THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
ELBKKT S, CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCT. 1(5, 1880. 
SPECIAL NOTICE. 
Many of our subscribers are sending us the 
required amount of postage stamps (six cents) 
requesting us in return to send the White Ele¬ 
phant Potato, as if additional postage were re¬ 
quired for the other seeds or a separate appli¬ 
cation necessary. We beg our readers to un¬ 
derstand that sir cents are all we ask from 
them for the entire distribution—the rest of 
the postage the Rural pays. Applications 
may be made from now until March. Write 
the name and address plainly and say “Sbni> 
Seeds." That is all we desire except that our 
friends will not stick the postage stamps to 
their letters. 
Our new posters and premium lists aro 
now ready, and will be sent without 
charge to all who apply. 
*- - ♦ -- 
First, thorough preparation of the 
land by plowing, harrowing and rolling. 
Second, drilling in the seed from one to 
two feet apart, according to the size of 
the stalks of the variety planter! and its 
suckering habit. Third, flat cultiva¬ 
tion. Fourth, sufficient cultivation to 
keep the surface mellow and free of 
weeds. The above we believe to be the 
treatment to which we owe our immense 
yields of Indian com. 
KBPUBiiioAtr and Democratic politi¬ 
cians, from platform and editorial room, 
are loudly claiming for their respective 
parties a monopoly of the praise due for 
the present prosperity of the nation. 
The former attribute it to the course of 
the Administration; the latter, to the 
action of the present Congress. Was 
there ever a stronger proof of the unscru¬ 
pulous mendacity of this brazen-faced 
class than thiB assignment to political 
faction of the merit due almost exclusive¬ 
ly to the agriculturists of the country? 
If the restoration of prosperity to the na¬ 
tion is indeed a valid ground for placing 
in control of the government the class 
that has been mainly instrumental in ac¬ 
complishing it, then farmers to the front, 
and let us have a farmer President and 
Administration. Thus shall the farmers 
of the country perpetuate the prosperity 
they have created. But, alas! the rnil- 
lenium has not yet begun. 
E RURAL 
I I said : Every garden, whether vegetable 
| or flower, shows that those plants which 
have plenty of room are larger and more 
| vigorous than those which are crowded. 
Even though the soil is no richer or even 
| poorer, every part of the plant receives 
its due share of sun and air. The richer 
the soil, then, the more room within cer¬ 
tain limits a given plant requires. To 
sow three bushels of wheat per acre upon 
strong land well prepared, would be to 
I crowd the plants and thus to deprive 
them of the air, light and moisture neces¬ 
sary to their full development. Half, 
perhaps one-third, of that amount of seed 
would, under such conditions, furnish the 
plants with the needs of a healthy exist¬ 
ence. We should then have larger stems, 
larger heads, heavier grain and an in¬ 
creased power of resisting diseases and 
the attacks of insect pests. The exaot 
amount of seed which should be sown 
per acre, however, must bo vary accord¬ 
ing to soil, preparation, climate and the 
characteristics of the varieties sown that, 
guided only in the avoidance of extremes 
by what we know of the laws of plant 
life, no rules can be laid down. It is a 
matter for each farmer who should know 
all about those conditions, to determine 
for himself. 
- 
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 
The agricultural colleges are com¬ 
plained of for not fulfilling the promises 
made for them of giving farmers or soub 
of farmers a practical knowledge of agri¬ 
culture, and for not annually turning out 
a crop of educated youths who will make 
the wilderness blossom as the rose, to a 
profit as well as to beauty. 
When Mr. Morrill proposed the bill 
giving aid to these colleges, the objection 
was made to him that it was not college* 
but schools which the country wanted. 
His reply was that “ one college in a 
State would be enough to furnish teach¬ 
ers and experimental operations, while 
the nation could not well assist the States 
in establishing schools. But,” said he, 
“ the States will second the enterprise by 
themselves establishing schools of the 
rudiments of agriculture aud mechanicul 
pursuits. ” 
The question now occurs—is it not 
practicable to organize a system of school¬ 
ing, or modify the present system, so that 
some acquaintance with the rudiments of 
soils and cultivation, as well as with fibers 
and materials and the use of tools and 
machinery upon them, will be taught ? It 
is not the colleges which can be of use to 
the great number of young men, but 
schools may be, and it ‘is believed to be 
as good discipline for a boy to be half of 
the day in connection with observations 
and the study of nature growing and dor¬ 
mant, as all day confined to the abstrac¬ 
tions of books, as now practised. 
OCT.46 
ment, however, is not confined to the 
adherents of any particular religion, for 
some of the bitterest and ablest of its 
leaders are staunch Protestants. At 
present serious trouble seems inevitable 
in the near future, and rebellion or revo¬ 
lution looms grimly in the background. 
OLD BUT GOOD. 
One of the most interesting signs of 
our national prosperity is the lowering 
of the rate of interest* in the West. A 
few years ago 10 per cent, was the usual 
rate at which money was loaned to farm¬ 
ers, and often even more was exacted 
either in the form of interest or a bonus 
for the loan, or as commissions or other 
expenses for procuring it. The wealth 
of the people, however, has increased so 
rapidly of late that the demand for this 
sort of accommodation has greatly de¬ 
creased, and as the needs of the people 
have grown less, the exactions of capital 
have diminished. It is doubtful whether 
there has ever been a time when so much 
real money has been in the hands of the 
agricultural community there as at pres¬ 
ent. For the last three or four years 
crops have been excellent in quantity and 
quality, prices have been good always 
and sometimes very good, and previous 
distress has taught the people the advan¬ 
tages of economy, and made them care¬ 
ful in expending their accumulations. 
Mortgages in vast numbers have been 
(>aid off; new dwellings and barns have 
been built and paid for ; farms have been 
greatly improved ; better stock has been 
largely introduced ■ new furniture and 
household oonvenieneies have brightened 
the homes and lessened the toils of 
thousands of families. The crops and the 
prices this season rIbo promise to add to 
the general prosperity, and all signs are 
hopeful that after this year the number 
of industrious, wide-awake farmers will 
be comparatively small, who can apply to 
themselves our earnest advice, reiterated 
often at this flush season—“Get out of 
debt.” 
on this and the other side of the Atlantic, 
whose arduous mission it seems to be to 
act as pioneers beyond that line and fit 
the country for more steady but less en¬ 
terprising citizens, aud to those among 
these who intend emigrating westward 
before the others have accomplished their 
mission, we would say in warning tones: 
u West, as in other affairs in 
life, don t go too far. ” 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
In husking Chester Corn we have found one 
ear with 28 rows and 69 kernels in the row 
The ear is just one foot long and nine inches 
in circumference in the middle. 
In England we 6ee that there are two kinds 
of variegated tulip trees offered for sale. One 
has a yellow-blotched leaf, the other a yellow- 
margined leaf. Both kinds are said to be as 
hardy as the type, and very handsome. We 
are not aware that these have been offered bv 
American nurserymen. J 
.. Tnn potato, Magnum Bonurn, is well 
thought of in England, where it originated. 
Air. Rose, of this country, has u new and valu¬ 
able seedling which unfortunately he has also 
named Magnum Bonurn He sent us a box iu 
(he (spring for seed, which was planted at the 
Rithat, Grounds. The yield has been heavy— 
the quality i8 good. J 
There arc pretty strong indications that the 
price of wheat wiU lie good this year, and as 
seen by our market reports elsewhere, quota¬ 
tions have already adeeidedly upward tendency 
At homo the surplus, it is believed, wl/l not be 
so great as was anticipated earlier in the year 
as the crop baa not thrashed out as well as was 
expected. 
The export of apples Increases in magni¬ 
tude as the season advances. For the present 
week we learn of freight contracts from this 
fo, r ab 2 ut 1Sm barre, 8 for Liverpool; 
900 for London ; 3,000 for Glasgow, and 15- 
for New Castle, and doubtless the Continen- 
&L.. ne o also W‘11 engage in the business. The 
White Star and Inman lines have the bulk of 
the contracts for Liverpool. The ocean 
*° a tran »‘Atlantic ports is four 
shillings or one dollar per barrel. 
GOING TOO EAR. 
IRISH AGITATION. 
The Financial Statistics of the Coun¬ 
try make an excellent show. Although 
breadstuff's and cotton, our principal 
exportable commodities, have hardly yet 
begun to move, still gold is already flow¬ 
ing into the country from Europe at the 
rate of about $4,000,000 a week, $28,000,- 
000 having been received from the first 
week in August to the beginning of this 
month. During September the public 
debt was reduced nearly $7,000,000, 
making a reduction of $26*000,000 since 
the commencement of the fiscal year, 
June 30 last. Since 1865 the debt has 
been reduced $900,000,000, and not only 
has the interest on this vast sum been 
saved, but that on the remainder has 
been greatly reduced by paying off the 
debt on which there was a high rate of 
interest, and, instead, borrowing money 
at a lower rate. To some, however, the 
justice and expediency of great haste in 
paying off the public debt are more than 
doubtful. It is done to lighten the bur¬ 
dens of future generations; but has not the 
present generation already done enough 
for those that are to come? Has it not 
poured out its blood and treasures pro¬ 
fusely, chiefly for their benefit? Aud 
why should its industries be hampered 
by excessive taxation to pay a debt which 
they owe us, inasmuoh as "it was mainly 
incurred for their welfare, and which, with 
the inevitable development of the wealth 
of the nation and the rapid increase of its 
population, they will be better able to 
pay than we are ? 
-- 
THICK AND THIN SEEDING. 
Considering the question of thin vs. 
thick seeding of grain, there is this to be 
The agitation in Ireland seems to 
be fast approaching a phase in which 
the Government must either make large 
concessions not only to the tenantry, but 
also to the politicians of the island, or 
else adopt strong repressive measures. 
The agitation against landlordism has 
combined with the agitation against 
British Rule—the Land-leaguers have 
“ pooled issues ” with the Home Rulers 
and Fenians, and the union has increased 
the boldness of the speakers at public 
meetiugs and inflamed the populace to 
more frequent deeds of violence against 
the persons or property of obnoxious 
landlords or of tenants who either pay 
rent when their neighbors refuse to do 
so, or are rash enough to take land from 
which the former occupiers have been 
evicted. Not a week passes without a 
murder or an attempt at one, and frequ¬ 
ently two or three are perpetrated in 
different parts of the island within as 
many days. Resident landlords live in a 
state of constant apprehension for their 
own safety and that of their families and 
properties while deriving little or no in¬ 
come from their land, so that many 
of them are already on the verge of 
bankruptcy. Absentee landlords, while 
shifting the risks of violence on their 
agents, receive little but execrations and 
hatred from their estates, while both 
classes are threatened by a national strike 
against rents. Such a measure would 
inevitably bankrupt many of them and 
greatly incommode almost all; nor could 
the whole disposable force of the British 
army evict the tenantry of the country 
should they combine in their refusal. 
As usual in public commotions in that 
island, factions have already arisen, and 
the Protestants of the north are being 
vehemently urged, in the name of their 
allegiance to the British Grown, to arm 
and organize against the Catholics of the 
rest of the island. The present move- 
During the past year the starving set¬ 
tlers in Western Kansas have been loud 
in their complaints of the misrepresenta¬ 
tions by which railroad companies had 
induced them to immigrate into that arid 
region on the assurance that the land 
and climate were admirably adapted to 
farming purposes. Confiding in these 
protestations, thousands abandoned their 
old homes, with their fond memories and 
friendly associations, and journeyed to 
the Land of Promise in the Far West. 
In hundreds of cases they went too far] 
however, and encamped in the desert be¬ 
yond, where for the last couple of years 
their labors have failed to give them even 
a scanty livelihood, and had not help 
come from the prosperous parts of Kan¬ 
sas and the neighboring States, the new¬ 
comers who could not get away, would 
have found graves instead of homes in 
the land of their adoption. 
It is not unlikely, however, that this 
region, which with its Buffalo and other 
wild grasses is even now the great graz¬ 
ing range for the vast herds of the 
West, may yet bo brought under suc¬ 
cessful tillage; but, if it shall, it will 
probably bo at the oost of many years of 
severe labor on the part of successive 
bands of transient settlers. The waves 
of westward immigration, breaking on 
the edge of the “ Great American Des¬ 
ert,” will recede and again advance, gain¬ 
ing a little on the waste on every return. 
Just as on the shore of the ocean, too, 
the advancing tide often forms pools in 
favorable spots ahead of the line of in¬ 
coming waters, so small areas of the 
“desert,” which springs or streams may 
render less inhospitable than the sur¬ 
rounding waste, will doubtless be perma¬ 
nently settled in advance of the general 
line of colonization. But in view of the 
large tracts in every way well adapted for 
agricultural purposes, that still remain 
unsettled, not only in all the frontier and 
most of the Western States, but here and 
there also in the Middle and Eastern 
States and still more in those of the 
South, the wisdom of facing the grievous 
hardships that must be endured by the 
pioneer subduers of the waterless regions 
west of the 100th parallel, is more than 
doubtful, and the morality which for sel¬ 
fish greed tempts the ignorant to the ven¬ 
ture by all manner of alluring devices, is 
worthy only of the soulless corporations 
that practice it. 
Even for those for whom the prom¬ 
ising future of Kansas has an irresist¬ 
ible attraction, there Btill remain open 
to settlement large tracts of land in every 
way excellent for farming purposes in that 
Btate east of the “desert” line. Into this 
world of ours thousands have been bom 
Oua benevolent friend, the A. A. in a con¬ 
spicuous manner declares that its hints and 
suggestions are never copied from previous 
wars, but are freshly prepared foreverv month 
Nevertheless It copies, verbatim el literatim 
from October 1878, a large number of the hints 
etc,, given for 1880; an.l in doing that fur’ 
nlshes in itself a conspicuous example for its 
own column devoted to humbngs. But it is 
not this sort of humbug that the A. A. finds it 
advautageoM 10 cxpoao - There is no money 
Thehk are many vines that are attractive 
for special features ; but in all respects, for 
tins climate, there is none more desirable than 
the houeysuckle. Tt has not a fault Its 
(lowers are fragrant and charming, its foliage 
is ample, half evergreen, bright and pleasing 
It will make a thing of beauty of an old stump 
a neglected corner. It will clothe an arbor 
trellis or piazza with its thick-growing slen¬ 
der stems, and its delightful perfume will be 
grateful to passers-by. Of all honeysuckles 
no other is more desirablethau Hall’s Lonieera 
Halleana. 
One of the finest beds of flowers we have 
ever cared for was one of seedling geraniums 
(pelargoniums,)about 45feet in circumference. 
The plants were pictures of health during a 
hot, dry Summer and this luxuriance was due 
wo believe, to a mulch or covering of grass re¬ 
newed twice w thrice during the eeasou. This 
was strewn over the soil between the pelargon¬ 
iums boou alter it had been cut, about two 
inches thick. Being flue and short it soon 
dried, becoming sufficiently matted together 
to keep it in its place. This, besides suppressing 
the growth of weeds, acted as a cooling shade 
to the soil and a preserver of the moisture be- 
ncuth. 
Bless us, how pleased we shall be when 
election is over ! We saw the other day two 
fine hickory trees to be used as “ liberty poles’’ 
that had been cut down by a farmer in the 
vicinity of the Rural Farm." It occurred to us 
—especially as we know he is not a very suc¬ 
cessful farmer—that he might have been better 
employed. Farmers cannot afford to waste 
their time over politics. It is well to talk ol 
patriotic motives and all that. But patriotism 
lies in the direction of makiug the farm pay 
and the farmers’ families comfortable and 
happy. As for the average political paper, 
there is no truth in it, and farmers could de¬ 
termine as well whom they should vote lor if 
they never read a line of its pages. 
While the rapidly increasing manufacture 
of glucose is a benefit to farmers in that it af¬ 
fords a growing market for their corn, the 
abuse of the manufactured product is becom¬ 
ing a serious Injury to them as well as to the 
reBt of the community. Analyses made in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country show that the adul¬ 
teration of sugar by glucose is largely on the 
increase. If the glucose werelpurc, no effects 
injurious to health would result from its nse; 
but as Us sweetening capacity is considerably 
less than that of cane sugar, its employment 
would be a fraud, inasmuch as it is estimated 
that fifty cents'worth of corn would produce 
five dollars’ worth of sugar at present prices. 
Moreover, the glucose used as an adulteraut is 
rarely pure, and consequently is generally un¬ 
healthful. causing dyspepsia and similar dis¬ 
orders. Formerly the presence of glucose in 
sugar could be detected by a sticky feeling, so 
that granulated sugar might be considered 
free from it, but the art of adulioration has 
made such strides of late that now fine-look¬ 
ing specimens of grauulatcd sugar arc lound 
on analyses to he badly but skillfully adulter¬ 
ated with the product, Nearly all candies and 
other “sweet-stuffs,” as well as honey and 
nearly everything into whose composition 
sugar enters are similarly adultorutcd, and 
from the frauds thus perpetrated on the pub¬ 
lic the farmers are as great sufferers as the 
rest of the community. 
