70S 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER 
OCT. 23 
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. 23, 1880. 
Come now. Rural friends or enemies, 
to the Rural Farm, and examine the yield 
of corn—or else accept the statements we 
shall present as the truth, and forever 
after hold your peace. 
The yield of Blount and Chester Corn 
has brought us a great number of urgent 
requests to sell quantities for seed. We 
must, as heretofore, refuse all. We 
value the confidence of our readers more 
than we do the profits resulting from 
such sales. Just so soon as an agricul¬ 
tural journal sells seeds or plants, just 
so soon its readers will naturally distrust 
the sincerity of its praises or eensure. 
--»» 
C, C. Georgeson, late of the Rural 
staff, and now Professor of Agriculture 
in the State College of Texas, writes us 
as follows : 
“I have examined the Tillandsia, 
usneoides (black moss), which grows 
here in abundance, and find that it has 
roots attached to the branches. I inclose 
a specimen which will show it.” 
The specimen shows that the thread¬ 
like roots merely serve to attach the 
plant and hold it in position as in all 
true epiphytes of which this is a good 
example. *The roots are attached merely 
to the surface of the bark the same as 
moss or lichens cling to walls or rocks- 
The question we raised, to which Prof. 
Georgeson probably refers and which 
was explained by Prof. S. W. Johnson, 
was—“If air plants derive their sus¬ 
tenance from the air, whence oome the 
potash, phosphoric acid, &c., found in 
the ash of such plants ?” 
. t ♦ ♦ 
A Feminine Swindle has just collapsed 
in Boston. A few years ago a Mrs. Howe 
opeued what she called the Ladies’ De¬ 
posit, in which women only could invest 
their savings in sums of not less than 
$200 or more than $1,000, interest to be 
paid quarterly in advance at the rate of 
eight per cent, per month. Of course, 
any person outside of a lunatic asylum 
ought to have known that no legitimate 
business could afford to pay so heavy an 
interest on deposits—nearly one bundled 
per cent, per annum; yet enough fools, 
and many of them otherwise considered 
right-minded, were found in the seat of 
female culture par excellence., to swell 
the deposits to the neighborhood of a 
million dollars. The large interest seems 
to have been irresistible to hundreds, 
while the silly story of the manageress 
that benevolent Quakers were support¬ 
ing the institution with $1,500,000, was 
swallowed unquestioniugly. It has lately 
been discovered that no part of the funds 
was ever invested in business, and there¬ 
fore that the “ bank's ” only income con¬ 
sisted in the deposits of its dupes, the 
interest on which was paid out of the 
principal. Lately, when, owing to a news¬ 
paper exposure of the fraud, depositors 
claimed their money, the institution un¬ 
able to meet its liabilities, at once col¬ 
lapsed. From the outset it was a sheer 
fraud, and its origiuator stands a good 
chance of getting her deserts inside pris¬ 
on walls. Yet, after all, the fool-killer 
would find plenty of work in hundreds 
of country places just as well as among 
the gulled dupes of the Ladies’ Deposit. 
How many fraudulent concerns thrive in 
every city of the Union supported mainly 
by rural gullibility, eagerly investing its 
hard-earned dollars in schemes just as 
dishonest as this collapsed Boston swindle 
and no more plausible. 
-»-» ♦- 
FARMING FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 
An Agricultural Texl-llook fur Youths. 
We shall begin to publish next week 
and continue weekly, a series of short 
articles on the science and art of agricul¬ 
ture for the use of farmers’ children by 
our contributor, Henry Stewart, These 
articles are intended to form a text book 
on agriculture which may be used in 
rural schools, and we expect them to be 
very useful and instructive. The series 
will include articles on poultry aud the 
dairy for the use of girls. They will ap¬ 
pear in the Department for the Young 
and be written in the manner of plain, 
simple, but entertaining essays, with 
illustrations. We call the attention of 
our young readers to these articles, and 
believe our older readers also will be in¬ 
terested in them. 
-»- 
THE RURAL BRANCHING SORGHUM. 
In calling attention to the article by 
Mr, Henry Stewart, on the Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum, we would remark that it 
has been grown at the Rural Farm and 
Rural Grounds for three years. Last 
year it matured seeds which were for the 
most past destroyed by sparrows. This 
year the seeds were planted late, so that 
they are now “in the milk” and probably 
will not mature. It is a singular fact 
that our six acres of this plant now grow¬ 
ing near Aiken, S. C., which were planted 
earlier than our little plot at the Farm, 
have not yet, we are advised, matured 
seed, and “frost is feared.” “It has 
grown to stalks and canes ”, writes the 
gentleman who is raising it for us. 
From the first announcement of our 
“Plant and Seed Distribution” until 
the seed is actually received, we are in a 
fever of anxiety, lest failure, for one 
cause or another, may oome to disappoint 
us aud our readers. We are glad to be 
able to say that all of the kinds announ¬ 
ced are secured beyond a doubt—except 
this Branching Sorghum, aud in this case 
we have good hopes that enough seed 
will be harvested to supply each appli¬ 
cant with a trial package at least, though 
perhaps coutaiuing fewer seeds than, from 
the area sown, we had intended to dis¬ 
tribute. 
- ♦ »» - 
THE “ EASTERN” TROUBLE. 
During the late Turko-Russian war, 
the little mountainous Christian princi¬ 
pality of Montenegro, with an area of 
1,70(3 miles and a population of about 
150,000 souls, burst into fierce waragainst 
the Turks with whom it had maintained a 
chronic state of warfare ever since the 
Ottoman occupation of the Byzantine 
Empire in 1152. On the conclusion of 
peace between Russia aud Turkey the 
former stipulated that its fierce little ally 
should regain its independence, which 
was partly lost in 1802, and also obtain, 
for the first time in its history, access to 
the neighboring sea by the cession to it 
by the Sultan of the little port of Dulcigno 
on the Adriatic, hitherto an integral part 
of the adjacent Mahommedan principali¬ 
ty of Albania. 
During the war Greece, too, was eager 
to join in the attack upon the “ Sick Man 
of Europe,” in hopes of obtaining a good¬ 
ly share of his effeots after his demise, 
but the little kingdom's belligerent aspi¬ 
rations were checked by England and 
the other pacifio Powers who were un¬ 
willing that Russia should be aided by 
an attack upon the rear of her foe, and 
anxious to confine hostilities withiD the 
narrowest possible limits. Accordingly 
Grecian warlike proclivities were easily 
restrained by assurances that Gre¬ 
cian territorial ambition should be meas¬ 
urably satisfied at the close of the war. 
When the Treaty of Berlin finally patched 
up a peace between St. Petersburg!! aud 
Constantinople, Russia strenuously iu- 
sisted that her ally, Montenegro, should 
be satisfied, while caring little for the 
demands and prayers of Greece, which, 
hi spite of a community of religion and 
much past friendship, had failed her in 
her time of need. It was finally agreed, 
however, that Turkey should cede to 
Greece also a strip of territory on the 
north of her present borders; but the 
Porte, taking advantage of the indefinite 
nature of this proviso, has hitherto failed 
to make any concession whatever. 
The Powers having lately determined 
upon a joint naval demonstration to force 
the Sultan to carry ont the provisions of 
the Berlin treaty, that dilatory and tricky 
potentate delayed to make any conces¬ 
sion until the fleet was on the point of 
seizing more valuable parts of his terri¬ 
tory, when, last Tuesday, he declared his 
willinguesB to surrender Dulcigno. 
This tardy concession will probably 
lead to the withdrawal of the combined 
fleet, aB the coneert between the Powers, 
as to its action, was already in danger, 
even before the Sultan had yielded to the 
pressure upon him ; but it is likely that 
at least England aud Russia will still in¬ 
sist upon the proposed cession of terri¬ 
tory to Greece and the promised reforms 
in Asia Minor and Turkey in Europe. 
The reluctant action of the Porte has 
saved Europe from at one© taking a step 
that must have led to a war, tlie ultimate 
extent of which no modern prophet could 
have foretold ; but the peril has not been 
removed, it has only been deferred. 
So intimate are the economic relations 
of all nations at present, that any national 
disaster—such as failure of crops, bank¬ 
ruptcy or war—affecting one ox more di¬ 
rectly, affects all indirectly. This truth 
was forcibly exemplified, in a manner that 
touched the pocket of every farmer in the 
land, by the rise here of three cents a 
bushel in the priee of wheat on the an¬ 
nouncement, at the close of last week, 
that the combined fieet was about to take 
hostile action against the Porte, followed 
by a temporary fall of five cents a bushel 
on the arrival of the news that Dulcigno 
would bo surrendered and the probability 
of a war be thus at least postponed. 
-- -- 
THE PROSPECTIVE WHEAT MARKET. 
The wheat crop of North America and 
Europe having been harvested long 
enough to allow of the thrashing of at 
least enough to indicate the average yield, 
so large a mass of information with re¬ 
gard to it, has been collected by different 
agencies that, by careful comparison and 
sifting, an estimate,at least approximately 
correct, can now be formed of the amount 
of the surplus in some countries and of 
the deficiency in others, aud consequently 
of the probable price of the commodity 
during the coming months in the markets 
of the world. 
In this country, although the prospects 
of the uuharvested crop were excellent, 
the yield of thrashed grain has not been 
so large as was expected, - and conse¬ 
quently our surplus for exportation will 
be considerably less than was anticipated 
earlier in the season, from the favorable 
reports of the standing crop and the in¬ 
creased area under it. A couple of 
months ago some sanguine estimates put 
the aggregate yield as high as 550,000,000 
bushels, whereas, from present indications 
and statistics, it can hardly be much over 
465,000,000 bushels against 448,000,000 
bushels last year. 
These figures show au excess of only 
17,000,000 bushels in the total yield of 
the crop this year over that of last, and 
it is believed that the home requirements 
for consumption aud seeding during the 
coming season will be from 15,000,000 to 
20,000,000 bushels more than during 
that which has gone by, so that the en¬ 
tire exportable surplus from the present 
crop can hardly be much greater than 
that from the last, which, aocordiug to 
to the best attainable returns amounted, 
in round numbers, to 180,000,000 
bushels. 
In the United Kingdom, our best cus¬ 
tomer, the latest reports tell us that the 
yield of wheat this year is a fair average. 
An average yield there during the five 
years from 1865-’70 was 29 bushels per 
acre ; from ’75 to ’79 it was 24 bushels, 
and last year only 18 bushels. The 
acreage under wheat there last year 
was 2,890,136, and this year it cannot bo 
over 2,800,000. Estimating a fair aver¬ 
age yield at 28 bushels per acre, the total 
yield of home-grown wheat this year will 
be about 78,000,000 bushels, while the 
average consumption of wheat in the 
United Kingdom is from 188,000,000 to 
192,000,000 bushels, and in view of the 
natural increase of population, the lat¬ 
ter quantity will most likely be required 
this year. On this basis there will be a 
market for 114,000,000 bus. in the British 
Isles. The latest reports from France 
say that the yield there is a small average. 
To the 30th of last June the imports of 
foreign wheat during the year amounted 
to 73,000,000 bushels, and it is estimated 
that from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 bushels 
will be required this year. Until within 
the last couple of weeks Germany, 
Belgium, Holland and Switzerland were 
thought to be the only other European 
countries likely to need any considerable 
importations of foreign wheat, and the 
requirements of these were estimated at 
about 30,000,000 bushels, making the 
total of tue European deficiency 179,000,- 
000 bushels, or just about the amount of 
our exportable surplus. 
From the latest cablegrams, however, it 
seems not unlikely that this year Russia, 
instead of exporting 80,182,704 bushels 
as she did in 1879, according to official 
reports, may this year become an import¬ 
er of wheat, several cargoes of American 
grain haviug been already imported into 
some of her Baltic ports, aud one at least 
into Odessa, in the Black Sea, hitheito 
her principal point for shipping wheat, 
backed as it is by the chief wheat¬ 
growing districts in the Empire. Several 
other cargoes have also been ordered for 
that place by the merchants there, a pret¬ 
ty strong proof that if Russia does not 
become a customer of ours during the 
coming year, Bhe cannot, ut any rate, 
prove a formidable rival. Although the 
West Indies and South Amerioa import 
little or no American wheat, yet they do 
a considerable trade with us in wheaten 
hour, and thus afford a by no means des¬ 
picable market for some of our surplus. 
Austria-Hungary, Italy and Spain will 
each have some surplus wheat for export, 
but the amount of this has not yet been 
ascertained. India, Australia, New Zea¬ 
land aud Chili will also, as heretofore, 
compete with us in the European mar¬ 
kets. The exportable surplus of the first, 
accordiug to present indications, will be 
about the same as last year; that of the 
second and third, whose harvest time 
comes about February, will probably be 
greater ; while that of the last is likely to 
be somewhat less owing to the drain 
made upon the agricultural population 
by the requirements of her exhausting 
war with Peru and Boh via. 
In forecasting the price of wheat the 
coming season, then it must be borue in 
mind that our exportable surplus will be, 
at the lowest estimate, fully as great as 
last year, while the demand in our Euro¬ 
pean markets will be less, owing to the 
crops there having been very consider¬ 
ably better this year than last. On the 
other hand, our chief competitor hitherto 
in those markets is at best grievously 
crippled this year, aud may even become 
a customer of ours, while competition 
from other quarters will not be seriously 
increased. It seems not unlikely that the 
increase in European crops generally 
this year will, to a great extent, be coun¬ 
terbalanced by the deficit in Russia, and 
that this country will find a profitable 
market for every bushel of wheat she 
can spare for exportation. 
At this season last year the speculative 
movement of the great Chicago wheat 
syndicate had begun to influence the 
priee of that cereal; hut without auy 
such influence to-day, prices are not 
much lower than at the corresponding 
date last year, and the tendency, both 
here aud in Europe, is steadily upward. 
It must not be forgotten, however, that 
navigation will closa in another month 
or six weeks, when all the industries of 
the country, and especially its agricul¬ 
ture, will be at the mercy of our rail¬ 
roads, which will doubtless at once put 
up freight charges, aud every ceut added 
to these is subtracted from the price 
paid to the producers, for “the farmer 
pays for all.” 
- * ♦ ♦ 
BREVITIES. 
We regret to state, in reply to many inquiries, 
that Fay’s Prolific Currant, illustrated in this 
journal Sep. 28, will not be offered for sale this 
Fall. Mr. Josselyn has so decided. 
One of the best evidences of the growing 
prosperity of the Southern States is the in¬ 
creasing call for skilled labor, machinery and 
appliances for the erection of repair shops, 
wagon and blacksmith shops, millwrights, 
and also for putting np now wood aud iron- 
working machinery. In the number of all these 
little Bhops, which are really the (ororunnerB 
of manufacturing, there Isa promising growth, 
and the demand for laborers and operatives is 
with difficulty supplied. No better opening is 
offered for labor or capital than in tlie South. 
Many doubt that our Blouut's corn, culti¬ 
vated and manured as we have Btated, has 
yielded 150 bushels of shelled coru per acre. 
“ There must be somelhing wrong.” says one. 
“Ido not believe tbat 150 bushels of shelled 
corn can he produced upon one acre." says 
another. The truth, however, is as we have 
stated and shall be able to prove. once 
smiled at Mr. Conrad Wilson’s talk as to tlie 
“Possibilities of the yield of b dian corn.” 
But we have realized his possibiliies by easy, 
inexpensive methods, and we have a very 
slroug faith that we can do it again and ugain, 
and that every other fanner may. 
We have received the following from our 
friend iu South Carolina, who is raising for us 
the six acres of Kura) Branching Sorghum. 
Our readers may share with us the glimmer of 
hope which it gives. 
Aiken Co,, S. C., Oct., 4. 
Dear Sir:—So soon as your two hasty notes 
were received, I hunted for Mr. 8., and this 
morning is tlm first time I have been enabled 
to see him. He says he thinks he can let you 
have some. Ho is in the same boat with me. 
All depends ou wbeu the frost strikes, 'Tie 
excessively dry here now, and that has saved 
us so far ; for they have had frost north and 
east of us. If frost will only hold off fur two 
or three weeks, we shall be enabled between 
us to let you have some. So take courage. We 
may be happy yet. Don’t give up. Will you 
just keep quiet for a few day&? We will re 
port as we progress. I hope for the best. My 
loss will be heavy. 
A bkspeoteu friend aud expet ieuced horti¬ 
culturist criticizes the New Jersey 8tale Fair 
thus severely. His strictures are substantially 
those which we have many times heard before 
and, indeed, have ourselves uttered iu these 
columns. That we could have no personal 
motive in giviug them publicity—if, indeed, 
we could be narrow-minded enough to be so 
influenced by such a motive—Is apparent from 
tbe fact tbat we have no acquaintance what¬ 
ever with any one of the officers of the Society : 
“ 1 was at the Wuvorly Fair only one day, but 
saw enough to know there was no improve¬ 
ment iu the arrangement of the horticultural 
department in which I take most interest, and 
my fair criticism Of the exhibit would iuelude 
a severe scoring of the utter Inefficiency of the 
Superintendent and Board of Managers, whose 
only aim seems to be to get together a large 
exhibit regardless of any system in arranging 
it or allowing tbe contributor to derive auy 
credit or benefit therefrom, except au acci¬ 
dental award or two. The self-importance 
aud egotism of official position and the desire 
to make money seem to be the chief desires aud 
aimB of too many of the present managers. To 
get into office and keep iu, is their motto.” 
