T H K 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal lot Country and Suburban Hornet 
Conducted by 
XtfiEBT 8. C 4 BMiR. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New Yoek. 
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1884. 
Great expectations induce efforts to 
realize them. Here we have the explana¬ 
tion of the high praise bestowed upon 
new plants and methods. 
One of the prettiest groups of shrubs 
at the Rural Grounds at present, is the 
European Euonymus, the Golden Spirnsa, 
the Purple leaved Hazel and the Purple¬ 
leaved Barberry. An equally striking 
group of trees consists of the Golden- 
leaved Oak, the Purple-leaved Birch and 
the Purple-leaved Beech. 
May 1!) we cut our Prickly Com prey for 
the first time. It was four feet high. 
Our plants have been growing in the same 
place for about Bix years without manure 
of any kind. We know of no other for¬ 
age plant that will produce so much to 
the acre, and it seems a pity that farm 
animals do not relish it. 
Talking about soil, manures, etc.., for 
radishes: Take a box of any size, six 
inches deep, and fill it with pure sand. 
Sow your seeds and keep it moist with 
diluted manure water. You will have the 
quickest-growing, tenderest radishes you 
ever ate. We have raised them m this 
way, watering them with pure rain-water 
only. Radishes want a light soil and 
plenty of moisture—that is all. 
Under the title of the paper “Rural 
New-Yorker,” and under the bull’s head 
thereof, will be Been the volume (XLIH.) 
and number (1792.) One unit is added to 
this every week. When it is the same as 
the number on your address wrapper, y<mr 
subscription expires. If there is no num¬ 
ber following the name, the- subscription 
expires at the end of this year. Please 
examine, and renew a week or so in ad¬ 
vance. 
Here is a recipe for gapes in chickens, 
which Mr. Geo. G. Yanness, of New Jer 
sey, tells us ho has never known to fail, if 
given in time: Take a handful of air- 
slaked lime and put it in a half bushel, or 
larger measure, according to the number 
of chicks to be treated. Put the chicks in 
the measure and cover it. Give it a shake 
or so, confining them for from one to two 
minutes. To prevent the gapes, throw a 
handful in the coops from time to time. 
Have you the scale insect upon your 
pear or other trees? We mean the Apple 
Bark-louse that is concealed beneath lit¬ 
tle scales an eighth of an inch long. These 
are the dried remains of the bodies of the 
females which cover the eggs beneath. 
These eggs are now (in this climate) 
hatching out, a< d now is the time to exter¬ 
minate them. The young lice are almost 
too small to be seen by the naked eye. 
They now suck the bark, and weaken or 
kill the tree. Spray it with the kerosene 
emulsion, or with the solution of Per¬ 
sian insect powder or Buhach. 
Does your soil need potash, nitrogen, 
or phosphoric acid—one, two, or all three? 
What would you give to know? Isn’t it 
w r orth your while to.try and find cut? It 
is not too late to begin the inquiry void. 
Spread nitrate of soda on one plot of corn, 
sulphate of potash on another, dissolved 
boneblack on another, nitrate of soda and 
sulphate of potash on another, nitrate of 
soda and dissolved boneblack on another, 
and all three on the last. Should the 
season prove favorable, your inquiry may 
be answered. This experiment may be 
made on plots of a fortieth of an acre 
each, for an aggregate of less than $5. 
Are you making any arrangements to 
give the boys an interest in anything they 
may grow?" If not, you are neglecting 
one of the most important parts of your 
business. Y r ou have no idea how a little 
pecuniary interest will increase the boy’s 
love of the labor, and his carefulness and 
thoughtfulness as to how he can best 
make it a success. We are quite sure you 
will be the gainer in a monetary point of 
view, as well as awaken a new desire in 
the boy to do his work a little better than 
any one else. But even if necessay, you 
had better make a few dollars less, if by 
doing so you can make a superior farmer 
out of your boy, and cause him to love 
and stay on the farm as your successor. 
A good boy is worth much more than 
money! 
As we looked over the surging masses 
on Wall Street, the other day, and saw 
the care-worn, haggard faces, we thought 
how many of the anxious throng who had 
been reared on the farm would be a thou¬ 
sand times more happy were they still the 
owners and occupants of the paternal 
acres. Though they might not be owners 
of a princely fortune, and, maybe, might 
have to economize somewhat, we thought 
their sleep would be sweeter and their 
faces more contented and happy than 
now. Surely, money should not be the 
end and aim of a man’s life. There is 
something in a home and contentment 
and happiness. Boys, think twice before 
you leave the farm. 
Sir J. B. Lawes writes us, under date 
of May 5, that the farmers in England 
will not be satisfied unless he tries some 
experiments in ensilage, so that he is 
thinking of conducting some next Win¬ 
ter. Tf successful in England, it must su¬ 
persede roots, and lie thinks the latter 
will fight a very hard battle. Dr. Lawes, 
a few days previous to the date of Ins let¬ 
ter, visited a large ensilage farm which, 
he thinks, is as well managed as it cau 
possibly be, and the milk and butter are 
good; out. he was not struck with the 
economy of the process, although the 
owner has a high opinion of the merits of 
the product, JJe uses it, however, with 
roots, hay, straw, and corn. His yield of 
milk was not equal to Dr. Law'es’s, 
though the comparison is not fair, he 
says, because some of his cows were near¬ 
ly dry, while most of Dr. Lawes’s are in 
fairly good milking condition. It is a 
very difficult thing, Dr. Lawes says, to 
conduct milking experiments with suc¬ 
cess. The above experiments are worse 
than useless- they are misleading. One 
of the owner’s cows is producing over 
three gallons of milk per day, while in¬ 
creasing in weight at a fabulous rate. 
POTATOES “MIXING IN THE HILL.” 
The Rural New-Yorker receives, 
every year, many letters opposing its view, 
that, potatoes cun not “mix in the hill.” 
Upon the same plot we have raised pota¬ 
toes for five years. Had we not planted 
a potato this season on this plot, a very 
fair stand would have been obtaiued from 
volunteers, or those overlooked potatoes 
which remained in the ground during the 
Winter, and which were among the first 
to sprout this Spring. We have known 
the tubers of one kind to form in the next 
row three feet or more from their own 
plant or hill. TTad this not been known, 
we might have taken the view of some of 
our friends,that here was a case of potatoes 
mixing. Very rarely indeed, but some¬ 
times, the buds of potatoes do vary from 
the usual form, color and quality of the 
parent seed. Thus we have the Late from 
the Early Rose; the Late from the Early 
Snowflake; the Variegated-foliagcd Rose 
from the Early Rose, audso on. But this 
is not "mixing in the hill.” 
From what we know of vegetable phys¬ 
iology, it is just as reasonable to suppose 
that a Bartlett Pear bud inserted under 
the bark of a Seckel, would not produce 
Bartlett Pears, as that ttvo kinds of po¬ 
tatoes planted together would “mix in 
the hill.” 
We have recently received a new kind 
of potato, claimed to have been produced 
by inserting the eye of one variety into 
another potato, which is quite as absurd. 
New varieties cannot be produced by 
grafting or by contact, or in any other 
way except by planting seed—true seed 
from the ball, which is the fruit of the 
potato plant. 
NATIONAL WOOL-GROWERS’ CONVEN¬ 
TION. 
The National Wool-Growers’ Convention 
opened at Chicago last Monday, 134 dele¬ 
gates being present. The old settled 
States, where pastures are high-priced, 
were well represented. Ohio having 50 
and Pennsylvania 35 delegates: but Texas, 
New Mexico and other sections where 
sheep husbandry on cheap pastures is 
making very rapid progress, had few rep¬ 
resentatives!!! According to the census of 
1880, there were 1,020,000 flock-masters 
in the country; last year the product of 
wool reached 320,000,000 pounds, valued 
at over $100,000,000, and the value of 
the slaughtered sheep was $50,000,000. 
The report of k the Committee on Resolu¬ 
tions declares that the reduction in the 
tariff on foreign wools last year, caused a 
loss of over $10,000,000 to the wool-grow¬ 
ers as compared with 1882, and predicts a 
much greater loss next year. The reduc¬ 
tion made in the tariff, however, amount¬ 
ed to an average of somewhat less than 
three cents a pound on all classes of wools, 
and hence the depreciation from this cause 
could not have been over $1,000,000 at 
the most on 320,000,000 pounds. As in 
the case of wheat, corn, hogs, and near¬ 
ly all other agricultural products, there 
has been a considerable shrinkage in the 
value of wool since 1882, wholly irrespec¬ 
tive of tariff legislation, and it seems hard¬ 
ly fair to attribute to this the shrinkage 
in the case of wools, while nobody charges 
tariff legislation with the shrinkage in 
other agricultural andmannfacturing pro¬ 
ducts. Moreover, the over-stimulation of 
woolen manufacture in 1882, resulted in a 
glutted market, and the shutting down of 
many mills in 1883, and consequently, in a 
smaller demand and lower prices for wool. 
The Convention resolved unanimously, 
by National and State combination of 
wool-growers and all other legitimate 
methods, to do everything possible to se¬ 
cure the restoration of the tariff of 1897, 
“or its equivalent,” on wools and wool¬ 
ens. It repudiated “free trade as a falla¬ 
cious and impracticable theory,” and it 
adopted a platform, in which it declares, 
“ We will not support any party or politi¬ 
cal candidate until it or he lias dearly 
defined its or bis position in favor of the 
restoration” of the old tariff. 
On Tuesday, a committee appointed to 
prepare an address to the wool growers of 
the country, concluded their appeal in the 
following terms: “Finally, believing that 
desperate diseases require heroic remedies, 
we especially urge you to sustain at the 
oils for legislative offices only such can- 
idntes as are in favor of adequately pro¬ 
tecting and encouraging the great interest 
of sheep husbandry by voting to restore 
the wool tariff of 1867, or rates of duties 
at least as protective as those embodied in 
that act.” 
- -- ’ — 
IS IT BIGOTRY ? 
In addition to the right of protection of 
person and property assumed by society 
and guaranteed by it to the individual, is 
the right, should the individual be uufor- 
tunate, of support; and if helpless, or in¬ 
competent, of guardianship. Society en¬ 
forces this right, so far as to compel a 
man to provide for the support of his wife 
and family, and imprisons him a* a crimi¬ 
nal if he neglects or refuses to do so. If 
he wastes his property, or is incompetent, 
to care for either it or his own person, the 
law (which is the will of society) steps in 
and appoints a trustee to take charge of 
his property, or person, or both, as may 
be ueeaed. Is he liable to do himself 
bodily injury, it goes so far as to put him 
in charge of* a custodian, and to confine 
him, if necessary. In order to shield the 
weak from temptation even, the law sup¬ 
presses all lotteries, closes all gambling 
dens of every nature—except stock and 
produce gambling in the so-called ex¬ 
changes. To protect his health it confis¬ 
cates and destroys all impure or unwhole¬ 
some food. By* long experience it has 
been ascertained that mau is not capable 
of continuous, incessant toil; bur that he 
can accomplish more and be the better 
for resting a certain portion of the time to 
recuperate, and so the law, by common 
consent, fixes the hours of a day’s labor, 
and sets apart the first day of the week as 
a day of rest, and compels all to cease 
labor on that day. No one questions 
these rights or their expediency; they are 
the results of long observation, and must 
be best. 
The great hue and cry of the saloon 
keepers, and those journals in sympathy 
with them, that the efforts now so univer¬ 
sally and persistently made to close the 
saloons on Sunday are manifestations of 
bigotry and religious intolerance, are evi¬ 
dently* false when viewed from a stand¬ 
point* showing the foregoing conceded 
points. No religion or form of Christiani¬ 
ty is chargeable with these measures; if 
there were no Bibles or churches, or a 
single religious sentiment, we should 
need to have the saloons closed all the 
same ou the day devoted to rest, and 
when this is counseled by Christianity, it 
receives still more consideration; because 
all must admit that Christianity does have 
a restraining influence on its believers and 
on the community as well. 
Custom has made Saturday night the 
pay time when nearly all laborers receive 
the week’s wages, and as the succeeding 
day is the day of rest, wholly at the dis¬ 
posal of the laborers, they are more or less 
inclined to wander into the open saloons, 
and as so very large a part have the un¬ 
fortunate love of alcoholic stimulants, 
and as one indulgence only calls for an¬ 
other and another, before leaving, the 
entire week’s wages are often squandered. 
With the saloons closed, the temptation is , 
removed; the weekly earnings are de¬ 
voted to the feeding and clothing of the 
family. So we see the closing of the 
saloons is a measure, not of bigotry or 
religion or of fanaticism, but of necessity 
—a measure of genuine protection : pro¬ 
tection of the man against temptation, 
protection of the wife and family from 
want and suffering, protection of society 
from the support of his family, and from 
the pauperism of the man himself. 
No, gentlemen saloon-keepers, the 
efforts to close your places are not the out¬ 
croppings of bigotry; it is done, for this 
must be done, for the protection of the 
most sacred spot on earth—the American 
home—and society cannot, dare not, 
neglect it; and you must not, cannot be 
allowed to defy the law, and rob these 
homes. Your business is certainly no 
more necessary to the public good than 
that of the butcher, the baker, the grocer, 
or the merchant, and they are all com¬ 
pelled to shut up their stores and keep 
them shut, for their own sakes, and for 
the sake of their employes, and so must 
you. The home demands it; the laborer 
demands it that he may have his rest; the 
employer demands it., that his help may 
be fully rested and refreshed; the com¬ 
munity demands it, that all may have a 
day of quiet and rest; the starving wife 
and family demand it; ragged, unedu¬ 
cated children, growing to lives of igno¬ 
rance and shame, point their bony fingers 
to your open saloons as the sole cause of 
their poverty, and demand that you obey 
the laws, that the father may be shielded 
from temptation, and may use liis hard- 
earned money in feeding and clothing 
them, that they may be able to attend the 
free temples of education and morality. 
Every tax-payer, as he pays his heavy 
taxes, begins t-o look to your business as 
the great, tax producer, and demands that 
you he compelled to obey so beneficent a 
law. No, gentlemen; not bigotry, but 
simple justice. If you were wise, you 
would not cause your business, at best 
very questionable, to become so obtrusive¬ 
ly prominent as you are doing by your 
agitation of this subject, because your 
whole business is entirely unnecessary, 
and in opposition to and destructive of the 
genius of the American homo; aud when 
you force the American public to consider 
its worthlessness, and its disturbing and 
dangerous tendency, it will nor be very 
long before public opinion will become so 
strong as to utterly wipe it out; and wis¬ 
dom would dictate that you strive to make 
your bad business orderly, as you cannot 
possibly make it respectable or peaceable. 
BREVITIES. 
We should still sow beet seeds for a succes¬ 
sion of greens. 
The R. N.-Y. is threatened with a suit for 
libel by the Farm, Field and Fireside, of Chi¬ 
cago. 
We believe there are three persons who 
1 claim to be the originators of the Dakota 
Red Potato. How does this happen? 
It is better to pluck the blossoms or young 
fruit of all strawberry plants set this Spring. 
* They will pay you back next year. 
The easiest furrow to follow is a straight 
furrow; the easiest cultivation to maintaiu is 
clean cultivation, and y et it is strange how 
crooked the furrows get, and how full of 
weeds the fields. 
Mr. Monroe Davis, of LeRoy, N. Y.. 
writes us that he raised a White Elephant Po¬ 
tato weighing 5}{ pounds, aud that it had 
fewer aud smaller prongs than that of Mr. 
Williams, shown in the R. N.-Y. of May 10. 
Buhach, extended with plaster 50 times, 
kills the currant worm. We ure experiment¬ 
ing with this Insecticide dissolved in alcohol 
and diluted with water, as may be seen else¬ 
where on this page. We cannot have fine 
crops of currants and gooseberries where this 
pest abounds. 
Remember the Rural’s experiments with 
cabbages last year. You may now sow the 
seeds in the open ground where the plants are 
to grow, and thin out by cutting oil" all but 
one to a hill, when they are large enough not 
to be destroyed by cut-worms, etc. 
The suckers of raspberries are now, in this 
climate, from three to 12 inches high. If 
transplanted now and kept wet fora few days, 
they will, during the season, form canes that 
will fruit another year. If not wanted for 
such a purpose, it is better to hoe them up as 
weeds. They merely weaken the parent plants. 
Our plants of Pyretbrum cineraraefolium 
have again passed through the M inter with¬ 
out harm. The R.URAL was the first to ascer¬ 
tain that this plant is hardy in the climate of 
Chicago and New York. Prom the flowers is 
made the best insecticide known, and it is 
utterly harmless except to insects. Why can¬ 
not we cultivate the plant as well here and 
further south, as it can be grown in Cali¬ 
fornia, which is now producing the valuable 
“Buhach,” more potent than any other 
“ Persian Insect Powder” known? 
