L 
EW-YORKER. 
APRIL 28 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical, Dkpartmi..vtb: 
Homes, Rural...... 
Soiling Crops. When they I’ay. 
Lands, Productive. 
Manure, How Much.... . 
Qra«s, Beedinir to.. 
Oleomarirarine. 
Butter, Bitter... 
Associated Dulrylmr, the Ohio Claim ot Inaugu- 
rntlnp.... 
Sheep the Mainstay of Agriculture. 
Irftmbs, weamr><r. 
Chicks, The First. .... 
Combat, a Curious. .... 
A Woman * Aerr-No. fL.... 
TomatoPit. UcrcrtlnK Iti... 
(Jrafting, Hltiin about. 
Caterpillar*, Nat ve Cahhage. 
Ora'tihopper Coin m Psion, the. 
Reply to Mr. A ,1. Kina. 
Bee-Keeping'. Proll table... 
Southern Tier, A Trip to the. 
Roadster', JCnplndi. . . .. 
Drait IToreoH, lieavy. 
Prairie Hem< ami Grasshoppers.. —. 
Anta, Experiment' with. 
Colors, Influence of upon Vegetation . 
Printing Before the. Flood... 
Test Paper for Wines. 
Grafting tVat, Liquid. 
Notes. ... 
American Beef ill Knjrlund—.. 
Wlicclock, Julia M., FTom. 
Recipes. Original. 
Hints, useful.. 
Cowardloe, It Is.... 
Florida, Happy. 
Farmers as Legislators.. . 
Swine, Berkshire.... 
EDITORIAL PAGE; 
Legislators, Our... .... 
Gods, Imported. 
Notes Brevities. 
Literary: 
Poet ry...20W, 270. 
Fashion;... 
fltorv....... 
Sabbath Reading. 
Ladles' Portfolio. 
Reading f T the Young. 
X'ubllsher'a Notices... . 
News of the WCek;......... 
1C very where....... 
Markets. 
Answers to Correspondents;. 
Personals... 
Humorous....... . 
Advertisements.;.273, 271 275, 
T H E 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., Little Falls, N. Y„, 
Epitob or iw* Dcp.rtmknt or Daisy Hohsisbsy. 
G. A. C. BARNETT, Publisher. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHINC CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1877. 
OUR LEGISLATORS. 
Among tlie many fallacies of the day, is 
tlie one that the persouH whom we elect 
to represent us in the legislative depart¬ 
ments of Government accept the position 
with the expectation of giving their atten¬ 
tion to the general matters under consid¬ 
eration. We have in mind now more par¬ 
ticularly our Legislature of the State of 
Now York, now in session, and are free to 
say we fully believe that, of all the votes 
cast for or against a great majority of the 
bills presented, comparatively few are in¬ 
fluenced by whether the bill is right or 
wrong—just, or unjust. But the Senate 
and Assembly are managed by party lead¬ 
ers, and the rest, on all party questions, 
follow their suggestions. When ques¬ 
tions of a local nature arise, the party 
leaders are not so forward, but others, 
more particularly interested, take their 
positions, and the strength of the lobby 
is brought to bear. IIow members are 
induced to vote may be gathered from the 
report of a conversation between one of 
them and a reporter, that wo clip from tlie 
N. Y. Herald: 
Mr. Morgan —I voted for the Tweed charter 
on precisely the name principle that I voted for 
measures of othor members whom I desired to 
vote for m,v measures—such as State appropria¬ 
tion for tie Hudson River Hospital and the 
Poughkeepsie Bridge lull—making in my own 
mind each member responsible for those meas¬ 
ures in his district as I was responsible for thoso 
in my district. 
Reporter—D o you suppose it was possible for 
any man to have sold your vote and you not 
know it ? 
Mr. Morgan -That would be a matter I could 
know nothing about. 
That is a specimen brick of the whole 
legislative structure, as now managed. 
“You help me carry those measures in 
whioh I am directly interested, and T will 
vote on other bills as you may direct,” 
seems to bo the way bargains are made 
by members between themselves. An in¬ 
stance of this kind of bargain occurred in 
Brooklyn, a few years ago. Some sis or 
seven bills, of private nature, were passed 
by the Common Council, all of which were 
sent back by the Mayor without bis ap¬ 
proval. A two-thirds vote in their favor 
could not be obtained until several days 
lm<l elapsed, giving time for “ arrange¬ 
ment," when they were taken up and all 
passed over tlie Mayor’s veto, without 
trouble. “You vote for my bill, and I 
will vote for yours,” was the rule all 
round. 
The arrangement between the members 
and outsiders is soraew) tat di fferent. Many 
members of the lobby or “third house” 
have considerable personal influence; and 
it is nf/ secret that large sums of money 
are wont to Albany every year, to secure 
the passage of certain bills. These moneys 
are, in most eases, returned three-fold to 
those who advance them, either by the 
tax-payers, iu the shape of taxes, or by 
profits of some railroad or other valuable 
franchise. 
We once asked au ex-Assemblymau to 
tell us how it was that legislators could 
afford to spend more than their salary to 
secure their eleetion, pay their expenses 
at, Albany, whieh are not light, neglect 
their business at home, or leave it to the 
management of others, and still be so well 
satisfied with their investments as to strive 
for re-election. He gave us no definite 
reply,-but remarked that when a man had 
spent, his time and talent in acquiring an 
influence, lio didn’t see why it wns im¬ 
proper that he should be paid for using 
it in behalf of such parties as could be 
benefited by it. 
Many bills are presented to the Legis¬ 
lature that are not expected or desired to 
bo passed. One of the lobby said to n 
friend of ours, last year :—“It would be 
a fine thing to introduce, next winter, a 
bill providing that;,.whereas, the ice frozen 
on any lake, pond or other body of water, 
within and subject to the jurisdiction of 
any town or county within this State, is 
the property of such town- or county, any 
individual or company who shall remove 
such ice, without the permission of the 
proper authorities, should be liable to 
pay a fine equal to many times the value 
of the ice so removed.” To be sure, said 
he, no one would want to pass such a bill, 
but it would scare some of the ice compa¬ 
nies, and they would “shell out” hand¬ 
somely to have it killed. Such a bill lias 
not been presented this winter, but others 
of very much the same nature have. 
Now, the hissou taught by this is, When 
you see a man anxious for political office, 
he is just, the man you don’t want. When 
one offers to work for yon for nothing and 
board himself, you may be sure there is a 
« 1 nigger ” iu the fence somewhere. Don’t 
help elect one to handle the public funds, 
or to appoint others to handle them, that 
you wouldn’t trust with your own. Be¬ 
fore voting for any man, satisfy yourself 
that he is both honest and capable. 
We don’t say there are not honest and 
capable men in our Legislature, or in 
Congress, but wo do say such are largely 
in the minority. Political parties are nec¬ 
essary to the well-being of any State, but 
“ he best serves his party who serves his 
country best.” Party lines should not 
hold a voter from exercising his own j udg- 
ment., but he should ask himself, regard- 
dug every question, Is it right? Is it just? 
We do not propose to make a political 
paper of the Rural, but so far as our in¬ 
dividual views are concerned, they are 
open to all. Our motto in politics, as in 
everything else, is, “The Truth against 
the World.” 
IMPORTED GODS. 
Coming up Fulton Street the other day 
our attention was attracted by a large 
sign on which was painted in promiuent 
letters 
IMPORTED GODS IN GREAT VARIETY. 
These we thought must have been sent 
out on venture by some heathen not suf¬ 
ficiently acquainted with the manners and 
customs of this country to know that he 
was sending his coaLs to New Castle ; that 
the American people were already bowing 
down in worship of Gods almost without, 
number wbicb, false though they be, are 
sapping the vitality of tlie whole commu¬ 
nity and bid fair at. no distant day, unless 
they are cast down and trodden under 
foot, to reduce the whole country, to 
render our nation weak, puerile and inef¬ 
ficient. 
Foremost in rauk among these Gods 
stands Mammon—at whose shrine wor¬ 
ship all classes and conditions of men. 
The practical answer to the question 
“What is the chief end of man,” as 
shown in the lives of tlie greatest number 
of onr people is. “ Keep close hold of all 
you have and get as much more as possi¬ 
ble.” How many are giving their eutiro 
energies to the worship of Wealth, sacri¬ 
ficing all their powers of body and soul in 
its service, only to find at last that, as 
they brought nothing into this world so 
they cat. take nothing out of it, and the 
God to whose service they have devoted 
their best energies can do them no service 
in return. Nor are the followers of the 
God of fashion greater gainers by their 
idolatry^. The beat years of their lives 
are spent, in his service, and iu return he 
gives nothing but wasted fortunes, mined 
constitutions and weakened intellects. 
Gluttony is a God iu whose service 
hosts have found their ruin. The sword 
has killed its thousands and strong drink 
its teus of thousands, but the numbers of 
those whose deaths have been caused by 
Gluttony is as tlie sands upon the sea-shore. 
Where were is one death, the result of in¬ 
temperance in drinking there are scores 
which come directly or indirectly from in¬ 
temperance in eating. Bat why enumer¬ 
ate, the number is legion, almost every 
man has Imh particular favorite, and some 
are not content with less than half a dozen. 
Few are willing to confess, however, even 
to themselves that they are bound in the 
bonds of any, but their actions show that 
they go astray and follow after false Gods. 
It, is plain, therefore, that we have, in 
this country no need of imported Gods, 
and we beg to call the attention of Con¬ 
gress to the matter that a prohibitory 
tariff be laid on all foreign— and whether 
it be laid ad valorem or per capita, let it 
be heavy enough to compel the heathen 
to keep their Gods at homo. 
---—- 
RURAL NOTES. 
One Hundred Million.— At the 
present rate of increase, the population 
of the United States will not be far from 
one hundred millions in the year 1900, 
and it will take twice as much food to 
supply the home demand at the period 
named as it does now. The question 
which arises, upon the above supposition, 
is how is it to be secured. Shall we have 
improved agriculture, or reclaim the wild 
lands which now yield nothing ? Which 
will be the cheapest aud best for us, os a 
people, to extend the area of cultivated 
lands, or to make those now under culti¬ 
vation yield more per acre ? These ques¬ 
tions ni ust, bo met and answered by the 
next generation of agriculturists, aud it 
would be well for those who have the 
future welfare of the nation at, heart to 
aid in laying a foundation upon whioh 
those who may come after them may build 
a structure which shall redound to their 
glory and credit. 
*♦ «- 
Cold Water.—To say that the habits 
and manners of those who occupy promi¬ 
nent public positions are not used as 
models for many people is to fail to 
recognize a solid fact, whether it should 
be so or not. The fashion of excluding 
alcoholic drinks from the table of the 
Chief Magistrate of the Nation will be 
one of the best temperance lectures which 
this country has had iu a long time. In¬ 
augurated by the wife of the President, 
it foreshadows the great good which will 
accrue from placing the ballot iu the 
hands of women—a thing we must come 
to sooner or later. This step in the right 
direction cannot be too highly commended 
nor can the example be too rigidly fol¬ 
lowed. It is a bold innovation, but cer¬ 
tainly a harbinger of good. 
---- 
Eighteen and Fifty.— It is well to 
be thankful for small favors, and we pre¬ 
sume the residents of the grasshopper- 
infested regions of the West are only too 
glad to have Congress recognize, iu any 
way, their wants, even if it is not in a 
larger sum than eighteen thousand dollars 
for the pay of a commission to investigate 
this pest which destroys hundreds of 
thousands of dollars’ worth of crops Annu¬ 
ally. But while Congress cannot afford 
more than eighteen thousand dollars for 
this purpose, it has seriously entertained 
a bill to appropriate fifty thousand, to 
help to fit out another expedition to seek 
the North Pole. This is what we call 
consistency with a vengeance. 
-... - - - 
Slightly Conceited.— Siiirley Hib¬ 
bard, the well-known author of works on 
gardening, says that Sutton’s Magnum 
Bonum is tlie “ best, potato in the world,” 
which, as we take it, is equivalent to say¬ 
ing that Mr. Hibbard, of Englaud, knowR 
all the varieties of the potato cultivated iu 
the world. This is too much like some 
persons we have known, on this side of 
the big pond, who claim that because an 
article is the best known to them person¬ 
ally, it is the best, no matter what others 
may think, or even possess of a superior 
thing of the same kind. Mr. H. might 
become less conceited if he traveled more 
and further from home. 
Grasshopper Exterminators. — 
The Yankee patent-right man is now per¬ 
ambulating through the grasshopper-in¬ 
fested regions of the West, trying to sell 
to the inhabitants thereof, the right to 
use a machine for killing the “ hatcfuls.” 
Tf the Legislatures of those States aud 
Territories would only pass a law to drive 
every patent-right pedttyer out of the 
country, or compel him to live on fried 
grasshoppers so long as lie remained, 
what a wholesome effect it would have 
upon the finances of thoso regions ! 
■ 
The Cattle Plague.—New cases of 
the cattle plague are almost daily being 
reported in Great Britain and the vigorous 
measures which have been adopted for its 
suppression do not seem to have been 
very efficacious. It is now reported that, 
American cattle are found to be affected 
with the Foot-and-Mouth disease soon 
after reaching the British ports. If our 
English cousins cannot get healthy cattle 
ami beef from America, then there must 
be a very bad atmosphere off the English 
coast. 
-»♦ ♦ ■ — 
RURAL BREVITIES. 
A correspondent of one of our contempora¬ 
ries wanta a recipe for “do-onionizing" milk, 
which would be something worth knowing to 
farmers, where wild onions arc abundant in pas¬ 
tures. 
A correspondent of a Western contemporary 
says that in “this part of the world flowa) a re¬ 
volver and ri lie in the house are the best pro¬ 
tective law wo have, but are slim proofs of civ¬ 
ilization.” 
The Governor of Minnesota has appointed a 
day of fasting and prayer, that Divine interposi¬ 
tion may bo made to stay tlie ravages of the 
grasshoppers. The Pope once issued a bull 
against the appearance of a comet, but the comet 
came ; aud so, we fear, will the grasshopper. 
Kansas claims to have had on hand, the first of 
March last, over thirty-six millions of bushels of 
old com. which shows conclusively that the grass¬ 
hoppers did not consumo the entire crop in 187G. 
The grasshopper-stricken regions of tlie North 
and Kouth may still “go down to Kansas for 
corn.” 
Kansas is fast becoming a chronic grumbler. 
I.ast year she sent out missionaries to beg bread 
for her starving people, and this year she declares 
that there are not mon enough in the State to 
harvest the immense crop of grain. Perhaps 
the grasshoppers will come in time to lessen her 
labors in this direction. 
It is truly wonderful how many persons have 
discovered that they know something about 
something, since Horace Greeley wrote “What 
1 Know About Fanning." If some of these pro- 
lilio writers would choose a now text, aud tell us 
if they “ Know Beans," It wnuldjbe a refreshing 
and agreeable change." 
Down in Texas the nights are so cool that the 
inhabitants have to sleep under two blankets to 
keep warm. This appears to bo the case iu all 
new countries, if wo are to believe the storieB of 
the pioneers; but it is somewhat strange that 
such delightful climates should change after the 
countrj' gets settled up. 
A correspondent of the Bee Journal tried 
| blue-glass hives last summer, and the bees grew 
to be longer than common humble bees, and 
, brought in bouey at the rate Of a quart a day 
each ; but. alas for the safety of the owner and 
mankind in general! their stings also enlarged in 
proportion, and now all the people in the coun¬ 
try round about have to wear coats of mail, with 
visors down, during the daytime, or he stung to 
death. 
Get Rid of Your Cold at Once by using 
Dr. Jayne’s Expectorant, and so avoid the risk 
of developing a seriouB Lung trouble. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
The Best OH tor Harness is the celebrated 
Vacuum Oil, made at Rochester, N. Y., and sold by 
harness makers everywhere. 
