1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
785 
THE PROSPECT. 
It seems to us that too little prominence has been 
given by fruit growers to the matter of feeding their 
trees and vines in the most scientific way. When 
fruit growers meet in convention or in private most of 
their talk is given to discussions of varieties or methods 
of pruning or cultivating. Manures and fertilizers are 
discussed in a general way, but not in anything like 
the detail in which other matters are handled. For 
example, when Mr. J. H. Hale makes the statement 
at these meetings that he would arrest a man who 
hauled stable manure into his peach orchards, most of 
those who listen fail to see and understand what he 
means. In this issue and the last, we think Mr. 
Williams has made clear why stable manure may be 
just the thing to produce wood and yet a poor thing— 
when used alone—to grow the crop of fruit. The fact 
is that many fruitgrowers who are thoroughly posted 
as regards varieties and culture know but little about 
the science of feeding plants successfully. This is but 
a repetition of the progress in the science of feeding 
animals. Breeding and careful handling did much, 
but not until the chemist showed how foods may be 
combined into rations that will prevent waste can 
true economy be said to have fairly started. Any 
one with a pocketbook could learn in a few years that 
there was no profit in dairying when feeding an exclu¬ 
sive diet of corn meal and Timothy hay. Why this 
was so few rightly knew until the chemist showed 
that in order to obtain the needed protein, so much of 
these foods must be given that the surplus fat in them 
was wasted. Then they found that by adding more 
clover hay and bran, they had a cheaper and better ra¬ 
tion. Now, to a certain extent, fruit growers must study 
out similar problems about manures and fertilizers. 
In this day, to use stable manure on vineyards and or¬ 
chards is like using corn meal and Timothy for cows. 
The manure is not well balanced and should have both 
potash and phosphoric acid added to make an eco¬ 
nomical fertilizer. Again, what form of potash will 
best take the place of wood ashes ? These questions 
are the coming ones for fruit growers. We shall try 
to answer some of them in the articles now being 
printed. 
t t t 
Our friend who on page 790 writes about the possi¬ 
bilities of farming for women, starts a very interest¬ 
ing discussion. Take a woman in these times, who is 
left with less than $10,000 ; how can she invest it so 
as to realize enough to make a home and educate her 
children ? What business offers her anything like the 
returns that are possible on a good farm ? The author 
of the article on page 790 is a widow who was left 
with a sum of money, the interest of which would but 
little more than pay house rent and clothes in the 
city. She wisely, as we think, invested most of this 
money in a farm on Long Island. While the income 
in cash was not great to begin with, a home was pro¬ 
vided, and such a home as money could not possibly 
buy in the city. Not only that, but under careful 
cultivation the farm is producing crops of hay, grain 
and potatoes that will soon yield an assured cash in¬ 
come. This farm, with improvements, was bought 
for just what the land alone cost 30 years ago. The 
improvements cost more than the present cost of the 
whole farm. No wonder this lady writes, “ Bless the 
panic for me!” We should say that farming with 
fertilizers offers the best opening for such a woman, 
unless she is by nature particularly well qualified to 
manage hired help. In growing potatoes, corn, wheat 
and grass with fertilizers, a ve, y great part of the 
work may be done by machinery and only a few good 
hands will be needed. In any event this “country 
home ” solution of the problem that confronts many 
widows is well worth considering. 
X t X 
Every autumn we have many inquiries from our 
young friends in the country regarding furs. The 
market is always very uncertain here until after the 
annual fur sales in London, which occur about No¬ 
vember 1. Several circumstances conspired to render 
the market dull this season, and prices had a down¬ 
ward tendency. Of raccoon skins, 60,038 were sold 
this fall; last fall, 13,500, but prices ruled about the 
same, just a trifle lower. Muskrat skins — called 
musquash, over there—sold for about 25 per cent less 
than last year. There were 279,786 brown muskrat 
skins sold, and 6,155 black ones. The number of 
American opossum skins sold was more than four 
times the number last year. Other skins from this 
country were few in number, and prices ruled a trifle 
lower than last year. 
t t X 
The annual *' Horse Show ” has just been held in 
New York. The show of horses was not quite so 
good as last year’s, but as a social event the exhibition 
was a great success. In fact, as now managed, the 
horses are a small feature of the entertainment. 
Society people have seized upon this annual exhibition 
as a grand opportunity for showing off their clothes 
and their airs, and they take advantage of it so well 
that the horses become of secondary importance. And 
yet, here are to be found some of the most magnificent 
specimens of horse flesh in the world. This is because 
the wealthy and fashionable people who make the 
most of this show provide the market for superior 
animals, and their desire for handsome riding and 
driving horses creates a competition among breeders 
and trainers. The horse is the one animal that can 
call out such an assemblage. Cattle, sheep, dogs 
and poultry all have their admirers, but the people 
with exquisite tastes, and the money with which to 
gratify them always rush to a good horse show. The 
practical lesson from all this is that one of these 
proud, high-stepping, bright-eyed horses costs to raise 
but little more than a slow, ugly blunderbuss, while 
the selling price of the one is ten times that of the 
other. It is like a fine Bartlett pear and a turnip. 
They take about the same amount of nourishment 
from the soil, but while the pear sells for five cents, 
the turnip sells five for one cent. This is so because 
people prefer the pear to the turnip for eating from 
the hand. It is not a matter of sustaining life but of 
pleasure. The greatest profit is found in catering to 
the higher tastes and luxuries. That is why well- 
bred and showy horses are worth more than common 
ones, though the latter may be better on the plow 
or horse car. J J j; 
For several years past there has been a strong de¬ 
mand, chiefly from organizations and meetings of 
farmers, for a change in the methods of electing United 
States Senators. It is now demanded that these 
Senators should be elected by the people at large— 
the same as Governor or other State officers. There 
are many arguments in favor of such a change, but 
perhaps one of the strongest is the following extract 
from a circular sent out by a “Good Government 
Club ” in this city : 
In the last presidential election, the trusted national leaders, In¬ 
fluenced by party questions, urged on the voters (by letters now on 
record, dictated by the rings), the necessity of electing the machine 
tickets for the Legislature, to secure a United States Senator, as the 
main support of the national admtnstratlon. It was this Issue, and 
not the separate national ticket, that forced the people to give Tam¬ 
many Hall entire control of the New York State and city government 
In that election. Does not this single Instance alone prove the pres¬ 
ent system of electing United States Senators to be a tie binding 
State and National politics, and a leading cause of machine govern¬ 
ment? 
That is to say, men were induced to vote for candi¬ 
dates that they could not personally indorse, because 
they feared that otherwise the “ Senate might be 
lost.” It is easy to see how politicians can thus use 
this threatened loss of the Senate to club honest men 
into line for bad candidates. It seems to us that the 
Senate has degenerated largely because it has grown 
away from the people. There are dozens of Senators 
who would not dare go before the people of their 
States and trust to popular support for re-election. 
Nor would their party dare to put them forward as 
popular candidates, knowing full well that plenty of 
honest party men would knife them at the polls. 
The R. N.-Y. believes in popular elections—that is 
why we want the office of Agricultural Commissioner 
in New York State made an elective one. 
X X X 
The people of Newfoundland have been holding an 
election—like the rest of us. This island, a little 
smaller than the State of New York, has a govern¬ 
ment of its own. It is really the oldest of England’s 
colonies, dating back to 1497. Still, England has prac¬ 
tically deserted it, though about the island are some 
of the finest fisheries in the world, while in the in¬ 
terior are great stores of minerals. There is a long 
standing dispute with the French over the possession 
of the fishing grounds on the west shore. England 
does not care to force a settlement of this western 
shore question, as, in case they gave that up, the 
French would demand concessions in Egypt and the 
Mediterranean. For the same reason, Canada is not 
particularly anxious to take the island into the con¬ 
federation, because she would be forced to take this 
French question, too, which would disturb her large 
French population. Thus the 200,000 Newfoundlanders 
remaining on the island are left to themselves, and 
have their own political battles. The last campaign 
turned on the tariff. The government proposed an 
increase promising to use the revenues to provide 
winter work for the fishermen, and telling the mer¬ 
chants that the best way to obtain reciprocity with 
the United States was to shut out American goods. 
These arguments succeeded, but as is the case with 
Canada, the result will be that more and more New¬ 
foundlanders will come to this country to live. In 
fact, it seems most natural for the Newfoundland 
people to turn to the United States for business and 
political association, and we shall not be surprised 
if this island is the first of the English-speaking 
colonies to seek annexation to this country. The 
agriculture of Newfoundland amounts to little. At 
present fish is about the only product of the country. 
X X X 
A certain liouseho’d publication makes the follow¬ 
ing assertion: 
The real antagonists of butterlno are not the makers of Rood butter, 
but those butter commission merchants and creamerymt n who make 
a business of buying up, at a low price, queer or low-grade butters, 
which they work over, and, by the Introduction of acids, “convert” 
Into a passable product, which they place on the market at a large 
profit. These unscrupulous dealers have no use for oleomargarine, as 
Its purity ard healthfulness command for It a place among the legiti¬ 
mate and commendable household commodities, while the dark cellar 
manipulators have hard work to force their goods, which are not 
Intended for Inspection or the light of day. 
In viow of the desperate efforts and unscrupulous 
trickery to which the manufacturers of, and dealers 
in, butterine have resorted in order to force their pro¬ 
duct upon the public, this asinine statement sounds a 
little strange. The farmers have been fighting this 
stuff for years, and their opposition, as well as that of 
the consumers is founded mainly on the fact that the 
imitation is usually sold, sooner or later, for genuine 
butter. Tf it’s so pure and good, why not sell it for 
what it is ? 1 j: 1 
In the year ending June 30, 1892, the American 
people consumed 98,000,000 gallons of distilled spirits, 
28,500,000 gallons of wine and 987,500,000 gallons of 
malt liquors or 1,114,000,000 gallons of all kinds. How 
much health or real comfort and happiness floated on 
that great sea of liquor ? On the other hand think 
what could have been bought with the money spent for 
this stuff. The Independent thus figures it: 
The sum would buy In round numbers. 132,000,000 barrels of Hour at 
*0 each-more than the whole crop of wheat for that year; or 153,000,- 
000 tons of c >al at $5 each—equal to the entire output of coal; or 
79,000,000 suits of clothes at $10 each; or 225,000,000 pairs of Bhoes at 
$3.50 each. Or, If this money were equally divided among these 
articles it would buy 33 000,000 barrels of flour, 39,500,000 tons of coal, 
19,750,000 suits of clothes, 50,250,000 pairs of shoes. And If these 
articles were equally distributed among 10,000,000 families of working¬ 
men there would be for each family: 3 3-10 barrels of flour at $0,3 95-103 
tons of coal at $5, about two suits of clothes at $10 and 5j£ pairs of 
shoes at $3 5J. 
You can see again that this liquor question is a mighty 
practical one to farmers—a good deal more practical 
than the tariff if they would only think so. Suppose, 
for example, that the money spent for liquor could be 
spent for food and clothing. That would mean so 
much more cash in your pocket, and very little of the 
food and clothing would be wasted either. 
X X X 
Last week we referred to the Reading Club pro¬ 
posed. by the Michigan Agricultural College for en¬ 
couraging reading and study of agricultural litera¬ 
ture. This plan is being followed by the colleges in 
several other States. The Illinois College of Agricul¬ 
ture proposes a new plan that might well be followed 
elsewhere. This plan, as outlined in the circular, is 
as follows: 
The University offers to hold two meetings, one In northern and one 
In southern Illinois, at each of which four or five courses, each con¬ 
sisting of live lectures, shall be given by members of the Faculty of 
the College of Agriculture and the station staff. The lectures will be 
on subjects directly relating to agriculture, those given In northern 
Illinois having more especial reference to stock breeding and dairy 
farming; those for southern Illinois to fruit and other piant produc¬ 
tion. They will be primarily addressed to young men, rather than to 
those with long experience; will discuss and Illustrate principles, 
rather than give rules; will be scientific rather than what are some¬ 
times called practical. 
This is carrying the short agricultural course right 
to the farmers, and is entirely aside from the regular 
short course held at the University. Something like 
this plan has been tried in Michigan, where a farmer’s 
institute was prolonged a week or more. Prof. Wing, 
of Cornell, has outlined a comprehensive plan for lec¬ 
tures on agricultural topics in various parts of the 
State, but Illinois seems to be the first State to actu¬ 
ally put the idea in practice. Prof. G. E. Morrow, 
Champaign, Ill., has the matter in charge. 
X X t 
From the little that can be learned about the new 
tariff bill, it seems probable that wool, hay, eggs, 
coal and iron ore will be put on the free list. We also 
expect that the duty on potatoes and tobacco will be 
greatly reduced, if not removed. We have considered 
these changes probable from the day of the last Presi¬ 
dential election. While, as we stated last week, the 
recent election would have changed the tariff policy 
of almost any European government, in this country, 
the government is safe in going ahead undisturbed. 
Free coal ought to make cheaper fuel if “ the tariff is 
a tax.” In this case, however, the chief motive for re¬ 
moving the tariff seems to be to please the New Eng¬ 
land manufacturers, who may thus import coal and 
ore from Canada cheaper than to haul it from Penn¬ 
sylvania and West Virginia. There is still to be a 
tariff on woolen goods, though wool is to be free. It 
seems likely, too, that a duty will be put on sugar 
and coffee and the present sugar bounty removed. 
This, with an increase in the tax on whisky and a 
suggested income tax, is evidently to supply the rev¬ 
enues that will be lost by the new free list. 
