846 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ItEEHT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, Nkw York. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 3, 1881. 
Seven Yearly Subscriptions with $14 
ENTITLE THE SENDER TO THE RURAL 
New-Yorker for One Year Free. 
AUSTRALIAN MEAT. 
After all that has been said and done 
about this, it does not seem likely to come 
into any great competition in England 
with American fresh meat. In order to 
transport it fresh from Australia to so 
distant a port as any part of Europe, the 
meat must be frozen. On arrival, as soon 
as it is taken from the cold compartments 
of the vessel and exposed to the air, it 
almost instantly begins to lose taste, and 
soon becomes unsalable, the butchers de¬ 
clining to receive and undertake to keep 
it for their customers. 
The methods of keeping meat from 
Australia, and that frozen in Russia and 
other countries of a high Northern lati¬ 
tude are entirely different. In the latter 
there is no thaw during Winter, but one 
continued, steady freeze. As soon as it 
becomes sufficiently cold, animals of all 
kinds are slaughtered, the carcasses 
dressed and piled up in heaps in the open 
air; and the beef, mutton, pork, poultry 
or wild game is taken from these 
heaps as wanted, care being used to con¬ 
sume all before a thaw sets in, which does 
not come till the last of March. In this 
way the meat is kept perfectly fresh, 
juicy and sweet. In fact it is improved 
by the freezing, becoming a little more 
tander and savory from the action of 
the frost on it. Thus it will be seen that 
our American breeders of domestic ani¬ 
mals have little to fear from the compe¬ 
tition of Australia or other countries 
very distant from Europe. 
ENGLISH HAY AND GRAIN DRYING 
MACHINE. 
Mr. Gibbs has improved this somewhat 
since using it last year, and has been more 
successful than ever with its performance. 
During wet weather lie cut and cured 30 
tons of hay in 23 hours, at a cost of ?3s.‘ 
Gd. per ton (about $3). He afterwards 
dried the product of 33 acres at a less rel¬ 
ative cost. He has dried seven acres of 
a heavy crop of clover in nine hours, and 
so on, with regard to other crops of hay, 
in a longer or shorter time as the case 
might be, and at a greater or less expense 
according to the downfall of the rain, as 
it fell heavier or lighter and for a longer 
or shorter time. 
In drying wheat and other grain crops 
he has been equally successful. We wish 
our mechanics would turn their attention 
to getting up a similar machine; for, al¬ 
though our climate is not nearly so rainy 
a one as that of England, still we have so 
much rain occasionally in June, July and 
August as to badly damage the hay, rye, 
whefti, barley and oats. The cost of dry¬ 
ing here by machinery ould not be as 
great as it usually is in England, because, 
even in quite rainy months, we are favored 
more or less by a bright sun. Our me¬ 
chanics have been very successful in get¬ 
ting up mowing and reaping machines, 
hay spreaders also; let them now trv their 
hands at hay and grain driers. 
Kiln-drying has also been successful, 
the wheat being thrashed when the straw 
was quite wet, and the grain then put on 
to the kiln. One writer says he has a kiln 
16 1-2 feet square, on which he can dry 
45 bushels at a time, and the grain dried 
well in four hours. Then lie put this with 
a bulk of onc-and-a-huif as much more of 
undried wheat, let it lie 48 hours in a 
heap, then turned it, and after 48 hours 
longer put it through the Uower (fan mill 
we suppose lie means), and it made a dry 
marketable quality, which no miller could 
have told was not all dried well in the sun. 
INSANITY OR MORAL PERVERSITY. 
The alarming increase of crime which 
is attributed to insanity, is a matter de¬ 
serving the serious consideration of sensi¬ 
ble people. The trial of the perverted 
creature who assassinated our late Presi¬ 
dent, has brought this subject forward 
prominently as a question for public dis¬ 
cussion and earnest private thought. 
What is insanity? The word itself means 
unliealthfulness or disease, and is by com¬ 
mon consent applied to the mental sys¬ 
tem. An insane person is one whose 
mind is diseased. This view of the case 
leaves open a wide distinction of degree, 
for the disease may be temporary and 
mild, or it may be serious, permanent and 
incurable. Between these two points 
there may be a great many gradations, as 
in fact there are. But the most serious 
consideration is, how is insanity produced 
and is there any point in this disease 
which approaches very closely to, or may 
be considered as, moral perversity due to 
ungoverned disposition, or an actually 
cultivated and fostered malignity of pur¬ 
pose? Self-will, a natural disposition to 
ignore the rights of other persons, obsti¬ 
nacy, vanity, cruelty and an utter disre¬ 
gard of the rights or comforts of our 
fellow creatures, may all, by continuous 
cultivation and practice, soon produce 
those conditions in the mind of a man 
which will possess and exhibit all the 
symptoms of mental disease. 
It is a fearfnl thought, but a most per¬ 
tinent one, how much of this mischief lias 
been done by the want of repression and 
training and the proper subjection of the 
minds of children to a due regard to the 
rights of others and the rigid control of the 
passions. The ungovernable fury of the 
manslayer; the insatiable desire for the 
possession of money that it may be squan¬ 
dered in the most senseless and stupid 
manner, may very easily be produced in a 
mind all unbalanced and perverted by a 
continued and unchecked practice of 
anger and malice iti the one, or extrava¬ 
gant greediness and self-indulgence in the 
other. Without pursuing the question 
further we submit it as one deserving the 
most careful and earnest thought of those 
who are rearing children and young per¬ 
sons, and whose first care of their inesti¬ 
mable charges should lie to encourage 
in them, by every possible means, by edu¬ 
cation, training and example, a sound 
mind in a sound body; and not in the 
care for the latter to neglect the far great¬ 
er interests of the former. 
done with the $150,000. Inasmuch as 
this State is not by any means the one 
most benefited by the money and labor of 
the immigrants, simple justice demands 
that such a tax as the one suggested, be 
authorized, thus removing from New 
York a large expense which she should 
not bear alone. 
REPEAL OF THE FRENCH EMBARGO 
ON AMERICAN PORK. 
OUR IMMIGRANTS. 
YV e make no apology for a somewhat 
frequent reference to the large number of 
immigrants daily arriving at tins port. 
The question which treats of the reception 
and care of nearly half a million people, 
with their social, religious and national 
prejudices, their habits of indolence or of 
industry, their political beliefs or disbe¬ 
liefs, is one that cannot be slighted; its 
importance demands for it a thoughtful 
consideration. It is a problem affecting 
not this city or State only, but the whole 
country, especially the West, whither 
most of the immigrants finally go. In the 
first place the appropriations to the Com¬ 
mission of Emigration at this port are not 
sufficient. When but two or three hun¬ 
dred immigrants came here anuually the 
sum of $500,000 was each year appropri¬ 
ated for their reception and care, and it 
was none too large, but now when over 
400,000 annually arrive, as was the case 
last year, the sum of $150,000 is deemed 
sufficient, and from this must be deducted 
$8,000 a year for rent, which, with other 
expenses, brings the actual annual work¬ 
ing capital down to $130,000. 
Again, no Commission of Emigration 
made up as this one is of business men 
with other duties to attend to, can faith¬ 
fully perform the duties devolving upon 
them. They need to give their whole 
time and attention to the work. Two 
bankers, one publisher, one capitalist, one 
dealer in hats and one in the insurance 
business, together with the Mayor and an 
agent, each, from two emigrant societies, 
make up this Board. Even with the nec¬ 
essary clerks the work is too great, and 
added to this the hospital on Ward’s Is¬ 
land, with its 600 patients, is under their 
supervision. This latter difficulty may be 
remedied by increasing the number on the 
Commission, and by placing men there 
who can devote their whole time to the 
work, thus enhancing its efficiency. 
As an aid to the solution of the “de¬ 
ficiency ” problem, the one dollar tax on 
each immigrant arriving should be legal¬ 
ized. If it is not in the power of the 
State Legislature to do this, inasmuch as 
such action is at enmity with the Consti¬ 
tution, then let the Federal Government 
authorize such a tax, About seven-tenths 
of all immigrants to this country land at 
this port; tills State, by its appropriations, 
assists these people to homes, mostly in 
the West; it obtains passage for them 
thither at reduced rates; it cares for them 
at the Ward’s Island Hospital, if they ar¬ 
rive sick; any time within a year it will 
give the discouraged and home-sick a free 
passage outward again—and all this is 
The late change of ministry in France, 
by which Gambetta has been made pre¬ 
mier, is likely to have a beneficial effect 
on exports of American hog products 
from this country and consequently on the 
prices of our live hog crop. It will be 
remembered that, on February 18, last, an 
order was issued by the Government of 
France prohibiting the importation of 
American hog products within her bor¬ 
ders on account of the grossly exaggerated 
reports of the prevalence of hog disease 
here. Later on it was demonstrated not 
only that these were false, but also that 
as lard is boiled in the process of manu¬ 
facture and impurities are neutralized in 
the refining, there could be no risk of dis¬ 
ease in the consun.ption of that article, 
even if there possibly might be from the 
eating of pork. The embargo was then 
modified so as to admit lard while still ex¬ 
cluding other hog products. Even with 
this modification, however, our hog in¬ 
dustries have suffered greatly from the 
action ol France, the more so as several 
other European nations have followed 
her bad example. It was mainly owing 
to this that our exports of hog products 
were 280,000,000 pounds less between 
March 1 and November 1, in 1881, than 
during the corresponding period in 1880, 
although from the previous November 1 
to March 1, there lias been an increase of 
110,000,000 pounds, so that there was a 
fair prospect that our exports of hog pro¬ 
ducts this year would have exceeded 
those in any previous twelvemonth, had 
not France and the other European coun¬ 
tries forbidden their importation. 
Immediately on the issue of the prohib¬ 
itory decree in France an influential 
movement for its abolition was set oh foot 
by a group of French scientists, who 
showed the senseless nature of the scare 
about the exceptional prevalence of tri¬ 
chinae in American pork. The Bordeaux 
Syndicate of Commerce also protested 
vehemently against it; and so did the 
large body of free-traders whose principal 
mouthpiece, M. Leon Choteau, has been 
persistently agitating for the repeal of 
the decree. The vigorous act ion of our 
own Government in relation to the em¬ 
bargo, and the agitation of the subject, 
of trichinosis have led to a great deai o 
research. Hence it has been proved tlial 
the distribution of trichina spiralis is well 
nigh universal, The recent report of M 
Zundel, of the Society of Sciences, Agri 
culture and Art, of Alsace, shows that he 
found the proportion of affected hogs in 
Prussia as 1 in 2,500, while in some parts 
of Germany it was as high as in 1 in 770: 
in Southern Sweden 1 in 63; and in the 
United States 1 in 50. The pest was 
found not to be confined to hogs alone, 
but to infest every animal examined, wild 
or domesticated, except the horse; and it 
is still doubtful whether lie is wholly ex¬ 
empt from it. 
With the fact fully established that the 
dissemination of these parasites is practi¬ 
cally universal, and that they infest not 
hogs alone, but nearly all other food ani¬ 
mals to a greater or less extent, the idea 
of averting trichinosis by restricting trade 
in meat appears one of the greatest ab¬ 
surdities to which crude l^gis^tion, fos¬ 
tered by prejudiced clamor aud imperfect 
scientific inquiry, has ever given rise. Ac¬ 
cordingly the Gambetta ministry, which 
is much more strongly inclined to free 
trade than its predecessor, has decided 
to abolish the obnoxious embi.rgo on 
American hog products; and this morn¬ 
ing's cablegram informs us that freedom 
of importation of salt meats will bo al¬ 
lowed after the speedy annullment of M. 
Tirard’s decree restricting the importa¬ 
tions. The repeal of the prohibition will 
doubtless give an extra impetus to our 
export trade and considerably enhance 
even the present high price of hogs by 
enlarging the market for them. Other 
European countries will probably soon 
follow the preseut. example of France as 
they did her former one, although to¬ 
day’s cable informs us that Roumania has 
just renewed for a year the prohibition of 
importations of pork from the United 
States and several European countries. 
We have already heard of several large 
contracts for hams, shoulders, sides, etc., 
made during the past week for export, to 
France in expectation of the raising of 
the embargo definitely announced to-day. 
BREVITIES. 
The Illinois Industrial University offers to 
those who cannot give longer time to agricul¬ 
tural study in schools four daily courses of 
lectures during its Winter term—eleven weeks 
from Jan. 4, 1882. The subjects are: General 
Farm Management; Animal Husbandry; 
Diseases of Animals, and Elements of Horti¬ 
culture. The University library and museum 
will be open to those in attendance. The an¬ 
nual Agricultural Institute will be held the 
last week in January. 
One more step has been taken toward secur 
ing a site for the New York Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment station. On November 23, the com¬ 
mittee consisting of P. Bftvrv of Rochester. 
N. M. Curtis of Ogdensburg, J. R. Woodward 
of Lockport, and James McCann of Elmira, 
commenced a tour through the State for the 
purpose of visiting farms offered for a site. 
The farms first examined were in the vicinity 
of Utica. They were accompanied bv 
several prominent gentlemen interested in the 
movement. 
The latest crop reports from the Agricul¬ 
tural Department, give the average yield of 
wheat. |H*r acre for this year as 10J£ bushels, 
against 13 1-10 last year. The severe Win ter, 
the drought and insects caused a large falling 
off in the crop in the West, but the quality is 
generally reported good. Corn hvs yielded, 
on an average. 20bushels per acre, a falling 
off of about 25 per cent from last year’s 
vield. The quality is not up to the average. 
The drought seriously affected the cotton crop 
in the South and the total yield will be a con¬ 
siderably less than last year. In Louisiana 
the decrease is about 33 per cent.; in Texas 40; 
in Arkansas 00; in Florida 15; in Tcnnossee 
42; while in South Carolina, Mississippi and 
Georgia the crop will be about the same as 
last year. 
During the past week we have received 
from all parts of the country a very large 
amount of information on the driven well 
question in answer to our published request 
and to a multitude of private letters of in 
quiry. Hitherto we have not had time to 
rata, compare and systematize this mass of 
often discordant information: but from what 
we have al ready learnt, wo feel pretty con¬ 
fident that if the case is skillfully presented. 
Green’s patent will bo declared invalid, if not 
by the United .States Circuit Courts, at any 
rate by the United States Supreme Court. 
During the present agitation a very large 
amount of new evidence as to the antiquity 
of the method of well-making covered by that 
patent, has been collected, and it seems to us 
that the patent can be successfully assailed 
on another point also. Next week we shall 
begin to lay our share of the evidence in 
detail before our readers. 
A committee appointed by the National 
Grange, w'hich has lately been in session in 
Washington, called upon Commissioner Lor- 
ing thus day week to urge him to use his best 
efforts to elevate the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture to a higher rank, and to convey the 
protest of the National Grange against 
including in that Department anv interest 
except that which it represents—agriculture. 
On both the point s presented the Commissioner 
had views different from those pressed by the 
Committee. So far as he was concerned he 
could not urge any action looking towards 
making his a cabinet office. He advocated 
the enlargement of his Department so as to 
include those interests which are intimately 
and to a great, extent inseparably allied to 
agriculture. There should be a bureau of 
manufacture where producers could find such 
information as would be for their best inter¬ 
ests in the production of cotton, wool, etc. 
A bureau of mining should also be established. 
As to railroads, lie thought something might 
be done by which the whole country might 
be benefited in the way of equalization of 
fares and transportation. All these, together 
with the preseut Agricultural Department, 
would be know n as the Department of Indus¬ 
tries, with w hich the Land Office a Iso should 
lie connected. His present office, he believes, 
has not yet risen to the dignity of a full De¬ 
partment Too dignified and impartial to 
push any single interest, he intends to advo¬ 
cate w hat he thinks for the best interests of 
all. 
Sugar Beets. —Some of the local papers in 
York, Pa., are a trifl® too enthusiastic in their 
predictions of the advantages of starting a 
beet SRgar factory at Had. lively little tow n. 
Neither 30 tons of beets nor $100 net profit per 
acre can be realized from the industry. There 
is some talk of organizing a sugar beet factory 
in Orange Co., N. Y., and meanwhile a num¬ 
ber of farmers have planted a considerable 
amount of sugar Iteets to feed to stock. In 
Oswego Co., N. Y., the advisability of organ¬ 
izing a beet, sugar factory is also being dis¬ 
cussed, and a number of acres have been 
planted to beets which are intended for cattle 
feed. For this purpose they are valued at $5 
per ton. The crop is reported good in spite of 
cold w r eather. Tue Standard Sugar Refining 
Company of Alverado, Cal., reports that the 
average yield of sugar beets in that State will 
this year beat least. 15 tons per acre, of excel¬ 
lent quality. The company began work on 
August 27, and has averaged 80 terns a day. 
The beet sugar factory at Bertheir, Canada, 
is ready for work. It will work by “ diffus¬ 
ion,” using 300 tons of beats every 24 hours— 
double the amount used by any other 
Canadian factory. Kilt}* tons of coal will be 
used every 24 hours to produce steam; 3>£tons 
of coke for the lime kiln, and 2% tons of lirue- 
stoue for the production of carbonic acid. 
The daily expenses are expected to be $200. 
The entire factory at. Franklin, Muss., has been 
sold for $33,300. The Delaware Beet Sugar 
Company’s crop will not average over nine 
tons per acre owing to diy weather and poor 
seed. It offers $3.50 per ton to farmers; but 
these are holding out for $5. The company 
expects to manufacture three or four times 
as much sugar this year ns last. This and the 
California factory are the only two surviving 
in the United States. The Mohawk Valley 
Beet Sugar Company is still confining its 
efforts to talk—perhaps the safest t hing . 
