838 
THE f URAL NEW-YORKER. 
DEC 
THE 
RURAL MEW'YORK£R, 
A National Journal for Country andSuburt.inliO ma. 
Conducted by 
BLB 1 r.T 8 . CACUiV* 
Address 
THE Rt I ILL NEW-YORKER. 
j,c. St p. rk Row, Nr/ Torre. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 9, let**. 
The Rural New Yorker will *>e s-wt 
to all ytoi ly snlscribars from, moo u) til 
January l, 1884, for $2.00. 
We are glad tn lie able to ary that our 
venerable friend Mr. Charles Downing is 
rapid y improving, and those in attend¬ 
ance are very much encouiaged. 
If any of our readers know where we 
can purchase Blark-bt arded Centennial 
Wheat (no matt* r how small or large the 
quantity) they would confer a favor if 
they would advise us. 
All readers of the Rural New- 
Yorker should send for our new Poster 
and Premium Lists. A postal-card ap¬ 
plication suffices and wc shall be glad to 
send them piomptly. 
Oim subscribers, in renewing, will very 
greatly oblige us by stating ,vlen their 
subscriptions expire. This will help in 
posting their names and prevent the send¬ 
ing of duplicate coj ies. State when 
your subscriptions expire! 
“I must confess,” Mr. Iloward A. 
Chase writes us, with regard to tie 
Champion Quince, “that I think the 
impression that will be given the public 
by the insertion of the cut in your recent 
issue, and your note regarding the same, 
will do the" fruit rather an injustice. It 
is not so much the statement that it has 
not done well on your grounds, as the 
way that you express it, which, I think, 
will lead many to infer that tht Champion 
is a small and inferior quince.” 
A few days since our attention was 
called to a very simple contrivance for 
“ taming ” a young Jersey bull. A piece 
of chain about two feet or so long was 
suspended from the ring in the nose, 
which, by striking him about the legs 
and rose when running, or being stepped 
upon occasionally when in mifehief, 
served as a continual reminder of “stern 
authority.” It is not recommended so 
much for “taming” ugly bulls as for 
preventing them from becoming ugly, and 
an occasional “pull at the nose” is very 
effective. 
* - -- 
Wk are now husking the measund 
acre of Blount's Corn which wa6 divided 
into five equal parts and treated ns fol¬ 
lows: 1st plot, no manure; 2nd plot, hen 
manure; 3rd, Mipcs’scorn fertilizer; 4lli, 
Baugh’s ammomsted superphosphate; 
5th, farm manure—all appludso as to 
cost the same in money value per plot. 
The natural soil w-as light and poor and 
had received no fertilizer of any kind in 
15 years or more. The weathe r was un¬ 
favorable throughout the entire fc ison— 
too wet and cold in the esily part; too 
dry in the latter part. 
At last Prussia has resolved to forbid 
the importation of American hogs and 
hog products. On Thursday last an or¬ 
dinance was presented in the Bundesrat i 
forbidding the importation from this 
country ot pigs, pork, bacon and sau-age 
of all kinds; but the Chancellor is em¬ 
powered to permit exception -i to this pro¬ 
hibitive tule, “ subject to n cessaty meas¬ 
ures of control.” It is not li t« ly, how¬ 
ever, that Chancellor Bismarck will make 
many such exceptions. The ordinance 
comes into lorce thirty days after its pro¬ 
mulgation. An ordinance of June 25tb, 
1880, forbidding tic imor rtation of 
minced pork and rausages, has been abol¬ 
ished, as the sweeping ordinance now is¬ 
sued includes these als:. 
When we have had no mnnuie to spare 
to accelerate the growth of fruit or orna 
mental trees, we have resorted to spread 
ing fine brush oil around them in a ring, 
from within a few feet of the trunk to 
several feet beyond the circle of a per¬ 
pendicular line ft out the ends of the 
longest branches to ihe ground. As this 
brush rots, it torn s food for ihe growth 
of the trees, and as a mulch it also con¬ 
tributes to thtir thrift. In a dry season 
it retains the moisture from evaporating 
from the ground, and with it we have 
saved trees from being killed by a severe 
drought, while others standing in the 
same kind of Foil not far from them, for 
want of a brurii mulch have died. It is a 
general rule with farmers to burn all their 
brush, but it would be much better to 
utilize it for the growth of tree-. 
Dn. J. B. Lawfs, in reply to our ques¬ 
tion, writes us that we can drive Conch 
Grass (Quack, Scutch. Rye Grass, Creep¬ 
ing Wheat) out of land by the aid of 
stronger graF6es inch asCock’s-foot, Fox- 
t ail, Timothy, provided the latter arc 
furnished with plenty of food. On at able 
lund under grain crops nothing will get 
rid of it but a summer-fallow and hand- 
pit king. Dr. Lawes also writes that he 
registeied 30 dajs more or less ram in 
October. Very little wheat lias been 
sown on the heavy land and in some 
places the * rop6 are still in the fields. 
Again he remarks: “At first sight there 
would appear to be li tie connection be¬ 
tween nitric acid and agriculture as 
practiced in your country—and yet there 
is not a grain of corn or wheat which is nol 
grown by it, nod until fanners become 
perfectly familiar with it they can know 
nothing of the science of agriculture.” 
-- 
England consumes every y: j ar 1 800,- 
000 tons of meat, of which she products 
only 1,200,('00 tons, leaving 600,000 tons 
to be supplied from foieign sources. 
Hitherto this deficit has bet n made up 
mainly from this conn ry, but owing t > 
the high | rices that have ruled here of 
late, our exports of live sti ck and dressed 
meat have fallen « ff veiy heav ly, and 
though there is a fair prospect that the 
increase in the frozen meat trade fn in 
Australia, Brazil and Rustia will ere long 
compensate for the decrease in American 
shipnirnts. yet there is a pressing need 
meanwhile. Fish is lh<t latest substitute 
for roast beef to which John Bull has 
turned his at’inti >r. A couj le of weeks 
ago 25 tons of froze - 1 salmon captured 
in a river fl *wiDg into I ngava Bay, at 
the noriheastern angle cf Labrtkr, wire 
sold in the London market. They wen; 
ke| t in a frozen chambir and sold at the 
rate of a ton every d iy in Billingsgate. 
In the Rural of November 18 we an¬ 
nounced the arrival here of 22 ostriches 
from the Cape of Good Hope, and ven¬ 
tured to doubt the statement of Mr. J. 
Protheroe, the owner, that he intended 
to establish an ostrich farm in this coun¬ 
try, and that the birds were imported for 
breeding purposes. Our surmise that they 
were intended to sell not to breed, has, 
of course, turned out correct. The im¬ 
porter, who iutended to stay here for 
yeaie, has been compelled to limit his 
stay to a few days by advices from the 
Cape, and accordingly he offers his birds 
for sale, and says that if the entire herd 
is not taken by one party, he is willing 
to divide it. Thetc are doubtless parts 
of this country suitable for ostrich farm¬ 
ing ; but no part is better suited than Cape 
Colony, and the industry has of late 
piovtd unprofitable there. It would, 
however, be quite satisfactory if some 
“ fancy ” fmmer would try this eminently 
“ fancy” mode of farming. 
-♦ ♦ ■» -- 
It has hitherto been supposed that 
fruit is absolutely necessary to the manu¬ 
facture of jsm. But, bleis you ! in these 
days of scientific progress, old beliefs are 
fast being supplanted. A correspondent 
of a London trade journal describes a 
visit he lately made to a jam-producing 
factory, in which he saw various sorts of 
jam—currant, plum, africot, 6lrawbciry, 
laspberiy and gooseberry—turned out in 
vast quantities without the aid of fruit at 
a'l. Turnips served the purposes alike 
of cun ants, plums, strawberries, raspber¬ 
ries, gooseberries 8nd apricots. The 
flavoring matter was an extract of coal 
tar and the resemblance to raspberry and 
strawberry jam was hightened by mixing 
the boiling compound with small seeds of 
some cheap harmless herb. A common 
grade of sugar was used—the only honest 
ingredient in the mess. The preserves 
were Bold as “ from this season's fruit.” 
000 bales—an increase of 1,069,000 bales 
over last year's crop; but a dtcrease of 
81,000 bales as compand with the crop 
of 1881, which was the heaviest ever 
raised in this country. Aceoiding to 
estimates deduced from various consid¬ 
erations by the best authorities, the 
average net weigl t of the bale this year 
will be 470 pounds, so that the total crop 
will be 3,366,750,000 poimds, 6h< u’d 
the Department's estimate prove correct. 
Mr. Ellison of Liverpool is the acknow l¬ 
edged European authority on cotton, and 
according to liis calculations a few weeks 
ago the cotton crops of India and oilnr 
cotton-producing countries, exc ud mg the 
United States, but including Egypt, will 
be 2,400.000 bales, of which India will 
yield 1,450.000 bales, and “sundries” 
950,000. The imports of India to Europe 
last year were 1.657,000 bales, and of 
“sundries” 951,000 bales, of which 
422,000 came from Egypt. Latir advices 
from Egypt, however, appnrantly justify 
the cutting down of his figures for “sun¬ 
dries ” by about 120,000 bales—and Egyp¬ 
tian bales weigh more than double tho3e 
of any other country included in his 
“sundries.” Hence the total cotton crop 
of the world this year is likely to be 
scmewliere about 8,800,000 bales. 
Last year the whcle of Europe con¬ 
sumed 6,349,000 bales, avtraging 423 
pounds net; rud the consumption in 
America, including Canada, was 2,000,- 
000, averaging 486 pounds gross weight 
per bale. There is every reeson to be¬ 
lieve that the consumption the con ing 
year will exceed these figures, the in¬ 
crease ItiBt year having been about 300 
000 bales as compared with the previous 
season. Good judges, therefore, estimate 
the total consumption in Euiope and 
America thi? year at 8,550,000 bales, or a 
trifle of 200,000 bales more than last year. 
According to these estimates, there¬ 
fore, the woild will havu a ciop of 8,800,- 
000 bales, with a prospective demand for 
8,550,000 bales this coming yenr, leavirg 
a surplus of 250,000 bales to be carried 
over next September from the present 
crop, the cotton year being from Septem¬ 
ber to September. The visible supply, 
however, of cotton in the world last Oc¬ 
tober was 1,305,000 bales against 1.764,- 
000 bales at the fame date in 1881, a 
decrease of 459,000 bales, and the in¬ 
visible supply, or cotton in spinners’ 
hands, on November 1, is estimated at 
181,000 bales less than a year ago, in 
Europe, and 225,000 bales less in this 
country. At a moderate estimate there¬ 
fore the Bpinners are now carrying, say, 
350,000 bales less than a year 8go and the 
visible supply is 459,000 bales less. Thus 
there appear to be 809,000 bales less to 
start wiih thi9 year than ImsI, and the defi¬ 
ciency ought more than to counterbalance 
the apparent surplus at the close of the 
year. It would seem therefore that cot¬ 
ton ought to rule higher. 
THE SORGHUM SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
THE COTTON CROP OF 1882. 
Accordino to the estimates of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, the cotton crop 
the preient season wrill aggregate 6,525,- 
Tiiat the profitable manufacture of 
sugar bom soig mm i n possible, has bet n 
demoustra'ed this reason io two place— 
one at Champaign, Ill., the othtr at Rio 
Grande, N. J. The success w hich has at¬ 
tend'd the efforts >>f Mtssis. Weber and 
Scoville, of the former plac •, is somewhat 
rcmaikublc, and it givts us no little plea¬ 
sure to record the fact that the problem 
of extracting sscclurine math r from the 
sorghum cune and man u f act li ring it into 
sugar and siiup, in paying quantities , lias 
been > htisfactori'y io vid. 
It is forty years since the sorghum 
plant was first introduced into this coun¬ 
try from China, aud ultlt ugh experiments 
have been made huetofoie in manufac¬ 
turing its j lie s into suj ar and sirup, 
suecets lias until of late been only par¬ 
tial. Sugar has bei n made from sorghum 
simp—and in considi rable quantity, too 
—t ut the process was expenrive, difficult 
aDd uncertain, and trained talent was 
needed to do ihe work efficiently. It has 
been reserved lor investigates anel ex¬ 
perimenters of the present year to di>cov- 
tr the secret of the profitable and com¬ 
paratively easy crystallization of the siiup 
into sugar—a riling which had eluded 
previous trials—and to put into remuner¬ 
ative practice the theories tlu-y held. 
First finding that the eerghum cane pos¬ 
sessed sufficient saccleari ee matter, the in¬ 
vestigator.* piocecdtd fiom that point 
until they have no v added to the great 
commercial indu-tiies of tl e couiitry a 
new one by means of which wc may all 
enter, ».t no distant d >y, into successful 
c impetition with the sugar-making in¬ 
dustries of other lands and othur sections 
of our own land. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the past 
season has been the most unfavorable 
known in several years for the growth of 
cane in the vicinity of Champaign, Ill., 
the company approxim ately estimate the 
entire pioJucc -)f lie year at 125,000 
pounds of sugar and 22,500 gallons of 
molasses from about 250 acres of land. 
Tno sugar guides as “ C ” and ‘ Yellow 
C,” ar c! in car-lots brings nbout eight to 
eigh*-aud-a half cents per pou id in Chi¬ 
cago. The mol ssts compares kv< lably 
with N. O, a classes, worth at w holesale 
about 40 to 44 ceutt. A sample of the 
suga* received by us was submit: cd to an 
expert, who evinced considerable surprise 
that so excellent an article could be made 
at the North. The exticine moisture and 
low temperature this season prevented 
the juice from attukiig the ordinaly 
strength, ns will be seen from tlie fact 
that last year the average juice of thecano 
had a sptcific gravity of 10 deg. Bium6, 
and held 12 pi r cent, of cane Migar, while 
this year ihe average juice had a specific 
gravity of but 8.5 dug. BiumtSand but 
9.5 per cent, of cane sugar. Yet so well 
satisfied ate the .‘ompany with the results 
of tbif stasou's woik that, they x#ill in¬ 
crease 11 1 o.r capiat slock, will enlarge 
their facilities, and rent, another year, 
1,000 acres of 1 .nd for grow ing the cane. 
One field of the Early Orange cane (12$ 
acres) was woiked by itself, and, it is 
said, will fi ir’y illustrate the wh< lu work. 
The total expense, including cost of cano 
at $2 50 per ton, labor, fuel, implement?, 
inle/est on money, etc., was$704.54. The 
product was 9,000 pounds of sugar at 
eight cents, and 1,450 gallons of molasses 
atT40 cents—a total value of $1,348, or a 
total net profit of $643.46, bciug a profit 
per acre of over $50. 
That sorghum cane contains saccharine 
matter in notable quantity and hence 
bids fair to become an important money 
crop, is also attested by the recent report 
of J’rof. O. C. Marsh of the Nat.onal 
Academy of Sciences in response to a re¬ 
quest made by Commissioner Loring oil 
January last. This report says that 
sorghum yields in its juice when taken at 
the proper stage of development about as 
much canc sugar as the best sugar cane 
of the tropical regions. It wa,9 ascer¬ 
tained by analyses in certain exceptional 
but not isolated cases that from an aver¬ 
age of alt the samples of cane tested, 
there was obtai ted 58.5 7 per cent., of tlio 
stripped stalks in juice, and 10 18 per 
cent, of the juice was crystallizable cane 
sugar, of which 11.30 per cent, may be 
obtained by the ordinary processes of 
manufacture. While there is a remark¬ 
able uniformity in the several varieties of 
sorghums as sugar-producing plants, 
when fully developed, there is, still 
a great variation in the time at which 
they become fully developed, and the 
point to which it is important to draw at¬ 
tention is to ascertain, as nearly as may 
be, the exact period in the development 
of the several varic ies of sorghum when 
the juices coutaiu Ihe maximum amount 
of cane sugar. 
Wc frequently hear it stated that West¬ 
ern farmers are “running tco much to 
wheat,” and that there is need of some 
other crop which will not be so exhaustive 
to the soil. If this is believed to be the 
case theic now seems no good reason why 
the sorghum cane will not be an excel¬ 
lent substitute in many loi alities. It puts 
the toil in good condition for oilier ciops; 
fertilizers may be used upon it to excel¬ 
lent advantage, and it is not particularly 
exhaustive to the soil. The idea cf pro¬ 
ducing sugar at 1 ho North has been 
slowly working its way among farmers 
and otheis, and we believe the new in¬ 
dustry has come to stay. 
BREVITIES. 
Which is the more foxy grape of the two, 
the Ulsler Co. Prolific or the Empire State ? 
What has become of the glurose factories 
in these days of dear corn? With coin at 
30 emts per bu she J, there were ‘millions” 
io glucose making: but with com at 70 rents 
a bushel, there is only bankruptcy in it. Is 
it true tout glucose is now largely “adulter¬ 
ated” with cane sugar? It has even been 
said that oler maigarlne is adulterated with 
butter. Is there uu adulteratir g err-ze. or can 
it be said now as of old, “ all men are liars?” 
In the rase of McCormick ♦ ersus Stevenson, 
the p'aintiff had sell a reaper to a third paity 
to wbern the title was not to pees until he had 
paid the notes he bad given for the price He 
told the machine to Stevenson, however, 
who knew the terms of (he sale aud that the 
notes had not been paid. The vender then 
sued Stevenson for the “con*vrsioi>” of his 
properly; but wasdefeated. Beat pealed the 
esse to the Supnme Couit of Nebrarka, 
which reversed the judgment In his opinion 
Chief Justice Maxwell paid:—“Stevenson 
was not a purchaser for value in good faith, 
for be knew that the nun trom whom he had 
bought, had not acquire I title to the proper¬ 
ty when he bought from him. 
