FES. 24 
some are exceedini 
vigorous, others make 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of the Atlantio, consequently a word of warning 
is not ont of place. 
Those who read the daily papers—and who 
does not ?—muBt often observe paragraphs de¬ 
scribing the prosecution and punishment of 
milk-sellers, for mixing water with that useful 
and excellent article of food; this process is 
facetiously called milking the cow with the iron 
tail. Would many of your readers “ bo surprised 
to hear” that there is also a sheep with a tail of 
the same metal? To the superficial observer 
the two may appear identical, but they can 
hardly be so, because, as we have seen, the use 
of tho first is severely punished and declared to 
be defrauding the public, whereas no one has as 
yet said a word against the occasional and mod¬ 
erate use of the sheep with the iron tail. 
We shall give one or two instances of the suc¬ 
cessful application of this convenient agent. 
Two or three years ago the present writer sold 
some wool to a wool-buyer’s buyer. The price 
being paid, and the wool sewed up in a large 
sheet, the seller left the spot but from the evi¬ 
dence of several servants, who remained, ho 
afterwards heard that the buyer, with some as¬ 
sistance, rolled the pack ont of the bam into a 
rain puddle near the door. He then requested 
the loan of two large milk pitchers; those he 
duly filled three several times with nice clean 
spring water, and carefully emptied them on the 
woolpack; in a short time after, having carted 
the wool, and turned his horse’s head in the 
direction of the railway Btation, he went his way 
and they saw him no more. 
Now supposing some simple or puritanical per¬ 
sons to bo looking on at this little operation, they 
would very likely set down our buyer as being, 
in the words of Falstaff, “little better, so to 
speak, than one of the wickedbut thou wo 
must remember that such people cannot take a 
comprehensive view of auy subject, aud that 
they may not have heard the well-worn formula, 
or maxim, which is nearly always uttered on 
such occasions: it consists of three weighty 
words—business is busmens. Nay, if they did 
hear, they might consider it a mere pointless 
truism. A great author has told us that “the 
sincere alone recognise sincerity,” and that “ a 
hero Ib of little use to a world unprepared for 
him, or to people altogether nnherolo.” And so 
by a parity of reasoning we may say, that it is 
useless for a business man to propound his best 
business aphorism to people who do not under¬ 
stand business. 
The scene of our socond example is in a faotory. 
“We cannot make these army blankets the 
weight, sir,” says a foremau to his master. 
“Then you must damp them again," is the 
reply. 
“ We have, sir, again and again, but they won't 
stand the weight.” 
“ Now, William," says tho master, “you know 
very well that the blankets must be made the 
contract weight, Let me hear no more about 
it.” 
Although our informant did not hear the 
manufacturer pronounce the usual formula, i 
there is little doubt but he remembered it in 
time to satisfy himself that he was justified, ! 
under the circumstances, in calling to his aid 
this friend in noed. 
Having called attention to, and named this in¬ 
teresting member of the family of the “ lron- 
tailB,” we leave that facetious naturalist, Mr. 
Punch, to classify it, and (if he likes) to read a 
paper at the next Social Science meeting show¬ 
ing the general distribution of it throughout the 
world especially in tho British Islands, and also 
its admirable adaptation from its form and hand¬ 
iness to supplement our supplies of wool, and to 
increase tho profits of ingenious man. 
In a former article we showed that the price of 
the wool when manufactured is out of all rea¬ 
sonable proportion to the price of the raw ma¬ 
terial, and when a reason for that state of things 
is required, we naturally point to the monstrous 
regiment of middlemen who seem determined to 
make the trade afford them as good an income 
as it does to the producer or manufacturer. 
When a rose tree iB strong and vigorous the 
parasitical insects do not seem to affect its growth 
or otherwise harm it, but when the tree begins 
to fade from any other cause, then these insects 
appear to be draining the little sap that still re¬ 
mains in it, and certainly expedite, if they do 
not cause, the death of the tree. So iB it with 
the agricultural tree at the present time. Many 
drawbacks to its prosperity could easily be named, 
but they suggest themselves to us all; and while 
hoping that we shall soon again see it thriving 
and flourishing as it need to do, let us in the 
meantime try to get rid of a part at least of these 
parasitical traders, who, like the Old Man of the 
Sea on the shoulders of Sinbad, threaten to 
choke tho agriculturist altogether if they cannot 
be dismounted. 
Could we not, by the aid of co-operation, es¬ 
tablish, in the agricultural counties, farmers' 
mills, both for wool carding and cloth manufac¬ 
ture ? It is true that the co-operative system | 
has not succeeded in every case, but there is 
little fear of failure where the shareholders can 
supply all, or nearly all, the raw material re¬ 
quired. To name a few of tho advantages such 
factories would yield to farmers—wool could bo 
sent off at once, when shorn, to the works, ex¬ 
amined. and the value of it credited to the sender, 
any wet or other damago in the pack would 
at ouce be detected, and no mistake could be 
made as to who was to blame, or to bear the loss, 
for the farmer’s own cart would carry it to the 
factory. He would also receive a higher price 
for his wool than he now gets, because buyer's, 
agents, and brokers’ fees would all be saved. 
Again the wool grower could then get as many 
pieces of cloth as he required for himself and 
family at such reasonable price per yard as would 
leave a fair profit for manufacture, labor, Ac.; 
or, if he chose, he could receive tho full value of 
the wool sent in cloth, and dispose of it as he 
thought proper. Who can doubt but that the 
farmer would thus have cloth for his household 
at 40, or perhaps 50, per cent, less than he now 
buys it for in the shop ? and the quality certain 
to be satisfactory. It may be added that far¬ 
mers, although not shareholders, could send 
their wool to tho mills with a certainty of get¬ 
ting full value for it. Where practicable, these 
works should be in the district where the wool 
is grown. A competent manager would set a 
value on wool sent in, and give advice to the 
managing committee as to the price tho cloth 
should be Bold for. The manager would have no 
interest of his own to serve when fixing those 
prices, hence would not be biassed in any way. 
Some readers, having read thus far, may be 
saying these new fangled plans will never do, 
they are Utopian, impracticable, and so on. Will 
such objectors listen to a little story, “ with a 
moral in it ?" 
Once upon a time, in a large northern towu, 
lived a father and son, who kept a livery stable. 
It was not a very prosperous business, and, to 
increase the profits of the firm, they determined 
to open another establishment of the same kind 
in a distant part of the town—the junior partner 
to superintend it. When consulting together 
about the new branch soon to be oponed, the 
son said, “ Don’t you think, father, it would bo 
a good plan, aud likely to answer our purpose 
best to begin and carry on tho new stable on an 
honest principle ?" 
After some consideration, the cautious paront 
replied, “Ah no! I do not think it would do, I 
never was fond of speculations.” 
Now if we study history with any care, wo 
must see that when such principles, as those 
which guided the silly old ostler, become general 
in a nation, that nation soeedily decays, and 
anarchy ensues. In other words, when fraud 
and falsehood predominate in society, the state 
of things will soon become so intolerable, that 
even revolution with its terrible cure will be wel¬ 
comed. But the young man’s proposal has tho 
Conservative ring about it; ho sees that tho 
trickery and dishonesty in their stable is tho 
reason why they are not prosperous, but be does 
not propone to give up livery-stable keeping alto¬ 
gether, but open one on an honest straightfor¬ 
ward basis, and so make it what it ought to be, a 
valuable accommodation to the pnblio, and a 
profitable business to himself. 
Shall we, then, as wool growers, fold our hands 
when told of the decreasing price of wool, and 
the increasing price of clothing, and that in a 
few years we may expect this evil to increase ? 
And shall we, when a remedy is pointed out, in¬ 
stead of trying to clothe ourselves with the wool 
of our own flockB, and keep this trade at home, 
reply to all with a feeble non possutnus ? For¬ 
bid it, common sense! 
fflje Naturalist, 
MAN’S NEAREST RELATIONS 1 
Mr. Darwin argues very elaborately, if not 
very conclusively, that man is descended from a 
hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and 
pointed ears, and probably arboreal in its habitB. 
Between this problematical, four-footed ancestor 
of ours and the human race in its present stage 
of development, the anthropomorphous, four- 
handed apes hold an intermediate position. 
The orang-outang, gibbon, and chimpanzee 
are the representatives of this type. The first 
is an inhabitant of the sultry, southeastern parts 
of Asia and the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, 
and is a neighbor of the second, a native of 
Siam and Malacca; while the third is found only 
in the torrid regions of the west of Africa, along 
the Congo and Guinea coasts and Gaboon Bay. 
For ages these have been known to civilized 
man, and their structure and habits detailed 
with more or less accuracy, although generally 
the latter has egregiously marked the descrip¬ 
tions. It has been reserved for our own day, 
however, to discover a near relation of theirs, 
and it was at first blazonod forth of ours also, 
in the gorilla. Not more than thirty years have 
passed since this supposititious representative of 
our forefathers was first Introduced to the scien¬ 
tific world by Dr. Savage, in honor of whom he 
was at once dubbed Savage’s troglodyte—a name 
he still bears, euphemized in Latin, in many a 
learned treatise. Twelve years later, in 185!), 
Du Chaii.lu brought with him, from the unfre¬ 
quented regions of Equatorial Africa, many 
marvelous stories aud a few defunct, specimens 
of the animal, whom he, for the first time, mode 
known to the general public by means of a popu¬ 
lar book and a series of profitable lectures. In 
both ho boasted, with greater justice than boaHtH 
generally can lay claim to, of having boon the 
first white mau who had over penetrated into the 
densely-wooded habitat of the gorilla, in tho 
same pestiferous regions that produco the 
chjiupauzoo. There, after tho customary fashion 
of white men in their dealings with tho lower 
orders of creation, brute or human, he had 
studied the habits of the beast, at the expense 
of the lives of not a few of its kindred. Scien¬ 
tists at first piously hoped that in the stranger 
they had discovered tho last link in the geolog¬ 
ical chain that bound themselves to the monkey; 
but a better acquaintance with him brought the 
unwelcome conviction that in many points tho 
structure of other members of tho quadrumauous 
family approximated more closely to tho human 
configuration. From slight peculiarities iu the 
formation of liis head, feet, and hands, however, 
combined with his abnormal bulk, they sternly 
refused to classify him with the other trio, but 
established a special genus for his exclusive 
designation. 
Unlike othor monkeys, tho anthropomorphous 
apes do not repoBc crouched on their hams, but. 
like human beings, sleep on their sides, support¬ 
ing their heads on tbeir arms, a convenient 
branch, or some other substitute for a pillow. Of 
all animals, they alone use stones, clubs, and 
other weapons in addition to those which Nature 
has given them and exercise prodigiously de¬ 
veloped. But, although tlielr skulls arc general¬ 
ly larger than man’s yet the capacity of tho brain 
cavity is Iobb than half that of an aboriginal 
Australian, commonly considered the most de¬ 
graded type of the human family. Their facility 
in imitating the actions of men has gained them 
an exaggerated reputation for intelligence; but 
in roality their mental powers are far inferior 
to those of the dog, the horse, or of that most, 
sagacious of all animals, tho elephant. 
Among the adherents of the doctrine of 
Evolution, Borne tako a kindly interest iu these 
as the extant links in the chain of human do- 
soeut, while others look upon them coldly, as 
merely belonging to a collateral branch, sprung 
untold ages ago from a common progenitor long 
since extinct, from whom tho various races of 
men and monkeys havo beeu for eons differenti¬ 
ating along more or less diverging lines, just as 
the environments of each ordained. Whatever 
may be the merits or fate of the Darwinian 
theory, however, a curious interest will always 
linger about those grotesque or hideouB carica¬ 
tures of humanity. 
^riroritultoral, 
PLANTING FRUIT TREES. 
The general principles which govern horti¬ 
cultural operations arc the same the world 
over, and it iB only In matters of detail that 
variations are required in adapting any particu¬ 
lar operation to climate or soil. This is so well 
known and acknowledged by our most scientific 
horticulturists that, wo feel confidence in recom¬ 
mending a careful perusal of an art cio on the 
subject of “planting of fruit trees,” by E. 
HoBuay in the (Eng.) Villa Gardener, as it is 
quite timely, since many of the readers of the 
Rubai, New-Yorker aro probably at this moment 
making preparations for planting out trees of 
various kinds. 
The old aphorism, “What is worth doing at 
all is worth doing well," is especially true in 
planting fruit trees. Most or tho difficulties 
attending their eulturo are either duo to errors 
in selecting the site, or to a lack of care in its 
preparation. The best site for a fruit garden or 
orchard is on tho slope of a gentle declivity 
with a southern or western aspect, and well 
sheltered from the east aud north winds. In 
many instances the planter has but a limited 
range to select from, but low, damp situations 
should always be avoided, as spring frosts are 
always more destructive in such positions. The 
summit of a hill, if well sheltered by a higher 
range at no great distance or by woods and 
plantations not too near, is not a bad site for a 
fruit garden, as the free drainage and free 
exposure on all sides except east and north— 
that point from which the coldest currents llow 
—as this varies in different localities—has a 
tendency to produce short-jointed, well-ripened 
wood as well as retard the blossoming iu spring, 
and as a consequence, they often escape when 
others that are too much sheltered aro de¬ 
stroyed. 
If artificial drainage be necessary, it should bo 
the first thing attended to, and in no case 
should the drains be less than four feet deep, as 
shallow drains are often rendered useless by 
the frosts penetrating the joints of the pipes 
aud blocking up tho wator-way with fibrous 
growth. Nothing is more certain than that fruit 
trees will not loug flourish with their roots in 
water; at tho samo time, draining is only ono 
means of improving land. True, it should pre¬ 
cede all other attempts to ameliorate cold, wet 
land, but. unless it. m accompanied or immediately 
followed by better culture, half its intended 
benefits arc lost. Thoro aro many orchards in 
lew-lying districts, where the old moss-covored 
trees might yet bo improved by draining, 
especially if accompanied by rich top-dressings 
over the roots. Draining off tho surplus water 
admits more air into t he land, raises its tempora- 
turo aud stimulates the roots to increased 
activity, and it is at such times that rich dress¬ 
ings on the surface will bo beneficial, especially 
in dealing with old trees. Draining also im¬ 
proves the climato of a district materially by re¬ 
ducing the evaporation and radiatiou from its 
surface. 
The ground intended for fruit trees should be 
thoroughly trenched, and if the stratum of 
good soil on tlm top is less than two feet in 
depth, everything obtainable calculated to im¬ 
prove its character—with duo regard to the 
object iu view—should ho added. Light brashy 
land may be made to grow fair samples or fruit 
by adding clay or marl—by, in fact, giving to 
the land what it is deficient of. In like manner, 
heavy land may be opened up and Improved by 
adding substances of a directly opposite char¬ 
acter. 
Many failures in fruit culture might have 
been obviated if a correct estimate had been 
formed of the natnro of the Boil and situation, 
and proper steps taken to ameliorate its condition 
before planting the trees. I am not in favor of 
severe pruning, but all young trees must bo 
headed back to secure a sufficient number of 
branches to lay the foundation of tho future 
tree. The best time to perform this operation 
is iu early spring when tho roots are active, and 
just before the buds aro preparing to push. As 
a. rulo, tho nearer to tho base l.ho branches aro 
cut back, the stronger they will push, and all 
young shoots not absolutely required to form 
tho tree should cither l>e rubbed off or pinched 
pack to four or five leaves. Light and air are 
essential, not only to mature tho growth, but 
also for its proper elaboration ; amt if all eyes 
that push aro allowed to develop branches, tho 
stimulus imparted to the roots by the extra 
foliage will he no gain if obtained at tho expense 
of tho main branches, as it is more Important 
for every leaf on tlmse to have its duo share of 
air and sunlight, than for a tree to be allowed or 
encouraged to carry a great surface of foliage 
on the plea that it all tends to encourage root 
action, and must therefore add to tho strength 
of tho tree. It is such treatment that en¬ 
courages grossness of habit and dolays fruitful¬ 
ness. 
I havo referred to tho advantages of deeply 
workiug and improving tho land before planting, 
but I am also strongly of opinion that the soil 
should have time to consolidate before planting 
takes place; and if any considerable number of 
trees have to bo planted, 1 should have tho 
trenching done iu tho autumn or winter as most 
convenient, and orop the land with potatoes tho 
following season, and plant the trees early in 
tho autumn next ensuing. The advantages of 
this plan will bo considerable, as the working of 
the land for potatoes will not only free it from 
weeds, hut will oauae such a thorough intermix¬ 
ing of the soil as will bo permanently beneficial 
to tho trees. Of course where only a troo or 
two has to be planted, this will not be necessary, 
but even with isolated trees, I contend they will 
do better in a soil well worked and afterwards 
consolidated by artificial means, if necessary, 
than if planted without any such caro or pains 
being taken, as is too commonly done. 
Where tho subsoil is radically bad and tho 
means to improve it cannot be had, station¬ 
planting may bo adopted with advantage. 
This consists in placing a layer of concrete or 
something of an impervious nature in the 
bottom of the bolo to prevent the roots descend¬ 
ing beyond a limited depth, and to give them a 
horizontal direction. I am in favor of rather 
close planting at first and, if necessary, thin 
out afterwards, as this enables tho trees to 
nurse or shelter each other. In this respect 
much depends upon the kinds of fruits planted 
As an illustration, take tint case of apples —al¬ 
most every variety hasa diotinot. hablf nf frrnu/J It . 
.-- I ' U*.' 7 
situation exert a wonderful influence upon the 
growth of fruit trees, and to allow each the 
same amount of space is about on a par with the 
tailor who made all his customers clothes from 
one measure. The only really safe rule to 
follow is to ascertain how the different varieties 
behave in your own district, before planting ex¬ 
tensively, by looking round the gardens and 
orchards in the neighborhood, and by consulta¬ 
tion with tho local nurserymen anil gardeners. 
In this way the intending planter will gather 
much valuable information that will be a guide 
in the selection of the most suitable varieties, as 
well as tbeir style aud habit of growth in that 
particular neighborhood. 
