752 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV 4 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
8ATUKDAY, NOV. 4, 1883. 
The prizes and prize-takers of the 
Youth’s Rural Horticultural Club for the 
best watermelons are announced on p. 760. 
Ip farmers’ clubs would unite in pass¬ 
ing resolutions that they would not 
attend agricultural fairs at which horse- 
racing, Bide-shows, and gambling are tol¬ 
erated, we have little doubt it would lead 
to the desired reformation. 
We hope the Rural Seedling Potato 
article ou another page, will induce many 
of our friends to raise their own varieties. 
There is no guess-work about the article. 
It is merely a narration of the writer’s 
experience. The tubers in the illustration 
are true portraits from photographs. 
♦ »«- 
Several propositions have already been 
received as to offering amounts as pre¬ 
miums for the best varieties of grapes 
which shall be produced from the Niagara 
seeds to be seut out in the next Rural 
Seed Distribution. It is a troublesome 
matter to fix. The suggestion that occurs 
to us at present is to offer several amounts 
—one for the best white; another for the 
best red; another for the best black. Of 
one thing we may now assure our readers, 
viz., that an offer of $5,000 for the best 
grape from the 300,000 seeds we shall 
probably Bend out, is one that we think 
many would be willing to make. It is a 
question whether the producer of such a 
grape would be willing to sell the vine 
entire for that amount. We shall be able 
to guarantee that every seed sent out will 
be from Niagara grapes: we know no bet¬ 
ter selection that could have been made. 
According to the most trustworthy 
estimates $75,000,000 worth of eggs are 
eaten in this country every year, of which 
$18,000,000 worth is consumed in this 
city alone. As the “ hen fruit” is most 
abundant in warm weather, while the 
appetite for it continues the year round, 
various processes have been devised to 
maintain its freshness. Of these the most 
recently invented is the process of crystal¬ 
lization or desiccation. By this agency 
the natural egg is changed into an amber- 
hued vitreous substance which, while 
reduced in bulk, has the property of 
remaining edible for years and resisting 
the deteriorating effects of climate. More¬ 
over, the egg, when wanted for use, can 
be restored to its original condition by 
adding the water which has been arti- 
ficaliy removed from the shell. It is said 
that neither salt nor any other extraneous 
matter is employed in prolucing desicca¬ 
tion, the egg being merely reduced to a 
consolidated mass of yelk r.ud albumen 
by the removal of the water. An excel¬ 
lent feature of this process is that an egg 
that is at all tainted, be it ever so slightly, 
cannot be crystallized at all. The prepa¬ 
ration of eggs in this way is still very 
limited; the chief companies engaged in 
the business are in this city and St. Louis. 
ENSILAGE. 
The advocates of ensilage seem to be 
very well pleased in general with the re¬ 
sults of their experience. To some ex¬ 
tent this is to be expected, because having 
a silo built at some cost, one is not very 
easily led to abandon it and become the 
butt of his neighbors in consequence. 
But we do not wish to take this single 
and perhaps extreme view of this matter. 
No doubt ensilage is practicable and valu¬ 
able under certain circumstances, just as 
soiling may be made to pay in places and 
under certain conditions, or the high cul¬ 
ture of market farming. But as every 
farmer cannot soil his cattle profitably, 
or work his farm on the intensive system 
of a market garden, so but comparatively 
few farms can bear the cost of a silo, or 
the costly labor of ensilage, and yet there 
are farmers who may do well to practice 
the system. As an appendage to the 
soiling plan of feeding stock, the silo 
seems to occupy the same place as the 
barn does where dry feed is used, and as 
the soiling of cattle is necessarily extend¬ 
ing with the area of high-priced land, so 
the use of the silo will doubtless become 
gradually wider. It is always weil to be 
conservative in such matters. “Look 
before you leap,” “ Let well enough 
alone” are pertinent cautions in this 
respect. 
-♦-*-*-- 
SIR J. B. LA WES AND THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER. 
We wish we could express in language 
which would not seem fulsome to those 
who do not know the man, and that would 
seem just to those who do, our apprecia¬ 
tion, our respect, yes, our love for the 
English noble man, J. B. Lawes; for we 
do not reconci’e ourselves to calling him 
Sir J. B. Lawes, as there seems that in 
the title which detracts from the charac¬ 
ter of the grand services he has rendered 
to mankind—services the full value of 
which will not be adequately recognized 
until long years after his honored name 
alone and gratitude foi his services shall 
remain among the living. 
Had the Rural New-Yorker served 
American farmers in one way only, and 
that by inducing Dr. Lawes to write for 
the American agricultural press, it would 
have a right to feel that it had served them 
well; for, among its several enterprises, 
there is no other which gives it a stronger 
satisfaction to dwell upon. To this very 
fact more than to any o*her, as we be¬ 
lieve, is due the unparalleled enthusiasm 
which to day is everywhere manifested in 
agricultural experimentation throughout 
the country, and which promises to give 
far richer results in the future, as the 
working of the mine develops its un¬ 
fathomed treasures. A few weeks ago 
we sketched an editorial article which 
proposed to set forth the value of Dr. 
Lawes’s services to agriculture and, lest 
its personal references might displease 
him, sent it to Dr. Lawes, requesting his 
consent to its publication. A part of his 
reply is as follows: “I would beg you to 
omit all complimentary allusions to me. 
it is quite true that the Rural New- 
Yorker was the first to inform me that 
I could iiud readers in America for any 
articles which I might write, and there is 
no harm in saying so and giving yourself 
the credit for having done so.” 
Since that time—five years ago, we be¬ 
lieve -Dr. Lawes has contributed to seve¬ 
ral of our farm papers, «nd the promi¬ 
nence given to them and the eagerness 
with which they are received and printed 
are sufficient evidence of the estimation 
in which his original contributions are 
held—the results of patient, plodding, 
exact experiments, which have been con¬ 
ducted on the same laud for half a cen¬ 
tury, without compensation, without any 
hope of any reward, except that of serv¬ 
ing his race, while five hundred thousand 
dollars and certain areas of land have been 
set apart for their continuation after his 
death. Dr. Lawes was born in 1814 and 
is now, therefore, nearly 70 years of age. 
May God spare his life and strength for 
many a year to come ! 
-- 
TO RURAL READERS. 
What we want for 1883 is that every 
reader of the Rural New-Yorker shall 
feel it a kind of duty to contribute to its 
columns every new and valuable fact 
which he gleans from his farm, garden or 
stock experiences. Those who are really 
interested in the promotion of agricul¬ 
tural knowledge in general may surely 
promote it in this way while their in¬ 
dividual interests will in no wise suffer 
since the fund of information so furnished 
will be accessible to all. Let us make 
the Rural New. Yorker the assembly- 
room of the most intelligent and enter¬ 
prising farmers of the land in which they 
may freely discuss those methods and 
questions in which we are all so deeply 
interested. No matter how much money 
we may spend for the contributions of 
our best professional writers; no matter 
how many well-devised experiments the 
editors themselves may conduct, the 
Rural New-Yorker will never 1.11 the 
place we desire it should until its intelli¬ 
gent readers will write to it in the same 
spirit with which they would attempt to 
instruct their sons and daughters who are 
one day to take their places in the man¬ 
agement of their farms and homes. 
There are thousands of farmers in the 
country who derive an easy support from 
their xarms and who every year are adding 
to their wealth. Do they all farm alike ? 
Here we have a field which will yield 40 
bushels of wheat to the acre; there, upon 
another farm very differently situated, is 
another field that will yield 40 bushels of 
wheat per acre. Were both fields fitted, 
manured and tilled alike ? If not, which 
yields the crop at the smallest cost ? The 
same question may be asked as to corn, 
rye, oats, barley, potatoes, rooLs, grass, 
and, with modifications, as to cattle and 
every other branch of farm industry. 
Many of our friends write us from time 
to time kindly words of praise. They 
tell how valuable this journal is to them. 
But we should prove unworthy of their 
esteem were we so puffed up by their 
encouragement that, letting well enough 
aloDe, we no longer ardently strove to 
improve the Rural New-Yorker in 
every way. Tell us, then, friends, of 
your successes and of your failures and 
to what you attribute them. We have 
our own experiments of 1882, or most of 
of them, still to lay before you. We have 
the premium series yet to publish, “How 
to make a Poor Farm Profitable” or 
“How the Poor Farmer may Hope to 
Better Himself.” We have still $2,000 
worth of gifts to present to those who 
raise the best yields of the wheat and corn 
of our Free Seed Distribution for 1881-82, 
and we hope to make the coming distri¬ 
bution no less interesting. We believe it 
would be difficult to estimate the impetus 
which the distribution and planting of 
300,000 seeds of the Niagara Grape will 
give to the grape industry of America, 
which has scarcely yet, it may be sup¬ 
posed, emerged from its infancy. I 
other ways which need not be anticipated 
we are providing for a sparkling paper 
for 1883. 
We ask now for a kind of assistance 
which we think our well-informed readers 
should be pleased to render—viz., that 
they will make the Rural a kind of 
record of all which they learn in their 
daily farm practice. Of all occupations 
farming should not be a selfish “trade,” 
but, on the contrary, if one has light on 
any subject which others may not have, 
for the benefit of the common brother¬ 
hood of farmeis, he should not “hide his 
light under a bushel,” but let it shine out 
for the benefit of all We ask not for 
long articles. Cut off the introduction 
and state the case in five lines if possible 
—at least in the fewest, plainest words. 
Let the soil aroma and the farm freshness 
of newly-learned facts take the place of 
tht moldy amplifications of those profes¬ 
sional writers whose farms and gardens 
are too often, though perhaps unavoidably 
so, bounded by the walls of the library or 
editorial room. 
■ —- ♦»» ■ - 
X. A. WILLARD. 
Xerxes Addison Willard, the well- 
known writer aad authority on dairy 
matters, died suddenly of angina pectoris, 
or neuralgia of the heart, last Thursday 
morning, October 26, at Apple Hill Farm, 
his home, near Little Falls, New York. 
He was born in Herkimer County, in 
1820, and after preparatory studies at 
Fairfield and Cazenovia, he entered Ham¬ 
ilton College in 1841, whence he gradu¬ 
ated in 1845, and immediately began the 
study of law in the village of Little Falls. 
Three years later, in 1848, he married 
Miss Harriet L. Hallett, of Fairfield, and 
soon afterwards abandoned law for farm¬ 
ing, buying the farm he occupied at his 
death, and devoting much attention to 
the theory and practice of agriculture. 
In 1855-6 he organized the Farmers’ 
Club of Little Falls, one of the first in 
the country. As secretary of the club he 
published bis first work, “Essays and 
Discussions in Agriculture,” in 1859, and 
in the same year wrote for the New York 
Agricultural Society a pamphlet on cheese 
dairying in Herkimer County. From 1858 
to 1861 he was editor of the Herkimer 
County Journal, andfrom 1860 to 1862 
canal collector at Little Falls. In the 
latter year his work on the associated 
dairies of New York was issued by the 
State Agricultural Society. From 1864 
to 1868 be edited the agricultural depart¬ 
ment of the Utica Herald. 
In the organization of the American 
Dairymen’s Association be was one of 
the leading workers and in 1866 he 
traveled extensively in England, Scotland, 
Ireland, France and Switzerland in the 
interest of the i ssociation to observe the 
various methods of dairying. The results 
of his investigations were published by 
the Department of Agriculture at Wash¬ 
ington and produced great improvement 
in the manufacture of American cheese. 
In 1869 he was employed by the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England to write 
on dairy matters, and in the same year he 
became editor of the Dairy Department 
of this paper. In 1870 he organized the 
New York State Dairymen’s Association 
of which he was president until he in¬ 
sisted on resigning. In 1871 he published 
“Practical Dairy Husbandry,” and in 
1876, he brought out his “ Practical But¬ 
ter Book,” both of which works have be¬ 
come standard authorities. It was as one 
of the editors of the Rural New-Yorker 
and as a writer for the agricultural press 
thut Mr. Willard became most widely 
known. He was also much sought for as 
a speaker at agricultural clubs and fairs, 
and especially at dairy conventions. His 
summaries and analyses of the vast busi¬ 
ness of dairying in this and other coun¬ 
tries, his views of the markets and his 
accounts of his own and other men’s exper¬ 
iments have done a great deal to spread 
abroad a knowledge of the best methods 
of dairying, and by his death this indus¬ 
try has lost a valuable friend. He leaves 
a wife and five children—two daughters 
and three sons. 
Of the circumstances attending Mr. 
Willard’s death his son, Frank H. Wil¬ 
lard, has just sent us the following 
brief particulars. 
Little Falls, N. Y., Oct. 27, ’82. 
Father died very suddenly yesterday 
morning at his residence, near the village 
of Little Falls, of neuralgia of the heart. 
He was 62 years old. On Wednesday he 
seemed very happy and cheerful, and 
talked and laughed with his family all 
day. He was engaged in writing an 
article on “The Dairy” for the “Encyclo¬ 
pedia Britannica.” and on the night 
before the morning of hisdeath sat tip to 
a late hour at work on it. On Thursday 
morning he complained of a pain in the 
region of the heart, but thought it would 
soon pass away. He arose and went into 
his study where, he said, he thought he 
felt easier. The doctor was summoned, 
and he described to bim how he felt. 
While he was talking he suddenly | laced 
his hand upon his heart, threw back his 
bead, and died without a struggle. He 
was not expecting death. He had re¬ 
turned to his study to resume the toil 
which he had quitted but a few short 
hours before, and there he died, as it 
were, with his harness on. 
“ Dead he lay among bis books: 
The peace of God was in his looks.” 
BREVITIES. 
Arrested perspiration.— Oh! what a tale 
of woes and suffering is connected with these 
words! 
The only objection we have found to the 
Houdan fowl, illustrated on page 733 is that 
it is rather wild and too much inclined to roa uj. 
One of the greatest benefits to be derived 
from the slaughtering of cattle at Te*ag and 
sending the 'resh meat in refrigerator care 
to the Eastern cities for consumption, instead 
of live cattle, has not yet been mentioned, so 
far as w r e have been able to learn. This is, 
that the danger is obviated of carrying disease 
in their driving on foot, or being carried on 
railroads to the Northern State**, as has so 
often been the case during the past 30 years 
to the great destruction of Northern herds 
Recent decisions by Western courts are 
likely to check, if they do not altogether pre¬ 
vent, the worst forms of gambling in agricul¬ 
tural products. A decision just rendered at 
Chicago coincides with one rendered at Mil - 
waukee a couple of weeks ago. Iu each case 
n suit was brought for marginal differences 
in a “deni” in grain. The lower courts ren¬ 
dered judgment for the amount claimed; but 
the Appellate Courts held that the purchase 
of grain for future delivery, where there is 
evidently no intention to actually deliver the 
product, but simply to settle the difference in 
the price in money, comes within the law 
against gambling, and that the aggrieved 
party has no grounds for action. 
Ten of the largest starch making firms of 
the West, representing two-thirds of the 
starch-making industry of the United States, 
have just consolidated their business under 
the name of the National Starch Company, 
with a capital of about 61,600.000. It is said 
the arrangement is made not for the purpose 
of creating a monopoly: but to check ruinous 
competition and cut down the expenses of 
doing bn-iness. The headquarters are to be 
at Chicago, and the Company will work under 
an Illinois charter. Each of the 10 factories 
situated in different parts of the country from 
Ohio westward, will be represented by a 
Director. This consolidation is one of the 
multitude of instances of a marked tendency 
of our times—the tendency of capital to com¬ 
bine to produce a monopoly and crush out 
the competition of smalt concerns. We won¬ 
der what effect this combination will have 
upon the prices paid for corn, potatoes and 
other starch-producing products in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the factories I 
The fifth annual fat stock show at Chicago, 
under the auspices of the Illinois State Board 
of Agriculture, will open at the Exposition 
Building on Thursday, November 16. The 
building will be ready to receive stock by 
November 13. Butchers’ stock only will be 
eligible to compete for premiums, and animals 
that are to be used afterwards for breeding 
purposes will be excluded from competition. 
The animals for slaughter will be killed, 
dressed and weighed under direction of the 
Awarding Committee. The premium in each 
ring will be awarded to thut animal whose 
dressed carcass is of tiie highest market value 
in proportion to live weight, the dressed car¬ 
cass to remain the property of the exhibitor. 
Animals affected by, or having been exposed 
to, any contagious disease during the thirty 
days next preceding the fat stock show of 
1882, will be excluded from the Exposition. 
The present prospects promise that there will 
be a finer display of fat stock chan at any 
previous show. W e are glad to see that Kan¬ 
sas City too is resolved to have a fat stock 
show. Thousands of those specially inter¬ 
ested in stock raising on the Plains and who 
would not travel all the way to Chicago to 
see the show, will be likely to visit the one at 
Kansas City. The more such shows, the better j 
