FEB. 4 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
KLBEUT 8 . CABMAN 1 . 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Pakjc Row, New York. 
SATURDAY FEB. 4, 1888. 
A NOTE. 
We shall soon begin to distribute our 
seed of the present Free Seed Distribution. 
There is one matter to which we desire to 
call the particular attention of our read¬ 
ers. A. part of the Fultzo-Clu wson wheat 
was raised at the Rural Farm; the rest by 
Mr. Wysor upon Ids Virginia Farm. Our 
own seed, though not so large as that 
raised in 1880, is larger than die Clawson. 
But that raised by Mr. Wysor is small 
owing to a most unfavorable season. Our 
readers, therefore, who receive Mr. Wy- 
sor’s wheat are asked not to judge of its 
size j?y the sample received. It would be 
quite unjust. When fairly grown it is as 
large as we have represented, as our sub¬ 
scribers who sow it will have the oppor¬ 
tunity of judging for themselves. 
powers. In hundreds of cases it has been 
stated that while Indian corn was burnt 
j up, the sorghum remained as green as ever. 
I kuch was the case at the Rural Farm last 
bummer. Again, it is evident that cut- 
ting it back in no wise interferes with its 
growth in fact it tillers more and grows 
the faster for it. We respectfully submit 
that our claims for this plant, pressed 
again and again upon our readers' atten¬ 
tion, have been fully proven by the thous¬ 
ands of tests made ail over the country. 
That in some places it should have failed 
was to have been expected. Yet in these 
very places we should advise at least one 
other trial. We did not fully appreciate 
its value until we had raised it three 
years—the first at the “ Rural Grounds ” 
in New Jersey; the second and third at 
the Rural Farm on Long Island. New 
i ork. To our new readers it. may well be 
said, in order to save them trouble, that 
Hie Rural Branching Sorghum is now for 
sale by several leading seedsmen, if not 
by all. This journal sells no seeds or 
plants whatever, and is no more interested 
in this Branching Sorghum than in any 
other of the many seeds and plants of its 
introduction. 
j ( atalpa, Ailanthusand Osage Orange from 
the category of “timber trees.” B. F 
Banna, mentioned in the text, is the reg¬ 
ister of the land district in which the en¬ 
try under the Timber Laws was made. 
I lie unwisdom of the Laud Office's rul¬ 
ing and the hardships it inflicts on many 
of tlie poor pioneer settlers are so forcibly 
act forth by Dr. Warder—one of the best 
living authorities on forestry—that noth¬ 
ing remains for us to say beyond express¬ 
ing a hope that the obnoxious ruling will 
soon be amended. 
----- 
THE SOONER THE BETTER. 
Ever since the embargo placed three 
years ago on importations of American 
cattle into Canada, American stockmen I 
have felt aggrieved at the exclusion from 
the Dominion of cattle for breeding pur¬ 
poses, even after subjection to u rmid 
quarantine. This exclusion has beei/all 
the more unfair in view of the fact that 
importations have been permitted from 
England, where pleuro-pneumonia and 
other highly coutagious diseases have 
been notoriously prevalent among cat He 
while importations have-been prohibited 
♦-- • veu from our Western States, where no 
HE preservation of the canals of this oufhfrd? “S ®? 7 ha8 fl 1 PI ) I ( ’ are< ? Hmo "Z 
:e in good order and the nnliw fni. " this anomaly has been ox- 
We shall begin, week after next, a series 
of articles from the pen of Mr. W. I. 
Chamberlain, the efficient Secretary of the 
Ohio State Board of Agriculture. These 
aiticles, to be placed under “ The Truth 
About It,” will deal with the social and 
moral mistakes of farmers; mistakes in 
selling crops unwisely without the knowl¬ 
edge of the cost of raising or of the rela¬ 
tive scarcity or abundance for the year; 
mistakes in buying and especially iu run¬ 
ning in debt; speculation outside one's 
regular business; getting bitten by sharp¬ 
ers through our own vanity or avarice or 
even our own desire to swindle them; mis¬ 
takes in training our children, etc. Mr. 
Chamberlain lias given serious, earnest 
thought to these subjects and he will 
adapt them to the young as well as to the 
adult. 
* - ♦♦ ♦ -- 
We are sorry indeed to see that the 
Prairie Farmer, of Chicago, Ill., has 
failed. The Western Rural of the same 
city attributes this failure to the fact that it- 
did not stand up truly and boldly for farm¬ 
ers’ rights. But it always seemed to us 
one of the most interesting of the agricul¬ 
tural journals published in the West. 
Very few if any of the agricultural jour¬ 
nals are this year indulging in their usual 
congratulatory announcements over large 
additions to their old-year circulations, 
and it may be feared that many of them 
are published at an actual loss. That 
in this view of the case the Rural should 
be increasing its circulation as much as it 
did last year, which was itself the most pros¬ 
perous of any under its present manage¬ 
ment, is a matter over which we feel very 
grateful and happy—grateful to our read¬ 
ers to whom we owe all, and happy that 
they should deem the Rural New- York¬ 
er worthy of so generous a support. 
, * -- VW 1 AM.IO VJ IllUO 
otate in good order and the policy fol¬ 
lowed iu their management are matters of 
importance to all who have produce seek¬ 
ing a market at the Northern seaboard or 
abroad, or who use goods made in the 
Northern seaboard cities or passing 
through them. The canals of Now York 
force the railroads of the State to he mod¬ 
erate in their freight charges by means of 
the competition they oiler for the gieater 
part of the year; and the railroads of this 
State compel the other gnat tmnk lines 
to regulate their charges by those made 
by the New York roads. Thus the influ¬ 
ence for good exercised by the New York 
canals affects t he pri< e of grain raised by 
the tanner from Minnesota to Arkansas as 
well as the price of bread eaten by the 
workman in Birmingham and Lyons; for 
tlie producer and consumer pay the cost 
ot all intermediate handling. From the 
report oi the State Engineer and Surveyor 
just, issued in printed form, we learn that, 
although the year was unfavorable for the 
canals owing to the late opening and the 
[ close competition of the railroads at, ex¬ 
traordinarily low rates, the tonnage for the 
season amounted to 5,176,505 tons; and 
the receipts for the last fiscal year were 
*j818,2G4.60— quite enough to maintain 
the canals the coming year. The report 
says that a false and hurtful idea ex¬ 
ists that the people of tlie State have been 
taxed on account of the Erie Canal- 
whereas, on the contrary, it has paid into 
tlie Ireasury over $42,000,000 above the 
cost, of construction, supciiutencleuce and 
repairs. '1 he report strongly advocates 
the improvement of the water routes of 
tins State and the policy of making the 
canals free. By the adoption of this pol¬ 
icy, among many other advantages, t'-ere 
would be an annual saving of nearly 
$52,000 for the collection of tolls alone. 
our herds. This anomaly has been ex 
fused by our neighbors efahfly ()n the 
ground that it was due to the diclaration 
"1 Great Butain that Canada would be 
promptly scheduled—put on the list of 
countries from which importation of cat¬ 
tle into the L'mted Kingdom is forbidden 
if she permitted the introduction of Am- 
eru an cattle within her borders. This 
excuse, however, lias been unsatisfactory 
to American cattle owners, who have 
been strongly urging Congress to adopt 
retaliatory measures by prohibiting the 
importation of Canadian cattle into this 
country until tlie removal of the unjust 
discrimination against our herds. It seems 
that the representations of our Govern¬ 
ment to that of the Dominion, anti in r- 
haps still more, the prospect of the ub- 
solute exclusion of Canadian cattle from 
United States. 
induced 
RULING THAT SHOULD BE AMENDED. 
The Driven Well Sharks Defeated. 
—In the U. S. Circuit Court for the 
Northern District of New York, before 
Judge Wallace, at Chambers, in Syracuse, 
on Friday, January (i, a decision was ren¬ 
dered in the case of William D. Andrews 
and others, against William Verbeck and 
21 others, all residing near Saratoga, N. Y., 
We call special attention to Dr. John 
A. Warder’s article on the ruling of the 
General Land Office excluding the Cu- 
talpa speeiosa, the Ailanthus and the Os¬ 
age Orange from the category of “forest 
trees,” under the Timber Culture Laws. 
By these laws any person who is the head 
ot a lumily, or who has arrived at tin 1 age 
of 21 years, and is a citizen of the United 
States, or who has tiled his declaration of 
intention to become such, who shall plant 
- C1.1.J — .VAAIAVA* i.w Mvuwi III' <MK'lI, WHO MHIIJ plant, 
against whom the complainants had made protect and keep in healthy growing con- 
a motion for an injunction pending litiga- dition for eight years 40 acres of timber 
tion concerning the “driven well ’’alleged on any quarter-section (160 acres) of anv 
A n L - 1 * / "1 « n t ® f . 1 i i - ft i M 
to have been invented by N. W. Green in 
1861. The respondent filed affidavits 
showing that “driven wells ” were put 
down at Saratoga Springs us early as 1854 
and also on the County Fair Grounds 
there in 1859, I860 and likewise iu 1861. 
_*1 i x /s . 
Oil any quarter-section (160 acres) of any 
of the public lands of the United States, 
or 20 acres on any 80 acres, or 10 acres on 
40 acres, or 5 acres on auy 20 acres, shall 
be entitled to a p dent for the whole quar¬ 
ter-section or for such legal sub-division 
thereof as lie may have taken up, at the 
-- --- J - imvniijc IU IOU1, U lUKCll llj), ill 1116 
while the Seventy-seventh Regiment of expiration of eight years, on making proof 
UI/JVlJ iin/lAWnnr I ill/* me lmtro 4-*..14111. J *7 
New York Volunteers were encamped 
there. Other instances were adduced in 
winch driven wells had been put down 
prior to Green’s alleged discovery, as de¬ 
tailed in full in the Rural of' Dec. 31, 
1881, and Jan. 14, 1882. Judge Law- 
tliat the terms have been fulfilled, by not 
less than two credible witnesses, Morc- 
o\er, any person having a homestead on 
the public domain who, after three years’ 
residence thereon, shall, in addition to 
the improvements now required by law 
hhu at, lyuv, Law- *n*j'*uTuiiinu» uuw required uy law, 
rence refused an injunction on the ground have under cultivation for two years one 
of rtr 'mv 'll ki>. Thia ic a Lirrlilir 1. ucrr* nf fimLnv .1, " V . . 
of prior use. This is a highly important 
precedent concerning the "validity of this 
notorious patent., and it is the first decis¬ 
ion denying a preliminary injunction on 
the merits of the case. 
^■ - - - 
In regard to the Rural Branchiug Sor¬ 
ghum there is one fact that, stands out 
boldly enough in our many reports, viz., 
that this plant has great drought-resisting 
J. . . . . - ^ vuu Jiiuo KJI IUWM* o Sl.'LTOmfMirs; nn fee 
acre, of timber in good thrifty condition substantiated, are apt to mislead sorm 
for every sixteen acres of the homestead, who are inclined to aW them withmil 
shall, upon proof thereof by two credible inquiring into their truthfulness So 
wunesses receive a patent for the home- when a largely increased and superior but’ 
S'oi ( ; 1 f er r ductissaid,o ^>*«•« obS 
Lana uracc (at ptesent N. C. McFarland) by the use of cnsilaue let such conelu 
tLns qU as S hairbe e regU ! a ‘ ; sions be cached by’actual test and not 
provisions’of the law into 1 )’i ( Cai ‘7' J ! e b J guess-work. Such statistics from ac- 
j ,! )nsthe Jaw into effect, and it is tual tests we were glad to see presented bv 
he has made the bwK, ^ of lb » ‘lelegnt.ee at thia OourhL. 
has made the blunder of excluding the The great thing to be considered, after 
{i *11 , 7 . . uui 
, neighbors to bestir themselves lor the ab- 
1 rogation of the obnoxious embargo. A 
telegram from Ottawa, on January 25 
, announces that the Canadian Minister of 
Agriculture has been lor some months 
' correspondence with the Veterinary 
1 Department of the Imperial Privy Council 
respecting the admission of cattle for 
breeding purposes j nl0 the Dominion 
I from this country, alter having been sub¬ 
jected to a quarantine similar to that 
- which cattle from Great Britain have to 
undergo. The result of the correspondence 
we are told, will probably be to permit 
such importation without subjecting Can¬ 
ada to any liability to be placed ,m the 
scheduled list of the United Kingdom. 
' \\ e trust that, like all other causes of dis¬ 
content and wrangling, this injustice will 
be soon removed, for we are heartily in 
favor of the most cordial relations be¬ 
tween neighbors so closely allied by ties 
of kindred blood and mutual interests. 
THE ENSILAGE CONVENTION. 
It is a favorable sign when farmers 
from various parts of the country assem¬ 
ble in convention to discuss subjects 
w hich pertain to their profession. A 
body of agriculturists cannot come to¬ 
gether, as recently at Commissioner bor¬ 
ing's Agricultural Congress in Washing¬ 
ton, as in the Ensilage Congress during 
the past week in this city, and as they 
will meet here next week in the National 
Agricultural Convention, without, getting 
broader views on the great questions in 
agriculture, and taking with them a new 
impulse to elevate their calling and to ex¬ 
tend agricultural knowledge among their 
brethren. 
Tlie Ensilage Congress was, on the 
whole, a success. While it was largely an 
“ experience meeting,” as, of course, was 
to be expected at this early stage of the 
silo question, it is highly probable that 
some more tangible results will he arrived 
at before the next convention. It was 
rightly said by the delegate from Rhode 
Island, that what we want is facts, not 
theories. When men say they raise 50, 
60 or 80 tons of corn fodder to the acre,’ ' 
their reports should be based on actual i 
weight, not on the weight of a half-dozen > 
hills or rows. Such statements, unless 5 
substantiated, are apt to mislead some ’ 
who are inclined to accept them without i 
inquiring into their truthfulness. So, i 
when a largely increased and superior but- f 
ter product is said to have been obtained 1 
by the use of ensilage, let such conclu¬ 
sions be reached by actual test and not t 
by guess-work. Such statistics from ae- t 
tual tests we were glad to see presented bv ° 
rom the system is found to be a success with 
• 1 • our moneyed farmers, is whether it can be 
rog- economically successful with the average 
7' burner who has no money to risk in large 
‘Ue. and costly silos. Can he, with his lun- 
' means, perhaps, construct silos 
id 1 Which shall not only preserve his fodder, 
, ut w’hich shall Tender it more valuable 
■>o«t than when fed in the usual way? If Icad- 
)th ' Irj g an d progressive farmers (to whom all 
oss- honor is due) can make this system of 
wiu practical benefit to theordinary farmer, as 
in time they doubtless will, they will have 
done a good thing. How this can be ac¬ 
complished best, should be kept, in mind 
ree whenever they meet in convention. How 
can f° construct silos, not the dearest and best, 
len , cheapest and best, is the question 
om Y e ma j° rifc y of farmers will wish to have 
ur decided. 
rid liave a1 w ays counseled caution with 
all regard to the adoption of the system of 
tat cn silage, not because we did not think 
un the system worthy of a fair trial; for this 
nd , wo iavc Hhv nys strongly advocated; but 
, Vc because however high experiment may 
l ( i pi ov e its merits, yet for the general run 
ed I 11 ^ farmers it is always wisest and safest, 
tio I * 0 awtl it the outcome of all new departures 
i\<r from old methods. Then, aguin, however 
x excellent, the results of ensilaging fodder, 
lie P'cmost economical method of doing so 
m * 3 a matter that demands judgment and 
be experience and one which even the united 
0 f wisdom ot the Ensilage Congress has not 
t finally settled. 
?n -- 
“• BREVITIES, 
is __ 
) I For the next month or so, we shall give 
r e special attention to vegetables. 
A series of poultry articles by a skilled 
I practical writer is in preparation. 
IS I 
it f rrE Beiirrfe d'Anjmi pears in the New York 
market at this time me of good size, and, as 
‘ I usual, excellent in quality. 
It happens just at this season of the year 
that vs e a re receiving more reports as to the 
Rural seeds than we c m find epace for. But 
we are much obliged for them and shall print 
r all we can. 
If y on do not keep your contract with me I 
may m consequence sustain a money loss. 
, But I should be careful not to make another 
f contract with you. 1 he thing I am most exer- 
5 cased about is to know that T have kept mu 
r contract with you. 
I In the biographical sketch of Mr. Oliver 
LaJrynple in the Rural of January 14. 
I the aica of “breaking last'year is given as 
.»00 acres; but we learn that the figures should 
have been 5,500. and the entire area under 
wheat in 1881, should *ave l»eengivenas27- 
400 acres instead of 27,000 acres. ’ 
Delaware Beet Sugar Company, of 
Wilmington, Del., after an arduous effort to 
make beet sugar making a profitable industry, 
has .t last abandoned tlie attempt as itupracti- 
eahlc. 'I he Standard Sugar Refining Company 
ot Alverado, G’al , has now a monoply of the 
business in the United States. East,, West 
-Nor th and South atttempts to make the beet 
sugar industry a success have failed, and it is 
hardly likely such endeavors will be repeated 
in the near future. 
Tun number of immigrants that reached this 
country during the .year ending Decembet 81 
GWJ. as for as reported to the Bureau of 
statistics at Washington up to the 1!»th inst. 
mnoimtejl to the enormous aggregate of 710 - 
and it is thouvbt probable that returns y» t 
to be received wtU show that the total dur¬ 
ing the twelvemonth will have been 719 ooo. 
Gf this unprecedenicd influx t here, arrived 
from Germany, 248,828; from the Dominion of 
Canada, 94,159; from England and Wales, 77,- 
ojO; from belaud, 70,896; trom Sweden, 55 - 
Norway, 26 824: from China, 
; A r , oin A,,stria > 1‘.M 07; tv ‘III Scot- 
land, 1 (,441; and from all other countries 80,- 
o75. 7 
Beoaukk one man’s honest denting may 
possibly lead another man into dishonest 
practices, is that any reason why the former 
should l»e punished, and a falsehood foisted 
on the public to secure that punishment ? The 
Board o. Health ot this city answers ullirnia- 
tively. Became permission to sell “skim 
milk ' in New York may induce son e milk- 
dealers to swindle their Customers by palm¬ 
ing it otF upon them as “ whole milk ” 
Ihe farmers of the neighboring country 
are punished by depriving them of a profit¬ 
able market for the article in this city by 
prohibiting its sale, and to effect this the 
lalsehooil is told, that “skim milk” is not 
wholesome. That it is less nutritious than 
W hole milk is not denied, but that it is health¬ 
ful under ordinary conditions, is stoutly 
maintained. Indeed “skim milk" is much 
more easily digested by some people than 
w hole milk. In-tend of prohibitingitssak* laws 
shoukl be passed for the destruction of skim 
uidkman unwholesome condition, just as law-s 
now provide h r the destruction of other kinds 
of unwholesome food; and also for the pun¬ 
ishment of skim milk swindlers, just like other 
swindlers. If the wholesaling or “skimmilk” 
by farmers is to be prohibited because retail 
milk dealers may swindle their customers by 
foisting it off on them as whole milk, why is 
not the wholesaling of oleo margarine by the 
manufacturers prohibited, because the retail 
grocers and other dealers are certain to foist 
the stull oil on their customers as genuine but- 
ter { A recent legal decision against the sale 
of skim milk here is to be carried to tile Court 
of Appeals and the final decision w ill doubt- 
less affect the sale of the article in other 
cities in various parts of the country. 
