504 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 30 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
A National Journal for tha Country and Suburban Home. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
UBEBT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1881 
In deference to many requests we 
shall defer, until the Fair Number, the 
publication of the names of those who 
take the wheat prizes. Engravings of 
the best heads will also appear in that 
number. Heads may therefore be sent 
so as to reach this office as late as Au¬ 
gust 20th—not later. 
■-- 
We find that peaches of ordinary size 
and inferior quality were selling July 23, 
on Broadway, (N. Y.) at $1.50 per dozen. 
■ « 
Our friends will have to hurry up their 
wheat specimens. Please be particular 
to write the name of the wheat on the 
outside of the box and give the name and 
address of the sender. Five heads are 
required. 
— ■»«»- 
The Chicago Grain Receivers’ Asso¬ 
ciation has reduced the commission on 
the sale of flax-seed from two to one per 
cent, in store and one and a half per 
oent. on the railroad track. In view of 
the large increase in the cultivation of 
flax in the West, this rednotion is as just 
as it decidedly is expedient. The larger 
amount of sales will reimburse the oper¬ 
ators for the curtailment of their commis¬ 
sions, while had the higher rate been 
maintained, probably flax growers would 
have patronized a less exacting market. 
- - 
A new Grade of Wheat. —At a late 
meeting of the Grain Receivers’ Associa¬ 
tion of Chicago, a resolution was intro¬ 
duced to request the Railroad and Ware¬ 
house Commissioners to establish a grade 
of No. 2 Southern red winter wheat cov¬ 
ering all the No. 2 red winter wheat that 
may come from the States of Illinois, 
Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. 
It was urged that red winter wheat 
grown further north was not as good as 
that raised in the above area, the latter 
being intrinsically worth from five to ten 
cents per bushel more, and that grain 
inspectors oould easily tell the difference 
between the two sorts. Very properly 
objection was mads to depreciate sweep¬ 
ing!)? the more northern wheat by brand¬ 
ing it geographically, and the resolu¬ 
tion was amended so as to refer to the 
quality only irrespective of the place 
where the grain was raised. It is to be 
hoped that while this classification will 
raise the price of one grade, it will not 
lower that of the other. 
--» -— 
The Great Atlanta Show. —The total 
number of entries for exhibition at the 
great Atlanta Exhibition down to July 
18tb, was 1,086, and their character shows 
the all-embracing nature of the exhibits, 
only two entries having been hitherto 
made of the same kind of articles. Among 
agricultural exhibits the most prominent 
hitherto are: cotton gins, cotton presses, 
cotton* seed cleaners, fertilizers, plows, 
harrows, cultivators, an agricultural 
steam engine and various food products. 
The buildings are being rapidly pushed 
to completion and Secretary Ryokman, 
now in this city, sayB they will be ready 
to receive exhibits by August 15, and 
that the Exhibition will certainly open 
on the date fixed—October 5. There is 
to be a large exhibit of foreign goods and 
two steamers are now under charter to 
leave Liverpool on August 15 for Savan¬ 
nah with articles for the show; while 
other exhibits will follow either on 
specially chartered vessels or by the 
regular lines. Now that the project of 
an international exhibition here has col¬ 
lapsed and the Boston Grand Show is 
likely to remain where it is now—in the 
clouds—let us turn all our attention to 
the making of this Southern show a 
grand success. 
— ■ - - -♦ t» -- 
Mississippi Grain Transportation.— 
Hitherto the great impediment to the 
development of grain transportation on 
the Mississippi River, for export via 
New Orleans, has been the apprelien- 
sion that grain shipped by that route is 
likely to become heated. The recent ex¬ 
perience in transporting grain from St. 
Paul and St. Louis to the Cresoent City, 
however* have exploded this notion. Of 
30,000 bushels of wheat lately shipped 
from St. Paul for Liverpool to be trans¬ 
shipped at New Orleans, the weigher 
at that pciut reports that the entire 
loss was only about 66 J bushels, of 
which only a bushel and a half was 
injured on the barges; whereas the 
loss from western points to this city is 
said to average nearly one per oent. " To 
still further lessen any existing risk, a 
new system of ventilation has been intro¬ 
duced by the St. Louis and New Orleans 
Transportation Company. This consists 
of a funnel from the deck to the grain 
room and of openings above water on 
each side of the barge, through which 
air passes into and through a space be¬ 
tween the hull and a lining to the stor¬ 
age department. A stiff current of air 
passes through the funnel and inter¬ 
mural space all the time, and it is said 
that a cargo of corn or wheat will keep 
fresh and dry all Summer on the water 
in barges ventilated in this way. 
4 4 » - ■ 
River Transportation seems to be 
about to have a good effect in cheapening 
freight rates by rail to the seaboard from 
all points on the Mississippi River, and 
consequently from all points west of it, 
from which there is water transportation 
to the Father of Waters or transportation 
by railroads terminating at the river, as 
at St. Paul and St. Louis. The great 
through lines from the trans-Missouri 
country will doubtless so arrange freight 
rates to their termini at Chicago and 
other points, that it would not pay to 
ship by them to the Mississippi freight 
to be transmitted on barges to New Or¬ 
leans. Neither farmers nor speculators, 
however, should insist on reaping great 
immediate advantages from cheap river 
transportation, lest their unwise greed 
should check or defer its development. 
Arrangements were lately made at St. 
Louis to send five barges up the Mis¬ 
souri to Kansas City, the boats to start 
on telegraphic notioe that the merchants 
of that plaoe had their grain ready for 
shipment. On the announcement of the 
prospective arrival of the barges, how¬ 
ever, the price of grain at Kansas City 
rose at the rate of two cents a day until it 
was higher there than at St. Louis, and 
the proposed trip of the barges was aban¬ 
doned, and as they lost a good cargo to 
New Orleans while waiting orders for 
Kansas City, the proprietors are hardly 
likely to be anxious to renew the project. 
SOFT WHEAT. 
Among millers, especially in the North¬ 
west, there is a growing agitation against 
soft wheat. A local pat er reports that 
all the millers at Minneapolis lately re¬ 
fused to buy a load of Lost Nation be¬ 
cause they had resolved to grind no 
wheat so soft. The fiour from Minne¬ 
apolis and other milling points in Min¬ 
nesota has obtained its superior reputa¬ 
tion principally because it is made of such 
very hard wheats as Fife. While this and 
other hard wheats will not yield so much 
per acre as soft varieties, mill-men can 
make a higher grade of flour from them 
by the “new process” and are therefore 
willing to pajr a better figure for them. 
Quite a considerable number of mills 
in Western Wisconsin will not, it is said, 
buy Wisconsin wheat, because it is 
deemed too soft, preferring to send grain 
buyers into Minnesota for their sup¬ 
plies. Of late years farmers of the latter 
State have been tempted to grow soft 
wheats more extensively than formerly, 
and consequently the Minneapolis and 
other “ high grade” mills in the North¬ 
west have lately been buying heavily in 
Dakota where a new grade, “Hard No. 
1," gives great satisfaction, while the 
soft grain is being shipped in bulk to 
the Eastern markets, mostly for export. 
It would seem that if the miller cannot 
ordain what sort of wheat the farmer 
shall grow in any other way, he will, 
wherever he can afford to do so, go so 
far as to refuse to buy soft wheat. 
■ - - - 
LOSS OF BEES LAST WINTER. 
Any process by whioh we may arrive 
at the causes of the great loss in bees 
during the past Winter, will be greeted 
with joy by the apiarist. The best way 
to ascertain what these causes are, is to 
consider the conditions as to location, 
kind of hive, protection, etc,, under 
which the colonies were placed during 
the severe cold of Winter, and then make 
a comparison of the results as shown by 
the number and strength of the colonies 
that were alive in the Spring. In an¬ 
other column will be fouud statistics 
bearing on this question. 
From these reports, received from all 
parts of the country, at least two import¬ 
ant facts are evident—first, that it is 
profitable to carefully protect the hives 
in Winter, and, second, that frame hives 
are superior to all others for Winter use. 
The first fact is shown, as nearly as may 
be, from the summary that out of 268,"- 
313 unprotected colonies, 229,741 were 
lost; while of the 145,883 protected colo¬ 
nies but 67,238 succumbed to the cold. 
The second fact is shown by the state¬ 
ment that of 211,732 colonies in box 
hives, 187,705 were lost, and of 309,498 
colonies in all frame hives, 142,307 were 
lost. That is, the average percentage of 
loss in hives is ,89, and in frame hives 
but .46. It is probable that these fig¬ 
ures are as nearly authentic as can be 
obtained, being derived from so large a 
number of reports and, being such, they 
are worthy of consideration. 
IMMIGRATION AND THE PUBLIC LANDS. 
The total number of immigrants to 
this country during the year ending June 
30 last, was 660,239, against 451,902 for 
the twelve months ending June 30, 1880 
—an increase of 208,337. This is the 
greatest tide of immigration that has ever 
flowed to these shores, and if each new¬ 
comer added only $500 to the wealth of 
the country, the aggregate would, in six 
years, overtop the national debt, if the 
rush continued equally large. A very 
large proportion of these are going West, 
many of them with the intention of 
“homesteading” so soon aa they can 
legally do so. Besides a fair opportunity 
to win a livelihood or a fortune, the 
United States oflers to every adult among 
them who “ declares his intention ” of 
becoming a citizen, 160 acres of unoccu¬ 
pied public land in any State or Terri¬ 
tory possessed of land subject to entry, 
on condition of actual settlement—dwel¬ 
ling upon and cultivating the soil em¬ 
braced in the entry. At the end of five 
years of continuous residence on, and im¬ 
provement of, the land, he oan receive a 
patent for it, though the final title will 
not be issued until full citizenship is ob¬ 
tained. The only payment for such a 
bountiful grant is a petty fee amounting 
to $34 on the Pacific Coast and to $24 in 
any other part of the country. More¬ 
over, if the “locator”wish6B to purchase 
his homestead outright, he can do so at. 
the end of six months, paying for his 
land at the rate of $1.25 or $2.50 per 
acre, according to the provision of the 
law on the commutation of homesteads. 
The homestead act has been in operation 
18 years, though much the same system 
of disposing of the public lands has ex¬ 
isted for nearly 80 years, and up to the 
end of the last fiscal year—J une 30—the 
United States has donated to immigrants 
and otherB 19,265,337 acres. 
- - 
THE CATTLE COMMISSION. 
The Secretary of the Treasury has ap¬ 
pointed a Cattle Commission whose duty 
itshall be to investigate all oases of pleuro¬ 
pneumonia in neat cattle, especially along 
the line dividing Canada from the U. S., 
and along the lines of transportation from 
all parts of the United States to portsfrom 
which cattle are exported, and to perform 
other duties prescribed by the Secretary 
with reference to this disease, in order 
that cattle shipped from this country to 
foreign ports may be known and certified 
to be free from this pest. The Commis¬ 
sioners are Dr. James Law, of Cornell 
University, N. Y, the standard veterinary 
authority of the oountry; Mr. James II. 
Sanders, of Chicago, Editor of the Na¬ 
tional Live-Stock Journal, who in the 
course of his editorial duties has obtained 
a great deal of information with regard to 
the plague; and Mr. D. F. Thayer, of West 
Newton, Mass., one of the best authori¬ 
ties in the land on contagious pleuro¬ 
pneumonia, who]has been twice instru¬ 
mental in stamping it out in Massachu¬ 
setts. We have several tames strongly 
urged a measure of this Bort, although 
we would have preferred that the Com¬ 
mission should be connected with the 
Department of Agriculture rather than 
that of the Treasury, for we desire to 
add to the importance of the former, 
and this cannot be done if business that 
properly belongs to it, is performed by 
any other Department. The Commission¬ 
ers are to meet on August 1, to form a 
plan of action, and itis to be hoped that no 
time will be lost in setting vigorously to 
work. The strongest objection hitherto 
urged in England bv those who opposed 
any modification of the restrictions on 
the importation of cattle from this coun¬ 
try, has been that no “ clean bill of health” 
certified to the sound condition of the 
animals on their embarkation here; as 
the new Commissioners are to take meas¬ 
ures to furnish certificates at the various 
ports at which cattle are shipped, it is to 
be hoped that our trans-Atlantic friends 
may either remove or greatly modify the 
present embargo on our cattle. 
BREVITIES. 
We have to announce that our supply of 
Pyrethrum roseum seed la exhausted. 
It will be noticed that F. W. P., Texas, Bays, 
in our Everywhere Department, under date of 
July 16, that his Rural Branching Sorghum 
• ‘ is 10 feet high, with 10 branches to the hill”— 
that is, from a single seed. 8ee, also, J. L. 
T’b report from Virginia. 
Mr. Gbo. W. Campbell in his horticultural 
report of the Paris Exposition, speaks of a 
new plum called Merignon, which was to 
have been offered for sale in 1879. He says 
that it is of enormous size, nearly black in 
color, oval or egg-shaped, and as large as a 
hen’s egg. It is, however, rather coarse in 
texture, and not above third-rate in quality. 
We presume some of our nurserymen have 
obtained trees and that it will be 'offered for 
sale in this country in due time. 
A bheep dairt ! Yes, indeed, one has just 
been started at Chattanooga, Tennessee. An 
Austrian, backed up by “ men of means," has 
there begun the manufacture of Schafkase— 
eheep cheese—a delicacy which is said to far 
surpass “ cow cheese ” in all desirable quali¬ 
ties. Schafkase is made liEe ordinary cheese, 
it Is reported, and the Chattanooga factory has 
started with milk from 200 sheep, which num¬ 
ber is to be increased to 500 or even 1.000. 
Mutton and wool have hitherto been the chief 
points held in view in raising sheep, must 
their milking qualities also be taken into con¬ 
sideration ? 
The famous cow Jersey Belle of Scituate, 
died the other day of milk fever, having 
dropped a bull calf the previous day. She 
was dropped July 10,1871, got by Victor (3550) 
out of one of his own daughters, and was con¬ 
sidered among the best Jersey cows in this or 
any other country'—If she was not the very best. 
In her seven-year old season she gave 705 
pounds of butter in 865 days—a vield that made 
her famous the world over. Some doubt of 
this performance has been insinuated by the 
skeptical, but while mourning her untimely 
death we have no heart to cast a shadow on 
her great merits. 
From an English “ blue-book" or Parlia¬ 
mentary report just published, it appears that 
during the year ending last February, the num¬ 
ber of live stock shipped from this side of the 
Atlantic to Great Britain was 242,681. Of 
these 1,563 were washed overboard in rough 
weather. 156 died from exposure, 512 were 
suffocated, 68 died through lack of proper 
ventilation, 1,327 died from exhaustion, and 
8,491 were thrown overboard during stormy 
weather for the safety of the veBBel and the 
rest of the freight, making the total num¬ 
ber lost 7,112. Although the loss is thus 
shown to be a trifle less than three per cent, 
of the total number shipped, yet what a world 
of suffering does it not represent, and what au 
opening for the exercise of humanity does it 
not afford to shippers 1 
Between Kansas and Colorado on the north 
and New Mexico, Texas and the Indian Terri¬ 
tory on the South, lias an unexplored tract of 
public land about 160 miles long and about 30 
miles broad, which is within the borders of no 
State or Territory and of which nothing what¬ 
ever is known by the Government officials. At 
its last session Congress passed an act author¬ 
izing the Secretary of the Interior to have this 
tract surveyed, and Commissioner McFarland 
has just completed thenecessary arrangements, 
so that this tract will soon be open to home¬ 
stead and pre emption settlement. It is be¬ 
lieved to contain at least one large river with 
a dozen, or bo, considerable branches. It is 
thought to be rocky aud suitable for grazing, 
but not for tillage. There will soon be no cor¬ 
ner in our wide territory whose capabilities 
and attractions have not been investigated aud 
set forth. 
Among the many novel projects discussed in 
England for the relief of laud-owners one at 
least is about to be tested—in the form of an 
experiment in joint-stock agriculture. A com¬ 
pany has been organized, embracing such 
prominent noblemen as the Duke of Bucking¬ 
ham and Lord Daere, and skillful agricultu¬ 
rists like Mr. Stratton, the well-known cattle- 
breeder, with the object of leasing single 
farms or groups of farms in various counties 
and of cultivating them according to the very 
best principles. Ample means for doing so 
are at the command of the Company whose 
capital amounts to $5,000,000. Each group of 
farms will be. under the management of &ome 
one whose skill and local experience will ena¬ 
ble him to deal in the best way with that spe¬ 
cial land, Special attention will be bestowed 
on dairy farming, the rearing and feeding of 
cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, murket gar¬ 
dening and fruit culture. Special rates will 
be obtained, where possible, for transporting 
the products of each group of farms to market, 
and whenever practicable all products will be 
sold directly to consumers. 
The National Cotton Exchange convened at 
8 t. Louis, July 20 and 21, and appropriated 
sS.550 to defray the expenBeB of the year 
1880-1881, and recommended tbat an assess¬ 
ment of $70 be made on each member. A 
meeting of one expert from each constituent 
Exchange, and of two delegates from New 
Orleans and New York ave to meet in this city 
on Angus! 15, for the purpose of establishing 
a uniformity of standard. A committee of 
three were appointed to memorialize Congress 
for an appropriation to establish stations 
throughout the South to furnish additional 
crop reports, and it was decided to ask local 
Exchanges to use their influence to secure the 
passage of Buck a measure. The time and 
place of the next convention are to be deter¬ 
mined by the Executive Committee. It was 
urged that the Agricultural Department and 
Signal Service Bureau be extended and more 
liberally fostered, as both are capable of being 
made of great use to agriculture; while ow¬ 
ing to the parsimony which now hampers their 
efforts, neither is able to do much good. The 
preseut method of collecting official crop re¬ 
ports was strongly reprobated, and, so far as 
cotton is concerned, it waa declared that un¬ 
less a change were made for the better, it 
would be advisable to discontinue the publica¬ 
tion of the reports. A change is certanly de¬ 
sirable, but only a change—not an abolition. 
