MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 23 
(Bccmonni. 
VARIETY OF CROPS AND MIXED HUS¬ 
BANDRY THE TRUE POLICY FOR 
FARMERS. 
Therf. is perhaps nothing that would tend 
more to advance our agriculture than a gen¬ 
eral disposition among fanners to diversify 
their industry by enlarging the variety of 
their crops. There is abundant room for 
improvement in this direction, and it is al¬ 
ways easy to wld to the assortment of farm 
products, either by introducing commodities 
that are entirely new, or by reviving and 
improving the culture of some that have 
been comparatively neglected. Every new 
commodity that farmers can successfully 
raise and profitably sell, tends to diminish 
the uncertainty of their business, and to in¬ 
crease the average profit. It also diminishes 
the liability to Injurious competition, und by 
adding to the resources of the farm makes 
the owner a more independent man. Mixed 
husbandry is undoubtedly, as a rule, the 
surest and safest system to follow, and in the 
long run the most profitable. Special farm¬ 
ing is always more or less hazardous, as the 
increased risk involved in it is usually out of 
all proportion to the prospective gain. The 
great point of difference between the two 
systems may be very briefly stated. Special 
farming is a game of chance ; mixed hus¬ 
bandry is a game of skill. The man who de¬ 
votes his acres mainly to one or two leading 
crops, run* the gauntlet of so many chances 
that he becomes rather a speculator than a 
farmer. But he who pursues intelligently 
a system of geueral farming, including a va¬ 
ried assortment of products, plants his busi¬ 
ness on a broad foundation, and has the 
chances of success nearly all in his favor. 
The attention of farmers has lately been 
wisely directed to this subject, and the dis¬ 
cussion growing out of it can hardly fail of 
useful results. Among the products of agri¬ 
culture can always be found various articles 
of utility and value that are only occasion¬ 
ally raised by farmers, but which, if the 
market price were u little higher, or the cost 
of producing them a little less, could be at 
once widely and profitably cultivated, and 
farmers would gladly avail themselves of 
such opportunities if price* were a matter 
within their control. Now, in reference to 
such articles of production as these, al¬ 
though it may be true enough that the pro¬ 
ducers cannot always determine the market 
price, yet it is equally true, and even more 
important, that be can in many cases do 
what is perhaps still better, he can reduce 
the cost of production, and this, in the end, 
is a gain for the public as well as for the 
farmer. If, by thus reducing the cost, he 
succeeds in securing for his new product a 
fair and remunerative profit at current 
prices, he rises at once to the position of a 
successful man and a public benefactor, for 
he establishes a new line of industry, and 
extends the boundaries of his vocation. 
Again, whenever a new and important use 
is discovered for any of the regular products 
of the farm sufficient to materially increase 
the demand for it in the general market, 
this gives at once nn additional value to such 
commodity, and adds another source of 
profit to the regular business of the farm. 
In deciding what crops to cultivate, farm¬ 
ers now find it necessary to study more 
closely than ever before the cost of transpor¬ 
tation. To those especially who are remote 
from business centers, the bulk of commodi¬ 
ties, as compared with their value, must 
form a large element in all their plans for 
the future. It isnodifficult matter for every 
clear-headed farmer to adapt his business to 
his own locality. If he is too far from the 
sea board to raise wheat with a profit, at the 
present average cost of production, he must 
either learn how to reduce his o<vn cost, be¬ 
low the general average, or substitute other 
commodities that will bear transportation. 
As both of these alternatives ore yet within 
reach of farmers east of the Missouri, they 
are under no present necessity, either to 
abandon the crop, or to make it a special and 
exclusive business. There is a possible cost 
of production for wheat enough below the 
present average to leave no doubt as to the 
profit, and there is also a variety of substi¬ 
tutes that can be made to pay whenever 
wheat shall cease to yield a profit.. Flax , for 
itsHber and seed, sheep for t he mutton and 
wool, beets for the value of the sugar and 
the pulp, condensed milk, butter and cheese, 
poultry and eggs ; these are a few of the 
numerous products that remote fanners 
ought to be able to raise, and, with one or 
two exceptions, could raise with a profit 
over freight charges, if their system of farm¬ 
ing were what it should be. These same condi¬ 
tions are also true In regard to Indian corn. 
If Western farmers are not now raising it at 
a cost to warrant shipping it in bulk, there 
yet remains a lower cost of production than 
the present average, and, what, is better 
still, there also remains tho possibility of 
converting it into other commodities of 
higher value and surer profit. It will always 
pay in the long run, if a right system is pur¬ 
sued, to convert corn into pork, beef, mut¬ 
ton, wool, butter, cheese, <fco., and tills mode 
of converting it is, in fact, so much more 
remunerative than selling it in bulk nx to 
render it simply astonishing that the latter 
course continues to be pursued. 
In all t he cases considered above, and in 
every department of farming, in all its phas¬ 
es, and all its details, tho silcceR* of each 
man, and the benefit to the whole country 
depend mainly on the fundamental condi¬ 
tion of tho cost of 'production. 
Conrad Wilson. 
Morrisanta, New York. 
I’mri) of a ^uraltst. 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of n Centleman near New 
York City. 
CATERWAULINOS VERSUS CALFWAILINO. 
May 8.—A countryman spending a night 
in a city is very likely to have his slumbers 
disturbed by the frequent sereuades of many 
a Tom and Tabitha. At least I seldom 
spend a night in New York or other large 
eity without being awakened more than 
once by the caterwauling of prowlers be¬ 
longing to the feline race, which always ap¬ 
pear particularly abundant and noisy just 
when a fellow least cares about tho war of 
races, or whether cats kill mice and rats or 
not. After having turned over sixteen 
times, and awakened seventeen, feeling cer¬ 
tain that it is almost morning, hurling 
bricks (In imagination at least) all the 
while at t! e screeching varmints down in 
the dark alley under your bedroom window, 
one blesses the city, but longs for the quiet 
of country life. Then, add to the cat nui¬ 
sance, the rumbling of street cars, omni¬ 
buses, drays, and the slamming of doors, 
hurrying to and fro of guests who wish to 
take an early boat or train of cars, makes 
altogether a pandemonium which a man 
with sensitive nerves can scarcely with¬ 
stand. There is no dodging this annoyance 
anywhere in the city. You may get upon 
a back street, where there are no cars and 
few carts to pass your door, but the howling 
dogs and screeching cats usually make the 
nights hideous, and it is no wonder that so 
many people long for the supposed-to-be 
quiet country, where the god of peace and 
rest reigns supreme. If you have any doubts 
upon this point come and spend a night with 
me, and 1 will give you a taste of farm life 
in a rather thickly-settled neighborhood, al¬ 
though far enough away from railroads not 
to be disturbed by screeching locomotives 
at night or during the day. But before you 
conclude to accept my invitation, it may be 
well for m>* to mention a few petty things 
which might annoy you. First in this list, 
we must not overlook that very important 
adjunct of country life, new sweet milk, 
fresh drawn from the udder, twice or thrice 
a day; and to have this we must keep cows, 
aud these cows are very likely to have 
calves, but if the said calves were allowed to 
run with their mothers night and clay they 
would get all the milk and we would have 
none, consequently nature must be thwart¬ 
ed, the. calves must be taken away from the 
cows; this act very frequently produces a 
kind of family jar. The cow mourns for her 
offspring, beUowB and moans continually, 
the calf at the same time putting in an an¬ 
swering cry, and thus between the two one 
gets music of no very interesting kind. Of 
course there are formers who know how 
and do manage this in a qujpt manner, sat¬ 
isfying both parent and offspring, and you 
will never hear any call'wailing about their 
premises ; but these’ are men who know 
something of the natural instincts as well as 
reasoning faculties of animals, and do not 
trust them to the care of lower brutes in the 
human form. 
After one has listened, hour after hour. In 
the dead of night, to the monotonous “ Bah, 
bah ” of some hungry calf, which is being 
cruelly half-starved in order to teach it to 
drink milk from a pail, he will begin to 
think that a real full-toned screech of a 
bouncing old Tom cat would be a pleasant 
relief. It. would certainly act as a counter 
irritation, thereby bringing another set of 
nerves Into action, resting, however briefly, 
those so long wrought up to their fullest 
tension. Lowing herds and bleating calves 
may be music under certain circumstances, 
but not when we know that it is caused by 
misery and pain. 
Perhaps you have an ear for the song of 
the robin; if so, T can accommodate you, for 
at precisely 3 o’clock every pleasant morn¬ 
ing a dozen or more of these birds perch in 
tho big chestnut trees near the house and 
there open a concert, pouring forth songs 
which might be musical later in the day, 
but not when Morpheus sings liis lullaby in 
willing ears. About this time the old roos¬ 
ter walks out with his numerous associates, 
coming straight to the house, and right un¬ 
der your bedroom window declares hr has 
found the biggest worm of the season, call¬ 
ing all the flock to see it., and then crows 
with all his strength. A neighbor’s Guinea 
fowls drop over at the same time to get a 
little of the corn which is left, out for your 
more respectable and less roving poultry. 
Of course they join in to complete the pan¬ 
demonium. You will be lucky, too, if a 
braying donkey or squealing pig do not add 
some high and low notes in the scale, to 
complete the early operatic music of a quiet 
country life. 
PROPAQATINO AOAVES AND ALOES. 
Daily Rural Life :—Will you please tell 
me through the Rural New-Yorker how 
to propagate the Century plant; also the 
Partridge and Adder-tongue Cactus? As yet 
I am only an amateur in tho culture of flow¬ 
ers. I hope some time to be a florist. Any 
Information in regard to house plants will 
be thankfully received.— R. D. Miller, Da¬ 
venport Center, N. V. 
May 9.—The American Agave or Century 
plant is usually propagated from suckers, 
which spring from the base of the old stem. 
While the plant is young, say for the first 
two or three years, no suckers may appear, 
but if you give it plenty of pot room and 
good, rich, loamy soil, with some leaf-mold 
and pulverized or finely broken brick*, in¬ 
termixed, suckers will soon appear in abun¬ 
dance. These may lie severed from the old 
plant, and generally with more or Jess roots 
attached. 
What you call “Adder-tongue and Par¬ 
tridge Cactus,” I presume are not Cacti, hut 
Aloes, and nearer related to the lily than 
the Cactus. The} 7 are also propagated from 
suckers the same as the Agave, as well as 
from the thick, fleshy leaves taken off, and 
allowed to dry a little, then put in pure sand 
and watered very sparingly, else they will 
decay instead of producing roots. Nearly 
all the species of Aloe in cultivation are 
natives of the Cape of Good Hope, where 
there are really but two seasons, the wet 
and dry, the native plants resting during the 
latter aud growing in the former; conse¬ 
quently we should imitate this kind of cli¬ 
mate as near as possible in cultivating plants 
from that part of the world. The same may 
lie said in regard to the climate of most 
tropical countries, although there are ex¬ 
ceptions, but with all Cacti, Afoes and 
Agaves, the period of rest should be accom¬ 
panied with heat and very little moisture, 
and that, of growth with heat and considera¬ 
ble water. It is usually most convenient to 
give this period of rest in winter, when the 
plants may be stored under the stage of u 
greenhouse or upon shelves in a warm room, 
bringing them out into the light and exciting 
growth as spring approaches, flowers follow¬ 
ing upon mature or well advanced plants. 
SNAILS EATINO HOUSE PLANTS. 
“A lover of plants” writes:— 11 Can Daily 
Rural Life tell me how to destroy snailB, 
which eat up my flowers as soon as they 
come up.” Snails have a great fondness for 
certain things as well as animals belonging 
to a higher order, and although they show 
considerable intelligence, their excellent ap¬ 
petite may be pampered just a little for the 
sake of destroying them. They 7 are very 
fond of wheat bran, as well as lettuce and 
cabbage leaves, and l»y scattering some of 
the former on the ground near their haunts, 
and covering it with either of the latter, we 
have a most excellent trap, foi they will 
congregate under the leaves at night, and 
remain at the feast until morning, when 
they should be severely dealt with. By 
steadily following tliis plan great numbers 
may be destroyed, even if the entire stock 
is not annihilated. Suit is also death to 
snails, but this cannot always be used with 
safety about plants; but it may be scattered 
among the rocks, stones aud old rubbish in 
which the snails hide during the day. 
Scientific and Useful. 
THE RAMIE INDUSTRY. 
If any in venter has a good machine capable 
of thoroughly 7 , quickly and economically pre¬ 
paring ramie fiber for the market, there is a 
good prospect of its being largely to his in¬ 
terest to perfect the same, and bring it before 
the public at as early a day as possible. The 
great obstacle to the introduction of this 
valuable plant—which, from the fact of its 
being an excellent substitute for silk, is des¬ 
tined to be one of the most important, of our 
American products—is the difficulty of sep¬ 
arating the fiber from the hark that envelopes 
it. The Chinese do this work by hand, pro¬ 
ducing one or two pounds per day of market¬ 
able fiber, and using an ordinary knife. Of 
course this slow process will not pay here. 
Several machines, we are aware, have al¬ 
ready been invented ; but for some reason, 
the proprietors take but little pains to bring 
them into notice. The plant can be success¬ 
fully cultivated in California and the Gulf 
States. 11 can be out by an ordinary mowing 
machine, and an acre of land will produce 
from 400 to 500 pounds at a cutting. Tho 
crude ramie staple is worth from $320 to f.340 
per ten in Europe. American manufacturers 
offer for it from SO to 25 cents per pound, 
when furnished in considerable quantities.— 
Scientific A merican. 
-- 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
Next) Method of Filtration —Professor Chas. 
A. Seeley has invented a new method of fil¬ 
tration. At the bottom of an open glass 
tube, say an inch in diameter, he places a 
piece of filtering paper, and over this a piece 
of India muslin, which is secured around the 
tube by a rubber ring. The tube is filled 
with the Liquid to be filtered and is closed at 
the top with a rubber stopper through which 
runs a piece of rubber piping. The tube is 
connected with two bottles so arranged that 
the water in the upper one Hows down into 
the lower one, forcing out the air, which in 
turn runs through the rubber pipe, forcing 
out the liquid through the filtering innteriuL 
The arrangements ia exceedingly ingenious, 
and by this means a liquid may be filtered in 
one-fourth of the time which the operation 
takes by 7 the old method. 
Glycerine for Preserving Fruit .—We learn 
through a German journal, says the Jour¬ 
nal of Applied Chemistry, that in order to 
preserve fresh fruits it is only necessary 7 
to heat them, if not perfectly ripe, in water 
almost to boiling, drain nearly dry, find cover 
with warm concentrated glycerine. If the 
fruit is perfectly ripe, heating in water is 
unnecessary. It is also advised to pour oft 
the glycerine after standing for some timo 
and add fresh concentrated glycerine. The 
glycerine poured off may bo concentrated on 
a water bath and used a second time. Or¬ 
dinary glycerine is often impure, but only 
that which is percfectly pure and colorless, 
with a clean, sweet taste and a specific grav¬ 
ity of 1.25 should be employed. 
A Useful Soap.—The following is com¬ 
mended by those who have tried it for scrub¬ 
bing and cleansing painted floors, washing 
dishes and other household purposes. Take 
two pounds of white olive, soap and shave it 
in thin slices; add two ounces of borax and 
two quarts of cold water ; stir all together 
in a stone or earthern jar, and let it stand 
upon the back of the stove until the mass is 
dissolved. Avery little heat is required, as 
the liquid need not simmer. When thor¬ 
oughly mixed and cooled, it becomes of tho 
consistence of a thick jelly, and a piece the 
size of a cubic iuch will make a lather for a 
gallon of water. 
Poisoned by Carbolic Acid .—A case of 
poisoning by carbolic acid has occurred in a 
German hospital. A tablespoonful of a solu¬ 
tion, consisting of six parts water and one 
part carbolic acid, was administered to the 
patient by mistake, and produced death. On 
post mortem examination, the stomach was 
the only part of the system in which the 
presence of the poison could be detected. 
Coffee xetth Milk Indigestible—A surprising 
statement concerning coffee bus been made 
by the Abbe Moiguo in Lest Mondes, to the 
effect that nutritious as coffee and milk are 
when taken separately, a mixture of both 
produces a compound which cannot in* di¬ 
gested or assimilated. 
Powdered Soap.—Any of the hard soaps 
may be pulverized, if first cut into thin shav¬ 
ings, and kept at a gentle heat, till sufficiently 
dry. The process renders the soap more 
mild. 
