1894 
THE RURAI NEW-YORKER. 
6o5 
THE PROSPECT. 
Thb first Monday in September was quite generally 
observed as Labor Day, but it is not well understood 
that this day is now a National holiday the same as 
Christmas, Decoration Day or the Fourth of July. 
Some 25 of the States had made Labor Day a public 
holiday, so far as the State can do such things, but the 
new law, passed by the late Congress, gives the holi¬ 
day a National character. The day is for all who 
labor, whether it be at a desk or on a farm, and farm 
hands are as much entitled to it as they are to July 4. 
Whether wisely or not, the day has been made a legal 
holiday, and belongs to the workingman. 
« 
Every progressive stock farmer realizes the possi¬ 
bility of enriching the manure pile by feeding the 
stock heavily on rich food. The difference between 
the “feeding” and “manurial” values of bran or corn 
meal is pretty well understood. Why not go a step 
further and realize the possibility of feeding the 
manure pile as well as the cow ^ Peed as heavily as 
you may, the stable manure will contain too much 
nitrogen in proportion to the potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid. By adding a phosphate and muriate of 
potash to the maaure, you greatly improve it. This 
is both practical and scientific. It is just as legiti¬ 
mate as any other feeding. Take our advice and try 
it. In sheep farming, especially, some form of potash 
added to the manure is needed. A ton of unwashed 
wool takes away from the farm 150 pounds of potash, 
and the urine of* sheep contains nearly five times as 
much potash as does that of cattle. 
The sugar planters of Louisiana are very much 
alarmed over the prospects of the new tariff. Very 
many of them have declared that they can expect 
nothing more for their industry at the hands of the 
Democratic party, and they are ready to go over in a 
body to the Republicans, believing that they can thus 
secure a more favorable tariff, or a continuation of 
the bounty law. Prom the West and Southwest comes 
the news that voters are breaking their old party ties 
and supporting candidates that make the best prom¬ 
ises regarding silver, or some other industrial ques¬ 
tion. In fact, in these sections, there is evidently a 
largely increasing body of voters who will hereafter 
consult what they consider to be their best interests, 
and let old party loyalty go to the winds. For in¬ 
stance, thousands of dairymen realize that the passage 
of the pending “oleo” bill is of far more interest to 
them than a decade of tariff talk. They will quietly 
support the candidates that are pledged to support 
that bill, and in so doing they are certainly acting for 
their best interests. 
«r 
Secretary J. Sterling Morton is consistent in his 
efforts to reform the nuisance of National distribution 
of seeds. Last year, it is said, $140,000 were spent on 
this foolish enterprise. Secretary Morton proposed 
doing the work in a satisfactory manner for $30,000 by 
limiting the issue to seeds that were really “new and 
rare,” and making use of the experiment stations to 
aid the distributions. Congress promptly appropriated 
$160,000—$20,000 more than last year. The Secretary, 
however, is not beaten yet. He has secured a legal 
opinion from Attorney-General Olney that a strict 
compliance with the law limits the distribution to 
plants “ rare and uncommon to the country.” Strictly 
speaking, he has no authority to distribute any other 
kind. We hope the Secretary will stick to his posi¬ 
tion, cut down the distribution to the lowest possible 
figure, and have it out with Congress later. He evi¬ 
dently has the law on his side, and now is his chance 
to really reform this great abuse. There is no more 
reason why this Government should provide the seeds 
for a farmer’s garden than there is for it furnishing 
coffee for his breakfast. 
tt 
Said a drummer to the writer the other day : “Our 
manufacturers are making very little profit on staples 
now. Competition is fearfully close. But I tell you 
when one of them catches on to a novelty that takes 
with the people, he makes it snow for a time. He gets 
out of any competition for awhile, and that lets him 
make all the money he needs.” So it is, in a large de¬ 
gree, with the farmer. Those who engage in the produc¬ 
tion of nothing but old-time staples, like wheat, corn 
and oats, have an earthful of competitors. The greatest 
tyro in the business of farming is free to compete. All 
know something of such crops, and while many can 
get only half-crops, yet every bushel produced is a 
weight upon the market. Some good farmers can suc¬ 
cessfully meet competition in the production of these 
staples, just as manufacturers continue to do so, but 
when one can get out of the way of sharp competition, 
profits increase. Illustrations may be found in many 
neighborhoods, and there is room for more. The best 
way out of general competition, is to take up a 
“ touchy ” crop—one that is hard to grow. The crop 
that requires the most study and care is the one for 
the farmer who purposes to succeed regardless of agri¬ 
cultural depressions. The masses must leave such 
crops alone because they will utterly fail with them. 
Is there not in your neighborhood a failure to produce 
a good quality or sufficient quantity of some one thing 
that you can learn to produce on your farm ? Are 
there not crops that your neighbors shun on account 
of the insect pests that abound ? Are not these the 
crops that you are hunting just now ? With intelli¬ 
gence and energy, most things can be mastered. Intelli¬ 
gence and energy generally get good pay. Put yours 
in use by growing “ touchy ” crops—those that demand 
the very best treatment, and then pay you the very 
best price for such treatment. No matter what the 
crop, provided it is one your neighbors think requires 
too much attention. ^ 
Corn promises emphatically to be a cash crop this 
year. The Government crop report for Saptember 
showed the enormous falling off in condition from the 
July report, of 31.6 points. At the beginning of July, 
corn stood at 95, on August 1, at 69 1, and on Septem¬ 
ber 1, at 63.4. One year ago, the September report stood 
at 76.7. The great falling off in condition is tue more 
serious because the greatest decline is in the dibtinct- 
ively corn growing States, so that the loss in total 
yield must be far more serious than these figures in¬ 
dicate. The most of the Southern States report a 
good crop probable, but this will have little real effect 
on the market beyond decreasing the demand from that 
locality. The figures from some of the States are 
startling. Iowa is given at 40, Kansas, 45 ; Wisconsin, 
51; Minnesota, 60; while South Dakota is credited 
with 16, and Nebraska with only 15. Ohio and Mis¬ 
souri are given 70, Illinois, 78 and Indiana, 80. This, 
bear in mind, is on condition Special inquiries in 
eight States as to the amount of corn cut for fodder 
or abandoned showed that of 40,873,384 acres planted, 
15,506,000 acres had been so used, or 38 per cent, being 
20 per cent of the total area of corn planted in the 
whole country. The showing by States is as follows : 
Wisconsin. 
Missouri. 
Indiana. 
.06 
. fW 
Illinois. 
Nebraska. 
Iowa.. 
South Dakota. 
.81 
In the East, while the condition of the crop is fairly 
good, the comparative area is small. Much that ap¬ 
pears fairly thrifty is very poorly eared, so that a very 
short crop is inevitable. The great American cereal is 
an exceedingly valuable one this year. 
• 
It is probable that a good many of our experiment 
station workers do not realize the great gulf that 
stretches between their bulletins and the comprehen¬ 
sion of the great majority of farmers. As a man ac¬ 
quires more and more knowledge, it becomes harder 
for him to remember that he was ever in such a men¬ 
tal condition that a primer was like a sealed book 
to him. Scientists are especially prone to forget that 
practical farmers have not studied technical terms, 
and have not gone through the primer course in 
science. One director once settled the matter to his 
own satisfaction, at least, by saying that “any farmer 
who does not know what ‘ protein ’ or ‘ nitrogen ’ 
means, has no business to expect any help from 
science.” Now and then some scientist starts out 
with the avowed purpose of printing a bulletin of ele¬ 
mentary facts so simple that any one can understand 
them. As a rule, these bulletins serve only to further 
complicate matters. The cry is loud for true elemen¬ 
tary science—primer science—not for college grad¬ 
uates or for farmers who have been trained to the 
habit of reading and thinking correctly. Who is to 
supply this science if the experiment stations will not 
or cannot ? The task will most properly fall to the 
lot of the agricultural paper, and there are difficulties 
in the way here which should be appreciated. 
« 
The readers of an agricultural paper may be di¬ 
vided into two broad classes—those who have read or 
studied until they assume that they know all that is 
needed in elementary science, and those who have no 
such knowledge, though they feel the need of it in 
one way or another. Which class should the paper 
serve? It is evident that “primer talk” will be of 
little value to the advanced class, while facts that 
would interest the latter might be as Greek to the 
former. To illustrate this point, let us consider the 
following case: 
“ To show you what a fraud there is about this fer¬ 
tilizer business, I will tell you what I know. Over in 
Pennsylvania at one store they sell fertilizer for $42 a 
ton. Not five miles away they sell the very same thing 
for $14.” 
The speaker was a country clergyman—a man of 
great influence in his parish. When pressed for proof 
that there was no difference in the two fertilizers be¬ 
yond $28 in price, he said: “ Why, they are both 
fertilizers. Are not fertilizers practically alike—the 
same as manures ? ” 
Now it is very evident that the information needed 
to set such men right, would be of no possible value 
to the thousands who have studied this fertilizer 
question for years. And yet j ust such information is 
needed, perhaps, more than any other. The problem 
is a hard one. The R. N.-Y. tries to solve it by urging 
its readers to ask questions on knotty subjects. It 
seeks to answer these questions in the spirit in which 
they are asked, with more or less detail as the cir¬ 
cumstances of the writer seem to demand. And yet 
this is not entirely satisfactory, for it is often difficult 
to get farmers to ask questions about things they 
really need, since they are afraid of being called 
ignorant if they ask them. At the same time, we do 
not know of any better way. A suggestion that 
would open up a better plan would be almost sure to 
win a prize in our symposium contest. 
# 
The Hay Trade J ournal has been compiling reports 
on the hay crop from the whole country and Canada. 
The old hay left over is a small percentage and cuts 
no figure, that in Canada being several times more 
than that of any of the States. But 10 States report 
more than an average crop, and that but a small in¬ 
crease. Ten report an average crop, while 20 report 
a decrease ranging all the way from five to fifty per 
cent. The smallest crops are in the West; Iowa, 
Nebraska, New Mexico and South Dakota reporting 
about a half crop, with several other States not much 
better. The probability is that the West will be buy¬ 
ing hay instead of shipping it East. The whole coun¬ 
try shows a shortage of nine per cent, with only three 
per cent of old hay left on hand. The quality is 
almost invariably reported better, while the acreage 
is either the same or greater with very few exceptions. 
As these statistics were compiled from the reports of 
3,000 reputable correspondents, they should be pretty 
accurate. The foreign crop this year is good, and 
prices are in general lower. There isn’t likely to be 
much foreign demand for our hay. 
tt 
Under the provisions of the Sugar Trust’s new 
tariff bill, the Southern sugar planters are likely to 
have a hard time. They had made all their plans for 
this year—contracts for labor and supplies, as well as 
loans, etc.—with the expectation of receiving the 
bounty paid under the old law. The Secretary of the 
Treasury now decides that this bounty will not be 
paid. This is a severe blow to many of them, as well 
as to the beet-sugar growers of Nebraska and Cali¬ 
fornia. The Secretary’s ground for this decision is 
that there is no appropriation available for paying 
this bounty, but it is thought by some that a special 
appropriation will be made at the next session of Con¬ 
gress. Meanwhile the Sugar Trust goes on piling up 
its enormous surplus, and has j ust declared a good, 
fat, quarterly dividend. Great is a pull I As to the 
condition of the beet sugar industry, the following 
statement of the Oxnard Sugar Co. is made public: 
We are praotlcallT ruined la Nebraska. We started out live years 
ago with the Intention of bulldlns 10 suKar factories In Nebraska and 
California. Wo have built throe, and instead of building more, may 
bo compelled to abandon those In operation at Chino. Grand Island 
and Norfolk. We were paying 15 per ton for beets, and at this Ogure 
the farmers were raising beets at a liberal prollt. They were begin¬ 
ning to become enthusiastic over beet culture. As a proof of this as¬ 
sertion, we have only to cite the fact that the drst year we commenced 
operations at Norfolk, the farmers raised out 300 acres of beets. Last 
year they raised 900 acres, while this year they have t,300 acres, and 
we were compelled to close our contract books last April because 
more beets were likely to bo raised than we could well take care of. 
Under the now tariff bill, we cannot pay more than $4 per ton for beets, 
delivered at the factory. 
It is easy for an orator to say that the whole Ameri¬ 
can people should not be taxed to accommodate “ a 
few beet growers out West.” On the other hand, it is 
a fair question whether it would not benefit the en¬ 
tire country to locate in the far West a new crop and 
a new industry instead of depending on foreign coun¬ 
tries for our sugar. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Thk best strains of White Wyandottes can be secured of D. C. 
Bassette, Farmer, N. Y. 
Thosk who want Cotswold sheep, need have no hesitation In send¬ 
ing to J. Harris Company, Moreton Farm, N. Y. 
Thb time is approaching when those Interested In poultry will begin 
to consider the advisability of purchasing an incubator. These 
people, one and all, should send to J. Rankin, South Easton, Mass., 
for catalogue of the Monarch. 
Ground feed will put on more fat than whole grain, and every 
farmer will And a great saving in money by purchasing a grinding 
mill. We call your attention to the Star Mill, manufactured by the 
Star Manufacturing Company, New Lexington, O. Send for their 
descriptive catalogue. 
Thk Stokhs & Habhison Co., I’ainksvillb, Ohio.— Current cata¬ 
logue of bulbs for fall plants of all sorts and In great variety. Special 
offers are made In collections. For winter, “16 named hyacinths for 
11; ” “300 assorted klncs for 13.” Seeds for fall and winter sowing, 
plants for winter flowering, ferns, select roses for winter flowering, 
hardy perennial plants—snrubs, trees, vines-fruit trees, grape vines, 
small fruits, complete the extended list. This Arm offers the best of 
the Japan plums, viz.: Abundance, Burbank, Ogon, Satsuma Blood 
and Willard. 
IN these Business Bits we endeavor to point to some good feature 
of the Implements or goods that are advertised In Thb K. N.-Y. It Is 
one of the valuable departments of the paper because it contains 
suggestions of practical value that many readers must want to know. 
Of course. It Is a benetit to the advertiser as well as to the reader. 
Just now, wo want to call especial attention to the advertisement of 
Alfred Feats, Drawer 21,13(1-138 West Madison St., Chicago, Ill., in the 
Woman and Home Department. Every home needs wallpaper, and 
every homekeeper will And new suggestions for improving and beau- 
tuylng the homo in the little book published by this house. Make 
sure to get It. 
