THE RURAL NEW-V'ORKER. 
im 
THE PROSPECT. 
When two people find themselves unable to agree as 
to the terms of a business transaction, there are two 
courses open to them. They may put the facts in the 
hands of a fair-minded outsider for arbitration, or 
they may fight over it. In the latter case, the stronger 
party is sure to win by force of might. Arbitration 
guarantees to the weaker party a fair hearing and 
a recognition of the justice of its cause. The unfor¬ 
tunate occurrences in Chicago during the past two 
weeks, have strengthened the general belief that this 
country needs a National arbitration law to settle the 
contests between labor and capital. In the original 
contest between the Pullman Company and its em¬ 
ployees, there were two sides. Justice was not en¬ 
tirely on the side of the company—there was a fair 
chance for an argument, and if the statements made 
by the company are correct, arbitration would have 
proved them as nothing else could. By saying, “ We 
have nothing to arbitrate,” the Pullmans left noth¬ 
ing open but submission at their own terms, or a fight. 
The fight came. It was an ill-advised and reckless 
proceeding which has done much to injure the cause 
of labor. We do not believe that the reported acts of 
lawlessness and plunder were performed by the better 
class of workmen. The trouble is that such uprisings 
call out a gang of violent and ignorant men who, by 
unlawful acts, throw discredit on the efforts of law- 
abiding workmen. Whenever this struggle gets to be 
a conflict between the Government of this country and 
a mob, the great majority of citizens always support 
the former because they believe the only safety to 
society lies in upholding the existing law. For this 
reason, a violent labor strike seldom results in any¬ 
thing but defeat for the men. 
Prom every point of view, we need a law that will 
compel the settlement of these contests by arbitration. 
The R. N.-Y. has always claimed that the tendency of 
wages must be downward. Food, clothing, all the 
necessaries of life, except rent, are cheaper and there 
is no question that wages and rents must follow. It is 
a double injustice to the farmer when his prices are 
lowered and wages of town and city workmen are held 
up or increased. It seems to us that we have come to 
a time in the world’s history when the price of labor 
must go down with the cost of living. If labor and 
capital are to settle this matter in a fight, the pros¬ 
pect for civil war is not at all bad. The manufactur¬ 
ers and those who work for them do not own this 
country—they are in a large minority. The majority 
have rights. The farmers of this country cannot 
afford to stand by and see this matter of wages fought 
out in cat-and-dog fashion. The whole business is 
brutal and degrading, and the time has come to put a 
stop to it. The master and the man must be forced to 
arbitrate their differences. In questions of law, the 
courts give labor a fair showing, and a court of 
arbitration would be equally fair in settling wage 
differences. Here is a question on which all patriotic 
workmen may well combine. There is little hope 
for the stability of this Government if it can ever be 
ruled by a mob. ^ 
The Grape Grower tells of the shipment of two lots 
of currants, picked the same day, by express on the 
same train, consigned to the same reliable house not 
more than 100 miles away. Both lots were of the 
same variety, grown on thrifty, healthy bushes, free 
from worms, and were uniformly large, well-ripened 
fruit. They were also packed in clean, new baskets 
of uniform size. They were sold promptly, on their 
merits ; one lot for 70, and the other for 50 cents per 
nine-pound basket. Don’t you suppose that the shipper 
who received the 50 cents considered himself swindled? 
No doubt about it. Where was the trouble ? The pick¬ 
ing. The 70-cent lot was picked by those who knew 
their business. The stems were pinched off without 
crushing the berries, and the baskets were filled with 
sound, dry fruit that would carry a long distance and 
arrive in good condition. The others were picked by 
careless help ; the clusters pulled off and many of the 
berries crushed. The latter made the coutents of the 
baskets moist, and the longer they stood, the worse 
they became. In a short time, they would have been 
worthless. Whose was the blame ? Wouldn’t that 
extra 20 cents per basket have paid well for sadly 
needed oversight of the picking and packing? And, 
too, might not that extra 20 cents mean just the differ¬ 
ence between profit and loss ? And still this world 
wonders why some people succeed while others fail ! 
# 
Beefmaking in parts of Eagland seems to be going 
about as it has gone in this country. In a number of 
counties, farmers have suddenly found that it no longer 
pays to buy and fatten steers. As the Mark Lane Ex¬ 
press says : “In olden times farmers never looked for 
a direct return from their live stock. Their cattle and 
sheep were regarded as necessary to be dung-makers 
and dung-carriers for the corn crops, the latter being 
expected to yield nearly all the farm revenue in nu¬ 
merous cases.” Tbatisexactly the way it was on many 
farms in the eastern part of this country. The con¬ 
tinued low price of grain has almost entirely destroyed 
the profit which was once found in the manure. Farm¬ 
ers have been forced to grow some more profitable 
crop on the manure or hunt for some cheaper fertiliz¬ 
ing substance. ^ 
The city of Birmingham, England, has established 
a large sewage farm of 1,400 acres where the filth and 
wastes of the city are utilized for growing farm crops. 
The soil is level and of an open, sandy character. The 
sewage is forced through pipes from the city, and 
either flooded over the land or put on in open furrows 
along the rows of crops. Roots, cabbage, potatoes 
and other vegetables, with large quantities of Italian 
Rye grass, are the crops generally grown. A large 
number of cattle and sheep are fed on the Rye grass, 
and under this system of irrigating and fertilizing, 
immense crops are grown. This is a cheap and profit¬ 
able way of disposing of these wastes. It might 
easily be attempted with the wastes of Brooklyn. Out 
on Long Island, within a few miles of the city are 
large tracts of land that are just suited to this sort of 
farming. The objection is that the crops grown by 
this method would seriously interfere with the busi¬ 
ness of neighboring farmers who depend for their 
living on the crop^ they raise in the ordinary way. 
* 
Again the stencil plate that any commission mer¬ 
chant will send to would-be shippers 1 This stencil is 
a flat piece of metal, having the name and address of 
the merchant cut out, like the plates sometimes used 
by farmers in marking their grain bags. Each one 
also contains a different number. The merchant sends 
one, we will say, to Peter Pumpkin, numbered 497. 
Next comes Simeon Squash and wants a plate and he 
gets one just like the first, only that his is numbered 
498. And so on, each succeeding applicant getting 
another number. These numbers are entered in 
regular order in a book kept for that purpose, and 
opposite each is the name and address of the person to 
whom that stencil was sent. Everything that comes 
marked with that number is credited to that person. 
All this by way of introduction to a tale of woe by a 
commission merchant. An applicant (a woman, too) 
was furnished with a stencil plate. In a few days, she 
returned it—attached to a tub of butter. The mer¬ 
chant returned it to her, and explained its use. In a 
few days, back it came, in the same manner as before. 
But this is a woman who is supposed not to know much 
about business outside of bargain counters, who can’t 
vote and who, therefore, isn’t entitled to much con¬ 
sideration. But the other case involved a man, one of 
the noble lords of creation. He had grapes to ship, 
but no stencil plate with which to mark them. But 
his neighbor, also a grape grower, had been shipping 
grapes and getting good prices for them. So when his 
own grapes were ready to ship, he went to his neigh¬ 
bor’s and borrowed his stencil. His neighbor and all 
his family, by the way, were away from home, and the 
latter says that he stole the stencil. But that’s an¬ 
other matter. Suffice it to say that 298 baskets of 
grapes were marked, sent on their way to the city, 
and the stencil returned to its place without its 
absence being detected. It probably never would have 
been known, but for subsequent developments. In due 
time the grapes arrived ; no message came with them 
or afterwards. They were sold immediately, and the 
same day a check was dispatched to the owner of the 
stencil number on the baskets. This might have 
ended it for all time, if the shipper had not bethought 
himself about three months afterwards, that it would 
be a good idea to inquire why he hadn’t received pay 
for his grapes. This involved much correspondence, 
and considerable explanation, and the borrowing of 
the stencil finally transpired. The owner of the 
stencil and the shipper settled the matter between 
themselves, and the latter knows more about the use 
of stencil plates than he ever dreamed before. But 
what are we to think of such methods of doing busi¬ 
ness, and of a man who would wait for three months 
before making inquiries ? 
« 
Commission merchants are often blamed—sometimes 
justly, often unjustly. Southern potatoes have been 
coming in immense quantities. As a result, there 
has been delay in transportation and delivery, and 
sales have often been slow. Prices, too, dropped 
suddenly and materially. A complaint from a ship¬ 
per that he had not received pay for potatoes shipped 
to one of our advertisers, took us to the latter’s store. 
His books showed that the potatoes in question were 
received June 26, the bill of sale made out the 27th, 
and the check forwarded the 28th. Not bad, was it ? 
The potatoes had been several days on the road, but 
the commission merchant was blamed for not making 
immediate returns. The shipper, too, spoke of pota¬ 
toes being a certain price when he shipped, and he 
46 r 
evidently expected this price for his goods. When 
such heavy shipments of any product are precipitated 
upon the market, the price frequently drops half in a 
few hours; the price when the shipment is made is 
therefore no criterion of the price when the goods are 
received. Another grievance of the commission mer¬ 
chant was that among the thousands of barrels of 
potatoes received, many small lots contained no dis¬ 
tinguishing marks, or were marked only with initials, 
and no living man could tell to whom they belonged. 
Then, again, some regular shippers had been lending 
their stencil plates, and as all goods marked with a 
stencil are credited to the name represented by that 
stencil on the books, here was more trouble. Truly, 
the life of a commission merchant is not an enviable 
one! * 
A FEW years ago the papers printed a good deal 
about a “lintless” cotton which was to revolutionize 
Southern farming. It was understood that this plant 
produced little or no lint, but a heavy crop of seed 
which, it was claimed, would be more profitable, cou- 
sidering the low price of lint and the cost of picking 
it. It now appears that this “lintless” cotton is 
simply valuable as a curiosity. It grows but little 
more seed than the average kind, and is likely to 
shell out and waste a good share of what it does 
produce. Like many other “new varieties,” it is 
valuable only to sell. „ 
California Lima beans have had a good sale at re¬ 
munerative prices ever since the last harvest. The 
crop last year was estimated at 3,000 car-loads, 25 to 
30 per cent or more above the average crop. The stock 
remaining on hand at the present time is small. This 
year’s crop is reported to be almost a failure. What 
are said to be liberal estimates, place the probable 
crop at 300 car-loads, while others make it not much 
more than one-half this. The present high price is 
likely to go still higher, and California Limas will 
prove good property for at least a year to come. But 
the high prices are attracting shipments from other 
parts of the world. Far off Madagascar promises con¬ 
siderable quantities, and although the quality is not 
equal to that of the California article, buyers are not 
likely to be squeamish in times of such scarcity. 
* 
Aralia quiNquEFOLiA is the botanical name for the 
ginseng plant, whose root is much prized for its medi¬ 
cinal qualities, and is solely used by the Chinese. It 
is indigenous to almost every State in the Union, and 
Canada, and owing to the heavy demands from the 
Mongolian Nation, and the scarcity of the supply, com¬ 
mands extreme values compared to other medicinal 
roots and herbs. The best qualities are those gath¬ 
ered in New York, Canada, Pennsylvania and Ver¬ 
mont, and recent years have evidenced to collectors 
the hidden wealth contained in their forests, as the 
quantities now received are greatly on the increase. 
It has been gathered since before the war in the 
Southern States, and many millions of dollars have 
flowed into those mountain sections in return for the 
root. The root gathered in the fall is heavier and 
better than that dug in the spring and summer, yet 
all grades find a ready market with the exporters. 
Attempts have been made by both scientists and prac¬ 
tical agriculturists to cultivate the plant, but unsuc¬ 
cessfully ; in its wild state, when left undisturbed, it 
thrives, but when transplanted it makes no progress. 
To be merchantable, it should be perfectly dry and 
clean of stems, twigs and dirt. It is a fluctuating 
article on the market, its value depending on the rate 
of exchange between our country and China, and this 
exchange is governed by the value of silver, the 
Chinese settling for our moneys with Mexican dollars. 
This article, in former years, was received on the 
markets from the country through many channels, 
but the business has assumed such proportions that it 
has now become a line by itself, and one reliable firm 
in New York makes a specialty of ginseng root only. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Thsue Is a Hplendtd chance for a KOOd, eteady man In the advertise¬ 
ment In another column headed, Man and Wife Wanted. We would 
like to place a Kood man In this desirable position. Write at once and 
send references. 
Wb have often wondered why some one did not come forward with 
an Improved rye, and advertise It exte slvely for seed purpo.ses. Mr. 
E. 1j. Clarkson, of Tivoli, N. Y., has just sent us a sample of very Hne 
grain, and. from bis recommendations, we are Inclined to think that 
It Is Just what Is needed. 
Messrs. Hoover & I’uonr, of Avery, O., write us under date of 
July 5, that they had Just shipped nve car-loads of the Hoover potato 
diggers 1 ito Aroostook County, Me., one agent taking 80 diggers. This 
Is a recognition of merit weil deserved. The Hoover is almost a 
necessity In successful potato growing on a large scale. 
Tub Hornellsville Exposition Is one of the best annual exhibitions 
held In the State, and Us managers are not running It as the Elmira 
Fair Is run—for the benetlt of a select few. 1 he Hornellsville people 
are running a purely agricultural fair for the benetlt of agriculture In 
general. This year they announce premiums to the amount of $.0,000. 
Particulars and premium list may be bad by addressing O'hus. 11. 
Coleman, secretary, Hornellsville, N. Y. 
The time Is past when farmers can allord to go to all the expense 
of preparing land for wheat and neglect to see that there Is suiliclent 
fertility In the soil to feed the crop, and Insure a full—or at least a 
fairly successful—crop. An application Of commercial fertilizers will 
supply the fertility needed and will Increase the yield so as to make 
the crop as a whole a paying business. The Amerlcus brand of fer¬ 
tilizers has been used largely for i?heat, and repeated trials have 
demonstrated Its value to growers. It Is manufactured by the 
Williams & Clark Fertilizer Co., 88 Fulton St., New York. 
