at the same time the public are not wronged 
out of a penny—notwithstanding they may 
t hink otherwise. It is an indisputable fact 
that our elaas of manufactures, which re¬ 
quires the most, carefully constructed combi¬ 
nations and workmanship of any articles 
used by the farmer—L say it Is indisputable 
that our goods have been sold at less prices, 
by almost one-half, than any other class of 
machines or implements used by the farmer. 
A farm wagon, by the pound, with less iron 
or work on it. commands 12 to 1 o cts,; a mow¬ 
er or reaper also (with leas work per pound), 
30 to 40 eta.; plows (■very little machinery in 
them), 15 to 20 cts ; harrows (no machine 
work), 15 to 20 eta. While horse-powers, the 
most costly stock and most machinery labor, 
have been selling at 8 to 10 eta per pound. 
Albany, N. T. HORACE L. Emkht. 
country, I wonder in how many we would 
find the Summer fire wood prepared or in 
progress of preparation ( Perhaps some 
would excuse themselves for not having any 
on hand by saying that they burn coal. Of 
course, this is a good reason for not preparing 
a large quantity of wood ; but even when 
one burns coal, a little wood is necessary to 
start, it with : besides, a coal fire is some¬ 
times a slow assistant to a hurried breakfast, 
especially when a man has several workmen 
LOUDEN HAY CARRIER 
DAILY RURAL LIFE, 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near Newl 
York City. 
The severe and hurrying work of the hay- 
field demand the employment, of implements 
to facilitate operations and ease the strain 
which must, otherwise come upon human 
muscle. 
LET THAT ALONE. 
Feb. 18.—Let what alone ? Why, subjects 
of which you know nothing and have no time 
or inclination to investigate. Of course, 1 
own up to ignorance myself; but wiien I 
meet a man a little more ignorant, I feel like 
opening in}' sympathetic heart and saying, 
“Poor follow, you’re to be pitied.” Now, 
we have, a very good and wise parson at our 
church; but he’s like too many of the cloth 
in these times, and is given to showing off his 
learning instead of confining himself to the 
plain Scriptures. I have often told him so ; 
but he knows more than I do, because he was 
educated at a theological seminary and reads 
Greek and Hebrew, while I don’t go further 
than Latin. Of course, 1 am ready to give in 
to him on the Scriptures ; but when he gets 
off from that line and talks about farming, 
botany and similar subjects, 1 usually wake 
up and listen. Now, lust Sunday, when in 
the course of his sermon he referred to the 
parable of the mustard seed, I waked up in¬ 
stantly, because I can always understand 
these passages better than some others, ns 
they seem to come home to me ; for I have 
raised lots of mustard seed in my time a nd 
some years sold It for a good price. Resides, 
I was a little interested to know which ver 
sion of the story our minister liked best- St. 
Matthew’s, St. Mark’s or St. Luke’s ; but 
he read St. Matthew s, xrn : 81, and after 
reading the two verses through, he looked 
down at me (for my seat is in the second 
pew right in front of the pulpit), and, seeing 
that I was awake, he explained the line, 
“Which indeed is the least of all seeds,” by 
saying that the mustard seed of Palestine is 
much smaller than our common sorts. Now, 
if I ever wanted to speak right out in meet¬ 
ing it was then, and tell our parson to “let 
that part alone.” Just as though we did not 
know all about the wild mustards of the 
Holy I^and, and had not found seeds wit h our 
improved microscopes to which the smallest 
mustard seeds were like pumpkins in com¬ 
parison. The Scriptures are all right, if our 
learned j(arsons would just let them alone and 
not try to put figurative speech to a practi¬ 
cal and litoral test. Whenever they try to 
do this, the whole story is spoiled, and it Is 
best to lot it alone. 
I have hoard Parson Beecher of Brooklyn 
preach a pretty good sermon without touch¬ 
ing the Scriptures ; but then he is an excep¬ 
tion to the general rule, and knows some¬ 
thing about " Fruits, Flowers and Farming,” 
else he would never have written a book 
with this title. Then there is another cele¬ 
brated parson who preaches at an up town 
church in New York, who delights in show¬ 
ing off his knowledge of natural things in 
general ; but his explanation of how the 
evergreens were killed last Winter ought to 
have been patented. He said that the ice 
which formed on the leaves and branches 
during cold rains became little lenses, which 
concentrated the rays of the sun. burning 
the leaves the same as boys do a piece of 
paper with a common sun-glass, or lens. 
Burning leaves and wood, inclosed in ice, 
without melting the ice, is a little ahead of 
anything that Prof. Tyndall gave us in his 
very interesting lectures on light and heat, 
BURSTING OF THE STEMS OF TREES. 
Feb. 19.—I have just discovered that the 
bark upon some of my large Morello cherry 
trees has burst open from the branches 
down to the ground. This is the first, time 
such a disaster has befallen trees in my 
grounds, although it is no uncommon thing 
in the Western States to see the stems of 
fruit trees splitting open to the very center i 
during severe Winter. The openings usually 
occur on the south side of the stem, showing 
that the sun has something to do with it, 
probably by softening the frozen fibers at' 
that point, allowing them to 
Although Mr. Emery’s letter was not 
designed, evidently, for publication,' we have 
thought proper to introduce the article, 
referred to in il. from the Albany Argus, by 
publisliing it. The. following is the article 
referred to: 
At a meeting field at the Delavan House, 
February 18th. 1873, of the principal manu¬ 
facturers of Horse-Power Threshers and 
other agricultural machinery and imple¬ 
ments. lor the consideration of the state of 
business, the following establishments were 
represented : 
The State Agricultural Works, Albany N. 
Y.. by Wheeler Mellick & (To. 
The Albany Agricultural Works, Albany, 
N. Y., by H. L. Finely & Sons. 
The Schenectady Agricultural Works, 
Schenectady, N. Y.. by Geo. Westinghouse & 
Co. 
The Empire Agricultural Works, Cobles- 
kill, N. Y., by M. Harder. 
The Trenton Agricultural Works, Trenton, 
N. J., B. Gill, President, and others by cor¬ 
respondence, who were unable to attend. 
The subjects considered and comparisons 
made, related to the costs, credits, commis¬ 
sions, prices and profits of the business, and, 
after a careful canvass, all present were, u mini 
mous in their opinion that in consequence of 
the increased costs attend.ng their manufac¬ 
ture. that an advance in their price lists hod 
become absolutely necessary tor the welfare 
of oil concerned, as also to avoid on some 
articles actual losses. 
Since the present lists of prices were adopted, 
some six or seven years ago, when they af¬ 
forded fair profit returns upon the capital 
invested, the advance of prices for all mate¬ 
rial and labor has greatly increased the cost 
of production—so much 'so, that with many 
leading articles this profit margin is wholly 
wiped out. In the one article of iron, in all 
its varied forms, and which enters largely 
into these machines, the advance within the 
past twelve months has been from forty to 
sixty per cent,, and oilier items in a J most the 
same ratio, thus entailing an increase of cost 
for the completed machines of from fifteen 
to twenty-five per cent . 
After a careful consultation of all the bear 
ings and revising of prices of the several 
manufacturers, it was unanimously resolved 
to advance their list of prices from ten to 
twenty per cent, on different machines, also 
to lessen the commissions and time credits to 
dealers and farmers. 
LIQUID EXCREMENT 
How strangely we overlook the value of 
the liquid excrement of our animals 1 A cow 
under ordinary feeding, furnishes in a year 
20.000 pounds of solid excrement, and about 
8,000 pounds of liquid. The comparative 
money value of the two is but slightly in fa¬ 
vor of the solid. This statement has been 
verified as truth, over and over again. The 
urine of herbivorous animals holds nearly all 
the secretions of the body which are capable 
of producing-the rich nitrogenous compounds 
so essential as forcing or leuf-forming agents 
in the growth of plants. The solids hold the 
phosphoric acid, the lime, and magnesia, 
which go to the seeds principally; but the 
liquid, holding nitrogen, potash, and soda, is 
needed in forming the stalk and leaves. The 
two forms of plant nutriment should never 
be separated or allowed to be wasted by neg¬ 
lect. Tiie farmer who saves all the Urine of 
his animals, doubles his mammal resources 
every year. Good seasoned peut is of im¬ 
mense service to farmers, when used as an 
absorbent, and the stalls lor animals should 
be so constructed as to admit of a wide pas¬ 
sage in the rear, with generous room for 
peat, to be used daily for the excrement.— 
Boston Journal of Chemistry. 
ADVANCE IN PRICE OF HORSE-POWERS 
Editor Rural New-Yorker I inclose a 
clipping from our “Albany Argus” 
newspa- 
j per, containing notice of a meeting held by 
several manufacturers for the discussion of 
the state of the business of making and sell- 
1 ing the leading machines used by farmers 
and planters. As an item of interest to your 
readers, I think you will copy it, with such 
remarks, if any are needed, as you deem de¬ 
sirable. The great fact, seems to be finally 
getting through the brains of some of our 
manufacturers and competitors in our special 
lines, that they have been doing business for 
nothing, and on several of their heaviest and 
most expensive articles, have done business 
for less than nothing, or actually at loss. 
Our own prices have always been based 
on known costs, and when adopted have 
been satisfactory. But for some time back 
the costs have increased as well as expenses, 
while our competitors, with lower price fists, 
have been actually increasing their rates of 
discount, and commissions from 10 to 15, 20, 
25 and 5 off the cost ; also giving increased 
time credits of from four and six to sixteen 
months, until the time has come when all 
must stop tills business to seek something 
else, or on the other hand must advance our 
price lists to cover the. necessary require¬ 
ments of the same. 
This move has been urged by me for years, 
but not heeded, until now the inquiry has 
come spontaneously from all sides, and, for 
the first time in my experience in business in 
this city, there has appeared a disposition to 
unite in the adoption of some mutually-es¬ 
tablished basis for prices, so the capital in¬ 
vested can have a fair share of profits, -while 
IRRIGATION 
give away, 
while tin* remainder of the tree is frozen. 
Sometimes only the bark is split, and tins 
separates from the wood entirely around the 
stem, like a broken hoop from around a 
barrel of dee. Trees injured in this manner 
may usually be saved for a. few years, if not 
entirely restored to health, by filling the 
cracks with wax or grafting-clay, and then 
carefully winding the stems with cloth, the 
object being to keep out the air and water 
until the wound heals. 
DRY WOOD FOR SUMMER. 
Feb. 20.—If one could only take a peep into 
every farmer’s wood-yard or house in the 
Can you or any of your correspondents in 
form me how water can be distributed over 
plowed land, for irrigation, without washing 
away the. soil, the surface being undulating 
and so situated that water can be easily led 
to the highest parts of the field i 1 under¬ 
stand liow grass land may be irrigated by a 
svstem of mains and catch drains. Would 
tile same method answer for grain and hoed 
crops? Js there any practical treatise on ir¬ 
rigation ?— C, M. D., Warsaw, N. Y. 
We know of no practical treatise on irriga¬ 
tion ; but the water applied to plowed land is 
so distributed that it filters through the soil- 
does not wash it. We shall be glad to receive 
communications from those having experi¬ 
ence, relative to the best mode of irrigating 
plowed fields. 
