244 
: 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
B1.BERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY,‘APRIL 9, 1881. 
Acting upon the instructions recently 
given in these columns, our young friends 
might now busy themselves in grafting. 
It occurs to us that as the currant is easi¬ 
ly grafted, why not graft, cions of the 
gooseberry and black and white currant 
upon the red, or the white and red cur¬ 
rant and gooseberry upon the black ? 
Several printed documents have been 
sent to us by subscribers, to whom they 
had been sent by Orange Judd, docu¬ 
ments written by editors in his employ, set¬ 
ting forth the eminent fitness of Jadd for 
the position of Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture. The request or suggestion is made 
that the persons receiving these docu¬ 
ments will write to the President sup¬ 
porting Judd’s claims. Pretty business 
this 1 
-*-M- 
Transplanting and Cutting Back.— 
Whenever a tree is transplanted, many of 
the roots are injured—a part destroyed. 
Those that remain when set out in a 
new place are in no condition to 
feed the plant as it was fed previ¬ 
ous to removal. Hence the top must 
be cut back to restore the equilibrium. 
Let us instance the case of a newly 
transplanted grape-vine. If many buds 
are permitted to push and grow, the 
growth of each at the end of the sea¬ 
son will be fcnnd to be of a feeble, im¬ 
mature kind. If, on the other hand, but 
one bud be permitted to grow, a strong, 
healthy cane will be the result. Thus 
we see in the former case the sap is dis¬ 
tributed among many buds and shoots, 
while in the latter it is supplied to one. 
The tree or plant of any kind may live in 
either case. While, however, catting 
back renders the ohances of life greater 
and insures more vigor, we have still to 
consider whether a few strong shoots are 
not more desirable than many feeble 
ones. 
The Ohio Winter-wheat Chop, —Ac¬ 
cording to the report of the Ohio Board 
of Agriculture just published, the win¬ 
ter-wheat crop has been injured much 
more seriously than previous reports in¬ 
timated. Secretary Chamberlaio, who 
has been traveling extensively through 
the State, reports that the condition of 
the growing crop is very critical. In 
many places entire fields have been win¬ 
ter-killed owing to the alternate thawings 
and freezings. Although the increase of 
acreage put under the crop last Fall is 
officially set down at five per cent,, yet 
the yield of Winter wheat next harvest, 
Mr. Chamberlain thinks, will not be over 
70 per eent. of the production of 1880— 
52.000,000 bushels. Our readers will 
remember, however, that many of the 
gloomy predictions made a year ago, 
with regard to the damage due to win¬ 
ter-killing of wheat, were happily falsi¬ 
fied by the recovery of the sickly plants 
on the return of the genial suns of 
Spring, and it may be that our Ohio 
friends will be gladdened by a like agree¬ 
able surprise this year. 
- »-■«-»._ - 
THE WORLD’S FAIR. 
“ To be or not to be—that is the ques¬ 
tion.” The feeling of uncertainty which 
lingers about the matter seems to be 
growing in intensity every day, and un¬ 
less some greater progress is soon made, 
the time for holding the Exhibition had 
better be extended at least to 1884. We 
admit that it would be a little inconsis¬ 
tent with the characteristic “ go-ahead- 
ativeness” of oitizens of the Empire State 
to drop the matter entirely; but better 
a hundred-fold extend the time to such a 
date as would afford, not only our own 
nation, but those aoross the sea, ample 
time for preparation. Better have a good 
Fair in 1900 than a poor one in 1883. 
How do things stand at present ? Gen. 
Grant, whose election to the presidency 
of the Commission gave quite a “ boom” 
to the enterprise, has resigned and gone 
to the “ wilds” of Mexico on personal 
business; no satisfactory agreement has 
yet been reached as to the site; the plan 
of taking Central Park seems to be aban¬ 
doned and no better location is proposed; 
the finances of the concern, though en¬ 
couraging, are not by any means in such 
a flourishing condition as they should be, 
and a general feeling of uncertainty per¬ 
vades the community, save that porti n 
represented by the indefatigable Com¬ 
mittee. While our earnest desire is to 
have an Exhibition in 1883, if it can be 
assured, we would much prefer a post¬ 
ponement until a time when there can be 
no dcubt of its success, and when not 
only New York but the whole country 
may do itself the highest justice. 
FALSE ECONOMY. 
There is a vast amount of false econo¬ 
my in business, and it has found its way 
to the homes of many of our farmers. 
True economy, not. parsimony, is the 
basis of success, and this is as true in 
the farmer’s occupation as in any other. 
The farmer who objects to giving his 
son a liberal education on the ground 
that he is going to be “nothing but a 
farmer,” is putting into practice a raoBt 
unwise and injudicious principle of econ¬ 
omy. Such an one will not buy books, 
or take papers, which rightly perused, 
would give him great assistance in his 
work, simply because he thinks he “ can¬ 
not afford them.” 
His poor farming tools are “ good 
enough for him,” though on every hand 
he witnesses the rapidity and thorough¬ 
ness of the work done by improved ma¬ 
chinery in the hands of truly ec Domical 
farmers—economical because they choose 
methods by which they can do their work 
most quickly and, at the same time, most 
efficiently. The “economic”farmer wishes 
to make money, so he sells off entire those 
crops whioh, returned in part to liis soil 
in the shape of manure, would make his 
land muoh more productive, forgetting 
that the soil needs a certain amount of 
food in order to produce. He disposes 
of his best calves and colts, because 
“being nicer they will bring a better 
price,” and he retains the poor off- 
easts for breeders—a sure step towaid 
ignominious failure in stock-keeping. 
The time is oonie when our best farm¬ 
ers are cutting loose from these mislead¬ 
ing principles, and are taking broader 
views of things, and when this false 
economy should be superseded by the 
true. 
■ — » 4 ♦ » 
SOMETHING FOR NEXT TO NOTHING. 
Almost every week we publish in the 
Rural notices of printed matter of vari¬ 
ous sorts, containing a great deal of in¬ 
teresting and useful information, which 
can be obtained by our readers either for 
the trouble of making application there¬ 
for by postal card, or at most, for a 
trilling pittance that often falls short of 
the cost of production. Reading matter 
of this kind includes catalogues of all 
sorts, pamphlets on various subjects, re¬ 
ports of State Boards of Agriculture, po- 
mological and dairy societies and associa¬ 
tions, as well as the annual reports of the 
Department of Agriculture and special 
reports published by it from time to time 
on various topics of current interest or 
importance. Many of these works are 
the result of a world of labor and re¬ 
search, and are replete with the latest and 
best information on the various topics 
they discuss. Others advocate one-sided 
views of particular subjects; but even 
these generally afford a good deal of ser¬ 
viceable information to the discriminat¬ 
ing reader. Others again—and to this 
class belong the best sort of catalogues 
of seedsmen and nurserymen, and pamph¬ 
lets of manufacturers of machinery and 
dealers in fertilizers—while advertising 
the goods offered for sale in them, give 
excellent advice and information as to 
the best methods of using and treating 
these. In view of the large fund of prac¬ 
tical arid interesting knowledge that oould 
be easily gathered even from a choice se¬ 
lection of these in the course of the year, 
we strongly urge our readers to send for 
such of them as they may consider use¬ 
ful, judging from the notices of them 
that may appear from time to time in 
our columns. 
INVESTIGATING OLEOMARGARINE. 
Just a year ago we had occasion to 
chronicle the festive trip made by a Con¬ 
gressional Committee to Baltimore and 
this city in compliance with an invitation 
to a “ glorioas” spread tendered them by 
the makers of oleomargarine in both 
places. After having been abundantly 
wined and dined by those interested in 
the ooncootiou and sale of the conglom¬ 
erate, the legislative junketers, having 
cursorily inspected the process of manu¬ 
facture, paid for their entertainment by 
lavish praise of the product. This sort 
of investigation of “oleo’ just suited the 
makers of the stuff to whom the Congres¬ 
sional Committee gave entire satisfaction. 
The same cannot be said of the State 
Legislative Committee at present in ses¬ 
sion in this city to investigate the manu¬ 
facture of butter from tallow aud cheese 
from lard. This Committee Beems re¬ 
solved to get at the truth in the matter, 
not, like their predecessors, by a hasty 
visit to a factory cleaned up for their 
inspection, and a subsequent examination 
of the product at a banquet at which 
the manufacturers regaled them ; but 
by a oareful examination of those who 
are best able to afford correct informa¬ 
tion on the subject. Among the mass 
of information already elicited the public 
should know that sometimes the fat for 
the manufacture of the “ butter” is ex¬ 
tracted by melting at 100 degrees below 
the temperature necessary to kill animal-' 
cules in it; that frequently hogs that 
show signs of disease are hurried to mar¬ 
ket and “worked up” into cheese; that 
cotton-seed oil, pea-nut oil and alum 
are used in the process of coloring and 
clarifying the mixtures. 
While we are hardly prepared to advo¬ 
cate such a bill rh that lately introduced 
into the Missouri Legislature, providing 
imprisonment of not over one year and 
a tine of not over $1,000, or both, for any 
person oonvicted of making or selling 
any oleaginous compound designed to 
take the place of cheese or batter made 
from pure, unadulterated milk or cream, 
we certainly insist that each substances 
shall be sold for what they really are, 
and not be dishonestly palmed off on the 
public as genuine cheese or bntter at the 
price of these products. The present 
investigation seems to have established 
the fact that fully four-fifths of the spu¬ 
rious “butter” sold here by retaileis is 
bought as real butter, while a very large 
proportion of our exports of “ butter” is, 
there is good reason to believe, composed 
of this concoction. The injury annually 
done to the dairy interests of the country 
by the trade in the various imitative 
compounds of laid and tallow, is estima¬ 
ted to have already reached the vast sum 
of from $50,000,000 to $75,000,000. 
THE EUROPEAN OUTLOOK. 
Some of the most disastrous wars that 
have ever glorified rulers and afflicted 
mankind have sprung immediately from 
trivial causes, although in most cases 
unfriendly antecedent conditions prepared 
the way for the final ontbnrst. When 
the magazine is stored with loose powder, 
a hardly visible spark will cause a de¬ 
structive explosion. Between such a 
magazine and Europe there is a strong 
likeness to-day, ami there would be little 
to wonder at Bhould the fiarue from the 
first gnu fired in the squabble between 
Greece and Turkey produce a conflagra¬ 
tion that before its extinction in blood 
should envelop the whole of Europe. 
From the Mediterranean to the Arctic 
Ocean and from the Ural Mountains to 
the Atlantic, the whole Continent is a 
vast camp ; the flower of the youth and 
manhood of every country is forced into 
its armies which, in the guise of the 
savior of the nation, is an incubus upon 
its industry and a menace to its neigh¬ 
bors. It has been well said that in 
Germany every tiller of the soil carries a 
soldier on his back, and small wonder 
that so many of the soldier-ridden peas¬ 
ants are seeking relief from their griev¬ 
ous burden on this side of the ocean. In 
France the increase of the already enor¬ 
mous army is the first consideration with 
the government—the object for which 
the people are grimly patient under a 
grievous burden of taxation. Though 
the Russian army, the largest on the 
globe, had no terrors for its emperor’s 
assassins, its vast unwieldy, bulk and 
headlong, machine-like obedience are a 
constant threat alike to European civili¬ 
zation and Asiatic barbarism. The young 
Kingdom of Italy, with a load of debt 
already as heavy as that of many of its 
old neighbors, is still adding yearly to 
the oppressive burden to increase her 
fleet and her army. Thus of the five 
Great Powers, four are armed to the 
teeth, and straining all their resources to 
equip themselves still more destructively 
for—what ? 
Were there any truth in the paradox 
that a thorough preparation for war is 
the strongest safeguard of peace, the 
tranquillity of Europe would be assured 
for at least the present generation. But, ] 
apart from the fact that a nation com- ! 
pie tel y equipped for a fight is likely to ( 
indulge la one on the first favorable'op- 1 
portunity, especially as the state of pre- 1 
paredness can only be maintained at en- \ 
ormous expense, there are other incen- t 
tives to battle urging each country to 
’ contention. France, always the firebrand 
i of Europe, is revengefully determined 
to recover the lost provinces of Alsace 
and Lorraine; Germany is equally de¬ 
termined to retain these unwilling sec¬ 
tions of Teutonic nationality; Russia 
under a warlike young autocrat is not 
likely to forget her traditional elaim to be 
the heir to the territory as well as to the 
religion of the Greek Empire; Italy is 
eager to assert her position as the latest 
accession to the Great Powers by bat¬ 
tling either with Austria for Trieste or 
with France for Tunis. Great Britain 
alone, having just had a Burfeit of one 
war in Asia and another in Afnoa, and 
having no special axe to grind during a 
European conflict, is genuinely anxious 
for a continuance of peace. 
—--- -- 
BREVITIES. 
At the April meeting of the N. Y. H. 8, the 
culture of mushrooms will receive attention. 
Strawberries of fair quality from Florida 
are selling to-day (4th) at retail, for $1 50 per 
quart. F 
One of the methods of Mr. Judd to influence 
Fiesident Garfield in his favor is set forth on 
page 240. 
T r HB Yellow * Wood — Cladrastis tinctoria 
or virgilia lntea—"bleeds " when cut as freely 
as any maple. We wonder if the sap has ever 
been tried for sugar. 
It may be observed that the Japan conifer 
named retinispora. is sometimes spelled retin- 
W 1 ' The former >? the spelling adopted 
by Siebold and Znccarim, the founders of the 
genus. 
Will oi^rfriends whose names appear in the 
°L m ® Dgel cultivators, in the Rural of 
* eb. 20, please send ns their addresses as soon 
as convenient. Only about half of them have 
done so as yet. 
Now, we believe, Is the best time of the year 
to transplant evergreens. They may also be 
pruned now. If the lower growth 1 b scanty, 
cut off the top of the leader and the terminal 
buds of all the top shoots. 
The plnm and cherry should be grafted very 
early beJore the buds begin to swell Pears 
and apples may be grafted even after the 
buds break it the cions have been preserved in 
a dormant condition. Grafting the peach sel¬ 
dom succeeds in the North—it is better to bnd 
in late Summer. 
Our next original portrait of distinguished 
farmers or horticulturists will be that of Mr 
C. M. Hovey of Boston, Mass. The next there¬ 
after will be those of MeBsre. Lawes and Gilbert 
of Rothamsttd, England. We have just re^ 
ceived the photographs at the reiterated re¬ 
quest of the editor ot the R. N-Y. 
Let bee-keepers take courage I Mr. Jones is 
the champion bee-keeper and lives at Beeton 
Cal. In 1879 he obtained 75,000 pounds of 
honey from 300 colonies of bees, and lust year 
bo took $2,000 worth from his hives, although 
it was a bad year for honey. Daring 1880, he 
obtained 000 new colonies from 400, and he 
began the present year with 1,000 colonies 
valued at $7 000. With no drawbacks, he ex¬ 
pects to clear from his bees this year 410,000. 
While young Spring and old Winter are 
contending for supremary great is the uncer¬ 
tainly of the weather. Just a week ago the 
Signal Service Office, in a special bulletin, in¬ 
formed us tbat the season in Texas and the 
other Southwestern States was of average ear- 
lineas ; yet on April 1, another special dispatch 
announced that in Northern Texas, Tennessee 
West Virginia and thence northward over the 
lower lake region, the temperature was below 
freezing point in the morning. In Northern 
Minnesota people still shivered in weather 10 
degrees below zero. 
The Illino’s Legislative Farmers’ Club 
composed of members of the State Legisla¬ 
ture, amoDg several other measures submitted 
to the House, relating to the control of conta¬ 
gious diseases among domestic animals, rec¬ 
ommends the appointment of a State Veterin¬ 
arian with assistants, with power to investi¬ 
gate ail outbreaks of diseases, and in case of 
emergency to regulate the transportation of 
stock, etc. We are strongly of opinion that 
such a measure would be beneficial, and that 
it cannot be adopted too Boon for the safety of 
the vast live-itock interests of the State. 
Howevbb great are the evils of the credit 
system in the North they are still more disas¬ 
trous in the South and especially in the Cotton 
States ; and before prosperity becomes assured 
among egrlcnllurists there the pernicious prac¬ 
tice must be abandoned. Thu usual method is 
for the planter or farmer to give the merchant 
a lien on his prospective crops, whereupon 
the latter, being fully secured, furnishes the* 
needed supplies, fixing his own prices thereon. 
The planter is thus entirely at the mercy of his 
"factor," with no red rase against exorbitant 
over-charges. The Supreme Court of Missis¬ 
sippi has just rendered a decision which should 
afford some relief from these exactions to the 
farmers of tbat State, and to those of other 
States should the precedent be followed there 
also. A mortgage on the crops of a planter 
held by a merchant was foreclosed by him. 
Although it was proved that the prices charged 
the victim were more than double cash rates, 
yet the lower Court gave a verdict in favor of 
the merchant. On appeal, the Supreme Court 
reversed the decision on the ground that in 
buying the goods the farmer was riot in a po¬ 
sition to decline them on account of the exor¬ 
bitant prices charged therefor, and that he 
consented to take them at those rates through 
overruling necessity. Hl* extorted consent to 
the prices fixed wu3 therefore without consid¬ 
eration, and consequent'y void. "Pay as you 
go,” is alike the practiced maxim of prudence, 
thrift and the Rural New-Yorker. 
