468 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country and Suburban Home' 
Conducted by 
1C. 8. CARMAN, 
J. S. WOOD WARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Address 
THE rfURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1884, 
8ir J. B. Laweb, of Rothamsted, Eng¬ 
land, states in a note just received, that 
the weather is exceedingly dry and the 
prospects of a wheat crop are good. “In 
fact," he continues, “if July continues dry, 
I shall grow in my experimental field one 
of my great crops, and T do not call a 
crop great unless it is over 50 bushels per 
acre.” 
- «-♦- 
WHY IS IT? 
It is a hard thing for us to realize that 
such farm papers as the Massachusetts 
Ploughman, New England Farmer, and 
American CulLivator refuse to publish the 
advertisement of the RuhalNew-Yorkkr. 
Why is this? The reason offered is, that 
they decline the advertisements of the 
Rural because it is a competitor! That 
is to say, they fear that by placing our 
advertisement under the eyes of their sub 
scribers, some of them may subscribe for 
the R. N.-Y. and relinquish the Culti¬ 
vator, Ploughman, or Farmer, as the case 
may be. Well, these journals live, as may 
be supposed, for the purpose of instructing 
farmers and promoting the interests of 
agriculture. Is that the jirat aim? Evi¬ 
dently not. The Jirnt aim is to benefit 
themselves. We offer you our advertise¬ 
ment, Messrs, Ploughman, Farmer, Culti¬ 
vator & Co., and our object is to enable 
your readers to examine the Rural New- 
Yorker, and either subscribe for both 
papers or for the RnnAL only, should they 
prefer it to the journal they have been 
reading. 
If, upon examination, the readers should 
judge that, the R. N.-Y\ is in no way supe¬ 
rior, our money for advertising will have 
been thrown away, and the Ploughman, 
Cultivator, etc., will be just so much the 
gainers. But even though you do lose a 
subscriber or so, or a thousand, why 
should not you advertise in the columns 
of the R. N.-Y. and in this way regain the 
loss? Then you could truly say to your 
readers, "We have your interests at heart; 
if they are better subserved by some 
other farm journal, take that. Examine 
them all, and subscribe for the best.” 
Now, Rural readers, the American Cul¬ 
tivator, Massachusetts Ploughman and 
New England Farmer arc; published in Bos¬ 
ton, Mass.; the Marne Farmer in Augusta, 
We ask you to send for specimen copies 
and compare them with the Rural, and 
to subscribe for the one that you believe 
will help you most. Let no farm paper 
in the country profess to have the good 
of agriculture at heart and yet refuse to 
publish t he advertisements of respectable 
competing journals. The claim is false. 
No wonder that the farming interests of 
New England are languishing. Until a 
more liberal spirit pervades its agricultu¬ 
ral press, we should not look for any en¬ 
thusiasm, originality or enterprise from 
that quarter. 
OUTLOOK FOR CROPS. 
and thirty in Dakota, and considerable 
also on the Pacific Coast. Unusual care 
appears to have been taken in the selec¬ 
tion of seed, as there are few complaints 
of failure from planting immature corn. 
A comparison of the area with last year's 
in the principal corn-producing States is as 
follows:New Y’ork, 97; Pennsylvania. 100; 
Ohio, 102;Michigan, 102; Kentucky, 100; 
Tennessee, 101; Indiana, 102; Illinois, 
100;Iowa, 105, Missouri, 102; Kansas, 101. 
Of course, it is too early yet to speak defi¬ 
nitely ol the outcome; but the season has 
been favorable for planting and growth, 
except in some sections there has been too 
much rain, and growth has been slow, 
owing to a low temperature. At latest 
reports, however, the crop as a whole, is 
healthy and growing rapidly. The aver¬ 
age condition is 96, and this has been ex¬ 
ceeded only twice in July within the last 
10 years—in 1879 and 1880. It was 90 in 
1881; 84 in 1882; and 88 in 1883. The 
principal averages are: New York, 90; 
Tennessee, 95; Indiana, 97; Illinois, 99; 
Iowa, 102; Missouri. 98; Kansas, 94; Ne¬ 
braska, 99. The prospect is most favor¬ 
able in Iowa, which promises the best 
yield since 1879, and the largest crop ever 
grown in the State. 
The condition of barley is good, aver¬ 
aging 98, against 97 in July last year. 
Oats average 98, against 99 last year. The 
average of rye is 97. As we predicted, 
the excessive production and low price ot 
potatoes last season, have caused a reduc¬ 
tion in the area under them this year; but 
the decrease appears to be hardly as great 
as we expected, amounting to only three 
per cent.; the condition is good. There 
has been an increase of fully 10 per cent, 
in the area of tobacco. 
Cotton is a trifle less promising than 
usual in Julyf, owing to excessive rains 
during June over the whole cotton 
growiug country, combined with a 
low temperature, so that the plants 
are too succulent and generally two 
or three w eeks late. The fields are neces¬ 
sarily grassy, the plants being smothered 
in some cases, and the aphis is becoming 
abundant. There was some planting in 
June, especially in Louisiana, where the 
overflows prevented early seeding. The 
general average condition is one point 
lower than in June—86 instead of 87. 
Last July it w r as 90; in 1882 it was 92; 
and in 18*81, 95, though afterwards it fell 
until it reached 66 in October. The con¬ 
dition is generally the highest in July; 
though in 1880 and 1882, it was highest 
in August. The condition in Florida and 
Alabama remains as in June; in the Atlan¬ 
tic States, Mississippi and Tennessee, it. 
has declined, while west of the Mississippi 
it has advanced. 
A WORD TO THE BOYS OF THE 
RURAL FAMILY. 
TnE July report of the Department of 
Agriculture, a condensation of which was 
received from Washington yesterday, 
makes a very fine showing for crops gen¬ 
erally. The condition of Spring wheat 
is fully up to 100, the same as in July 
last year. In Wisconsin and Minnesota 
it stands at 101, and at 102 in Dakota. 
Winter wheat has been harvested m the 
South, and will soon be cut in the north¬ 
ern belt. Its average condition is 94, one 
point higher than in June, but the same 
as in May. There lias been under it an 
area of about 27,000,000 acres, and the 
yield is expected to reach 350,000,000 
bushels. It is thought probable that this 
year's aggregate wheat crop will be the 
largest ever harvested, with the possible 
exception of the extraordinary crop of 
1882. 
There is an increase of two per cent, in 
the area of corn, the total acreage being 
between 69,000,000 and 70,000,000. A 
few States report a decrease—Maine, Mas¬ 
sachusetts, New York, Louisiana and 
Minnesota. There is an increase in all the 
southern and central districts; it is five 
per cent in Iowa, twenty in Nebraska, 
Our Mr. Woodward, by the advice of 
the Rural, last Fall procured direct from 
the originator some of the Cross bred 
Diehl -Mediterranean Wheat, which lu 
sowed on his farm in Western New York. 
He is so well pleased with the wheat and 
so well satisfied that it will prove of great 
value to the winter wheat grower, that 
although he can sell what he has at a very 
large price, yet being the youngest member 
of the Rural household, he has a very 
cordial feeling toward all the younger 
members, especially the boys, and would 
much prefer to use what of this fine wheat 
he has, in paying the boys for a little extra 
work in aid of the paper we all love so 
well. 
Now, boys, attention! We know this 
is the worst* time of the year to procure 
subscribers—people are busy, and have 
not much time to read, etc.; but yet we 
do know that where there’s a good strong 
will, backed by the energy of a Rural 
boy, there is no such woid as fail; and 
besides, there is just as much time to read 
in a year, commencing one time as another; 
and further, if you would get the most 
good out of this wheat, you must have it 
at seeding time. So, boys, we make you 
this offer:—From now to October first, for 
new subscribers, we will put into new 
stark A, seamless bags and deliver to any 
railroad depot or express office in Lock- 
port, N. Y., pure Cross-bred Diehl-Medi¬ 
terranean Wheat, warranted free from foul 
weed seeds, in quantity as follows:—For 
the names of five new subscribers and $10, 
one-balf bushel (30 pounds); and for each 
additional four names ai $2 each, one-half 
bushel more, or 7% pounds of wheat for 
each one. 
Now, boys, here is a chance, by extending 
the circulation of the Rural, to do good, 
learn much, and get well paid for it. Get 
your father to let you have the laud, put 
it into condition, make it rich, and sow 
this wheat not thicker than one bushel per 
acre, and you’ean hardly fail to get from 
30 to 45 bushels per acre (Mr. W. is quite 
confident of 40 bushelB or more, with no 
extra care), and we think there will be a 
demand next year for all you can raise at 
$2.00 or over per bushel for seed. Don’t 
say it can’t be done; others will do it, and 
what they do, you can do as well. Just 
pull off your coats, roll up your sleeves, 
and go in to win. You can certainly get 
the five names, and we believe the most 
will get 20 or more. 
This new wheat is bound to have an 
extended sale at a large price, and as the 
quantity now in existence is limited, no 
doubt but hundreds of bushels of 
some inferior wheat will be sub¬ 
stituted and sold in its place, and 
tbe people be both swindled and dis¬ 
appointed. Almost every man in your 
vicinity would like to have this new wheat 
introduced from a source from which 
they know it will be genuine, and you can 
agree that if they will give you their 
names and money, you wiil next year let 
them have one or two bushels at the price 
of ordinary wheat, thus allowing them to 
share in the benefits. 
Fathers, here is a chance to teach the 
boys a practical business lesson; you can 
do nothing that would be of more real 
service to them than to furnish the needed 
land and encourage them in this matter. 
Speak a good word for them and the 
Rural. The experience they will get in 
coming in contact with men in soliciting 
subscriptions, will be worth a hundred 
times as much to them, as the time spent 
is to you. And then the very idea that 
they can have a plot of ground and grow 
a crop that shall be all their own, will do 
very much to create an interest in their 
work, and make them thoughtful, care¬ 
ful, painstaking fanners, just what you 
would most delight to have them. 
Boys, let us hear from you. We will 
furnish sample heads, so that you can see 
and show what the wheat is; and by and 
by we will tell you how to prepare the 
ground, sow the wheat and care for it so 
as to get the largest possible yield. This 
offer is not restricted to boys of any par¬ 
ticular age. 
REFORMATION IN FAIRS. 
Already the managers are consulting 
together, and withiu the next few months 
thousands of agricultural fairs will have 
been held and millions of our people will 
have been in attendance and will have 
been influenced foi good or evil. We are 
all creatures of circumstances; we obtain 
our knowledge by observation and expe¬ 
rience, and our habits are mostly formed 
by our associations; what a powerful in¬ 
fluence, therefore, must these many fairs 
exert upon those who attend them, espe¬ 
cially on the youth, and what a mignty 
instrumentality are they in fashioning the 
morals, manners, and methods of the 
American people, and how very irnpor 
taut it is that they be so conducted as to 
exert their influence only for good. 
In too many instances the managers 
have seemed to lose sight of every object 
except to make money, draw the largest 
crowd, and show the largest balance after 
the gates were closed and expenses paid. 
To accomplish this purpose they have 
admitted on the ground all sorts of people 
who were willing to pay a large price for 
tbe privilege. Hucksters of all sorts 
create bedlam while crying their waires; 
gamblers with every device, from the 
ring-board to the wheel of fortune, are 
allowed to tempt and rob the unwary; 
mountebanks, swindlers, and low, disre¬ 
putable shows are met with everywhere; 
often dance-houses abound in the most 
frequented and decent places: horse-ra 
cing, in most cases, in made a prominent 
feature, and women with little modesty 
and less virtue are hired to exhibit them¬ 
selves in the horse and chariot races. 
Whisky and other intoxicating liquors 
are openly sold or given away in direct 
violation of the law. 
We know this is an extreme picture; 
but some fairs have been much worse than 
this, and unhappily there arc few or none 
that have not allowed some of these very 
demoralizing and objectionable features. 
Fairs are very educational, ami such sur¬ 
roundings have a strong tendency to 
make the girls immoral, and the boys, 
dishonest, lazy, gambling, drunken row¬ 
dies; and in very serious earnestness we 
ask can we afford to permit these things 
longer to be done? 
The fairs are public institutions, and 
the managers are only the trustees elected 
to conduct them, and we must insist that 
the first, the leading, the only idea should 
be to benefit, to elevate and ennoble our 
people, not to make money at the expense 
of the demoralization of all who attend. 
We appeal to the managers to shut 
out all these bad and demoralizing 
practices from the grounds, and if 
the people refuse to patronize and sus¬ 
tain decent fairs, let them fail. Igno¬ 
rance, however gross it may be, is far 
better than vice, and it is high time 
that we should turn over a new leaf 
in the management of fairs, and have 
them as they should be, so moral, elevat¬ 
ing and pure that we can safely trust our 
children there without an escort, or else 
let us have no fairs at all. 
Our fairs should go a step further, and 
instead of being held merely for social 
intercourse and amusement, they should 
he a series of object lessons, from which 
much useful information could be de¬ 
rived. The best products of the soil 
grown by different persons and processes 
should be shown side by side, and care¬ 
ful statements be made showing just how 
each was grown. Fine animals, both 
thoroughbred and grade, should be shown, 
and accounts should be given of bow they 
were bred, fed and cared for. The same 
animals shown as yearlings, two-vear-olds 
and older, in different years, should be 
carefully weighed each year, and state¬ 
ments made showing how much feed had 
been consumed to produce the gain. The 
best fruits of different kinds should be 
placed side by side, correctly labeled; 
specimens of healthy and diseased trees, 
cabinets of insect enemies, carefully ar¬ 
ranged, should be shown with the. fruits 
or grains on which they feed. The grounds 
should be tastefully laid out and orna¬ 
mented, and kept neat and tidy. A thou¬ 
sand ways will suggest themselves by 
which the people can be both interested 
and benefited. Every convenience should 
be provided for the comfort and happi¬ 
ness of the visitors, such as plenty of 
good drinking water, seats and shade. 
The refreshment department should either 
be under the control of the managers or 
should be let to responsible part ies, and a 
committee should see to it that the people 
are supplied with good, wholesome, clean 
food at reasonable prices. 
Altogether, Messrs. Managers, it is no 
excuse for you to say that if evil practices 
ar« there, you do not know of them. It is 
your business to be vigilant, to see every¬ 
thing and know’ everthinff that is taking 
place. We appeal to you to give us here¬ 
after such fairs that parents may delight 
to come and bring their whole families 
with no fear of contamination of habits or 
morals, and to which they may look back 
only with pleasure, and long for a return. 
Give us such fairs as shall be a blessing 
instead of a curse to the attendants. 
BREVITIES. 
Don’t go off “half-cocked”—You’ll never 
bit your bird. 
Fay’s Currant has borne as well this year as 
last, at the Rural Grounds. 
Eat more fruit and vegetables and less 
meat this hot weather, ’tis much healthier. 
The people who are desperately in earnest 
are those who do the most good, and bad, in 
this world. 
Pres. Lyon of Michigan, writes us that of 
81 new strawberries which he has planted 
within the year, at least 14 are distinctively 
pistillate?. 
I’d rather get a little less work out of my 
men and beep them good-natured, than a little 
more and have them dissutislicd and li&teful. 
In the long run it is best. 
Better make one more planting of sweet 
corn, it will taste good late, and by putting 
in tbe shock just before frost, will keep in 
good condition a longtime. 
When very bot and exhausted, instead of 
drinking too much cold water, roll up your 
sleeves and take a good wash, wetting well 
up on your wrists. ’Tis wonderfully re¬ 
freshing. 
Now is the time to put out celery plants, 
reads the article on page 318; you can hardly 
have too much of it; it is healthy, handy, 
hearty, and happv is he who has a heap of it 
on hand next Winter for his household use. 
Speak well of your employer, if at all. If 
he becomes insufferable, tell him so and quit 
his service. Speak well of your hired men, it 
at all If they become insufferable, tell them 
so and discharge them. Such a course may 
be helpful to employer and employed. 
The editor of a paper-of a farm paper es¬ 
pecially—is not a good judge of how well he 
Is pleasing his readers. The few who are sat¬ 
isfied praise his work. . The many who may 
be dissatisfied say nothing. Thus the poor 
editor rests in a dangerous repose Tell us, 
good readers, wherein you don t like tbe Ru- 
ral as well as wherein you do. We don t 
want our vanity to interfere with our progress. 
Take "ood care of the old parents; though 
now past active labor, remember how much 
you owe to their care and patience; remem- 
Lr how they watched over and nursed you 
in helpless infancy, and how they have al¬ 
ways rejoiced in your prosperity. Though old 
2 Sl“. for you »nd your lit* cues 
ifi as warm aud as undying as in youth Be 
careful to supply their every want now. so 
that when they are resting under tne sods of 
the valley, you shall have no regrets. The 
worst of all pain is tbe heart-ache. 
