320 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APRIL 4 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
▲National Journal (or Conn try and Suburban H o mn a. 
Conducted by 
ELBERTB.CABBAB 
Address 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Pabk Bow, New York. 
fc-,. EAIURDAY, APRIL 1, lbfc2. 
If the number on your wrapper after 
the name is 1079, your subscription ex¬ 
pires with this week’s paper ; if the 
number is 1680, next week, and so on. 
See page 228 for full explanation. 
•--— 
How much benefit is derived from the 
use of new (green) farm-yard manure the 
first season? Very much less than is usu¬ 
ally supposed. There is no doubt about 
it. Dr. Lawes's article in a late Rural 
New-Yorker should be studied carefully 
by every farmer. We should like much 
to have this experiment tried upon an old 
sod. Plow and prepare the land all alike. 
Upon half, spreal farm manure that has 
accumulated during the Winter. Upon 
the other half use no manure. It is our 
belief from our own experience that there 
will be little difference in the yield, and, 
should there be a drought, that the un¬ 
manured half would yield the heavier. 
Not so, however, the second year and 
subsequent years. The effects of the farm 
manure would then show plainly enough. 
The Unrest of Labor During the 
past week “wars and rumors of wars” 
(so to speak) have arisen between capital 
and labor. At Lawrence, Mass., over 
3,000 persons employed in the woolen 
mills are out of work ; in the West rail¬ 
road employes have caused an agitation 
so alarming as to necessitate the inter¬ 
vention of federal troops; in Brooklyn 
several hundred workmen in Government 
employ have “struck” against workiug 
over eight hours per day and have re¬ 
tained Gen. B. F. Butler to prosecute 
their claims before the Court of Claims 
•if. Washington ; in the coal regions there 
has been a similar trouble, and so it goes. 
As long as t here are hot-headed demagogues 
and unprincipled leaders on both sides of 
the question, so long may trouble be 
expected, unless the common sense of 
the workingman teaches him of better 
methods to gain his ends, and that of 
the capitalist tells him it is not policy to 
“ grind down” his employes that his 
own pocket may be enriched. Let aibi- 
tration take the place of “strikes.” 
SUBSIDENCE OF THE DELUGE. 
From Cairo, Memphis, Helena, Vicks¬ 
burg, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, 
telegrams announce that the Mississippi 
is subsiding, the rate varying at the dif¬ 
ferent, points, but averaging since Thurs¬ 
day evening about three inches in every 24 
hours. Stones of distress and disaster are 
still heartrending. It is estimated that in 
Southern Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, 
Arkansas and Louisiana about 35,000 peo¬ 
ple will have to be supported by public 
or private charity until the condition of 
the inundated country shall enable them 
to earn a livelihood. Even after the 
ground has become fit to work, thousands 
of small land-owners and tenant farmers 
must be assisted with seed, mules and ra¬ 
tions to enable them to make a crop. The 
National Government has already appro¬ 
priated $150,000 for rations to relieve the 
urgency of present distress, and $15,000 
for seed for the next crop. In all the 
large cities organizations are being form¬ 
ed for the collections of private charity to 
supplement public aid, which, of course, 
will cease so soon as the immediate pres¬ 
sure of disaster has relaxed. It is yet too 
soon to predict, with anything like cer¬ 
tainty, the effect the calamity will have on 
the next harvest, but the outlook is 
generally less gloomy than a couple of 
weeks ago. 
-♦ - ♦-- 
PREMATURE GLORIFICATION. 
A couple of months ago we chanted an 
exultant paean on receipt, of the cabled 
news of the victory of the American Hog 
over French un just discrimination,narrow¬ 
minded prejudice and chauvinistic ignor¬ 
ance. Our song, however, was premature, 
not because the merits of our noble beast 
are less effulgent than we pictured them, 
but because the defects of his foes are 
blacker than we painted them. Had Gam- 
betta remained in power, being a man of 
ability and intelligence, he would un¬ 
doubtedly have soon welcomed the Amer¬ 
ican Hog to the fair fieldB of France and 
the tables of her children. His successors 
have been less wise and just; and now the 
cable announces that Rochefort, the jour¬ 
nalistic caterer to the dense ignorance and 
prejudice of the lowest classes in France, 
has raised a frenzied howl against the 
admission of the American Hog in any 
form. It is about time that this country 
should promptly adopt retaliatory meas¬ 
ures by embargoing adulterated French 
wines and fraudulently weighted French 
silks until the present restrictions on im¬ 
portations of hog products are removed 
in France. Since the imposition of these, 
our expoitsof such products have steadily 
fallen off, less owing to the decreased 
Gallic importations than to the prejudice 
elgewhere created by the continuance 
of the embargo. During the past four 
months, as compared with the same 
period last year, there has been in our 
exports a decline of 129,000,000 pounds 
of bacon, 11,000,000 pounds of pork, 
19,000,000 pounds of ham ard 49,000,- 
000 pounds of lard, worth, all told, 
about $10,800,000. If our appeal to the 
brains and stomach of Frenchmen shall 
continue ineffectual, how long shall we 
delay before bringing them to reason 
through the pocket? 
--*-*-*- 
HOPS. 
In the year ending June 30, 1881, we 
exported 8,990,055 pounds of hops, valued 
at $2,016,970, against 9,739,666 pounds 
valued at$2,573,292, in 1880—afallingoff 
of 748,911 pounds, valued at $556,322. 
The hop is very liable to disease and 
blight and accordingly the yield of the 
crop is very variable: thus, in 1869, 69,463 
bales were exported from this port and 
none imported, while in 1873 only 315 
bales were exported and 20,885 were im¬ 
ported. This great difference, however, 
was not due altogether to a failure in the 
crop, but rather to the fact that in ’67, 
’68 and ’69 there was in some parts of the 
country a species of hop mania under the 
influence of which large areas were plant¬ 
ed to hops; then owing to th<j excessive 
supply prices fell, and as a consequence 
many abandoned the business, causing a 
scarcity and therefore unusually high 
prices in 1873. In this country, New 
York, Wisconsin, Michigan, California 
and Vermont are the principal hop-pro¬ 
ducing States, although considerable 
quantities are produced in several of the 
other States. In Europe, England grows 
more hops than any other country, and 
more than half the quantity produced 
there is grown in Kent, where from 25,000 
to 30,000 acres are yearly under this crop. 
In ordinary seasons England raises nearly 
enough hops for her own use, but in years 
of scarcity she imports largely from this 
and other countries. For instance, in 1879 
she imported 262,765 cwts. of which 108,- 
305 cwts. were derived from the United 
States; 63,485 cwts. from Belgium whose 
hops have a high reputation; 50,567 cwts. 
from Germany; 26,790 from Holland and 
smaller quantities from France and the 
Dominion of Canada. As with every 
other farm product, the price of hops is 
regulated by the relation of demand and 
supply, modified now and then by specu¬ 
lative flurries. An examination of our 
Market Reports for the last six years 
shows that the price per pound of “choice” 
New York State, “new crop” hops 
was on March 31, 1877, 10c. to 15c ; 
March 30, 1878, 12e. to 13c.; March 29, 
1879, 9c. to 13c; March 27, 1880, 33c. to 
30c.; March 26, 1881, 22c. to 23; March 
25, 1882, 24c. to 25c. Prices now give a 
very fair profit to the grower, and are 
likely to remain steady, as the home and 
foreign demand is pretty sure to be fully 
equal to the supply. 
OLEOMARGARINE. 
There are now before the New York 
Legislature four bills relating to the 
manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, 
all seeking to devise some way of prevent 
ing the concoction from being sold as 
genuine butter. Ohio, Michigan, Illinoi 0 , 
Iowa, and indeed every State in which 
dairying is a prominent industry, have 
already passed laws more or leas stringent 
either regulating the manufacture and 
sale of the. product, or entirely prohibiting 
both within the State lines. There is no 
doubt that, some of these laws, hattily and 
crudely formulated, will be declared un¬ 
constitutional should their validity ever 
be brought before the United States 
Supreme Court for decision. Others have 
become inoperative either from their ex¬ 
treme severity, or because no proper means 
were provided for enforcing them. Ac¬ 
cordingly the manufacture, domestic sale 
and exportation of oh omargarine and of 
the kindred product, suiue, have steadily 
increased, despite all hostile legislation. 
There are several bills relating to these 
products now before Congress, and the 
other day the Bureau of Statistics intro¬ 
duced before the House Committee in 
charge of the matter, some figures that 
are very suggestive if not conclusive as to 
the disastrous influence of oleomargarine 
on the foreign sale of American butter. 
Briefly, during the six fiscal years ending 
June 30, 1881, the annual value of oleo¬ 
margarine exports rose from $70,483 to 
$381,566. Whereas in 1878 the exports 
amounted to only 1,698,401 pounds, in 
1881 they reached 26,327,676 pounds. On 
the other hand, our exports of butter 
amounted to only 21,331,358 pounds in 
1881 against 37,000,000 the previous year, 
and it is morally certain a considerable 
proportion of this quantity, too, consisted 
of oleomargarine in the form of adulter¬ 
ations. 
Undoubtedly some of the falling 
off in our butter exports was due to the 
great drought which lessened the yield 
and raised the price of genuine butter; 
but the tables of the Bureau of Statistics 
show that "while the value per pound of 
our exported butter w r as over 20c. in Sep¬ 
tember, October and November 1880, it 
was only slightly over 19 cents in 1881, 
this falling off of a cent a pound in price 
in our exports despite the higher price of 
the product in the home market, being 
due mainly to the suspicions engendered 
in foreign consumers as to the genuineness 
ot butter from this country. Thus our 
foreign butter trade is injured by oleo¬ 
margarine uot only by competition in 
European markets, but also ly giving rise 
to the depreciating suspicion that “Amer¬ 
ican butter” is liable either to be adulter¬ 
ated with this concoction or even to consist 
of it exclusively. In this State alone 
there are already facilities for producing 
116,000,000 pounds of oleomargarine 
annually, while the entire butter product 
is only 111,000,000 pouuds. The stuff 
can be profitably turned out at nine cents 
a pound, and with capability of production 
at this low' figure limited only by the gul¬ 
libility of the public, the supply of tallow 
and lard and the laxity of the laws against 
fraud, the outlook for genuine butter is 
by no means bright unless legislation. 
State and National, shall intervene for the 
protection of honest dairying and the un- 
discriminating public. 
--- 
STAMP IT OUT. 
When, in 1879, the Legislature of 
New York was fully aroused to the dis¬ 
astrous presence of contagious pleuro 
pneumonia in a few herds of cattle in 
this and some of the adjoining counties, 
laws w'ere promptly passed providing for 
the stamping out of the plague, an ap¬ 
propriation of $10,000 w as made to meet 
the expenses of the measures necessary 
to secure this end, and Gen. M. R. Patrick 
was appointed to superintend the work. 
By prompt, energetic action he soon greatly 
circumscribed the area in which the dis¬ 
ease w r as prevalent, and w r hen last June he 
resigned to accept the position of Gover¬ 
nor of the National Soldiers’ Home at 
DaytoD, Ohio, the disease had been al¬ 
most eradicated from this State. The 
Legislature has every year appropriated 
ample funds for the suppression of 
the plague; but after Gen. Patrick’s 
resignation the Governor culpably de¬ 
layed the appointment of a successor un¬ 
til March 9, when he appointed Mr. Au¬ 
gustus Dennistou. of Orange County. The 
consequence of this gross remissness lias 
been that the disease has spread alarm¬ 
ingly in some neighboring counties, in 
spite of the efforts of Mr. A. O. Hopkins, 
Ge.n. Patrick’s deputy, who with limited 
powers and means has been in charge of 
the work since his former chief’s resigna¬ 
tion. 
Since the passage of the law pro¬ 
viding for the suppression of this 
malady, 838 infected cattle have 
been destroyed, for which their owners 
have been indemnified at an average 
rate of about $50 per head, which is 
calculated to have been about two-thirds 
the value of the animals. About 500 
more have been voluntarily destroyed by 
their owners after it had been discovered 
that they had been exposed to infection, 
although the disease had not become de¬ 
veloped. Of those slaughtered by the 
legal authorities upwards of 400 were in 
Putnam County, w'hich all along bus been 
the worst-infected county in the State. 
The other day a herd of 31 cattle belong¬ 
ing to Mr. A. S. Baldwin, of Patterson, 
w r as exterminated, and in the same town 
the disease has been prevalent among a 
large herd of pure-bred Jerseys—some of 
them imported—ever since last April. 
The plague is also prevalent in New 
York, Westchester, King’s, Queen’s, Suf¬ 
folk and Richmond Counties. 
A prolific cause of the spreading of the 
disease is the habit of sending milch cows 
from one dairy to another on trial; another 
is the wicked selfishness displayed by 
some owners in selling to innocent parties 
cattle either slightly diseased or that have 
been exposed to infection. For instance, 
on the farm of J-H-of Yonkers, 
N. Y., the disease broke outamong a herd 
of 43 head last December. In January 
this herd was brought to the Union Stock 
Yards in this city and sold at auction. 
Not only does this practice spread disease 
broadcast by the dispersion of the infected 
animals among sound cattle, but it infects 
the stalls in the market in which the cattle 
rested prior to their dispersion, and in 
this way infects the animals that may 
subsequently be placed in those stalls and 
the herds to which these may afterward 
be driven. It w r as precisely in this way 
—by the introduction into his herd of a 
cow purchasedat the Union Stock Yards— 
that Mr. Baldwin incurred the loss of all 
his cattle. 
-♦ ♦ m - 
BREVITIES. 
Remember the American Forestry Associa¬ 
tion meets at Cincinnati, Ohio, April 25-29. 
Dr. John A. Warder (North Bend, O.) is the 
worthy president. 
A friend writes us from Walworth Co. as 
follows: “A few years ago what might be 
called a Hop Wave passed over this section 
and many rushed into the business hastily and 
suffered thereby afterwards.” 
According to Professor McBryde’s care 
ful experiments with fertilizers on wheat, 
muriate of potash gave better results than 
the sulphate of potash. Sulphate of magnesia 
proved superior to acid phosphate of lime. 
There is a perfect rage for seed potatoes of 
Beauty of Hebron, The price is six dollars 
per barrel. Beware of what you buy—or ra¬ 
ther, be sure that your seed is true. We 
hope that the next now potato that the Ru¬ 
ral disseminates will prove as valuable as 
have the Beauty and White Elephant. 
“ I have lost all patience,” says a writer in 
the Adams Co. (Pa ) Star and Sentinel, “in 
reading page after page of advice about 
* sowing corn fodder, growing ‘ root crops’ 
etc., to eke out short pastures after harvest. 
Will these precious panaceas grow when the 
pastures wont ? Or, if they will who can tell 
us in advance when the need for them is com¬ 
ing ?” 
The Common Hop is botanieally Humulus 
Lupulus. The male plants bear their sterile 
flowers in loose axillary panicles with five 
sepals and five erect stamens. The fertile 
flowers aro in short axillary spikes or catkins. 
The fruiting calyx is sprinkled with yellow, 
resinous grains which give the bitter taste to 
the hop. It is indigenous to alluvial banks 
northward and westward. 
Mu. William Smith, of Ontario County, 
New York, is an extensive hop grower. He 
estimates the cost of raising hops is about 12 
cents per pound. He states to the editor of 
the Rural Home that he has sold, at harvest 
time, at as high as 60 cents and as low as nine 
cents. A maximum crop is about 800 pounds 
per acre, and at the estimated coat of 12 cents 
a pound, 20 cents would give a profit of $04 
an acre on a maximum crop. Of course, 
many fail to get maximum crops, and then the 
cost far exceeds 12 cents a pound, and the crop 
may involve a considerable loss. 
The latest trustworthy estimate of the com¬ 
ing Texas cattle drive, including those from 
the Indian Nation, puts the number at 300,000 
head. These will lie shipped from the Kansas 
prairies by rail to Kansas City, St. Louis, 
Chicago and eastward. Three and four-year - 
old cattle will be scarce. The average prices 
of cattle already coutructed for are, year¬ 
lings, #13; two year-olds, $16. The outlook 
for the cattle trade next Summer is considered 
bright, and the extent of the trade for the 
next few years, prophecy says will “exceed 
the wildest predictions of the’most sanguine.” 
Several steamships leaving this port for 
Europe during the past week have taken grain 
as ballast. Owing to the fact that wheat is 
dearer here than in England, nobody wants 
to send wheat thither except the few who 
have contracts to deliver American wheat 
there, or those who, hopeful of a rise in prices 
there, desire to take advantage of the ex¬ 
tremely low rates of ocean transportation 
ruling just now in consequence of the falling 
off in transatlantic traffic. Accordingly one 
lino lias taken several tons of wheat at two 
cents a bushel, although the cost of handling 
the grain is four cents a bushel; while the 
French line to Havre, having contracts to carry 
grain ut 7 1 .( cents per bushel, has been offered 
one cent, per bushel to cancel the contracts, and 
has refused. 
The value of the stakes run for in the Uni¬ 
ted Kingdom in 1880, exclusive of steeple¬ 
chases, matches and prizes given in certain 
cases to the second and third horses, breeders, 
etc., was about $2,000,000. Germany is coming 
to the front in horse racing as in other mat 
tors, having given 1,213,001 marks, or about 
$242,710, in stakes last year, of which sum 
the government contributed 210,000 marks 
as an encouragement to tho improvement 
of horses. The price paid for young race¬ 
horses seems to be really no indication of 
what their success is likely to be. Of eight 
thoroughbred yearlings sold in England 
for $55,000 In 1879, not one could win a 
race last year, and in 1880 their total win¬ 
nings reached the pulfcry sura of $3,200. 
The other day we saw a melancholy list 
of yearlings sold within the lust 20 years 
at prices ranging from $6,000 to $20,000, 
most of which never did anything worth 
mentioning, while youngsters picked up for 
a song have put laurels on the brows and for¬ 
tunes in the pockets of their lucky owners. 
