THE RURAL MEW-YOBKER. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
baldened with the success 
which has at¬ 
tended this fellow. While we always up- 
PUACTIOAL DKI’AKTMENTS: 
Cactus Family. Some of the. 21 
Burn Prizes, The... . 22 
Cows, Extra Green Food for.. 22 
Goats for Milk. 22 
Butter, eta., A Query About.. . 22 
Hones. Softening or UurltlcnUon of. 22 
Wool. The llsosof the Several Kinds . 22 
Sheep 11 urtmii'lr v. Good Fences Essential for.. 22 
Fowls, Malignant- Fevers A iuomic.... 22 
Chicks ol Different Colors. Raising... 22 
Kpps tic Met, How J.ato Should... 22 
Honey. Treatment of... 22 
Huy.Currler, A ntl-FrlcI Ion.. 24 
Farm Engine. The. 24 
I’otsUi-lnuRcr. Rue's. 24 
Troon of Florida, Sonin of the... 24 
Hooky Mountain*. From the. 25 
Corn, Cultivation of.. 26 
Pastures HeC' 0 oin« Poor While Grazed. 25 
Answers to Correspondents.. .. 26 
Roetpoa. . .. 2 fi 
liuiimn Kytom, Water for the. ....... 26 
Dyspepsia...,. 26 
Coppered Pea Question. 20 
.Mortality in Different Occupations... 26 
Cotton-Kcoil oil—Its Manufacture and Uses..... 26 
Kentucky Minerals. 27 
Hi> from a i. Pace: 
A Roaring Lion. 28 
Tolerance to Small Vices. 28 
Notes—Brevities.... 28 
LlTEUAItV: 
A Fish Palace—No. 1... 
Story...... 
Poetry. 
Miscellaneous. 
Recent Literal are. 
Ladles’ Portfolio .... . 
Reading for the Young 
Puzzler. 
Sahhath Readmit 
News Postscrl pt.... 
Markets.,. 
Publisher’s Notices... 
News of the Weok. 
Everywhere. 
Personals.. 
Humorous. 
Advertisements. 
. 21) 
. 22 
,29,21. 22 
. 20 
. SI 
. 21 
. 32 
wo 
. 23 
. 33 
. 23 
. 84 
. 34 
. 35 
. 36 
... 27, 33, 35,36 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVE ItY SATURDAY. 
ANDREW S. FULLER, Editor. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M„ Little Falls, N. Y., 
Editor or tub Department or Dairy Husbandry. 
hold t,lie majesty of the law, and advise 
everybody against disorderly conduct, we 
are obliged to confess that there is vio¬ 
lent provocation in the case above cited 
for the remedy there given. The mistake 
in the instance above mentioned is the 
compromise. Never compromise any¬ 
thing with such villains. Let them sue, 
and then you can confront a jury of 
twelve fair men with a correct statement 
of the whole transaction. Your verdict 
will be safe enough. 
The fellow who is at the hack of this 
system of knavery, lives in the ulterior of 
this State, and has grown rich upon the 
proceeds of his practices, though liis cred¬ 
itors have always been unable to discover 
his property. We have heard of him in 
several localities in Pennsylvania, where 
he is operating, running occasionally 
across into the Southern Tier of New York. 
In speaking thus strongly of the wire 
fence man, we desire to be understood 
clearly as in no way alluding to I V<%nh- 
1mm, Mom <f- Co., and Thorn Wire 
Fence Co., who are houorable firms of 
business men, advertising their fence in 
the Bubal. Nor do we desire to say any¬ 
thing against the fence, which we believe 
is an excellent invention ami very useful 
in many ways. We simply desire to call 
attention to, and warn our subscribers 
against the villain who is operating as nar¬ 
rated iu the foregoing letter, and also to 
warn the head rascal that he would do 
well to abandon his present system of 
business and earn an bonest living. 
-- 
TOLERANCE TO SMALL YIOES. 
a. A. C, BARNETT, Publisher. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1877. 
A ROARING LION. 
In order that all our subscribers may 
have the full benefit of a late experience 
of one of their number, we present his 
letter as we received it: 
Mb. Editor :—Witt you please expose a gang 
of swindlers who Ure. operating in this and prob¬ 
ably other Staten ? Thu game they are playing 
is this: A man will call on a farmer, stating that 
he is introducing a new kind of fencing, called 
the Steel Barb Wire Fence, lie is very gener¬ 
ous, ospeciaUv l" farmers, us he proposes to give 
them the privilege of advertising the fence. 
Now. says the agent, wo propose to give to one 
man in every town fifty rods of fence, if he will 
put it up in a conspicuous place beside the high¬ 
way, and give him the agency of his town, with 
a profit of from 80 to 50 per cent, on all he can 
sell. If the bait is tempting enough for the vic¬ 
tim to bite at. he proceeds to w rite an order for 
two coils of wire, which he says w ill make just 
fifty rods of fence, four strands high. The victim 
signs the order and considers himself, for once, 
a lucky man. In about a week the newly-made 
agent is called upon by another stranger, with a 
bill for steel barb wire fencing, which he wishes 
him to settle at once. 
“What doeH this moan ? " says the farmer. “ I 
have nothing to pay, I only put up the fence as 
an advertisement for the company ; it comes to 
me free of charge.” “But." says the agent (or col¬ 
lector), “we have your order for two cojls of wire. 
You are to have fifty rods free, and there are 
one hundred and fifty rods of wire, for which 
you are to pay four cents per foot.” After con¬ 
siderable parleying, a compromise is made, by 
which the farmer gives his note for about $100, 
supposing he has two hundred rods of feuoing • 
but when bo comes to investigate, he finds be 
has but fifty rods four strands high, or two hun¬ 
dred rods single strand. Now, brother farmer, 
the advise of one w ho has been caught in this 
trap is this: When an agent presents himself, 
offering you something for nothing, just give 
him a ride on the toe of your boot to the high¬ 
way, and tell him to “ git.” s. k. s. 
The above is a sample of letters fre¬ 
quently received by us, but generally 
bearing so few marks of authenticity that 
they cannot he published in the Bubal. 
Tlie Head Center of the gang of swindlers 
alluded to above, is not unknown to us, 
tinless we are greatly mistaken, and will 
some day find his level, as sure as run¬ 
ning "water does. Prom com-shellers to 
wire fence is but a small step, and from 
petty swindling to magnificent rascality is 
a distance easily traveled by a man em- 
Tue application of a good, sound, com¬ 
mon sense to the small as well as the large 
affairs of life produces a result propor¬ 
tionately beneficial. We heard a re¬ 
mark, the other day, made by a friend of 
good, practical, common sense, ordinarily, 
which showed one of two things : either 
that he did not exercise it in this case or 
that he would uot carry out his threat. 
Au incident was related of a mutual ac¬ 
quaintance in which the latter appeared 
in rather au unfavorable light, but no ab¬ 
solutely criminal or dishonorable intention 
was involved. When asked what he 
should do iu such a ease, our friend re¬ 
plied, “ I should never speak to, or recog¬ 
nize that mau again.” Now, here was a 
clear case of intolerance. We happen to 
know that the accused party was a man of 
good intentions and meant no harm. 
Also that the act he performed was not 
strictly within one idea# of correctness. 
We had known him a long time and knew 
him to be right generally. Should he be 
oondemued for one act which might be 
susceptible of explanation. Might there 
not have been some circumstance con¬ 
nected with the affair which would ex¬ 
onerate him from blame? We were in¬ 
clined to, aud did give him the benefit of 
the doubt. So it is with no end of liltle 
incidents in this life. Men should not be 
condemned for one insignificant act or 
vice. We may have a strong prejudice 
against the use of alcohol or tobacco ; but 
our ideas may have been formed in a very 
different school from that of our neighbor. 
Tolerance iu small things is not only a 
duty but, when exercised, will be a 
pleasure. We need not encourage small 
vices but we may tolerate them. There 
are thousands of good men who use both 
alcohol aud tobacco, neither of which are 
good in themselves. While we condemn 
the small vices of our neighbors we may 
be subject to paroxysms of violent temper 
infinitely worse iu their effect both upon 
ourselves and relatives than either or 
both of the former. On the other hand, 
we may have some other vice quite as 
baneful which we have never even thought 
to be a vice, so accustomed to it have we 
grown. Therefore we say, tolerate the 
small vices of your neighbors for they are 
but au infinitessimal part of the person. 
There was a time in the history of the 
civilized world when the use of both 
alcohol and tobacco was so general that 
no person was brave enough to raise a 
voice against them. Yet the world pro¬ 
gressed, Christianity increased, genius 
multiplied, talents were developed and 
humanity went forward, as it does now. 
Our plea, however, is not for the small 
viees, the non-existence of which we be¬ 
lieve would be a benefit to the world ; 
but for the tolerance of them. 
- *-*-* - 
NOTES. 
Southern Products.—The extended 
cultivation of early fruits aud vegetables 
in the Southern States during the past, 
few years, along with the increased facili¬ 
ties for transporting the same to the 
Northern markets, has had a very depress¬ 
ing influence upon the home productions 
in the same field, near all of ©nr larger 
cities, both in the Bast and West. As a 
rule the Southern products, when they 
reach our markets, are in a very inferior 
condition, owiugto the necessity of gather¬ 
ing them before fully ripe, but a straw¬ 
berry is a strawberry even if small, stale 
and insipid ; aud the same is true of all 
berries, melons aud early vegetables. 
Consumers purchase and eat them, and 
by the time the fresh, home-grown article 
can be had the novelty of the thing lias 
passed off, and the next iu order attracts 
their attention. In other words, the 
Northern-grown early fruits aud vege¬ 
tables come in ou a stale and decliuing 
market, aud the persons who are mainly 
benefited by this state of affairs, are the 
commission men who enjoy a longer sea¬ 
son of sales. 
-- 
Serviceable Politicians. —Politi¬ 
cians have hitherto been of very little ser¬ 
vice to the agricultural community after 
their elections, however ardent their prom¬ 
ises during the preceding canvass. But if 
a novel method of canvassing lately prac¬ 
ticed by a candidate for office, down in 
Georgia, should become popular among 
these gentry, farmers may derive some 
advantages from them before election, 
though probably it would still be ridicu¬ 
lous to expect any good from them after 
it. This office-seeker is reported to have 
hoed twenty acres of cotton while engaged 
in the canvass. Tlis plan was never to 
call a mau from his labor to talk about 
the election, but to go right into the field, 
ask for a hoe, and go to work while press¬ 
ing his claims and fitness. We would 
urge upon farmers generally to show 
favors to practical candidates of this 
stripe only, uud thus encourage industry 
and utility among a class which is gener¬ 
ally destitute of both these merits. 
-- 
Near a Warm Place. —Somehow, 
we long since got au inkling of the fact 
that Germantown, Pa., was located near 
a certain unmentionable warm place, but 
had no idea until lately that its fires eome 
so near the surface as to warm the soil 
sufficiently to keep semi-tropical plants 
safely through winter, when left exposed 
in the garden. But so it seems, for our 
venerable contemporary, the Germantown 
Telegraph, informs its readers that the 
Spanish Chufn, which is quite a tender 
plant, even in many of the Southern 
States, will withstand the climate of Ger¬ 
mantown aud becomes a nuisance not 
easily abated when it once gets into one’s 
garden. If our contemporary has not 
made a mistake in the plant, we shall 
hereafter consider Germantown au excel¬ 
lent place in which to spend the winter, 
for the climate must be exceedingly mild 
not to kill out chul'a tubers. 
■ +♦+ - 
That Monogram.—As usual, our 
readers this week will find the familiar 
statement ol the Travelers Iusnrance 
Company iu its accustomed place, with an 
exhibit that is well calculated to reassure 
the public. The late scandals in Life In¬ 
surance management have justly proved 
a rude shock to our cherished confidence 
in trust institutions, but here we have a 
company that is scrupulously conducted 
with a view to affording aotual insurance. 
The figures are solid, and the class of in¬ 
vestments are certainly unexceptionable. 
Another gratifying fact is that this com¬ 
pany steadily grows despite hard times, 
and although the surplus is a handsome 
one, according to the New York Standard 
it would amount to some $300,000 more. 
Such figures should be appreciated in a 
way that will encourage tlie company to 
keep them up. 
Coilimissioner ol' Agriculture.— 
At last we are relieved of a terrible sus¬ 
pense in regard to wbo is to be Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture, for it is reported, 
evidently upon good authority, that Gen. 
W. Le Duo of Minnesota lias received 
the appointment. What iulluence this 
military gentleman and politician brought 
to bear upon the President to obtain the 
appointment over scores of other well- 
known and competent men who have been 
nominated by their friends, we shall 
probably never know, but there is one 
tiling certain, lie cannot be of much ac¬ 
count, else lie would not seek an office 
worth only three, thousand a year upon 
which to keep an establishment in Wash¬ 
ington, yet he will have a difficult task to 
prove a more ineflicieut officer than his 
predecessor. 
Grasshoppers in Michigan. — 
They are having a genuine grasshopper 
scare iu Michigan, aud a dispatch to the 
New York Herald, of July ff, reports that 
the pests have destroyed about four thou¬ 
sand acres of grain in Oakland and Ionia 
Counties, ami the farmers are in despair. 
The grasshoppers are not, however, the 
genuine Kooky Mountain species, which, 
as yet, have never crossed the Mississippi 
Biver ; but they are the common North¬ 
ern red-legged grasshoppers, wIiioh some¬ 
times become so abundant as to do con¬ 
siderable damage to crops. Many of the 
farmers in the afflicted counties uamed 
will, no doubt, believe that the “ Hate- 
fuls ” of the Far Weat are upon them, iu 
spite of all the soothing words of ento¬ 
mologists to the contrary. 
--— 
Outlook of Crops.—From every 
quarter encouraging words come to us in 
regard to prospects of good crops the 
present season. Where the potatoes were 
entirely cut off' last yenr, they looked well 
this, tlie beetles having, in great part, 
been kept iu check. Grain and grass 
will be quite a full crop ; corn is promis¬ 
ing, cotton and tobacco good, therefore if 
low prices rule, the producer cannot fail 
to have something to sell which must 
bring money if not iu large amounts. 
- - 
BREVITIES. 
A variety of the Japan Persimmon bears the 
enphoneous name of “ Kurogaki." 
Sowing wheat in drills and then giving it 
nftor-cnltivation, is a system which is gaining in 
favor. 
Frosts in the middle of June along the De¬ 
troit ltivtr, are events quite out of soawoti and 
not at all pleasant for tho market gardeners. 
Southern planters are learning that it costs 
no more to raise a pound of wool than a pound 
of cotton, while the wool commands about three 
times the price of cotton. 
A Detroit paper calls for a law to protect 
quail during twenty years, and by that time, it 
says, wo shall probably know whether this very 
useful bird can be domesticated or not 
Paris-or r.E n has worked so well in destroying 
the Colorado potato beetle, that it is now pro¬ 
posed to employ if to kill tho canker worm ou 
the apple-tree and all other leaf-eating insects. 
It appears that the article which we published, 
some three weeks since, on ("It knon's Milk Mir¬ 
rors, crediting the same to the Prairie Farmer, 
was written for, and first published in the Prac¬ 
tical Farmer, to which credit is properly due. 
It is reported that the faculty of the Michigan 
Agricultural College have all goue cm trips of 
pleasure during their vacation, except Prof. 
Cook, who has got a new scroll saw, and will 
spend his leisure hours in chasing crooked lines. 
We have received Lists of Premiums of the 
Agricultural Societies of the States ol New York, 
Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota; also. Transac¬ 
tions of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society 
and the Quarterly lieport (No. 2) of the Chief 
of the Bureau of Statistics. 
Mulions of millions of grasshoppers are said 
to be hatching out in the Black Hills. They may 
boou take to their wings and visit the farmers of 
Nebraska and Minnesota. Killing the home- 
hatched crop is. in no wise, a safeguard against 
visits from other localities, and therein lies the 
danger to which Western farmers will ever be 
exposed. 
It is reported that California farmers are 
much troubled with a wheat-eating insect with 
three legs, a long tail, and a formidable-locking 
head, ail of which, if ti ne, would necessitate the 
Ttmodeliug of the science of entomology. But 
if our California reporter will only add three 
more legs to his insect, making the number six, 
the world of science will be saved much trouble. 
A breeder of fancy poultry in Ohio adver¬ 
tises that his catalogue can be tmd for 30 cents, 
and he specially calls the attention of the public 
to the fact that it contains an excellent likeness 
of himself. This is certainly a good precaution¬ 
ary measure for the purchaser, as he may have 
occasion to uso the portrait to identify the sales¬ 
man. 
The firm of Younglove, Brew & Co. of the 
Cleveland Agricultural Works, has been dis¬ 
solved by the withdrawal of Mr. Brew'. The 
business, in all of its branches, will he continued 
by Younulove A Co. This change brings into 
its manufacturing department, as Hupi-riuteud- 
eut, Mr. Horace L. Emery, late of Albany, N. 
Y.. long known as a manufacturer of agricultu¬ 
ral machinery and iron work of all kindB. 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
The Beat Oil for Harness is tlie celebrated 
Vacuum Oil, made at Rochester. N. Y., and sold by 
harness makers even'where. 
