altogether, or had 
to rest content with poor and almost worthless loca¬ 
tions. The present disgraceful method of settlement 
was inaugurated only four years ago with the open¬ 
ing of Oklahoma, and each successive experience with 
it, in the settlement of that territory, as well as of 
the Cheyenne and Arapahoe lands and of the Cherokee 
Strip, has more glaringly shown its gross faults and 
defects. Under it the occupation of the “boomer” 
has become a trade. He is not seeking a home, but 
merely an incomplete title to land to be sold to actual 
settlers. He is a mere interloper between the latter 
and the government. He may rush in first by means 
of a good horse, but he prefers to get in the night 
before as a “ sooner.” Even if convicted, what cares 
he ? He doesn’t intend to “prove up,” but merely to 
sell to some “ tenderfoot” or greenhorn. 
X X X 
It was this disreputable class mainly, and their 
friends and frequent partners, the land speculators 
and railroads, that clamored for the opening of the 
country and forced through at Washington the legis¬ 
lation under which it was made. The selection of 
town sites by the government instead of by the set¬ 
tlers, the surveying of plots and farms beforehand, the 
establishment of registry offices, and the rough-and- 
tumble scrub-race method of opening the country 
were all brought about by them for their own benefit, 
and for the defeat and disappointment of all honest 
home-seekers. Again, every fourth square mile was 
reserved by the government for schools, colleges and 
Indians, but these reservations were not marked, and 
the settlers who took them up are destined to disap¬ 
pointment. The men who will actually build the 
towns will, for the most part, each have to pay $200 
to $2,000 for a good plot, and the farmers who will 
develop the country will have also to pay to specula¬ 
tors about as much for each quarter section. Small 
wonder that there is already a mighty exodus of the 
outraged would-be settlers; that the new country be¬ 
gins its career amid bitterness, wrath and bloodshed ; 
that over 25,000 lawsuits are already threatened, and 
that the whole land grab game is cons.dered a shame 
and disgrace to our land system. 
NOVELTIES AND STAPLES. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Green’s Nursery Co., Rochester, N. Y.—Fall cataloKue of nur¬ 
sery stock. Specialties are Wilder Early pear, Royal Church rasp¬ 
berry, Idaho pear, Lincoln Coreless pear, Saratoga plum, Elberta 
peach, etc. Grapes, currants, gooseberries, hardy trees and shrubs 
are also offered. 
Henry a. Dukek, Philadelphia, Pa.—A tasty, amply illustrated 
catalogue of hardy bulbs of all kinds for fall planting; bulbs for house 
and greenhouse, roses for forcing, palms, ferns, and llnally small 
fruits. It Is an excellent catalogue and an excellent house. 
Hingee & GONARD Co., WEST Grove, Pa.— “ Our Now Autumn 
Guide ” Is a catalogue of the above Arm’s •* bulbs, roses, plants and 
flowering shrubs.” 
JAS. M. Thorburn & Co.. 15 JOHN St., New York.—A beautiful 
catalogue of bulbs for autumn planting outside and Inside, miscella¬ 
neous bulbs and roots; flower seeds for fall and winter sowing in 
frames and greenhouse; palm seeds, etc. Bulbs are offered in collec¬ 
tions from $1.53 for 81) assorted bulbs, to $25 for cases of 500 tulips, 200 
hyacinths or 1,200 mixed bulbs. 
The Storrs & Harrison Co., Painesville, Lake Co., o.—a fall 
catalogue of all sorts of bulbs, singly, by the dozen, hundred, thou¬ 
sand, or In cheap collections; winter flowering and ornamental plants 
such as begonias, carnations, crotons, cyclamens, dracmnas, ferns, 
palms, roses; hardy herbaceous plants, hardy shrubs, vines, etc.; 
fruit trees, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. 
“ Scenes from. Every Land ” is the appropriate title of the llnost 
book of the kind we have ever examined. It Is 11x14 Inches In size and 
contains not less than 500 engravings from photographs presented in a 
most forcible way by flrst-class typography and printing. The Intro¬ 
duction Is by Gen. Low Wallace, and descriptions of many of the fas¬ 
cinating scenes are by such writers as Hamilton W. Mabie, editor of 
The Outlook (Christian Union), Henry Watterson, Edward Everett 
Hale and many other distinguished writers. The paper is very heavy 
and sapercalendered, and the heavy volume, or portfolio rather, Is 
elegantly bound. It Is Indeed an educational work of the finest merit. 
We see In It many of the mott distinguished scenes In the world; 
scenes that educated people travel far and wide to see. It Is educa¬ 
tional to children, presenting the scenes In such a way as to render 
their history more impressive and Instructive. The descriptions are 
ably written and, In a condensed form, give a surprising amount of 
Information. While It presents many of the most celebrated scenes 
In many parts of the world, it does not neglect American scenes of 
beauty or special Interest. It Illustrates, too, photographically, many 
of the famous paintings and 6tatues In the art galleries of Paris, 
London, Rome, Florence, etc. It Is In fact, as the publishers claim, a 
good deal like having the world before you in your own home, with 
the greatest travelers and lecturers to talk to you about It. The 
work, which we heartily and fully commend to our readers, Is pub¬ 
lished by Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick, of Springfield, O. 
