252 
APRIL 17 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
PUBLISHED EVEBY 8ATURDAY. 
OOHDOCTBD BB 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
78 Dusns Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, APRIL 17. 1880. 
REMOVAL. 
On and after May 1st of tins year the 
Rural New-Yorker will occupy its new 
quarters, No. 34 Park Row, corner of 
Beekman Street. 
SPECIAL NOTICE. 
We beg to state that we should be pleased 
during the coming season to receive from 
those engaged in raising or testing new fruits 
of any kind, average specimens of sueh as 
may seem to be worthy of general cultivation. 
We should also be pleased to receive specimens 
of new grain, roots or vegetables, that seem 
to be superior to well-known varieties of their 
respective kinds. Our object In making the 
request is that we may have them drawn and 
engraved for the benefit of all who may be 
interested. It is desirable that specimens so 
sent, and the letters describing them, should 
be so numbered or designated as to provide 
against the possibility of error when opened 
in this office. 
It is reported that the Superintendent 
of a beet-sugar factory at Ingendorff in 
Germany, finding that mioe were some¬ 
what redundant on his premises, offered a 
bounty of a quarter of a cent for each 
mouse, with the result that in the course 
of ten days 84,000 dead mice were handed 
in to him. 
—-- 
There are a score or more of horticul¬ 
tural writers who, whenever they deliver 
an address, write an essay, note or article 
of any kind, send manuscript copies of it 
to the leading agricultural journals of the 
country. The articles are usually of some 
value and are very generally published. 
Notoriety or free advertising—though in¬ 
geniously disguised—is, as a rule, the com¬ 
pensation anticipated for the trouble and 
expense incurred. We beg to state that 
the Rubai. New-Yorker does not stand 
in need of such articles and that the au¬ 
thors, by leaving us out of their lists, will 
place us under obligations. 
We are always pleased to secure short, 
practical notes from our readers, and are 
always glad to find space for an inter¬ 
change of experience, criticism and opin¬ 
ion. But we take for granted that what 
is freely given away is no longer the 
property of the donor. 
There would be a “boom” just now 
in wool if there were enough of the do¬ 
mestic product in the market to supply 
the demand. There is, perhaps, no 
branch of agricultural industry that is 
likely to pay so well for at least the next 
decade as wool growing. For the coming 
season high prices are assured. All over 
the country manufacturers are contract¬ 
ing for the'next dip at very high figures, 
while wool growers are in many places in 
no hurry to close bargains, preferring to 
wait for still better prices later on. With 
the constantly increasing demand for wool 
in this country and the present great in- 
adequaey of the home production, all en¬ 
terprising men can engage in wool rais¬ 
ing without any fear of overstocking the 
market for the next ten or twelve years. 
If in the meanwhile wool goes down, it 
will be because other products do so 
likewise, not because the supply will ex¬ 
ceed the demand. Foot-rot has destroyed 
a large proportion of the sheep in Eng¬ 
land, drought has done the same for 
thousands, aye, millions, of those in Au¬ 
stralia and Buenos Ayres; while Russia 
also has lost heavily from disease, so that 
with an increasing demand for wool, the 
supply for some time is likely to be 
smaller. 
-- 
A bill is now before the legislature of 
this State for the suppression of tramps. 
The safety of the rural population, the 
abatement of an intolerable nuisance, 
and the well-being of society urgently 
demand prompt legislation to this end. 
Already the hordes of shiftless, filthy, 
idle, lawless vagabonds, that during the 
severity of the winter have found a 
wretched shelter in the slums of our cities 
or in their charitable or penal institutions, 
are meandering into the country, a griev¬ 
ous burden to the rural population and a 
terror to lonely wayfarers and isolated 
homesteads. Most of the New England 
States have already been cleared of these 
vagrants by laws, which for the last year 
or two, have made the Eastern highways 
hard roads to travel for them, and, unless 
similar enactments are enforced against 
them here, we shall not only be troubled 
with our usual proportion of these rovers, 
but shallbe overwhelmed with the New 
England quota, likewise. During the 
“hard times,” now happily over, there 
is little doubt but not a few really re¬ 
spectable workers were forced to “take to 
the road ” in search of employment, but 
in these days the number of these, al¬ 
ways comparatively small, has dwindled 
into insignificance, and the tramps of to¬ 
day may, with certainty, be set down as 
a lazy, nnscrupnlous, dangerous crew, 
whom it is the duty of the State for the 
protection of its citizens to suppress with 
a prompt and vigorous hand. 
- . - 
The New Jersey county bill to encour¬ 
age the production and treatment of 
fibers in the State, has become a law. By 
its provisions, cultivators of hemp, flax, 
ramie and the plants of the mallow fam¬ 
ily, will be paid out of the State Treasury 
from five to ten dollars for every ton of 
fiber stalks grown, and from two and one- 
half to ten cents for every pound of 
cleaned fiber prepared, subject to certain 
requirements. The idea of advancing tbe 
interests of any special branch of agri¬ 
culture by the bounty system, may 
strike some as decidedly un-American, 
and inconsistent with our usual methods 
of doing things. There are many argu¬ 
ments in favor of the payment of bounties 
in particular cases, and for intelligent 
fiber cultivators it seems appropriate 
enough at the present time. The mighty 
dollar is a powerful spring with which 
to start the machinery of any new enter¬ 
prise, Farmers are loth to enter new 
fields of industry until there is the prom¬ 
ise of speedy return for their labor. 
There are numbers of new fibers which 
experiment has demonstrated can easily 
be grown—some of them indigenous— 
which in such a country as France would 
have been utilized long ago. Machinery 
has recently been invented for the proper 
cleaning of these fibers, and manufactur¬ 
ers say they will be glad to purchase 
them, judging from samples submitted. 
Under such circumstances, it is thought 
that a little fostering help from the State 
will sot in motion the wheels of a new 
industry, which will result, in time, in a 
large return for the outlay. 
■ - *■++ -- 
There has been a great deficiency in 
the supply of American hemp, which has 
forced the manufacturers to import large¬ 
ly from Russia and Italy. There is a 
consequent demand for Kentucky hemp, 
and it is stated that the farmers of Ken¬ 
tucky are going wild over hemp culti¬ 
vation. Large contracts have been made 
for the crop of 1880 at $5 for 112 pounds; 
seed is being purchased at $3 per bushel, 
with a prospect of its rising to $5, and 
land rented at 810 to 812 per acre. This 
is all very well if it is not “run into the 
ground” completely and the “fever” 
does not spread throughout other hemp¬ 
growing States. It is one of the unpleas¬ 
ant phases of fiber production in this 
country, tending to produce an irregu¬ 
lar supply and in a measure to de¬ 
moralize legitimate industry,thatwhenthe 
price is high, there is little fiber upon the 
market, and everybody goes into its pro¬ 
duction pell-mell. In the mean time the 
manufacturers “load up to the eyes” 
with the foreign product, making con¬ 
tracts ahead. The new crop comes on ; 
good, bad and indifferent are pushed upon 
the market, aud—“ There’s no money in 
hemp, sir—I’ve tried it.” 
What is most needed in flax and hemp 
cultivation in this country is more knowl¬ 
edge and experience, both in growing the 
plants and in preparing them after they 
are grown. It is in one sense a trade that 
is to be thoroughly learned and followed 
after it is acquired. It is only by loDg 
practice and experience that the Irish 
and Dutch flax-growers are enabled to 
hold their own in any market. It is too 
much the practice of many farmers to 
dive into the latest sensation—hap-haz- 
ard, trusting to luck and good prices— 
ready to leave it as quickly for the next 
golden promise, be it sugar-beet culture 
or wool growing. Itis not to be understood 
that the farmer must grow flax or hemp 
and nothing else, but he must stick to 
the cultivation of a certain amount with 
other crops—if he wishes to grow it at 
all—year by year gaining new experience 
and skill which will eventually enable 
him to compete with European cultivat¬ 
ors, climatic condition being equal. Thus 
a steady supply is created, which in the 
long run will be productive of a legiti¬ 
mate industry and prove a source of 
wealth to the country. 
--- 
Of the 22 members of the Congression¬ 
al Committees on Agriculture and Manu¬ 
facture, six came to thiscity last Friday to 
accept, the invitation to a ‘ ‘glorious spread ” 
at Delmonico’s, tendered to them by the 
Commercial Manufacturing Company, 
ono of the most extensive manufacturers 
of oleomargarine in the world. As a 
perfunctory preliminary to the main ob¬ 
ject of their visit, they walked through 
the fat factory, which had been nicely 
prepared for their cursory inspection, 
and, just as they acted in Baltimore, the 
other day, under similar circumstances, 
they were civil enough to please their 
courteous entertainers with effusive assur¬ 
ances of their entire satisfaction with 
what they there beheld. To sharpen 
their appetites for the evening's feast, the 
legislative junketers next took a pleasure 
trip down the Bay, but returned in ample 
time for the soup and the “sulmon.” 
The names of this galaxy of worthies 
should not remain unknown to rural 
fame, so here they are :—the Hou’s. James 
B. Richmond, of Virginia; D. Wyatt 
Aiken, of South Carolina ; Jonas H. Mc¬ 
Gowan, of Michigan ; Walter L. Steele, 
of North Carolina ; Albert P. Forsythe, 
of Illinois; and John A. Anderson, of 
Kansas. They were accompanied by the 
Hon. S. W. Downey, of Wyoming, and 
Col. G. C. Ellison, clerktothe HouseCom- 
mittee. They all claimed to be farmers; 
but while the Congressional dictionary 
acknowledges that Aiken and Forsythe 
do some farming, it puts the others down 
as lawyers. What did they say at the 
banquet? Why, what could they say ex¬ 
cept to extol the works aud ways of the 
gentlemen who were entertaiug them so 
generously, regardless alike of expense 
and public decency. For it is not often 
that the methods of the lobby are so fla¬ 
grantly brought to bear upon the forma¬ 
tion of congressional opinion in a matter 
iu which so vast an interest is vitally in¬ 
volved. It will not be the fault of the 
oleomargarine men if these complaisant 
Representatives of the People do not re¬ 
port in their favor, and, anyhow, they 
have already got from them a first-class 
advertisement. 
A PARK AT NIAGARA FALLS. 
Niagara Falls, the pride of America 
and the wonder of the world ! Who that 
ever, for the first time, visited these ma¬ 
jestic cataracts was not impressed with 
awe and admiration at the scenery pre¬ 
sented ! The mighty rush of the waters, 
the roar, the rocks, the chasm, the mist, 
the forests, all unite to form ono of the 
grandest scenes to which nature has given 
birth. Add to this the historical interest 
connected with the place, and that mar¬ 
vel of modern engineering skill, the large 
Suspension Bridge, and there are but few 
places in the world, and none iu the 
United States, more apt to attract visitors, 
both from home and abroad. The beauty 
of the natural scenery has, however, in 
the last few years been much defaced by 
the cutting away of the forests, the erec¬ 
tion of dwellings, manufactories, sluice¬ 
ways, etc., which now make tfceir obtru¬ 
sive appearance on the cliffs and in the 
whirling waters. The water-power here 
afforded has proved too great a temptation 
to American enterprise. But if this enter¬ 
prise is allowed unchecked sway the de¬ 
facement of the scenery will continue and 
increase year by year till the once beau¬ 
tiful surroundings will be robbed of their 
attractions and the place littered with 
rough manufactories. The Governor of 
New York called attention to this fact in 
his message of last year, and by the di¬ 
rection of the State Legislature a Com¬ 
mission was appointed “to inquire, con¬ 
sider and report what, if any, measures 
it may be expedient for the State to adopt 
for carrying out the suggestions contained 
in the annual message of the Governor 
with respect to Niagara Falls.” The 
members of this Commission have now 
made their report to the legislature. 
They find that the private holding of 
land has worked great destruction to the 
scenery, that this destruction is acceler¬ 
ating, and recommend that the State 
pur(mase the land surrounding the Falls, 
including the islands in the river and con¬ 
vert it into a national park for the bene¬ 
fit of the public. 
This proposal merits universal sup¬ 
port. It is only what should have been 
done years ago before obtrusive build¬ 
ings had been erected and the scenery 
defaced. It is only what the general 
Government has done in similar cases. 
In 1805 the settlers near Yosemite Falls 
were dispossessed and the land reserved for 
the public; a large portion of the region 
of the geysers on the Yellowstone River 
has also been set aside as a national park. 
Niagara, being better known and more 
easily accessible to all the world than 
either of these, it is of much greater im¬ 
portance that the scenery should here 
be preserved. Moreover, if the land 
becomes public property, there are faint 
hopes of a reduction of the outrageous 
charges to which visitors must now sub¬ 
mit if they will enjoy the sights to ad¬ 
vantage. These charges have become pro¬ 
verbial for their unreasonableness. Every 
foot of space from whieh a charming view 
of the Falls can be had, is private proper¬ 
ty and is made to yield the highest pos¬ 
sible income by letting it. to visitors. Pri¬ 
vate enterprise is lawful, commendable 
aud necessary ; but when it works to the 
discomfort of the public and to the de¬ 
struction of natural beauty, as iu this 
case, it becomes the duty of the authori¬ 
ties to modify and curb such enterprise 
to the extent it is detrimental to the pub¬ 
lic. 
From the fact that the legislature has 
manifested so great an interest in the 
subject we trust that measures will forth¬ 
with be taken for the conversion of the 
land into a public park. The Dominion 
Government, we understand, is willing 
to co-operate with the States in the un¬ 
dertaking, and to preserve the Canadian 
side of the falls. And if New York State 
Bhould ultimately find that the purchase 
of the land and the keeping of a park 
would make too Heavy a draft upon its 
treasury, then let the general Govern¬ 
ment take the matter in hand. The 
world-renowned Niagara Falls should 
forever remain accessible to and enjoy¬ 
able by the world. 
-♦ .— 
BREVITIES. 
The Yellow Paradise stock is recommended 
by M. Carriere. It is said to be hardier than 
the common Paradise stock andean be grafted 
during a longer season. 
Very few farmers, we are forced to believe, 
know what good salsify or vegetable oyster is 
—tliat is salsify properly sown and cultivated. 
If they did. we are confident it would be raised 
as generally as is lettuce or celery. 
Ouk Farm Story by Charles Richards 
Dodge will be commenced in the Literary De ¬ 
partment of the Rural New-Yorker on May 
1st. VVe trust it will be found worthy of 
perusal by every farmer, young or old—male 
or female. 
Tue latest reports about the winter wheat 
crop are even more favorable than their pre¬ 
decessors. The rains that have, within the 
last week or two, visited nearly every part of 
the corn-try, have helped the crop wonderfully 
in many places. 
One more superfluous patent to aunoy farmers 
with! The device for preveutiDg cows lrom 
sucking themselves, which was illustrated in 
the Rural as long ago as December the 6th 
and which is reproduced in the Querist De¬ 
partment of this issue, has been actually pat¬ 
ented by a Yankee worthy, who is now ad¬ 
vertising for agents to annoy farmers with the 
thing. The device itself iB good, but why 
patent it, as it is an English invention fully 
deseribed in Prof. J- P- Sheldon’s Dairy 
Farming ? 
The following paragraph from "Thoughts 
and Events” well support the views the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker has often expressed:—The 
aim of a paper should be much higher than 
that of merely maiuug money for its proprie¬ 
tor. There are better fields of activity for 
merely mercenary men than journalism, where 
they can do far less harm to the public, as well 
as to themselves, und to these Jet them confine 
themselves. The press should be in itself a 
representative, as it is already in higher quar¬ 
ters an advocate, of co-operaiion, each man en¬ 
gaged upon it working always with an eye and 
a feeling for the general interest, as well aa for 
his own. 
From statements in the Pacific Rural Press 
it appears that large quantities of "bone-meal 
and flesh fertilizer” are exported from San 
Francisco to New Zealand, the homo demand 
being small, though increasing. Another 
cunous tact iB that the Chinese are in the 
habit of exporting from California some $600,- 
000 worth of shrimps, shrimp shells, small fish 
dried and their bones, for lertlllzlug the tea- 
gardens of Cbiua. The sheila aud bones are 
thought to supply the ingredients of whieh the 
plants exhaust the Boil, aud ate sometimes car¬ 
ried a thou&aud miles into the Interior. Cue 
year the exportation of this material amounted 
to the value ot $000,000. 
There is a bill row before the N. Y. leg¬ 
islature to force the manufacturers of oleo¬ 
margarine under a heavy penalty to mark 
every package of the compound with the 
woid Oleomargarine in distinct letters three 
inches long, and making it an otfence punish¬ 
able by flue or imprisonment for any dealer 
to sell from packages not marked in this legible 
way- A bill on the same subject before the 
legislature of Massachusetts stipulates for let¬ 
ters only one inch long. We expect that the 
oleomargarine men will give a hearty and 
unanimous support to both these measures, 
especially to that requiring the branded let¬ 
ters to be three inches long. They will thus 
show that they do not lie iu saying that they 
are uuxious to sell the product on its merits 
aud will give to the nubile an honest oppor¬ 
tunity of deciding whether this new-fangled 
bullock’s butter is really "superior, sir,’ to 
the old sort from the cow. 
