TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practica r, DEPARTMENTS: 
rattle, Hre’on. 
Geese aiul Ducks, Plucking Live. 
.... 
.... 367 
.... 368 
.... 368 
.... 363 
.... 3r>H 
.... HS9 
Melon. TIjs It* Culture and Varieties., 
Rllliburb fiend fit-ilksof.. 
:... 369 
.... 369 
Aspur.'icii*. Cutting. 
.... HM1 
California. Wild Fruits of.. 
I'M mp, wii Irma>f- Fountain. . 
Thresher. Thu Invincible .. 
Barley. The Harvesting of . 
.... 369 
.... .W 
.... art) 
.,.. Ml 
.... 300 
Horticultural Society, New York. 
.... m 
.... 361 
WciiiliT I MdicaLorH^rortuiuL's ...361 
v. A.am 
Pillow-sham Corners, Pattern for. 
Kitchen Lore........ 
Stingy Pcple . .. 
.... 303 
.... iW? 
.... 3(1? 
Phosphorus Acid, Remedies for. 
Answers to Correspondents. 
.... 
.. ! H63 
363 
Editorial Page: 
.... 301 
California, Short-Horns in—.. 
.... 
.... »;i 
.... 313 
Literary: 
3Gf\ 
Story. 
....'306 
.... 300 
Ladies’ Portfolio. . 
i... 
.... 3«7 
.... 368 
Sabbath Reading. 
Markets..... 
Publisher's Notices.. 
• * • • 
.... sos 
.... 309 
.... 370 
3711 
Educational Notes. 
.... 
.... 370 
.. 371 
.... 372 
Advertisements.303 
309, 
371,372 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor. 
X. A. WILLARD. A. M., Little Falls, N. Y., 
KdITi>B Ov THK DkF.BTHKKT or Daiky Hcsbaniiry. 
A. C. BARNETT, Publisher. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 1877. 
CZAR AND SULTAN. 
Whatever limy have been the injunc¬ 
tions contained in tlie will of Peter the 
Great with reference to the policy to he 
pursued by his successors, or whether the 
document said to be a will left by him 
was a cunning stratagem of Catherine 
II., designed to strengthen an ambitious 
scheme of her own devising, it is certain 
that she publicly proclaimed the idea of 
the expulsion of the Turks from Europe 
and the founding of a new Byzantine 
Empire, with a prince of her own house 
at its head. She it was who bestowed on 
one of her grandsons the name Constan¬ 
tine, blazoned one of the gates of Moscow 
with the inscription, “ Way to Constan¬ 
tinople,” and planned on the banks of the 
Neva the restoration of Athens and Spar¬ 
ta, in Greece, in all their classic glory. 
In 1787 she undertook a journey 
through the Southern portion of her 
dominions, to Tauvida (which includes 
the Crimea), then lately wrested from 
the Turks. Her favorite and confidential 
counselor, Potemkin, who eagerly pro¬ 
moted her iilans, by a series of stupendous 
deceptions dazzled the eyes of the Em¬ 
press with a display of fictitious magnifi¬ 
cence in the country through w'hich she 
passed. Sho believed that what she saw 
indicated the prosperity and happiness of 
her newly-acquired subjects. At this tiin e 
she arranged, with Joseph H. of Austria, 
a joint war against Turkey, her intention 
being to destroy that Empire and extend 
her sway, with its incidental blessings, 
over a goolly portion of it; but, though 
her generals gained great victories and 
she acquired additional territory, her 
principal object w as thwarted, partly by 
wars and complications with other na¬ 
tions, but mainly by the great bravery of 
the Turks in defense of tlieir country. 
From that day to this the successors of 
Catherine have kept Bteadily in view the 
programme she laid down for herself, and 
w r ars have been initiated and prosecuted, 
from time to time, against the Turks, at 
the close of each of which, with the ex¬ 
ception of the Crimean war, large terri¬ 
torial concessions were exacted by the 
Russians. 
The present war had its origin in the 
revolt against Turkish rule which broke 
out in Herzegovina in 1875. This is one 
of the so-called Christian provinces of 
European Turkey. From this province 
the revolt spread, by sympathy of race 
and religion, into the neighboring prov¬ 
inces of Montenegro, Bosnia, and Servia. 
Russian emissaries fanned the flames of 
discontent, Russian generals and volun¬ 
teers openly engaged on the side of the 
insurgents, and the Russian people as¬ 
sisted them with supplies of arms, pro¬ 
visions, and funds. It is not possible in 
a limited spaee to give details of the con¬ 
test and the strenuous efforts of the pow¬ 
ers of Europo to bring about a settlement 
of the questions at issue. Wc will say, 
however, that to us the Eastern question 
does not seem at all complicated, and 
when divested of cunt and confused dip¬ 
lomatic maskingB and cloakings, is easily 
understood. 
The Czar Nicholas said (during the 
struggle of Greece for independence in 
1826), when about to engage in war with 
Turkey, that he cared nothing for the 
Creeks, whom he regarded as rebels 
against their lawful sovereign. So, with 
equal bluntness and truth, might the 
Czar Alexander say, “I care nothing 
for oppressed Christians or Bulgarian 
massacres. The objects I seek are ports 
on the Black Sea and provinces on the 
Danube.” We do not wish to be under¬ 
stood as endeavoring to belitt le the suffer¬ 
ings of the Christian population of Tur¬ 
key. Undoubtedly they have been and 
are very great; but it is to be noticed 
that complaints of this sort come from 
the Slavonic p^ivinces, which are most 
closely in sympathy with the idea of Pan- 
Slavism fostered by Russia. Is it not 
possible that the Porte has been influ¬ 
enced in its action and angered by the 
thought that her own subjects were con- 
spiling with Russia in efforts to under¬ 
mine her Empire, and that concessions 
and reforms might long ago have been 
secured but for the part taken by Russia 
in pressing them upon her? The latter 
is the beta noir of Turkey, aud is regarded 
by her with extreme repugnance and 
loathing ; aud these sentiments can never 
be eradicated in a couutry which has suf¬ 
fered so much aud so keenly for a century 
from the preponderance of a power so for¬ 
midable. We believe that the Porte is 
tractable and teachable, and ready to lis¬ 
ten to sympathizing aud well-meaning 
advisers, but nothing but the last ex¬ 
tremity of danger will induce it to listen 
to Russia. It will never believe that her 
only thoughts have been the securing of 
more liberty for her fellow Christians, the 
preservation of the balance of power, and 
the peace of Europe; that none of her 
measures or declarations were dictated by 
hostile feelings or ambitious views — by 
schemes of dismemberment and conquest. 
The origin of the Crimean war was 
the claim by Russia of the right under 
treaties to enter the principalities and 
deal with the real or supposed wrongs in¬ 
flicted upon the Sultan’s Christian popu¬ 
lation the same as if they were the wrongs 
of her own subjects. The fact that the 
least taint of such a doctrine could find 
embodiment in treaties between sovereign 
States show's to what a depth of humilia¬ 
tion and degradation the Government of 
the Sultan had been brought by its wily, 
unscrupulous and powerful enemy. The 
assumption that the misrule or anarchy 
which may unhappily prevail in a country, 
confers on other States a right to interfere 
in its affairs, and even to make war upon 
it to enfore their own conceptions of 
justice and policy, is not merely extrava¬ 
gant—it is monstrous and suicidal. The 
death-knell of all w r eak, independent 
States will be sounded the moment it is 
admitted. Applied to onr own country, 
it is a doctrine that would have sanctioned 
interference for tlie suppression of African 
slavery by any foreign nation morally 
opposed to it, and at the same time strong 
enough to make such opposition physically 
effective. Indeed, it would be an appli¬ 
cation to nations in general of the Dar¬ 
winian theory as to species of the survival 
of the fittest, aud throughout the whole, 
world in the eDd there might exist but a 
single universal sovereignty. We appre¬ 
hend that such a sweeping assumption 
needs only to lie stated to exhibit its ab¬ 
surdity and impossibility. 
It cannot be denied that the Turks 
have manifested gross faults and vices in 
their governmental conduct, but these 
have been augmented a hundredfold by 
the unwise criticisms and cruel pressure 
and menaces of officious and meddling 
neighbors. To entertain sympathy for 
oppressed and suffering humanity is 
natural and noble, but quite as abundant 
opportunities are offered for its exercise 
within the confines of Russia as within 
those of Turkey. The mere recital of the 
names Poland, Circassia, Turkistan, Si¬ 
beria, will bring up memories of startling 
cruelly and injustice in tlie mind of every 
intelligent reader; and Turks themselves 
know full well by bitter experience when 
in its power, how little difference there is 
between the boasted civilization of the 
colossus of the North and their own bar¬ 
barism. 
-» ♦ ♦- 
SHORT-HORNS IN CALIFORNIA. 
The recent sale of the Avenue Ranch 
lierd of pure-bred Short-Horns in Cali¬ 
fornia appears to have been a disappoint¬ 
ment, not only to the owner, but to the 
breeders of these famous cattle generally. 
The prices which the animals fetched 
were, upon the whole, much less than 
they would have commanded in the East, 
where this breed is still better known; 
yet we can hardly agree with the Califor¬ 
nia Live Stock Journal in its fling at the 
supposed stupidity of the farmers or their 
supposed indifference regarding the value 
Of Short-Horn stock. It says :—“ Wheu 
our vacquero farmers get civilized, or die 
off’ and give place to a civilized race, we 
may hope for a better showing, and not 
before, although it is possible that a few 
more dry seasons may compel a recogni¬ 
tion of t he difference between scrub and 
improved stock.” 
Now, is it not probable that the Cali¬ 
fornia farmers have already recognized 
the difference between the scrub and the 
thorough-bred, in a country subject, to 
drought and a generally unstable climate? 
Tlie vacqueros, and even good farmers iu 
Texas, the Indian Territory, and other 
semi-wild regions, ffud difficulty in intro¬ 
ducing thorough-bred Short-Horns; and 
may not those iu California have heard of 
this and thus become a little eautious ? 
TheD, again, every man who wishes to 
produce beef, may not see W'here he is to 
get his money back, when paying even 
the low price that the animals of the Av¬ 
enue Ranch herd fetched. The cows av¬ 
eraged $379 each, and the heifers and 
heifer calves $347 each, which, to men 
who are not accustomed to obtain one- 
tenth of this sum for good beef animals, 
must certainly appear to be high enough. 
The infusion of Short-Horn blood would 
doubtless improve the herds of our Great 
West, but the stock-raiser mu6t study his 
own interest in this matter, and if this 
strain cannot be introduced without cost¬ 
ing more than the results would justify, 
he -would be very foolish to attempt it. 
It is all very well to sit in the shade 
and talk of what we w'ould have those 
who toil in the sun do, but it frequently 
happens that by taking a hand at the 
work, we find occasion for a change of 
mind. A big fly or a cask of impure w'ater 
may upset the best-laid scheme of the 
theoretical stockman, and his capital, be 
it great or little, will pass away like the 
morning dew, and he be as helpless to 
prevent the disaster as a speculator iu 
other pursuits. 
-♦-*-*- 
NOTES. 
Humbug.—Our excellent contempo¬ 
rary, the American Agriculturist, has 
omitted its usual article on “ Humbugs ” 
from the June number and inserted an 
advertisement for the sale of licenses to 
make Driven Wells. Whether these two 
things were coincidental or designed for 
consistency’s sake, is more than we can 
say. We are happy, however, to remark 
the pious regard for the eternal fitness of 
things, even if it were unintentional on 
the part of our virtuous neighbors. A 
full history of the Driven Well Humbug 
can be found in the Rural of Sept. 30, 
1876, after reading which, we think, few- 
of our readers would attempt to purchase 
a license to use a process which was their 
right at birth. The extremely proper 
gentleman who does the Humbug articles 
for our neighbor, should read his ex¬ 
changes with more oare. 
-*4*- 
Coffee for Poor Lo !—It is reported 
that Horace Greeley advised the Gov¬ 
ernment, as a matter of economy, to bring 
all the Indians to New York and board 
them at the Fifth Avenue or some other 
first-cl ass hotel. He was net far from 
right in this suggestion in view of the ex¬ 
travagance of the Department having the 
red-skins in charge, and as a sample of 
how tilings go, wo notice that, in a late 
advertisement by the Government for 
Indian supplies, there is an item of four 
hundred and forty-five thousand pounds 
of coffee, which will cost about an eighth 
of a million of dollars, all for the purpose 
of furnishing poor Lo a cup of coffee be¬ 
fore starting out in the morning to take 
the scalp of some poor pioneer’s family. 
We hope those who are residing on the 
borders, within the sound of an occasional 
“ war whoop,” aud who are too poor to 
obtain anything superior to barley coffee, 
with a little chicory added, Will bear in 
mind how much better it is to be an Indian 
with Uncle Samuel for a father, who will, 
no doubt, soon add champagne to the ra¬ 
tions of Poor Mr. Lo ! 
■ - 
Department of Agriculture.— 
From a statement, showing the cost of 
maintaining the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture from its establishment, July 1st 1862 
to June 1876. inclusive, which has just 
come to hand, we learn that the total 
amount for the fourteen years is a trifle 
over three millions of dollars, but nearly 
two millions of this sum went to pay for 
the Agricultural Reports which now prin¬ 
cipally adorn old book-stalls in cities or 
are piled up iu the lofts of Congressmen’s 
stables. But we notice that while there 
has been a steady decrease in the expenses 
of the publication department, those of 
the department proper, have increased 
from about eighty thousand dollars in 
1863, to over three, hundred thousand 
dollars in 1876. Why is this ? 
---- 
BREVITIES. 
Californians are asking for a larger number 
of refrigerator cars to transport their perish¬ 
able fruits across the continei.t to Eastern mar¬ 
kets. 
Tuere is no doubt that this is a potato-bng 
year. It is also confidently asserted that it is a 
grasshopper Year. And now it is more than 
hinted that ft is a locust year. Hence these 
t-years. 
Dr. Lejdy of Philadelphia, having found a 
species of tape-worm in a cucumber, we presume 
this fruit will now have to take a back seat at 
the table, unless it comes on in Solon Robin¬ 
son's style— i. u, well cooked. 
We learn, with regret, the demise of Capt. 
Asa Loring of Cortland, N. Y., on May 14, aged 
85 years. Capt Loring was one of the Veterans 
in the “ Rural Brigade," and an intelligent wor¬ 
ker in the field of agricult ural progress generally. 
The Canadians are emulating the work of our 
people in sending fiesh beef, mutton, etc., to 
the English market, by supplying the same mar¬ 
ket with fresh mackerel and other fish. They 
are also supplying Sweden and Germany with 
quantities of herring. 
Illinois appropriates two thousand dollars in 
aid of the Slate Horticultural Society. It should 
have been ten or twenty times that amount, but 
we presume small favors will be thankfully re¬ 
ceived by the horticulturists of Illinois, as well 
as by those of other States. 
The next annual meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Soience, will 
be held in Nashville, Tenn., commencing August 
29. Tlie scientists aud people generahy of Nash¬ 
ville, are making preparations to give the mem¬ 
bers of the A. A. A. S. a specimen of their hos¬ 
pitality. 
There was cast at the South Boston Foundry, 
a few- days ago, a twelve-inch rifled gun, for the 
Ordnance Bureau. Its weight, when finished, 
will be about 90.000 lbs. The projectile for it 
will weigh 700 lbs., and, with a charge of pow¬ 
der 140 lbs. in weight to impel it, will pierce a 
solid mass of iron twelve or fifteen inches thick, 
at a distance of 1,000 yards. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
The Best Oil for Harness is the celebrated 
VACUUM Oil, made at Rochester, N. T., and sold by 
harness makers everywhere. 
