22 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB, 
JAN 42 
MONOPOLIES. 
GEN. CASSIUS M. CLAY. 
A monopoly is either a private control of a 
business or product, or exclusive government 
grant of corporate powers; but such has been 
the grasping spirit of corporations that they 
are now classed as “ Tnono]K>lies. ,, Dr. Frauk- 
lin showed that a few dollars put at compouud 
interest, if managed without default, would 
in an incredibly short time absorb the capital 
of the world. Fortunately for the human 
race, ihe passions, the tastes aud the inanv 
weaknesses of men break up all such results 
and redistribute the capital among the mil 
lions. Corporations, by »their continuity of 
succession and freedom from the influences 
named are wonderful accumulators ol cap 
ital. A State, therefore, cannot be too cau¬ 
tious in its grant of corporate poWei’s, and its 
stern guard against abuse; for not only power 
but money, which is power, is always stealing, 
or rather bciug stolen, by the few from the' 
many: aud “eternal vigilance is the price of 
liberty.” 
RELIGIOUS ENDOWMENTS 
have in all countries, whether by the mistaken 
policy of the State or the superstitious of the 
people, been a prolific source of poverty and 
oppression, lu Englaud, iu France, in Italy, 
in Mexico, and in other States, the monstrous 
accumulation of property in the Church has 
caused bloody civil wars aud confiscations to 
restore their own to the defrauded people. 
And iu the United States this evil needs im¬ 
mediate suppression: ami taxation and the 
common weal should be equal with clericals 
and laymen. Religion is not promoted by 
such monopolies, for luxury corrupts often, 
aud never purifies or elevate s priest or peasant.. 
RAILROADS, 
of all the monopolies of ancient or modern 
times, are the most dangerous to property and 
freedom. About, a It df century ago draft 
animals, wagons, row and sail bouts were the 
principal means of transfer, slow, uncertain 
and expensive. The result was domestic pro¬ 
duction. manufacture and consumption The 
great mass of the people were therefore iso 
lated and Self-supporting. No great political 
or monied influence could be brought to bear 
to corrupt Uie citizens or absorb their property. 
But how is it now.' The farmer no longer 
supplies his want* iu the old w’ay; the cotton 
and woolen cloths, the wheat, the meats, and 
the thousand needs and luxuries of life, are 
procured only by commerce. He now raises 
cattle or sheep or other products. He may 
eat some, but the remainder is sent abroad by 
rail or steamboat to distant markets, and the 
proceeds are invested iu needed goods, aud 
new freights are paid in return. Thus, too. 
the railroads have become a necessity. These 
corporations unhappily have been vested with 
the whole powers of the State. If these er¬ 
rors are sought to be remedied by the cre¬ 
ation of rivals, the competing lines unite their 
stock, and the evils are greatly aggra vated. 
Coal, wheat and other necessities have in 
many places increased in price by the making 
of railroads. The corporations grow rich 
and the people grow poor. 
The railroads of Kentucky said to a com¬ 
mission appointed by the State to regulate 
freights and relieve the popular burdens, 
‘‘Our charters givens the power to regulate 
the freights aud we lay them so as to realize 
the highest profits; we lay on all articles 
what the trade will bear.” If these doctrines 
are sustained by the courts, we, the people of 
the United St»te«, have made a King Stork 
t hat devours us at will. How are we better 
off than the subjects of the Czar of Russia? 
We are to be allowed only enough to keep the 
body in working order, and all our profits are 
absorbed by the railroad kings. In vain have 
we thrown, offtbe black servitude to fix a worse 
slavery upon all the producing citizens of the 
nation. If we appeal to Congress, they are 
corrupted - } if to the courts, they are made iu 
the interests of corporations, or grossly 
bribed. When, as is reported, Vanderbilt 
was reminded of the power of the people, he 
replied. “The people! the people be damned! 1 ' 
Even the people themselves are corrupted, 
and we sell our birthright for a mess of pot¬ 
tage! In many of the States the counties, 
under the old English privilege of making 
roads, grant lauds and money to these cor¬ 
porations. The railroad kiug comes into a 
county nearly equally divided in votes, and 
asks for ft million of dollars: the citizens are 
ill provided with money and without concert; 
the railroad spend a hundred thousand dol¬ 
lars in a corruption fuud and carry the 
graut. They spend one hundred thousand 
dollars aud gain nine hundred thousand! The 
people are already slaves. “The people—the 
people be damned.” 
PRESERVATION OF HEN MANURE. 
We can hardly overvalue the mauurial prod¬ 
uct of the hen-house, or exercise too much 
care in its preservation. If thrown into the 
compost heap, deposited rvith hog manure, 
nearly all its good qualities would be retained 
very likely, but I advise a different course. 
Nearly every farmer wants a little fancy 
manure for special purposes in the Spring, 
and instead of buying guano and superphos 
phates of doubtful quality, he can manufac¬ 
ture his owu at far leas cost, if he keeps a 
considerable number of fowls, by utilizing 
their droppings for that purpose. 
It has beeu my practice to sprinkle dry 
earth under the roosts, or. what is fully its 
equal, road dirt or scrapings from the high¬ 
way, collected during dry weather. It is 
gathered in places where the soil is of a loamy 
character and free from sand, and put away 
in boxes or barrels for use iu Winter aud 
Spring. By using this three or four times a 
week, and oftener iu warm weather, all bad 
odor is prevented and the escape of the fertil¬ 
izing properties of the manure is arrested. 
The accumulation under the roosts should 
lie removed as often as once a week, and this, 
shoveled in a pile, will begin to ferment and 
generate more or less heat as the weather 
grows warm iu Spring. If closely watched 
and shoveled over when undue heat is liable 
to be generated, the process will add to its 
value for the Spriug crops, as the manure be¬ 
comes decomposed by fermentation and its 
particles are separated and mingled with the 
enrt.ii used as a deodorizer and its crudeness 
is changed so as to be more readily available 
for the growing plants. 
Last year 1 used some fifteen bushels of 
this kind of manure and found it a very 
active fertilizer. For potatoes and corn 
I applied it in the hill, mixing with that 
Userl for potatoes about one-fourth its hulk 
of unleached wood ashes, dropping it in the 
row and covering it immediately. As there 
will he considerable moisture present in 
such manure the addition of ashes sets 
free the ammonia to some extent: hence no 
time should be lost in getting it underground 
as the earth absorbs the fertilizing properties 
of the manure set free in the form of am¬ 
monia by the addition of the alkali. * hi 
gardeu vegetables tiiis manure has a very 
marked effect. Nearly every farmer, by 
taking a little pains, can make enough of 
such fertilizer to go some ways in the gar¬ 
den. It has the advantage of being free 
from the seeds of grasses aud weeds. 
Androscoggin Co.. Me. L. F. abbott. 
STRAW TIE FOR TREES. 
An excellent method of tying young t rees 
to stakes is shown in the illustration. Fig. 24, 
which is re engraved from the Gardeners 1 
Straw Tie for Trees.— Fig. 24. 
Chronicle. The tree is thus held firmly by 
the straw, while any injury to the bark or 
constriction is prevented. 
— — - 
The Most Profitable Hog.—M r. J. 
Frank Hollinger, of Colorado County. O., 
writes the Rural that, he has tried all kinds 
of hogs and finds that the improved Polarnl- 
Cbioa is the best for profit. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Onarua, Iroquois Co.—C orn one-half a 
crop. Oats a large crop. Hay ditto. Pota¬ 
toes on an average one-half a crop. Apples 
one-hall' a crop. Stock of nil kinds is doing 
well. h H. c. 
Danvers, McLean Co., December 111.—The 
past Fall season, taking it all in all, 
has been favorable for out-door lalior. 
Some people complained in regard to too 
much rain the first half, but the latter 
half was fine; in fact, the first fifteen 
days of December were almost, like Summer : 
plows wen- running, turning under stubble, 
Uie second week in the month. The first flake 
of snow fell on the 15t.h of December, aud on 
the night of the loth perhaps one inch more 
foil, and on the ltth sumv fell during two 
thirds of the day, aud at this time Wiuter is 
upon us sure. Last night, the coldest of the 
season, the mercury indicated 2 deg. below 
zero. Some corn is still iu the field, but as a 
general tiling corn gathering is over, The 
crop is far below an average, aud a large per 
cent, of it is inferior. We had a hail-storm in 
July, which injured the crop materially iu the 
localities where it passed, and a few days after 
the hail-storm we had a severe wind storm 
which blew the corn down badly; consequent¬ 
ly, the crop is short. Oat crop good, and hay 
excellent. Potatoes plentiful. Apples nearly 
a failure: but with the home-grown aud those 
shipped hither by dealers, there are apples 
enough on our market., and. everything con¬ 
sidered. the price cannot be called enormous. 
Although in some places crops have been short, 
vet the people have plenty to subsist upon; 
and then, considering the excellent general 
good health that has prevailed during the eu- 
tire season, we surely ought to be n contented 
and lmppy people. Success to the Rural! 
• p. w. R. 
Indiana, 
Liberty Mills, Wabash % Co.. Dec. 23.— 
Wheat was good and is selling at 9S 
cents. Oats an extraordinary yield, and 
selling at 32 cents. Potatoes and apples 
big crops. Sorghum very poor, Hay was 
a good.crop. Corn a failure; the poorest crop 
siuee 1S62. Hogs weighing 250 pounds and 
upwards brings S4.50. Fat cattle 4 cents per 
pound. H. u. 
Ohio. 
Circle vi lle, Pickaway Co., Dec. 15. —The 
unusually fiue weather through the month of 
November aud early December has enabled 
the farmers to secure the bulk of the corn 
crop. The yield as to quant ity is only lair; 
while in quality there i* much unlit for mar¬ 
ket. Along the Scioto Valley and the adjoin 
ing plains there is a fiue crop all safely housed 
or gone to market at from 4n to 45 cents: but 
in the lower lands, commonly known as the 
“barrens,” where uuderd rain ing is in its in¬ 
fancy and the wet weather in the Spring 
greatly retarded farm operations, the crop is 
very deficient iu both the above essentials. 
However, upou the whole, we are well off in 
this and adjoining counties, as the frosts of 
September 10 did not reach s«i far south, and 
as we lost nothing from this cause we will 
have plenty for home consumption and some 
to spare. There is quite a notable shortage in 
the hog crop for the Winter slaughtering sea¬ 
son; what there is has been picked up iu ad¬ 
vance at prices ranging from four dollars to 
five dollars and 50'cents per 100: there is not 
enough, however, to supply our resident pack¬ 
ers, who usually kill from 10,000 to 20.000. 
The early sown wheat is greatly damaged; 
many fields being totally ruined by the 
Hessian fly. That, sown in October looks best 
and with a favorable Whiter will make a 
crop. Much of the land, however, will be 
broken and planted to corn iu Spring. Pota¬ 
toes are plentiful and cheap. Apples scarce 
aud high. Plenty of grass upon permanent 
pasture land, and stock going into winter- 
quarters in fine condition. J. H. w. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Illinois, 
Onarga, Iroquis Co.—My Rural Blush Pota¬ 
to was planted in 21 hills, 12 inches apart each 
way. They yielded at the rates of 1,030 bush¬ 
els per acre, or 54 lbs. from one potato. Qual¬ 
ity first-class. The White Elephant yielded 
520, White Star 504, Magnum Bonum 720, 
Blue Victor 460, and Pride of America 44* 
bushels per acre. The Shoe-peg Corn did 
very well. I had one bushel of good corn; 
some of it was mixed with sweet nnd flint 
corn. The melons did not do well. The 
flower seeds did finely. n. H. C. 
• Iown, 
Lovilia, Monroe Co.—The Blush Potato 
yielded one-half bushel of nice large tubers, or 
at the rate of 250 bushels per acre. Shoe-peg 
Coni did well, considering the seasou. I 
was well pleased with the Perfection Water¬ 
melon. Twelve Niagara Crape seeds ger¬ 
minated, but only six grew through the sea¬ 
son. The Ueuteuuial Wheat did fairly well, 
but was budly mixed. The Rural Garden 
Treasures exceeded in beauty anything that 
I ever saw. J. N. B. 
Mary la ml. 
St. Michael's, Talbot Co.—Tbe Blush Po¬ 
tato 1 received from you I cut into five pieces. 
Three grew nnd two failed to germinate; 
gathered twenty pounds from the three plants; 
the tubers were of tlie finest kind. Shoe-peg 
Corn was a failure; too lute for onr climate. 
Sowed the wheat this Fall. Ten Niagara C4rape 
seeds grew very nicely. J. h. s. 
Montana Territory. 
Fort Benton. Chateau Co.—Planted 20 
eyes of Blush Potato on .May 10, one eye in a 
hill, the hills being IE inches apart in the row. 
aud three feet distant from a row of White 
Elephants on one side and Early Gem ou the 
other. They were cultivated with the double 
shovel plow; afterwards the weeds were once 
cut out with the hoe. Soil clayey, mixed with 
sand. Manure, vegetable mold Had 05 
pounds of Blush: 20 hills of White Elephant 
yielded (.17 pouuds. The Early Gems were 
not weighed, as they were dug and picked up 
before 1 knew it. 175 grains of B-b Centennial 
Wheat yielded 12 pounds of nice wheat. I 
think it too soft for No. 1 flour. From two 
ounces of Welcome Oat seed, I had 30!* double 
grains; had live heads that had over 3,000 
grains. Shoeqieg Coru no good here. 
O. A. I’. 
New York. 
Attica, Wyoming Co.—Three years ago 
you sent me a very small White Elephant 
Potato. The next Spring I planted it by put¬ 
ting one eye in a bill. I used no superphos¬ 
phate or manure of any kind, but took good 
care oi them. In the Fall from that, potato 
I dug one bushel basket even full of firn* 
large ones, an I 1 could put all the little ones 
in my hat. This year I have dug 67 bushels. 
Who can beat that? w. h. w. 
Ohio. 
North West. Williams Co. -From thir¬ 
teen hills my Blush Potato yielded forty-two 
poundi of very nice, eveu. smooth potatoes, 
of the very best quality for the table. The 
Shoe-peg Corn grew nicely and eared as well 
as any coin lever raised. I have about two 
bushels of sound, ripe ears. It, is very solid 
ou the cob, but rather a late variety for this 
climate. The Garden Treasures did nicely. 
The squash and watermelon seeds failed to 
grow. p. M. 
Itennwy I vunlii. 
Litchfield, Bradford Co.— 1 had 14 pounds 
of very liiee Blush Potatoes, but the wheats 
were all cut down by the hull ou July 5, as 
also were my grape-vines, but some of these 
started up again, and did very well. Flower 
seeds did well. The watermelon seeds did 
not come up. Corn too late; did not ear. 
M. J. M. 
A rrimoil. 
Essex Junction, Chittenden Co.—Planted 
three small Blush Potatoes, cut to one eye 
each, from which I dug 61 pounds of nice 
tubers. Used Mapes's potato manure in the 
hill at the rate of 666 pounds to Ihe acre, 
Amoug many kinds of potatoes grown this 
year, Magnum Bonum has yielded the best. 
With common field culture, planted in rows 
two-ami-one-haH by three feet, 360 bushels to 
the acre of large potatoes were produced. The 
White Elephant ami Mammoth Pearl are 
also large ytedders. The Pride of America 
produced the largest crop of marketable tubers 
we have ever raised of that variety. The 
Beauty of Hebron is the most promising early 
variety we have tried. The Rural seeds 
failed with its this year, ns a rule. The 
Queen of the Prairie Dent Corn seems to 
promise well for this climate. n. b. g. 
(Tl)f (Oumsl. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every query must he accompanied by tbe name 
and address of tbe writer to Insure attention.! 
Note.— At this season of the year questions 
to he answered accumulate very fast. There 
are so many on hand now that the answers 
would till more t han one issue. All these will 
be attended to iu due time, aud so will all 
others that may be sunt in. Some of our 
friends, however, say, “ Please answer in next, 
issue.” To do this would be impossible, as it 
takes time to investigate some subjects, and, 
moreover, in order to give the most appropri 
ate answer for each section, we have often to 
send to a distance for information, and this 
frequently entails delay, We shall do our 
“ level best,' 1 however, to answ er all questions 
as promptly as practicable. It often happen* 
that the same answer will apply to two or 
more questions, and in such cases we do not 
repeat the matter, to save space and trouble. 
We have sometimes been blamed for not an¬ 
swering particularly certain questions, when 
thedesirodinformation has been given in reply 
to other inquirers, or iu articles in other de¬ 
partments of the paper. We really cannot 
shoulder any blame iu such cases. 
SMUT. 
./. II. M',, Sti'abdue, U. T. —1. Whatistbe 
cause of smut in wheat! What is the best 
way of getting rid of sumt in the seed ( 
Yns. -Smut, us it is seen in wheat as a fine, 
brownish or black powder, is the spores or 
seed of a fungus which infects the whole 
plant from the root to the head. The same 
may be said of smut iu oats aud corn; but it 
is more clearly seen in corn in which it up- 
pears- from the root to the tassel and break- 
