THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
A National Journal tor the Country and Suburban Home. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ELBBBT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
BATUiiJJA ¥, OCT. 1, 1<881. 
DIED. 
President Garfield died on Sep¬ 
tember 19. The poor, brave, patient 
sufferer has gone at last to rest. We 
have no words to express our regret, 
our sorrow. Would that the pray¬ 
ers of this Nation, of the World, in¬ 
deed, might have been granted. It 
is hard to say : “Oh, God, Thy will 
be done.” 
All interested in such matters should 
read our report of the late session of the 
American Pomological Society. It has 
been carefully prepared by one of the 
most distinguished members. 
The Fund for Mrs. Garfield.— Up 
to the present writing $306,800 have 
been subscribed to this fund. While the 
President lived there was some doubt in 
the minds of many as to the propriety of 
establishing such a fund, but now those 
doubts are removed, and the most prac¬ 
tical way of showing respect for our hon¬ 
ored dead is in doing a kindness to 
his bereaved family, and in such a spirit 
should our contributions be made. lu a 
few days the woman who, by her noble 
nature and heroic bearing, has won the 
affections of a nation, will retire to the 
seclusion of the old home in Mentor—a 
widow, deprived now of that, strong arm 
of support. No more fitting tribute to the 
memory of her dead aud ours could be 
paid than this substantial means of sup¬ 
port which will place her and her family 
beyond want as long as she shall live, and 
it is with the highest gratification that we 
are to-day enabled to announce that more 
than tlie proposed fund of $250,000 has 
been raised, and still the people pour in 
their gifts. If Americans are noted for 
their money-getting proclivities, events 
have more than once shown that they 
can be magnanimous when the occasion 
demands. 
BUSINESS ACTIVITY. 
While complaints of short crops come 
more or less loudly from all parts of the 
country, the volume of general business 
seems to be unusually great this year, 
Here extraordinary activity is noted in all 
leading lines of goods, and the same is 
the case in Philadelphia and Boston. In 
all, the distributions of clothing, dry 
goods, boots and shoes, and, indeed, of all 
forms of merchandise, is unusually large. 
In all wholesale lines Chicago reports very 
great activity, and trade is extremely 
brisk in St. Louis. From Detroit comes 
word that the country demand for goods 
is unprecedented. Louisville declares that 
trade is far ahead of expectations ; and 
St. Paul and Minneapolis assert that bad 
weather alone retards exceptionally active 
dealings in all kinds of merchandise. In 
Augusta, Ga., Fall business is reported a 
trifle backward, but wholesale merchants 
have laid in heavy stocks in anticipation 
of a large trade. New Orleans is doing a 
heavy business and expects to do a still 
heavier one when the river rises. Whole¬ 
sale houses and retail firms report large 
sales and brisk business to our mercantile 
agencies, not only in the large towns, but 
also in small towns, villages and even cross¬ 
road stores. Either the farmers of the 
country, as a whole, are doing very well 
despite short crops, or their credit is re¬ 
markably good. All manufacturing in¬ 
dustries are “ booming,” and industrious 
men need not look far for bread or work. 
COTTON AS KING. 
Cotton is not likely to lose its present 
position as King of American Commerce 
just yet. Among the leading items of ex¬ 
port we find that cotton, in value, ranks 
almost as high as wheat, corn aud flour 
together. The valuation of cotton exports 
for the fiscal year 1881 was, in round num¬ 
bers $260,000,000, while that of wheat was 
$168,000,000, corn $51,000,000 and flour 
$45,000,000. The crop of this year is es¬ 
timated at about 6,000,000 bales of 400 
pounds each which is the second largest 
crop on record, and tends to show that 
cotton will he perhaps, for many years yet, 
our most valuable export. 
Although the crop is now a large one, 
those who are competent to say have ex¬ 
pressed the opinion that one-tenth part of 
the State of Texas can produce more cot¬ 
ton than is now raised in the whole coun¬ 
try. Indeed, Mr. Hilgard, who has charge 
of the cotton statistics for the census re¬ 
port, has said that the “Yazoo bottom” 
in Mississippi can, with proper cultivation 
and reasonable protection from the river’s 
overflow, be made to produce as much as 
is now grown by the whole South, and 
this comprises only an cllipiticul area ex¬ 
tending from Vicksburg north to the Ten¬ 
nessee line, and is about 50 miles wide in 
the central portion. Now since the 
“ Yazoo bottom ” grows about one-fourth 
the crop of Mississippi and that State grows 
about one-fifth or thereabouts of the total 
cotton crop, the amount now raised can 
be increased 20-fold by giving the Yazoo 
district the necessary attention. Then, 
with equal care for all the cotton raising 
districts, to what extent could the pro¬ 
duction of cotton not be increased, and 
its commercial value enhanced 1 
-►M- 
IMPURE MILK IN CITIES. 
Lately the Board of Health of this 
city has been unusually active iu prevent¬ 
ing the importation of skimmed or adul¬ 
terated milk. Within the last four days 
9,000 gallons have been turned into the 
Hudson River at the ferries from New 
Jersey alone ; and equally energetic meas¬ 
ures are to be taken against importations 
from Long Island, Connecticut and West¬ 
chester and the neighboring counties in 
this State. Of course, there can be no 
objection to the introduction of skimmed 
milk on the score of its healthfulness, the 
great objection to it is the strong tempta¬ 
tion it presents to dishonest dealers to sell 
it as full milk. Swill milk, however, is 
far more dangerous, especially to infants, 
than even what is ordinarily termed 
“adulterated” milk, and against swill 
milk we do not notice that any efficient 
precautions have been taken. Indeed, 
the only large city which seems to have 
obtained relief from the swill milk evil is 
St. Louis, where the Humane Society vig¬ 
orously prosecutes the OYvners of stables 
containing swill-fed cows, for cruelty to 
animals. Deprived of all opportunity for 
exercise, shut up in dark, foul, ill-ven¬ 
tilated stables, and fed almost exclusively 
on distillery swill, such poor beasts soon 
become diseased and so weak that they 
could not stand were it not that they are 
generally kept in stalls so narrow that they 
are supported by the sides. These pes¬ 
tiferous stables at the East are the hot-beds 
of pluero-pneumonia and the other kin¬ 
dred diseases that threaten the cattle of 
the country and are therefore as dangerous 
to our herds as to our children. They 
should therefore at once be either radically 
reformed or abated as so many nuisances. 
-♦ -» «- 
HIGH PRICES AND GREAT DEMAND 
FOR MUTTON SHEEP. 
Sheep of the Down breeds are bringing 
extraordinarily high prices iioyv in Eng¬ 
land, whether of the South Down, Hamp¬ 
shire, Oxfordshire or Shropshire. A ram 
of the latter sort from Mr. Mansell’s flock, 
illustrated in this issue, recently brought 
the astounding price of 200 guineas — 
$1,016 ;—and several others realized from 
60 to 100 guineas—($305 to $508.) Other 
sales of the other Down breeds have com¬ 
manded nearly the above prices for their 
choicest, and scarcely anything of a good 
breeding quality seems to fetch less than 
10 guineas—($50.) Now here is great 
encouragement to those who have been 
importing these kinds of sheep so freely 
into the United States during the past 
feYv months, and also for all who are breed¬ 
ing them here. They are sure of obtain¬ 
ing high prices for their produce for years 
to come, and a quick sale for all they can 
multiply. Great Britain is very bare of 
sheep at present, having lost, so many by 
disease during the past three years. They 
are said to be nearly four millions less 
than six years ago. The people there are 
large consumers of mutton, and all we 
can send to them of the right quality, 
they will gladly take from us. Sheep be¬ 
ing so much smaller animals than cattle, 
they are more easily transported com¬ 
fortably by land or sea, and are greatly 
less liable to loss by death or disease. 
England imported about $120,000,000 
worth of wool the past year. Thus after 
we have been able to supply our OYvn 
manufacturers, we have a British market 
open for this, as well as for very large and 
continually increasing quantities of mut¬ 
ton. 
-- 
SOUTHERN FARMERS. 
A new way to pay old debts is being 
tried by the farmers in some parts of 
South Carolina, especially by those in the 
northern counties. For instance, at a 
meeting in Anderson County, the other 
day, it was resolved that, whereas corn 
was estimated at only 31 per cent, and 
cotton at only 25 per cent, of an average 
crop; and, whereas, this fraction of a cot¬ 
ton crop was the only means in the hands 
of the planters “for paying their debts and 
supporting their families;" therefore their 
first duty Yvas to preserve unsullied their 
honesty, their iutegrity and their self- 
respect. After which preamble, their 
creditors—the merchants and dealers in 
fertilizers—were called upon to consent to 
a pro rata settlement of the debts incurred 
in making the present short crops. In all 
this there is nothing noticeably novel, ex¬ 
cept, perhaps, that the farmers should, like 
traders, co-operate iu calling a meeting of 
creditors. But, in connection with the 
preamble, there is a good dea l that is novel 
in the final resolution adopted, to “regard 
as a public enemy any man who attempts 
to enforce by the law the collection of 
debts from any farmer who complies with 
the agreement ” to pay all he can of his 
indebtedness pro rata. The movement is 
spreading rapidly nearly all over the State 
and is specially directed against dealers iu 
commercial fertilizers. The condition of 
a great many Southern farmers this year 
is certainly hard. The partial failure of 
their tivo staple products, corn and cot¬ 
ton, increases their need of food supplies 
from the North while decreasing their 
means for purchasing them at the same 
time that the shortage in Northern crops 
raises the price of everything they have to 
buy for consumption. The distress that 
is more than probable in a great part of 
the Cotton Belt will add another to the 
many previous lessobs as to the advantages 
of devoting to the production of several 
crops for food a large share of the capital 
and labor uoyv almost exclusively em¬ 
ployed in the production of a single crop 
for clothing. Food is more than raiment. 
-- 
A NEW MODE OF BAITING CATTLE IN 
TRANSIT. 
Proper transportation of live stock 
on railroads is stilt an unsolved problem, 
despite the introduction of “Palace 
Cattle Cars" by way of experiment on 
one line, the multitude of patents, every 
one of which professes to be able to ac¬ 
complish the desired object, and the ur¬ 
gent need of some means of carriage at 
once humane aud economical. By the 
existing system the Western producer 
suffers a serious loss by the falling-off in 
Yveight of animals in transit; the Eastern 
consumer incurs a grave risk from the un- 
Yvholesome condition of the flesh likely 
to be engendered by the hardships of 
travel, and our exports of living and 
slaughtered cattle are greatly endangered, 
depending, as they do, on the delivery of 
sound living or dead meat abroad. The 
great objection to all present devices for 
baiting stock on the cars lies in the fact 
that all necessitate more or less expensive 
changes in the rolling stock, whereas suc- 
cess in the traffic turns upon extremely 
close management, which puts expensive 
adaptations out of the question. SeY r en 
years ago Congress passed an act requir- 
ing^cattle in transit to be fed and Yvatered 
at least once in 24 hours; but the law has 
remained nearly a dead letter owing to 
the practical difficulties of either unload¬ 
ing the. cattle or baiting them on the cars. 
The Humane Live Stock Express Compa¬ 
ny of this city proposes to overcome the 
latter difficulty by erecting feeding sta¬ 
tions from which stock in cars can be fed 
out of buckets supplied by a pipe inserted 
in the cars by removing a single board at 
the proper bight. It is claimed that this 
method requires no change in the cars; 
involves no delay, and that both food and 
water can be economically and expedi¬ 
tiously supplied at the same time. Apart 
from hygienic aud humane considerations, 
any economical system which delivers 
stock at the end of their journey as heavy 
as they were at its commencement, is a 
boon to stock owners and the public at 
large, and is certain of ultimate adoption. 
The proposed plan of the H. L. E. Co. 
seems likely to effect this object. 
BREVITIES. 
We learn from Westchester Co., N. Y., 
that water is selling for one dollar per barrel, 
and that one man paid $20 for 18 barrels. 
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has lately 
decided, in the case of Hoffman vs. Junk, that 
a conveyance of “real” property, made to 
escape paying a judgment in an existing suit, 
is fraudulent and can te set aside. 
That the purchaser of real estate is enti¬ 
tled to a perfect title and cannot be compelled 
to take a deed therefor and pay the consider¬ 
ation if there is a mortgage on the land, has 
recently been decided by the Supreme Court 
of California, iu Hoeckel vs. Reese. 
In his little treatise on Wheat Culture, pub¬ 
lished by the Judd Company, page 49, Mr. D. 
S. Curtiss gives n picture of Defiance Spring 
Wheat. Opposite, on the same page, is an¬ 
other engraving, printed a little heavier, of 
Russian Spring Wheat. Both engravings are 
precisely the same. 
The National Dairy Fair Yvhieh %vas held in 
this city twice, but Yvhieh Yvas held nm\ here 
last year mainly on account of the bickerings 
of its two chief promoters, Messrs. Thurber 
and Moulton, will be held this year at Cedar 
Rapids, loYva, in November and already ar¬ 
rangements are being made to make it a bril¬ 
liant success. 
In the case of Hart vs. the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company a bill of lading of live 
stock was made in which the value of the 
stock was stated, the bill being signed both 
by the currier and the consignor. The ani¬ 
mals Yvere lost, through the fault of the R. 11. 
Company and an action Yvas brought by Hart 
to recover damages Yvhieh he put at a higher 
figure than the amount, in the bill of lading. 
In the United States Circuit Court of St. 
Louis, Mo., Judge McCrary lately decided 
against the plaintiff, on the ground that the 
price fixed bound the consignor aud limited 
the liability of the carrier for the value of the 
stock, to the stipulated amount. 
Tyvo of our large industries an 1 troubled by 
the high price of com. The glucose factories 
all over the country are either diminishing or, 
more commonly, altogether suspending oj>era¬ 
tions. With com at 25 to 80c., per bushel 
they could make a very satisfactory profit by 
converting it into “sugar,” but Yvith corn at 
60c. to 70c., per bushel, they could probably 
make a profit by reversing the transmutation, 
Yvere such a feat possible. The Kentucky dis¬ 
tillers are also worried by the advance in price 
of this cereal, and are said to be debating 
whether, In view of the low price of whisky 
and high price of corn, it Yvould not be advis¬ 
able to make no more whisky at present. Few 
are the unmixed evnls in the world. 
The Michigan Relief Fund. The grand to¬ 
tal of the contributions to the above fund in 
this city' to-day, September 26, amounts to 
$72,892,53 iu money, besides a considerable 
quantity of clothing. Other largo cities have 
also been liberal in their donations, yet the 
aggregate of all the contributions will go only 
a small way to relievo the widespread distress. 
The absence of small donations is very notice¬ 
able; yet modest contributions from the 
multitude who can afford to give little sums, 
would aggregate more than the total of the 
checks of the few charitable millionaires. 
Even if each of our subscribers Y\'ere to pre¬ 
sent a bushel of Yvlieat, what a magnificent 
aid would be afforded !—Yvhile if each of onr 
adult readers were to do the same, the result 
would bo far more helpful than the total con¬ 
tributions from this city. No need of send¬ 
ing the grain itself, thus multiplying freight 
and other expenses. Hell the Michigan bushel 
aud forYvard the price to the Michigan Re¬ 
lief Association, Detroit, Michigan. Remem¬ 
ber that in doing so you are helping unfortu 
nate brother fanners. 
The total cotton crop handled during the 
year ending September 1 last was 6,589,329 
bales, according to the statement of the Finan¬ 
cial Chronicle, long recognized as one of the 
mc*t careful and trustworthy authorities YYith 
regard to cotton. This crop was an increase 
of 14^ per cent, over the previous crop, and 
by all odds the largest ever raised. Of tliis 
total Northern manufacturers took 1,686,809 
bales—an increase of 50,000 bales over the 
amount taken by them during the year ending 
September 1, 18,80, und an increase of 400,000 
bales in five years. Southern manufacturers 
took 205,000 bales—eight, and one-fifth times 
less than the quantity taken by the North, but 
an increase of 60,000 bales in six years. But 
as the Northern increase amounted to 400,000 
bales in four years and the Southern to only 
60,000 bales in six years, it will be a long time 
until the latter catches up with the former at, 
this rate. The total domestic consumption of 
the crop, therefore, was, in round numbers, 
1,891,000 bales, leaving 4,597,000 for exporta¬ 
tion. Both the home and foreign consumption 
of cotton is increasing, and we believe that 
the world has now entered on another pro¬ 
gressive era in cotton-spinning. 
“Corners” in financial securities and in 
produce are doubtless as old, in a mild Yvay, as 
dealings in both; but it is only of compara¬ 
tively late, years that they have attained such 
vast proportions its to have attracted nation¬ 
wide or even world-wide attention. Hitherto 
vast “corners” in agricultural produce have, 
been the special productions of tin's country; 
for the governments of “ effete Europe” have, 
most of them, a habit of interfering with the 
free progress of such speculative operations. A 
“ corner ” in cotton at present, in Liverpool, 
England, however, afipears to dwarf by con¬ 
trast all “comers” of the kind that had ever 
been formed hero. Some forty of the chief 
operators iu the staple control all or nearly 
all, the American cotton in the market, and 
have raised the price so high that the 
cotton mills cannot buy it without a strong 
probability of heavy losses so soon as the price 
goes doYvn on the termination of the “deal.” 
Having worked up all the American cotton on 
hand, the millers have, as a final resource, re¬ 
solved to suspend Yvork on American cotton 
for a week in the hope that the manipulators 
id the comer " ill not be able to hold control 
of the ma rket for that. time. Unless the corner 
shall have then collapsed, operations will 
probably be suspended fora second week, af¬ 
ter an interval of a Yveelc for the filling ot nr 
ent orders. Scarcity of any particular pro- 
uct is alYvays suggesttee of a “comer” iu it, 
to hazard-loving, moneyed speculators.. 
