520 
THE RURAL 
AUG 
THE 
SCIENCE AS AN AID TO FRAUD. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal 1 ’or Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
EI.B ERT S. CtRHIK. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 81 Pare Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1882. 
LAST NOTICE. 
All advertising copy for the Fair 
Number of the Rural New-Yorker 
must be received on or before the 12th 
inst. Price 40 cts., per line. 
One Hundred Thousand Copies 
guaranteed. 
are 
We are very glad to learn from Mr. 
H. L. Wysor, the originator of the Rural 
Fultzo-Clawson Prize wheat for 1882 and 
’83, that his crop averages 49 bushels to 
the acre, 
acres. 
He raised 195 bushels on four 
We are enabled to announce that our 
Regular Free Seed Distribution for 1882- 
’83 is now settled upon. We deem it 
more valuable than any one of its pre¬ 
decessors. We have no fear as to any 
delays, since the crops are already 
Is there any blessing unattended by a 
curse—any good without an abuse? Cer¬ 
tainly there seem to be few of modern dis¬ 
covery, whatever may be the case with re¬ 
gard to those of aucient date. Of all the 
sciences, chemical science has probably 
made the most rapid progress of late 
years. Science, the highest form of 
knowledge, should, one would think, be an 
unmixed good; but experience shows 
that, like that nameless variety of apple 
that tempted Eve, chemical science con¬ 
veys knowledge of good and evil, and 
one might readily imagine that, as in 
olden time, the evil predominates. It is 
the recent discoveries in this science that 
enable wealthy fraud, with the aid of 
impecunious science, to palm off on the 
public the most insidious adulterations 
and fraudulent imitations of all sorts. 
Individual skill and caution being in¬ 
sufficient to protect the average citizen 
from these results of scientific progress, 
several States, East and West, have already 
attempted to do so by penal legislation, 
hitherto, however, with very unsatisfac¬ 
tory results. Louisiana is the last State 
to add her name to the list. The Govern¬ 
or has just signed a bill making it a mis¬ 
demeanor for dealers to ship or offer foT 
sale or place regularly ou the market 
any sugar or molasses adulterated with 
that outcome of recent chemical science, 
glucose, or any other foreign substance 
whatever, unless the cask shall be branded, 
in clear, legible letters, as containing 
these substances. The penalty for each 
. . . „ quite * . 
secure and we shall begin putting up the violation of the law is imprisonment not 
seeds at the Rural Grounds so early as to to exceed -six months and a fine of from 
• _ _ i • ii . .. 
insure our being 
time for all. 
able to mail them in 
Prof. Storer, in a carefully-considered 
article which appeared in this journal two 
years ago, first called attention to the 
fact that old leather was ground up and 
added to concentrated fertilizers to in¬ 
crease the per centum of nitrogen. Sir J. 
B. Lawes, in his note to the Rural last 
week, remarks upon the insolubility of 
such nitrogen, no matter how it is dis¬ 
solved by the use of acids. Concentrated 
fertilizers thus sometimes show a value 
which they do not possess. 
$200 to $1,000. These new scientific 
frauds should be punished at least as 
severely, and entail as much disgrace, as 
the old vulgar impositions. Why 
shouldn't adulteration of sugar by means 
of the laboratory be just as criminal and 
contemptible as adulteration of 
by me«ns of the sand-cart? 
sugar 
Read Mr. Hale’s remarks as to the 
Manchester and Hovey Strawberries. Mr. 
Hovey was entirely mistaken, and now 
freely admits his mistake. It is unfor¬ 
tunate that the question should have 
arisen, since it appears that many have 
been deterred from procuring the Man¬ 
chester. which is, beyond 
ARTIFICIAL CURING OF HAY. 
The value of the English hay crop is 
estimated at about £12,000,000, or up¬ 
wards of $60,000,000. Ordinarily the 
climate ot Great Britain is considerably 
cooler and much more uncertain during 
haying time than that of this country! 
During the last half-dozen years or so the 
weather has been unusually wet at that 
season, and much injury has consequently 
been done to the hay crop, half of whose 
value can be lost by over-weathering. 
Accordingly a great deal of attention has 
been devoted to the invention of methods 
or devices for artificially curing hay, thus 
is, beyond any doubt, _ __ iuu 
when supplied with plenty of pollen from I rendering the farmer largelv independent 
flnwr« -* — 1 of the weather in this regard. At a trial 
perfect flowers, one of the most pro¬ 
ductive varieties known, while in quality, 
firmness, and vigor of plant and adapta¬ 
tion to many soils and climates—taken 
all together—there are very few kinds 
superior to it. 
Many farmers do not like large, leggy 
cabbage plants. They think they will 
not grow so thriftily or head so surely as 
small, young plants. We beg to say, 
though we do not set ourselves up as 
cabbage authorities, that we have not 
found this to be the case. On the con¬ 
trary, we prefer the older plants for sev¬ 
eral reasons. Foremost is the reason that 
the stems are so tough that they are never 
injured by cut-worms. Again, if the 
leaves are cut off, leaving only the cen¬ 
tral, small, tender leaves, they will stand 
a greater amount of dry weather, while 
they will head almost unfailingly. In 
setting out these old plants, a bole is 
made with a. sharpened broom-stick and 
filled with water. This is the work of 
one man. Another follows and sets the 
plants. 
-- 
THE RURAL CORN CONTEST. 
All who are growing either the Rural 
Thoroughbred Flint or Rural Heavy Dent 
Corn in competition for our premiums 
will in their reports please observe the 
following instructions: 
Give the size of plot, the kind of soil, 
whether inclined to sand or clay: the 
manure used, what was grown on the land 
last year, the preparation, how the seed 
was planted, the number of seed planted, 
how many grew, the bight of the stalks, 
time of ripening, number of ears, weight 
of ears, and weight of shelled corn; the 
ears to be weighed Nov. 1st, and the 
shelled corn on or before Nov. 3d. 
All reports must reach this office on or 
before Nov. 15. No affidavits are then 
required. The reports will be compared, 
and those reporting the heaviest yields, 
all things considered, and who are en¬ 
titled to premiums will then be required 
to support their statements. 
recently started near Reading, for prizes 
amounting to £100, the results of which 
have not yet reached us, twelve machines 
were entered by nine different makers. 
Most of the entries were on the Neilson 
system, referred to elsewhere in this issue 
by Sir J. B. Lawes, under the name of 
the “Exhaust-fan” process. This method 
was devised by Mr. R. Neilson, of Hale- 
wood, near Liverpool, who, instead of 
patenting it, has placed it freely at the 
service of his brother farmers. It is ap¬ 
plicable to the curing of grain and some 
other field crops, as well as of grass. As 
applied to the last, it consists in leaving 
in the middle of the stack of partly green 
grass a hollow space running up to a 
third or even half of the bight of the 
stack. This is connected with the outer 
air at the top of the stack by means of 
an air-tight tube, the end of which is 
connected with an exhaust-fan. As soon 
as the stack begins to beat the fan is set 
in motion, and a9 it exhausts the tube 
and central cav’ty the outer air rushes 
through the stack in all directions to fill 
the vacuum, and the hay is cooled and 
dried, the extracted moisture being dis¬ 
charged from the fan in a cloud of steam. 
Grass stacked quite wet is said to have 
been perfectly cured by this system, and 
the cost of the simple machinery is re¬ 
ported to be saved in labor in the hay- 
field. This and other processes and de¬ 
vices were to be thoroughly tried at the 
Show of the Royal Agricultural Society 
which has just been held at Reading. 
- - 
OBJECT 
OF AGRICULTURAL EX¬ 
PERIMENTS. 
As mentioned at the time in the Rural, 
Commissioner Loring, not altogether 
pleased with the mode previously fol¬ 
lowed in conducting experiments, some 
months ago appointed a committee of ex¬ 
perts to investigate the best conditions 
for sinking artesian wells for irrigating 
purposes on the arid Western plains on 
this side of the Rocky Mountains. 
Should these experiments prove the prac¬ 
ticability of securing an ample supply of 
water in this way, private enterprise will 
doubtless invest heavily in the under¬ 
taking, and thus vast areas now of little 
or no use to tillage or even stock-raising, 
will be economically utilized, and by 
their products contribute to the wealth 
of the country. The full results of the 
investigation have not yet been made 
public, but we learn that the Commis¬ 
sioner intends to have two other experi¬ 
mental welts sunk near the head-waters 
of the Republican River m Northeastern 
Colorado. We not unfrequently see un¬ 
wise objections to such experiments, on 
the ground that they often fail to give 
“satisfactory” results. What is meant by 
“satisfactory” results in such a connec¬ 
tion? The experiments are made to dis¬ 
cover whether certain desirable objects 
can or cannot be attained. A negative, 
therefore, ought to be just as “satisfac¬ 
tory” a result as an affirmative one. Of 
course, it wouldn’t be so “profitable;” 
but as an absolute decision in the matter 
is the end sought, any outcome which 
determines the question ought to be 
“satisfactory” in the strict sense of the 
word in such a connection. Money ex¬ 
pended by the National or State Govern¬ 
ments in such experiments, made for the 
public good, is money legitimately, be¬ 
cause usefully, spent. If the result shows 
that investments in such enterprises will 
prove profitable, such investments are 
sure to be made to the public advantage. 
If the results prove that such investments 
will be unprofitable or disastrous, many 
will be prevented from losing money in 
them, and the public will be once more 
the gainers, for a dollar saved is a dollar 
gained. If the amount of direct profit 
derived from the experiments of public 
and private agricultural stations were the 
criterion of their usefulness, how many 
experiments would be satisfactory ? Ag¬ 
ricultural experiments are justly made 
for knowledge not profit—for the benefit 
of others rather than of the experimenter. 
-- 
REGULATING THE EXPORTATION OF 
IMITATION BUTTER AND CHEESE. 
About a year ago we earnestly urged 
National legislation to regulate the ex¬ 
portation of bogus butter and cheese. 
Vast quantities of these products are 
shipped from this to foreign countries, 
and the amount is constantly increasing. 
They are entered on the ship's manifest 
and sold in foreign markets as true dairy 
products. Under existing laws shippers 
are not required to describe the bogus 
articles as such, so that accurate statistics 
of the amount of each cannot be com¬ 
piled, and our customs laws afford no 
protection against fraud to foreign con¬ 
sumers, and, as a consequence, American 
butter and cheese are fast falling into 
disrepute in all foreign markets. In the 
absence of reasonable safeguards for the 
regulation of our foreign trade in these 
articles, hostile and prohibitory legisla¬ 
tion against our entire trade in butter and 
cheese is being discussed by the British 
Government. In the event of hostile 
measures being adopted by England, 
other countries are certain to follow her 
example. Even the agitation of the sub¬ 
ject has an injurious effect elsewhere. It 
is high time, therefore, that our own 
Government should move promptlyin the 
matter, and the bill in'roduced into Con¬ 
gress last Wednesday, by the House Com¬ 
mittee on Commerce, regulating the ex¬ 
portation of articles made in imitation of 
butter and cheese, should be passed by 
both Houses before the close of the pres¬ 
ent session of Congress. 
The bill provides that the cask, firkin, 
box or tub containing any substance ex¬ 
ported to any country as a product of the 
dairy, which is not made exclusively of 
milk or cream but into which oil or fat 
of animals, not produced by milk, enters as 
a component part, or into which melted 
butter or oil thereof has been introduced 
to take the place of cream, shall be dis¬ 
tinctly and durably branded “ Oleomar¬ 
garine Butter,” or “ Oleomargarine 
Cheese,” when either is made of oleo- 
“Lard Butter” or “Lard 
lard is a component 
margarine; 
Cheese” when 
part; 
and “Vegetable Oil Butter” when 
the stuff is made from a mixture of veg¬ 
etable oil with butter or oleomargarine. 
A manifest correctly describing the ship¬ 
ments must be filed in the Custom House 
by the exporter under a penalty of $100. 
All fhipments from interior points must 
be accompanied by an invoice or list, the 
correctness of which must be certified to by 
the agent or shipper at the port where the 
commodities are exported, before it is 
filed in the Custom House. Any person 
who shall export to any foreign country, 
or cause to be placed on any vessel, 
car or vehicle for exportation, any of 
these articles, and shall fail to stamp 
them and file the required manifest, ex¬ 
poses himself to a fine of $1,000 for every 
offence,half of which is to go to the inform¬ 
er. Moreover, Collectors are authorized 
to impose a fine of $5 on the shipper of 
every package not correctly branded 
when found for transportation on any ship, 
car or vehicle, and also to employ special 
inspectors of dairy products to enforce 
the provisions of the bill. 
We would have been much better 
pleased had this laudable measure been 
introduced at an earlier period of the 
session; now we can hardly expect it to 
pass before Congress adjourns. The fact 
that its introduction was delayed until 
Congress is on the eve of adjourning, al¬ 
though the necessity for it was strongly 
urged by ourselves and others twelve 
months ago, makes it pretty clear to our 
mind that it is one of those excellent 
measures which Congressmen know they 
ought to pass for the benefit of our vast 
agricultural interests, but which “for 
reasons” they do not pass until forced by 
public clamor. In order to escape the 
wrath of iheir constituents, however, 
they bring them forwaid at the last mo¬ 
ment, not with any idea of passing them, 
but merely to make a little “political 
capital” with gullible rustic voters. 
BREVITIES. 
Kansas, the Rural congratulates you! 
Thirty-five million bushels of wheat? We 
hope you may do as well next year—and the 
next. 
Look upon your corn fields no matter how 
poor the stand or how backward the plants, 
as worthy of your best care. Half an average 
yield this year may prove as valuable as a 
full average yield in ottier years. 
TnoSK who are interested in poultry will 
follow the articles begun in t-bis number of the 
Rubai- New Yorker with interest and in¬ 
struction. They will embody in the series all 
that anybody needs to know who does not fol¬ 
low poultry raising as a pastime or a hobby 
into which the question of economy and profit 
does not enter. 
We beg to call the attention of housekeepers 
who are troubled with flies to Mrs. Maple’s 
test with Dalmatian Insect Powdor. We have 
made the same test, and can fully corrobo¬ 
rate her statements. By the use of very small 
quantities of this powder blown through a 
bellows every fly in a room may be killed in 
half an hour. 
Quite a number of times have we alluded 
to the beautiful little tree or shrub, Hall’s 
App'e—now illustrated from nature on our 
first page. The apple is only the size of a 
small or half-grown pea and the plant itself is 
never densely clothed with foliage. But in 
early Spring its habit is very graceful and its 
pendaDt, delicate flowers, borne in great pro¬ 
fusion, will please all who give it good care. 
A friend of the Rural owning, in Mary¬ 
land, a tract of about 4,000 acres of land, part 
cleared and part timbered, wants a farm 
superintendent. A satisfactory man must be 
a good Christian; a thoroughly practical 
farmer, well acquainted with late methods of 
agriculture and farm machinery, and one 
capable of handling men with kindness and 
tact. There is a good dwelling-house together 
with convenient outbuildings ou the place. 
Communications may be sent to this office 
addressed “Superintendent.” 
The Tariff Commission is now in session at 
Long Branch, N. J. The various manufactu¬ 
ring industries are employing able counsel to 
represent their interests for ita consideration. 
Being comparatively few in number in each 
division, and having large stakes, dependent 
on the decision that may lie arrived at, these 
readily combine to defray the expenses of 
skillful representation. One of the points they 
are urging most vigorously is the removal or 
reduction of duties on “raw materials ” 
Wool, sugar, flaxaud all other agricultural 
products now protected by the tariff are “raw 
materials,” and any alteration in the import 
duties on these would affect the welfare of 
farmers. It Is to be hoped that the various 
agricultural societies throughout the country 
will see to it that the agricultural interests of 
the nation are properly represented before the 
Commission. 
The Society for the Promotion of Agricul¬ 
tural Science will hold its third annual meet¬ 
ing at Montreal on August 21 and 22. The 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science will begin its thirty-first meeting 
in the same city on August 23. Most of the 
members of the former Society are also mem¬ 
bers of the latter. The meetings will be open 
to the public and all interested in the objects 
of both Societies are cordially invited to at¬ 
tend. The following contributors to the col¬ 
umns of the Rural Nbw-Yorker will treat 
of the subjects mentioned:—L. B. Arnold, 
A. M., Origin of Butter Fat: Patrick Barry, 
Esq.. Underdraining; W. J. Beal, Ph. D., 
Testing Seeds at Different Temperatures, and 
Varieties of Red Clover; G C. Caldwell, Ph. 
D., The Maintenance Ration; J. Henry Com¬ 
stock, B. Sc., The Best Methods of Destroying 
Scale Insects; A. J. Cook, M. Sc., experi¬ 
ments with Bees and Other Insects: Geo. W. 
Cook, LL. D., The Study of Boils; F. A. 
Gully, B. Sc., The Food Value of Cotton-seed; 
A. R. Ledoux. Ph. D., the Past, Present and 
Future of Peruvian Guano, Chemically, Agri¬ 
culturally, and Politically Considered; I. P. 
Roberts, M. Agri., Pulverizing and Stirring 
the Soil; D. E. Salmon, D. V. M., Our Ani¬ 
mal Plagues and the Means of Controlling 
Them; J. VV. Sanborn, B. S., The Relation 
Between the Relative and Absolute Quantities 
of Food and Water Taken, to the Amounts of 
Food Nutriments Assimilated; W. W. Tracy, 
M. Sc., the Influence of Soils on the Germina¬ 
tion of Seeds. E. Lewis Bturtevant is Secre¬ 
tary, P. O. Address, Geneva, N. Y. 
