DEC. 47 
THE RURAL 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
KLBKKT 8. CABKAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 17, 1881. 
We hope our readers will not neglect 
to put their implements and farm tools of 
all sorts in good repair. Farm imple¬ 
ments are expensive and the farmer cannot 
afford to neglect them. Neither can he 
afford to tinker over a broken seed drill, 
mower, harrow or cultivator when it is 
needed for use, and every hour is more 
valuable to him than three hours are at 
this season. Paint or oil the frames of 
harrows and all exposed iron-work. 
Sharpen the knives, oil the bolts and 
screws of those parts which need to be 
removed. We have known larm hands, 
when work -was most pressing, to spend 
an hour in vainly endeavoring to loosen 
a screw. Certainly it is poor economy 
not to attend to such matters during the 
dull season. 
- 
While the present high price of but¬ 
ter is very satisfactory indeed to farmers 
and dairymen, there is one drawback at¬ 
tached to it which should not be lost sight 
of. Although the exports of oleomargarine 
fell off from 5,999,036 pounds between 
May 1 and November 28. 1880, to 4,220,- 
573 pounds during the corresponding 
period this year, stiff the manufacture of 
the stuff, instead of diminishing, has in¬ 
creased. Good butter at 35 to 45 cents 
cr pound is beyond the reach of the la- 
oring population as well as of the vast 
majority of the salaried classes and of the 
population of towns and cities. These 
willhave “butter, "however, even if in the 
Rliape of oleomargarine, butterine, or 
the adulterated dairy product which 
there is reason to believe is becoming far 
commoner than in the days of cheap but¬ 
ter. There is little doubt that the high 
price of genuine butter is very favorable 
to the extensive sale of the spurious arti¬ 
cle, and when the price of the former 
sinks, as it must inevitably do in the 
course of time, it is likely to find in the 
latter a much more formidable rival than 
heretofore on the tables of the working 
classes—the vast majority' of the popula¬ 
tion. 
Among the 350 biffs introduced in the 
United States Senate during the four days’ 
session of the past week, two introduced 
by Senator Plumb of Kansas are of special 
interest to agriculturists. The first pro¬ 
vides for the forfeiture of lands granted 
to railroads that have not been com¬ 
pleted within the time specified in the 
act of incorporation, and for the opening 
of these to public settlement. The pas¬ 
sage of this bill would restore to the pub¬ 
lic domain many million acres of unearned 
land now controlled by unfinished Pacific 
railroads. The second bill introduced by 
Senator Plumb provides that all lauds 
granted to railroad companies under the 
original Pacific Railroad act of July 1, 
1862, and all acts amendatory thereof, 
and to which the companies would have 
become entitled on payment of costs of 
surveying, selecting and conveying, shall 
be subject to all legal taxes, the same as 
they would have been had such costs 
been paid and the lands conveyed to the 
companies. Under existing laws lands 
granted to railroads are exempt from all 
taxation until surveyed and conveyed to 
the companies, and in order to avoid 
taxation these have been deferring tile 
transaction. Efforts have been made in 
previous Congresses to pass a biff of this 
kind, but railroad influence has always 
been too powerful. 
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As we have endeavored in every way 
to engage the interest of our readers in 
the progress of the Rural New-Yorker 
we propose from now until the end of the 
subscription season to furnish an accurate 
monthly statement as to the increase or 
decrease in our circulation for 1882. We 
say “accurate.” Possibly many of our 
readers would rely upon any statement 
we might make without this emphasis. 
Still, as a rule, we have not found publish¬ 
ers’ and editors’ statements trustworthy 
when touching upon this vital question of 
circulation, and we know of one monthly 
agricultural journal that, though it has been 
“ doubling” its circulation for many years, 
has at this time a smaller circulation as a 
matter of fact than it had five years ago. 
As evidence of our desire to be trustworthy 
in the statements we propose to place 
before our subscribers, we beg to say that 
our subscription books arc at any time 
open for their inspection. Beginning 
with November, we find that our list 
shows an increase of thirty-three-and-one- 
third per cent over November of 1880 and 
three subscribers over. We may say that 
during the entire year not a single copy 
of t he Rural New-Yorker has been sent 
out. that has not been applied for, except 
the Fair Number, unless it may be to 
personal friends of the editors or clerks 
or to advertisers whose attention has thus 
been called to special articles or to adver¬ 
tisements. We shall make our next re¬ 
port early in the New Year, for the 
present month. 
-- 
OUR AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS. 
The amazing growth of the export of 
provisions and bread-stuffs during the past 
few years is beyond doubt the sufficient 
cause of our agricultural and industrial 
prosperity. For the past, six years our 
exports of wheat have been greater than 
during the previous fifty years, and they 
have nearly trebled in amount during 
those six years. In 1876 we exported 
fifty-five million bushels of wheat, and in 
1881 one hundred and fifty million bush¬ 
els. Of wheat and (lour the exports were 
in 1874 equivalent to seventy-five million 
bushels, valuedat 193,000,000, and in 1881 
to one hundred and eighty-five million 
bushels worth $21 1,000,000. Adding the 
value of corn and meal to these figures we 
have the magnificent sum of $280,000,000 
as the product of the export business of 
1881 in these staples alone. 
This vast sum by no means represents 
the actual pecuniary benefits which we as 
a nation have enjoyed. This business 
thus created lias been like a rushing tor¬ 
rent, which down its lengthened course 
from the far West to the extreme East, 
has been harnessed to many industrial en¬ 
terprises and has been turning this wheel 
here and setting in motion tiie boom of 
industry in this place, and then passing 
on to turn another there, and so on every¬ 
where. lu a thousand ways has labor 
been put in action for the production of 
wealth. Every dollar of this money has 
gone into the hands of industrious work¬ 
ers. has passed from them to others, and 
by a never-ending circulation has com¬ 
forted and enriched thousands who have 
never recognized the source of the bless¬ 
ing. 
■» • ♦- 
OUR MERCHANT MARINE. 
The position which America has taken 
in the carrying trade between this and 
foreign nations is far beneath her dignity 
as a great commercial country. While 
our foreign commerce lias increased near¬ 
ly a hundred per cent, within the last fif¬ 
teen years, it is now principally carried 
on in foreign ships. In 1856 the tonnage 
of foreign vessels entered at seaports of 
the United States was 3,117,034, aud in 
1881 it is 12,711,892 tons- an increase of 
308 per cent., while American tonnage 
entered for foreign ports, in 1856, was 
1,891,453, and in 1881 it is 2,919,149 
tons—an increase of only' 54 per cent. 
The ascendency of the British merchant 
marine service may be Doted in this con¬ 
nection. Of the total foreign tonnage 
entered at our ports during the last fiscal 
year i. e. 12,711,392 tons, England en¬ 
tered 8,457,797 tons—or over 66 per cent, 
of the whole. Her system of paying 
large subsidies to various steam-ship lines 
to carry her freight and mails has result¬ 
ed in giving her far more numerous and 
finer steamers than are those which fly 
the American colors. 
In a series of resolutions passed by 
the Tariff Convention recently held in 
Chicago, bearing upon thi jruestion, two 
important recommendations occur. First, 
that American vessels should be made 
the carriers of American mail* at rates 
proportionate to the value of the service 
performed, regardless of the rates that 
foreign subsidized vessels may ask for 
carrying them. Secondly, that the 
United States should discriminate in fa¬ 
vor of American vessels so that they may 
enjoy a fair and lucrative share of the 
carrying trade proportionate to the dig¬ 
nity and power of the country in other 
respects. These resolutions will doubt¬ 
less have weight with our natioual legis¬ 
lature now in session when the subject 
comes up for consideration. It is hardly 
conceivable that this country, with more 
miles of seacoast, with better harbors and 
ports, and with greater facilities for the 
establishment of a superior merchant ser¬ 
vice than any other, should, in the last 
fiscal year pay the immense sum of $110,- 
000,000 to foreign vessels for transporting 
our merchandise; but such is the fact. 
Even old, sleepy, opium-eating China, 
one of the least progressive nations of the 
globe, is bidding for her share of the car¬ 
rying trade. Last week the first of a 
regular line of Chinese steamers entered 
the Thames with flying colors. Thus, un- | 
der her own flag, China is shipping her 
products to Eugland, and will, doubtless, 
in a few years send out her own vessels in 
large numbers to our shores. On the other 
hand, America, generally energetic and 
progressive, sits quietly by and allows 
other nations to send their craft hither to 
be laden with the rich products of our 
fields and factories, and does naught to 
regain even an honorable position on the 
high seas where once she was accustomed 
to acknowledge no superior. 
■ ♦ » < - 
BREVITIES. 
All who desire that their children should 
love flowers and learn something; all who are 
in favor of improving the country school 
f rounds should read the article by Mr. 8. Q. 
jent, in this issue. 
Prof. Johnson gives this definition of the 
art and science of agriculture. The art of 
agriculture consists in certain practices and 
operations which have gradually grown out of 
an observance and imitation of the best efforts 
of nature or have been hit upon accidentally. 
The science, of agriculture is the rational 
theory and exposition of the successful art. 
Other qualifications being equal, the more 
advanced and complete the theory of which 
the farmer is master, the more' successful 
must bo his farming. The more he knows, 
the more he can do. The more deeply, com¬ 
prehensively and clearly lie can think, the 
more economically and advantugeously can 
he work. 
The delegate to Congress from Dakota pro¬ 
poses to introduce a bill providing that any 
person who shall sink an artesian well in that 
Territory in such a way as to produce an 
abundant flow of water upon any part of the 
unoccupied lands, shall be entitled to 040acres 
of such land. Should the proposed lull pass, 
its provisions will, of course, be so modified 
as to lie applicable to hI) the Western arid 
region. The worst of nil such measures is 
that while they are always ostensibly in favor 
of the agriculturist or herdsmen, experience 
has shown that they are, in reality, nearly al¬ 
ways prompted by capitalists who in nearly 
every case derive the lion’s share of benefit 
from their adoption. 
Early in the season the failure of the corn 
and cotton crops in Barnwell Comity, South i 
Carolina, threatened the fanners with bank¬ 
ruptcy and ruin from which they have been 
saved by the success of a new industry forced 
upon them by their mishap. After the rum < f 
com and cotton by the drought, when the rain 
came on Crowfoot Grass started a line, spon¬ 
taneous growth, and from it farmers have 
gathered « fine hay crop of excellent quality. 
Moreover, many of them plowed up their 
damaged corn and cotton fieiris and sowed oats 
which has turned out u line crop. These two 
crops have lifted the farmers out of their ex¬ 
treme trouble and will in future lie much 
more extensively cultivated. There certainly 
is such a thing as a blessing in disguise. 
Professor F. B. Hough, head of the 
Division of Forestry of the Department of 
Agriculture, has just returned from Europe 
where for the last seven months be has been 
studying the operations of the schools of 
forestry in various Continental countries, 
Having brought back a large collection of 
material, he intends to make recommenda¬ 
tions to Congress for planting and preserving 
forests on the prairie and desert lands of the 
West. In view of the rapid denudation of 
our timber lunds by lire aud the woodman’s 
ax, prompt and efficient measures should be 
at once adopted to prevent the wasteful de¬ 
struction of our forests and to provide for the 
growth of timber to replace that cut for in¬ 
dustrial purposes. 
Of the public lands ten million acres passed 
from the control of the government during 
the past fiscal year into the hands of settlers 
and corporations. Moreover, eight hundred 
thousand acres of Indian lands were sold and 
the price—a trifle over a million dollars—was 
? laced in the Treasurj' for the benefit of the 
ndians. Of this vast area of land, more than 
tw'ice the size of Massachusetts, only about 
five million acres—less than ball'--are credited 
to “ homestead entries.” Most of the rest was 
disposed of under various statutes which w ill 
enable its owners to hold it for high juices in 
large blocks without actual settlement. The 
railroads, of course, grabbed immense slices, 
the Pacific roads alone obtaining 200,000acres. 
With such wholesale squandering of the public 
domain, little of it, if any, of agricultu ml value 
either for jaisture or tillage w ill remain In a 
few years. 
At a hugely attended meeting of the Na¬ 
tional Cotton Planters’ Association held at At¬ 
lanta, Ga., on Wednesday last, December 7, 
Commissioner Loring delivered an address on 
the mutual relations of American industries. 
The home consumption of cotton during the 
past decade has increased 888.741 bales, the 
total during the past, your having been 1,938,- 
937 bales. It is a matter of no small importance 
that we should increase the domestic com,sump¬ 
tion of the staple, inasmuch as the loss on 
American cotton sold in England is about two 
cents a pound, due to freight, port charges, 
loss of w eight in Lagging, etc., and the Com¬ 
missioner says the average price in the Amer¬ 
ican market in 18s<f-81 was nearly two cents 
in favor of the producer—an important dif¬ 
ference that must increase as the demand 
enlarges. The remark that the Cotton Belt 
needs a variety of crops to employ its vast 
area to the best advantage was met with uni¬ 
versal applause. This would indicate that the 
necessity of the more extensive cultivation of 
other crops with cotton, is being realized 
throughout the Cotton States. 
During the present, session of Congress it 
is likely more than usual attention will be 
f iven to t he subject of ojiening up the Indian 
erritoiw, nr at least. n part oi it, to settle¬ 
ment. The irrepressible Captain D. L. Payne, 
however, hasunticipattd Congressional action, 
and at last got as many ns about 5,000 settlers 
into Payne County, Oklahoma. These men 
have been despatched chiefly from Texas ac- 
crossa strip of the Indian Ter ritory 55 miles 
wide, and are taking up claims and building 
houses as fust, ns they can. It is expected that 
the county w ill lie fujly organized and county 
officers elected within a fortnight. The site 
of Oklahoma City is one of great beauty, with 
springs, natural gi oves, etc, descending gently 
to a square of 15 acres on the center. Pavno, 
as our readers know, hns made several desper¬ 
ate attempts to colonize the rich, pleasant 
valley's of Oklahoma, but has been prevented 
by the United States troojis, arrested, im¬ 
prisoned and fined: but the present settlement 
does not expect to be molested by the govern¬ 
ment or Indians. 
Great Britain, the champion of Free 
Trade, levies a tax “for revenue only” on 
importations of some kinds of foreign goods— 
generally those which are commonly known 
ds “ luxuries” or “ non necessaries,” among 
which is tobacco. By an act of Parliament 
of March 27, 1863, a duty of 3s. fid, or 85c, per 
pound is imposed on unmanufactured tobacco 
in the oral miry state; if it contains more 
than 10 per cent, of moisture, the duty is 3s. 
l.hul. Since 1863 the imports of this com¬ 
modity have largely increased, the revenue 
from the unmanufactured tobacco having 
grown from $157,049,734 for the five years 
1804 1808, to $“18,589,838 for the five years 
1873-1877, according to late parliamentary 
returns, and the quantity from 181,941,105 
pounds during the former period, to 255,- 
717,459 pounds, during the latter. In ad¬ 
dition to this, 2,005,000 jiounds of manufac¬ 
tured tobacco and cigars w ere imported, the 
duty on the first being 4s. (id, or about $1, and 
that on the second, 5s. The vast bulk of these 
importations are from this country, so that it 
is calculated that the revenue of the United 
Kingdom receives upwards of $40,000,000 
yearly from the customs duties on American 
tobacco 
It is understood that several bills will be in¬ 
troduced during the present session of Con¬ 
gress providing for the enlargement of the 
scope of the Department of Agriculture in ac¬ 
cordance with the views of Commissioner 
Loring, as condensed in n Rural “Brevity” 
in our isiua of December 8. The same opin 
ions are urged at length in his late report to 
the President. The enlarged Department is, 
according to the latest accounts, to lie called 
the Department of Agriculture and Statistics, 
and the Commissioner w ill organize a Bureau 
of Geological Survey ;a Bureau of Transpor¬ 
tation, for the collection of facts relating to 
the cost of “plant” and construction, rates 
of freight and fares, and such other informa¬ 
tion ns may be important to tbp industries of 
the count ry ; a Bureau of Munfactures for the 
collection of statistics of the cost of manufac¬ 
ture, persons employed amount and nature 
of raw material, etc , and a Bureau of Educa¬ 
tion and Labor. It is not proposed to change 
the organizat ion of the Department, but to add 
to it the above Bureaus representing unfits 
tries connected with agriculture—more or 
less. If the enlargement shall lie made, the 
head of so important a Department will, as a 
matter of course, soon take u place in the 
Cabinet, so that, nothing is at present to lie 
said on this matter. 
Among the cotton mills of England there 
has been for some time a good deal of com¬ 
plaint of dishonest, practices in packing 
American euttf u. Bund aud other foreign 
matters have, it is said, been largely used in 
the bales to add to their weight. A nother mode 
of swindling is reported to have been lately 
detected at Oldham where u company that 
receives large consignments of cotton from 
this country determined to test how far damp¬ 
ness had been employed, and the staple hav¬ 
ing been dried, it, was found to have lost 
seven per cent of its w'elght. So much ex¬ 
citement has been caused by swindling in 
baling American cotton that the manufac¬ 
turers have petitioned government to give 
more encouragement to cotton raising in 
India so that the English mills may be less 
dependent on the American product. While 
emjihatically condemning all dishonest pack¬ 
ing at home, we would gently remind our 
transatlantic cousins of the loud complaints 
that have been repeatedly made of the va¬ 
rious adulterations of cotton practiced in times 
past by the wily Hindoos. Hasn’t there also 
been a great deal of complaint about the dis¬ 
honest practices of British cot tun ronnufac- 
turei-s in “ aldulterating” the manufactured 
goods for the foreign and especially the 
“heathen” market? 
It is officially announced that the authori¬ 
ties know of 520 agrarian crimes committed 
in Ireland during the month of November. 
They range from the murder of an agent or 
process-server, to the maiming of the cattle or 
the burning of the grain stacks or bay mow s 
of some fanner who had incurred the enmity 
of his neighbors by paying long-due rent or 
taking a farm from which the former tenant 
had been evicted. A Property Defense 
Association has been formed by the landlords, 
and the English people arc* untreated to sup¬ 
port it by liberal contributions. So difficult 
is it to obtain a conviction of notorious offend- 
ders in the island, that it is jirojiosed to try in 
England those accused of agrurian crimes in 
Ireland. But witnesses to convict are as bard 
to obtain as juries, and how are these to be 
provided t There is a report that the govern¬ 
ment offers a rew ard of $500 and the faithful 
concealment of the informer’s name, to every 
one w’ho will furnish evidence enough to con¬ 
vict, In case of ugrariun crimes; but it is hard¬ 
ly likely that the government would offer 
such an inducement to cowardice, treachery 
and jierjury. It must be borne in mind, too, 
that every petty trouble in the obscurest Irish 
village or oog is at once heralded to the 
world as “Another Irish Outrage.” 
