60 
JAN. 24 
THE fSUBAL WEW-YOBKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
CONDUCTED BY 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, JAN. 24, 1880. 
SHORTLY TO APPEAR. 
Notes from Dr. John A. Warder, T. T. 
Lyon, Ellwanger & Barry, P. J. Bercktnane 
and others respecting the true Paradise Apple 
as a dwarfing stock, with illustrations. 
On The Kinver and an entirely new French 
Yellow Globe Mangel as sweet as a sugar beet 
and as productive as other mangels—illus¬ 
trated. 
Leguminous Plants —grasses and valuable 
fodder plants, by Professor W. J. Beal—illus¬ 
trated. 
Stock Notes by Professor E. W. Stewart, 
L. 8. Hardin, Richard Goodman, M. C. Weld, 
Col. F. D. Curtis, A. B. Allen and others. 
Important Addition to the Rural’s Seed 
Distribution.. 
Special Articles from Professor S. W. 
Johnson, Professor F. H. Storer, Professor G. 
C. Caldwell, Dr. A. R. Ledoux. 
A Series of short articles upon the cultiva¬ 
tion of our choicest vegetables—illustrated. 
Dairt Specialties by Henry 8tewart, L. 
S, Hardin, Professor L B. Arnold. 
Fruit Notes by Pres. T. T. Lyon, Gov, 
Furnas, Dr. T. H. Hoskin6, Sec. Garfield and 
others. 
Poultry Notes by Forrest K. Moreland. 
Henry Hale6 and others. 
Life Engravings of the Chinese Yam (Dios- 
corea batatas) “ Cinnamon” vine; the Tulip 
tree and fruit &c., &c., &c. 
Small Fruit Notes will be presented later 
by the well-known writers whose contii bn tions 
have made this journal of such value in this 
important department of Horticulture. 
TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS. 
We fiud that many of our new subscribers 
have not seen our Free Plant and Seed Distri¬ 
bution supplement and consequently know 
nothiug as to its terras. We will therefore send 
this supplement free to all who apply until 
further notice. 
-M-*-- 
As originally announced in our Fair No. of 
Sept. 6, the Plant and Seed Distribution will be 
completed before March 1st. This for the 
benefit of our new subscribers. 
Professor Blount lias said regarding 
his White Prolific corn, that it must not 
be highly manured or a maximum of 
leaves and stalks and a minimum of grain 
would result. The reports of our prize- 
takers show that it is next to impos¬ 
sible to manure this variety of corn too 
highly. An immense amount of leaves 
and stalks will be produced in any event 
—they are characteristics of the variety. 
-♦♦♦-- — 
Among parasitic plants, those which 
are destitute of green foliage are sup¬ 
posed to strike their roots through the 
outer bark and to live upon the elabo¬ 
rated sap of the inner bark. Such are 
the Dodder, so injurious to flax, Beech- 
Drops, Bafflessia Arnoldi of Sumatra 
&c. But our Indian Pipe (Monotropa 
unifloru) bears not a trace of green foli¬ 
age or stem and yet it is not known that 
].. .'r? a parasitic plant. Dr. Gray suggests 
tnut though it may be parasitic on the 
roots of other plants in early growth, yet 
it afterwards appears to live in the manner 
of the larger 1 ungi, upon leaf-mold and 
decaying herbage. Its mode of life 
should be invtt ligated. 
» » ♦- 
Mr. Wm. Bopinson of the London 
Garden, a weekly horticultural journal 
that has many frieuds here as well as in 
England, writes us : “I wish you would 
tell us more about the beautiful hardy 
plants of your country in the Bubal. A 
great mauy of your plants are among onr 
finest garden Bowers here, and it would 
be pleasant to know all about them. Of 
course, I do not mean technically, but 
how they look and grow at home ; what 
localities they inhabit, and under what 
conditions their beauty is highest. The 
way the world of trees is treated in your 
paper is admirable, and I only wish for 
something equally good about the herb¬ 
aceous plants and other hardy flowers.” 
•-- 
Therh are few of our agricultural ex¬ 
changes that do not speak joyfully of 
considerable additions to their lists of 
subscribers as compared with last year or 
preceding years at corresponding* dates. 
This is good evidence of an easier feeling 
among farmers generally. There are also 
a number of new papers that have ap¬ 
peared within a few months and we hope 
the buoyancy of the times will assist 
in commanding a due appreciation among 
the favored people to whom they must 
look for support — for the American 
farmer of to-day must be classed as 
among the most favored people of the 
earth. We believe in enterprise, and the 
greater the number of agricultural and 
rural journals in our country, the Larder 
we shall all have to work to merit a profit¬ 
able share of patronage. 
««» 
We are in receipt of frequent com¬ 
plaints about culpable delay and great 
carelessness and irregularity in the mail 
service in frontier places. No part of the 
post-office routes of the country is better 
paid than that over thinly settled States 
and Territories, and none so mismanaged. 
We are glad therefore that the matter is 
now being overhauled by a Congressional 
investigating committee. Of the $2,000,- 
000 increase made last year in “Star 
route” expenditures ; that is, for mail 
matter carried on wagon, stage, or 
horse-back, all except $300,000 went to 
Texas and the Territories, With liberal 
pay, we should have efficient service 
there, or know the reason why we haven’t. 
Mismanagement in the matter at pre¬ 
sent seems to extend all the way from 
the Second Auditor who has charge of 
f the contracts at the Post-Office in Wash¬ 
ington, to the local postmaster on the 
most distant frontier. 
For two years past we have often 
called attention to the excellence of a 
variety of sweet corn well known ns Mex¬ 
ican. We have tested in our grounds all 
sorts of sweet com and, as regards sweet- 
nesB and a richness that might well be 
described as “ buttery ”, we believe this 
Mexican variety should be placed first. 
That there is no market demand for it is 
owing to the fact that the ears are rather 
small (averaging seven inches) and, being 
as white as other kinds until the kernels 
begin to harden, there is no distinctive 
character by which it may become known 
to purchasers and others, and larger kiuds 
are preferred. The Mexican corn grows 
about five feet high, is very prolific, 
often bearing two and three ears to a 
stalk, and remains for an unusually long 
time in a fit condition for table use. Even 
after the kernels begin to color, they are 
still sweet, tender and well-flavored. 
When mature, they are of a slate-color 
and much shriveled. Seed is ottered by 
all seedsmen and we hope that those of 
our readers who have not done so, will 
give it a trial. 
Perhaps of all people in the world, it 
least becomes an agricultural editor of 
that particular province of the Dominion 
to criticise the American newspapers in 
language such as this. The statement 
above cited is neither considerate nor 
just and a full half of it is not true. No 
doubt there is much paltry ex~>erimenta- 
» iu this oountry, such as would never 
udertaken by persons thoroughly in- 
ed in science and in the history of 
the art of Agriculture. To correct this 
crudeness, time enough must be allowed 
for the influence of our agricultural 
schools to penetrate far and wide. It 
may justly be expected that the gradu¬ 
ates of these schools will, by precept and 
example, in due time remove all causes 
for such reproach. 
In respect to the other point of the 
criticism: it is plainly absurd for any 
one to say that “ science ” dribbles down 
to us from English sources. Most of the 
leading agricultural papers of this coun¬ 
fry, and particularly the Bubal New- 
Yorker, are at pains to procure their 
scientific articles from the first authori¬ 
ties in the country ; and it has often been 
noticed that perhaps the most striking 
peculiarity which American science pre¬ 
sents ib its independence of the mother 
tongue. There can be little doubt that 
by far the larger portion of the know¬ 
ledge of scientific matters which is 
current in this country has come to 
us direct from the great center of 
scientific activity, Germany. There 
was a time, it- is true, some years ago, 
when the American methods of teaching 
mathematics, physios, chemistry, and 
medicine came largely from France; but 
of late yeara we have turned more and 
more towards Germany; and it is a very 
long time since we have looked to Eng¬ 
land, except incidentally, for scientific 
teachings. In this connection it may 
well be asked what treatise on scienoe in 
its relations to agriculture has England 
given us, in recent years, to compare 
with the books of Prof. S. W. Johnson, 
“ How Crops Grow,” and “How Crops 
Feed ?” How is it that the standard 
German scientific work on cattle-feeding 
by Prof. Wolff is even now being edited 
in New Haven, to be published in this 
city while we may look in vain toward 
England for any approximation to a work 
of such character ? It is worth while to 
remember that the books of Prof. John¬ 
son were republished both in England 
and Germany. 
Dr. Lawes has done admirable service 
in England as an experimenter, and in 
this country as a writer, also. But in this 
we see no tiitration. It is a legitimate flow 
of knowledge which we are proud to ac¬ 
cept and uphold. We can assure the Nova 
Scotia editor that he has fallen into error 
as to the sources and the composition of 
our scientific “ hash.” 
1200 cubic feet. In a year the 2000 cubic 
feet of waste will completely fill this 
space of twenty feet around the well to a 
depth of more than a foot-and-a-half, and 
in two years to a depth of tbree-and-a- 
half feet. But two things cannot occupy 
the same space, and this filth will then 
be distributed over a much larger quan¬ 
tity of ground in proportion to the ratio 
of solid soil to the small interstices, or 
spaces among the gravel, iu the mass. 
Takiug this ratio as only ten to one, the 
2000 cubic feet of waste will saturate 
20,000 cubic feet of earth in one year. 
It is true that the soil near the cesspool 
will retain the largest portion of the solid 
matter, and the first water,which reaches 
the well will be filtered to some extent. 
But it is only a question of time—the 
lapse of which will depend upon the 
nature of the subsoil—how long or short 
a time will elapse before the poison pouvs 
undiluted into the well, and from it into 
the stomachs of the unfortunate and un¬ 
suspecting victims. If a bid of clay lies 
olose to the bottom of cesspool, there 
will be no escape downwards and the 
period required to reach the well will be 
probably six months. If the soil is 
gravelly and the waste sinks downwards, 
there is the absolute certainty that a 
stream of water which flows into the well 
will be reached sooner or later. 
A similar frightful certainty, slowly 
but surely approaching iu thousands of 
cases, threatens in time to sap the life of 
uususpecting people, who will by-and-by 
exhibit every symptom of insidious but 
fatal disorder. The hectic cheek, swollen 
glands, dry hot skin, disordered diges¬ 
tion, bilious derangements, headaches, 
tremors, diarrhea, dysentery, cutaneous 
eruptions, tumors, coated tongue, foul 
breath, and all the varied symptoms by 
which blood-poisoning first becomes ap¬ 
parent and the final deadly ^ typhoid 
and malignant fevers are predicted, alarm 
the consciousness, while the source of 
the very poison itself is hourly used to 
allay the fever and thirst occasioned 
by it. 
We do not desire to be sensational or 
to make, too much of this. The danger 
exists and it is everywhere. The case 
before us, to which we call the closest 
attention, is by no means an unusual one. 
In fact, there are thousands that are 
greatly more dangerous than this, and 
every person who cares for his own health 
and that of the loved ones whom he 
shelters from harm with tenderest care, 
should see to it that this prevalent source 
of danger is eliminated from his house¬ 
hold ; and remember that decomposing 
organic matter is the most deadly of all 
poisons. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
We are in hopes to be able to begin our 
Seed and Plant Distribution on or before 
February 10. It is very pleasant to make this 
announcement to onr readers, but the distribu¬ 
tion iteelf is a long, tedious, trying tabk 
Discontent in Germany eeema to be assum¬ 
ing ueriouB proportions. The people were 
promised a reduction in their taxes hut the 
Government, in view of the prevailing distress, 
now ussumes that this is out of the question. 
Is it wrong to use butter coloring, provided 
the coloring mutter is not Injurious lo the 
health ? Why discuss such a question? It is 
right to please the uye whenever we can do so; 
and if we can relish our food the better for it, 
so much the better. Let us select larger gnats 
to strain over. 
It is the rule in our office to answer every 
inquiry received either by mail (when so re¬ 
quested) or in our Querist columns. An uu- 
usnal pressure of business during the oast three 
weeks has obliged us to break our rule repeat¬ 
edly, for which wc ask the indulgence of our 
questioners. 
All subscribers wishing our seeds and plants 
should send six cents’ worth of postage stamps 
—that is, two for the seeds—four for the Rasp¬ 
berries. The rest of the postage aud all other 
expeuses we bear. All wbo have not‘seen it, 
should send lor our seed supplement which 
explains the whole mutter. 
The following vegetable seeds may be sown 
in the open ground us soou iu the spring as 
the ground can be worked urnl, should there¬ 
fore tirst engage the farmer's attention as to 
selections: Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Radish, 
Parsnip, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrot. Celery, 
Kale, Parsley, Turnip, Spinach, Asparagus, 
Salsify. We remiud our readers that nothing 
is gained, aud oUtimes everything is lost, by 
sowing seeds of the following vegetables too 
early: All sorts ot Beans, Melons, Tomaioes, 
Pumpkins, Squashes, Cucumbers and Sweet 
Corn. There is not so much gained by starling 
tomatoes iu the house or frame as is generally 
supposed. Try a plaul or so each way. 
That scientific investigation in agriculture 
is not only valuable, but that it i6 appreciated 
by the farmers, is demonstrated iu Michigan. 
Clawson wheat, which formerly was but Jittle 
grown in that State, wasaualyiied by Professor 
Kedzie, of the Agricultural College, and pro¬ 
nounced by him to be much better thau it was 
generally supposed. After the analysis Claw¬ 
son became the most popular variety of wheat. 
It advanced 10c. per bushel, making an aggre¬ 
gate increase of nearly $1,500,000 in the value 
of the wheat crop for one year, ail of which 
went into the pockets of the farmers. 
On Monday, the 12tli inst., just as the 
last issue of the Bural went to press, 
the strike of the men belonging to the 
Butchers’ Union of Chicago virtually 
came to an end, after having done a world 
of mischief during the five or six weeks 
it had lasted. At its commencement we 
recorded the impression that it was chiefly 
due to the desire of the hog-packers to 
reduce the price of hogs, which were at 
that time selling at figures that would 
reimburse the farmers of the country for 
the losses some of them incurred on their 
swine during the preceding year. This 
end has been partially gained, and the 
action of the “ bosses ” ail through the 
strike has confirmed onr belief that the 
object they had in view in permitting it 
was to depress prices. To gain this end, a 
heavy money loss has been inflicted on Chi¬ 
cago from which a great deal of business 
has been diverted to other points owing 
to the trouble; a still heavier loss has been 
brought upon the the farmers of the en¬ 
tire country, for the depression in prices 
due to the strike has extended every¬ 
where; the families of hundreds of the 
workingmen have been forced to the 
brink of starvation, and the men them¬ 
selves morally aud physically demoral¬ 
ized by the shiftlessness, intoxication, 
and other vices inevitably fostered by 
idleness and exasperation of mind. 
-♦♦ ♦- 
AN ILL-NATURED GIBE. 
In noticing the appearance of a new 
agricultural newspaper in this city, the 
editor of the Nova Scotia Journal of Ag- 
grieulture takes occasion to remark that: 
“The besetting sin of American agricul¬ 
tural papers is that they rehash 1 science ’ 
after it has been filtered successively 
through German, French and English 
publications, and give paltry details of 
experiments by ignorant persons to de¬ 
termine what had been determined years 
before by exact methods iu the hands of 
competent experimenters.” 
—-♦ »» ■- 
THE POISONING OF WELLS, 
It is probable that ninety-nine cases in 
m, hundred of disease iu rural districts are 
*lie result of poison absorbed into the 
system either from the stomach or the 
lungs. The blood is manufactured in 
the digestive organs from the food, passes 
in great part through the liver, and all 
of it through the lungs, in both of which 
it is filtered and purified, aud in the 
latter it is brought directly into contact 
with the air which is breathed by inspira¬ 
tion and is subjected to any deleterious 
matter which may be contained in it. 
As the food and drink are the materials 
of which the blood is formed, any un¬ 
healthful or poisonous influence at this 
prime source, of course poisons the 
Btream ; and as the function of the luugs 
is to aerate and purify the blood, auy- 
thiug wrong in the purifying material, 
interferes with this important vital pro¬ 
cess. 
But we propose here only to call atten¬ 
tion to what we believe to be the most 
prolific source of rural diseases, malarial, 
functional aud organic m their character. 
This is the water supply. A case in point 
appears in our column of inquiries and 
answers, and we have taken the trouble 
to illustrate it for the purpose of showing 
distinctly how wells are poisoned. In 
this case a cesspool eight feet deep, re¬ 
ceives the excreta of a family, the wash 
from a bath-room, water-closet and sink 
included. Thirty or forty gallons a day, 
equal to nearly 15,000 gallons, or 2,000 
cubic feet per year of the most poisonous 
kind of filth, are poured into this pool 
only eight feet deep, and, of course, soak 
into the soil and saturate it. Twenty 
feet only from this deadly siuk is the 
well which is probably several feet deeper 
than the cesspool. The drainage from 
this cesspool will flow then iu every direc¬ 
tion in a circle of twenty feet radius only, 
before it pours into the well. For each 
foot in depth, of this area there are about 
