176 
MARCH 12 
THE RURAL 1 NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1881. 
In order to enable us to publish a part 
at least of the pressing matter which we 
have on hand and which has unduly ac¬ 
cumulated owing to our special numbers, 
a supplement will be presented next 
week. 
-- 4*4 - 
The Rural New-Yorker begs to offer 
in articles of its own selection, for the 
longest and heaviest five heads of wheat 
from the uext crop, $50.00, to be divided 
into first, second, third, fourth and fifth 
premiums. The awards will be published 
in our Special Wheat Number, and 
drawings presented of the prize heads. 
When we consider the variability of 
soil even in the same held—its natural 
fertility, and the different effects of differ¬ 
ent methods and degrees of cultivation, 
how is it possible to determine the 
value of different chemical manures 
upon certain other plots except by com¬ 
parison with plots in tli3 same field 
which receive no chemical manures and 
which are cultivated by the same meth¬ 
ods and amount of cultivation ? 
Dr. Lawes in his comments upon the 
immense corn yields of last season at the 
Rural Farm (see first page), referring to 
another of his articles which appeared in 
this journal, says that he was not then so 
fully impresstdas he is now with the great 
value of temperature for the production 
of nitric acid in the soil. “ With corn,’ 
he says, “ the most vigorous growth, and 
the most active assimilation of food take 
place just when nitrification is most ac¬ 
tive, but when the other cereal erops have 
done their work ; uo wonder then that 
the average yield of corn is above that of 
other cereals.” 
- -»♦» - 
Whether the storage of apples, pota¬ 
toes and kindred vegetables in our cellars 
has anything to do with developing dip- 
theria, is a question worth considering. 
Our forefathers and foremothers who 
never heard of diptheria, buried their 
Winter vegetables in pits in the open 
ground. Perhaps in fifty years from 
now, there will be a return to the old cus¬ 
tom, or, maybe, the “ cellar” will be at 
the top of the house, and dwellings will 
be built on terra Jirrna, with no vaults 
beneath exhaling damp and uuwholesome 
vapors of decay, to be sucked into the 
bodies of the people up-stairs. 
-♦-*-*--- 
The unusual prevalence of small-pox 
the past Winter, has led to the establish¬ 
ment in various localities of vaccine 
farms where cows are kept for the object 
of supplying physicians with “points” for 
vaccination purposes. Very many people 
justly object to- being vaccinated from 
the virus of a fellow mortal, as the mortal 
is most rare—even if he exist at all—who 
is entirely free from scrofulous taint in 
his blood. But from the blood of a fine, 
healthy young cow one has little to fear, 
and if something of her gently ruminat¬ 
ing, motherly, mild-eyed qualities should 
be imbibed along with the virus, the hu¬ 
man raoe might be much the gainer, 
-- 
Have you a piece of land so poor that 
even weeds will not thrive ujmn it ? That 
is precise^ the laud upon which to try 
the virtue of chemical manures. If up¬ 
on such land by their use a crop of grain 
may be raised, then the value of chemi¬ 
cal manures is at once established. That 
is, it would thus be proven that concen¬ 
trated fertilizers may supply the food 
upon which crops feed. This test has 
often been made. We know of one in¬ 
stance in New Jersey where one of two 
plots of infertile land received a dressing 
of fertilizers, the other received none. 
Upon the latter, the corn grew to the 
hight of but a few inches. Upon the 
former at the rate of over 50 butmels of 
shelled corn per acre were harvested. 
•-—« « » — -r — 
Quite a correspondence has of late 
been going on between the Rural New- 
Yorker and several stockmen of the 
country. They tell us that they cannot 
afford to pay our advertising rates, being 
higher than those of other agricultural 
journals. It would appear that stock- 
men are favored with special rates by 
many, if not by all, of the journals which 
they patronize, and with editorial notices 
ad*libitum. We beg to state that to 
change our rates in their favor, would 
be a discrimination extremely unjuBfc to 
our other advertising patrons, and that 
if they can not afford to advertise in the 
columns of the Rural New-Yorker up¬ 
on our terras, we cannot afford to accept 
their advertisements upon their terms. 
And so let them, as we shall try to do* 
rest in peace. 
4 •»-*- 
It is our belief that if every intelli¬ 
gent farmer, gardener or horticulturist— 
everybody indeed that is interested in 
plant life-—could know of the yearly con¬ 
tents of the Rural New Yorker ; could 
know how earnestly it strives to promote- 
their interests, that they would become 
subscribers. The hardest thing to drive 
into the public head is that anybody is 
unselfishly working for its interests. We 
could print probably not less than one 
thousand testimonials from good people 
that the plant and seed distributions of 
the Rural New-Yorker during the past 
three years have been worth move to 
them than the subscription price of the 
paper, and we are constantly receiving 
assurances from the best men of <s>u>r 
country that the Rural New-Yorker it¬ 
self is invaluable. 
--» - 
How many farmers andfarmerineshav6 
good teeth? Prof. Hartshorn, of German¬ 
town, Pa., reoentiy stated in a lecture 
that the reason why the teeth of Americans 
decay sooner than do those of the people 
of other nations, is due to their habit of 
rapid eating. It is no new doctrine, but 
one that requires frequent repetition. 
Hasty eating induces- dyspepsia, and no¬ 
body with an unsound stomach can long 
have sound teeth. The stomach is the 
body’s best friend in the long run, and 
whoever obliges it to do the work of the 
teeth commits suicide in just that pro¬ 
portion. In the hurry of farm work, 
bear in miud that “ less haste and more 
speed” applies directly to the mastica¬ 
tion of your food. If you can't eat slow¬ 
ly, and chew your food thoroughly, at 
least tram the youngsters about your 
table to do so, under the penalty of being 
toothless middle-aged men and women. 
-- 
HUMANITY TO LIVE STOCK IN TRANSIT. 
Attention has lately been called in 
the British House of Commons to the 
Bufferings of American imported live 
stock on the voyage aeross the Atlantic, 
and from the remarks of the Secretary of 
the Privy Conncil it appear s the atten¬ 
tion of that body had been several times 
called to the matter, and that it had been 
for Borne time in communication with the 
Board of Trade with a view of devising 
measures for lessening the sufferings of 
animals in transit Humanity and self- 
interest alike demand that the sufferings, 
of exported animals both on their way te> 
the sea-board and across the Atlantic 
should be reduced to a minimum, and 
the latter consideration is likely soon to 
enforce the dictates of the former. In 
this country the Humane Society’s efforts 
will probably soon place upon our rail¬ 
roads cars effectually designed to trans¬ 
port live Btock with a minimum of incon¬ 
venience ; for out of the 420 models its 
offer of a premium has elicited, one at 
least must prove satisfactory, while there 
seems every disposition on the part of 
our Legislatures to compel the railroad 
corporations to pay regard to humanity 
in this connection. In England reports 
to the Privy Council from tne insurance 
agencies show that the amount of suffer¬ 
ing endured by stock in transit has been 
much lessened by recent devices, and the 
Privy Council’s efforts are likely to make 
still further improvements in this direc¬ 
tion. Already most of the animals are 
landed in excellent condition : while the 
reports of our exports of live stock in this 
week’s Agricultural News column show 
a remarkably small percentage of fatality 
among our shipments last year. Small 
as this is, however, it is considerably 
greater than that incurred by a Canadian 
Steamship Company which has sent to 
this office a statement of its business in 
tlat line for the last fifteen months. 
From this it appears that during this 
time it shipped 16,005 head of cattle, and 
landed 15,852 alive, while jaut of 30,465 
sheep shipped, it lost only 725. 
A DANGER TO OUE HOG PRODUCTS. 
Last week the importation of American 
hog products into France was prohibited 
on the ground that their use would be 
dangerous to the people owing to several 
cases of the terribly fatal malady, trichin¬ 
osis, having arisen from the eating of 
American pork. There are now six Eu¬ 
ropean countries which refuse to allow 
the importations of hog products from 
this country for the same reason : France, 
Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Swit¬ 
zerland. In reply to a question in the 
French Assembly, however, the Minister 
of Agriculture said that the prohibition 
in France would probably be short-lived, 
as it would be removed so soon as ade¬ 
quate measures for inspecting American 
pork had been provided in the various 
markets throughout the country. Ad¬ 
vices from Liverpool last Friday state 
that dealings in our hog products in the 
British markets had become completely 
paralyzed owing to a report made by the 
English consul at Philadelphia to the 
effect that hog cholera was extremely 
disastrous just now in Ohio. The Presi¬ 
dent of the Board of Trade of this city 
telegraphed to Commissioner Le Due an 
inquiry as to the truth of this statement, 
on Saturday, and the latter at once re¬ 
plied that according to the information 
at his Department, hogs in Ohio and, 
indeed, throughout the whole country, 
were exceptionally free from disease at 
present. 
The widespread foreign opposition to 
the use of hog products from this coun¬ 
try, together with the weakening of the 
“corner” lately formed at Chicago in 
certain articles of the trade, must cause 
at least a temporary depression in prices 
everywhere. This is highly deplorable, 
and' measures should be promptly 
adopted to remove the causes as early as 
possible. The value of our annual ex¬ 
ports of bacon, hams and lard is next to 
that of breadstuff's and cotton, and it has 
been stated on excellent authority that 
unless prompt steps are taken to suppress 
hog cholera and other contagious dis¬ 
eases among our swine, tbe annual loss 
to the country will soon reach the enor¬ 
mous sum of $80,000,000. Until these 
maladies shall have been extirpated a 
i rigid system of official inspection should 
lie established at all hog packing institu¬ 
tions to guard against the employment 
of meat or lard from unsound animals. It 
is not for a moment to be tolerated that 
the health of the public, at home and 
abroad, is to be endangered and so vast 
an industry subjected to derangement 
and loss, in order that a few unscrupu¬ 
lous dealers might grow rich by the sale 
of plague-sjjreading products. 
—-- 
BEEVITIES. 
Da. Ahmitage in his sermon last Sunday 
maintained that there is much more goodness 
and beauty of spirit among men than is gen - 
erally known. 
Attention is called to the advertisement in 
onr columns •• Wanted—A Manager.” Wo 
know the farm, the proprietor, and may say 
that we shall congratulate the successful ap¬ 
plicant. 
All subscriptions received after this date, will 
be placed on our lists to receive the Rural New- 
Yorker one year, counting from the date when 
the subscription is received. We have no back 
numbers. 
We commend to all who are interested in 
such matters, the carefully prepared articles 
on the Army-worm by Prof. Cyra® Thomas. 
The first appeared in these columns in the 
issue of January 29. The concluding article 
will speak of remedial measures. 
Hobticultubal people must always be 
crazy over something or other. At present, 
there, is an evident disposition to make fhe 
object Roses. Roses are so really beautitul, 
they have so many endearing ways and looks, 
that one is excusable for making them a hobby 
and for riding it hard. 
We are sad to know that our friends of the 
A. A. have moved away—up town somewhere, 
where rents are cheaper. They rarely or 
never called upon ub, it is true; but then they 
read our signs and possibly looked in upon ub 
through the windows, thus showing a kind of 
interest in our progress. 
Cheese from lard in New York and butter 
from lard in Chicago elevate the hog to a ri¬ 
valry with the cow in her own peculiar line. 
A large factory iu this city is, we are told, en¬ 
gaged in tbe manufacture of cheese from lard. 
The latter is reported to be peculiarly adapted 
to the production of brie and similar cheeses. 
Orders for the new fraud arc suitl to be miles 
ahead of the supply, and the stuff is reported 
to be undi6tinguishablo from genuine cheese. 
As we anticipated, tho forty-sixth Congress 
came to its end without having, even iu its 
last moments, repented of its sin in fading to 
pass a bill for the suppression of pleuro¬ 
pneumonia and other diseases among the live 
stock of the country. Well, in view of their 
groBB neglect in this and not a few other 
matters, we trust that such of the members as 
ure politically dead, may remain bo, and that 
such as are stUl able to ‘‘talk” in the forty- 
Beveuth Congress may die politically on the first 
opportunity unless they shall show by their 
works and votes that they have heartily re¬ 
pented of their past disregard of the interests 
of agriculture. 
A bill has been introduced into the New 
York Legislature to punish the owners of all 
hottds, restaurauts and boarding-houses that 
use or place on the table oleomargarine or 
any of the similar concoctions, unless they 
display in a prominent place a card on which 
a statement is made In large letters, that the 
stuff is served In that establishment. The 
enforcement of this measure would be Just 
alike to the gueste of such places and to the 
producers of good genuine butter ; but, hap¬ 
pily for boarding-house landladies, and, alas! 
for their victims, we are sadly afraid that jus¬ 
tice in this case will once more fail. 
It is pleasant to see that., better late than 
never, some of our contemporaries are doing 
justice to our friend, Witning-Billerica Bailey. 
It has been a matter of exceeding surprise to us 
that he has hitherto been permitted hv respect¬ 
ed contemporaries to say his say without re¬ 
proach. We do not know this man—do not 
want to know him. 11c has never harmed us 
excepting bv appropriating our out of Blount’s 
Corn and calling it his “ Ensilage Coru.” We 
have condemned him so as to protect our 
readers against a bold-faced man whose state¬ 
ments are not worthy of trust. Ensilsge will 
get along better when it gets rid of its “ Win¬ 
ning” advocate. , 
The Eastern Pennsylvania Experimental 
Farm Club has arraigned the Brute Agricul¬ 
tural College in Center County, for inefficiency, 
and asked the Legislature to snspend the usual 
annual appropriation. We heartily commend 
the action of every agricultural association 
that keeps a watchful eye on the conduct of 
the agricultural college In Its State, and 
holds it to strict acconntnbility for failing to 
fulfil the object of itB establishment. This is 
a duty which, it is much to he feared, has 
hitherto been sadly neglected by farmers’ clubs 
and societies, and we hail this action of the 
Eastern Pennsylvania Farmers’ Club as a 
hopeful sign of amendment. 
The University r f Pennsylvania has been in¬ 
dulging in the common-place clap-!rapof en¬ 
dowing Mr. Garfield with a tail to his name in 
the shape of LL. D. Harvard pronounc' d a 
similar benediction upon the name of U. 8. 
Grant, and tbe General caught, at the bait and 
sent one of his eons there. Whether the Uni¬ 
versity of Pennsylvania will lie equally fortun¬ 
ate as regards the young Carflelds is yet to be 
seen. Onr President is worthy of all honor; 
but when a man has climbed so high In public 
esteem and public honor, there is not a college 
in tbe land that can add to the glory of bis 
name by any title whatever. As names reach 
the hight of true grandeur, they shed all such 
quill feathers sb titles. 
The White Grub (larva of the May Beetle or 
June Bug)—LaclmosternaFaeca—is the straw¬ 
berry's worst insect enemy. Many remedies 
have been recommended, tried aud found want¬ 
ing. Those applications stromr enough to kill 
the grub have been found to injure or to Kill 
the plant also. 8alt, at the rate, of three to five 
bushels per acre, has been recommended, but 
the efficaciousness of the possible remedy is 
not as yet knowu. A friend suggested to us 
a while ago that he believed whak-oil soap, cut 
into little pieces aud placed about, each plant 
or strewn over the surface ot the bed, might 
kill or drive them away. He thought that rains 
would gradually dissolve the pieces and the 
earth soon become impregnated with the solu¬ 
tion which would prove insufferable to the 
grab. 
The happiest person in the country on the 
4 th of March, 1881. undoubtedly was the ven¬ 
erable mother of James A. Garfield; and she 
had the highest right to be. Left a widow with 
her Bmall children, who, with herself, were 
quite dependent upon her own exertions for 
support, she kept her little flock together, and 
demonstrated, as have many other women also, 
•‘what a woman can do;" And now her boy 
is President of the United States of America. 
All honor to the good mother! Remarkable 
men almost never have temarkftblc sous, hut a 
boy that amouuts to something “uncommon” 
almost invariably has buon blessed with a su¬ 
perior mother. So far as the Unman race goes, 
the mother is the prime factor iu excellence. 
The Colorado Cattle Growers' Association, 
in view of the existence of contagious pleuro¬ 
pneumonia in some cf the Atlantic States, and 
the fact that some 40,000 calves were lately ex¬ 
ported from tho infected States to points west 
of Chicago as far as Nebraska, recently paesed 
a series of resolutions depreealibg such traffic 
as perilous to the herds on the Western plains, 
aud petitioned the Members of Congress from 
that State to take immediate steps to procure 
national legislation to check the spread of the 
disease to uninfected quarters aud to secure its 
suppression where it has already obtained a 
foothold. Although stockmen and farmers all 
over the country have made their voices heard 
In no doubtful tones on this matter, Congress 
has hitherto been Bhamelutly negligent in pass¬ 
ing the needed legislation. This disregard of 
their interests, the farmers of the country 
should keep in mind when their present mis - 
representatives shall come before them for re- 
election. 
The beet-sugar factory at Franklin, Mass., 
• according to a late telegram, has failed to the 
financial Iobb of many of tho neighboring 
farmers to whom the concern owed $11220 
for beets, out of a total Indebtedness of $25,- 
000 . The factory was owned by u Joint-stock 
company which made big promises; bnt failed 
early. It imported machinery from Germany 
costing, it is said, five times what was expect¬ 
ed : aud as this will now be sold for a “ song," 
another party intending to start in the busi¬ 
ness would have a good chance of beginning 
with an iroportaut point in his favor by buy¬ 
ing the apparatus cheaply. We have read a 
great dual about the practicability of making 
beet-sugar profitably in thiB country; but, 
much as we would like that an industry which 
would so greatly help our farmers, could be 
remuneratively conducted among us, we have 
not heard of a single instance in which this 
has been done long enough to prove its possi¬ 
bility under present conditions. The right kind 
of seeds, the right kind of soil, the right sort 
of culture, the right sort of handling, skill m 
the farmers aud skill in the manufacturers, 
are all indispensable, iu addition to a thor¬ 
oughly economical and efficient business 
management. In tho present state of the 
industry here the necessary skill Is wanting, 
and in the Joint-Stock companies that have 
hitherto cbklly embarked In the business, it is 
h ghly doubtful whether economy andefficieucy 
have formed sufficiently pronounced '.features- 
