SEPT. 
ra 
<56 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
Practical Departments: 
Todeo Snperba- Polypodium Dianas. 
Achimerujs. 
Gardening Pen-Talks. 
Notes irom the Iturul Ground*. 
Laurcstiniis, The. 
Idly, Jacnixim... 
Correspondents' Letter*. /Extracts from 
Gardening on Limited Space. 
Gardening. Miniature. 
Evergreens and Bird*.. 
Catalogue*, Ac.. Received. 
Gras*. Seeding Land to... ., ,, 
Manure, Bcoriotof in Drawing...... 
Thought* from a Karin... 
More Haste the Less Speed, The.. 
Piths . 
Manure f or Wheat... 
Hurdle* and Movable Fences. Iron...... 
Farm Notes....... 
Hrleflet". 
Hessoni Fly,... 
Turkeys. Raising Votin''.. 
Scales. Concern)ng.. 
Eyes, Hint* on the Care of the..... 
Bergen Co. (.N. J.) Fair... 
Recipes,. .. .. 
Answers to Correspondents. 
Itural Special Reports. 
Dairy Rtatlstle-, Interesting....... 
Hog Cholera 1’reveutlves and Cures.... 
Steam. Properties of.. 
Sdentinc and Useful Notes. 
Editorial page: 
149 
149 
149 
!/.(> 
150 
ISO 
150 
ISO 
hiO 
150 
151 
IS) 
151 
151 
151 
151 
152 
152 
162 
152 
152 
152 
153 
153 
161 
154 
154 
164 
154 
155 
155 
155 
“Let Everything be Done Decently and In Or¬ 
der”. 
Fairs nod the Public. 
Notes—Brevities. 
156 
156 
156 
Literary: 
Poetry............ 
Story.. . 
The Adlrondac Region. 
Ladles' Portfolio. 
Reading for the Young 
Pussier... 
Sabbath Reading. 
Market*... 
Publisher’s Notices... , 
News of the Week.. 
Person hIs. 
Humorous.... 
Advertisements..... 
.157.159.100 
. 157 
. 158 
.159 
.110 
. 160 
. 160 
.161 
. 162 
. 162 
. 163 
. 164 
1,55. 161, 163,164 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
178 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1877. 
We shall issue in our next edition, (dated 
Sept. 15) 25,000 extra copies and a supplemeut 
of four pages. 
We oall attention to Professor Roberts’ re¬ 
marks respecting the Hessian Fly. Our readers 
may hope to hear from him again. 
Many questions have accumulated. We beg 
the patience of t hose asking them. The crowded 
state of our colmnnBis our good excuse that they 
have not received prompt attention. 
"LET EVERYTHING BE HONE DECENT¬ 
LY AND IN OfiDER.” 
There is probably no occupation in 
which one who really knows nothing of 
his business, can succeed so well as in 
farming. There are many sayings less 
true than the old one, “ Any fool can 
make a farmerand it is too often the 
case, that among a family of boys, he who 
shows the least energy, brilliancy, busi¬ 
ness aptitude, or capacity for thought, is 
the one retained on the farm. 
Nature is constantly doing her best, 
with or without help, as the case may be, 
to increase the productiveness of the soil, 
and is constantly asking in the plainest 
manner, our assistance. The difference 
between a poor and a good farmer, is that 
the one takes what nature yields, giving 
as little as possible in return—the other 
strives in all politable ways to aid nature 
in her efforts toward his benefit. 
We purpose, in the lines that follow, 
to point out one difference that exists be¬ 
tween farmers of all degrees of ability. 
The subject touched ou above, opens nu¬ 
merous questions that might be properly 
considered, and to whioh we may give 
attention at a future time. Just now we 
propose to take up the one of Order and 
Neatness. 
The idle, shiftless man will meet us at 
the outset by the assertion that every dol¬ 
lar in money or hours’ labor that is spent 
for show, is just so much thrown away. 
We admit just about half of what he says; 
but order and neatness should be main¬ 
tained not for show, but because they are 
essential aids in the economical manage¬ 
ment of the farm. 
Let us suppose, for instance, two farms. 
On the one, the fences are overgrown with 
weeds and bushes, the wayside is a mass 
of tangled grass, the open drains are only 
partly open, the silt and dirt washed into 
them, stopping the free flow of water; the 
pastures are covered with irouweed and 
boneset, and the rest of the premises in 
the same general condition. 
On the other, labor has been expended. 
The grass or cultivated crops extend to 
the very fences—not an inch is wasted ; 
there is no uncultivated bead laud to har¬ 
bor vermin or produce weed seeds ; the 
grass from the wayside is in the mamire 
heap ; the cleaned-out drains are perform¬ 
ing their appointed duty, while the dirt 
that obstructed them is absorbing fertil¬ 
izing properties from the barn-yard or 
hog-pen, and the cattle are rejoicing in 
the fresh growth of grass, that quickly 
starts when the robber weeds are re¬ 
moved. 
And what has this “ setting in order ” 
cost. Not a dime more than will be re¬ 
paid in money value—leaving the pleasure 
derived from seeing the place neat and 
tidy, which is not a little, all clear gain. 
Another marked point of difference about 
these supposed places is the care of tools 
aud farm implements—A place for every¬ 
thing and everything in its place, is the 
rule on one—on the other, things are left 
where last used or where it is most con¬ 
venient to leave them. The result is, in 
the one ease when anything is wanted it 
is at hand—in the other, more time is lost 
in hunting it up than the owner would 
believe. Beside, there is the Iosb always 
incident on heavy implements exposed to 
damage by Btorm or sunshine, and to the 
danger of being carried away by any 
neighboring vagabond or roaming tramp. 
Surely, the most, stupid fellow that 
ever bandied a hoe or a spade could be 
readily taught to see that it was properly 
cleaned after using, and put iu its appro¬ 
priate place, and ignorance is no excuse 
for slovenliness. There is no farmer, be 
he rich or poor, high or low, learned or 
ignorant, who can afford to fail to obey 
the Scriptural injunction. “ Let every 
thing be done decently and in order.” 
-♦•*-*- 
PAIES AND THE PUBLIC. 
The overshadowing importance of the 
great Centennial Exhibition, last year, it 
is generally understood, everywhere par¬ 
alyzed the efforts of the managers of local 
fairs and industrial sIiowh, who, with 
commendable zeal, sought to invest the 
trusts committed to their charge with 
ordinary interest and eclat. The people, 
partly influenced by patriotic considera¬ 
tions, but more largely probably by mo¬ 
tives as diverse as their various callings, 
habits, means and tastes, resolved to be¬ 
stow upon the World’s Fair the time and 
money usually demanded by the less im¬ 
portant exliibitious. Tlie result was that 
the receipts of these latter were in the 
ratio of their diminished attractions, and 
many financial failures were unfortunately 
recorded. Several important fairs, with 
presumed sagacity, were withdrawn from 
the unequal competition, and these will, 
we hope, this year, expend their accumu¬ 
lated energies iu the preparation of un¬ 
usually extensive, elaborate and progres¬ 
sive displays. 
It is only natural to expect that the in¬ 
fluence of the great fair of last year 
should show itself in the local fail’s of 
every part of the country for some time to 
come. Hundreds of thousands of persons 
from every nook and corner of the land 
were attracted to it. The best results of 
human industry, ingenuity, skill and taste 
were offered by it in abundance for their 
study and admiration. The successive 
steps to the attainment of these results, 
from savageiy and barbarism to civiliza¬ 
tion and enlightenment, could there be 
easily traced by any intelligent investiga¬ 
tor. No individual, no matter how well 
informed previously, if at all vigilant on 
that occasion, failed to augment his stores 
of information. It is reasonable to sup¬ 
pose then, that scattered throughout the 
country are a great many persons who 
have perfectly assimilated the knowledge 
acquired there, and who possess every 
qualification for putting it to practical 
account, both for their own benefit and 
that of the communities in which they 
live. To the discriminating observation, 
sound judgment, and unselfish and public- 
spirited disposition of this class must we 
look for the enhancement of the future 
usefulness and attractiveness of fairs 
generally. 
It is undoubtedly true that a very large 
proportion of those who visited Philadel¬ 
phia were actuated by a mere aimless 
curiosity. Men and women in motley 
groups were noticed, whose sole purpose, 
(if their presence could he said to have 
the dignity of a purpose at all) apparently 
was to gape in ldank amazement at those 
objects especially the farthest removed 
from the grasp of their understanding, 
the compass of their purses, or the de¬ 
mands of their spheres in life. The mar¬ 
velous aud mysterious features of the ex¬ 
hibition impressed them far more than 
those of a practical or economical char¬ 
acter. In the former they found con¬ 
genial food for their sad and impotent 
day-dreaming, while the latter suggested 
too forcibly to their minds the stern 
realities and unavoidable duties, exactions 
and perhaps privations of daily existence. 
These persons served to swell the funds 
in the treasury of the exhibition, and to 
lend a spice of variety to the throngs in 
attendance there; but whether they took 
from it anything of real value to them¬ 
selves may well be doubted. 
The ne’er-do-well head of the household 
who sold the cooking-stove to procure 
the means to take the family to the circus 
was also represented at Philadelphia by a 
goodly number of his kind, and the 
chronic wonder monger, who is generally 
both idler and spendthrift, wasting his 
time and feeble powers in pursuit of the 
least valuable and most fleeting pleasures 
to be procured in the world in which he 
moves, found there plenty of sympathy 
and support. For such as these fairs 
were most certainly not. instituted. 
The above reflections (based in the main 
on personal observations iu Philadelphia, 
last fall,) are applicable in some degree, to 
all fairs. In the course of them we have 
indicated a class of persons who, being 
pre-eminently fitted to derive benefit from 
fairs, are in turn best qualified to make 
them wholesome and instructive to others. 
To this class may be safely left the deter¬ 
mination of the methods best suited to 
accomplish this object. They have in 
this extraordinarily bountiful year, the 
utmost encouragement for their best ef¬ 
forts. We have but one suggestion to 
make in this connection. To cause the 
best influences of our future annual exhi¬ 
bitions to reach all classes, the prime ne¬ 
cessity is an education which shall have 
reference to the real demands of life and 
leave uo room for delusions and vain im¬ 
aginings, Fairs are themselves great ob¬ 
ject-schools to whioh the public are in¬ 
discriminately invited. It must not be 
forgotten, iu providing instruction and 
entertainment for all, that the best and 
highest aim is to make them morally and 
intellectually profitable. 
-» ♦ ♦ 
NOTES. 
Good Times Ahead.—The accurate 
accounts of the European harvest pros¬ 
pects contained iu this week’s telegraphic 
summary, afford not a little encourage¬ 
ment to our own farmers. Great Britain 
has hitherto been the chief market for our 
cereals and must continue to be so, aud 
we are therefore more deeply interested 
in her condition than in that of her Con¬ 
tinental neighbors. Iu England although, 
contrary to the statements of some of our 
contemporaries, the area under wheat is 
nearly 200,000 acres greater than that hist 
year, yet the yield, it is feared, will fall 
short of that year’s defective crop. At 
most, the whole yield will not be over 80,- 
000,000 bushels, and with rigid economy 
and an early harvest next year, the foreign 
supply needed to keep the people from 
starvation, cannot, under the most favor¬ 
able circumstances, be less than from 90 
to 95 million bushels. By a curious coin¬ 
cidence, the best experts here judge that 
our surplus of wheat for exportation will 
be about 100 million bushels. Moreover, 
unless in some parts of Spain, there will 
probably be a deficiency in the whole of 
Western Europe, and even if our Conti¬ 
nental imports shall not be heavy, this 
home scarcity will prevent the export of 
grain to the British Isles. Southern Rus¬ 
sia and India have hitherto been our two 
most formidable rivals in the English ce¬ 
real market; but the closing of the Black 
Sea ports virtually shuts off supplies from 
the former, while the terrible famine in 
the presidencies of Madras and Bombay 
can hardly admit of extensive exports 
from the latter. Tips country and our 
| Canadian neighbors will therefore, in all 
probability, alone have to make good from 
their abundant harvest, the deficiency in 
the crops of Europe. While saving, by 
this means, our transatlantic friends from 
distress and famine, our farmers will find 
a profitable market for their enormous 
wheat crops, restore prosperity to the 
country, and add another to bygone proofs 
that it is one of the missions of the New 
World to redress the evils of the Old. 
Large versus Small Gardens.— 
During Mr. Meehan's recent visit to 
England, an interesting sketch of which 
he gives in his Gardener's Monthly, he 
says :—“ I am credibly informed that the 
larger places are by no means increasing, 
and any one looking at gardening from 
the grandiose point would suppose it to 
be declining; but I am told that these 
smaller places are increasing rapidly, and 
that Dot because there is any decrease in 
wealth, but because true gardening is 
more beautiful ou the small than on tho 
large scale. ” The italics are ours. We 
think not only that true gardening is 
more beautiful on a small than on a large 
scale but that the motive which determines 
such a preference is generally better. 
• »♦«- 
A Diversified Artesian Well.— 
An artesian well at Round Lake, N. Y., 
1,400 feet deep and 5i inches in diameter, 
yields a largo supply of fresh, sulphur, 
aud mineral waters. The well is so piped 
that each kind of water comes separately, 
the first entering at a depth of 95 feet, 
the second at 350 feet, and the third at 
1,370 feet from tho surface. Handy as it 
might be to have such a well on every 
farm, yet its advantages would hardly 
repay its cost. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
A Fir tree 133 ft. high has just been cut down 
in Hungary. The proprietor had it out because 
the top was too flr away from tho bottom.— 
“ Fun.” Extremely fir-fetched. 
Oil for Fruit Trees. —A correspondent of 
the Gardener’B Monthly having painted a num¬ 
ber of fruit trees with oil, concludes that the loss 
is far greater than the benefit. 
To what extent, if to any, the education of 
children at couutry schools is conducive to a dis¬ 
like of farm labor, is a question well worthy of 
the farmer's best consideration. 
Every person interested in fruit growing 
should attend the biennial session of the Ameri¬ 
can Pomologicitl Society to be held in Baltimore, 
Md., the 12th, 13th and 14th of this month. 
Extravagance aud Cruelty on the Farm- 
Using straw to tell which way the wind blows, 
when any of the wee dy worthless grasses would 
answer just as well;—and the last straw to break 
camels' backs! 
And so Brigham Young is dead! Now that’s 
too bad! Aud hundreds of men and women 
have shed toars over his remains. Wo should 
like to have some of those tears analyzed j nst so 
as to see what they are made of. 
“I would found an institution where any 
S irson can find instruction in any study”—said 
r. Ezra Cornell, and with the aid of the United 
States, Cornell University was founded. The 
total of undergraduates for ’7C-'77, is 538. 
In Eugland last year, the average price for 
American wheat was $1.15, aud for American 
flour $4.00. This year the average for the 
former has hitherto been $1.67, and for the lat¬ 
ter §6.90, with no prospect of a decline iu either. 
Oub Advertisement. —If you have chills and 
fever, express the juice of three large lemons 
and drink it down. Continue so to do every 
other day until the disease is broken. We are 
Berious, good readers; we have known this 
treatment to cure when quinine had no effect. 
Try it and let us know the result. 
It may be necessary to call attention to a cut 
of a small scale that obliterates one of our pages 
iu this issue. We do this m order that subscri¬ 
bers may have an idea of what is Called a small 
out. If roast beef is sliced as economically iu 
the West, we think we could try to “live on a 
dollar a day.” Iu future, illustrations will be 
displayed in more homoeopathic doses. 
All the horticultural papers of England are 
going to an itumeuse deal of expense in produc¬ 
ing engravings aud colored plates of our Colo¬ 
rado potato beetle. There never has been a 
E ortrait exactly like the original. Now, when 
ealthy, live, perfect specimen* can be procured 
for the asking—in any quantities—what’s the 
use of the colored plateB and engravings ? 
“ New Jersey promises to be politically prolifio 
thiB year. There are democrats, republicans, 
greeubackers, workingmen and now a temper¬ 
ance party. Why not start an anti-mosquito 
party ?” Evidently, the Herald from which we 
take the above, knows little of the true inward¬ 
ness of political New Jersey. What it wants 
(and it wants that little strong) is a party to go 
for the mosquitoes! 
BUSINESS NOTICES. 
The Best Oil for Harness is the celebrated 
Vacuum oil, made at Rochester, N. Y., and sold by 
harness makers everywhere* 
