MAKCH 10 
3 
THE IMRAL HEW-VOBKER. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical Departments 
The PJow-Horso Tr<>tter. 
Canadian Diitrynuui in Council. 
Parasites of Poultry........ 
Spring Work with Poultry... 
Notes. . 
The Wool Trade, etc...... 
A Word for the Chester White...... 
Live Stock In New South Wales.. 
Premium for 11 General-Purpose Bum... 
Get ltr-arty,... 
Western Pork Prospects. 
What Two Men Can Do..— 
Then and Now. 
A Woman's Aero... 
Our Tree and Shrub election./... 
Believer las.-. 
Treatment of Mutilated Trees. 
Forests of Prussia.... 
Notes. 
Concussion, Again... 
N. J. Slate Horticultural Society. 
The Telephone.. 
Hydraulics of the Ancients. 
VeriBahle Incident- In Crown-ology. 
Care of Canary Birds... 
Brushing Clothe*.. 
Recipes.. ... 
Medical Progress......... . 
Eucalyptus Tea. 
Dandruff.. 
14'.! 
150 
151 
151 
161 
151 
161 
151 
152 
152 
152 
162 
152 
152 
153 
153 
163 
153 
153 
153 
154 
154 
154 
104 
154 
155 
155 
156 
155 
155 
Editorial Page: 
Grangers and Railroads_ 
Athletic Training. 
Notes— Brevities. 
Literary ; 
Poetry........ 
3torv. 
Miscellaneous.. 
Sabbath Reading. 
Ladles' Portfolio. 
Reading for the Young. 
Publisher’s Notices. 
News of the Mi rck. 
Markets.“. 
Answers to Correspondents 
Personals. 
Humorous. 
Advertisements. 
.... 166 
.... 15fi 
.... 15<i 
.157.153.159 
. 157 
. 1S.H 
. Uih 
. 159 
. 159 
. lt'iO 
.]iio 
. Rll 
. 1H2 
. 163 
. 1G4 
1.55, 161. 102, 163.164 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor. 
ELBERT S. CARMAN, - - Associate Editor. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
F.mtok or tub Dhi’artmknt or Dbi&y Husjundsy. 
G. A. C. BARNETT, Publisher. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1377. 
GRANGERS AND RAILROADS. 
The Supreme Court of the United 
States lias just announced a decision 
which may become of vast importance to 
the rural population of this country. A 
few years since, when the Patrons of Hus¬ 
bandry united, in the State of. Wisconsin, 
in opposition to the element said to be 
controlled by Die large I'aiiroad corpora¬ 
tions and took possession of the Legisla¬ 
ture of that State, they passed what was 
generally known as the Potter Law. In 
other words, they enacted a law which 
limited the freight rates of all the rail¬ 
roads operated there. A severe contest 
was had in the courts of the State and the 
constitutionality of the law was maintain¬ 
ed by the court of last resort, thus main¬ 
taining the right of the people to rise in 
their might and repel Die encroachments 
of soulless monopolies. Unfortunately, 
however, the passions of the people form¬ 
ed a large part of the motive power in the 
passage of this law, and the limitation 
was fixed so low that, the corporations 
were practically bankrupted. Another 
effect was the prevention of all contem¬ 
plated investments of outside capital with¬ 
in the limits of that commonwealth. That 
these results were the legitimate arid nat¬ 
ural sequence of the Potter Law, few 
reasonable men will deny, and had the 
Granger legislators acted upon calm de¬ 
liberation and sober second thought, the 
law would have been at first modified, 
as it subsequently was, so that railroads 
as well as Grangers could live under it. 
Many doubts were felt among the bright¬ 
est legal lights of the country as to the 
Btrict constitutionality of this action, de¬ 
spite the decision. 
Now, howover, comes the decision of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, the 
highest tribunal in the land, fully affirm¬ 
ing the rigid of a State Legislature, under 
the limitations of the Constitution of the 
United States, to fix by law the charges 
which shall be made in cases affecting the 
commonwealth at large or the general 
public. It was iu the case of Mtjnn and 
Scott vs. the People of the State of Illi¬ 
nois. There Chief-Justice Watte, in de¬ 
livering the opinion of the Court, clearly 
and emphatically concedes to State Legis¬ 
latures the powers above mentioned. 
This practically places the railroads iu 
the hands of the Grangers, to do with 
them as they will. It now remains to be 
seen bow far the spirit of fairness and 
justice will obtain in the councils of the 
land. While the Rural never has 
had, and never will have any sympathy 
for the fraudulent practices which are but 
too common among the Railroad Compa¬ 
nies, by which the community at large 
are heavily taxed to enrich a few specu¬ 
lators and capitalists, we do desire to see 
the power, now thrown into the hands of 
the producing classes, used with a moder¬ 
ation and a spirit of fairness that will not 
paj’alyze the industries of the country. 
The railroads are a greater benefit to the 
rural population than to any other class, 
and must be allowed to live. Let the 
Legislatures of the States investigate, if 
they will, the nccrxsari/ expenses of their 
respective roads and then allow tfiem such 
living rates as they, if they were the capi¬ 
talists who had made the investments, 
could reasonably expect as a fair return 
upon their money. There is no necessity 
for being generous; but by all means, 
be just. So sure as you are unjust aud 
unfair to these combinations of capital 
which you now have in your power com¬ 
pletely, just so sure will the consequent 
paralysis of industry return at once to 
your own doors, as was the case in Wis¬ 
consin, which has not yet recovered from 
the well meant but intemperate blow 
given to its corporations. 
THE END AT LAST. 
The Congress of the United States 
has finally completed the count of the 
votes of the Electors for President and 
Vice-President and the election of IIayes 
& Wheeler is officially announced. It is 
not our province to discuss the action of 
Returning Boards or Die Commission of 
Arbitration, but to accept the result and 
abide by it as loyal citizens. There is one 
thing worthy of notice and that should be a 
matter of congratulation for all. We have 
now a President who comes to his place 
with a character, both moral and political, 
without a blemish. During the campaign 
which closed last November and the sub- 
seq uent examinations, no charge has been 
brought against him that has not vanished 
like the morning mist. How strong he 
may be to withstand the unholy demands 
of party leaders, time alone can determine, 
Pur tbowelfare of the whole country, good 
men of all parties should give him their 
support, when, he needs it, against the 
miserable place-seekers whose only care 
is to serve their own ends. The crisis 
through which the country has passed 
shows plainly the need of some new laws 
regulating elections if, indeed, it be not 
necessary to revise the Constitution alto¬ 
gether. Jefferson said, “No Constitu¬ 
tion can be made that will serve more than 
one generation. ' Ours, with patching, 
has served more than three, and now 
shows signs of age. Will it not be well 
to lay it aside and make a new one ? 
-- 
ATHLETIC TRAINING. 
Although we are by no means disposed 
to undervalue healthy exercise as a means 
of acquiring or increasing vigor and ro¬ 
bustness, still it seems to us that a great 
deal too much importance is ordinarily 
given to special practices whose chief or 
ouly object is the acquisition of these 
blessings. Moreover, certain forms of 
muscular development would have but 
little merit in our eyes even if free from 
the rices aud evil tendencies with which 
they are commonly associated. 
In this utilitarian age, aud especially 
in this practical country, the training— 
mental and physical — of every citizen 
should be calculated to fit. him, in the 
best way, for taking a useful and honor¬ 
able part in the busy life around him. 
The relative excellence of our schools and 
colleges is proportionate to the fidelity 
with which the courses of studies pursued 
in them are adapted to secure this end. 
But, while many of them leave little room 
for improvement in methods of mental 
training, there are few, if any, in which 
the system and appliances of athletic ex- 
oi'cises arc not capable of very consider¬ 
able amendment. A single instance will 
be sufficient to illustrate this opinion. Tu 
nearly all our colleges boating has lately 
gained a popularity to which, as a means 
of beneficial exercise, it has no justcr 
claim than it. has to the prodigal applause 
awarded to success iu it. The extrava¬ 
gance of this is readily seen when con¬ 
trasted with the praise bestowed on superi¬ 
ority in those studies for the advancement, 
of which alone these institutions were 
founded. Yet in after life the skill ac¬ 
quired in this kind of exercise, will serve 
no purpose useful enough to compensate 
for the loss of time and the perilous strain 
on the youthful system, needed even to 
compete for ’distinction iu it. After leav¬ 
ing college few even of the champion row¬ 
ers, will ever touch an oar except, per¬ 
chance, in the way of amusement; nor 
are the special bodily powers developed 
by it such as are likely to benefit its ad¬ 
herents in the labors of their future ca¬ 
reer. Through force of example, how 
ever, and the undue prominence given to 
this and kindred collegiate practices, 
their evil influences extend to thousands 
who have never even visited a college or 
seen the sports of its students. 
Practice with dumb-bells and clubs may 
be of advantage to those confined in cities 
whose business is generally of a sedentary 
nature, requiring no great amount of 
bodily strength ; but residents in the 
country might easily find # many other 
means of exercise more in accord with 
their usual occupations and better calcu¬ 
lated to develop the muscles not merely 
of a part, but of the whole body. 
Strength that comes from nature or 
from the ordinary labors and duties of 
life, is usually classed in the mint! of its 
owner with the ordinary properties of his 
person, just as much as the color of his 
hair or the higbt of bis stature. In him, 
therefore, there is no inordinate desire to 
display this quality either by hectoring 
over his weaker comrades, or by indulg¬ 
ing in disorderly conduct in the belief that 
his brute force will save him from evil 
consequences. Tlxe vexy consciousness 
of his power generally rests xlormant until 
awakened by some emergency requiring 
its useful exercise. The good-will and 
respect of neighbors and friends gather 
round such a man, not on account of his 
physical might, but because the self-re¬ 
liance, steady nerves and fine, health this 
bespeaks, render him a quiet, even-tem¬ 
pered companion, good - natured to all 
about him and free from swaggering pre¬ 
tensions. 
On the other hand, the man who owes 
his muscularity to special training, read¬ 
ily falls into a habit during the process, 
of contrasting his strength with that of 
others or of pitting himself against them. 
Ere long, so baneful docs this habit grow 
that he is ever ready either to bluster 
about his might or, worse still, to use it 
brutally. Moreover, whenever special 
attention is given to physical develop¬ 
ment, it is nearly always at the expense 
of mental culture and refinement; for the 
fellow whose chief merit, like that of the 
ox or mule, lies in liiix thews aud sinews, 
rarely fails to set brawn above brain. 
Nearly every neighborhood is cursed 
with a bully of tills stripe ; overbearing, 
quari'elsome, often brutal aud always 
boastful of a quality iu which he is rarely 
a match for a prize-fighter or a foot-pad, 
and always beneath a gorilla or even a 
baboon. We do not say that special at¬ 
tention to athletic training will always 
evolve pests of this kind, but we do say 
that it always has a strong tendency to 
do so. 
---- 
RURAL NOTES. 
The Locust Commission.—Again 
there is a move to have a commission ap¬ 
pointed composed of a half dozen or less 
of our most noted Entomologists, to in¬ 
vestigate the habits and history of the 
Western locusts or gins shoppers. As we 
were long ago committed to this move¬ 
ment, we can now do no less than second 
the present attempt to force Congress to 
assist in this matter by making a liberal 
appropriation to defray the expenses of 
the gentlemen who may be induced to 
serve on such an expedition. We want no 
more $4,000 appropriations for a “Stay- 
at-home Commission,'’ who rest their 
weary bodies in Washington, aud content 
themselves or “ himself,” in picking dried 
! locusts out of letters sent in by corre¬ 
spondents ; but let us have a live com¬ 
mission, composed of such noted scien¬ 
tists as Dr. John L. LeConte of Phila¬ 
delphia and Prof. Charles V. Riley of 
St. Louis; men who have devoted their 
lives to the study of natural history and 
iu whose integrity and abilities the entire 
scientific world has the fullest confidence. 
If Congress will give us such a commis¬ 
sion, supported by a liberal appropria¬ 
tion, we shall soon know whether it is 
possible for human ingenuity to cope 
with the pestiferous locusts. 
-- 
Expend mental Station.—Anybody 
who lias given any thought, to the matter, 
will not dispute the fact that an Experi¬ 
mental Station is much needed in the 
State of New York. Few people have 
given this matter more careful study than 
Mr. J. H. Scovill of Paris, in this State, 
who has written an excellent letter on the 
subject to the Country Gentleman. To 
all of this thei'e can be but one objectiou- 
able feature aud that is Brother Scovill 
himself. A Station without Scovill would 
be excellent and desirable, but a Station 
-with Scovill would, we fear, be a repeti¬ 
tion of the disgraceful “Centennial Dairy 
Ring,” whose acts arc still odorous in the 
nostrils of the people. If an appropria¬ 
tion should be made, please to refrain 
from putting it into the bands of Scovill 
and his friends, and be careful they don’t 
gobble it. 
-»♦» 
Commissioner of Agriculture.— 
• We understand that there is a movement 
being made among the numerous friends 
of Mr. J. R. Dodge, the accomplished 
Statistician of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, to urge his appointment to the office 
of Commissioner of Agriculture—a posi¬ 
tion which he is probably hotter qualified 
to fill than any other man in tlxe country. 
Mr. Dodge’s long connection with tlxe 
Department has given him the best of 
opportunities of knowing abuses which 
need remedying, and we believe he would 
do all that any one man could to improve 
its efficiency, besides, in part, making up 
for the disgraceful imbecility of his pre¬ 
decessor. 
-<*-*-*■— - — 
RURAL BREVITIES. 
The cultivation of Tamarinds is said to be per¬ 
fectly practicable in Florida, and the phinting of 
the best species is urged by the Horticulturists 
of the State. 
Ax epidemic has broken out among the horses 
in some parts of Scotland, which is said to Bpread 
among cattle and even dogs, proving fatal in a 
large number of instances. 
Ir is reported that a very large number of 
Wisconsin farmers will emigrate to Kansas this 
spring. A milder climate and virgin soil are 
what they are after—but how about the grass¬ 
hoppers ? 
We would call attention to the prize offered 
| for the best plan of dividing the " General-Pur¬ 
pose Barn"’ described on page 152 of this week’s 
j Rural. Here is a chance for some of our read¬ 
ers to exercise their genius in such matters. 
The “ Barb-fcncc 1 ’ patentees have gone into 
the courts to settle their claims, aud the lawyers 
arc in a good way to absorb the profits all round, 
while the farmers would do well to let this kind 
of fencing alone while litigation is going on. 
and thereby save himself much annoyance from 
rival claimants. 
J. A. Whitman, Providence. R. I.. makes a 
capital Fir? Extinguisher: but his advertise¬ 
ment in our last issue read Fiee Extinguisher, 
which clearly is nonsense. There is no nonsense 
about Mr. W., and we would take this occasion 
to say that the manufactures of this house are 
worthy of investigation by those of our readers 
who desire such goods. 
Some of our contemporaries seem to be alarm¬ 
ed iu learning the-fact that French butter is im¬ 
ported and sold in this city. We also import 
tons of cheese, and tho past winter we have seen 
English mutton sold in our markets while vessels 
were loading at the docks with beef for England. 
All such apparent anomalies come from the fancy 
or tastes of consumers and not from any scarc¬ 
ity of articles of a similar kind or quality. 
Weak Luxes are Cruelly Racked by a per¬ 
sistent Cough, which Dr. Jayne's Expectorant 
may be relied on to cure. It cures also both 
Asthma and Bronchitis,— Ex. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
Forty years' experieuce in the manufacture of 
White Lead wnrrunts us in saying that our “ PlitK- 
nix“ Brand Pure White Lead cannot he ex¬ 
celled in any of the requisites that tend to make the 
hest paint, it i* white, fine, has the greatest body 
aud covering capacity, and for durability is unsur¬ 
passed. Every bog is warranted perfectly pure, and 
to give entire satisfaction. Bold by dealers in Paints 
generally. Eckstkin, Hills A Co.. Cincinnati, O. 
-m- 
The Boat Oil lor Harness is the celebrated 
I Vacuum Oxl, made at Rochester, N. Y., and sold by 
1 harness makers everywhere. 
Si 
