RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT 6, CARMAN 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY MARCH 4, 1 882. 
THE FRUIT SUPPLEMENT. 
The lists of fruits adapted to various 
parts of the country presented in our Sup¬ 
plement have been compiled with the ut¬ 
most care. Files of the Rural for years 
pad;, horticultural reports, t'tc Proceed¬ 
ings of the American Pomologieal Society, 
correspondence with our leading pomo- 
logists are the sources of our information. 
The lists are by no means offered as in¬ 
fallible guides. Varieties that arc report¬ 
ed as the best for some parts of a State, 
may not thrive in all. The information 
is necessarily of a general character and 
must be accepted only as a partial guide. 
Our readers are reminded that nursery¬ 
men’s catalogues give brief descriptions 
as to the size, quality, etc., of the fruits 
in our lists. 
—-- 
Read the special lists of fruits furnish¬ 
ed the Rural by our first pomologists. 
- ♦♦ ♦-- 
We must express our obligations and 
thanks to many friends who have aided 
us in collating our Fruit Lists. We are 
also indebted, to most of the State Horti¬ 
cultural Reports of the country. 
If the number on your wrapper after 
the name is 1675, your subscription ex¬ 
pires with this week’s paper ; if the 
number is 1676, next week, and so on. 
Seepage 152 for full explanation. 
—--- 
For the fourth season we urge it upon 
our readers to plant grape-vines. If they 
can’t afford to buy vines, let them plant 
cuttings. We urge them also to plant 
trees and shrubs both for ornament and 
fruit. This is uo idle or extravagant ad¬ 
vice readers—it will pay. It will pay 
you and your children. 
In sending us plants for name, seeds 
or plants for trial, please write your name 
ana address on the package. This is now 
permitted by the postal laws. Tie the 
package but do not seal it, if sent as 
second-class matter. Then when your 
letter explaining the package sent reaches 
us, it is easy to place them together. 
-♦ »- 
If our readers do not report irregulari¬ 
ties as to the receipt of the Rural when 
they occur, how are we to know of them? 
We beg of our readers that they will not 
tolerate any irregularities which are due 
to our oversights or mistakes. People 
who pay for a periodical in advance are 
entitled to all they pay for, and we do 
sincerely desire to make good any short¬ 
comings on our part. 
The Rural New-Yorker specially re¬ 
commends to its readers everywhere a 
trial of the following small fruits, all of 
which have been or are being tested in 
its experimental grounds: 
Strawberries. —Bidwell, Manchester, 
Sharpless, Cumberland Triumph, Charles 
Downing, Miner’s Prolific, Shirts. 
Grapes. — Victoria (Miner), Lady 
Washington, Pocklington, Niagara, Pren¬ 
tiss, Duchess. 
Raspberries. — Cuthbert, Caroline, 
Turner, Gregg, Souhegan, Shaffer’s Col¬ 
ossal. 
- - -- 
Two extremely erroneous answers to 
questions were made in a late issue—so 
far astrav, indeed, that wc trust nobody 
could be misled. Seventy-five to 100 
bushels of beans per acre should have been 
15 to 30 bushels, and 12 pounds of onion 
seed should have been four pounds per 
acre. The upset which the fire caused 
among our hooks and papers, together 
with the necessity which presses upon us 
of issuing supplements to meet the unex¬ 
ampled pressure upon our columns, is 
offered in extenuation of such seemingly 
heedless proof-reading. These, however, 
are the first corrections we have been 
obliged to make in a long time. 
The difference in value between light 
and heavy oats is well shown by Hera- 
path, quoted by Prof. Johnson. The 
light oats were grown upon sandy soil, j 
and yielded but six bushels per acre. 
The heavy oats were from the same soil 
after “warping,”—thickly covering with 
sediment from muddy tide-water. The 
difference per cent, is shown in the fol¬ 
lowing table: 
Light Oats. Heavy Oats. 
Potash. 6.8. 13.1 
Soda. 4.6. 7 2 
Lime.. 6.8.. 4.2 
Phosphoric acid... 9.7. 17.0 
Silica,. 56.5. 45.6 
-♦ ■*- ♦- 
What is known as the cambium or cam¬ 
bium layer is a very delicate tissue of cells 
between the inner bark and the wood, and 
it is this apparently mucilaginous sub 
stance which forms both new wood, and 
new bark and cements, so to speak, the 
graft or cion to the stock. Hence it is 
that the most important part of grafting, 
as illustrated in other columns, is that the 
cion should be set in the stock in such a 
way that the cambium layer of the one is 
placed in contact with that, of the other. 
This cambium layer is simply that which 
seems to enable the bark to separate from 
the wood when the sap is flowing, though 
really it is a delicate tissue which unites 
them together. 
-- 
When our subscribers complain — as 
some of them have done, and with seem¬ 
ing justice—that the seed corn of our 
Free Seed Distribution is not as good as 
it might be, they forget two things. 
First, that the corn crop was a partial 
failure everywhere on Long Island, and 
an entire failure in some parts the past 
season, and, second, that we send to onr 
subscribers the entire crop raised, ouly 
reserving enough for seed. It is the same 
with the Fultzo-Clawson Wheat., which we 
were obliged to procure from the origina¬ 
tor, the kernels of which are scarcely 
more than half the size they attain iu 
favorable seasons. If we can do better 
than the best, we hope those who com¬ 
plain will kindly tell us how it is to be 
done. 
Acclimating Cattle taken to the 
Southwestern Plains. If transported 
thither from the Eastern or more Northern 
States, it should be done as early in the 
Spring as possible and it would be better 
to take none over 12 to 18 mouths of age. 
As soon as they arrive there, they should 
be housed during all storms or high winds, 
and also in Summer during the heat of 
the day, and where heavy dews fall, also 
at night, and carefully fed but not over- 
led. "Thus treated, cattle scarcely ever 
take what is called the Texan fever. When 
this appears, one of the most, experienced 
stockmen says lie gives from a teaspoon¬ 
ful to a tablespoonful of belladona, ac¬ 
cording to the age of the animal, and the 
lightness or severity of the attack. One 
dose is generally sufficient, but if the fever 
continues, it can be repeated a second or 
even a third time. If the animal throws 
up a little white froth after this, he says 
it will do no harm. This is a simple 
remedy and we think may be safely tried, 
even if it does uot prove effectual in work¬ 
ing a cure. 
-- 
We note several mistakes which the 
agricultural press have made as to the 
proposition which Dr. J. B. Lawes of St. 
Alban’s, England, has submitted to our 
Commissioner of Agriculture. In order to 
rectify these, we take the liberty of print¬ 
ing a part of a personal letter recently 
received from Dr. Lawes: 
“I wrote, a short time ago, to the 
Commissioner of Agriculture at Washing¬ 
ton, to ask whether the work carried on 
here (RoLhamsted, Eds.) might not in 
some manner be made more directly 
available to the agriculturists of the 
United States. I do not mean now, as it 
is my own fault if I do not make it so 
now, but 1 refer to the time when the 
work passes out of my hands. I have 
suggested that, a lecturer should be sent— 
one perhaps every two or three years—to 
visit various parts of the States. The 
subject will possibly come before the 
public in some way and some opinion will 
be given. My only object is to make my 
experiments as useful as possible to your 
countrymen.” 
-♦ ♦ ♦- - 
DRAWN OR UNDRAWN POULTRY. 
When an ordinary daily newspaper 
attempts to deal with subjects relating 
either directly or indirectly to agricul¬ 
ture it usually makes a mess of it. An 
excitement is now on foot here in regard 
to dressed poultry. The city wiseacres 
have discovered that poultry shipped 
“undrawn” is unwholesome, and adduce 
as a reason that because beeves, hogs, sheep 
and calves come to market without their 
intestines, so poultry and game should 
come. The obvious difference between 
small and large auimals in this respect is 
not seen by the ignorant city person, un¬ 
less it be a housekeeper or a cook, and 
these know' a good reason why poultry 
and game should go to market without 
being drawn. It is that as these small 
animals cannot be split open as jugs, sheep 
and other animals are, the inside is kept 
damp and filled wdth confined stagnant 
air and soon becomes musty, unless it is 
kept naturally closed and filled with the 
intestines. If the city authorities, moved 
by tl jC clamor of ignorant reporters, forbid 
the sale of undrawn poultry in New York 
it will have the effect of shutting out all 
the Western poultry that now reaches this 
great market and keeps the price low 
enough for the poorer consumers to enjoy 
the luxury of a fowl or a turkey for their 
Sunday dinner. The fact is that undrawn 
poultry is in no way injured by the pre¬ 
sence of the intestine, while drawn poultry 
is badly injured within two days, or less 
in damp weather, by mold and mustiness 
which are very dangerous provocatives of 
intestinal disorders. The person who 
would object to buying a fowl that is 
not drawn, and will eat with relish a 
snipe or a woodcock with all its intestinal 
matter intact, or swallow an oyster or a 
clam with its insides unremoved, may be 
consistently charged with swallow iDg a 
camel and straining at a gnat. 
THE IMMIGRANT TAX. 
Our readers are aware that in May 
last a law was enacted by the State Leg¬ 
islature, by virtue of wdiich a tax of one 
dollar was levied on the steamship com¬ 
panies for each immigrant landt’d at this 
port. The law was made for the inspec¬ 
tion of arriving immigrants, the expense 
of its execution being met by the one 
dollar tax above mentioned. On the 10th 
ult., Judge Blatchford, in the U. S. Cir¬ 
cuit Court of this city, decided adversely 
to the validity of such tax on the ground 
that the inspection contemplated by the 
Constitution, for the execution of which 
“ imposts or duties on imports or exports” 
could be collected by the State without 
the consent of Congress, is ati inspection 
of merchandise only, and that immigrants 
are not merchandise. 
It was evident from the facts in the 
case that no favorable decision could be 
justly given for the city as against 
the steamship companies, and Judge 
Blatchford’s action will doubtless be sus¬ 
tained if the case is carried to the Su¬ 
preme Court. 
However, the necessity for such a tax, 
or for some sufficient appropriation on 
the part of Congress, is not lessened. 
Foreign criminals, hopeless invalids and 
and paupers must be cared for temporari¬ 
ly at least, and assistance must lie given to 
such as need it, in seeking homes in the 
West or 8outh, and all this costs money. 
It is unjust that New York State should 
bear this burden, and have more than 
her share of evils and disadvantages in¬ 
cident upon unrestricted immigration, 
and yet. receive less than her share of the 
benefits which may accrue from the bet¬ 
ter class of immigants who go, hugely, 
into other States to seek homes and em¬ 
ployment. 
We believe that it is simply just 
that the expenses attendant upon 
receiving and caring for aliens at the 
port of arrival, should be borne by 
all those who are to participate in the 
advantages of such immigation, that is, 
the whole country, and such a condition 
of things can be best brought about by na¬ 
tional legislation by enacting a law 
which shall bo applicable to all ports and 
all vessels, so that the necessary Com¬ 
missions, and proper institutions may 
be sustained wherever immigrants arrive. 
“ TOO MANY COOKS.” 
Congress at its present session has an 
unusually a large number of bills before 
it relating to agriculture; but nearly all 
of them have the same object in view—to 
make the Department of Agriculture an 
Executive Department, whose chief officer 
shall have a seat in the Cabinet. Mr. B. 
La Fevre, of Ohio, has introduced into 
the House one bill of this kind providing 
for the reorganization of the Department 
and the establishment, in connection with 
it, of Divisions of Chemistry, of Statist¬ 
ics, of Entomology, of Verterinary Sur¬ 
gery, of Experiments with Seeds and 
Plants, of Forestry, of Technology, and 
of Botany, under charge of officers se- 
selected for their knmvTedge of the spe¬ 
cial subjects. Mr. JaD. Updegraff, also 
of Ohio, has offered another bill raising 
the head of the Agricultural Department 
to a seat in the Cabinet, and making his 
Department to consist of five principal 
Bureaus—a Bureau for the Collection of 
Agricultural Information ; a Bureau of 
Education and Labor; a Bureau of Manu¬ 
factures; a Bureau of Transportation, 
and a Bureau of Geological Survey, 
Mr. W. A. Russell, of Mass., has intro¬ 
duced a third bill “to enlarge the pow¬ 
ers and duties of the Department of 
Agriculture,” similar in its provisions to 
the Updegraff bill, except that it does not 
make the Agricultural Department an 
Executive one, nor does it make the head 
thereof a Cabinet officer. Representa¬ 
tive II, L. Muldrow, of Miss., has brought 
forward a fourth bill erecting the Depart¬ 
ment into an Executive Department and 
making its chief a Cabinet officer, with a 
salary of 88,000 a year, and providing for 
an Assistant Secretary at 84,000 a year, 
who must, he a practical agriculturist, and 
who is to be appointed by the President. 
This bill is in most other respects sub¬ 
stantially the same as the Updegraff 
bill. 
The House Committee on Agriculture, 
of which Mr. E. K. Valentine, of Nebras¬ 
ka, is Chairman, has also introduced a 
bill making the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture an Executive Department under the 
control of a Secretary of Agriculture who 
shall receive the same salary as the heads of 
the otherKxecutive Departments. It also 
provides for an Assistant Secretary, who 
shall be a practical agriculturist, whose 
salary shall be the °arae as that of the As¬ 
sistant Secretary of the Department of the 
Interior. There are also to be, first, a 
Bureau of Agricultural Products, includ¬ 
ing Divisions of botany, entomology and 
chemistry; second, a Bureau of Animal 
Industry in charge of a competent veterin¬ 
arian; third, a Bureau of Land, whose 
duties in addition to those of the Com¬ 
mission of Geological Survey, shall in¬ 
clude the investigation of the resources 
and capabiiith s of the public and other 
lands for farming, stock-raising, and min¬ 
ing purposes; and, fourth, a Bureau of 
Statistics. The salary of the chief of each 
Bureau is to be the same as that of the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 
In addition to these House bills, Senator 
H. G. Davis, of West Virginia, has intro¬ 
duced* into the Senate a bill for the 
creation of a Department of Agriculture 
and Commerce to bean Executive Depart¬ 
ment with a chief having a seat in the 
Cabinet. This is to include the present 
Department of Agriculture and the Bur¬ 
eaus, now under control of the Treasury 
and Interior Departments, having to deal 
with the light house service, the coast- 
survey, the life-saving service, the marine 
hospital service, the public lands, the 
geological surveys and the railroads. In a 
word it assigns to the New Department 
t he general supervision of the agricultural, 
commercial, manufacturing and mining 
interests of the country. 
BREVITIES. 
Several valuable fruit lists from eminent 
poruologits will appear next week. 
Dr. Lawes (Rothamsted England) writes 
us that they are having an exceedingly mild 
Winter and the wheat is looking very well. 
Preserve this number of the Rural New- 
Yorker for future reference. This number 
alone should be worth the annual subscrip¬ 
tion price of the paper. 
Mr. Braden, of Minnesota State, has been 
brooding polled cattle for years past, and he 
says, howe ver many crosses he has made by 
them on horned stock, all the calves have come 
and grown up w-ithout horns. Their colors 
range from bright, red to brindle; they are 
of good heavy carcass, head and other points 
sufficiently fine. The cows prove good milk¬ 
ers, and when dried oil' for the purpose, fat¬ 
ten rapidly and make excellent beef. The 
steers mature tolerably early, and find high 
favor with both butcher and consumer, as the 
carcass cuts up profitably, and the beef i8 
tender and savory. Other breeders being 
encouraged by this, are going to import, a con¬ 
siderable number of polled cattle iu the Spring 
from Great Britain. General L. F. Ross, of 
Avon, Illinois, also lias a herd of fine polled 
cattle made up by crosses of Short-horns and 
I levons with Polled Galloways and Red Nor- 
folks. 
The agricultural returns in Great Britain 
for the year 1881 show- in live stock a decrease 
of ubout eight per cent m sheep, between 1880 
and 1881. in t he former year the number of 
sheep was 26,019,000, in the latter there were 
only 25,581,000, which is 2.088,000 loss. In 1874 
they were 30,314.000. Cattle remain nearly the 
same, being foe last year 5,911,642 against 5,- 
912,046, in 1880. Swine had increased a few-, 
numbering 2,000,000 in 1880, against 2,048,000 
in 1881, Permanent pasture had increased since 
1S71, about 1,192,000, acres, while arable land 
had decreased. This show s that the British 
people are finding tillage less profitable than 
stock raising and dairying during the past 
few years of u deluge of rain. Cows and 
heifers in milk bad increased to the number 
of 29.000. Horses remained about the same. 
