472 
c 
JULY 45 
THE 
RURAL- NEW-YORKER, 
A National Jouroal .or Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ALBERT S C 1KMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row. New York. 
BATURUAY, JULY 15, 1882. 
FIFTY D0LL1RS IN PREMIUMS! 
The Rural New-Yorker hereby offers 
$50.00 in premiums for the best series of 
articles on 
“ Profitable Farming for a Poor 
Man.” 
FIRST PREMIUM, - - $25.00 
SECOND PREMIUM, - 15.00 
THIRD PREMIUM, - - 10.00 
The object cf such articles will be to 
assist those farmers who have limited 
means; those with a small capital who 
are about to engage in farming; those 
who have farms which are not paying the 
owners. We do not limit, the writers to 
any special branch of farming, all or any 
branch may be considered dairy, stock, 
field crops, market gardening, small fruits, 
large fruits— one, any or all. The Rural 
hopes, by this course, to place before its 
readers the best guides for the poor farm¬ 
er, while such information must prove of 
value to the successful farmer as well. 
BERMUDA GRASS SEED. 
“ Wk find this heading to an advertisement 
of a well-known seedsman in a Rr.nlhern con¬ 
temporary, Tbe seedsman claims to have 
procured a limited supply of the seed of this 
grass, whlrh he offers to sell at the mi derate 
price of #2 .*>0 per pound. Now tbi* sounds 
very much like first-class hum buggery, and 
we would so class it hut for the high character 
which noth the seedsman and the journal 
whi'-h gives currency to the apparent swindle 
sustain. We presume that both have teen 
imposed upon, and that tne seed of some other 
grass has been palmed off upon the seedsman 
for that of Bermuda.” 
Wk copy the above ftom the Southern 
World, published in Atlanta, Georgia. 
How easy it would have been for the 
editor or the writer to have sent for a 
small quantity of the seed and tested it 
before indulging in surmises which are 
calculated to harm the enterprising firm 
offering this seed, as well as the journals 
in which it is advertised ! Such insinua¬ 
tions, after appearance in print, are loo 
often caught up by the press in general, 
and work no end of harm ere the truth 
can he made known. 
We have the true Bermuda Grass grow¬ 
ing from the seed atove alluded to, started 
in a flower pot last Spring and transplanted 
to the open ground a few weeks ago, 
which we should be pleased to show to 
the editor of the Southern World or to 
anybody else sufficiently curious or skep¬ 
tical to be willing to visit the Rural 
Grouuds in order to verify or invalidate 
our statement. 
We have never known Bermuda Grass 
to form seeds in this country, though 
many specimens of supposed seeds have 
been sent to us from different parts of 
xhe Southern States. But there are other 
countries in the world where this grass 
grows and where it seeds freely, and it is 
from one of ihese thit a quantity of the 
seed was procured, tested, and then of¬ 
fered for sale by one of the oldest and 
most trustwoithy seedsmen in America, a 
fact that is characterized by our contem¬ 
porary as akin to “first-class liumbug- 
gery ” ! 
vals.” Even now that prices are on a down¬ 
ward grade, there are many i laces where 
a peck of potatoes cost more than a peck 
of strawberries. This dearth of tubers 
has given rise to some talk about, the re¬ 
moval of ihe duty of 15 cents a bushel on 
imported potatoes. The taxes from this 
source amounted last year to about $320,- 
000, and as the imports this year have 
been very much heavier, the revenue from 
these imports must be vastly greater. It 
is claimed that while the tax keeps out 
the Joreign supply just at the time when 
it is most, needed, and thus unduly en¬ 
hances the price of a short domestic crop, 
with an abundant home production there 
is nothing to be feared from European 
competition on account of the superior 
quality of American potatoes, which will 
alvvajs be preferred except when potatoes 
of any sort are welcome at reasonable 
prices, There is no argument that cun be 
used in favor of an amendment of ihe tariff 
on potatoes, which cannot also be applied 
to the tariff on almost all other “pro¬ 
tected” articles, and we are, therefore, 
opposed to the removal of this tax, ■whose 
imposition is of advantage to agriculture, 
until the removal of other import duties 
whose imposition is an injury to agricul¬ 
ture. The. tariff on potatoes, originally 
imposed to “protect” New England po¬ 
tato growers against the farmers of New 
Brunswick and oi her Canadian provinces, 
dates back to 1822, when a taxof 10 cents 
a bushel w T as imposed. Despite seven dif¬ 
ferent modifications of the tariff in the 
interval, this tax remained unaltered until 
1840, when the duty was changed to 30 
per cent, ad valorem. In 185? it was re¬ 
duced to 25 per cent, ad valorem , and in 
1801 the original specific tax of 10 cents a 
bushel was re imposed. Next year it was 
increased to 25 cents a bushel, and re 
retained at that figure through the half-a- 
dozen changes in the tariff down to 1872, 
when 25 ct-nts a bushel ■was equal to 50 
per cent, ad valorem. In June, 1872, the 
tax was reduced to 15 cents a bushel, and 
that has been the rate ever since. Our 
consul at Prescott, Canada, as stated in 
the Rural of June 10, suggests a higher 
duty on imports of potatoes, but with the 
present moderate tmiff, American potato- 
growers are not likely to be greutly in¬ 
jured by foreign competition, so that the 
expediency of such an advance shall not 
be urged bv us on the Tariff Commission 
which has been duly organized during the 
past week. 
FARMERS AND FARM HELP. 
As there are “books and books”— 
meaning good and bad onrs—so there 
are “men and men.” Some furmers never 
have any trouble with their help and the 
faun work moves as steadily aud with 
as little liiciion as c'ock work; others 
are incessantly in trouble and everything 
goes wrong. We are acquainted with 
men who are laborers by ihe month or 
year on the faun, and who make their 
employers’ interests their own. They 
work as well when the “boss” is away as 
when he is near, and, in everything they 
do, they consider how' they would act if 
in their employer’s position. There are 
others, also, who labor simply for the 
money they nceive; tin y have no interest 
in the work, hut listeu with a keen ear for 
the dinner horn and watch wuth eager 
ejefurihe setting of the sun. To do the 
work somehow—not necessarily w r cll—is 
the principle which governs them. 
The fattuer who is particular as to 
whom he employs; who has the bargain 
well understood, who pays well, pays will¬ 
ingly and pays promptly; who appreci¬ 
ates good service and fairly fulfills his 
part of the agreement, need have lit 1 le 
fear of being troubled by his help. For 
such employers there is always some one 
to offer seivice; such employers are 
sought by “hired men,” and in nine cases 
out of ten, satisfaction is mutual. But, 
unfortunately, not all employers are thus 
careful as to whom they hire or how T 
they treat their help. They select from 
the “rough scuff” class, from tnunpsaa l 
those w ho'never havediud a steady situation, 
simply because they can hire them for 
twenty-five cents less per day though, in 
reality, they receive a half dollar per day 
less iu return services. The usual result 
is that the farmer has to oversee all his 
woik personally, look after the implements 
when not in use, go here and go there to 
give instructions, and thus lose largely 
his owe time which, with intelligent, in- 
dmtrious help, could he elsewhere more 
profitably employed. Iu fact, each is in¬ 
tent on getting the. most possible from 
the other, neither having the welfare of 
the other at heart. Such a condition of 
things is neither agreeable nor profitable. 
We are aware that the same differences 
are liable to arise between employers and 
employed in other occupations, but the 
effects are more si liking and mr re notice¬ 
able on the farm than in the work slu p 
or store where the rouiineof duty is more 
easily marked and the labor is more me¬ 
chanical in its nature. Farm work can 
never be reduced to such exactness in de¬ 
tail that the workman can perform it sat¬ 
isfactorily unless he is thoroughly inter¬ 
ested in it, and in heatty sympathy with 
his employer. So much for the hired 
hand, and on the other hand, to keep this 
interest alive, there must he on the part 
of the employer the approval and appre¬ 
ciation of woik faithfully done. 
But there is something more in this 
than the bare facts of w r otkwell doue aud 
well remunerated. There is a genuine 
satisfaction on the part of bo h i mp oyer 
and etnployfi, and the resultant happiness 
which accrues to the meu themselves and 
to their respective families is a thing to 
be sought for and prized, lint when the 
men are continually at “loggerheads,” 
their families feel the reactive influence, 
and even society is, in a degree, affected 
adversely by it. Whatever, then, will 
bring about mutual contentment and 
good-will among farmer4 and their hilp 
should be fostered, and while “hired 
men” are fallible, the farmer should re¬ 
member that it is largely in his power to 
make their mutual relations agreeable. 
■-»<-♦- 
BREVITIES. 
The forestry meeting at Montreal, August 
21 , should be borne in mini. 
Prepare the land for Hungarian Grass pre¬ 
cisely as you would for wheat. Sow one 
bmhel of seed to the acre broadcast—harrow 
aud then roll if the soil is dry. 
Work during the past week has been in ef¬ 
fect suspended at the Rural Groundsowing to 
every day' rains and cold weather. Our ex¬ 
periment corn field shows a splendid stand 
and the plants look well as compared with 
other field corn. Of course, little growth is 
made aud the Summer is flying. It does not 
appear to us premature to say that the chance 
of a heavy crop of late field corn has passed 
for 1882. 
Before this issue reaches the hands of our 
readeisitisnotatallunlikely that5,000 English 
troops will bo bultliug with some 30,000 
Eg> pilaus on the batiks of the Nile. The im¬ 
minence of the outbreak has already’ sent up 
coton “futures” 25 to 30 “points” in this 
market, owiug to the possible curtailment or 
stoppage of cotton from Egy pt and India, and 
in next issue it is not unlikely that we shall 
have to record other effoets of the trouble *m 
Arner can trade. An enormous British fl et 
and large fleets belonging to t he other chief 
European Bowersare now at Alexandria; and 
so great is ihe tension hetweenih- British and 
Eyyptians that the first shot may be fired at 
any moment—the last, when and where would 
that then be fired ? 
A few weeks ago we gave a specimen of 
CongresvioD8l blundering in connection with 
the tariff on knit goods. Since then a law has 
been pressed through Gongress amending the 
blunder then spok* n of: but after its passage 
it has been discovered that the statute it was 
intended to ext lduis wrongly described in 
the bill. Ihe section referring to the duty on 
knit goods is 3.504 of the Revised Statutes, 
while tbe bill just carried through Congress 
refers to section 25 of the Revised Statues—a 
law which has no more to do with tariffs, du¬ 
ties or imports than with the differential eulcu* 
Jusor the composition or the moon. The p <ssage 
of another law will now be needed to amend 
the amendment. A more ludicrously strik¬ 
ing commentary on Congressional slovenli¬ 
ness and blundering it would be hard to 
imagine 
A WRITER, who calls himself “a Theorist,” 
Fa\s that in practice he secu es profit f oin 
his culture by attention to t wo particulars: 
First, to plant only what can he grown with 
surest results; and. secondly, to avoid In¬ 
juring the crop by ill applied, surfeiting, or 
poisom us manures, or the soil bv hid tiling". 
For the rest, It is all secured by diligence with 
tbe boo. He imitates the industrious old 
mo* ks, once the leaders and patterns of ef¬ 
fective soil culture. Their adage •*lulorare 
eat orore” (work is prayer) is sound and ever 
will be. There is not a better religious sacri¬ 
fice, nor is there a purer worship than the 
culture or the study of tbe plants that every¬ 
where bedeck the earth, revealing by their 
beiuty a kindly Providence, a loving God. 
and a bappy future state tor the humble and 
the deserving. 
On the last day of Juno we congratulated , 
our Western friends on the po tp moment of 
the regular June floods until July, when they 
would probably prove harmless to agriculture 
owing to the abseuce of raius heavy enough 
to force the swollen rivers over their banks on 
to tbe rich bottom land* devoted to Ullage 
and pasturage. During the four following 
days, however, telegrams from Omaha, Aten- 
ison, Kansas City and Mt. Lulis successively 
told of the course of the Hood aloug the Mis¬ 
souri, while on July 2 the wkes announced a 
rainfall of unpivod ntt-d severity in most 
parts of Indiana, Illinois. Iowa uud Wisconsin. 
When, therefore, the Missouri, turbid with 
the mel ed snows of the Rocky Mountains, 
joined tbe Mississippi, turi ulent with the 
drainage from the recent f'o«vnpour, we were 
not surprised to hear of disastrous floods aloug 
the low land on both sides of the Mississippi, 
from Alton to below Bt, L'ui<. Veuuor, De 
Voe and their numerous predecessors hiving 
blundered as weather prophets, e here shall 
we look for truthful vaticinati jus? D >es an 
article elsewhere point to Chamoaign, Illi¬ 
nois, as the home of the “ coming ” prophet I 
All valuable articles sent to the Rural 
New-Yorker under this offer, will be 
printed sooner or later, while the prizes 
will be awarded by disinterested and 
capable judges on or before the loth of 
December next. The competing articles 
should reach this office not later than 
November 1, 1882. 
The writers are not restricted as to the 
length or number of the articles consti¬ 
tuting the series. They will be judged 
no 1 by length, not by fine language or 
handwriting or gramtnitical construction. 
They will be judged simply by the value 
of the subject-matter, whether short or 
long, whether written on white or brown 
paper, so that tne writing itself be easily 
legible. The Rural expresses the hope 
that those farmers who have passed the 
trying ordeal from poverty to comfort¬ 
able circumstances by the sweat of their 
brows, will be the first to enter this contest 
and tell how tl.ey did it. 
According to our experience, it will 
prove about as easy to raise a field of 
Pyrethrnm rosaffiorum or cinerarmfo- 
lium for the produc tion of Persian Insect 
Powder as one of Oxeye Daisy. 
An objection to pistillate kinds of straw¬ 
berries is, that if thetiower8 bloom either 
very early or very late, Ihe berries will be 
more or less imperfect, unless equally early 
or late perfect kinds growing near bloom 
simultaneously. 
♦ - 
Now is the best time for this climate 
to sow seeds of the Cos Lettuce. If sown 
in early Spring, as other kinds of lettuce 
are sown, it runs up to seed in June. If 
sown in Summer, it heads during the cool 
weather of late September. 
--- 
How to work up at the least expense a 
poor farm into a good one is the subject 
we now propose to agitate, aud we call 
upon all wIxo have had experience to 
help us for the great agricultural public 
good. Anybody that cm make a poor 
farm profitable is a master farmer, and 
should not confine his light under a 
bushel, but let it brightly shine for all. 
BOGUS DAIRY PRODUCTS IN CON¬ 
GRESS. 
Some time ago we announced the in¬ 
troduction into ihe Lower House of Con., 
gress of a bill imp using a national tax on 
oleomurgarine and similar bogus pro¬ 
ducts. The measure has been strenuously 
opposed by the oleomargarine interest, 
wtuch has had an ardent adlrerent iu W. 
D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, Chairman of 
the Committee of Ways and Means, and 
the strongest “protectionist” in the 
country of all sorts of “home manufac¬ 
tures.” Very naturally the fraudulent 
manufacture of “butter” and “cheese” 
from caul fat, tallow, lard and offal 
finds in this gentleman au earnest friend, 
though we have never heard a good word 
from him in favor of the legitimate 
manufacture of these products from mi k. 
Mr. John R. Thomas, of Illinois, and Mr. 
Ferris Jacobs, Jr., of New York, have 
been very active iu their i fforta to set tire 
from the Coam *.tee of Ways and Means 
a favorable cons!Juration ol the bill, and 
have finally—despite the opposition of 
the Chairman—obtained from it a report 
of a substitute for ihe House bill. The 
substitute provides that manufactuiers 
of oleomargarine, etc., shall pay a tax of 
$15, and dealers a tax of $2,40, aud that 
a tax of one cent a pound shall be col¬ 
lected on eavh paicel or package by the 
affixing and cancellation of a special 
stamp prior to removal from the place 
where the product has been made. This 
stamp must be placed on every package 
of oleum irgarine or similar coueoc ion, 
and the sale or offering for sale of any 
unstamped package shall render the 
offetider liable to pay the proper tax to¬ 
gether with 100 per cent penalty iu addi¬ 
tion to a fine of $1,000. Mes.-rs. Kelley 
& Co, have succtedudin delaying action 
in this connection so long that we have 
no hopes ti at unything more will be done 
iu trie matter at the present session of 
Congress. Mr. Kelley is sent to Congress 
from Philadelphia, so that his misconduct 
in this connection can forfeit no farmers’ 
votes; but if the farmers throughout the 
couutry demand pledges iu the matter 
from the candidates at the next election 
before voting for them, the supporters 
of anti-oleomargarine legislation will be so 
numerous that Mr. Kelley’s opi ositiou 
hereafter will accomplish little mischief. 
THE TARIFF ON POTATOES. 
Owing to the scarcity of potatoes in 
some parts of the country, “ pjtuto fes¬ 
tivals” are here and there reported to be 
taking the place of “strawberry festi¬ 
