488 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 22 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal tor Country and Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. C 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
8ATURD AY, JULY 22, 1882. 
There is some reason for the belief 
that the new Champion Quince is the old 
Angers, which in this country is used 
almost entirely as the stock for dwarfing 
the pear. It will be remembered that we 
stated last year that the objection we saw 
to the Champion was that we found it 
ripened too late. It is a valuable variety, 
anyhow, where it will ripen. 
Sir J. B, Lawes, in a private letter 
dated June 24, says: “I regret to say 
that our crops are suffering for want of 
dry weather.” Under date of June 27, 
he writes: “We are suffering from ex¬ 
cessive wet, and June has been very cold. 
Much hay has been damaged, and the 
wheat prospects will be seriously injured 
unless we have dry weather soon.” 
Several weeks ago we reported that 
our last Summer’s patch of Bermuda Grass 
was entirely killed out. So it seemed— 
there was not a sigD of life late in the 
Spring. Now, however, the roots have 
sprouted here and. there and a rapid, 
though straggling growth, is going on. 
It appears, therefore, that at the Ag. Col¬ 
lege, Lansing, Michigan, and at the 
Rural Farm, Long Island, Bermuda Grass, 
though harmed in the latter place, has 
lived through the Winter. • 
The American Forestry Associa¬ 
tion. —Since the holding of the American 
Forestry Congress at Cincinnati, la6t 
April, inquiries have been made respect¬ 
ing this older organization, which has 
been doing its quiet work for several 
years past, with the hope of concentrating 
in one body the newly-aroused interest in 
forestry. This Association, which was 
organized at Chicago in 1875, was recently 
called together at Rochester, N. Y., when 
some spirited discussions upon sylvan 
topics were bad, and when a committee 
was appointed to confer with the Congress 
in an endeavor to effect a reunion of all 
those interested in this important branch 
of agriculture and economy. Both socie¬ 
ties named have adjourned, to meet at the 
city of Montreal on Monday the 21st of 
August next, when it is expected that 
some arrangement for unification will be 
effected. Our Canadian cousins have been 
acting in concert with us in this move- 
m^it from the first, and are now making 
ample arrangements for the success of the 
meeting. 
Mr. Lawson Valentine and Major 
H, E. Alvord, his geDtral superintendent 
at Houghton Farm, visited the Rural Ex¬ 
periment Grounds (New Jersey) last 
week. They expressed themselves as 
well pleased, and we were well pleased, 
too, for we have rarely had visitors who ex¬ 
amined everything with a keener interest. 
Houghton Farm and the Rural Grounds 
can scarcely be compared together. The 
former has 600 acres of land, and the very 
best experience and talent are employed, 
while money flows like water to render the 
work effectual. Mr. Valentine’s motive 
seems to be purely to throw light upon all 
agricultural problems which accurate ex¬ 
perimentation can elucidate. The Rural 
Farm has but 82 acres and our assistance 
has been scarcely more than that which 
could be rendered by ordinary farm labor. 
Our work has thus far been confined to 
ascertaining in a general way the best 
methods of cultivation and to the 
testing and originating of new varieties. 
Farmers at large may have heard little 
of Houghton Farm for the reason that 
the work hitherto has been in a great 
measure preparatory; but they need not 
wait much longer. There is no agricul¬ 
tural station or agricultural college in 
America so well equipped, so well fitted 
for the investigation of soil and plant 
problems—no other that will work more 
disinterestedly, unfettered by the fear of 
State displeasure or other interference 
from any source whatever. 
THE FOREIGN FRUIT TRADE, 
Now that the banana, pine-apple and ■ 
other tropical fruit trade is in the ascend- | 
ant, it may be interesting to note the 
extent of this business and the very pos¬ 
sible ultimate extent of it. And this is 
of still greater interest because of the 
rapid extension of the growth of tropical 
fruits in our own country, and espec ally 
in Florida. It has been supposed that a 
few thousand boxes of oranges and lem¬ 
ons, and a few hundred pineapples and 
bananas from that flowery peninsula would 
so demoralize the trade that no sale would 
be found for Florida fruits. It has been 
ever thus in the experience of mankind; 
but the growth of trade and the enormous 
power for consumption of anything that 
is useful and good have in every care 
proved the falsity of such fears. In 1881 
there were 239 cargoes of bananas, or 
nearly a million bunches, equal to more 
than 100 millions of fruits, imported; 
besides 103 cargoes, or two million, pine¬ 
apples ; 200 cargoes, or 12 million of 
cocoa-nuts. 500,000 boxes of oranges and 
lemons; 165 barrels of limes, and 24,300 
bunches of plaintains, in addition to a 
quantity of mangoes, shaddocks, guavas, 
all'gator pears and other fruits. The 
value of this fruit was four-and-a-half 
million dollars, and the duty upon it was 
$750,000. 
Now the most of this large quantity of 
fruit, if not the whole of it, including 
even the cocoa-nuts, might have been 
grown in Florida, where tire soil and cli¬ 
mate tend to give a very superior quality 
and flavor, if not size, to the fruits, and on 
this account Florida oranges and lemons 
are more popular in the markets than the 
European ones. Florida growers have 
the advantage not only of this 16 per cent 
of duty, but also of the loss of fruit by 
reason of long carriage, which equals 
about 20 per cent. Considering all these 
things, then, there seems to be no reason 
why we should fear to go into Florida 
and possess all the suitable land lying 
waiting to be occupied, and to plant 
orange groves and grow all these fruits. 
And, further, we might point to the fact 
that the consumption of this class of 
fruit is as yet in its infancy, and will be 
extended greatly as soon as the supply 
can be taken into remote places. 
-*—♦-•- 
PROTECTING CONSUMERS AGAINST 
FRAUD. 
The British Consumers’ Protection 
League is the name of an organization 
the formation of whicliis now being vigor¬ 
ously agitated m England. A great deal 
of discussion has of late taken place there 
in regard to the best way of protecting 
consumers against foreign food adultera¬ 
tions and the impositions of native butch¬ 
ers. Imitation American factory cheese 
and bogus Dutch butter are examples of 
the former; while the swindles of native 
butchers are amply shown by the fact 
that although the value of the imports of 
foreign meatis over £2,750,000 per month, 
the larger part of which is consumed in 
London, yet it is impossible to find in any 
part of the metropolis a butcher’s shop in 
which foreign meat is sold as such. The 
butchers buy at foreign meat prices and 
sell at home meat prices, thus dishonestly 
realizing an enormous profit. In view of 
the great increase in the amount of foreign 
meat consumed in England, this sort of 
swindlingis becoming an intolerable public 
grievance. In I860 the value of imported 
meat, dead and alive, was only a little over 
£4,090,000, but in 1880 it was nearly 
£27,000,000. Accordingly the influen¬ 
tial promoters of the Consumers’ League 
propose to ask Parliament to make it an 
offense punishable by fine and imprison¬ 
ment to sell foreign meat as British meat; 
but the butchers are likely to laugh such 
legislation to scorn, for how can the 
offense be proved? Hitherto there has 
been no lack of vigilant inspection, yet no 
butcher, we are told, has been detected. 
The excellence of foreign meat, especially 
that from this country, is undeniable, and 
it is only owing to swindling on the part 
of dealers and senseless prejudice on the 
part of the public that it does not sell for 
the price of home-raised meat. The 
caterers to the public appetite profit 
largely also by the low price at which 
they can buy foreign meat. The manager 
of a large, popular restaurant is reported 
to have remanced, confidentially: “Only 
provided the quality is right, we do not 
ask if the beef is Scotch or American. 
When it is cooked you can no more dis¬ 
tinguish the American meat from the Eng¬ 
lish than you can tell whether bread is 
made from American or English ‘flour. ” 
- * ♦ » 
TORNADOES. 
In view of the terrible destruction 
wrought by tornadoes this year in the 
West the records of such storms, lately com¬ 
piled by the Signal-Service Office present 
some interesting statistics. The follow¬ 
ing table shows the States in which these 
de tractive visitations have been most 
frequent during the periods indicated: 
Torna- 
Stat«. Period, does 
Georgia.. 
...18M-188t 
35 
T limits ... 
...18M-188I 
54 
Indiana... 
...183MB*0 
27 
Iowa...... 
...1834-1881 
31 
Toma- 
State. Period, does. 
Kansas.18M>-18 e l 62 
Missouri ....1814-1881 44 
New York...lS3l-18Sl 35 
Ohio.1.823-1881 Sg 
Here is a record of 316 tornadoes, with¬ 
out counting the quota of 1882. Twenty- 
nine well defined storms of the kind have 
been recorded this year, divided as fol¬ 
lows: March, 1; April, 11; May, 5; June, 
8; July, 4 to date. The Signal-Service 
record shows that tornadoes occur more 
frequently in April than July, and in May 
and September than in August, and this 
year's visitations have so far borne out 
this conclusion. 
The records show r that the storms al¬ 
ways move in an easterly direction, that 
they occur most frequently between five 
and six in the afternoon, and that they 
move from twelve to Bixty mileB an hour, 
while the average width of the swath of 
destruction is 1,085 feet, or almost a 
quarter of a mile. Although the onward 
movement of the ctorm is comparatively 
slow, still the wind within the vortex of 
the tornado sometimes Teaches the fearful 
velocity of HOO miles an hour, and averages 
392 miles. The destruction wrought by 
these awful tempests is often enormous, 
and those of this year have been more dis¬ 
astrous than any of their predecessors, 
except possibly those of 1860. The tor¬ 
nado of Boone Co., Iowa, last month, 
killed over 100 persons in the county, 
injured between 300 and 400 others, more 
or less grievously, and destroyed, it is 
estimated, nearly $3,000,000 worth of 
property. At Ames, Iowa, according to 
Professor Macombcr of the Agricultural 
College, which the tornado par.tly de¬ 
stroyed, so great was the force of the 
wind that it lifted a block of stone 15 
inches on each side clear off the ground 
a ad carried it 200 feet. To do this would 
require a pressure of 200 pounds per square 
foot, even if the wind acted at right 
angles, to produce which the circular mo¬ 
tion must have been at least 201 miles an 
hour. 
-- 
THIRTY YEARS AGO—AND NOW. 
TnE Edinburg Review has been for a 
century past the first literary production 
of the world. The leaders of thought, 
the first writers and the most accomplished 
and conservative of conductors have been 
associated in this most effective exponent 
of the most intelligent opinion. What, 
then, was said of us by this first of the 
leaders of thought and opinion 30 years 
ago, and how the actual result has tal¬ 
lied with the prognosis, should be very 
interesting to us as a people. And that 
it is, we would call attention to the fol¬ 
lowing extract from an article printed 
in the Review in 1853, which now reads 
like an accomplished prophecy, except 
mg only as regards the “very distant 
day,” when the writer expected the re¬ 
sults might be reached. He says, refer¬ 
ring to the published statistics of our 
census of 1850; 
“When, in no very distant day, the prai¬ 
ries of the lake country and the vallav of the 
Mississippi shall he peopled with 50,000,000, 
gathered from all nations, but guided by the 
English race and governed by English tradi¬ 
tions—when the slopes of the llleghuniea and 
the Green Mountains shall be covered with 
sheep ind their valleys tilled with the best 
bred stock; when the plains of the South 
shall be entirely devoted to the producticn of 
cotton (let us hope without the curse of sla¬ 
very); when the higher and more delicate 
branches of manufacture shall have taken 
root in Massachusetts and the mechanical 
arts found n firmer stay in Pennsylvania; 
when the white man shall have driven the 
buffalo from the fields which each settine sun 
shadows wfih the peaks of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains; when cities shali fringe the Pacific, 
towns line the banks of the Oregon and farms 
dot the surface of California and the Valley 
of the Willamette; when skill shall have sub¬ 
dued the mineral wealth of Luke Superior; 
when commerce shall whiten every lake and 
asceud every river of the country and shall 
carry its productions to every clime; when 
railroads shall unite the Atlantic with the 
Pacific and bring every part of this vast na¬ 
tion futo close contact with every other; 
when opulence shall have given a home to art 
in these cities und literature shall have 
created the traditions which they lack—what 
a spectacle may they not present to the world 
if, despising the allurements of ambition and 
disregarding the erroneous advice of inter¬ 
ested leaders, they are content to reap the re¬ 
wards of their peaceful industry and to enjoy 
the blessings which Providence places within 
their reach! 
What import is contained in these won¬ 
derful words written 30 yqprs ago nearly; 
and in the fact that every possibility then 
foreseen has actually been accomplished 
in less than one complete generation, in¬ 
stead of at “a very distant day!” 
INTELLIGENCE IS THE MEASURE OF 
SUCCESS. 
We have often discussed the proposi¬ 
tion laid down in the above line, and have 
tried to show by reasoning that the truth 
of it is evident. But heretofore we have 
not been able to show the truth in the 
popular manner by which facts are proved, 
viz., by statistics. But figures even sus¬ 
tain the evidence of logic and reason, 
and go to show some extraordinary coin¬ 
cident facts : for some curious statistics 
were used in this connection by the ac¬ 
complished Director of the New York 
Experiment Station, Dr. E. Lewis Sturte- 
vant. in a recent address to that intelli¬ 
gent body of farmers known in their col¬ 
lective capacity as the Elmira Farmers’ 
Club. It was, indeed, a fitting occasion, 
that this subject of the value of intelli 
gence and its useful and profitable effects 
upon the growth of crops should be dis¬ 
cussed at a meeting of this club, for uo- 
where else could intelligence and success¬ 
ful culture of the soil be better embodied 
than in the membership of this club. 
Dr. Sturtevant chose a somewhat trite 
subject, but he handled and exemplified it 
in a surprisingly novel and most effective 
way. He tabulated and compared the 
figures relating to the proportionate il¬ 
literacy of the population, and the aver¬ 
age yield of crops and showed a remarka¬ 
ble analogy and relation between them. 
He gave from the Census reports of 1870 
the following rates of illiteracy in the 
States named. 
Georgia, N. and S. Carolina. Virginia...28 to 36 per ct 
Maryland und Delaware.14 to 15 “ , 
MasKaeluisettR and Rhode Island.5 to 7 “ . 
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey. ,3 to 5 “ 
New nampalilre.2 to 3 “ 
And as compared with thse figures, he 
gave theaverage yields of corninthe same 
States as follows, in the same order as 
above. 
14.2 bushels per acre. 
23.7 “ “ 
29.5 
32 3 
36.5 “ *• 
In the same way he compared some of 
the leading Western States with a simi¬ 
lar result. It is not precisely a new dis¬ 
covery, but it is the application of new 
proofs to an old and foregone conclusion, 
which we produce here, that it may help 
to remove from any farmer’s mind a lin¬ 
gering doubt as to the facts that the man¬ 
ner and method of work in the field affect 
the resulting crops, and that the manner 
and method are affected by the measure 
of intelligence of the farmer. 
BREVITIES, 
A Languishing nursery business, says Mr. 
P. Barry, would prove a national calamity. 
The Agricultural Department will in future 
make special efforts to collect for publication 
crop and market reports of European coun¬ 
tries, and Commissioner Loring has just ap¬ 
pointed Edward J. Moffat, of tliis city, agent 
for the Department for this purpose. He will 
be made deputy at the London Consul-Gener¬ 
alship. 
Emory Storrs, the well-known Chicago 
lawyer, has gone to Europe as a representa¬ 
tive of American cattle shippers to endeavor 
to remove or lessen the transatlantic restric¬ 
tions on importations of cattle from this 
couutry and also to abate the prejudice still 
existing to a considerable extent against 
American beef. He has strong letters from 
President Arthur, Secretary Freylinhusen, 
Gen. Grant and others 
One of our editors who is enjoying a brief va¬ 
cation atCauaan N. Y., writes, under date of 
July 14, as follows: Such crops as are grow¬ 
ing in this section of the country I think I 
never saw before. Grass is very heavy and 
so are all grain crops with perhaps the ex¬ 
ception of corn, and that will come on, though 
late. Farmers are happy over the prospects, 
though they are not generally blessed with 
high prices when crops are so abundant. 
Crop reports cabled from England under 
date of July 13, give a very gloomy view of 
English agriculture. Heavy rains and over¬ 
cast weather are again threatening disaster to 
the hopes of the English farmer. A great 
deal of hay has been ruined, and the damage 
would have been considerably greater were it 
not that recourse has been had to the new 
method of artificially drying hay. The cereal 
crops also, especially wheat, have been serious¬ 
ly injured, and still more damage seems not 
improbable. Altogether, the prospect for the 
English farmer is represented as very dis¬ 
couraging. Crop reports from France and 
other continental countries, however, are con¬ 
siderably brighter. 
This is the season when there is usually an 
active movemeut in the wool trade at all 
points; but business, as a rule, is backward in 
comparison with former years. The high 
views of holders in the interior are bindering 
trade. It is said at the seaboard that the 
West has so often unloaded stock on the East 
at prices that could not afterwards be real¬ 
ized that this year the dealers are inclined to 
hold back uufcil farmers become willing to ac¬ 
cept rates that will give a profit on resale. 
Manufacturers aro buying very cautiously 
and only to supply current wants. Farmers, 
however, are firm, but harvesting delays nego¬ 
tiations. While prices of medium wools are 
strong, there is a tendency to weakness for 
fine fleeces and quarter-blood unwashed wool 
« 
