702 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
OCT 14 
depression has missed the farmer who goes to 
church or chapel regularly twice on Sunday, 
and fallen witb exceptional severity on those 
who do not go at all? Are bad seasons and 
American competition staved off from any 
particularly pious parish? Is Agierica, which 
has been agriculturally prosperous so long, 
more righteous than England, which has been 
agriculturally desolated? “Or those eighteen 
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew 
them, think ye that they were sinners above 
all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?” 
-- 144 - 
A writer, in the London Times calls the 
returns “a sad story,” and finds food for grief 
in the reflection that the foreigners are going 
there to buy breeding stock by shiploads. 
What if they are? asks the Agricultural 
Gazette. They pay well for what they take, 
and cash, even more than cattle, is what the 
occupiers of Great Britain are in urgent need 
of. The foreign demand is not a drain on, 
but a replenishment of, distressed agriculture. 
If one could conceive of shiploads of cattle 
and sheep being taken off by visitors like our 
Danish ancestors, then the foreign demaud 
would indeed be a loss. In the form in which the 
foreigner now appears on our shores his advent 
is one of glad tidings, and not “a sad story.’’ 
■ »»» 
President McCann thinks that heavy land 
may be injured by taking all stones off. The 
tendency is to make such land heavier. All 
stones that give trouble in cultivation may be 
removed without harm, but small stones that 
do not interfere with the plow or mowing 
machine, may be left with good effect. They 
help in tempering the soil and they give very 
little hurtful interference with roots of plants. 
-- 
Potatoes.—O f the new sorts being tested 
at the Ferry Gardens, Detroit, Mich., the 
Garfield, a medium-sized white potato, with 
a smooth skin and a round shape, appears the 
most promising. It yields well, and its cook¬ 
ing qualities are pronounced excellent. The 
Queen of the Valley is a very large, rather 
course-looking potato, with an irregular shape 
and rather deep eyes. But it is said to yield 
enormously, and the quality is very good. 
For a medium early crop Mr. Tracy, the 
superiotendeut, recommends Brownell’s Tele¬ 
phone as a good yielder and of very fair 
quality. We glean the above items from the 
Michigan Farmer. 
-- 444 - 
Unfortunately says Judge Jones of Ohio 
in the London Live Stock Journal, a large 
majority of the breeders in this country, who 
have paid extravagant prices for gilt-edge 
pedigrees, have been gentlemen who, having 
accumulated fortunes in other pursuits, in¬ 
vested in fanc 3 r -stock, either as a matter of 
speculation, or for the pleasure and excitement 
it affords, rather than with a view to improv¬ 
ing the breed in useful and profitable qualities. 
. . The influence of these extravagaut invest¬ 
ments in cattle of fancy breeding is seriously 
detrimental in various ways. Every sale of 
the high-priced family is published and com¬ 
mented upon by the press, so that the new 
beginner naturally enough concludes that the 
inimals belong to a superior strain; and he 
invests his money, expecting soon to realize a 
fortune, but when he looks out for a purchaser 
for his surplus stock, lie finds that the practical 
farmer, who must in the end be his customer ' 
cares nothing whatever for the fancy family. 
What he wants is a good thick and substantial 
bull, of pure blood—characteristics which he 
observes are not found in large proportion in 
strains that have long been in-bred. 
- 44-4 -- 
Potato Disease. —J. L. Jensen, Director 
of Agriculture at Copenhagen, Denmark, has 
written a treatise on the potato disease and 
how to overcome it, which has been translated 
into English in Scotland. He found by a long 
series of experiments that those varieties 
which rooted the deepest, burying their tu¬ 
bers the best, were most free from the disease. 
The spores of the fungus, which cause the 
disease, are conveyed through the atmosphere, 
and earth is found to be a protection to the 
potato-roots, which can only be reached by 
the rain or dew carrying these spores down 
through the ground. Hence he earths up the 
potato, and finds that the plants are protected 
from this disease, and yield as well as when 
the vine is cultivated flat on the surface. This 
applies to all varieties. 
- 4 4 4 -- 
Baron Von Raub, Leon Springs, Bexar 
County, has 8,000 acres all under fence, prop¬ 
erly sub-divided, and stocked with beautiful 
Shetland and spotted ponies. His breeding 
stock consists of seven stallions and 45 mares, 
all thoroughbred, and SOOspetted pony mares. 
He is breeding a race of striped and spotted 
ponies to please the children. He sells the in¬ 
crease to persons all over the world, and the 
Texas Wool Grower says the supply is not 
equal to the demand. These little ponies 
range over the prairies like sheep or goats, 
and present a novel appearance—very gentle, 
every one as docile as a cat, and can be 
caught anywhere on the range. 
- « 4 «- * 
Much has been said of late concerning the 
long-discussed notion that malaria is caused 
by the multiplication in the human system of 
germs whose natural habitat is in the swamp 
air, impure water, etc. Some writers have 
even found aud described what they believe 
to be this germ or bacillus. The British Med¬ 
ical Journal is not enthusiastic, over the mat¬ 
ter as a demonstrated fact. In reply to a 
recent correspondent, the editor says: ‘‘The 
very existence of the bacillus malaria is 
doubtful; and it is as yet impossible to detect 
it in drinking water.” 
- 
The Crocket Patron, Texas, warns its 
readers that it will not do to turn hungry 
cattle upon the stubble of sorghum cane. A 
very small portion of the second growth will 
kill them, It says. A neighboring farmer has 
lately had experience of the matter in the loss 
of two cows, and several others were extreme¬ 
ly sick, but recovered. It is not the quanti¬ 
ty eaten that kills, but the feed seems to be 
extremely poisonous. A cow with a full 
stomach, however, says our Texas contera- 
l>orary f may be turned on it with impunity. 
Dr. Voelcker, in the Dairy Association’s 
Journal (England), says; “None of the five 
samples of condensed milk analyzed by me 
were produced from whole new, but from 
more or less skimmed milk. Really good con¬ 
densed milk, as a matter of fact, is always 
made from skim-milk or a milk poor in cream. 
Condensed milk is not a perfect substitute for 
new milk, either chemically or physically. 
At the best most kinds of good condensed 
milk are milk sirups, consisting cf condensed 
skim-milk and white sugar.” 
James Cairo, high authority in England 
on agricultural matters, says: The introduc¬ 
tion of foreign meat and cereals is of immense 
benefit to the consuming classes of Europe. 
American statesmen believe they are rapidly 
gaining control of this trade, and can main¬ 
tain it even at lower prices. It must be met 
by the production here of articles which will 
not bear long storage or carriage, such us 
milk, fresh butter, early vegetables, meat, 
hay, straw, potatoes, aud the sugar beet. 
The drain of agricultural labor and capital 
to the United States and Canada, which has 
already begun, which nothing can prevent 
from continuing aud increasing, will alter the 
existing conditions of agricultural property 
in England. Our agriculture must adapt it¬ 
self to the change, freely accepting the good 
it brings and skilfully using the advantages 
which greater proximity to the best market 
must always command.” 
^ ^ ^ * 
Mr. Dyer, in the Maine Agricultural Re¬ 
ports, says that Mr. Ritchie kept his sheep 
penned, and fed them generously on hay and 
grain; yet he failed to make them gain in 
weight during the Winter; but he did well 
and made money, however, because he dressed 
his sheep aud sent them to Boston. He also 
built up his farm from the dressing. Mr- 
Gould replied that he saw at the Agriculture 
College of Guelph, Out, some sheep that were 
fattening for the last Chicago Fat Stock Show. 
The College took the prize in 1880 over all the 
United States for the sheep shown at the Fat 
Stock Show in Chicago, and he was confident 
it would do it again this year. Those sheep 
were not out of the folds. They were in a 
large, airy basement of the building. Those 
sheep bad been in there for six or eight 
months, and they were to stay in there till 
they went to Chicago. They were excessively 
fat in June. Mr. Brown said that was the 
way to fatten sheep, and that he would defy 
all competition in the United States in the 
production of mutton. 
“There was a gentleman at my bouse not 
long since who was discouraged in farming 
somewhat,” said Mr, F. W. Ritchie. 1 told 
him that farmers did not go in to make it 
pay. Said I, “We plod along in the old ruts 
and thluk we must not employ any labor be¬ 
cause it doesn’t pay. Now,” said I, “when I 
employ two men—an 1 I do so most of the 
time—my profits are greater than when 1 
only have one. 1 am satisfied that is the way 
to make the most progress in wealth on our 
farms. You all know that my farm has in¬ 
creased in its value, in its fertility and in the 
value of the buildings, and it has all been 
done by hired labor, except what has been 
done by myself. You see, brother farmers, 
how true it is, that if you keep a team to do 
your work, that same team will do the work 
where you have half a dozen men; it costs 
just as much to keep it for one man as for 
half a dozen; so the more men you have the 
greater profit you have on your team.” 
-- 
Here is a list of apples for the home orchard 
recommended for Kansas and Missouri by 
the Missouri State Horticultural Society: 
One Early Harvest; one Summer Rose; one 
Carolina Red June; one Cooper’s Early 
White; one Hightop Sweet. This will give 
five of the very best and Earliest of the Sum¬ 
mer apples. One Red Astrachan; two Pri¬ 
mate; one American Summer Pear main; one 
Lowell, and two Jefferis, will take ns safely 
to the Fall apvdes, and make 13 Summer va¬ 
rieties in all. Two Maiden’s Blush; two Ram- 
bo; one Fall Pippin; one Bailey Sweet; one 
Astley; one Wine, and two Grimes’s Golden 
will overlap a little on the Winter list, as 
these last two will sometimes keep until 
Chri-tmas, but they are only safely counted 
as Fall apples. We thus have 10 Fall apple 
trees, beginning the Winter with three Jona 
thau; two Roman Stem, and two Newtown 
Spitzenberg, we are fairly arrived at the sea¬ 
son of real keepers; five Missouri Pippin; five 
Winesap; five Ben Davis, and five Rawle’s 
Janet complete a list of fifty trees. Fulton 
and Mother were added to the above list. 
— ■ ■ ■■■ - 
THE LATEST AND BRIEFEST. 
The Georgia Horticultural Society con¬ 
demns “ringing” grape-vines, that is girdling 
or cutting the cane below the bunch so as to 
prevent a reflux of the sap in order to increase 
the size of the grapes. 
A farmer near Montreal, Canada, is going 
to sue the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals for having imported 
sparrows. He says they have already eaten 
up 30 acres of barley, destroyed his potatoes 
and played havoc with his early vegetables.. 
Mu. Berckmans, of Georgia, humorously 
calls the Sharpless Strawberry the Shapeless. 
He remarked that it ships well and that the 
demand in Augusta was such the past season 
that it brought 25 cents coming from Charles¬ 
ton while Wilson was difficult to sell at lOcents. 
Dr Hope, of Georgia, prefers the Bidwell 
to the Sharpless.Mr. Berckmans 
estimates that Moore’s Early Grape is three 
weeks ahead of the Concord. It is gone before 
the Concord. Ships well. 
Several members of the Georgia State 
Horticultural Society pronounce mulberries 
the best kind of feed for hogs. Dr Brown 
says that he grows the mulberry near Augusta 
to feed his poultry, the birds and the negroes 
of the neighborhood and would not, therefore, 
be without mulberry trees.. 
“Losses and crosses 
Are blessings in disguise.”— 
Let this cheer you up disheartened friend.. 
The Lindley Grape (Rogers) is just begin¬ 
ning to be appreciated... 
Help agriculture by attending the fairs and 
condemning horse-racing. 
In ordering fruit trees, order them stocky 
and young... 
We are glad to see Professor Shelton speaks 
well of Heige’s Prolific recently illustrated in 
the Rural, and commends a trial of it to 
Kansas farmers... 
Uncle Arp says, “Politics is a thing in¬ 
tended mainly to furnish town folks and 
deadbeats with an easy way of getting a 
living, and I don’t think we farmers have got 
much interest in it, except to go arid vote 
quietly when the time comes. Farming and 
home affairs are bigger things than politics... 
“ We cannot refrain from remarking,” says 
theNational Tribune (Washington)edited agri¬ 
culturally by the able Mr. Sanders, “that the 
articles distributed by the Rural New- 
Yorker are of the very highest order of 
merit; they are new and mostly rare things, 
and not the surplus stock of cultivators. How 
infinitely more valuable to the country are 
these disseminations, as compared to the flood 
of fifth-rate chromos which one so frequently 
meets with, as so-called gifts. 
The Heruld’s Religious Item says: “If you 
ever have the good fortune to get to heaven 
you will find there a great many people whom 
you didn’t expect to see, and you will miss a 
great many others whom you expected to 
find....... 
An excellent piece of advice: take 50 pey 
cent off of the bad reports about you neigh¬ 
bors and put 50 per cent on the good ones. 
Flockmastebs are keeping their flocks in 
good, healthy condition with sorghum and 
rice corn. It is Mr. T. II. Cavanaugh’s 
opinion that sorghum is the coming sheep 
feed, either for keep or to fatten in North¬ 
western Kansas...... 
Auanimal will notthrive when shakingwitb 
the cold all night and found in the morning 
curled up into a small compass and covered 
over with frost.. 
In the last records of the Maine Board of 
Agriculture, the question is asked bow a calf 
should be fed the first Winter, And the reply 
is given: “On a ration of hay with wheat- 
bran, oat-meal, pea meal or cotton-seed meal. 
Mr. T. S. Gould says that he has seen 
many farmers who were physically disabled 
from labor who were yet the best aud most 
successful farmers of their ne ghborhoods.... 
0vcnjiul)frf. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Mlrlilgnn. 
Athens, Calhoun Co., Sept. 25.— Potatoes 
this year are a fine crop and extra in flavor, 
and our corn crop is also heavy where the 
land was not too wet in the Spring; but corn 
is a little late; the frost will probably hurt 
some of it but it is eared more heavily than 
for many years. Wheat was an average crop 
this year, so was hay. Oats very good 
Peaches not plenty. Apples may be enough 
for home use. Blackberries and raspberries 
were quite plentiful. Whortleberries not 
abundant. r. d. b. 
New York. 
East Elma, Erie Co., Sept. 22—This has 
been a very bad year; wheat, barley and hay 
are our only extra crops. Oats yield well, 
but are very light on account of the drouth. 
Fruit of all kinds as well as corn and potatoes 
are a failure. j. h. 
Ohio. 
Newton Falls, Trumble Co., Sept. 25.— 
Within the last three weeks our fertile valley 
has witnessed three successful fairs. The 
Newton Falls Fair was a grand show of stock. 
At Warren on Sept. 13th and 15th, was held 
one of the best and largest fairs ever seen 
in this section. At Garrettsville from Sept. 
19th to 21st, was held the 23rd annual fair. 
The society that got it up is composed of four 
townships, and is controlled by two represen¬ 
tatives of each township. It has had a suc¬ 
cession of good fairs from its establishment to 
the preaent time. Its strict adherence to tem¬ 
perance principles make its fairs in every 
sense moral exhibitions. In its constitution 
and by-laws it is provided that no intoxicating 
beverages, not even sweet cider, are allowed 
to be sold on the grounds. No side-shows, uo 
“ wheel of fortune ” and no horse racing are 
permitted, and the result is a prosperous 
society and fine exhibitions. The liberal 
premiums always attract a large attendance. 
Wheat is good, averaging from 25to 35 
bushels per acre ; worth $1 per bushel. 
Corn is a surprise to all; it has matured 
wonderfully in the last three weeks; the 
prospect is good for a good crop. Old corn is 
now worth $1 p>er bushel for shelled. As for 
potatoes a large yield is being dug, they are 
rotting somewhat, especially the Snow-Flake 
variety. As to fruit, apples are very scarce, 
not a quarter of a crop, and they will necess¬ 
arily be high in price. Peaches are fair. 
Grapes rotting badly, especially the Concord. 
The Brighton grape so far has proved itself 
one of the hardiest known. It is, too, free 
from blight and rot. e. w. t. 
I'cnnsylvnnift. 
Industry, Beaver Co., Sept. 22,—The sta 
son here has been very pleasant; plenty of 
rain up to this date; grain crops very good; 
corn about an average crop but still liable to 
be injured if frost comes early. Potatoes 
rotting a good deal—crop moderate. Hay 
was a heavy crop. Small fruits abundant; 
all other fruit almosta failure—a few orchards 
have a moderate crop of apples. K. e. 
Yl>*t Virginia. 
Kearnkysville, Jefferson Co., Sept. 29.— 
Owing to cold and wet Spring farmers were 
late planting corn; acreage large; stand 
good, but short and yellow on account of 
drouth from June 1 to August 20; since then 
we have had heavy rains; will make one-half 
crop. Early potato acreage large and a good 
crop, though bugs were plentiful; prospects 
good for a large crop of late potatoes; no 
bugs; an abundant hay crop. Winter wheat 
acreage was large and yield 20 to 30 bushels 
per acre—one of the largest crops for many 
years. Apples and pears small crop-.; peaches 
a large one. Plenty of all kinds of small 
fruits. Farmers making preparation to put 
in a large crop of wheat this Fall. Corn has 
all been blown down and a great deal of it 
will spoil. A great deal of wheat has been 
made wet by the rain and much of ifc has 
sprouted in the stack. Wheat is worth $1.04 
per bushel; corn 90 cents to *1. j. a. h. 
- 4 - 4-4 - 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
ArknnsaN. 
Helena, Philip Co., September 28.—The 
Rural Dent Corn was ruined by worms; 
planted according to direction; gathered two 
bushels of very defective eai s. It is very pro¬ 
lific, each kernel sending up from one to five 
suckers each bearing an ear of corn. The 
past has been the coolest Summer experienced 
in a residence of 14 years in the State, c. b 
Colorado. 
Fort Collins, Larimer Co., Sept. 25.—The 
Golden Heart well Celery is growing very 
finely, but some half a-dozen stalks have gone 
to seed—something new with me. The Flint 
corn is too late for this latitude, as it will not 
ripen here. j. s. Mcc. 
