THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN. 26 
■I'D 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical Departments! 
Poultry, Varieties of. 
Poultrv, The Profits nod Losses of Raising. 
Poultry Pay, To Make. 
Agriculture and Education In the United States 
— No. 8. 
Jottingsn: Kirby Homestead. 
Feeding, 'Thoughts about Winter. 
Notes from Maplewood Kami. 
Tilled Fields, Removing Rooks from............ 
'Tree Peddlers, Those........ .... 
Sand Farming. 
Sundry 'Topic*... 
Horse, Etc., History of the. 
lior9es. Shoeing... .. 
Apple Trees? Ilow Far Apart Shall We Plant. 
l'ear Trees as Oblique Cordons. 
Hu lbs for the Flower Harden. 
Worms in s lower Pots. 
Evergreens. A Few Choice. 
Pamphlets, &e., Received...... .. 
Piths. 
Siftings from the Kitchen Fire. 
Grasses, Crystallizing. 
American Dairymen's Association. 
Winter Work, A Little. 
Beet, The Sugar..... 
63 
54 
54 
El 
54 
55 
55 
55 
57 
57 
67 
67 
57 
57 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
58 
5!) 
59 
Editorial Page: 
Country l,ifo in Winter.... .. 60 
What Did It Live Upon?. 60 
Editorial Blandishments. 14) 
Patenting Plants. CO 
Midwinter. 60 
A Year of Fraud. 60 
Brevities. 60 
Literary : 
Poetry.61, 63. 66 
Her Mother’s Secret. 6>1 
The Gold Robber . 62 
A Female Detective. 62 
Cassius, a Cynic.. flS 
For Women. 63 
The Curricle Polonaise. 65 
Some Picture Notes. 63 
Slisll We Dance?... 63 
Jottings from .VIy Note-Book... 03 
A Pretty Trifle for the Toilet. 63 
The Right to it Living . 63 
Answers to Correspondents. 64 
News of the Week. 04 
Publisher's Notices. 05 
Various. 05 
Markets..... 05 
Reading for the. Young. 63 
Poor Kate... 66 
Letters from BoyB and Girls. 06 
Puzzler.. —.. 00 
Sabbath Reading. 0<j 
Cynicism. 66 
'Till! Salvation of Society.! 08 
A Little Child Shall Lead Them. 66 
Personals.... . 07 
Wit and Humor. 08 
Advertisements. 05 , 07. 68 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1878. 
We earnestly request that aU. letters containing 
money, or any communication intended for the 
Business Department of the paper, be addressed 
td the Editor, the Publisher, or Thf, Rural New- 
Yorker, and not to any individual. We cannot 
olhenoise guarantee the. prompt entry of names 
upon our books, or the acknmeledgmenl of money. 
The considerable space which we give to our 
report of the American Dairymen’s Association, 
crowds out several articles which we desired to 
publish this week. 
A number of our subscribers Lave written us 
that they have seeds of the Shell Flower (Mo- 
luccella, lmvis) raised from the seeds which we 
Bent them. We would feel obliged to Buch sub¬ 
scribers, if they would state the quantities they 
have, and the prices at which they may be pur¬ 
chased. 
The seed distribution is now complete. The 
laBt packets are mailed to-day. The next free 
seed distribution will be announced as soon as it 
is possible for us to determine upon varieties and 
utities. We shall endeavor to so provide our¬ 
selves in quantity aB to be able to send all the 
varieties originally announced. 
COUNTRY LIFE IN WINTER. 
Though the farmer’s life during the 
busy summer season is one of severe 
manual labor, there may and should 
be in winter a time for corresponding 
relaxation and mental improvement. 
Books, newspapers and social festivities 
may make the farmer’s winters seasons to 
be looked forward to with pleasure instead 
of being so irksome that all are glad when 
active labor is resumed. That the last is 
the true picture in too many places is a 
fact as painful as it is evident. 
“ Farmers are too isolated.” But with 
good horses and sleighs or carriages 
there is no necessity for isolation. It is 
often easier for the farmer or his sons to 
hitch up and drive two or three miles 
with good sleighing and jingliug bells to 
a lecture, sociable or concert than it is 
for city resident,s to walk a quarter of 
that distance. Unless the isolation is in 
the farmer’s thoughts there is nothing 
in his position which need prevent him 
aud his family from associating with his 
fellow men and women. Farmers’ sous 
find no insuperable difficulties to prevent 
them from seeking society uuless they 
are unfortunately old before their time. 
And society is just as important for 
farmers and their wives as for their chil¬ 
dren. 
The Grange has done an excellent 
work in bringing together the people of 
rural neighborhoods. The social features 
of the order are without doubt those of 
greatest importance. It, has doubtless 
added dignity to the farmer’s calling; 
but it has done this chiefly by arousing 
his social nature, stimulatiug his intellect 
and thus making the farmer more deserv¬ 
ing of public approbation. It is idle to 
say that the people ought to seek from 
the farm their representatives iu high 
official station. When farmers prepare 
themselves for public duties, the fact is 
not likely to be long overlooked.. They 
can only do this by performing all the 
duties of their present positions—not 
only on the farm but iu society, in the 
church aud in the political assembly. 
Thus they will be men among men aud if 
they are qualified for public station the 
fact will not long be overlooked. That 
high offices are so poorly filled is chiefly 
because so few really fit men present 
themselves. It does not disprove this 
that many able men keep in the back¬ 
ground: that is just what such men 
should not do. 
Winter is the time to consider these 
facts and act thereon. If there is a really 
good Grange in your neighborhood, lose 
no time in joining. If not, plan at once 
some suitable means of improving your¬ 
selves and families morally, intellectually, 
and socially. Farmers’ clubs are excel¬ 
lent, but they alone are insufficient. They 
discuss mainly questions which inevitably 
occupy the farmers’ thoughts. Besides, 
it is rare that the ladies will turn out iu 
large numbers to hear discussions. De¬ 
bating societies and reading circles are 
more needed. The habit of public speak¬ 
ing should be acquired by every young 
man, and many farmers in middle life 
will find talking in debating societies 
much easier after a little practice than 
they had expected. The reading circle 
should, if possible, bo iu connection with 
a reading room, where the best magazines 
and periodicals not generally taken in the 
neighborhood, may be seen. 
It is unnecessary for every family to 
subscribe for all the periodicals which its 
members may wish to read. Taking a 
few of the purest aud best for the family 
circle, a good supply additionally may be 
had by interchanges among neighbors, or 
by joint subscriptions of several neigh¬ 
bors to the higher priced monthlies and 
reviews. For a magazine which comes 
onoe a month, four families at least can 
have the reading before next month’s 
issue is due. Iu very many cases, one or 
two copies of such magazine will supply 
the peojjle of a neighborhood or a town. 
This is not a suggestion to induce people 
to take fewer periodicals ; but to intro¬ 
duce some of the best literature of the 
day where it would otherwise rarely be 
seen. Once introduced, the habit aud 
love of reading will grow, aud very soon 
largely increase the subscription list of 
all worthy periodicals. 
WHAT DID IT LIVE UPON 1 
Five years, the coming spring, we pur¬ 
chased a Yellow Bellefleur aud planted it 
upon a sloping though rather springy 
piece of ground. It bloomed the first sea¬ 
son, and formed dower-buds every suc¬ 
ceeding season profusely. We have never 
seen an apple tree of its size and age so 
full of blossoms. Seeing that it made no 
growth ; that some of the terminal twigs 
were dead every spring, ami that it de¬ 
creased rather than increased in size, last 
fall we set about examining the roots, to 
ascertain, if possible, the cause of such 
singularities. The roots as well as the 
stock up to the graft insertion, were found 
to be quite dead, with the appearance that 
they had been dead for a long time, as 
the roots were partly decayed and had 
evidently made no growth since their re¬ 
moval from the nursery grounds. 
After the second year, we supposed that 
the tree had so exhausted itself by pro¬ 
fuse blooming—as is not unusual with 
this variety—that it had no power to form 
new wood, for which reason the blossom 
buds were pinched out the third season 
as soon as they could be determined. But 
no improvement was visible in its wood 
growth. Had the tree been weighed when 
first set, and when it was taken up last 
fall, it would probably have been found 
to weigh less at the latter than at the 
former time. 
No doubt that in many instances when 
fruit trees blossom well but set no fruit 
(as in this case) aud seem in tolerable 
health, if the roots were examined, simi¬ 
lar disturbing causes would reveal them¬ 
selves aud we should be entertained with 
fewer learned speculations respecting 
“impoteuey of pollen,” “ sterility of the 
pistils,” the fine distinction between “vi¬ 
gor” aud “ vitality,” etc., etc. 
We said that the roots of the Bellefleur 
tree had evidently made no growth, and 
that they hud been dead for a consider¬ 
able time—perhaps from the time of trans¬ 
plantation. The tree itself (graft) must 
therefore have lived in part, upon the de¬ 
caying nutrient particles of the stock—or, 
did it draw its sustenance from the atmos¬ 
phere alone ? 
-♦ ♦ » - 
EDITORIAL BLANDISHMENTS. 
No one undertakes larger contracts in 
good intentions than publishers of news¬ 
papers. They are an imaginative race, 
and it is not to be wondered at that their 
schemes are more comprehensive than is 
their ability to execute the details. Com¬ 
monly, about the beginning of the sub¬ 
scription season, many knights of the pen 
dream a dream, aud a vision appears to 
them. It is a perfect newspaper, Such 
a one as they would like to make aud 
owu. When the time is ripe for an an¬ 
nual prospectus to subscribers, the ideal 
paper occupies the most prominent niche 
of the brain, and it is only human nature 
that the Mss. page should take its color¬ 
ing, not from what it is to be, but from 
what it ought to be—if the means were 
only in proportion to the undoubted abil¬ 
ity of the writer. 
It comes to pass, then, that more ex¬ 
tended plans for the new year, are herald¬ 
ed than oau be executed, aud readers 
mourn promised features, as the year 
drags its slow length, whose announce¬ 
ment filled them with gladness. The ed¬ 
itor is not, perhaps, remembered iu the 
family prayer as the spirit of a j ust man 
whose promises have been made perfect. 
Speaking for ourselves, however, as we 
recall all of our promises, we have no de¬ 
sire to retract or to retrench any one of 
them. Aud this we say quite indepen¬ 
dently of the fact, that our circulation 
continues, up to this date, to increase 
over that of last year. Had it been other¬ 
wise, we are not aware that we have 
made a promise or held out a hope that 
we are not prepared to fulfil. Let us see. 
-♦ » ♦ 
NOTES. 
Patenting Plants.-We shall beglad 
when those good people who advocate the 
protection of uew plants by letters patent 
shall have had their say aud become con¬ 
vinced of the absurdity of the scheme. 
Ought not he who spends a life-time or a 
year in producing, creating, obtaining, 
manufacturing, (will any kind reader 
name the proper word?) a new and 
superior variety of fruit, flower or tree, 
be rewarded as well as any other person 
who, by his labor or ingenuity, improves 
upon the best article of its kind previously 
existing ? When tastes no longer differ ; 
when otir knowledge and perceptions of 
color, flavor, vigor, hardiness eto., shall 
have assumed definite relationships and 
the soil, situation and season no longer 
affect the same plant differently and 
all can understand the source of the 
pleasure which the old lady derived 
from “kissing the cat,” then we might 
join iu advocating the protection of 
new varieties of plants. Until that 
time, however, we say to those who do 
not deem the benefitiug of the human 
race a strong enough reward for their 
labor and pains iu creating, producing, 
inventing (here again we want that word) 
a uew green pea, or a rose, or an apple— 
we say to them, “ Why nut confine your 
talents, dear Sirs, to the production of 
something that can be patented ?” Now 
answer that! 
-HI- 
A Year of Fraud.—In the history 
of this country there has probably beeu 
no year that lias equalled the last iu the 
amount of official peculation and mer¬ 
cantile fraud which has shocked the 
moral sense of the public and brought 
unmerited suffering and ruin on thousands 
of innocent heads. A list of the more 
prominent, instances of notorious fraudu¬ 
lent criminality during the twelvemonth, 
foots up a trifle over .$.'10,000,000, aud of 
the dishonest rascals who have brought 
such opprobrium on the age and country 
and such suffering on a large number of 
the poor, scarcely half a dozen are behind 
the prison bars which should shut iu the 
whole of them. A public sentiment 
healthily severe, and a vigorous en¬ 
forcement of all legal penalties, are the 
most effective means of puttiug an end to 
such a sad display of knavery. 
■ » ** 
Midwinter, the proverbially lazy 
season for the farmer, is so only to the 
lazy farmer. The grand trouble with 
industrious people, no matter what their 
occupation, is that they always have too 
much to do. Industrious farmers need 
the hints of agricultural papers only as 
they may lay before them the work which 
had best be attended to. For the others, 
the best advice is : shake off your laziness 
aud go to work. There are hundreds of 
things to be attended to and you know it! 
If you don’t, Bell your farm and hire 
yourself out to those who do. 
-*-»-■*- 
BREVITIES. 
England wants more sunlight—it is a trifling 
request to be sure. 
We sowed upon the Rural Farm, laBt fall, five 
acres of Clawson wheat, which is now in line 
condition. Wheat sown earlier in the same 
section has suffered severely from the Hessian 
fly. 
We hope our farmers will try, as an experi¬ 
ment, if they have not done so before, planting 
corn in drills next spring. The experiment can 
he tried without addioual cost, and may prove a 
souroe of additional gain. 
Henry M. Stanley, the now famous African 
explorer, is having a triumphal journey, indeed, 
en route tor London. Among his truest admi¬ 
rers was the lato King Victor Emmanuel, who 
left a medal that Mr. Stanley says he would 
treasure through life as one of his happiest 
Bouveuirs. 
The advantage of the Bnpfhsed hybrid cotton 
plant (Gossypium aud Hibiscus), is that it pro¬ 
duces “ pods in tbe axils of tbe leaves instead of 
branches ” so that on the same area of land 
nearly twice as many plants can be grown as with 
the old varieties. The cotton is said to be of 
good quality. 
In all localities where the weather up to with¬ 
in a few days has beeu so warm, that the ground 
has not been frozen to any depth, treeB, shrubs, 
strawberry beds etc., may now be covered with 
manuroor straw, with the same good effects as 
arc usually experienced from similar mulching 
six weeks earlier. 
The editor of the Germantown Telegraph re¬ 
marks that the Albormarle pippin looks very 
much like its progenitor, the Newtown pippin, 
stttl is about tbe same size, but in point Of ex¬ 
cellence it f ar excellB it, in his estimation, as it 
doos every other apple he Iirh ever tasted. A 
pretty good compliment, we should say, for the 
Albemarle pippin. 
W r were pleased to receive a call from Mr. 
Wm. Weld, the editor of tho Farmer’s Advo¬ 
cate, London, Out. Mr. Weld travels a good 
deal, and says he can glean so many now ideas 
in tnis way that it well pays for the time and 
expense. The advantages of travel are partly 
secured by attending Farmers' clubs, Hort and 
Ag. Societies and the like. 
Many of our friends ask tbe question—Shall 
we plant Geranium (Pelargonium) seeds now or 
wait until spring P If they have greenhouses or 
even sunny windows, we say, plant now. The 
seedlings t ransplant easily ami will bloom earlier. 
That is, if planted now, they will bloom the 
latter part of next ..tnniuer. If sown not until 
late in May or the first of June in the open 
ground, they will not bloom until next winter. 
Thai clipped horsos perspire less is offered as 
an argument in favor ol' clipping. It seems to 
us a good argument against it iu that other or¬ 
gans are obliged to perform the excretory func¬ 
tion of the skin, or diseases or a quicker liability 
to diseases will be tho consequence. We regard 
clipping horses as & practice that proves the 
owner who orders or suffers it to be done as 
either extremly cruel or extremely ignorant. 
We hope our readers who may want fruit or or¬ 
namental trees or plants of any kind the coming 
spring, will send for the catalogues, the receipt 
of which wo announce from time to time, and 
compare them carefully. There is time to do it 
now. These catalogues are full of trustworthy 
information, the pithy teachings of years of ex¬ 
perience. It is the rule of this office to mention 
every catalogue received. But wo shall take 
care to praise none but those of establishments 
with which we have had dealings or some per¬ 
sonal know lodge. 
