MAY* 
HUsrclIaittous. 
WHAT OTHERS SAT. 
Extracts from ax Address by J. G. Bar¬ 
ger. I am aware that there are very many 
who have no sympathy with the Grange move¬ 
ment; who have grave doubts of its ability to 
do any good j who go even farther, and con¬ 
demn the whole business. They say it is a sel¬ 
fish institution, and positively injurious to the 
general weifare of society. For these people I 
have great charity. Now to these people I 
wish to present some solid facts, fully believ¬ 
ing that more knowledge of our principles will 
make U6 more friends ; and to Grangers let me 
say that the experience of the past years has 
taught us many lessons. The Grange work 
now lies out before us clear and defined. 
We find from the census of 1870, that there 
were in the United States 12,000,000 male per¬ 
sons engaged in all occupations. Of this num¬ 
ber, 6,000,000 were engaged in agriculture. 
From the same source we learn that the total 
valuation of all personal and real pr operty for 
that year was $80,000,000,000. Of this amount 
311,000,000,000, belonged to the agricultural 
interest. You see that the agriculturists com¬ 
prize one-half of the total number of persons 
engaged in all the various industries of the 
country, and that their business has for its 
capital stock over one-third of the entire 
wealth of the country'. After realizing as best 
we can how immense is the amount of human 
and monetary energy used in this business, we 
naturally might expect some great results. 
From the report of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture we learn that in 1872 the value of our 
principal crops, corn, wheat, oats, barley, 
rye, buckwheat, potatoes, hay, cotton and to¬ 
bacco, was $1,901,000,000. Let us compare 
this amount with the value of precious metals 
that have been taken from American mlneB. 
From the best authority we lcaru that the total 
value of the yield of the American mines dur¬ 
ing twenty-seven years, from 1849 to 1875, was 
$1,617,000,000. You notice that the value of 
ten of the principal products of the soil for the 
one year of 1879 was greater than the total 
value of all the gold, aud silver obtained from 
the mines duriug twenty-seven years of pros¬ 
perous and feverishly active operations. Let 
us go farther. If we ascertain the value of the 
various productions of the soil besides the P-n 
staple commodities mentioned, and to that 
amount add the enormous wealth which is 
yearly derived from animals and the produc¬ 
tions of animals, whoso sustenance the soil 
furnishes, we are safe to say that the gross 
results of the farmers’ business for one year 
is greater than that of all the mining opera¬ 
tions of this country, since gold was discover¬ 
ed iu California in 1849, up to the present 
time. 
From the evidence offered we might draw 
the conclusion that the farming business is a 
satisfactory success. Viewed in its general 
aspect such is the case ; but when applied to 
the individual fanner we see the situation in 
an adverse light. For the past ten years 
American farming has been cheerless and un¬ 
profitable. The handling of the currency ques¬ 
tion and the shrinkage of values has so dis¬ 
astrously affected the debtor clsss, of which 
the farmers constitute a large share, that thou¬ 
sands after struggHug bravely for a time were 
obliged to yield to the inevitable. They saw the 
magnitude of their indebtedness doubling upon 
them, and were powerless to avert their cer¬ 
tain fate. The figures that represented their 
debts remained the same, but it took more 
than twice the amount of the same products 
which the farmer had to pay with to make the 
same payment on these debts that it did when 
the debts were contracted. 
This revolutionizing of values has made the 
poor distressingly poor and the rich oppres- 
ively rich. There were men, who by their in¬ 
dustry and economy, during years of hard 
work, had saved up quite a competence. They 
bought farms at the high prices of land and 
farm products; they paid in what they had 
and gave mortgages for what they owed. The 
change came. The land and produce decreased 
iu value, but the mortgages did not. By and 
by the mortgages covered the whole value of 
the farms aud better security was demanded. 
We see how gracious the government is to 
manufacturers. What does it do for the agri¬ 
culturist ? Of all the eulightencd nations on 
God’s foot-stool the United States does the least 
for ils farmers. Even the little government of 
Sweden in 1877 expended more than four times 
as much as the United States did In that same 
year to promote its agricultural interests. 
With the proofs so clearly given of how much 
the farmers have done and are doing to pro¬ 
mote and protect our country’s best interests, 
the government treasury allows to them out of 
the many millious it annually expends and 
squanders, $200,000 for their benefit. This 
fact is a disgrace to our national record, and 
THE RUSAL NEW-YORKER. 
an insult to American farmers; but so long as 
farmers insist on selecting lawyers, merchants 
and professional men to legislate for them, how 
can they expect anything different ? 
Let us consider the railroads of this country. 
Ostensibly creatures of the law and public 
servants, they have become indifferent to all 
moral and legal restraints. They control legis¬ 
lation and make all classes victims of their 
caprice and avarice. While the railroad in¬ 
terest has for its capital, counting watered 
stock and all, only one-fourth as much as the 
farming iuterest has, and one-sixth as many 
persons employed iu its business as there are 
farmers, yet it presumes to and does fix the 
price of every dollar’s worth of produce the 
farmer has; and this assumed task it performs 
without any consideration of right or justice. 
In one year the freight rates between New 
York and Chicago varied from two dollars to 
thirty-seven dollars per ton. 
The Grangers have done good work in this 
direction. Let them study the question thor- 
oughly; think it over. Let their opinions be 
known and it will not be long before the ex¬ 
tent of the injustice and extortion which our 
present laws allow railroad corporations to 
praeticu, will be understood, and such a moral 
force and urgent demand will reach our legis¬ 
lators that they will think it for their interests 
as politicians to heed the warning and do some¬ 
thing to correct the flagrant wrongs. 
What farmers want to do now is to realize 
the necessity of doing more work with their 
heads and less with their hands. It is absurd 
to think that in this age muscle can compete 
with brains. The person conversing pleasant¬ 
ly through the telephone with a friend 200 
miles distant represents brains. The 6tage 
coach carrying the same messages, plodding 
along six or seven miles an hour represents 
muscle. To-day mind rules the world. The 
farmer needs a more complete knowledge of 
the various causes, natural aud artificial, so¬ 
cial aud political which affect the farming in¬ 
terest. Then he will see how legislation and 
pampered monopolies combine together to de¬ 
prive him of rights and privileges which jus¬ 
tice declares belong to him. He will better 
appreciate the importance, usefulness and 
honor of his occupation. Then the sense of 
duty which he owes to himself, to his family 
aud to succeeding generations which will fol¬ 
low in his pursuits, will urge him to take such 
action, to make such earnest and persistent 
efforts as will result in elevating the agricul¬ 
turists of this country to that high standard 
socially, financially and intellectually, which 
they have merited and aje entitled to hold. 
Brothers of the plow the power is with you. 
Insects And Plants. Most of the higher 
flowering plants would speedily perish were 
insect aid withdrawn, and but for such aid 
in the past we would now see, instead of our 
gorgeous flora of Orchids, Lilies, Magno¬ 
lias, and ltoses, one consisting chiefly of 
Ferns, Cycads, aud Conifers, mingled with 
Willows, Oaks, and Alders, and plain grasses 
aud rushes.—American Entomologist. 
Dr. Schubeler, of Norway, and his associates 
after years of observation, arrive at the follow¬ 
ing general conclnsions respecting seeds grown 
in different climates or conditions : 
“I. The grain of wheat that has been grown 
in low-lying lands may be propagated with 
success on the high fjrelds, and will reach ma¬ 
turity earlier at such elevations, even although 
at a lower mean temperature. Such grain, 
after having been raised for several years at 
the highest elevation which admits of its cul¬ 
tivation, is found when transferred to its ori¬ 
ginal locality to ripen earlier than the other 
crops which had not been moved. The same 
result is uoticeable in grain that has been 
transported from a southern to a more north¬ 
ern locality, and Dice versa. 
2. Seeds imported from a southern locality, 
when sown within the limits compatable with 
their cultivation, iucreace In size and weight, 
and these same seeds, when removed from % 
more northern locality to their origiual south¬ 
ern home, gradually diminish to their former 
dimensions. A similar change is observable 
iu the leaves and blossoms of various kinds of 
trees and other pi ants. Further, it is found 
that plants raised from seed ripened in a north¬ 
ern locality are hardier, as well as larger, than 
those grown in the south, and are better able 
to resist excessive cold. 
“ The farther north we go—within certain 
fixed Umit6—the more energetic is the develop¬ 
ment of the pigment in flowers, leaves, aud 
seeds. Similarly the aroma, or flavor, of var¬ 
ious plants or fruits, is augmented in inten¬ 
sity the further north they are carried within 
the limits of their capacity for cultivation; 
conversely, the quau tity of saccharine matter 
diminishes in proportion as the plant is carried 
further northward.” 
Pelargonium Mrs. Cannbll.— This, as de¬ 
scribed in the last number of the Florist aud 
Pomologiat, is a striking advance in the true 
Ivy-leaved section, being “the largest and by 
far the be6t shaped flower yet obtained. It is 
a plant of vigorous growth, and therefore well 
adapted for growing on into a specimen. The 
flowers are large in size, perfect in form, stout 
and durable in substance, and produced in 
bold, well-filled trusses, while the color is a 
deep mauve-like lilac or purple, beside which 
all the other similarly colored sorts look pale 
and ineffective.” To Mr. Church, a hybridist 
of some years’ standing, is the credit due for 
raising the variety, which Mr. Cannell will in 
due time send out. 
It is one of the chief advantages of the 
thoroughbred animal of any species, says the 
Nat. Live Stock Journal, that he possesses the 
power of transmitting his own qualities when 
cro66ed upon animals of a mixed origin, so that 
for the actual uses of the farnmr a few crosses 
of any pure blood will give all the desirable 
points of the thorougbred. A good and well- 
bred Short-horn bull coupled with our com¬ 
mon cows, will, nine times out of ten, get 
calves that, for the purpose of beef production, 
are absolutely worth twice as much as calves 
from the same cows got by a common or scrub 
bull; and a fecoud cross—that is, a thorough¬ 
bred ball coupled with these half-blood cows— 
will produce calves that are worth 6till more 
than the half-bloods for feeding purposes. And 
so of any other breed of any kind of farm ani¬ 
mals. If the peculiar qualifications of the Jer¬ 
sey breed is desired, there is no need that the 
farmer should sell off his present stock and 
buy a herd of pure Jersey cattle. He can do 
better by purchasing a good Jersey bull; and 
by using him he can soon engraft the qualities 
of the Jersey upon all his young stock. 
One of the very best flocks of flue-wool 
sheep of which the writer above referred to has 
any knowledge haR been built up by this pro¬ 
cess. Commencing, twonty-five years ago, 
with a clearly defined idea of wbat he wanted, 
the owner of this flock selected a small lot of 
the best common ewes he could buy In his 
neighborhood at a reasonable cost. He then 
paid a good price for a pure Merino ram and 
commenced the process of grading up. In a 
conple of years the original flock of ewes wa 9 
discarded entirely, and the young half-blood 
ewes took their place. Another pure Merino 
ram was procured and coupled with half-blood 
ewes; aud he has kept on in this way every year 
or two buying a new purely-bred male, aud re' 
tainiug the choicest ewes of his flock, fattening 
and selling off the in'erior ones, until he has. 
as we have said, the very best flock of which 
this writer has any knowledge. And this is the 
secret of the whole business; using only 
thoroughbred males, and selecting from year to 
year the best females of his own breeding for 
the purpose of reproduction. 
Pyretiikum. Some observations reported 
to me (Prof, Hilgard) seem to render it proba¬ 
ble that the cultivation of the Pyrethrum be¬ 
tween the rows of olher plants will, in a great 
measure, protect these from the attacks of 
insects; as, of course, the plants themselves are 
let severely alone by them. It might even 
seem worth while to try this plan against the 
Phylloxera, in so far as the wiugod insect 
could scarcely escape the deadly effects of the 
Pyrethrum, thus preventing its 6p read. It has 
been reported that a certain kind of Sumac has 
thus served to save many of the vineyards of 
the Isle of Cyprus.'; 
Corn. Dr. Sturtevant says in the New York 
Tribune that Waushakum Corn, in three years’ 
breeding, has increased in weight from 56 
pound to 64 pounds per bushel for the selected 
ears; from on open ear to a close, compact 
cylindrical ear; from a crop that varied greatlv 
in size, shape and quality of ear, to at present 
a crop of excellent uniformity, and extremely 
few unmerchantable ears. Per contra, a single 
ear selected for poor quality, yielded 181 ears, 
of which but two were of fair quality, the re¬ 
mainder, or 99 per cent, being soft, short, 
gnarled,etc. Where no culture gave two bushels 
of ears as good as seed, culture gave 16 bushels 
as good as seed, and the best culture gave 26 
bushels of ears as good as the seed. 
Changing Potato Seed.— So far as I am 
aware, says Professor Goodale, in Land and 
Home, no careful, systematic experiments 
have yet been made in this country for deter¬ 
mining the advantage of “ changing seed," as 
it is termed, or of planting only such as were 
grown on a heavy loam, and in a cool climate— 
say either in Northern New England, or in 
localities 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet above sealevel. 
My own observations and experiments lead me 
to believe that this advantage is very great, 
and I am satisfied that the New Jersey farmer, 
for example, will add at least one-third to his 
product by plantiug Maine-grown seed. 
“A noteworthy sight,” Dr. Sturtevant re¬ 
marks in the same journal, speaking of a visit 
to the Department of Agriculture, “ is that of a 
bottle of white corn, representing 60 bushels 
of shelled corn per acre, and alongside a bottle 
of sugar from its stalks, representing an u(Uli- 
284 
tional harvest of over 900 pounds per acre. In 
this case, the stalks were worth more to the 
producer thau the corn. This discovery that 
the stalks, at the period of full maturity, con¬ 
tain the largest quantity of crystallizable sugar, 
is of great importance, when we consider the 
range of the culture of the maize plant, its 
adaptation to our agriculture, and the value 
of its grain.” 
Tainted Milk.— At Welshpool a case of 
diphtheria was traced back by medical experts 
to milk delivered from a house in which this 
disease prevailed; and at Fallowfield, near 
Manchester, thirty-five persons, belonging to 
eighteen families supplied by the same dairy, 
were attacked with scarlet fever, twenty-four 
of them within thirty-six hours, and the local 
Government Board, aftercareful investigation, 
believe it was spread by milk drawn from the 
cows Ly a man who had lodged the previous 
night in a house where there was a case of 
scarlet fever. 
$nhstnal 
THE “IX L” WIND-MILL. 
This excellent wind-mill is made by the 
Phelps aud Bigelow Wind-mill Company, of 
Kalamazoo, Mich. In it there are only two 
points of friction—the main shaft on which is 
fastened the wheel that operates the machin¬ 
ery, and the crank which moves the pitman 
up and down to do the pumping. The wheel 
is solid, of the sort known as the rosette, 
unusually strong, and firmlv braced in front. 
To6top the mill, the wheel is thrown around 
by the side of the rudder, exposing only its 
edge to the wind and stopping instantly, in¬ 
stead of, as in the case of other stiff wheels, 
throwing the rudder around by the side of the 
wheel, leaving the latter still facing the wind 
until this is strong enough to shift the whole 
mill with the edge to the wind. One of the 
most notable features of this mil! is its self- 
governing faculty r when the wind blows harder 
than the wheel ought to bear, there arises 
a tendency to fold the wheel aud rudder to¬ 
gether; and when, in a high wind, the wheel 
would turn too fast if it faced the wind di¬ 
rectly, it turns itself more or less aslant to the 
wind and keeps just the amount of speed it is 
designed to have in ordinary winds. If the 
storm rages too violently, the wheel and rud¬ 
der fold gently together, aud so remain until 
the gale has abated. Testimonials from well 
known farmers who use the mill, speak em¬ 
phatically on this point; some found it to work 
admirably in sleet and ice storms; others 
praise it for being tempest-proof, having been 
unharmed by storms by which trees were 
prostrated, while all extol its simplicity, self- 
control aud great efficiency. The best material 
alone is used in the construction of this mill, 
no part of which is slighted. Indeed the 
Company warrant it for every point they 
claim for it, and we urge all in need of a 
strictly first-class wind-mill to send for full 
particulars to the above address. 
Good Premiums for a Useful Object.— 
J. A. Field, Son it Co-, of St. Louis, Mo., 
manufacturers of the Big Giant Feed Mill, 
offer four of their mills as premiums to en¬ 
courage experiments in testing the value of 
corn-cob ground together with corn meal for 
stock feed. They offer One Big Giant, No. 3 
Improved, $05.00; for best resalts in cattle 
feeding; oue Big Giant, No. 2, Improved, $50, 
for second best results in cattle feeding; one 
Big Giant, No. 3, Improved with sieve attach¬ 
ment, $60, for best results in hog feeding; 
one Big Giant, No. 3. Improved $50.00, 
for second best results in hog feeding. Reports 
of competitors must be furnished on or before 
Sept. 1, 1880—stock to be fed for not less than 
60 days. We advise all our readers interested 
in the solution of this problem—and what 
farmer is not?—to send tor full particulars of 
the conditions of all the experiments. 
