404 
FEB 46 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT 8. CAR MAS. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row. New York 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1884. 
Another list of catalogue notices of 
many of the leading firms in the country 
will be found on page 100. 
Friends of the Rural are requested to 
send us the names of any of their friends 
interested in the farm and garden. We 
will forward specimen copies at once 
without charge. Send them nmc please. 
-- » » 
Itu racists, among ornamental plants, 
try these next Spring: The Yellow- 
wood (Cladrastis tinctoria); the Polished 
Spruce (Abies polita); Magnolia stall ata; 
the Umbrella Pine (Seiadopitys verticil- 
lata). 
The great prize series of articles will 
be commenced early in March. Probably 
nothing approaching them in real, practi¬ 
cal value has ever appeared in any farm 
journal. Two years will be required for 
their publication. 
- -r- 
If you wish to send 10, 50 or 100 speci¬ 
men copies of the Rural New-Yorker to 
friends interested in farming, you have 
only to send us a list of the names. Speci¬ 
mens will be promptly forwarded. Who 
_ will send us the longest list? 
-♦♦♦- 
The originator of the Rural Union Corn 
writes us that every grain was harvested 
between the 26th of August and 10th of 
September, and that it was planted be¬ 
tween the 21st of May and 17th ot June. 
That planted in June furnished the best 
seed. 
The new Premium List of the Rural 
New-Yorker offers in useful articles 
about 50 cents for each subscriber. It is 
for this reason that most of our friends 
prefer to draw premiums for their clubs, 
large or small, rather than to accept of the 
cash commission; viz., 25 cents for each 
subscriber. The Premium List will be 
sent to all who apply for it. 
The entire stock of Horsford’s Market 
Garden Pea is sent (or will be) to sub¬ 
scribers to the Rural New-Yorker in its 
present free seed distribution. But a 
small quantity is reserved for seed. It 
will be found a heavy bearer of peas of 
the first quality. Subscribers should 
save all for seed since they will not be able 
to purchase seed in several years. 
-- » ♦ ♦ - 
Measure off a plot 83x33 feet square. 
This will be one-fortieth of an acre. Pre¬ 
pare it well and plant potatoes—two eyes 
to a piece one foot apart in furrows three 
feet apart. Cover lightly with soil and 
spread unleached wood ashes or chemical 
potato fertilizer liberally. Level the land 
and cultivate it as flat as a barn floor. 
Keep the soil mellow and the vines free 
of beetles. Measure your yield and mul¬ 
tiply it by 40 and write the result to the 
Rural. 
-♦ ♦ ♦- 
How many oats shall we sow to the 
acre ? That'depends. Is your land rich? 
Sow less. Does the kind of oats to be 
sown tiller much ? Sow less. Do you 
propose to fit your laud thoroughly? 
Then sow less. The. greatest yield we 
have ever harvested was raised from one 
bushel to the acre. The variety was the 
White Australian. But this is not a recog¬ 
nized variety. The fact is there arc half- 
a-dozen so-called varieties that resolve 
themselves, in a year or so, to the same 
oats. 
—- ♦ » » 
Every year the Rural New-Yorker 
grows more discriminating as to the class 
of advertisements admitted. Both the 
extent and high character of its circula¬ 
tion render it the best medium for reach¬ 
ing the best farmers. In order that ad¬ 
vertising patrons should be enabled to 
appreciate this fully, we respectfully so¬ 
licit our readers to mention the Rural 
New-Yorker when corresponding with 
them. The request seems a juBt one to 
make, since readers, advertising patrons 
and the Rural itself are measurably bene¬ 
fited by the courtesy. 
MORE EGGS. 
The Prime Minister of England, Mr. 
Gladstone, at the annual dinner with his 
tenantry on the Ha warden Castle estate, 
said, in his speech before them, that in 1855 
100,000,000 eggs were imported from for¬ 
eign countries, making a consumption on 
the average of three-and-a-half for every 
man, woman, and child of the country. 
In 1880, 25 years afterward, the importa¬ 
tions had risen to the enormous number of 
750,000,000, making an average consump¬ 
tion of 26 1-2 for every man, woman, and 
child. At the low price of two cents each 
these were worth $15,000,000. But the 
the probability is that three cents each 
would be nearer the price consumers had 
to pay for them, which would be $22,500,- 
000, Mr. Gladstone thinks that the farm¬ 
ers and cottagers of England could easily 
supply all these eggs if they pleased to 
pay proper attention to their fowls, and 
in addition to this, there would be reared 
a large amount of poultry, nearly equal¬ 
ing the value of the eggs. The United 
States are considerable importers of eggs 
from Canada and European countries, es¬ 
pecially Germany. With our immense 
annual production of grain and vegeta¬ 
bles, this ought not to be the case, for 
we might rear poultry easily in the great¬ 
est abundance, and at a low cost, par¬ 
ticularly in the Southern States. There, 
chickens may be batched safely during 
the Winter months, and get large enough 
for broilers by March and April. They 
would then bring a high price in the 
Northern markets. Eggs also might be 
produced abundantly there throughout 
the Winter, as early hatched pullets, if of 
the right breeds, would commence laying 
in October, and continue to do so all 
Winter in that mild climate. At the 
North these sell for twice to thrice as 
much as in the Spring and Summer 
months. 
- * -- 
DEFEAT OF ANTI-AMERICAN CATTLE 
LEGISLATION IN ENGLAND. 
In the British House of Commons last 
Thursday evening, Mr. Henry Chapin, 
Conservative Member for Mid-Lincoln¬ 
shire, once more attempted to force the 
Government absolutely to forbid the im¬ 
portation of all foreign cattle from those 
countries in which foot-and-mouth disease 
may prevail. With this object in view, 
he moved that the Ministry be instructed 
to introduce a measure to this effect without 
delay. Of course, his intention was to 
effect the entire exclusion of cattle from 
this country which arc now slaughtered at 
•the port of debarkation within 10 days 
from landing. It is well known to Ameri¬ 
can veterinarians and to the American 
public that foot-and-mout h disease has no 
existence in this country ; that only a few 
cases have ever been found here, and those 
exclusively among cattle lately landed 
from Europe, and that the few cases de¬ 
tected among American cattle landed in 
England, had contracted the disease dur¬ 
ing the passage across the Atlantic in ves¬ 
sels that had been contaminated by the 
virus of diseased foreign animals. It is 
on account of these few cases, however, 
that English farmers, speaking through 
the mouth of Mr. Chapin, seek to get rid 
of the competition with American live 
cattle. This once accomplished, they 
would probably seek for some pretext for 
excluding American beef, as tlimsey as 
their present pretext for excluding Ameri¬ 
can cattle, or the Continental pretext for 
excluding American hog products. 
In the course of the debate that fol¬ 
lowed the introduction of Mr. Chapiu’s 
resolution, Mr. Gladstone declined to give 
precedence to such a lull over the great 
measures of reform which the Govern¬ 
ment is pledged to introduce, and as the 
entire session will probably be occupied 
in the passage of these and with regular 
routine business, this refusal, if sustained 
by the House, would be equivalent to a 
defeat of the motion. It appears that for 
the last six mouths only one case of foot- 
and-mouth disease has been found among 
imported American cattle; and that in 
1883 only 536 cases of diseases of all sorts 
had been discovered among cattle from 
this country, after a long and perilous 
voyage, while 647 cases had been fouud 
among imported Continental cattle after a 
short, passage. At the close of the debate 
Mr. Chapin’s motion was defeated by a 
vote of 251 against 200, although a simi¬ 
lar motion made by him some months ago 
was carried in a slim House. 
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT 
AND MONOPOLISTS. 
Mr. C. P. Huntington and his friends, 
it appears, do not intend any fm-ther to 
oppose in Congress the passage of the act 
forfeiting the Texas-Pacific land grant; 
but it is intended to appeal to the United 
States Supreme Court against the meas¬ 
ure. The decisions already given by 
that body in favor of these monopolists 
in case of the land grants of the Union 
and Pacific Roads, encourage them to 
take this action. In a number of suits 
brought by the people of the country 
through which these roads pass against 
the land-grabbing syndicates, the deci¬ 
sions have been uniformly in favor of 
the corporations. There arc still and 
have been for years vast tracts belonging 
to them on which they have refused to 
pay taxes, on the plea that the land had 
not been surveyed, and that the title not 
having passed to them', still rested in the 
Government. The States which were 
protecting their property and building 
up the country around it, brought suit to 
compel them to pay their just proportion 
of the public burdens; the case was car¬ 
ried to the Supreme Court, which decid¬ 
ed in favor of the corporations on the 
ground that they had not obtained an ab¬ 
solute title to the lands, yet a private in¬ 
dividual occupying the land, even if he 
ha8 not received his title, must pay taxes. 
To prevent a peipetual land monopoly 
Congress enacted that lands not sold or 
disposed of within three years after the 
completion of these roads should he open 
to pre-emption and settlement at the reg¬ 
ular price of $1.25 per acre. It was in 
part to protect this right of reversion to 
the people that the Supreme Court re¬ 
fused to permit the lands to be taxed. 
After the three years’ limit, thousands of 
homesteaders settled on the unsold lands, 
in the full belief that the Government 
gave them the right to do so. and that the 
Supreme Court had affirmed this right. 
The syndicates again appealed to the 
Court, which this time decided that the 
railroads owned the lands and that the set¬ 
tlers were trespassers and must abandon 
their farms or pay for them to the monop¬ 
olists. Thus in one case the Court de¬ 
cided that the lands did not belong to the 
syndicates, and therefore could not be 
taxed; while iu the other case it decided 
that the lands did belong to the syndicates, 
and therefore the farmers must go. In 
both cases it decided in favor of the mo¬ 
nopolists against the people. Hunting- 
ton and his confederates have, therefore, 
reason to hope for success. 
SELLING ADDRESSES. 
Doubtless many ot our readers living 
quietly in country places, lmve been some¬ 
what surprised at receiving advertising 
circulars or letters from unknown parties, 
properly addressed, and sometimes relat¬ 
ing to some ailment in the family or to 
some special condition of the individual, 
and very naturally the inquiry has sug¬ 
gested itself. “How did these people learn 
my address?” There are here and there, 
throughout the country, “dealers in 
names”—persons who make a regular busi¬ 
ness of collecting the names and addresses 
of all sorts of people, and selling them 
over and over again “for a consideration.” 
How do they obtain the names? They 
buy them from book and other publishers, 
or unworthy persons in their employ; 
from agents of all kinds who in their 
business accumulate lists of them; from 
large tradesmen and advertisers who re¬ 
ceive thousands of letters ordering goods 
or making inquiries about them; from 
medical quacks and patent medicine ven¬ 
ders ; in short, from all classes who in one 
way or another become, possessed of a 
large number of names and addresses. 
Ot course, there are very many persons 
in all such classes who could uot be in¬ 
duced to sell or give away the names of 
their customers" or correspondents, but 
frequently some of the employes of these 
are not so strict in the matter, and then 
there are enough principals who are will¬ 
ing to make a little money in this way, to 
swell the lists for sale by the “dealers 
in names” to an enormous aggregate. 
The names are classified by the dealers 
according to what they have learned or 
inferred of the individuals, and also ac¬ 
cording to the classes for whom they are 
intended—sharpers or general advertisers. 
The names for the latter class include 
all Boris of people; but principally farm¬ 
ers. To their addresses circulars and adver¬ 
tising sheets of all sorts are sent, and 
usually with profit. Those who have 
chronic ailments or imagine they are in 
poor health, are especially esteemed, as a 
nicely-worded circular is pretty sure to 
have "a profitable effect, upon them. The 
names for the use of sharpers, however, 
are the most profitable to the “dealer,” 
and It is found that the same people who 
are gulled once, in most cases continue 
, gullible till death. The addresses.of all 
who buy lottery tickets, who wnte to 
dealers in counterfeit money, and, in a 
word, of all who write to those parties 
who advertise to give something for noth¬ 
ing, are carefully classified by themselves. 
As a “dealer in names” remarked the 
other day, “These are usually very smart 
in their own conceit, but they nibble at 
the bare book.” The names for sharpers 
often fetch as high as $25 a thousand; 
those of habitual invalids are worth from 
$10 to $20, while ordinary lists bring from 
$3 to $5 a thousand. Some dealers get 
from 100,000 to 500,000 or even more 
new names a year; but they seldom re¬ 
main long in the business, as they find it 
more profitable to send out circulars, etc., 
themselves than to sell the names to 
others for the same purpose. 
BREVITIES. 
Our friends in Indiana understand by the 
C. O. D. party, the “Coal Oil Democracy.” 
Subscribers of the Rural New-Yorker 
are now requested to send the names of any 
of their friends to us and we will at once for¬ 
ward free specimens to them. 
Manv of onr subscribers in renewing have 
sent ns another subscriber. Bless them! 
There is still time for more of this good work. 
Our posters and premium lists and specimen 
copies without end are at your service, friends. 
It will soon be time to plant grape-vines and 
all sorts of small fruits. Now is the time to 
make up your minds which kinds to select. 
Consult tuo Rural Index, and study the cata¬ 
logues. 
Subscriber Egli writes us from Dickey 
Couuty, D. T., that the thermometer is often 
down to 45 degrees below zero, and that it is 
no easy task to pass the Winter in pioneer 
homes in such a climate. 
We want to know how nearly C-hemin’s 
Celeri blanc and the American White Flume 
Celery are alike. We shall try them both side 
by side. It should be borne in mind that 
long-keeping qualities are not claimed for 
either. 
Have you any cabbage stumps? Set them 
out in the garden, as soon as the frost leaves 
the ground, where tbey will uot interfere with 
other crops. Cover them half of their length. 
Green, tender leaves will soon appear which 
will give the earliest of greens. The blossom 
shoots will appear later. 
Is not a careful, trusty hand worth five dol¬ 
lars more a month than a reckless, thought¬ 
less, break-everything sort of fellow? Farm- 
ore do not all of them thmfc so. We believe in 
employing good, trusty help and in paying for 
it. We know of no reform that is more gene- 
rallv needed on farms than iu this matter. 
Celery such as is now offered under the 
name of White Plume in this country, has 
been known in France for a number of years 
under the name of CWeri blanc or Chemin’s 
Celery. The White Plume is thought to be a 
sport ’originating in New Jersey. Perhaps it 
grew from a chance seed of the French va¬ 
riety. 
Columella and Cato, as Prof. Johnson re¬ 
marks. knew that ashes, bones, bird-dung and 
oven green-manuring, as well as drainage and 
aeration of the soil, were good for crops. But 
they did not know that carbonic acid, potash, 
phosphate of lime and compounds of nitrogen 
are the chief foods of vegetation. Neither did 
they know that the atmosphere dissolves the 
rocks and converts inert stone into nutritive 
soil. 
Wk are glad to see that such a lively inter¬ 
est is shown in new kinds of watermelons. 
Very little systematic effort has been made to 
improve this splendid fruit. Those who can 
afford it should try the new kinds offered. 
There are varieties of such fruits as tomatoes, 
peaches, strawberries, and even grapes which 
are as early as they need to be. But there is a 
wide margin for an earlier watermelon if 
only it be of the first quality. 
Let all Rural readers send for the new 
posters and premium list: 
Please send me your poster and premium 
list und T will try to get some of my neighbors 
to subscribe for the Rural. I would not 
know how to get aloug without it now. I 
think it worth a good ileal to every farmer 
that reads it, and I think it the best farmer’s 
paper. thomas oarfield. 
Minnehaha Co., Dakota. 
Wk notice a change in the firm name of one 
of the oldest business houses in this country. 
Our subscribers aw not unacquainted with the 
name of Johnson, Gere & Truman, of Owego, 
N. Y. We are pleased to leaj-n that Mr. 
Gere, whose business qualifications justly en¬ 
title hint to advancement, has been raised to 
the head of the firm, nud the firm name 
changed to Gere, Truman, Platt & Co. _ We 
extend our hearty congratulations to this old 
and responsible firm. 
As has already been stated, we last season 
planted tubers of the wild potatoes discovered 
by Prof. Lemmon and his wife iu the Rocky 
Mountains. They were sent to us by Mr. E. 
(}. Mum ford, of Portlandville. Otsego Co., 
N Y„ as Solatium Fend lor 1. S. .Tamesii and 
Solanum (?) supposed to be a new suedes. All 
were started in pots and set out In the open 
ground In May. The leaves of Fendleri were 
broadly ellipitioal and the. flower of a bluish- 
purple color. The tubers formed on long stems 
sometimes a foot from the plunt. The leaves 
of Jatnesii were narrowly cllipitical with 
white flowers. The tubers formed close to the 
plants. The seed plant**! w as about the size of 
castor-oil beans and there were very few po 
tatoes harvested that, were any larger. We 
saw nothing about the plants or the tubera 
which indicates that there is anything to be 
gained by continuing to plant them. 
