820 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
DEG. « 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ELBKRT S. CAKMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 11, 1880. 
Our readers who desire them would 
greatly oblige ns if they would send for 
specimen copies to the journals with 
which we club. "We can not furnish 
specimens of those journals. "When our 
readers desire to subscribe for any of 
them, in connection with the Rural New- 
Yorker, we shall be happy to forward 
the subscriptions with all promptness. 
The publishers of those papers agree to 
send specimen copies to Hural subscrib¬ 
ers ivithout charge. The combination 
prices are probably the lowest ever before 
offered. Each paper is offered at its 
lowest club price. Address, therefore, 
for specimens, The "Weekly Iuter-Ocean, 
Chicago, Ills.; Weekly Detroit Free Press, 
Detroit, Mich.; Weekly Globe-Democrat, 
St. Louis ; Weekly New York World, New 
York, N. l r .; Weekly Pioneer Press, St. 
Paul, Minn.; Weekly Evening Post, New 
York, N. Y. 
-♦♦♦- 
From the tests made by the Rural as 
well as from other tests since carefully 
made, it may now be set down as a fact 
that the germinating power of weevil-eat¬ 
en peas is, that under the most favorable 
ciroumstances as high as 25 per cent, may 
be made to grow—but that under ordinary 
conditions less than 12 per Cent, will 
grow. That is to Hay—about 88 per cent, 
of weevil-eaten peas are worthless. 
When there is no number upon sub¬ 
scribers’ papers, the subscription term 
expires with the year. Please look under 
the heading “Rural New-Yorker.” No. 
50. shows the numbers that have been 
issued this year—two more will complete 
the year. The number underneath is the 
whole number issued of this journal, and 
it is this series of numbers which shows 
subscribers when their time expires. For 
instance, those papers which are number¬ 
ed 1,611 on the outside, end with this 
number. If the number were 1,615 on the 
outside of the paper or wrapper, the sub¬ 
scription would end one month, or four 
numbers, hence. If now we receive a 
yearly subscription, 52 numbers are add¬ 
ed to 1,611 (the present number) making 
1.663. When our whole number reaches 
1.663, that subscription expires. This 
is very plain to most of our readers. Our 
apology for the above explanation is that 
it does not seem to be plain to all. 
-- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER DOES NOT 
SELL SEEDS OR PLANTS. 
Never in our experience has any tojiic 
the Rural has ever treated excited so 
much interest—so many inquiries—as the 
Chester and Blount’s corn. This is due, 
no doubt, to our large yields at the Rural 
Farm, produced, as they were, at less 
than the usual cost of good corn crops in 
general. As if the majority of our read¬ 
ers were not aware that we never sell to 
subscribers any of the seeds or plants 
which we raise, hundreds have asked at 
what price we would sell the corn. Many 
have insisted that we should sell them, if 
not large, small quantities of it. 
It has seemed necessary, therefore, that 
we should again state in this prominent 
place, that we do not, under any circum¬ 
stances whatever, sell the seeds or plants 
which we are testing at our Experiment 
Farm. If we do not place them in our 
Free Plant and Seed Distribution, our 
friends must look to seedsmen, florists or 
nurserymen, if they desire to make pur¬ 
chases' The Rural New-Yorker dis¬ 
seminated the Blount’s Corn two years 
ago, and it haB ever since been offered by 
prominent seedsmen. When we succeed 
in fixing any improvements upon this 
variety, we may again send it to sub¬ 
scribers. As for the Chester Co. Mam¬ 
moth, it has already been offered by 
Beedsmcn for several years, though its 
merits had not become very well known 
previous to the immense yield at the 
Rural Farm. As seedsmen have offered 
this variety in years past when its good 
name was not well established, surely 
they will not abandon it now that it has 
shown its great value. 
We do not like to talk of what we are 
doing at the Rural Farm, so long in ad¬ 
vance of our power to gratify curiosity. 
But we are tempted to state that we have 
reason to hope for more from our wheat 
experiments than from any others we 
have ever made. And the results promise 
to be those iu which our good friends 
may share. 
-- 
ALLUSIONS WHICH MAY BE PARDONED 
AT THE END OF THE YEAR. 
The Rural New-Yorker lias never 
before received so many compliments as 
during the present year. These kind 
words have been to us very acceptable, 
for we have worked hard and earnestly 
to merit them. Hard, unremitting labor 
that meets with no response saddens the 
heart, let it, at the outset, be ever so full 
of enthusiasm aud trust. The present 
year—so fast drawing to its end- lias 
been one of exceptional prosperity with 
this journal. We have considerably in¬ 
creased our circulation ; the good name 
of the Rural New-Yorker has been 
strengthened ; its influence has been ex¬ 
tended ; its candor and integrity of pur¬ 
pose have been recognized, at least by 
those who have read it attentively. We 
have distributed among our subscribers 
plants aud seeds for the farm and garden, 
which we have believed to bo the most 
desirable among novelties, or those not 
generally known, that could bo purchas¬ 
ed at home or abroad. Wo have main¬ 
tained our Experiment Grounds for the 
purpose of determining the best methods 
of culture, and of testing and originating 
new seeds and plants, some of the results 
of which have already proven, and others 
of which must prove, of appreciable value 
to the fa Auers of our country. With rai e 
opportunities to sell the seeds or plants, 
the value of which has thus been ascer¬ 
tained and made known, we have, with¬ 
out one exoeption, refused to do so, es¬ 
teeming more highly the confidence of 
our readers, which might reasonably be 
shaken were we to sell the seeds and 
plants which we have ourselves intro¬ 
duced or disseminated. 
Thus while we have benefited our sub¬ 
scribers without cost, we have also bene¬ 
fited the seedsmen of the country who 
have availed themselves of the demand 
which the Rural’s Seed and Plant Dis¬ 
tributions have created. Among less 
weighty matters, we may mention that 
we have moved from less to more expen¬ 
sive quarters; we have increased our 
clerical force ; we have improved our 
paper iu several respects with which our 
readers are familiar. All these things 
we have done, and yet, as the year closes, 
we find that the inoome of the Rubal 
New-Yorker has exceeded its expenses, 
and so we Bay that this year, with us, has 
been one/>f exceptional prosperity. 
As, therefore, in the past, our work has 
been appreciated by our readers and we 
have been so favored with their encour¬ 
aging words—so with a grateful recogni¬ 
tion of this and with light hearts, we an¬ 
ticipate almost impatiently the labor of 
another year. With -increased experi¬ 
ence and means and with the ever-inten¬ 
sifying love which must grow out of the 
intelligent study, practice and presen¬ 
tation of agriculture, may we not hope 
still greatly to extend our influence and 
to feel that we are powerful to promote 
this foremost, first, best interest of our 
country ? 
-- 
IS GEN. LE DUC TO BE REMOVED 1 
Ever since the election of General Gar¬ 
field to the Presidency, newspapers all 
over the country have been discussing 
the probable composition of his Cabinet 
and conjecturing which of the present 
Secretaries of Departments it would be 
wise or expedient for him to retain in 
office. The public interest in this ques¬ 
tion is a fair measure of the importance of 
the character and fitness of the men who 
are to be the chief aids of the President 
in wisely executing the laws and his special 
advisers in suggesting needed legislation. 
It is quite proper, therefore, that the 
mouth-pieces of public opinion should 
canvass and suggest the fitness of those 
who are to hold such influential positions 
in carrying on the government of the 
country and shaping its laws. This 
is particularly true where a special in¬ 
dustry, demanding special knowledge on 
the pare of its representative, is concern¬ 
ed. Of this nature there is only one De¬ 
partment in the Government—a Depart¬ 
ment which is also an anomaly in that, 
while quite independent and represent¬ 
ing half' our industrial population as well 
as the foundation and most of the super¬ 
structure of our national prosperity, it is 
as yet without any representation in the 
Cabinet. Yet in view of the paramount 
magnitude and importance of the industry 
it subserves, of its urgent need of appro¬ 
priate legislation, of the special qualifica¬ 
tions essential in its representative, aud 
of the difficulties with which he has for 
the present to contend owing to his sin¬ 
gular position, there is no Department 
whose head should be selected with 
greater care, in order to conserve and 
promote the best interests of the country, 
than the so-called Department of Agri¬ 
culture. 
During the fiscal year ending June 30 
last, the total exports of the country 
amounted to $823,946,353. Of this vast 
aggregate the products of the farm, just 
as they came from it, contributed $529,- 
944,779. To this sum should be added 
$115,690,540 as the value of raw material, 
such as floor, provisions, etc., and $8,- 
506,03$ for farm products used in exported 
mauufaetures, making a grand total of 
$654,141,487 against $169,804,866, the 
worth of our exports from manufactures, 
mines and all other sources. Moreover, 
the farm has fed and clothed our own 
population aud contributed more than 
half the raw material to our manufac¬ 
tures—yet the head of the Department 
representing it iu our Government has 
had to be content with the paltry salary 
of $3,000 a year, one-third that of the 
heads of other Departments, half that of 
the United Htutes Geologist, and three- 
fifths that of a Congressman! 
Little wonder, therefore, that since the 
establishment of the Department iu 1862 
there has been a succession of men of 
very mediocre talents at its head, men 
whose principal labors aud ambition have 
won for them, one after another, the not 
altogether inappropriate name of Super¬ 
intendent of tbe Congressional Seed 
Store. The meagre salary and the unim¬ 
portant standing of the Department pre¬ 
vented men of superior abilities aud at- 
tainmeuts from seeking a position at its 
head. On the appointment of the pres¬ 
ent Commissioner, therefore, it was only 
natural for many of our oontempories to 
consider him of the same character as his 
predecessors, and on this supposition 
alone several of them decried him from 
the outset, and to maintain their infalli¬ 
bility a few of them have been dispar¬ 
aging him, in a milder way, however, ever 
since. Others objected to him mainly 
because his name was unknown to them, 
but these have since remembered that 
the names of all our most honored men 
were at one time equally obscure. Others 
again, because his services had won the 
rank of General iu the late war, found 
fault with his appointment on the ground 
that a Boldier could know nothing of 
agriculture or its needs, as if, in sooth, 
the farmers of the land nad not con¬ 
tributed brains as well as muscle to its 
volunteer armies—a fact which most of 
these have since acknowledged in his 
case. To the honor of journalism and 
especially of agricultural journalism, 
however, most of our contemporaries 
waited to Bee the conduct of Gen. LeDnc 
in office before pronouncing upon his 
fitness for it, and without a single excep¬ 
tion knowu to us, these now highly appre¬ 
ciate his efforts for the benefit of agri¬ 
culture. 
A mau of fine natural abilities aud 
broad attainments, he has been earn¬ 
est and indefatigable in his labors as head 
of the Department which he has raised 
to such high national importance that its 
representation in the Cabinet cannot be 
long deferred. By putting a heart into 
his work, he has put life into his Depart¬ 
ment, and stimulated our farmers to im¬ 
provements in old methods, while intelli¬ 
gently investigating the practicability of 
adding to the Agricultural industries of 
the nation. In this direction the problem 
of supplying the country with home- 
raised sugar has already been substan¬ 
tially solved, mainly through his persist¬ 
ent labors. From this source alone 
there must be, according to reasonable 
estimates, an annual saving to the country 
of 2,000 per cent, upon the total cost of 
the Department since its foundation. 
Through four years of struggle against 
miserably inadequate appropriations 
and consequent partial helplesauess in 
a field of vaBt necessities; against oppo¬ 
sition in the legitimate scope of his own 
Department, and early disparagement 
from mauy of those whose support he had 
a right to expeot, Gen. Le Due has labor¬ 
ed so honestly aud successfully for the 
benefit of agriculture as to increase the 
esteem of those who know hira,couquer 
the good opinion of impartial j udges, and 
silence the oarpings of most ol those who 
decried him without reason. If good 
services under difficulties in the past merit 
recognition from the incoming I‘resident, 
and if the prosperity of the greatest indus¬ 
try of the country is to be placed before 
mere personal or political considerations, 
Gen. Le Due will remain for the next 
four years at the head of the Department 
of Agriculture, in or out of tbe Cabinet. 
During the term of his office he has 
made the requirements of the industry 
an earnest study ; to-day ho knows more 
about these and the best meauB of meet¬ 
ing them than any other man in the 
country ; he is now the soul of the move¬ 
ment which is destined in a few years to 
keep at home the $85,000,000 we now pay 
annually for foreign BUgar ; the farmers 
of the country have learnt confidence in 
his ability and faith in hi* efforts, and to 
remove him now from the midst of his 
successful labors would speak ill for the 
statesmanship and the regard for the 
agricultural prosperity of the nation, 
with which General Garfield has been 
credited. 
For ourselves, we care not for the poli¬ 
tics of the head of the Department, be 
they Republican or Democrat, aud though 
we highly esteem the present incumbent 
personally, we should blush to allow per¬ 
sonal preference to influence our express¬ 
ed opinion on a matter of so much public 
importance. Iu recommending the con¬ 
tinuance of Gen. Le Due in his present 
office under the next President, we are 
actuated solely by our honest convictiou 
that such a measure would conduce most 
to the best interests of agriculture, which 
we have close at heart. 
-- 
THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 
Several organized raids have been 
made by land speculators and squatters 
upon the ludian Territory. Considerable 
pressure has been brought to bear by 
interested parties upon Congress to per¬ 
mit the settlement of the Territory by 
citizens, notwithstanding the fact that it 
has been solemnly set apart as the. last 
refuge of the distressed aborigines. Since 
the occupation of the Territory by the 
various tribes of Indiana who now inhabit 
it, a great advance has been made in their 
condition. From savages, a large num¬ 
ber of them have been changed to civilized 
and industrious farmers, who cultivate 
more tliau 300,000 acres of land, own 
297,040 cattle and 400,282 swine, and pro¬ 
duced the present year 2,346,042 bushels 
of corn, 336,424 bushels of wheat, 16,800 
bales of cotton and other usual form crops 
iu proportion. All this was done by 
about 60,000 souls, proving that these,, 
men are at least as industrious as many 
white men and are in as prosperous a con¬ 
dition. Uncivilized Indians in the Ter¬ 
ritory own 864,137 sheep aud 78,812 head 
of cattle ; and the present year produced 
415,777 bushels of wheat with other crops 
iu proportion, on nearly 200,000 acres 
of cultivated land. All this lias been 
done under the objectionable Hystem of 
common ownership of the soil. When 
the change to absolute and individual 
possession, which is so [much desired by 
the Indiaus, and which desire, in itself, 
is a conspicuous proof of increasing civ¬ 
ilization, shall have been made, it iB be- 
oml doubt that this Territory will soou 
ecome as productive under the labor of 
the Indians as the contiguous States are, 
in proportion, under the labor of white 
men. Here is a solution of the Indian 
problem, and one that will make men and 
women of these people. We do not wish 
to hear of attempts mode to rob these 
poor people of the last vestige of their 
inheritance, by white men who have now 
more land than can be brought under 
cultivation iu the next century. 
-» ♦ ♦- 
BREVITIES. 
The Holstein bull Uncle Tom is drawn from 
a poor photograph. The drawing is a correct 
portrayal of the photograph, which is all onr 
artist had to guide him. The light falls In 
such a wav as to give the impression of a 
heaviness of neck aud shoulders which is not 
true to nature. 
This New York State Dairymen’s Association 
will hold its fourth annual conventional Delhi, 
Delaware Couuty, December 21, 22 aud 23 inBt. 
Addresses will be delivered by Prof. L. B. 
Arnold, Dr. F. E Engelhardt, Hon. T. S. Gold, 
F. D. O-irtis, S. Hoxie, Maj. Butler Fitch, Or¬ 
ville Wilsey aud others. 
We beg to Btate that many are applying for 
the ** Distribution," forgetting to send their 
share of postage. We deem ii only fair that 
we should disregard such applications. The 
worBt of it is, however, that these forgetful 
friends are liable to charge us—when they fail 
to receive their seeds—with having acted in 
bad faith. 
We regret to learn that the California Hor¬ 
ticulturist has ceased its separate existence 
and become a part of tbe Pad Ac Rural Press. 
The latter is to be congratulated upon the ac¬ 
cession, but it would Beeui that California, with 
its immense horticultural interests aud remark¬ 
able climate, ought to be able to suppoit a 
purely horticultural maguziue. Mr. (Jnarles 
II. 8hiuu, the editor, has doue his work to the 
yery end in a spirited and able manner. 
