420 
THE BUBAL HEW-YOBKEB, 
FEB 23 
THE 
tfURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Conducted by 
BLBKKT 8. CARMAN. 
THE RURAL SEW YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row. New Yorfc 
Address 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 33, 1884. 1 
_ 8 
We do not believe that the White 1 
Plume Celerv of Henderson lslhe same as 
the French Gderie Mane of Chemin, for the 
reason that the sport appears to have ‘ 
shown itself simultaneously among seve¬ 
ral American growers about three years 
ago; but the growers lost it. from one 
oause or another. i 
----- 
The Ohio River, beginning at Pittsburg • 
bv the confluence of the Allegheny and 
Monongahela and ending at Cairo, by its 
junction with the Mississippi, receives the 
drainage of an area more than 300,000 ! 
square miles io extent. During the past 
weeh the river and its tributaries have 
been swollen by the greatest flood ever 
known in the Ohio Valley. Day after day 
the telegraph has been occupied and the 
papers tilled with heart-rending accounts 
of the terrible overflow. Tbe disaster, 
however, beggars description. The 
weather record alone will give some idea 
of the calamity. Up to Wednesday last, 
the 13th, the February rainfall over the 
entire Ohio Yalley was 4.89 inches, or an 
inch and a-half more than usually falls 
during the whole of February. More¬ 
over a great depth of snow melted by 
the downpour, a’ded to the deluge. 
The weight of an inch of water over a 
single mile is estimated at 60.000 tons; 
what must have been the weight, of the 
waters that rushed into the Ohio from 
the broad basin it drains to the north and 
south'. At Cincinnati, on Wednesday, 
the waters rose to 71 1-2 feet, against 60.4 
feet during last year’s flood. On both 
sides of the river a yellow, turbed sea 
stretches for miles over the low country, 
hundreds of farms being thirty feet and 
more under water. Fences, grain and 
hay stacks, bams, dwelling houses have 
been nearly ruined or swept away entirely 
in country places, and towns on low 
ground have been terribly devastated. 
The losses of property are incalulable. 
Over 100,000 people are without homes, 
food or clothing, and must remain so for 
weeks. Public and private charity must 
come generously to the support of the 
afflicted. The cities and towns through¬ 
out the Union are generously contribut¬ 
ing to the relief of the distressed, let our 
open-hearted farmers swell the charitable 
stream by sending their contributions to 
Henry C. Urner, Chairman of Relief Com¬ 
mittee, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
-- » -- 
MORRISON’S ''HORIZONTAL” TARIFF 
BILL. 
The Morrison “ horizontal” tariff bill, 
now before Congress, cuts down the pres¬ 
ent import duties on most foreign goods 
about 20 per cent., and adds a few items 
to the “ free list.” This is a considerable 
way from “ free trade,” but a good long 
step towards it. So far as the farmers 
are concerned, if the bill should pass, 
they will be able to get most of what they 
buy cheaper on account of the lower 
price at which foreign goods can be sold; 
the lower cost of some home-made goods 
owing to the reduction of duty on the ‘ ‘raw 
materials” of which they are made, and, 
finally, the closer competition between 
domestic and foreign wares. On the 
other hand, the “ protection” now af¬ 
forded to agricultural products will be 
lowered as follows: 
ArticUt. Present rate. Morrison’s rateu 
an s pork. per CWt. SOc. per cwt.. 
RpAswfix .'• 20 per cent. 16 per cent. 
Buttw .'.'.v;.*4 per CWt. $3.20 per cwt. 
rbeese . *4 per cwt. *3.20 per cwt. 
Corn . 10c. per hush. 8c. per busb. 
Hums anti bacon. *2 per cwt. *1.W per cwt. 
Honey . . . 20c. per gal. lGf. per gal. 
Live animals. 20 per cent. ifi per cent. 
Mea i . 10c. per hush. 8c. per bush. 
.. 10 c. per hush. Sc. per hush. 
Potatoes .. 15C. per bush. 12c. per bush- 
Rye flour .. *1.5o per cwt. *1.20 per cwt. 
tSSow . . *1 per cwt. 80 c. per cwt. 
as regards this country. Indeed it was 
our refusal to renew the reciprocity treaty 
with Canada in 1866 that compelled that 
country to retaliate, and what has either 
country gamed bv the restrictions on the 
trade of the other? The present duties 
on foreign wool arc not likely to be med¬ 
dled with, aud the producers of cane, sor¬ 
ghum and maple sugar are protesting 
from all parts of the country against any 
diminution of the duties on foreign sugar; 
but it is very likely they will have to 
speak louder and more persistently before 
their demands will receive attention. 
NEW YORK STATE SORGHUM SUGAR- 
GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
Potatoes ■ ‘' V.V.V 15C.'per bush. 12c. per bush. 
» . . *i.»f P ercwt. *i.»r PP r ™ 
rtyrnour..::..""..... rCtfper cwt. 
Tallow . *1 per cwt. 
Vegetables.. . 10 por cent. 
Wheat. 2oc. per bush 
Wheat flour. 20 percent. 
8 per cent. 
Uie. per bush. 
Ifi per cent. 
It will be seen that in producing most 
of these things the farmers of this coun¬ 
try defy competition and need no ‘ ‘protec¬ 
tion,” except, perhaps along the Canadian 
border. Our imports of rye, bailey and 
potatoes alone in 1882 paid $3,200,060 in 
duties, and most of them came from the 
Dominion. Across the line there is, how¬ 
ever, now a strong feeling in favor of 
nwuHftrincr the nresent “protective” tariff 
TnE New York State Sugar-Growers 
met in convention at Geneva on Tuesday, 
Wednesday and Thursday of this week. 
Although the past season in this State has 
been a very unfavorable one, it was th6 
unanimous opinion of all present that the 
future outlook of New York as a sugar- 
growing State was highly promising. 
Notwithstanding the manufacture of 
sorghum sugar in the United States is yet 
in its infancy, four manufactories alone 
have, in an unfavorable year, produced 
800,000 pounds of sugar. 
Many interesting facts were brought be¬ 
fore those present, which cannot fail to 
be of great value to all those directly in¬ 
terested in the question of producing 
sugar at home. Prof. Weber, of Cham¬ 
paign, Ill., advised that when large 
quantities of cane are grown, various 
kinds should be planted, maturing at dif¬ 
ferent seasons, so that, one can be worked 
up while the other is ripening. He thinks 
Early Amber and Early Golden best for 
early maturing cane, but lie prefers late 
maturing varieties in a climate where they 
will ripen. 
When cane is cut and allowed to lie, 
the cane sugar changes to grape sugar, 
and in order to prevent this change, cane 
should never be allowed to remain over 
one night. This is a most important 
point, as many pounds of sugar may be 
saved by properly observing this rule. 
Sprouting the seed does not hasten the 
crop forward, as experiments have demon¬ 
strated. The application of superphos¬ 
phate has been found highly beneficial, 
increasing tbe percentage of sugar to a 
great extent, and causing the seed to ma¬ 
ture and the crop to ripen earlier. In ex¬ 
periments made with topped and un¬ 
topped cane, the topped cane was found 
to produce three per cent, more sugar 
than the other, which makes a difference 
of 36 pounds of sugar in 5 ton of cane. _ 
We are glad to note that the associa¬ 
tion has shown a determination to push 
this new industry vigorously to the front; 
and we feel confident of ultimate success. 
Resolutions wore drawn up setting forth 
the immense material importance of the 
sugar producing question to New Tork 
and the country at large; requesting Con¬ 
gress to appropriate a suitable sum to be 
subject to the control of the members of 
the' National Academy ol Sciences, who 
shall continue their investigations, his¬ 
torical, industrial, scientific and experi¬ 
mental, in sugar from the sugar beet, cane, 
sorghum, maize, maple and other sugar- 
producing plants. It was also resolved to 
call the attention of each Senator of the 
State of New York, and other State 
representatives to this matter, and that 
the Legislature be asked to make such an 
appropriation as may be necessary for ex¬ 
perimental purposes at the State Experi¬ 
mental Station for two years; and that 
Congress be requested to retain the duty 
on sugar to protect and foster home in¬ 
dustry. 
ALIEN LAND-GRABBERS. 
Among the bills now before Congress is 
one providing that aliens who have not 
declared their intention to become citi¬ 
zens of the United States cannot become 
owners of land in any of our Territories, 
and in some of the States, notably in 
Texas, there is a movement towards sim¬ 
ilar legislation. Of all sorts of monopoly, 
land monopoly is the most galling. It is 
this that has driven millions across the 
Atlantic to our Bhores, and wherever its 
evil effects have beeu felt there popular 
discontent and indignation have been 
aroused. Wheu we find, therefore, that 
foreign capitalists are getting possession 
of principalities in various thinly set¬ 
tled parts of the country, a public pro¬ 
test against such monopolies is in order. 
8ir James Reed, we are told, owns 2,000,- 
000 acres in Montana and Dakota; 
Phillips, Marshall & Co., have 1,300,000 
in Mississippi; Alexander Grant, 350,000 
in Kansas; the Duke of Portland, 500,000 
in Nebraska and Colorado; the Duke of 
Beaufort aud three other foreigners. 400,- 
000 in Texas; Lord Stafford 100,000 otj 
the Northern Pacific, Lord Dunravco 
100 000 in Colorado; and the Earl of Athol 
100,000 in Texas; while the Earl of Ons¬ 
low and other aliens own equally large 
tracts in different parts of the country. 
Most of these large estates have been pur¬ 
chased from the land-grant railroad com¬ 
panies or from private individuals; for 
although an alien under our present laws 
can purchase Government land at public 
sale, or land subject to sale at ordinary 
private entry, it has not been the policy 
of the Government, since the passage of 
the Homestead Law, in 1862, to offer agri¬ 
cultural land at public sale but to reserve 
it for settlement and entry under the 
homestead, pre-emption and timber-cu - 
ture acts. There has, however, been a 
great deal of dishonest practices in the 
frontier land offices, by which vast areas 
of the public lands have been fraudulently 
disposed of. It is against the general 
welfare that such large estates should be 
in the hands of private individuals or cor¬ 
porations, and the evil is S rca _y 1e . 
hnneed when these are aliens. Few of 
these alien large land-owners expect any 
return for their money within the next 
twenty or thirty years. They have no in¬ 
tention whatever to improve the lands 
themselves, though they may lease them 
to stock-owners. They merely wait until 
their investments will pay through the 
development of the country by others. 
Although it is declared to be absolutely 
impossible for Congress to a<* upon more 
than one-eighth of the bills introduced 
still we trust the bill above referred to 
will be reported at an early day by the 
Committee on Public Lands, to whom it 
was referred. The evil is greatest in the 
Territories, over which Congress has con¬ 
trol': but some of the States also should 
prevent bv suitable legislation the accu¬ 
mulation ' of such enormous tracts of 
country in single hands. . There no 
other country in the world in which aliens 
oilier wuuiim - , -|»i_ * 
can acquire real estate on such liberal 
terms as in this ; isn’t this generosity 
to strangers an injustice to our own citi- 
•ypriQ? 
PROPOSED BUREAU OF ANIMAL IN¬ 
DUSTRY. 
to be communicated to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, who is authorized to estab¬ 
lish such regulations as he may deem 
necessary to prevent the exportation of 
diseased animals. All transportation of 
infested animals from one State or Terri¬ 
tory to another is strictly prohibited, and 
all’the officials or agents of railroad, 
steamboat lines, etc., that violate this pro¬ 
vision, after notification by letter or ad¬ 
vertisement by the Commissioner of Agri¬ 
culture, shall be liable to a fine of not less 
than $100 or more than $5,000 or to im¬ 
prisonment for not more than one year, or 
both, and it is made the duty of all United 
States District-Attorneys to prosecute all 
violations of the act. To carry in to effect 
the provisions of this act the sum of $250, - 
000 is appropriated: to be expended 
mostly in paying for slaughtered animals 
and disinfecting contaminated premises. 
In the bill no provision is made_ for tbe 
inspection of dead meat ; but it is likely 
that another bill will be framed with re¬ 
gard to this matter. 
All the stock-raising interests of the 
country appear to favor this bill. aB peti¬ 
tions supporting its provisions have been 
received in shoals from different organiza¬ 
tions interested in the raising^ of live 
stock. On the other hand, 115 live stock 
dealers, brokers, etc., in Chicago have 
petitioned against it on the ground that 
no pi euro-pneumonia exists west of the 
Alleghany Mountains, that American cat¬ 
tle are sounder now than for the last 40 
years, and that the chief result of the es¬ 
tablishment of a Bureau of Animal In¬ 
dustry will be to afford “places for an 
army of office-seekers.” 
-» -- 
BREVITIES. 
Judge of the value of your farm paper by 
the time it takes you to look it over? ' 
Referring to the Rural New-Yorker 
with the full page cut of different breeds of 
poultry. Mr. Stahl humorously writes us: 
“Your last number is the fon'!est paper I have 
ever seen published. Do yon cd ell cafe to 
crow over it?” 
We will say this for Cleveland’s Rural 
New-Yorker Pea. viz., that they are as badly 
infested with weevils as any peas we have 
ever handled. Our readers may plant the 
“buggv” ones all the same—some will germi¬ 
nate, though none will make as strong plants 
as if they were sound. 
“A bill for the establishment of a Bu¬ 
reau of Animal Industry, to prevent the 
exportation of diseased cattle and to pro¬ 
vide means for the suppression and extir¬ 
pation of pleuro-pneumonia and other 
contagious diseases among domestic ani¬ 
mals,” is the rather lengthy title of the 
measure introduced into Congress by Mr. 
Hatch, Chairman of the 1 . I ?. l 1 lse r C 
teo on Agriculture. The bill directs the 
Commissioner of Agriculture to organize 
the Bureau, appointing as its chief a com¬ 
petent veterinary surgeon at a salary of 
$3,000 a year, and a clerk at an annua 
salary of $1,500. Moreover, he is to ap¬ 
point two competent agents whose duty 
it shall be to “report upon the best meth¬ 
ods of treating, transporting and oaring 
for animals, aud the means to be adopted 
for the suppression and extirpation of 
contagious pleuro pneumonia and to pro¬ 
vide against the spread of other contagi¬ 
ous diseases. These are to be paid $10 a 
day and “all necessary expenses while 
engaged in the actual performance of 
their duties under this act. 
The Commissioner is to prepare regula¬ 
tions for the speedy and effectual extir¬ 
pation of contagious diseases among live 
stock and to communicate these to the 
Executive authority of each btate and 
Territory, and invite these authorities to | 
cooperate in the enforcement of the act. 
Whenever any State or Territory in which 
any communicable disease prevails con¬ 
sents to cooperate with the general Gov¬ 
ernment in its suppression, the Commis¬ 
sioner is authorized to expend as much 
money as may be needed to make 
necessary investigations, pay lor in¬ 
fected animals to be slaughtered, 
and for the disinfection of contaminated 
buildings, etc., provided the State or 
Territory shall pay half the cost ot the 
slaughtered animals, and half the expense 
of disinfection and the necessary pom e 
regulations in quarantining and curing lor 
infected herds. Whenever any infected 
State or Territory refuses cooperation, 
then the President is authorized to quar¬ 
antine the whole or any part of it, and to 
regulate or prohibit the transportation of 
cattle out of such State, Territory or dis¬ 
trict. To prevent the exportation of dis¬ 
eased stock special investigation is to be 
made along the Canadian border and the 
lines of transportation from all parts ot 
the United States to ports from which 
. live stock are exported; the results are 
There ore few May flowers more satisfacto¬ 
ry than the old Bleeding-Heart or Dicentra 
spcctabilis. It is very hardy. Clumps of 
such herbaceous plants as this and the new 
kinds of aquilegias, campanulas (Canterbury 
Bells), fox glove, larkspur, etc , are very ef¬ 
fective and gratifying. 
For the prevalent disease of scaly legs in 
fowls caused by a minute insect, rubbing the 
legs with an ointment of sulphur, kerosene, 
etc., is advised. The remedy is good enough, 
but a better one is immersing the feet and 
legs in a tomato-can of kerosene. Do this 
every three days until a cure is effected. 
The Senate Committee on Public T ands js 
likelv to recommend some radical changes in 
the Homestead Law. A homesteader will 
have a year instead of six months to prepare 
a home on his claim; but he must meanwhile 
prepare a given area for planting. Final 
proof and patent will lie allowed only at the 
end of seven years, instead of five as now. In 
treeless regions tbe planting and care of a 
certain number of trees will be required, in 
view of the repeal of the Timber Culture Law. 
The Pre-emption Law is more likely to be 
radically amended than repealed. 
How the street, venders make their wares 
shine! How neat, and clean they keep then- 
goods to entice customers! If not engaged 
in selling, they dust, and rub and polish, and 
arrange things in an attractive manner, be¬ 
cause, you know, perhaps the shine on that 
pan is Worth five cents. They study to please 
the eve All ha! iny farmer friend, that is 
the very thing: that is one of the essentials to 
the road t.o success—to successful farming. 
Make your things shine. Study to please 
your customers. Keep a clean stable, clean 
cows, clean milk-pails, cleau, sweet butter, 
and make clean money. 
And you never thought that you would 
make a few hundred pounds of sorgum sugar 
everv year, did you? You had not the slight¬ 
est idea five years ago that vou would send 
to-da v to the Blankville Sugar Refinery for the 
three barrels of granulated sugar made from 
your Earlv Amber Cane, had you? But. isn 
that splendid looking augur, and doesn t it 
sweeten up your coffee as well as any you 
ever tested, and isn't there a big saving m 
vour sugar bill, although you do use more 
We knew there would tie. and we knew that 
the United States would be making sugar U» 
plenty if only those persistent sorghum men 
were given a chaoce. 
The United States Government, has joined 
the fence-cutter* bv ordering the cutting ot the 
wire fences with which a number of wealthy 
cattle owners inclosed large areas of the pub¬ 
lic domain in Nebraska, New Mexico and 
Other Western Territories. The managers of 
the ranches are now in Washington in older, 
if possible, to adjust the difficulty. TheV 
confess that they have violated the law m 
refusing to permit the Government, mail-car 
riers to cross their misappropriated lands 
The onlv argument, they use to retain what 
they have illegally seized upon is that Dy 
raising cattle cheaply they make meat 
cheaper to the consumer. The Governmen , 
however, is not likely to modify its decision 
! that the fences must be removed. 
