* 
APRIL 2@ 
282 
THE RURAL 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 31 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 29. 1882. 
r Personal correspondence of a pressing nature may 
be addressed to tbe Editor at River Edge, Bergen Co., 
New Jersey, for the-preseut season and until further 
notice. 
-- 
LAST NOTICE. 
All that are entitled to our regular 
Seed Distribution who have not received 
it, will please notify us at once. 
-- 
Dr. Lawes, let our readers remember, 
has land upon which he has mised wheat 
for 40 years without manure of any kind, 
and yet it yields 13 bushels of wheat to 
the acre, as large as the average yield of 
wheat of the United States in good years. 
Last year the average yield for the whole 
country was only 10.1 bushels per acre. 
.- ----- 
We propose, in the near future, to try 
what is technically known as natural- 
colored paper, upon which to print the 
Rural New-Yorker. We shall be glad 
to know how our readers like it as com¬ 
pared with the whiter paper we have been 
using for the past two years. In our 
opinion, the natural-colored is less trying 
to the eyes. 
Probably there was never a Spring in 
which “strikes” among workmen of all 
sorts were so numerous as they are now 
in all parts of the country. Strange that 
while all our manufacturing industries 
arc “protected” ostensibly for the bene¬ 
fit. of American labor, the laborers should 
be so discontented at the results ! Can 
it be because “protection” puts up the 
price of nearly everything for the la¬ 
borer except of the one thing he has to 
sell—his labor, and in that he has to 
compete with the whole world at Castle 
Garden and the Golden Gate ? Hasn’t 
this a good deal to do with the strikes 
everywhere and the anti-Chinese agita¬ 
tion ? 
--- 
We repeat our instructions as to plant¬ 
ing the corn. The area must be one- 
fourth of an acre—that is 33 by 33 feet. 
Any other shape will answer so that it does 
not”exceed 1089 square feet. We prefer 
that the seed should be dropped every 
two feet in drills four feet apart; that the 
cultivation be flat. This, however, is op¬ 
tional with those who contest for the corn 
prizes. All contestants are required in 
their reports to give the yield in pounds 
of the corn in the ears and also shelled; 
the gross number of kernels planted; the 
manure used and the quantity and, 
finally, the character of the soil—whether 
inclining to sand or clay. The product 
of corn is not to be weighed until Octo¬ 
ber 15. 
The Secretary of the Interior has pre¬ 
pared a bill to be introduced into Con¬ 
gress, providing for severer punishment 
for intruders upon the Indian reservations, 
who, like Payne, of Oklahoma notoriety, 
are reckless of fines. The bill proposes to 
add imprisonment to fines. The bold 
adventurers who invade the property of 
“the wards of tlienation” rarely have any 
property to be levied upon, and accord¬ 
ingly snap their fingers at fines; but the 
prospect of imprisonment for a year or 
two might check their filibustering ardor. 
But while Congress is deliberating to hand 
over large tracts of the Indian Territory 
to railroad monopolies, isn’t it a trifle in¬ 
consistent to dream of punishing pettier 
raiders ? 
-- 
The land agitation which has been keep¬ 
ing Ireland in turmoil for so many months, 
is extending across the Channel to Scot¬ 
land and England. The measure of re¬ 
lief which legislation has granted to Ire¬ 
land without satisfying ardent Celtic 
aspirations, English and Scotch tenant 
farmers are insisting should be adapted 
to their conditions also. They declare 
that what is right for the Irish goose can¬ 
not be wrong for tbe British gander. The 
English and Scotch land question will 
soon have to be taken into consideration 
by the Government, already sorely em¬ 
barrassed by Irish turbulence and irre¬ 
concilableness, and owing to its compli¬ 
cated nature, it must add enormously 
to the fast-accumulating troubles of the 
Gladstone Ministry. 
-»■» » — - 
T he immigration into this country dur¬ 
ing the present year promises to be un¬ 
precedented in its extent. For the three 
first months of 1882 the arrivals, as com¬ 
pared with those for the corresponding 
period last year, were: 
18S2. 1881. 
January. 18,189 13,131 
February. 20,317 15,073 
March. 65,284 44,050 
Of those arriving in March, there came 
from Germany 23,251 against 19,394 in 
March last year; from Canada, 10,707 
against 8,642 a year ago, and from England 
and Wales 4,840, agaiust 3.480 in Match, 
1881. This month immigration is increas¬ 
ing enormously, the total arrivals last Wed¬ 
nesday at this port alone being over 9.000. 
A very large proportion of the new-com¬ 
ers start at once for the WeBt, and espe¬ 
cially for the Northwest, where they in¬ 
tend to engage iu agricultural pursuits. 
-- 
The imports of European potatoes into 
this port in the first three months of the 
present year amounted to 596,927 sacks of 
224 pounds each, or 2,228,927 bushels, 
equal to 742,842 barrels. If we estimate 
the selling price at 70 cents per bushel, 
the gross returns to importers would be 
$1,559,969, or, less freight and duty, 
$1,000,000. The import duty of 15 cents 
per bushel gave the Government $334,279. 
The potatoes netted the shippers about 
£2, or $10, per tou. The principal ship 
ping points were Glasgow, 207,949 sacks; 
London, 117,668 sacks; Liverpool, 107,- 
818; Hull, 66,886; Londonderry, 26,834; 
the Continent, 22,117. The other Atlan¬ 
tic ports also received considerable quail 
titles. There is no doubt that these im¬ 
portations have, to a considerable extent, 
regulated prices of domestic potatoes over 
a wide extent of country. The Chicago 
and St. Louis market reports show that 
European potatoes have been sold as far 
west as those cities. 
AN OPPRESSIVE MONOPOLY. 
The barbed-wire fence monopoly of 
the patentees under the lead of Wash¬ 
burn & Moen, of Worcester, Mass , is 
justly exciting widespread indignation 
throughout the entire agricultural coun¬ 
try, but especially in the West and South¬ 
west where barbed-wire fencing is most 
extensively employed. This kind of fenc¬ 
ing is used almost exclusively on the great 
stock ranges from the Red River of the 
North to the Gulf and more largely than 
any other sort in nearly all the Western 
States, and its employment is constantly 
increasing. In 1880, 40,000 tons, of 2,000 
pounds, were made under the Washburn 
& Moen patents, and it is estimated that 
the production last yesr amounted to 
60,000 tons. A ton of the wire makes 
two miles of three-strand wire fence, so 
that the product of last year’s manufac¬ 
ture would make 120,000 miles of such 
fence. The combination owning the pat¬ 
ents has compelled all the manufacturers 
of this description of fence to take out 
licenses for which a royalty of 75 cents 
per 100 pounds is exacted. The users of 
the fencing manufactured last year must 
therefore pay to the little clique of mo¬ 
nopolists the enormous tax of $900,000! 
BESSARABIA SEED CORN. 
Since the note respecting the Bessa¬ 
rabia Seed Corn was set in type (see 
Rukal Brieflets, p. 2971 we have received 
many inquiries as to the responsibility of 
the firm sending it out, and whether the 
Rurai- deems the statements made in the 
circulars sent about the country and the 
advertisements appearing in a number of 
widely-circulated journals are creditable. 
We reply that we know nothing regarding 
the responsibility of the firm of Wm. F. 
Fowler & Co. beyond what is stated und<*r 
Rubai. Brieflets. The circulars and ad¬ 
vertisements of this corn are full of false 
statements and absurdities. The corn 
itself is a fine-looking, long-toothed, white 
dent similar to that grown in Pennsylva¬ 
nia, Virginia and further BOUth. It can 
not possibly be distinguished from corn 
we have lately examined in several feed 
and seed starts, offered at from $1.25 to 
$1.75 per bushel. The Mr. Boyd who is 
so prominently interested in introducing 
this marvelous corn to the farming com¬ 
munity is, we arc assured, the same phi¬ 
lanthropic Mr. Boyd who was even more 
prominently interested in introducing to 
their patronage the still more marvelous 
dollar, electric, medal batteries whose 
false pretensions were more, than once ex¬ 
posed in the Rural a couple of years ago. 
[IS THE PRICE OF WHEAT UNDULY 
HIGH? 
A Senate Committee of the New- York 
Legislature is seeking a remedy for the 
evils of speculation in commodities that 
constitute the staples of legitimate trade— 
in other words, it is trying to find out a 
salutary way of preventing “corners” in 
agricultural products. It has already ex¬ 
amined a number of railroad magnates 
and produce merchants on the subject, 
and all these have testified that in their 
opinion the wheat supply at Chicago bus 
for some time been “ cornered ” and held 
at prices so illegitimately high as to put 
a stop to the export movement. It is 
alleged that while our grain is held at 
Chicago by greedy speculators at unduly 
high prices, England is getting its supply 
from other sources, thus strengthening 
our rivals, while St. Louis and Now' Or¬ 
leans are buying California wheat, as they 
are able to get it cheaper than western- 
grown wheat, in spite of the cost of rail¬ 
road transportation. Many other evils 
are also enumerated as arising from the 
excessively high price of wheat, brought 
about by speculators reckless of the gene¬ 
ral welfare. 
The more we study the subject and the 
wider our information about it, the firmer 
is our belief that the present high price 
of wheat is due less to speculative opera¬ 
tions than to an actual scarcity of that 
cereal. There is now before us a long 
array of statistics on the “visible” and 
“invisible” supply of wheat now in the 
country—statistics from the Department 
of Agriculture, various State Boards of 
Agriculture, trade associations and agri¬ 
cultural as well as non-agricultural jour¬ 
nals. a mere summary of which would 
occupy several columns. The conclusion 
inevitable from a careful study of them, 
however, is that the. United States has 
little, if any, surplus wheat for exporta¬ 
tion; that the price of wheat even at the 
present high figure, is moderate in com¬ 
parison with the prices of other food pro¬ 
ducts, and that w'hen, four months hence, 
the new harvest comes into market, there 
will be a very unusually small quantity of 
the old wheat crop in the hands of pro¬ 
ducers and dealers. 
-- 
RAILR AD UNFAIR EVASION OF 
TAXATION. 
The Kansas Pacific Railroad extends 
from the eastein boundary line of Kansas 
to Denver, Colorado, a distance of 638 
miles. As aid in its construction, it re¬ 
ceived from the General Government a 
land grant of 20 sections, or 12,800 acres, 
per mile. The General Land Office in 
Washington has estimated that under the 
grant the area the Company can secure is 
about 6,000,000 acres, to which tbe Ccm 
pany’s Land Commissioner adds 200,000 
acres. In Colorado there are 2,000,000 
acres and 3,600,000 in Kansas. About 
one-third of the whole area is called 
“ grazing ” land, and the rest is classed 
as “agricultural.” The Railroad Com¬ 
pany is holding the unsold portion of it 
at from $4 to $12 an acre, and it has in¬ 
creased in value from 100 to 300 per cent, 
since the Company secured it. The un¬ 
sold lands in Kansas are estimated to be 
now worth $13,000,000, and those in Colo¬ 
rado nearly half as much. Over the whole 
of them the Company exercises the rights 
of ownership, mortgages them as security 
for its bonds, advertises them for sale, 
and prevents settlement thereon under 
the homestead or preemption laws, yet in¬ 
geniously evades taxation on them. 
Under two decisions of the U. 8. Su¬ 
preme Court until patents are granted for 
the land the title to it remains in the United 
States Government, which, of course, can 
not be taxed, and by the law of 1864 
patents cannot be issued until the Com¬ 
pany 6hall have paid the expenses of sur¬ 
veying, selecting and conveying the lands, 
the Government doing the work. The 
Company has paid about $27,000 on this 
account, but about $100,000 more are still 
due on the Kansas lands and nearly the 
same amount on the Colorado lands, and 
these sums the Company refuses to pay, 
thus leaving the title to the lands in the 
United States, and thereby evading taxa¬ 
tion, while exercising all the rights of 
ownership. When a sale is made a war¬ 
rantee deed is given, or, if the buyer de¬ 
mands a patent, the cost of survey, etc., 
of the tract sold is paid, and a patent is¬ 
sues; but it is charged that many pur¬ 
chasers of the land take the Company’s 
warrantee deed and leave the title in the 
United States, thus escaping taxation, 
railroad-fashion. 
In Kansas alone the taxes thus shirked 
amount to about $240,000 year, and 
were the railroad paying its fair share of 
the public burdens, the aggregate taxa¬ 
tion of the inhabitants of the State would 
be lightened by that amount. Of course, 
it would be wholly inconsistent with the 
nature of railroad corporations voluntarily 
to contribute towards the public welfare, 
when doing so would entail loss on them¬ 
selves. Accordingly, Mr. J. A. Anderson, 
of Kansas, has introduced into the House 
of Representatives a bill to compel the 
Company to pay the whole coat of sur¬ 
veying, selecting and conveying these 
lands and take patents within ninety 
days. It also provides that if the Com¬ 
pany shall not take out patents within 
five months from the passage of the act, 
the land shall become subject to State 
taxation. 
It is unjust that this rich Company 
should be permitted to control such a vast 
body of land while waiting for higher 
prices, paying no taxes thereon and keep¬ 
ing off settlers who might otherwise be 
improving the property and adding to the 
wealth of the State. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
We have now to report that t he raspberries 
which have best endured the past Winter at 
the Rural Grounds are Caroline, huff, and 
Souhegan, black. We have praised the Caro¬ 
line in strong terms and more than once, and 
see no reason to modify that praise now. 
Wk ought to keep either more hens or better 
layers. In the last three months wo have im¬ 
ported 3,396.216 dozen eggs, valu *d at $465.- 
554. True enough we have exported 19,986 
dozen, valued at $4,321, but then' Is still a 
credit of $461,233 for foreign hens. Nearly 
two million dollars a year going out of the 
country for foreign eggs! 
A dressinc! of palt on the pasture is said to 
he a preventive of red water in cattle. Salt 
which has been discolored can be obtained 
very cheap in New’ York, also at Syracuse 
and other places in the United States", where 
it is manufactured in abundance from salt 
Springs, Thore are other advantages at the 
same time in using salt:—it kills certain kinds 
of weeds, sweetens tho herbage, and makes it 
more palatable for the animals feeding on it, 
and it is also more beneficial for them in 
various ways. Two drachms of chlorate of 
potash given twice a week iu the meal fed to 
cattle is also a good preventive of red water. 
Mr. W. I Chamberlain, the able Secre¬ 
tary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 
writes ns that there are several errors in the 
telegram from Columbus, Ohio, on page 264 
of our issue of April 15, giving a summary of 
the Ohio crop report for April. Our report is 
precisely the same as that telegraphed by the 
Associated Press to this city just as we w’ere 
going to press on the morning of April 8. Us¬ 
ually Secretary Chamberlain telegraphs to ns 
a summary of his report, and our error was 
due to his having failed to do so on this occa¬ 
sion; for had he done so we would have been 
able to correct the blunder of the Associated 
Press. 
A BiTB-rmiMiTTKK of the Congressional 
Committee of Wavs and M< ans last Tuesday 
reported to the full Committeeu bill providing 
for the imposition of a tax of 10 cents a 
pound on oleomargarine and kindred pro¬ 
ducts, and requiring that the packages con¬ 
taining tho concoctions should be plainly 
and durably stamped with the name of 
their contents, so that no one can be deceived 
in buying. We strongly support this meas¬ 
ure. The stuff is wholesaled now at about 
nine cents per pound, and retailed for from 
20 to 40 cents—a margin of profit large enough 
successfully to tempt even the church-going 
butter deafer to palm off on his customers these 
spurious productsfor genuine butter. The im¬ 
position of the proposed tax will add to the 
revenue, bring shum butter into fair compe¬ 
tition with the real article and lessen the retail 
dealer’s temptation to swindle. 
To feed wheat bran w ithout a mixture of 
some other meal with it, has been found highly 
injurious to colt9 in Eugland, as it is apt to 
form stony secretions in the bowels. Stones 
E roduced there from the excessive use of bran, 
ave been taken out of horses after death, 
weighing many pounds. When sawed through 
they appear to be composed of a hard crysta- 
liuc maRs, deposited in regular rings, resem¬ 
bling in appearance the concentric rings of 
wood. They prove to be composed of phos¬ 
phate of magnesia and ammonia. If a quart 
of bran mixed with one quart of oats is fed to 
colts after weaning, at morning, and the same 
ration in the evening, it would be an excellent 
thing, as tbe bran helps to keep them clear of 
worms. Indian meal or rye, or barley meal 
would answer pretty w'ell to mix with the 
bran, but neither of these is so good as oats. 
A gill of cotton seed meal or oil meal would 
be very beneficial mixed with each of the 
above rations 
In the case of tbe People against Watson 
the facts were these: Watson was criminally 
indicted for obtaining money with intent to 
cheat and defraud a customer by falsely rep¬ 
resenting to him that a certain horse he had 
sold him was kind and true. By “ways that 
arc dark,” but well known to astute horse- 
dealers, the animal at tbe time of sale was 
made to appear as represented, but turned 
out to be utterly worthless and so broken down 
that it could not ba delivered to the purchaser. 
A written warranty was given at the time of 
the sale, and the defendant set up the defense 
that he wasuot criminally liable because the 
purchaser of the horse had taken the warranty 
from him ; w herefore he claimed that the lat¬ 
ter most bring a civil suit on the warranty'. 
But the New York Court of Appeals to which 
the case wus carried, lately decided that Wat¬ 
son was guilty of the offense charged; “ The 
fact tlwit there wasa warranty does not relieve 
the prisoner from the effect of the false pre¬ 
tenses under which he obtained the money” 
said the Judge in delivering the decision. 
