736 
OCT 28 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. S4 P.Aitic Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCT. 28, 1882. 
In reply to many inquiries, we have to 
say that all who desire to contest for the 
Rural New-Yorker Corn Prizes must 
send in their reports on or before Decem¬ 
ber 1. The weight of ears and shelled 
corn are requested. All will please state 
the number of kernels planted, the num¬ 
ber that germinated, the manure used, 
the cultivation given, the method of 
planting, etc. 
The new Rural Posters and Premium 
List will be sent, without charge, to all 
applicants—and applications are solicited. 
Near the bottom of the first article on 
first page of our last issue, “plots 4, 5 
and 6” should have read “plots 5, 6 and 7.” 
Our readers will very much oblige us 
by writing Rural Seed and Crop Reports 
on separate slips of paper. These are now 
printed under different heads, and we are 
thus saved the trouble of copying. 
It will be noticed in the articles pub¬ 
lished this week on Sulky Plows, that we 
do not mention the “make” of the plows 
used, inasmuch as but one kind may have 
been tried in any given case, hence no 
just comparison, from actual experience, 
could be made between the different kinds 
manufactured. We take this course that 
no injustice may be done. 
The Tariff Commissioners have lis¬ 
tened to the last of the “testimony” and 
have gone into executive session to con¬ 
sider and prepare a report to be laid be¬ 
fore Congress at its next session in Decem¬ 
ber. Manufacturers of every sort have 
presented their views in detail almost 
invariably in favor of a protective tariff, 
and generally in support of higher import 
duties than those at present in force. 
Producers of raw material—the planters 
of the South and the farmers and stock- 
owners of the North—have been very in¬ 
adequately represented, and the con¬ 
sumers—the vast bulk of the people—have 
had little or nothing to say. One thing 
is very evident from the abstracts of the 
“testimony” published—that the Com¬ 
missioners will find it a hard task to pre¬ 
pare a tariff which will protect all in¬ 
terests and oppress none. 
-- 
We should think Mr. J. B. Moore 
would at least concede that “Cross-bred” 
is not a very well-chosen name for any 
strain of asparagus, even though it is 
thought to be distinct as to color or size. 
If the plants are dioecious then, of course, 
the flowers of the female plant are de¬ 
pendent for fertilization on those of the 
male plant, and all seeds are in this sense 
crossed. We should think, however, that 
there could be no such plant as a cross¬ 
bred asparagus unless the parents were of 
distinct varieties. Our impression has 
been that all of the so-called varieties in 
the same soil and under the same culture, 
would lose all distinctive marks. Mr. 
Moore insists that this is not so, aDd in 
view of the fact that his experience is 
greater than ours, we have no mind to op¬ 
pose him. At the Rural Grounds there 
are the Argenteuil, Red Dutch, Moore’s 
Cross-bred, De' ance and one or two 
others. These will give us an opportu¬ 
nity of studying the matter. Neither 
have we any wish to set ourselves up in op¬ 
position to the positive statements of Dr. 
Asa Gray. But another year we hope to 
be able to send him wild asparagus plants 
that, whether cleistogamusor not, have ma¬ 
tured fruit without the aid of male plants. 
- *-♦-* -- 
ANOTHER GREAT SALE OF JERSEYS. 
Fifty-five bead of Jersey cattle were 
sold at auction at the American Horse 
Exchange in this city on last Wednesday, 
realizing an aggregate price of $21,535— 
an average of $301.55, against an average 
of $622 per head for the 75 imported Jer¬ 
seys sold here on October 5. The present 
collection, while comprising many valu¬ 
able animals, included a considerable pro¬ 
portion of cattle that lacked the “fancy” 
characteristics which at present bring 
the highest figures in the market. The 
cows brought the highest prices, while 
the bulls were not so much sought after, 
though many of them had excellent pedi¬ 
grees., The highest figure—$2,600—was 
paid for Mabel Labey by Col. H. 8. Rus¬ 
sell, of Milton, Mass., wbo paid $2,200 
for her dam, Mabel 2nd, at the sale a couple 
of weeks ago. This heifer is by Guy 
Fawkes, and was imported in February 
last. Fancy Fan, another much-fancied 
imported cow, was bought by T. A. 
Havemeyer for $1,650; while Lome, a 
half sister to Mabel Labey, was knocked 
down to T. S. Holly for $1,400; Buzz by 
Victor, the highest-priced bull, fell to 
the same owner for $800. On the whole, the 
prices were considered satisfactory, though 
much less than those given for the 
more “fancy” stock of the previous sale. 
By the way, we have it from trustworthy 
authority that the $5,100 paid for the 
Commassiebull, Sir George, at that sale— 
“the highest price ever paid for a Jersey 
in this or any other country”—was paid 
for the bull and $2,000 worth of “ser¬ 
vices” already rendered by him, for which 
the purchaser is to receive payment, 
-♦"*-«- 
SPREADING INFORMATION. 
TnKRE are many inducements which 
should have their full effect in engaging 
every reader of an agricultural paper 
to invite his neighbors to take and read 
the same. Contrary to almost all other 
human pursuits, the culture of farm pro¬ 
ducts has no dread of local competition, 
but is all the more prosperous and bettor 
served where the aggregate of produce in 
any one district is large. Farming being 
thus clear of adead-weight of angry com¬ 
petition, which embitters and isolates 
other pursuits and poisons their conduc¬ 
tors with jealousy and dread, it. is clear 
what great advantages attend a general 
acquaintance of all neighboring farmers 
who are engaged in the same daily plans 
and labors, with the latest information 
respecting new contrivances to facilitate 
labor, new seeds, stock, methods or opin¬ 
ions. What great addition to the pleasure 
—which occurs so rarely in the country— 
of meeting a neighbor if his thoughts 
are weekly exercised by the same topics 
and suggestions. The wisdom of Solomon 
has been acknowledged through all the 
ages since he lived and ruled; and his 
books—especially the apocryphal Eccle- 
siasticu9—are full of references to terra- 
cultural economies. One of his gem say¬ 
ings: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man 
sharpeneth the countenance of his 
friend”—applies to these rare meetings of 
neighboring farmers, so does the line— 
“He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth.” 
PRICKLY COMFREY. 
Symphytum asperrimum, Russian Comfrey, 
ields the largest crop of green fodder known, 
t will grow r luxuriantly on rank clay, and 
well on light soils if of some little depth* For 
milch cows, horse® (especially hunters), and 
till animals, it is the best of green foods. Its 
use makes the coats of horses shine, and keeps 
them bard and in good condition, saving all 
medicine. Being a perennial, once planted 
there is no further expense. Autumn or early 
Winter-sown sets are the best, as the leaves 
will appear before the grass can be fed off in 
the Spring. For Winter keep, it can be pre¬ 
served by the system of “ensilage” or pitting. 
The above is taken from the advertising 
columns of an English exchange. Notices 
of the value of this comfrey as a forage 
plant often appear in foreign journals, 
and we are at a loss to know why it should 
be valued abroad while it seems worthless 
here. Prickly Comfrey (the same as the 
Russian above advertised) will yield a 
greater bulk of leaf and stem than any 
other fodder plant that we can think of. 
Then, the roots are very hardy and per¬ 
ennial, too. A single plant has been 
growing at the Rural Grounds for no less 
than five years without any manure. This 
season it has been cut nearly to the ground 
three times and it is now 18 inches high. 
Our object in writing this note is to call 
the attention of ensilage people to it. 
Animals so relish ensilaged food that per¬ 
haps ensilaged comfrey might be accept¬ 
able to them. In its fresh, green state we 
have never known but one animal to eat 
it voluntarily, and that was. as we have 
before remarked, a constipated dog. 
WESTERN BEEF FOR EASTERN 
MARKETS. 
In speaking of the transportation of 
dressed r-eat from Chicago to the East, 
in the Rural of September 2, we ven¬ 
tured the prediction that Chicago’s ex¬ 
pectations of monopolizing the business 
would be disappointed, inasmuch as 
whatever advantages there might be m 
shipping meat in this way from the enter¬ 
prising Western metropolis, there would 
in some respects be still greater advan¬ 
tages in shipping it from points nearer 
the supply further west. Since then we 
have had occasion to announce the forma¬ 
tion of a great Southwestern organization 
which proposes to ship heavily northeast¬ 
ward and westward from Texas, and a 
large syndicate of English capitalists have 
just established a mammoth slaughtering 
establishment at Sherman, Wyoming Ter¬ 
ritory, and are already doing a large busi¬ 
ness in shipping dressed meat to the 
East. The syndicate at first invested 
heavily in cattle and sheep ranches, 
and then concluded to build their own 
olaughter-houscs from which they are 
shipping their own dressed catMe and 
sheep iu refrigerator cars. We expect to 
see this business started ere long at many 
other points of the West and Southwest, 
as well as on the Pacific Slope; but 
Chicago must for a long time have at 
least one great advantage in this business 
over all other places for the reason that 
nowhere else can the offal, bones, hoofs, 
etc., be so profitably utilized. Within 
the past week various retail butchers in 
this and other Eastern cities in which 
Western dressed beef is for Bale, have 
sold large quantities of it generally at 
from two to live cents per pound less 
than the price of home-killed beef. 
Western veal and mutton, however, have 
sold at about the prices of Eastern. 
THOUGHTS FOR THE SEASON. 
The “ fall of the leaf” is the season of 
death and decay. ' The gorgeous coloring 
of the leaves and the changing hues of 
the lower vegetation, are all significative 
of this. It is the ripening which pre¬ 
cedes decay that produces the varied tints 
which clothe tile woods and the shrub¬ 
bery; and the beauty which pleases the 
eye is nothing less than the covering that 
hides the unpleasant and unwholesome 
ruins of the Summer’s verdure. The Fall 
season, with its dying vegetation, its 
damps and fogs and dripping moisture 
and its sudden changes, is one that calls 
for special care and precaution. Decay 
and death reproduce themselves, and there 
is nothing so hurtful to life as dead mat¬ 
ter. From it are spread upon every breeze 
germs which produce decomposition in 
living matter and disease in animal life; 
and unless pains are taken to fortify our¬ 
selves against these influences, we are in 
constant danger. 
There are a few simple directions which 
might be usefully given just now that may, 
if noted and followed, prevent serious dis¬ 
orders; and first—because the most dan¬ 
gerous—the drinking water calls for the 
most serious thought Do we ever think of 
what becomes of the myriads of insects that 
have until now infested almost every leaf, 
and that with all the filth they have pro¬ 
duced, have fallen to the ground and have 
died and disappeared, and of all the dead, 
rotting matter under our feet every where? 
It is in greater part dissolved and car¬ 
ried into the soil, into streams, ponds-and 
springs; and from all these we directly 
or indirectly procure our supply of drink. 
It is hardly saie to use any water, even 
from the deepest wells, because these are 
all more or less polluted by surface water 
at this season, without boiling it; and 
special care should be taken against drink¬ 
ing any water that has not been thoroughly 
boiled. It is just now that fevers, colds, 
sore throats and intestinal disorders be¬ 
come frequent, a. d a very little preven¬ 
tion may be more useful than a very large 
amount of cure. 
The closest attention should be given 
to the health. The feet should be kept 
dry and warm, and a chill to the Lody be 
carefully guarded against. The perspira¬ 
tion throws off much of whatever un¬ 
wholesome matter may be taken into, or 
produced in, the system; and a sudden 
stoppage of it throws back all this into 
the circulation and poisons the blood with 
it. The result may be wtmt we call a 
cold; or it may be more serious and ap¬ 
pear as a fever, or pneumonia or dipthc- 
ria; and all of these differ chiefly in de¬ 
gree and location, and not so much iu 
character; for the former may easily 
change into the latter. The doctor is not 
always at hand, and so every person should 
be as much as possible hie own and tiis 
family’s doctor, so far as the prevention 
of sickness is concerned. Precautions 
and good nursing save more lives than 
medicines A simple cooling laxative, a 
warm bath, a simple sweating drink of 
gruel and wrapping in a blanket and going 
to bed, will frequently ward off a serious 
illness and avert the danger, before the 
doctor can he reached. And to use these, 
no one need to wait for the doctor’s orders. 
So that, to sum up, it may be repeate I that 
at this season it is very safe to be ex¬ 
tremely particular in regard to drinking 
water ; to avoid damp or wet feet or 
clothing; to avoid getting heated and 
then chilled by cooling; to eat moderately 
and at the first intimation of anything 
wrong, to use the simple remedies pointed 
out, and then sond for the doctor. 
BREVITIES. 
W ill Mr. Hugh Beatty kindly send us his 
address? 
Potato haulm is as good as anything for 
covering celery. 
Wk are still picking fine raspberries from 
Belle de Fontenay. 
Attention is called to Sec. Garfield’s edu¬ 
cational article on p. 730. 
Volunteer bean vines are in bloom—a 
proof of very mild weather at the Rural 
Grounds. 
Wk learn that the Colorado State College, 
at the late State Fair, “took the cake,” “held 
the fort, "and beat all competitors as to wheat, 
oats, etc. 
The Niagara Grape Co., send us a little 
basket of eight bunches of Niagara Grapes. 
They weighed just four pounds. Every berry 
was sound and clung to the peduncle. 
A well-known physician writes us: “I 
And no reason to change my belief that mala¬ 
ria comes from within and not from breath¬ 
ing the air without. More people are sick aud 
die from arre-ted perspiration and a sudden 
chill indamp weather than fromanythingelae,” 
We find the following clipped from some 
paper of which the name does not appear. 
We hope, for our sake, the editor was “corned” 
when he wrote it: 
“The editor of the Rural New-Yorker says 
he has an ear 15)4 inches longl No wonder 
he wants somebody else to own up to having 
an ear 16 inches long. But come to think, it’s 
an ear of corn he refers to.” 
The new Rural Poster and Preminm List 
for 1883 are now ready and will be sent with 
the Rural's heat compliments and wishes to 
all who may care to join in the laudable— 
not to say engaging—pastime of securing new 
subscribers for the leading agricultural and 
horticultural journal of the land. Early en¬ 
deavors in this field are said to be more ef 
fective than later when a stirring competi¬ 
tion divides the harvest. 
There is a report that W. H. Vanderbilt 
and David Dows of this citv, and Peter Mc- 
Geoeh, Kershaw and others, of Chicago, have 
formed a stnpendoua syndicate with a capital 
of $14,000,000, to manipulate this year’s wheat 
crop and corner the Chicago, St. Louis. Mil¬ 
waukee and New York markets. The plan is 
reported to be to send buyers through the 
country and contract for nil the grain they 
can get, hold it back until prices are forced up 
to $1.10, then unload with a rush at high 
prices and break the market: then repeat the- 
operation. Vanderbilt is said to have $20,000, 
000 to invert from interest on his bonds. 
Commissioner McFarland, of the Land 
Office Buys that the passage of the Homestead 
Act, aud recent, supplemental legislation, 
haying placed homesteaders on an equal 
froting with proemptors in all respects, the 
special utility of the preemption law for pur¬ 
poses of bona fid a settlements ou the public 
lands has wholly ceased. There is no doubt 
that the repeal of the preemption law would 
simplify business and remove a fruitful source 
of frauds in l&ud entries, which according to 
recent revelations have reached great magni¬ 
tude. Indeed there is probably no part of the 
public business which is bo honeycombed with 
fraud as that relating to the public domain. 
The students at the Kansas Agricultural 
College, Manhattan, print a catalogue, and 
also a monthly sheet, which we always open 
with pleasure. The latter is called the Indus¬ 
trialist and is edited by our occasional con¬ 
tributor Prof. Sheltou with the aid of the 
members of the faculty generally. A vis¬ 
itor to the college says of rim department of 
Household Economy under charge of Mrs. 
Mary E. Crlpps, “It is always a pleasure to 
visit these rooms, t or the hope of the nation 
is in the mothers of the land. To us these 
voung ladies are learning to regain Paradise 
by rendering themselves healthy women true 
to the position to which most of them will be 
called as wives and housekeepers. 
Just before the Tariff Commission ended 
it* labors in taking “testimony” last Monday at 
Philadelphia. Mr. B. Landreth urged that the 
duty on seeds which can be successfully 
grown in the United States should be increas¬ 
ed from 20 per cent, the present rate, to 50 per 
cent. Wm. Dean, of Delaware, woolen man¬ 
ufacturer presented an argument in favor of 
free trade in wool. Indeed woolen manu¬ 
facturers, all along, have argued in favor of 
the entire removal or a great reduction of the 
duties on wool, while supporting the imposi¬ 
tion of heavier duties on manufactured 
woolen goods. The National Association of 
Wool Manufacturers, however, speaking 
through Mr. W Whitman, of Boston, thought 
an equitable duty would be such as to raise 
the price of foreign goods so high that con¬ 
sumers woul i purchase the native goods in¬ 
stead. Ho recommended a specific duty of 
10 cents per pound on all unwashed wool; 15 
cents on all w ashed wools of the first class and 
10 cents on washed wools of the second class. 
In addition there should be an ad valorem 
duty of 85 per cent with five percent increase 
on goods of extra quality. The American 
Cement Association asked that the present 
duty of 20 per ceut. ad valorem, which 
amounts to 35 cents a barrel, be increased to 
20 cents per 100 pounds or 80 cent® a barrel on 
foreign plaster aud cement. A committee of 
malsters thought the duty on barley should 
remaiu at 15 cents per bushel, bnt that oi\ 
malt should be increased to 35 cents. Mr. C. 
W. Jenks, of Boston appealed for legislation 
to encourage the raising of Angora goats in 
this country. No other part of the volu¬ 
minous “testimony" affected the agricul¬ 
tural interests of the country directly. 
