62 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT. 28 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Practical Departments: 
Thousand-Dollar Suburban Home — Pallasier 
Pallasier A. Go.,—(Illustrated).613 
Requirements to Become a Good Farmer— L. J. 
Tempi in.613 
Science and Practice ul' Plowing—Jersey Farmer 
—(Illustrated). 614 
Burned Barth and Pent. 014 
Day in Your Wood — T. B. Miner.. 614 
Cultivation of Sorghum-S. S. R..... 615 
Harvesting Beans-W. J. Fowler.615 
Prlc.ltley Comfrey—G, A. W... 615 
Jotting*at Kiibv Homestead-Col. F. D. Curtis.. 615 
Hints by the Roadside-IIough Handle. 616 
Testing Vi-getubls Seeds—Prof. W. J. Beal.616 
Everyday Notes—Samuel Parsons.616 
Beauty and Usefulness of Autumn Leaves— 
51.H. ft.....616 
Evergreens K R C. 616 
Rotlno'iplioru K1 Ilf era. 61? 
Flowers for the House. 61? 
Ponehcs In Nehraska—Xlneopli. 617 
Reo-Keeners, a couple "f successful. 617 
Poultry Record—G. D. 11. 618 
Polled Cattle, etc.—An Old Hand.01S 
New Jersey grate Fair. 619 
Grange Agency-Is it Exceptional ?—A Farmer.. 619 
Notes from the Rural Grounds.619 
What Others Say. 619 
Answers to Correspondents: 
Wheat Bran as a Fertilizer.618 
Tmgls Arcuate . till? 
" Big Worms”—Catlerpihirs. 618 
Choice Grapes. 618 
Miscellaneous. 618 
Communications Received. 618 
itaeryiDliere: 
Columbia Co., Pa. 818 
Andersi n co.,8. c. 618 
Deer Lodge. Montana. 618 
Brown Co.. Wis. 618 
Chautauqua Co.. N. V . fill) 
Rurui Grounds, Bergen Co..N. J. 618 
KjnmmtAZ, Page: 
Value of thn Corn Crop to the Small Farmer.1,20 
S iciNlCulturp... »20 
Honest r ru|t Packing. 620 
Our lov-ntlveGenius.. O.'O 
Themselves, Not Their Subject. 620 
A Transatlantic Moan.. 620 
Brevities.. 620 
Domestic Economy : 
After the Summer—What ?-Annie L. Jack. 62-1 
Trouble With Cucumber Pickles-Mrs. S. C. 624 
Domestic Recipes... 624 
Literary-; 
Poetry...... ... , i26 
Surprise of a Giraffe by a Lion—(Illustrated)...., 621 
Russia a Her the Treaty. 621 
My Cousin Adelaide.... 622 
Boblai) Tail Joe.. 6'2 
The Late Mehemet All.622 
Magazine* ..... g-’j 
Brle.-»-rtrac. .. 628 
To the Ladies .... «23 
Maggie’s Philosophy—Mrs. J. IS. McC.623 
Statistics <i( Woman’s Labor.... 628 
Man and Woman... mu 
British Medical Assocl<tion.g&i 
Woman President for Vassar College. 623 
Reading fur the Young : 
Pocket-Money for the Young—No. 18. 626 
A)! ale of Aluny Tails- Katharine B. Foote.626 
Auswurs to Questions in Rural, Sept., 7. 626 
Sabbath. Heading: 
Shull We Pray in Concert... 620 
Den vlog Self. 626 
News ol the Week—Herman.. 624 
Markets. 625 
Personals. . 627 
Wit and Uutnor.628 
Advertisements.626, 627', 628 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Address 
RURAL PUBLISHING CO., 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY SEPT. 28, 1878. 
In a few weeks we shall issue the Rural with 
a new design for a heading, more in keeping 
with its present widened columns as well as with 
the modern aspect of the departments of rural 
life, the interests of which The Rural New- 
Yorker is earnestly striving to advance 
We call attention to the second series of seed 
tests by Professor W. J. Beal, the first of 
which, published last spring, excited a deal of 
interest all over the country. A third series will 
follow next week. 
The original architectural designs presented 
this week will, we trust, prove of special value 
to those intending to build tasteful dwellings at 
a small expense. 
VALUE OF THE CORN CROP TO THE 
SMALL FARMER. 
A large number of farms, especially 
in the North and East, are nnder fifty 
acres. If we exclude woodland and land 
not arable, more than half the farms in 
New England are nnder twenty-five acres 
in extent. It is singular that it should 
have been taught by many agricultural 
writers, and still more singular that far¬ 
mers themselves should hold the belief, 
that corn is not a crop for small farmers 
to grow. 
Without saying that no man should fol¬ 
low a specialty in agriculture, we are 
firmly convinced that mixed farming is 
the most profitable for the greater num¬ 
ber of American farmers, whether their 
holdings are large or small; and among 
the crops that no farmer can afford to 
dispense with is the corn crop. We may 
make the “exception which proves the 
rule ” in behalf of farmers on heavy 
clays, where grass and small grains—un¬ 
hoed crops—are in a great degree neces¬ 
sitated. The farming of that kind of 
land is a specialty by the fiat of nature. 
But on all loamy and sandy farms corn¬ 
growing is practicable ; and* when follow¬ 
ed with skill, it is eminently a profitable 
3 crop. 
3 There is no way in which so much live- 
4 stock cau be kept from so small an area 
j of laud as by making corn the main fee.l- 
5 ing crop. If a man is to feed ten cows 
5 from ten acres, the year around, he must 
5 depend upon the corn crop as his main 
6 reliance to do it. ThiB, and rye as an 
fl early soiling crop, with a field of clover 
« and orchard-grass to bridge the time be- 
7 tween the rye and the early fodder-corn, 
7 make a complete round of feeding mafce- 
7 rial—the rye to be turned under as soon 
g as the clover field is ready to cut, and the 
9 land to be then planted to roots. Tbree- 
|! fourths of an acre of corn will keep a 
9 cow a year, and keep her well; but we 
would not recommend it as the best way 
3 to keep a number of cows, or even one 
\ cow. We would make com the main 
i crop, but not the only one, for various 
4 obvious reasous—tbe principal one being 
that we should have no green feed early 
4 in the season. Rye and clover—with 
’ orchard-grass—and from 50 to 100 biisli- 
\ els of roots to each cow, ought to be 
| grown. 
The chief objection to corn - growing 
, among most farmers is that there is too 
j much work about it. But, rightly han- 
i died, there is no crop more easily grown, 
| for its value, than corn. There is no 
• need of using any hand implement in its 
cultivation. Tlte corn-planter, the 
smoothing harrow and the horse-hoe will 
do all the work better than it can be done 
by hand. Husking and shelliDg are 
dreaded jobs, and the curing and hand¬ 
ling of a large crop of fodder-corn is a 
heavy task in the eyes of many ; but 
knowledge and skill lighten labor, aud it 
is worth while for every farmer to master 
the art of handling corn, either for grain 
or fodder, in the quickest and cheapest 
manner It is the great American crop. 
When we make the right and full use of 
it, it throws out of agricultural compe¬ 
tition with us any country where it can 
not be grown, uo matter how otherwise it 
may be favored in soil, climate or pro¬ 
ductions. 
-- 
SOCIAL CULTURE. 
It has been the fashion to complain of 
the dreary isolation of dwellers in rural 
localities. But the complaints have been 
made most frequently by those who are 
entire strangers to the matters upon 
which they write so freely. Countryfolks ' 
are in general so fully occupied with 
affairs that they have uo time to discover 
how lonesome they really are. So far as 
this is concerned we think it a misfortune. 
We are too busy. We work too hard. 
We take few or no holidays. We read 
and think too little, and do not spend suf¬ 
ficient time in social culture. There is 
no reason why those who plow the soil, 
or “whose talk is of bullocks,” should 
not experience the refinements which are 
the result of formal social life. In busi¬ 
ness, at bargains, in pursuit of dollars, 
no man is seen at bis best. He is thorny, 
spiny, with his back up as a porcupine 
might be at hit) business. Let one doff 
his working clothes and enter a room full 
of hiB neighbors—men, women, young 
men and maidens—and he is a man of 
another kind. He naturally falls into 
the ways of an intuitive kindness, which 
is really the truest politeness; the doing 
to his companion what he would that he 
should do to him. He “lets himself 
out ” to please, aud, after an evening 
spent in social converse, he retires with 
many rough corners and asperities toned 
down. Eor a few days the influence re¬ 
mains. It would be permanent if it could 
be reinforced now and then, and the 
good results would be most agreeable 
and useful. There is no difficulty in 
bringing these good influences to bear. 
Two or three persons, with energy and 
some magnetism about them, can put 
them in motion with ease. Now is the 
time to begin the effort. A book club 
is one excellent means to effect it. A 
mutual improvement association is an¬ 
other. These two naturally grow out of, 
and belong to each other. They are < 
quite enough for a begriming. Let a i 
dozen persons, or less or more, each name 1 
a book or a magazine and subscribe the < 
money to purchase them. Each of these i 
books is made to go the rounds of the < 
members; so that for tbe price of one ! 
book each member has the reading of 
several, and, at the end, may possess this < 
book permanently ; or, the books may be { 
sold and the money applied to the pur- i 
chase of new ones. Every week let these 1 
people meet, and talk over and discuss i 
some question of interest to them all, which t 
one has made a special study of for the $ 
purpose of introducing it. Or let those f 
who have a taste for it, entertain tbe 
others with a reading of selections, poems, 
or a well chosen drama or play. The 
i book olub and the improvement associa¬ 
tion are then started, and once the ice is 
broken, will float along smoothly and 
■ pleasantly. 
-- 
OUR INVENTIVE GENIUS. 
Necessity was the mother of invention. 
It is now no more so. The genius of 
America is an inventive one, and is not 
now stimulated into action by necessity, 
whatever may once have been the case. 
We have changed all that. Now, we in¬ 
vent something, and then seek a use for 
it. The use is generally found very soon. 
It is something to cause us to feel very 
complacent, that a whole army of invent¬ 
ors are engaged in puzzling their brains 
to And out Borne new thing. This is an 
old business. The ancient Athenians 
spent tlieir time in the same pursuit, but 
not nearly so successfully as we do now. 
They had uo patent office that we ever 
heard of ; and ours is a great help to us ; 
if only to store up the ideas that are wait¬ 
ing for the necessity. It is now that the 
old adage is reversed. Invention iB the 
mother of necessity; and we discover a 
device first, and then seek a use for it. 
It is only a poor week’s work for the pat¬ 
ent office, to issue about 300 patents. 
That is 15,000 in a year. The last patent 
issued is numbered somewhere about 
205,000. If these owed their origin to 
necessity, we should be the most necessi¬ 
tous people in the world. But it is other¬ 
wise. In every country, Americans are 
kuown as the most prolific inventors ; and 
American devices enter into almost every 
house that boasts a window-fastening or a 
door-latch. But a thing or two are yet 
needful. We want a good potato har¬ 
vester ; a machine that will harvest corn; 
one that will pick cotton ; another to pick 
up turnips; one to cut fodder, aud ele¬ 
vate it above the feed rooms ; and several 
other handy affairs that we can tell of 
when those are furnished. Let inventors 
note these wants. 
-- 
HONEST FRUIT PACKING. 
Diogenes went hunting about the 
streets, seeking for an honest man in the 
middle of the day, with a lantern. If we 
were looking for an honest fruit-grower, 
we should seek for him in the middle of 
his peach-baBkets and apple barrels. 
Notwithstanding the vast amount of 
preaching on this subject, hardly one 
"■fruit-grower in ten has yet found out the 
money profit of honest* packing, because 
they have never tried it. 
Men expect to be cheated when they 
buy fruit in the original packages. But 
the astonishment and delight they ex¬ 
perience on emptying a basket or barrel 
and finding it of equal quality all 
through—and especially when, after buy¬ 
ing again and again of the same grower, 
they meet the same experience every 
time—is such that they will submit to 
very high rates to get that man’s fruit. 
It is true that there may be a loss on the 
first shipments of honestly-packed fruit, 
but just as soon as the reputation of a 
brand is established—and it does not take 
long—the reward of such honesty—or let 
ns call it good business sense—begins to 
come in abundantly. 
The rule of honest assortment should 
hold good even if, as in some years, not 
one package in ten can be branded “ No. 
1.” The scarcer suoh packages are, the 
bigger the price they will bring. This 
kind of packing also has a direct tendency 
to make better fruit-growers. A man who 
has had the pleasure of receiving an ac¬ 
count of sales, in which his No. 1 apples 
are figured at $5 aud his No. 2’s at $2, 
will try and increase the quantity of No. 
l’s by manuring his orchard, priming his 
trees, and keeping down the mseots that 
weaken the trees and disfigure the fruit. 
It is most emphatically true in the fruit 
business, that honesty is the best poliey, 
every way. 
THEMSELVES, NOT THEIR SUBJECT. 
If any man is working with the single 
object of advancing the best interests of 
any branch of industry or Bcienee, he is 
the first to recognize efforts in the same 
direction, made by others. Light shed ' 
upon that department of industry or sci¬ 
ence, is in his eyes glowing, let it come . 
from whatsoever source it may. 
Dr. Sturtevaut sayB: “ One of the dis¬ 
couraging features of agricultural pro- ] 
gross is the disinclination among our pro- \ 
niinent men to speak favorably of others \ 
working in the same field.” The reason < 
is, as it appears to us, that where there is i 
one “ prominent” man who places the 1 
good of agriculture above self, there are \ 
at least a dozen who use agriculture as a t 
sort of dung-hill, upon which they are to 
perch themselves and crow, aud they jea¬ 
lously imagine that any praise bestowed 
on other toilers in the same field, will de¬ 
tract from the applause they hope to re¬ 
ceive from their own labors. They had 
rather rule in hell, than serve in heaven, 
and a misgiving may be entertained that 
many of them will have the opportunity, 
one day, of a surfeit of their preference. 
A Transatlantic Moan.—The 13,- 
000,000 quarters or 104,000,000 bushels 
of wheat, which the Tall Mall Gazette now 
acknowledges to be a low estimate for 
the deficiency which Great Britain will 
have to supply this year from foreign 
sources, will cost at current market prices, 
.£30.000,000 or in the close neighborhood 
of #150,000,000. Thus for one article of 
food alone our transatlantic consins will 
have to pay at the rate of nearly five 
dollars per head to foreigu growers. Yet 
it is conceded that they will in this way 
obtain tbe supply far cheaper than if they 
attempted to grow it at home, even if so 
large an amount could be profitably 
grown on the small area of the British 
Isles, It is a fruitful ground of com¬ 
plaint with them, however, that the two 
principal sources of supply — America 
and Bussia—should both show an in¬ 
creasing disinclination to be paid for their 
exports of food in manufactured articles. 
The vast improvements lately made in our 
various manufactures—or as the Euglish 
prefer to say, our protective policy—have 
almost destroyed their trade with this 
country in iron-ware and cotton fabrics 
and seriously injured other branches of 
traffio, and it extorts a rnoau from the 
neighborhood of John Bull’s pocket that 
henoeforth he must pay for the food im¬ 
ported from this country, out of the 
profits made iu other directions instead 
of by an interchange of productions. 
BREVITIES. 
We call the intending bee-keeper s attention 
to the little statement of Mr. C. 0. Georgeson, 
of Michigan. 
We have just (Sept. 22,) cat off a flowering 
spike of Pearl Millet, that measures 13jr£ inches 
in length, and four inches in oiroumferenee. 
The Eternal fitness oe Things. —There is 
nothing more appropriately neat aud natty than 
a pretty little cap on a pretty little French bonne. 
Put the same cap on a coarse, overgrowu pug- 
nosed Irish nurse and see how it looks ! 
THEoareful, thoughtful prudent man is sure 
to be rewarded in the long run, while reckless¬ 
ness and want of prudence, although missing 
disaster again, and again are tolerably certain 
to come to grief in time. 
The season of planting tulips, hyacinths, etc., 
is now at hand, and we advise those of our read¬ 
ers who can afford to do so, to buy a goodly as¬ 
sortment of each. Nothing is more beautiful in 
spring, tbau their varied and brilliant flowers. 
It would Beem that there are few people who 
need quite so much instruction as the farmer ; 
few who accept it more oomplaooutly—aud it 
would further seem there are few who do not 
think themselves capable of instructing him. 
Ought we not to consider whether there is not 
some danger of farmers becoming “ mad” from 
“ too much learning 
The New Jersey State Horticultural Society 
will hold its first Annual Exhibition at Mount 
Hollv, Burlington Go., in connection with the 
Burt Co. Agricultural Society, Oct. 8th, ilth aud 
10th. Our New Jersey readers should exert 
themselves to make this first exhibit of this 
Society a complete success. For premium lists, 
etc., address the Secretary, E. Williams, Mount 
Clair, N. J. 
The large importations of cattle and meat 
into Great Britain from the United States and 
Canada have not hitherto interfered in the least 
with the cattle trade carried on by Spain with 
that country. A late report by the British Con¬ 
sul at CJornnna shows that 20,780 fat oxen wore 
Shipped last year from that port alone for Ports¬ 
mouth, Plymouth and Falmouth. Steam power 
is not used for the conveyance of these beasts, 
but small sailing vossols which are ooutiuually 
employed iu the service, and it is seldom that 
any animals are lost on the voyage. A large 
quantity of eggs are also shipped at the same 
time. 
All builders agree in this: The most 
economical form in which a dwelling oau be 
erected is a oube, for the reason that it con¬ 
tains more space within a given area of wall aud 
roof than any other. The irregular form has 
advantages in affording variety iu the appear¬ 
ance both external and internal, while the dif¬ 
ferent sizes of the rooms are better adapted to 
the needs of the family. The first or cubical 
form is best adapted when economy is a first 
on moderation ; thb second when convenience snd 
effect are first considered. Broad, projecting 
roofs protect against both beating storms and 
summer heat. 
“ It is not always easy” wrote A. J. Downing 
“even with very straigbforward questions, to 
asoortain the character of a fever and ague dis¬ 
trict, though it is well kuown to the inhabitants. 
They strive to disguise it from others, and per¬ 
haps impose on themselves, very much for the 
same reason that a man strives to conceal his 
faults from himself, although they may ho no¬ 
torious to his neighbors. Besides this, old resi¬ 
dents in districts slightly affected by malaria 
get acclimated, so that they are in a great 
measure insensible to its effects. But they are 
none the loss dangerous to the uew-oomer, and 
frequently uudormino a Hlender constitution 
that would otherwise have endured many years.” 
