TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
that had not a winter of unusual severity 
temporarily checked or entirely suspended 
military operations, it is not improbable 
that the Muscovite troops would by this 
time be swarming through the Balkan 
Passes into Koumelia. Once south of the 
mountain range, there does not seem to 
be force sufficient to check their trium¬ 
phant march on Adrianople. 
.For years it has been the general opin¬ 
ion across the Atlantic that the final 
settlement of the Eastern Question would 
involve an extensive, if not a general, 
European war. At the outbreak of the 
present hostilities there was imminent 
risk that other nations would be drawn 
into the struggle, and this risk will recur 
with greater urgency whenever the con¬ 
ditions of peace to be imposed by Russia 
shall be made public. The interests of 
every European nation are more or less 
involved, directly or indirectly, in the 
settlement of the conflict, ft is not 
likely, therefore, that Russia will be per¬ 
mitted, without vigorous protest or even 
intervention, to impose on the vanguished 
Turk terms that would seriously affect 
the safety or prosperity of other nations. 
Great Britain is specially interested in 
this matter. 
growth; and the house plants of which 
we speak, instead of growing vigorously, 
are rather in a slow decline that, if per¬ 
mitted to continue long enough, would 
end in their death. We are fond of house 
plants. They invest home with an inter¬ 
est that nothing else can supply. But 
unless the pots are frequently and thor¬ 
oughly washed, unless they’ are amply 
drained and the soil used so “light” that 
it cannot become “ sour," we should an¬ 
swer our question in the negative. 
subscribers will be announced within the 
next six months. 
Practical departments: 
Tenth Duchess of Geneva, The. 
Stock Farm, Hon to Organize a. 
Barn for Straw, A.. 
Jottings at Kirbv Homestead. ”””" 
Notes from Maplewood Farm. 
Farm Notes. ... 
Thoughts Dom u Farm. 
Queen Bees. Kgg* Laid hy... 
Plum Orchard of Michigan, The Prize. 
Uci> on Window Plants. 
Garden Experiments. .. 
Mnkli .Melon... 
Grouping Rhododendrons. ............... 
Food Results Of the Corn Crop of the United 
States. ... 
Potato Beetle. The Colorado. 
Bulbs for the Flower Garden. 
Dipisdenias. 
Western Eeltoc* from the “Maple Shadows’’.” 
Seed Exchange. 
Does Poultry Pav?—No. 4 . 
Corn Shcller, A New. 
Shull Wo BertO to Our Work, oriiend Our Work 
to Ourselves?. 
Recipes . 
Personal Observations of a " Commercial Trav¬ 
eler” . 
Maine, From. 
Rural Special Reports.I...." 
Scarlet Fever.. 
Mutton for Exportation. 
OleolERiI'gat Lad Fraud. The. 
Catalogues. &c,, Received. 
Editorial Page: 
The European Outlook. 
Are Plants Healthy in Sitting Rooms?. 
Was lie Successful?... 
Protecting Trees front Mice and Rabbits.....”. 
Spitting in Railway Cars. 
Our Seed Distribution. 
Notes—Brevities. 
Literary: 
Poetry... 15 
Her Mother’s Secret. 
ltoscmont. 
Beds.. 
A Daring Feat.. 
Brio-a-lirac. . 
For Women..... 
Training uirl* to a Practical Knowledge ”nf 
Some Profession or l’rude... 
A Little Trimming... 
Needle Book. 
A Suggestion about Old Maids.. 
Reading tor the Young.. 
Letters from Boys and Girls. . 
Puzzler. . . 
Sabbath Reading.. 
A Godly Enterprise.......... 
Golden Maxims.. 
Publisher’s Notices... 
Various. .. . 
Markets. 
Answers to Correspondents. 
News of the Week.. . 
Personals.. 
Wit and Humor. 
Advertisements... 17 * in 
Plowing by Steam experience has 
proved to be a very economical method of 
tillage by the large farmers and land- 
owners, not in England only, but also on 
the Continent. American agriculturists 
pride themselves not a little on the ex¬ 
tensive use of labor-saving appliances; 
yet steam plowing, despite the successful 
results of a long series of experiments 
elsewhere, lias skill to become a feature 
in American agriculture. Is this draw¬ 
back due to lack of capital or lack of 
enterprise ? In view of the large income 
of some of our Western farmers, we can¬ 
not ascribe it to the former cause, and 
yet our acquaintance with the enterpris¬ 
ing spirit of our agricultural friends will 
hardly allow us to attribute it to the latter. 
WAS HE SUCCESSFUL! 
We know a farmer in a Western State 
who made §30,000 on his farm by the time 
he was fifty years of age. How was it 
done? He bought a large farm when 
land was cheap. The land was of excel¬ 
lent quality, and he paid for it all. He 
kept out of debt, or nearly so. He had 
an ambitious wife who worked hard, raised 
a large family of children, and died in 
middle age. The man had a strong con¬ 
stitution, and did the work of two men. 
He was up early and late, and always took 
the lead and planned the work well for 
his men. He cultivated, his land thor¬ 
oughly, and did everything well. He was 
not very particular about fixing things up 
in style. The front yard was not expen¬ 
sive. He had a good vegetable garden, 
a fair orchard, good barns, and a plain, 
Komfortable house. He bought good 
tools, kept them in repair, had plenty of 
them, and housed them, even to sled- 
stakes and hand-rakes. He always kept 
young stock growing all the time till they 
got their growth or were disposed of. His 
boys and all the rest of the family worked 
hard. When about fifty yeara of age, he 
sold his farm, moved to a village, lost 
§6,000 to §10,000 in some stock compa¬ 
nies. He does not want to go back to 
his farm. None of his boys have any 
desire to be farmers — they can make 
money in trading or in other business. 
After giving the facts, we leave the above 
question for each reader to decide for 
himself. 
Spitting in Railway Cars.—In 
many portions of the West, writes one of 
our contributors, passenger-cars are often 
rendered disgusting in the extreme to a 
person of refinement. The Rural may 
give a good hint and help to reform this 
disgusting practice by printing a copy of 
a placard which may be seen conspicu¬ 
ously posted in the clean coaches of the 
Boston and Providence Rail Road. “ Pas¬ 
sengers using tobacco, or having occasion 
to spit are requested to take seats in the 
smoking-car where they can indulge 
themselves without being a nuisance to 
the ladies and other decent inmates of 
this car. ” 
Between her and Russia 
there has been for years a growing rivalry 
for influence and supremacy in Asia. 
Both have there been extending their 
empires, the one from the north, the 
other from the south, until they have 
nearly come into contact, and British 
statesmen have long been persuaded 
that contact there will inevitably mean 
conflict. Russia, paramount at Constan¬ 
tinople, could at any time impede or 
block her rival’s most direct route to 
India and constantly endanger the richest 
possession of the British Crown. It was 
dread of this danger that led England in¬ 
to the Crimean war, and it may also force 
her to take a hand in the present struggle. 
Already she has 80,000 troops ready to 
be thrown into Turkey within a month, 
her arsenals at Malta, Gibraltar and at 
home, are abundantly equipped with 
munitions of war of every description, 
and although among her politicians and 
people there is a large element anxious 
for peace at any price, yet the bulk of the 
nation are evidently resolved that their 
possession of India shall not, without a 
struggle, be endangered by the results of 
the present conflict. And should Great 
Britain become embroiled in the conflict 
it is by no means improbable that other 
countries will alBO be drawn into it. 
Dandelions are blooming. 
Subscribers will do us the favor to bear in 
mind that the Rural New-Yorker is discontin¬ 
ued after the expiration of the subscription 
term. 
We call attention to the article of Prof. Cy¬ 
rus Thomas on the Potato Beetle, which mod¬ 
estly fills up a little blank in the history of this 
distinguished American. 
Now is a good time to “ turn over a new leaf.” 
It is also a good time to subscribe for The 
Bural New Yorker. May not two birds be 
killed with one stone in this way ? 
Professor Stockbkidoe says that the man 
who plows adds food to the soil for plants ; that 
heavy soils should be plowed in the fall—light 
soils in the spring; thatin plowing, only an inch 
or so of the sub-soil should be brought up an¬ 
nually. 
An Exhaustive Treatise.— Just as we are 
going to press, we have received what appears 
to be an exhaustive treatise on wheat culture in 
Tennessee, by J. B. Killkbblw, Commissoner 
of Agriculture for that State. We have only had 
time for a cursory glance through its 255 pages, 
hut we shall return to the subject therein dis¬ 
cussed when leisure permits ua to study it more 
carefully. 
The northeastern Bee-Keeper's Association 
will hold its annual meeting at the City Hall. 
Syracuse, N. Y., on Feb. 6, 7, 8- Among other 
subjects of importance to bee-keepers whioh 
will then be discussed, special mention may 
be made of au esaay on Recently Discovered 
Parasites of the Honey Bee and their Conuoctiou 
with successful wintering, while the subject of 
maketing honey will also receive special atten¬ 
tion. 
It is usually recommended, after having 
falls of snow the weight of which bends down 
and sometimes breaks the branches of ever¬ 
green trees, to go about and beat the snow 
off. If it is very feathery and the individ¬ 
ual a very careful workman, this may ho a good 
plan. We have, however, known more injury to 
be wrought by carelessly brushing off the suow 
than the snow would have effected, had it been 
left to itself, through several winters. 
The Illinois Industrial University will 
hold an agricultural Institute at the University, 
situated betweeu the cities of Champaign and 
Uibana, commencing Monday, January 14th, 
aud continuing until Friday evening, January 
18th, 1878. The main feature of the Institute, 
which is a part of the work of the College, con¬ 
sists in a specially prepared course of lectures bv 
members of the Faculty and prominent agricul¬ 
turists of the State. There will be no cliargo or 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
PROTECTING TREES FROM MICE AND 
RABBITS. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
Next spring we shall doubtless have 
numermxs inquiries as to how to preserve 
gnawed trees. There are several popular 
remedies to keep rabbits away, and some 
to keep off the mice ; but’ we know of 
none better than the following, which we 
have seen extensively tried, with com¬ 
plete success : 
In autumn, wind the trunk of the tree 
up to the branches or higher, with coarse 
paper, about which wind a layer of tar¬ 
red paper, and tie with a string. Heap a 
conical mass of earth fifteen inches high 
about the base of the tree, and there will 
be no danger from mice or rabbits. Tar¬ 
red paper next to the bark may injure the 
tree, hence the inner layer of coarse 
paper wlxich contains no tar. These ma¬ 
terials are easily obtained, and the whole 
cost of labor and material will not much 
exceed one cent for each tree. The man 
who will not attend to the preservation 
of his trees at the proper time, after he 
has been told a cheap and effective way, 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1878. 
THE EUROPEAN OUTLOOK, 
pean conflict has there been any serious 
doubt with regard to its issue in the ab¬ 
sence of all intervention from other na¬ 
tions. At the outset, it was generally 
supposed that if the struggle were confined 
to the actual belligerents, a single cam¬ 
paign would either force the Turks to 
conclude peace orplace the Kussian forces 
in possession or within easy reach of Con¬ 
stantinople. Their unchecked advance 
through Roumania, the feeble opposition 
made to their passage of the Danube, and 
the rapid march of their advance guard 
under Gen. Gourkha, across the Balkans’ 
all confirmed this impression. While the 
series of reverses they encountered soon 
after proved that the war would probably 
be protracted longer than at first antici¬ 
pated, yet, in view of the vast disparity 
of the foroes and resources of the bellig¬ 
erents, its ultimate issue could scarcely 
be doubted, even by the most ardent ad¬ 
mirers of the soldierly qualities displayed 
by the Ottoman troops, 
ARE PLANTS HEALTHY IN SITTING 
ROOMS ! 
That is, are rooms in which plants are 
kept more healthful or less healthful 
than the same rooms without such plants? 
To answer this either one way or the 
other, it would be necessary to know how 
many aud what plants are kept, and how 
they are kept; the size of the room and 
the exposure to sunshine and light, and 
finally, how the room is heated. We be¬ 
lieve that plants, as they are generally 
kept in sitting-rooms, are positively inju¬ 
rious to the health of the inmates. Such 
plants are never healthy. Scarcely one 
condition of a healthy existenoe is provided 
them. The heat of the room is always 
changing, to suit the people, not the 
plants. At night the temperature is gen¬ 
erally too low, and oftentimes the air is 
impregnated with deleterious gases that 
escape from stoves or heaters that are 
fixed to last through the night. 
nas ueeu toKi a cneap ana enective way, 
does not deserve much spmpathy if his 
trees are found “ barked" in the spring. 
We have known trees to be lost, which 
had been rubbed with liver, perhaps be¬ 
cause the work was not thoroughly done. 
The same might occur if the trees were 
rubbed with the blood andflesh of arabbit. 
NOTES 
Our Seed Distribution.—We have 
worked hard to get all of the seeds mailed 
to applicants before the New Year and 
have measurably succeeded. Less than 
one thousand orders remain unfilled at 
this time, and these will be attend to in a 
few days. There is one objection to such 
arrangements. It is that owing to illeg¬ 
ible writing, to carelessness or thought¬ 
lessness on the part of the applicant, we 
are unable to fill many orders. Of course 
we are blamed ! We have received sume 
addresses (?) without the State—some 
without the town, several without any 
name. A number written in pencil, have 
been so blurred when they reached this 
office that they could not be read. With 
such exceptions, we have filled all orders 
save the thousand above referred to, and 
those of our subscribers who having ap¬ 
plied for the seeds, have not yet received 
them and do not receive them within the 
next ten days, will be fair enough to ques¬ 
tioning whether the neglect may not be 
their own. Our next seed distribution to 
by the Ottoman troops. Indeed, many 
of the far-sighted friends of the Turks, 
while proud and boastful of their success¬ 
es, were secretly apprehensive of their 
results. Reverses, it was felt, could only 
urge the Northern Colossus to greater ef¬ 
forts and to the exaction of severer terms 
at the end ; while each triumph cost the 
Moslems so heavily that there was serious 
ribk of a sudden collapse whenever the 
accumulated reinforcements of their op¬ 
ponents should enable them to turn the tide 
of war. The course of recent events goes 
to prove that these apprehensions were 
not groundless. So uniformlv successful 
Sunshine, the first necessity of their 
healthy existence, flits by them- like a 
savory odor by a hungry man. The soil 
of the pots in which they grow, is almost 
always too wet or too dry. In the former 
ease, they are like so many stagnant pools 
that no doubt generate, though in minute 
portions, poisonous exhalations ; aud the 
same may be said of the green, slimy sub¬ 
stance that too often is permitted to col¬ 
lect upon the pots and remain for weeks 
at a time. 
If plants are healthful in sitting rooms, 
it can only be because they liberate more 
oxygen than they eonsume. But this is 
true probably only of plants in vigorous 1 
