SEPT. 28 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
on breeding horned cattle, plowing up good 
grass, making hay from dried, ripe herbage, 
losing half the grass by allowing it to rot on 
the ground, boring horns with gimlets, cutting 
tails for imaginary ailment, and throwing seed 
about in bunches and leaving half the ground 
bare instead of using a drill. An Old Hand. 
NEW JERSEY STATE FAIR. 
We know not of any grounds whose situation 
is better adapted for a fair than that of the fair 
grounds at Waverly. It is a central point, with¬ 
in easy distanoe of New York and other large 
cities, and yet as purely rural as if it were a 
hundred miles away. The gronnds are hilly in 
one part and level in another, a diversity which 
is pleasing to the visitor, while it gives promi¬ 
nence to all departments of the exhibition—to 
those on the hills as seen from the plain, and to 
those of the plain as seen from the hills. 
And yet there is a sad lack of enterprise on the 
part of the directors of this fair. Year after 
year we see the seif-same arrangement, as if the 
same articles were carefully preserved in the 
same places to be exhibited forevermore. Even 
a change of place for the several classes of arti¬ 
cles—a rearrangement of the vegetables, fruits 
and flowers of the Horticultural tent—would re¬ 
awaken some interest in the crowds of people 
who walk about as If they were in a park or 
cemetery. We saw very few examining the arti¬ 
cles displayed. A glance at everything sufficed 
to satisfy the curiosity, while nothing in particu¬ 
lar seemed to offer lessons which were deemed 
worthy of being studied, if, indeed, we except 
horse-racing, which certainly did enlist a fair 
share of attention. It was the life of this fair. 
It is not our purpose to condemn or approve 
this feature of so-called agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural exhibitions—but this we may say, that 
when, as at Waverly, it is made to engross more 
attention from the beginning until the end of 
the fair than all the other departments put to¬ 
gether, we think another qualifying name in¬ 
stead of “Agricultural” should be adopted to 
express the aims aud scope of such exhibitions. 
After looking through the agricultural imple¬ 
ments and observing that there was nothing 
new and fewer entries than usual, we passed to 
the horticultural tent. Here, among grapes, 
Mr. Ricketts made his usual fine display. Con¬ 
cord No. 1 is a hybrid between Black Muscat of 
Alexandria aud Concord. It is larger and sweeter 
than Concord. Golden Gem is a cross between 
Clinton and Delaware, small, of a golden yellow, 
and very sweet- No. 250—the parentage is Ives 
and Catawba. Compact bunch, medium to 
large—large berry, flesh soft, juicy, sweet and 
vinous; black, with a dark-gray bloom; carries 
splendidly. Vine hardy and vigorous. Fine 
bunches of the Lady Washington, which, Mr. 
Ricketts now offers for sale, were exhibited. In 
all there were fifty-two varieties. 
Among Mr. H. Goldsmith's grapes was a sec¬ 
tion of a Concord vine, two feet long, eighteen 
inches wide, bearing fourteen good-sized 
bunches. 
Among pears, Sheldon, Seokel, Beurre Bose 
and Beurre Olairgeau were the best. 
Very large and perfect specimens of the Maid¬ 
en’s Blush applo, to which we alluded last week, 
were on exhibition. Orange Pippin, Baldwin, 
Porter, Graveustein, Gloria Mundi, were the best 
of the apples. There were less than one dozen 
quinces shown, and those might better have 
been made into jelly. 
The potato exhibit was, as usual, very good. 
Among other vegetables there was really nothing 
which seemed to us worthy of special mention. 
The floticultural display was quite inferior to 
that of other years, there being fewer plants 
and no attempt at a tasteful arrangement. 
We were told that the Cattle show was excel¬ 
lent—a statement we preferred to accept as a 
fact without personal verification, at the ex¬ 
pense of longer enduring the stifliug olouds of 
dust, all the while drifting from the dusty race¬ 
track and enveloping the listless, yawning crowd. 
Utisalteufons 
GRANGE AGENCY—IS IT EXCEPTIONAL? 
ANSWER TO PERLE PERDU. 
The Mississippi correspondsnt, in Ruual of 
June 1st, starts out with the idea of “ blowing 
up" the Patrons of Husbandry or rather the 
Grange Agency at Memphis, and goes on to show 
the fictitious nature of the advantages offered 
by said agency, how it carried on business elo. 
In doiug this, the writer relates how a farmer 
friend purchased lxis goods of some middle¬ 
man not particularly favorable to farmers as 
such, at a few oents better rates tbftn he could 
have done from the agency with its ramshackle, 
greasy apartments and discourteous old mana¬ 
ger doiug business on the rowdy plan. 
The manner in which this honest old farmer 
got his goods, has its counterpart in every tewu 
in which a grange store exists. Baits are held 1 
out all the time to those likely to deal at the 
grange store. From the description given, it 
is evident that the writer has no proper notion 
of what a genuine grange agency is. The firm 
deBoribed as such, consisted of nothing more or 
less than a man or two hired by the merchants 
of Memphis to take the grange custom and turn 
it over to them. While it is a fact that wagons 
can be bought at grange agencies for $10 to 
$20 less thau at retail, it is foolish to suppose 
sewing mB,chines can be had there for less than 
the cost of manufacture. No shrewd farmer will 
bite at such greasy bait as the Memphis agency 
presents. As to middlemen, I would refer the 
Rural readers to issue of March 9th. page 156, 
“ Remedy for Unjust Weights” to learn the 
exactions and peculations to which they are in 
the habit of subjecting the farming community. 
As to whether the Memphis agency is an ex¬ 
ceptional one, that it is so can be learned by 
comparing it with a grange agency proper, 
one of which we have at St. Louis, Mo. The 
officers of such an institution are appointed 
and paid by the State grange of the State 
in which it does business. All partios patron¬ 
izing it, get their purchasing done for nothing. 
There is no commission charged, no bummer 
fee, such as that received in Memphis. The agent 
buys for cash and at wholesale any thing a, pa¬ 
tron may want, from a case of needles to a steam 
eugine, and secures for the purchaser a discount 
on regular wholesale price, nearly or quite 
sufficient to pay freight. Instead of buying, as 
was formerly done, on a small aoale for granges, 
the farmers are organizing co-operative stores, 
each one taking so much stock as times will ad¬ 
mit. Ten per cent per annum is paid on the 
stock, and the patrons get a dividena out of 
profits, according to the amount of their pur¬ 
chases. 
Every man has a right to protect himself 
against any invasion of his rights. The farmer 
has been in the hands of the middleman for 
scores of years, nay, for ages. He has taken 
what he could get for bis products, often at 
short weights, and paid the merchant his own 
price for goods, by the same weight or measure. 
This kind of traffic has had its day, and must 
oeaBe. The farmer has learned that he can 
ship produce as well as dealers, and does so 
when city prices will pay expenses and leave 
a small margin over home trade. The most 
intolerable thing connected with the grange 
movement is that the farmer, the feeder of the 
nation, the man that supports all maimer of 
manufacturing industries in this great country, 
as well as nearly all its foreign and most of its 
domestic commerce, should have the impudence 
and audacity to set up a store of his own, solely 
for his own benefit in buying and selling. This 
outrage in the eyes of grumblers, is beyond all 
precedent, and ought not for a moment be tol*" 
erated. The farmer outside the grange, has the 
power to do business through proper organi¬ 
zations, without using middlemen; hut will he 
use this power ? For these grange facilities are 
open to all farmers as far as selling and whole¬ 
sale purchasing are concerned, aud are not 
limited, as many suppose, to patrons. 
Fabmer. 
Klrksvllle, Adair Co., Mo., Aug. 10, 1S78. 
-»'♦» ■ - - 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
THE OTHER SIDE OF HYDRANGEA PAN1CUIATA QRAN0I- 
FLORA. 
One would suppose that this plant would be 
happy in England, for it loves a weeping atmos¬ 
phere and abominates a fervent sun ; yet more 
is said of it here than there. The Rural has 
praised this shrub from the beginning; praised 
it while yet it had few friends. Now that it has 
many frienda and bids fair to fiud a place in 
every garden, we think we may venture to 
speak of its faults. First of all, it is heartless. 
It is false. Its flowers are odorless and sterile. 
The great panicles whioh they form have scarcely 
one of the qualities or attributes which one ad¬ 
mires in flowers. They are great unbalanced, 
oonicai heads of oolor, first of a greenish tint, 
then nearly white, then, as they fade, a faded, 
tissney rose color. Every stem bears one of 
these half-capBized panicles whioh, in suitable 
soils, will measure at least two feet in circum¬ 
ference.* As the pliable stems are not strong 
enough to support them, the panicles bend over 
upon the grass or earth, forming disordered 
masses of white or rose that, after a season or so, 
quite fail to excite any sense of pleasure. The 
leaves too are thin, papery, coarse, weedy and 
they droop upon the stem during hot sunshine, 
giving to the plants a more than ever top-heavy, 
undressed, overburdened appearance. 
This Hydrangea in seasons of drought or in 
sandy soils is an out-and-out failure. The leaves 
wilt and droop as we have described, aud the 
panicles dwindle to the size of a teacup. These 
are its faults. 
We have been sincere in all we have said in 
its praise. The new and half-mysterious is 
looked upon with partial eyes. Hydrangea 
pauiculata iB perfectly hardy—a rank grower. 
It blooms at a season when shrub-flowers are 
rare aud its banks of bloom are showy though 
not pretty. It is readily propagated from cut- 
• Wo have Just measured ono 31 inches In circum¬ 
ference at base. 
tings of the roots or of the half-ripened stems. 
These are its merits. To those to whom this 
Hydrangea has become commonplace, we think 
the above ia a fair estimate of its bad and good 
qualities. 
PLUMBAGO LARPENT/E. 
One rarely hears this spoken of. It is not 
quite hardy in this climate, though it has lived 
with us during the two years past without pro¬ 
tection. Still, protection of the roots would be 
needed during severe winters. It grows about 
a foot high. The leaves are thickly Bet, about 
the size of hardy Phlox though more obovate. 
The flowerB which resemble those of Phlox, are 
borne in spioate heads and of an indigo-blue 
color, finally becoming violet. It is fali-bloom- 
ing, herbaceous aud desirable for the color of 
the flowers, if for no other reason. 
TO THOSE WHO ARE 10QKINC ABOUT FOR HOMES. 
If we were again to select a home, it would 
never he in a narrow valley running north and 
south. All pl&nte hardy enough to endure the 
climate, thrive here luxuriantly, it is true, and 
this has served to lessen our discontent in the 
face of many serious drawbacks. After night¬ 
fall the air is laden with moisture so that from 
this time until tbo sun gets well up in the morn¬ 
ing, the grass is as wet with dew as if a Bhower 
were falling. 
Our neighbors told us six years ago, when we 
were about to purchase the land, that chills and 
fever was unknown in this neighborhood. We 
knew of families that had lived here for eight 
years. We saw their children running about 
with unoovered heads late at night and early in 
the morning, and they seemed healthy. A ven¬ 
erable resident explained to us that he and his 
father had occupied the same house for upwards 
of a century, and, said he, “a case of chills and 
fever has never been known in our family.” We 
believed these statements, purchased the land, 
erected our buildings, laid out and planted the 
grouuds. For three years there was no reason 
to doubt the statements of our neighbors. With 
entire unconcern we enjoyed the night and 
morning air freely. No neighbor uttered a warn¬ 
ing word. We heard of “ malarial fevers" near 
ns on the right and on the left ; but still con¬ 
fidently believed that here —within a little charm¬ 
ed space—the air was proof against malarial 
taint. 8ince that time three of onr family have 
been prostrated with this most insidious, most 
unrelenting and deoeptive disease. 
“ It ia everywhere," is oar consolation from 
the neighbors. We are aware that malarial 
fevers have prevailed during the past season to 
an almost unparalleled extent, and that, too, in 
districts to which the disease is an entire or com¬ 
parative si ranger. But we are also aware that 
it cannot be truthfully said that this locality is, 
as a rule, free from the scourge. 
We have written the above, not to condemn 
our beautiful home, surely; not to condemn 
those of our neighbors who assured us of what, 
no doubt, they must have known to be false— 
but for the purpose of impressing upon suoh of 
our readers as contemplate selecting new homes, 
the necessity of exceeding diligenoe iu ascertain¬ 
ing the healthfulness of the proposed district. 
There are locations which are exempt from ma¬ 
larial air aud though there are few exempt from 
all objectionable characteristics, yet the preva¬ 
lence of this disease would, in our estimation, at 
once condemn any place, no matter what might 
be its other advantages. 
Bergen Co., N. J. 
-»»» -■■■■■ 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
How Agricultural Papers Benefit the 
Farmer. —The following is a part of an admira¬ 
ble address by Conrad Wilson, before the 
Farmers’ Club of this city : 
So clearly and palpably have the journals of 
this class demonstrated their value that it Is 
often possible in passing through a rural dis¬ 
trict to discover, by unmistakable signs, the 
rarnia at whioh such papers are taken aud where 
they have found a welcome home, and it is easy to 
see that iu the presence of these sheets of useful 
knowledge the whole aspeot of the farm is 
changed and all the results improved. Manures 
and fertilizers are more effioieut, as well as more 
abuudaut, the latest and best methods are 
adopted, a new impulse is given to vegetation, 
the very' roots of the crop strike deeper and 
spread wider than before, and even the meadows 
assume a brighter shade of green and the oereal 
grains a deeper tinge of gold. And finally, as a 
crowning evidence of what is here claimed for 
the iufluenoe of the press, along with this new 
vigor of vegetation and more abundant yield, 
we find also a reduction of cost that is even more 
important than all the rest. 
It would be easy to refer by name, if it were 
not invidious, to a score of such papers, in either 
of which a single number ooald be pointed out 
which for intrinsic value is worth to a shrewd 
farmer the subscription of a lifetime. 'Even 
single passages could be referred to in various 
journals, m whioh the facts comprised in a few 
lines are worth more to an intelligent, practical 
man than a tou of guano or an acre of land, for 
the acre of laud is confiued to one unchanging 
spot aud the ton of guano admits of only one ap¬ 
plication. But the groat facts of experience In 
farming are uot bounded by an aore and do not 
expire in one application. On the contrary, 
they are develooed by use and grow by repe¬ 
tition. They Bpread and multiply from farm to 
farm and from year to year, until a continent is 
made richer by them and posterity hails them as 
a treasure. 
The timidity shown by many in applying a 
sum so ridiculous as $2 or $3 to obtain the price¬ 
less knowledge on which depend the whole value 
and final profit of their business is more than 
surprising. The trifling sums often lavished 
without a thought on objects of comparatively 
no value, if applied to such a purpose as this, 
would be sufficient to supply a variety of journals 
and valuable books that would at once create a 
new atmosphere of thought in the house, and 
while thus rounding out the education of the 
family, would also enlarge the yield and the 
profit of harvests to come. 
Protection to Rose Bushes. —Speaking of 
this, H. 8. says, in Country Gentleman, that 
evergreen boughs or corn-stalks make an ex¬ 
cellent covering, which should be loose and open, 
admitting air but preventing alternate thawing 
and freezing. Peter Henderson’s advice, to 
cover with sods, has destroyed the hopes of hun¬ 
dreds of Rose-growers by killing their plants. 
He knows of many who regret following this 
advice. Air must be given or the plants will 
die. 
[it seems that many do not understand that 
the objeot of what ia termed “ protection ” to 
plants, is not to keep them warm. It ia rather 
to keep them cold, though not for that either. 
It is to protect against the wind, the sun, and 
sudden changes of temperature. There is noth¬ 
ing better than evergreen boughs; but when 
these are not easily obtainable, long manure 
thrown lightly over the beds and held there by 
sticks stuck diagonally, or any light substance, 
will answer just as well.— Eds.] 
Social Life on the Farm —The population 
of the hill-towns and by-placea is concentrating 
in the marts of business, not because the soil of 
the farms is exhausted, or because farming does 
not pay, but mainly because the craving for 
social life is not satisfied. Even onr Patricks 
and Bridgets are refusing to live in the ooantry 
because they have no society there, no Catholio 
church at which they can meet and have a 
" nate” social time, no bar-room in which they 
oan “ trate their frinds,” and no balls at which 
they can show off their “ilegant *' figures and 
fixtures. This is not the styie of social life 
which is the most desirable for city or country, 
but it shows that more society is the want of the 
farm.— Alex. Uy*e, in AT. T. Ttmes. 
[Strange reasoning this ! We do not want any 
“Bridgets” on the farm, or “Patricks" either, 
who are dissatisfied because there ia “no so¬ 
ciety.” The time is not far distant when Amer¬ 
icans will deem it no disgrace to do Patricks' and 
Bridgets* work, and be glad of the opportunity. 
There ia as much “society” on the farm as 
there has ever been, and as much as is compat- 
ble with health, industry, and morality.— Eds.] 
A New World. —It is not surprising says the 
conscientious editor of the Weekly Tribune 
that a thoughtful man—like, for example, Mr. 
Alfred Smith, our venerable correspondent at 
Monmouth Me —should be able to say (as he 
does in a private note just now opportunely at 
hand) that since giving special attention (after 
his sixtieth’year) to the study of Nature and 
her wonderful ways and works, he “ seems to 
be in a new world.” He wishes others to “ taste 
and see,” and declares that if farmers gener¬ 
ally would take time for such delightful recrea¬ 
tion, it would show the universe to be a won¬ 
derland indeed, and “ lead the thought from 
Nature up to Nature’s God.” 
Seed Potatoes.— J. Rhodes remarked, at a 
late meeting of the Elmira Farmers' Club, that 
he plauted pieces and whole potatoes last spring 
in rows, side by side, and when the tops were up 
six inches, he could see a great difference in 
favor of those growing from the whole potatoes. 
The difference could be seen plainly by an ob¬ 
server, thirty rods distant. At the digging, he 
found he had to go as far to get a bushel in the 
rows planted with pieces as to get a bushel aud a 
half in the others. 
When to Sell Potatoes.— Charles Heller 
thinks if be bad a crop of potatoes to sell, and 
could get fifty oents from the field, he would 
never hesitate about selling. Supposing po¬ 
tatoes to keep without wasting, he thinks fifty 
oents as good in the fall as seventy-five cents in 
the Bpring. — Elmira Farmer t' Club. 
Wheat Seeding. —The London Agricultural 
Gazette says that upon clay lands we oan scarce¬ 
ly be too early and on light soils we may easily 
be too late. The first week in September is a 
favorite time with some heavy-laud farmers, 
and the present month may even be employed 
in sowing this important crop on clay lands 
where the previous cropping renders such a 
course possible. By early sowing, a strongly- 
rooted plant ia insured before winter, and even 
leBS than six peeks of seeds per acre will prove a 
full seeding. 
Harmony in the Country Home. —“A wise 
man, when he plans a country residence, will so 
apportion his means that his house may not bo 
out of keeping with his grounds. The Bame 
style—the same feeling should pervade both 
j and be reflected from one to the other.”—A J. 
' Downing. 
