62 
FEB. 7 
THE BUBAL HEW-YOBKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
CONDUCTED BY 
BLBBRT S. CARMAN. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
78 Duane Street, New York City. 
SATURDAY, FEB. 7, 1880. 
SHORTLY TO APPEAR. 
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. 
otock Notes by Professor E. W. Stewart, 
L. S. Hardin, Richard Goodman, M. C. Weld, 
C ol. 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. 
Dairy Specialties by Henry Stewart, L. 
S, Hardin, Professor L. B. Arnold. 
Fruit Notes by- Pres. T. T. Lyon, Gov. 
Furnas, Dr. T. H. Hoskins, Sec. Garfield and 
others. 
Poultry Notes by Forrest K. Moreland, 
Henry Hales and others. 
Life Engravings of the Chinese Yam (Dios- 
corea batatas) “ Cinnamon" vine; the Tulip 
tree and fruit &c., <fcc., &c. 
TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS. 
We find that many of our new subscribers 
have not seen our Free Plaut and Seed Distri¬ 
bution supplement and consequently know 
nothing as to its teruu. We will therefore send 
this supplement free to all who apply until 
further notice. 
■ ■ -» »♦- 
As originally announced In our Fair No. of 
Sept. 6, the Plant and Seed Distribution will be 
completed about March 1st. This for the 
benefit of our new subscribers. 
The Rubae New-Yorker, from care¬ 
ful tests and inquiry, confidently recom¬ 
mends to its readers the following Peas 
as among the most desirable in cultiva¬ 
tion :—For earliest, Early Dan O’Rourke. 
Philadelphia is the earliest pea and the 
poorest. Alpha (Laxton) bears balloon- 
ish pods, but the vines are prolific and 
the peas large, very green and delicious. 
"For second early, McLean’s Little Gem 
is best. This is ready for the first pick¬ 
ing about one week later than Dan 
O’Rourke. For an early pea that grows 
to such a hight that it does not abso¬ 
lutely require brushing, and for general 
excellence, this is very generally placed 
first. The American Wonder matures at 
about the same time and is the only va¬ 
riety that disputes a claim to the first 
place with the Little Gem. Champion 
of England and Eugenie we prefer for 
the main crop, and British Queen for the 
latest. 
■ -» ♦ »- 
An armed truce is the condition of 
Europe. The Oontineut is a vast camp ; 
the best efforts of every nation are 
directed towards rendering its army as 
numerous, as efficient and as thoroughly 
prepared for instant action as possible. 
Jealousy, revenge, dread of reprisal, lust 
of conquest and aggrandizement, hatred 
and distrust—all combine to hasten the 
advent of the next war. When it comes, 
it will not be a struggle between two na¬ 
tions ; the probability is that nearly the 
whole Continent will be involved in its 
sulphurous fumes, and that neither the 
Channel nor the shop-keeper's love of 
peace will be able to keep Great Britain 
from voluntarily entering or being forced 
into the fray. The advanced age of most 
of the chief leaders, such as the emper¬ 
ors William and Alexander, and of Gorts- 
chakoff, Beaconsfield, Bismarck and Yon 
Molkte, may at first glance seem a valid 
cause for shrinking from the toil and 
strain of warfare; but each of them 
knows full well that the conflict must come 
soon, and the Germans at least, confident in 
their present superiority, must naturally 
wish to precipitate the inevitable while 
their country is well prepared for the 
struggle, and while they themselves are 
in a better condition than they ever can 
be in the future to guide their legions 
and share in their triumphs. It looks 
therefore, as if w r ar might break out at 
any time, and though we must deplore 
a calamity so terrible to humanity, we 
cannot forget that it would be an excel¬ 
lent thing for neutrals. 
- -»♦ ♦- 
THE JURY DISAGREE. 
Not an uncommon occurrence—nor, 
when it occurs, should it be unexpected. 
Questions usually referred to juries are 
Buch as in civil cases the parties inter¬ 
ested are not able to agree upon them¬ 
selves, and in both civil and criminal 
are usually covered with masses of 
conflicting evidence of persons who are 
willing, perhaps, but unable to see the 
same things in the same light. And what 
is the edict of the law ? It says you snail 
see alike, no matter what your organiza¬ 
tion, your power of sifting evidence, 
your ability to judge of the trustworthi¬ 
ness of witnesses from their general ap¬ 
pearance, or to reject the sophistries and 
special pleadings of the attorneys. The 
law says you must and shall think as the 
men on your right and on your left think, 
or failing to do so, you shall be kept as 
prisoners during the pleasure of the 
Court, which has the power to coufino 
you clay and night without fire or food, 
or without beds or bedding, or even com¬ 
fortable places to sit, until you force your 
conscience to such a point as to be wil¬ 
ling to tell a lie in the cause of justice (!) 
and say one thing wh n in your inmost 
soul you believe another. 
He who writes this has sinned with the 
rest, md from his experience in the jury- 
room is of the belief that not one verdict 
iu ten gives the true opinion of one- 
half of the jurors. Verdicts in civil oases 
are usually the results of compromises, 
especially where damages or other money 
awards enter into them. All who know 
about them are well aware that it is not 
unusual to take the sum each juror thinks 
right and proper, add them together and 
divide them by 12, to arrive at a just and 
legitimate conclusion, on the ground th t 
the avex*age of the opinions is likely to be 
nearer right than that of any one, and 
on that ground individuals excuse them¬ 
selves from receding from their conscien¬ 
tiously formed beliefs. Iu ciimiual cases 
where the verdict must be guilty or not 
guilty, it might seem that an agreement 
would be more easily reached But this 
is not so ; there is in the mind of every 
man a fear of doing an injustice that can¬ 
not be undone. The Court instructs that 
the prisoner sha 1 have the benefit of any 
doubt. Much, if not all, of the evidence 
of guilt must be circumstantial, and cir¬ 
cumstances which to one would seem to 
be overwhelming proof, to another are 
not worth a moment’s consideration, and 
both are equally sincere and honest. It 
is not in the possibility of their natures 
to see things alike—but the law says they 
must. Sometimes they defy the law and 
remain in a state of disagreement until 
the Court discharges them, leaving t*he 
case iu the same condition as before the 
trial commenced. 
The result of the recent Hayden trial 
in Connecticut, where after a long and 
tedious trial of three months, the jury did 
not agree, eleven beiug for acquittal and 
one for conviction, should, it seems to 
us, awaken public thought to the neces¬ 
sity of the correction of jury law. We 
have nothing to do with the merits of the 
ease, but merely present it as one where 
immense Bums of money have been spent 
in its prosecution and defence, and the 
case is ju6t where it was before the trial 
commenced. The prisoner, neither con¬ 
victed nor acquitted, has been released on 
$5,000, bail and should the State no longer 
prosecute, Mr. Hayden must continue to 
Jive as a man charged with murder, tried 
and not acquitted. If it be thought nec¬ 
essary for 12 men to agree before a ver¬ 
dict be decided upon, we should not ob¬ 
ject ; but they should agree by their own 
volition and not by force. If we Avere 
members of any of the State Legislatures 
now in session, Ave would strive to have a 
bill passed providing that two-thirds or 
three-quarters of any jury should agree. 
If that proportion of twelve men is not 
sufficient, then let the jury consist of six¬ 
teen. When the jury retire, the foreman 
should invite expressions of opinions, or 
discussion of the merits of the case, and 
when the question was submitted to vote, 
the first one should be final and decisive 
of the matter. The questions would be 
differently framed for civil and criminal 
cases, but the result would be the same— 
the first vote should decide. 
But as we are not legislators, we send 
this out to our readers, some of whom 
are, in hopes tliat it may awakeu atten¬ 
tion to the subject, and, like a little 
leaven, continue to work until this refor¬ 
mation of our statutes, so much needed, 
Bhall be accomplished. 
THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR. 
We once employed for a short time in 
ditching, a man who at twenty-one years 
of age was worth some fifteen thousand 
dollars, but who lost most of it on the 
whole foolishly, and was compelled, for a 
time, at least, to support his family by 
working for daily wages. One night 
when we paid him, he said, “I’m much 
obliged both for the wages and the tui¬ 
tion.” We supposed he referred to in¬ 
struction in laying tile-tlrains, but he 
said “No, I mean instruction as to the 
value of money. I never knew Avliat a 
dollar was worth before. But after work¬ 
ing all day in the ditch to earn one, I’m 
not likely to spend twenty-five cents of 
it for a cigar or any other nonsense, ” 
We could pomt out scores of city bpys 
who have become miserable spendthrifts 
from the lack of just such knowledge. 
Their fathers were more or less wealthy, 
but the sons were not put into the office, 
or mill, or shop, and made fairly to earn 
their money by tiresome labor, either 
physical or mental. Their fathers said 
to themselves: “My sous shall never 
have to drudge as I did,” and so the boys 
did no labor, bore no responsibility and 
never learned how money was fairly and 
honorably earned, and, of course, never 
knew its value or its proper use. 
Iu a certain rural district wo know, we 
can count, within a radius of ten miles, 
more than as many young or middle-aged 
farmers who have since their majority, 
“run through” from ten to thirty thou¬ 
sand dollars each, tliatlh ir hard-working 
fathers left them; and all because they 
never learned the value of a dollar. One 
such, on his sudden accession to his pro¬ 
perty, thought to impress some of his 
young friends at a hotel where they had 
stopped for dinner, by spreading a hun¬ 
dred dollar bill on his slice of bread and 
butter and eating it with great apparent 
relish. He did “impress” the one be 
might have married, with the belief she 
had better not marry a man who was both 
spendthrift and fool; and the young man 
iu less than twenty years saw the time 
Avhen he was glad to get the bread and 
butter, without the hundred dollar bill 
for a relish ! In youth he had never 
been taught to labor, had had a large 
stock of spending money compared with 
the other farmers’ sons, and supposed 
the only limit to the amount was “ the 
old man’s stinginess.” 
Sometimes the same evil results follow 
a very different and “heroic treatment.” 
We have in mind a well-to-do farmer 
who kept his sons at severe farm labor 
from early childhood and never gave them 
any spending money or any chance to 
earn it, or any interest in farm or stock, 
or in the profits of their labor. Of course, 
they hated farming. Of course, they 
wanted spending money, like other hoys. 
Naturally and actually failing to get it 
otherwise, they “ took” butter, eggs, 
maple sugar, etc., and sold them to pro¬ 
cure it. lie called it stealing, “thrashed” 
the boys severely and put such valuables 
under lock and key. They called it 
“taking” a small part of what they 
earned, and finally ran away from home 
and left “ the old gent” to find other 
boys, and pay them for their labor. 
But the subject grows upon us. Exam¬ 
ples multiply in our memory, of the sad 
results that have followed unwise teach¬ 
ing, or no teaching, in regard to the 
value and proper uses of money. We 
merely ivisli to say, we believe children, 
especially boys, but gills also, in what¬ 
ever station in life, should be taught to 
earn, to lay up, and wisely to spend 
money. If bom to a heritage of wealth, 
they should be taught that its possession 
brings greater responsibilities, and its 
proper management, when they grow up, 
Avili bring even a heavier tax on their 
mental and moral powers and faculties, 
than would the earning ol a livelihood. 
We think they should even be taught 
some useful employment or mode of earn¬ 
ing money, botH as a discipline and safe¬ 
guard. We have great sympathy with 
the English and Continental occasional 
practise of teaching even the sons of 
wealth some useful employment. We 
believe wealthy parents should teach 
their children Avisely to manage their 
estates, so that they shall not be com¬ 
pelled to will them aAvay lest they be 
squandered by their heirs. 
On the other hand, if children are bom 
simply to a heritage of labor, we believe 
they should be taught that labor is no 
disgrace, and taught how to labor well; 
lay up and invest their earnings wisely, 
and gradually in this good laud relieve 
themselves of the necessity of oppressive 
over-wearisome toil. We believe that 
children after in some way earning money, 
should be permitted to invest or spend 
it, under general advice if they seek it, 
as they on the whole choose, at least for 
a time. They should be permitted 
choose in childhood, and if possible, 
taught to choose wisely. How shall they 
learn to choose Avisely in manhood if they 
are never permitted in childhood to 
choose, and even to chooso unAvisely, but 
gradually taught to choose wisely. ‘ ‘ Poor 
Richard's” silly purchase of the whistle 
taught him a lesson, and was, on the 
whole, the best bargain he ever made. 
A few pennies, dimes or e\ r en dollars, 
unwisely spent in childhood, nay, spent 
in utter foolishness, and regretted iu 
bitterness, may save in manhood the 
squandering of a fortune, or the wreck 
of a life. 
-»♦- 
BREVITIES. 
It now appears that the “Washington Mar¬ 
ket’’ sweet corn is the “Egyptian" sweet 
corn. 
Those who have learnt “ The Value of a 
Dollar,” are generally those who prefer to 
pay as they go. 
Englishmen should read the speech of Hora¬ 
tio Seymour before the State Agricultural 
Society. It will tell them as well, perhaps, 
as the reports of Messrs. Read <& Pell, the 
cause of their “ agricultural distress. 
A Syllogism. —A weed is a plant the object 
of whose existence has never been discovered. 
There are a great many men. the object of 
whose existence “no fellah" can find out. 
Therefore, a great many men are weeds! 
“It might he shown,” says Horatio Sey¬ 
mour, “ that the extremes of heat and cold in 
the northern belt of States, will ever be among 
the most important influences in stimulating 
the energies, the prosperity and civilization 
of the American people." 
The Germantown Telegraph has never had 
a specimen of the Clalrgeau Pear (grown on 
quince stock), that has been tit to eat. Wo 
have never heard of an instance of its attain¬ 
ing any excellence as a dwarf. But on pear 
stock, though quite variable, it is sometimes 
very good. 
All subscribers wishing our seeds and plants 
should send six cents’ worth of postage stamps 
—that is, t wo for the seeds—four for the Rasp¬ 
berries. The rest of the postage and all other 
expenses we bear. All who have not seen it, 
should send lor our seed supplement which 
explains the whole matter. 
Here is Doctor Chamberlin’s acknowledge¬ 
ment of the prize won in the contest for the 
greatest yield of Blount’s Prolific Corn, and 
paid by The Rural New-Yorker: “Draft 
of one hundred dollars came all right, for 
which receive thanks.” The other seven suc¬ 
cessful competitors have not yet favored us 
with any acknowledgment of the receipt of 
their prizes. 
Inexperienced fruit growers iu selecting 
plants, are too prone to look at the top aud 
to overlook the bottom. We would impress 
upon them the fact, that unless the roots are 
well developed and covered with small or 
fibrouB rootlets, the les6 top the bettor. In se¬ 
lecting grape vines, e. g., the roots are all-im¬ 
portant. The canes should be cut almost en¬ 
tirely away. It is iwoer economy io purchase 
old vines. 
We see an advertisement going the rouuds 
indorsed editorially by some journals, of a 
tomato very much earlier and much, better than 
any other variety. This is hard to believe. It 
might bo, perchance, one or the other, though 
that would be saying a good deal—but we can¬ 
not believe It is both. It is probable that we 
have reached the limit ot earlincss in the to¬ 
mato and that further increments in this 
direction will be made only at the sacrifice of 
quality. 
It will be seen by those who read the De¬ 
partment “For Women,” that Mibs Ray Clark 
takes the position made vacant by the retire¬ 
ment of Miss Faitti Ripley, who has ably and 
faithfully conducted it for several years past. 
We respectfully commend Miss. Clark to the 
entire confidence ot our lady readers, assuring 
them that their inquiries, or communications 
of any kind, will receive prompt attention. It 
is, indeed, one of tlie objects of the Depart¬ 
ment that lady readers should therein commu¬ 
nicate freely with each other, while the De¬ 
partment in this way is made Interesting and 
instructive fo all. 
While we have shown our disposition to 
exclude all untrustworthy adi'ertisemeutsfrom 
our columns, and while we intend to exercise 
the same or a greater degree of caution in 
the future, we are the more desirous that those 
who do advertise In our columns should be 
made to know the value of this journal as an 
advertising medium. If our readers would 
kindly mention Ike Rural New-Yorker in 
any correspondence they may hold with ad¬ 
vertisers, they would assist us iu this matter. 
The increase in our circulation up to this 
date hus been ail that we could reasonably 
have asked, and we shall strive iu every way 
in our power to prove to our readers as well 
as to our advertisiug patrons that we shall 
rnuko generous returns for their confidence 
aud support. 
Peter B. Mead tells us, in speaking of rem¬ 
edies for plant Insects: 
If your “ old man" smokes, utilize him, aud 
put a plant before him Avith every pipe. The 
uoveity of this thing will amuse him at first; 
but he win probably tire of it after a while. 
Keep him at it, however. Reason and wrestle 
with him. Tell him how bud it is for the bugs 
and bow good for the plants. Keep him down 
to it. In the end, he will either give up 
smoking or take to the work kindly with the 
consciousness that at last he is doing some 
good in the world. Then your turn will come. 
Take him In your arms and kiss him and he 
will be the happiest man alive. There is too 
much smoke that docs no good iu the world. 
The interesting article Irorn which we lake 
the above, will appear in an early uumber of 
fix* Btwax.. 
