fl 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical departments 
Something aboutCorn. D. 
Solid >tem Comfmjr.•••■••. " !''r 
Xfixperlmenllnc with Burned Earth...... 
Rotation n t Crop* . 12: 
Siiwdunt ima Manure... hr! 
Hard Tima*. LT; 
New Jersey Crop*.. 
A Ghent'Washing Machine.. hr! 
Making ttimslH Leather...J:]? 
Cow* •• Coming in Milk”. . !:£ 
The Vermont Dairymen. :?? 
lousing Calve*.12? 
Cruelty to Animal*...* J22 
Cold-Frame* and Hot-Beds. 
The Wevping Norway Spruce. ”!;! 
A Woman * Acre..*. ..Is 
Spring Tn*n*plrtnting Evergreens. J”j! 
Miscellanea. JlJI 
Exchange and un Announcement... '■*! 
Exchange. {22 
Note*.,. 
Catalogues. {2~ 
rruning Evergreen Hedges. J2i 
Tile Clematis Again... 
How to Make a tlnl-Bed... h’i 
la Hellebore Edible?.... 
Dlact.araged shout Grapes !. {:” 
Prune jour <»rape-Vines. [2i 
The Coming Grasahopper...... 121 
N. J. state Horticultural Society. };» 
Breeding for Qualities— No. . 
The New York l.lle Insurance Co. » 
The Agricultural Insurance Co. J;* 
Truth Ipr Wives.. . J2* 
Eggs min Cneacrved Food. J22 
Kecipe*. J,;! 
Cures for Opium Habit. 1,w 
Editorial Page: 
Fun on the .. MO 
Tricks tliat. are Vain. J;” 
Notes—Brevities. MO 
Literary: 
Poetry.... .MX, 142.14S 
Story... . {;A 
Miscellaneous. 
Recent Literature... J. 
Sabbath Reading. 
Indies' Portfolio. 14.1 
Reading for the Young. M4 
Publisher’* Notices. Ml 
News of the Week. Hn 
Markets... }« 
Answers to Correspondents. H< 
Everywhere...Ml 
Advertisements.. .....139, 145, 146,14 1 , 14$ 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, - - Associate Editor, 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
Editor of to* * Dll',fiTMKNT of Dairy Husbandey. 
G. A. C. BARNETT, Publisher. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1877. 
FUN ON THE EAEM. 
What could be more enjoyable than train- | 
ed animals of all kinds, from a mouse up 
to an ox or horse ! and then what a field 
there is for study, as instinct improved 
becomes veritable reason ! Let each child 
have his pet animal to work upon, thereby 
creating a friendly strife which will make 
life all the more pleasant. 
Perhaps their taste may not bo for ani¬ 
mals, but f^ minerals, shells, plants, or 
some other * the thousand and one ob¬ 
jects of natural history to be found on 
every farm, all of which may be gathered 
and studied in leisure moments without 
wasting the time required for labor in the 
field. The boy who is told he may go a 
fishing after his task is done, usually finds 
a way to get through with it in time to 
spend a huppy hour where the “ fun comes 
in,” and this might often be done in hunt¬ 
ing for plants to put in his herbarium, or 
for insects, shells, minerals, or other ob¬ 
jects of natural history to enrich his cab¬ 
inet. 
Of course the pareuts should second 
all these deviations from the far too gen¬ 
eral routine on the farm, which often 
amounts to little more than working, eat¬ 
ing and sleeping—a fact that accounts, in 
a great measure, for the widespread com* 
plaint, that boys and girls leave the farm 
whenever nil opportunity presents itself. 
And who will blame them, if the farm can 
offer no inducements for remaining? 
There is a world of amusement on every 
acre of land occupied by plants and living 
creatures, and it is only those who are 
blind through ignorance wiio fail to find it. 
Doubtless some of our readers will say 
“ This is all nonsense,” and “ 1 don’t want 
my boys and girls spending their time in 
gathering weeds and such stuff;” but 
such parents deserve more of pity than 
censure. If our young fxiends have no 
other, or more ready means of obtaining 
information about objects of natural his¬ 
tory found upon the farm, they can always 
forward specimens to the Rhral New- 
YoRKEii, with the assurance of having 
their queries carefully considered and 
answered ; for its mission is to make the 
farm the most pleasant place in the world. 
How often do we hear the remark, 
“What a dull life farming must be!” 
or, “ Who would live in the country where 
there are no opportunities for haring any 
‘ fun ?’ ” which is but a shorter name for 
pleasure. It, is certainly true that many 
do' find country life very dull if not al¬ 
most unbearable; but w’e are free to say 
that the cause of this is less in the sur¬ 
roundings of such persons than in them¬ 
selves. The British Museum or the 
Zoological Gardens, would no doubt 
be dull and uninteresting places to a great 
many persons ; still this would not prove 
that they were really unattractive to those 
w’ho have eyes to see and ears to hear, 
with minds trained to enjoy such exhibi¬ 
tions. 
The sameprinciple holds good in regard 
to the pleasures which the residents of 
city or country respectively enjoy. Wealth 
has really but little to do with happiness, 
or what we may term pleasure or the “ fun 
of living,” and it would be difficult to fix 
a “poverty point,” below which a human 
being may not live and be happy. Indeed 
it could be easily demonstrated that there 
are proportionately as many happy fami¬ 
lies who subsist on ten dollars a week or 
less, as on one hundred and upwards. We 
must, therefore, conclude that after a' 
man’s actual necessities are supplied, the 
matter of pleasure depends mainly upon 
his disposition, previous training, or ca¬ 
pacity for enjoying the things which oome 
within his reach. Now if the farm is such 
a dull place as many would make us be¬ 
lieve, why is it ? aud who is to blame V 
There is certainly no lack of materials or 
opportunities for enjoyment of the most 
rational and innocently hilarious kind. 
TRICKS THAT ARE VAIN. 
In all ages Monopoly has been an un¬ 
scrupulous opponent of all innovations 
likely to endanger its continuance — a 
principle the worst features of which are 
now being illustrated by the conduct of 
a few disreputable members of a powerful 
guild among our trails-Atlantic cousins. 
To these, the. system followed in import¬ 
ing American beef is highly exasperating. 
In order to lessen the risks of transporta¬ 
tion and avoid freight charges on fodder, 
unnecessary space ami unsalable oflal, 
the cattle, *as a rule, are slaughtered in 
this country aud the dressed carcasses 
alone exported. It is a recognized prin¬ 
ciple of legitimate trade that the consumer 
should pay all expenses on his purchases, 
and also that to secure ready sale for 
goods hi a new market, they should pos¬ 
sess an advantage, either in exist or qual¬ 
ity. over the similar commodities already 
known to the public there. The present 
method of conducting this branch of busi¬ 
ness has, therefore, at least two decided 
advantages. It is a benefit to the buyers 
of imported meal, since it enables them 
to supplement their scanty fare with a 
prime article at a price within their stinted 
means ; aud it is also a gain to stockmen 
here, whose products can thus be more 
readily placed in remunerative competi¬ 
tion abroad with the more expensive sup¬ 
plies of native beef. 
But alas, for poor humanity, it raises 
the bile, just in proportion as it lowers 
the profits of the British butcher ! Many 
of these, according to police reports, have 
been in the habit of increasing the ordi¬ 
nary profits of middlemen by guileful 
ways, not altogether unknown, perhaps, 
to just a few’ of their brethren of the bib 
and cleaver on this side of the Atlantic. 
The process of converting live stock into 
marketable moat, also, affords rich oppor¬ 
tunities of gam, even to reputable mem¬ 
bers of the craft, Of the value of this 
operation among them the public can form 
an idea from the tricks of the trade here 
at home. Although the dwellers in Lon¬ 
don, Liverpool or Glasgow can buy prime j 
American beef for from 13 to 17 cents a < 
pound, yet the denizen of this city, from < 
which the bulk of this meat is exported, i 
has to pay from 19 to 30 cents for a simi¬ 
lar article. The loss of these opportuni¬ 
ties either of unjust or exorbitant charges ( 
is, therefore, extremely aggravating to the 
burly fleshers across the water. All know , 
how readily a butcher’s wrath vents itself ' 
in violence, but the conduct of these gen- . 
try proves that, at times, it will also find 
an outlet in misrepresentation and fraud. , 
To produce a prejudice against American ( 
moat, many of them are in the habit of . 
buying tainted, tough and inferior beef 
and misrepresenting it as the imported 
article. 
These should bear in mind, however, 
that the spirit of commercial enterprise 
which has led their own country into two 
wars, anil their countrymen to risk danger 
and death in order to soothe and cut short 
the miseries of existence among the heath¬ 
ens of China, by the compulsory importa¬ 
tion of opium, is not likely to be lacking 
among a kindred race, prompted by a like 
prospect of gain, but in a nobler trade 
which peacefully ministers to the comfort 
and happiness of an allied Christian peo¬ 
ple. However gloomy, therefore, the 
present prospects of the butchers of .En¬ 
gland, they will be still darker if, in 
addition to the inevitable importation of 
Amerioan beef, their disreputable prac¬ 
tices should also bring upon them a nec¬ 
essary importation of American butchers. 
---- 
RURAL NOTES. 
Potato Beetle* Abroad.—All the 
Governments of Europe are apparently 
wide-awake in regard to the po&sibility of 
the Colorado Potato beetle being intro¬ 
duced the ooming season. The Prussian 
Agricultural Minister, Dr. Frudknthal, 
Lad distributed already in the beginning 
of 1875, more than 2,000 show-bills, con¬ 
taining colored illustrations and exact 
descriptions of the beetle, to be posted up 
in the German ports. Now the Prussian 
Minister has ordered a pamphlet to be 
written in plain and easily-comprehended 
language, which is to be distributed iu 
order that the people shall he able to re¬ 
cognize the pest and know how to destroy 
it. Contrast this activity of foreign Gov¬ 
ernments, in warning and instructing the 
masses in regal'd to the danger threaten¬ 
ing the agricultural interests, with the 
stolid apathy of our own in such matters, 
and the comparison becomes truly odious 
and convinces us, more than ever, that 
we do need a Secretary of Agriculture. 
Conservatism is a quality to he ad¬ 
mired when taken in small doses. Our 
Albany cotemporary however, who is so 
careful of his precions columns, gives 
distinct aud unequivocal notice to the 
world of his intention to exclude therefrom 
auv controversy in relation to the “ Cen¬ 
tennial Dairy Ring.” Now we believe in 
careful journalisms; but do not think 
that any Editor can afford to exclude 
from his paper a matter of such import¬ 
ance to the dairying interests of this 
country. Had our political papers treated 
the Tweed Bing as our friend seems to be 
inclined to treat this later and less digni¬ 
fied combination, the present, convict 
would probably to-day lie in the enjoy¬ 
ment. of his ill-gotten wealth. Oh ! it is 
so easy for Mrs. Purity to hold up her 
skirts as she passes an unclean place ! 
Worms or 1 nsects ?— Prof. Cressy, 
in his late lectures before the dairymen of 
Vermont, is reported to have said that he 
“ knew of no remedy for the tapeworm 
inseet,” also as referring to the strongylus 
or thread-worms of sheep as a species of 
insect, and to the “gapes” in chickens 
as a disease also caused by insects. We 
cannot believe that Prof. Cressy would 
be guilty of calling the above well-known 
parasites "insects” and must therefore 
conclude that some ignorant reporter has 
added the term wherehe may have thought 
it belonged, but unfortunately he was 
very wide of the mark. 
»♦+-- 
Adulterations of Butter. —The 
Food Bureau of the Leipzig Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society offer a prize of three hun¬ 
dred marks for the discovery of a cer¬ 
tain and practical method of detecting 
adulterations of butter with other fats. 
The papers must be sent in with a motto 
i ' or number, without the name of the au- 
i thor, but accompanied by a sealed envel- 
> ope bearing his name and referring to the 
. motto, both to be addressed to Herrn 
Apotheker Kohlman, Leipzig, Germany, 
on or before Sept. 30, 1877. Here is a 
chance for some chemist to win a prize 
and fame at the same time. 
- 
A Woman’s Acre.—We would call 
special attention to a series of ai'ticles 
under the above title, the first of which 
is given on page 136, of this issue. Mrs. 
Jack is so well known to out readers 
through her contributions to the Bubal 
New-Yorker, that she needs no introduc¬ 
tion ; but in the series of articles just 
commenced, she has something to toll of 
a practical nature, which cannot fail to be 
pleasing and instructive to both old and 
young. 
-»♦*- 
Siberian Apples.—The increasing 
popularity of what are termed Sibei'ian, 
or Grab apples, is pretty well shown in 
the exhibit of this fruit at the Centennial, 
for out of the two hundred aud ten varie- 
ties exhibited by the Wisconsin Hortieul 
tural Society, one hundred and ten were 
of this class. For a cold climate, the Crab 
apples are of great value, and we shall 
doubtless soon have as many varieties of 
them as there are of the larger and better 
species. 
-«♦«-- 
Economic Entomology.—Profes- 
| sor J. H. Comstock of Cornell University 
I is engaged in forming a cabinet of the in¬ 
sects of New York, iu order that students 
may have a better opportunity of studying 
economic entomology with greater facility 
than is possible from text books. It is to 
be hoped that those having the means at 
command will lend the Professor a helping 
hand, for no one man can perfect a cabinet 
of the kind proposed in his lifetime. 
-♦♦♦- 
RURAL BREVITIES. 
* 
The Chicago Field nays the Yankees inherited 
their propensities for " land-grabbing” from that 
“old red-headed land-pirate, William, the'Con¬ 
queror." 
The late and abundant rains in California in¬ 
sure the wheat crop for the coming season, 
which of course make the farmers of the State 
feel joyful. 
We are receiving many favorable statements 
iu regard to Col. II a hole's system of destroying 
insect life by concussion, and expect soon to give 
a full report upon the subject. 
The cattle plague lias Just broken out again in 
London. F.ngland, and the authorities have strict¬ 
ly forbidden the exportation of all cattle from the 
city to the surrounding country. 
The Agricultural Editor of one of our city 
papers has made the discovery that weeds do not 
produce good butter. Verily, it would be inter¬ 
esting to know who ever said they did. 
The “ mowers” have not yet quite driven the 
old hand-scythes out of use. as we learn that 
20,000 dozen are being manufactured by one es¬ 
tablishment at West Waterville, Maine, for the 
coining season's trade. 
Michigan drovers have tried their hand at 
shipping cattle to England and came out of the 
transaction with a loss of only *2.72; but they 
put this down to “educational expenses,” and 
propose to try it again. 
Hygeioi’olis is the name of a new city which 
it is proposed to build in England, and of course 
it is to be constructed on hygienic principles, as 
these are understood by a Dr. Richardson, who 
is at the h^d of the undertaking. 
The State Orange of Kentucky has fixed the 
salaries of the officers of that body as follows: 
Master, *1,000 and traveling expenses; Treas¬ 
urer, *600 ; Secretary, *1,000 aud traveling ex¬ 
penses ; Assistant Secretary, *500 and traveling 
expenses. 
A ooon seed drill is an indispensable imple¬ 
ment ; and while on the subject, it might be 
well to moution that Messrs. Everett A Small, 
Boston, Mass., make and sell the celebrated Mat¬ 
thews’ Garden Seed Drill, whose merits place it 
among the foremost. 
It is said the loss of stock in Texas from the 
snow and oold will amount to millions of dollars. 
But if we should suggest that a man going into 
business of stock-raising in Texas would rroed to 
build sheds and save food for his animals in 
winter, Texans would call us hard names. 
The importation of American beef is now the 
chief topic of discussion among all classes in 
England. In aristocratic circles, parties are ar ¬ 
ranged for testing the merits of tbe article, and 
it meets with general approval. During last 
week, 1,200.000 pounds of it reached Liverpool, 
and there are also direct importations of ft to 
Cork, London, and Glasgow. America is now 
the granary of the world, and bids fair to become 
soon its meat-market also. 
A Dull Headache, Oostivenkss, Low Spir¬ 
its, Want of Appetite, and all Bilious Affections 
are cured by Dr. Jayne’s Expectorant. Ex. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
The Best Oil for Harness is tlie celebrated 
Vacuum Oil, made at Rochester, N. Y., and sold by 
harness makers everywhere. 
