546 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE 
RURAL NLW-YORKLR, 
A National Journal for CouDtry and Suburban flume 
Conducted by 
K. a. CAHMAX, 
Editor. 
J. 8. WOOD WARD, 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1884. 
For the past three seasons, the Snyder 
Blackberry has given us more berries than 
any other kind—and they are in quality 
fully as good as the Kittutinny, with less 
core. We have never yet known a cane 
of tin- Snyder injured by the Winter. 
The berry is not very large, it is true, but 
it is large enough for us. 
Wk have dug our Lee’s Favorite, Van¬ 
guard, Pearl of Savoy, and Vick’s Kxtra 
Early Potatoes, in earliness the Pearl 
and Vick’s are the same—the earliest of 
any potatoes tested this season. The 
Vanguard is a little behind, and Lee’s 
Favorite about a week later. IIow much 
did they yield? We will tell you a little 
later, as" portraits of typical potatoes are 
being drawn. It. happened that Mr. W. 
J. Green, of the Ohio Ex. Station, was 
visiting us at the time that Vick’s and 
Lee’s Favorite were dug. He weighed and 
counted them and estimated the yield, 
which was to a fraction, the same as our 
estimate. Perhaps the “doubting Thom¬ 
ases” will believe Aim. 
Wr are sorry to see that even Mr. J. J. 
Thomas uses the word “stum in ate” to 
designate the perfect (hermaphrodite, or 
bisexual) flowers of straw berries. By 
“pistillate” is meant flowers with pistils 
and without stamens. By “staminatc” is 
(or should be) meant flowers with sta¬ 
mens and without pistils. By “bisexual" 
is meant perfect, flowers, i. e., those with 
both stamens and pistils. Horticultural 
writers and teachers, of all people, should 
not encourage the use of ambiguous or 
erroneous terms. The words “hybrid” 
and “cross” are also by many used as 
synonyms, or interchangeably, and the 
word “superphosphate,” which has a very 
definite signification, is now freely used to 
mean merely a commercial fertilizer, even 
though there is neither phosphate nor su¬ 
perphosphate about it. All such teach¬ 
ings have to be unlearned before readers 
can arrive at a clear understanding of the 
subjects involved. The R. N.-Y. has pro¬ 
tested (alone, we believe,) for years 
against theme of the word “staminate” for 
“bisexual,” or “perfect,” and “hybrid” 
for “cross,” and rice verm, with some ef¬ 
fect, it may be hoped. We now protest 
against the use of the word “superphos¬ 
phate,” except as applied to phosphates 
treated to sulphuric acid. 
- »-» ♦ -- 
SOMK of Ou r Boys want to know whether, 
in the clubs for wheat, we will accept the 
names and money now, and let the sub¬ 
scription commence later. We think 
more of Our Rural Boys than anybody 
(except their mothers), and we want to 
make them bright, intelligent, wide¬ 
awake farmers, deeply interested in their 
work and the farm, and that is why we 
made the offer we did, and wo will 
do almost anything for the boys. So 
send along the names and the money, 
or in case it gets late, the money with¬ 
out the names, and add the names at 
any time; the subscriptions may begin 
whenever the subscribers pleas*. Every 
day we become bettor pleased with the 
Cross-bred Diehl-Mediterranean. We are 
now sure that, treated alike, it will yield 
more than five bushels per acre ahead of 
Clawson by its side, ami then it is worth 
at least ten cents more per bushel for 
milling purposes, and we are very desir¬ 
ous of having it scattered everywhere in 
the winter-wheat growing sections. So, 
boys, although the offer was made only 
for new subscribers, we will receive two 
renewals and count them as one new 
subscriber in the wheat club. Next week 
we will publish cuts made from a good 
head of this new wheat, and have somo- 
thing further to say about it. 
WEEDS AS NITROGEN CONSUMERS. 
Sin .T. B. Lawe« accounts for the ex¬ 
treme injury that growing plants suffer 
from weeds in their vicinity, by stating 
that nitrogen, though so abundant in the 
air, and often plentiful in the soil, is yet 
the greatest need of young plants. They 
can obtain it^only through their’roots, in 
the soluble form of nitric acid—as in any 
■wholesome nitrates. Only a limited sup¬ 
ply of this is formed annually, and only 
at"a temperature of about 55 to 90 deg., 
with due moisture. It soon leaches out 
of the soil if no roots are present to ab¬ 
sorb it, which they do greedily in the 
case of growing plants. Weeds have 
usually the most active roots, and so get 
the lion’s share. When received into the 
plant, it is soon appropriated, and then 
becomes again insoluble, until the struc¬ 
ture is exposed to the conditions that 
favor the nitric ferment, as in a warm 
compost heap, or in the soil during the 
ensuing Spring and Summer. During the 
same season, all that enters the roots of a 
weed is lost to the plant we try to grow. 
Considering how far the roots of all veg¬ 
etation—weeds, grasses and cultivated 
plants—extend, it is evident what loss 
ensues from allowing any sort of plant to 
form roots or leaves to any extent, any¬ 
where near one that we want to see fully 
developed. 
An important deduction is that 
there is necessarily a loss in bare 
fallowing if washing rain occurs before 
the soil is well occupied with the rootH 
of young plants. The free growth after a 
Summer fallow in warm, dry weather, 
is accounted for by this doctrine, and also 
the good crops that follow' dry weather, 
the thin ones that follow heavy rains, and 
the extraordinary crops that are raised in 
regions naturally dry, by using irrigation. 
On some soils there appears to be no lack 
of sufficient annual nitrification, and in 
that case the application of phosphates or 
potash 6hows better results than will there 
follow from atnmoniacal (nitrogenous) ap¬ 
plications. 
The production of this soluble form 
of nitrogen (nitric acid) in the soil, may 
be compared to the production of our 
ordinary foecal manures from animate, 
for the ferment to which it is due bus 
been found to be caused by living organ¬ 
isms. Lime is necessary, Mr. Lhwch says, 
to combine with the acid as fast as it is 
formed, and in this we see a reason for 
the greater usefulness of lime when there 
is also a good supply of vegetable matter 
in the soil. He well compares the plants 
which separate from the mass of soil the 
small proportion of material available for 
use, to miners, who deal with masses of 
earth to extract only the rare portions that 
are valuable to them. 
-♦ • ♦ — 
AN EFFORT TO BREAK THE BRITISH 
CATTLE EMBARGO. 
Although English and Scotch capital¬ 
ists, individually or in syndicates, own a 
large share of the herds in all the great 
Western and South-western cattle raising 
States and Territories, there is none in 
which they hold such a controlling, or 
rather monopolizing interest, as Wyoming 
Territory. Having, as a rule, appropria¬ 
ted vast tracts of the public domain for 
free grazing, and rented or purchased oth¬ 
ers for a song, they have been making large 
profits on their investments, but are de¬ 
sirous of making larger. The restrictions 
on the importation of American cattle iu- 
to the United Kingdom, have been very 
•galling to these men, and lately they have 
been vigorously agitating to secure theirab- 
rogation, not as regards the whole of this 
country, but merely as regards that, single 
Territory in which lie their own interests. 
Mr. Morton-Frewen, one of the greatest of 
the Wyoming cattle kings, who owns 
about 50,000 head of stock in the Terri¬ 
tory, has been the most prominent mover 
in the matter. For the last nine months 
he has been in Great Britain organizing 
the agitation and getting up meetings in 
the towns and various rural districts. He 
insists that the cattle of Wyoming are 
perfectly healthy, and that the most 
stringent precautions are taken to prevent 
the entrance of any disease among the 
herds there. The measure he advocates, 
is the free admission of Wyoming cattle 
into the United Kingdom, on the same 
footing as that on which Canadian cattle 
are now admitted, on condition that they 
shall be transported by way of the Lakes 
and Canada, so as to avoid any possi¬ 
bility of contracting disease on the passage 
to Europe. 
no argues that as cattle arc raised in 
Wyoming for less than one-fourth of what 
the cost would he in England, the unim¬ 
peded importation of stock from that 
country would mean cheap and good meat 
for the masses, while the farmers of Eng¬ 
land and Scotland would make a good 
profit by feeding the animals for a year or 
so, as they would arrive in store con¬ 
dition. He frankly admits that it also 
means an increase of thousands of pounds 
a year in his own income, and a propor¬ 
tionate increase in that of his friends; but 
in this case plilanthrophy and enlightened 
self-interest go hand in hand, and he 
looks upon the large amount of money he 
has already spent, on the agitation as a 
splendid investment. 
A fortnight ago a deputation of land- 
owners from Forfarshire, Scotland, waited 
upon Lord Carlingford, President of the 
Council, to urge the measure advocated 
by Mr. Frewen, and a week ago a larger 
and more influential deputation, headed 
by the Earl of Wamcliffe, and backed by 
a letter from the Marquis of Lome, late 
Governor-General of Canada, called on 
him for the same purpose. The argu¬ 
ments which Mr. Frewen has been present¬ 
ing to the operatives and farmers were 
strongly pressed upon his attention, and 
he promised to consider them carefully, 
and to submit them to the Privy Council ; 
but said that the conditions under which 
the cattle might be admitted would be a 
question beset by numerous difficulties. 
In Canada opinions appear to be divid¬ 
ed on the matter. The railroads, stock¬ 
yards and steamship companies favor it, 
as they would secure a large increase of 
business; but some of the cattle owners 
appear to fear the results of competition, 
though they disguise this fear under the 
semblance of a dread of contagion; but as 
for a long time past cattle have been trans¬ 
ported from one part of the United States 
t.0 another through Canada, and that too 
from sections more exposed to contagion 
than the North-west, what increase of risk 
can be incurred by carrying them through 
the Dominion from one part of the United 
States to Great Britain? In the present 
condition of society, it is impossible for 
any person to benefit himself by any con¬ 
siderable enterprise without benefiting 
others also, and however selfish Mr. 
Frewonste motives may be, if lie accom¬ 
plishes liis object, the cattle owners of 
the entire North-west must he gainers; 
for what even plausible reason could be 
given for excluding cattle from Mon¬ 
tana or Dakota while admitting those 
from Wyoming? Even should cattle from 
Wyoming exclusively lie admitted, that 
Territory would soon he the converging 
center of stock from all the surrounding 
country, which would all be shipped as 
Wyoming cattle. 
LET 118 HAVE HONEST MONEY. 
The division of productive industry in¬ 
to specialties adapted to different coun¬ 
tries and conditions, created a necessity 
for some universally recognized standard 
of value, by which the relative values of 
each product could be measured, and 
which should at the same time be receiv¬ 
ed by each nation as the medium of ex¬ 
change. Not to go beyond our own coun¬ 
try : the grain growers of the North-west, 
the manufacturers of f he East, the sugar 
and cotton growers of the South, and the 
meat and wool growers of the South-west, 
cannot meet to barter or exchange pro¬ 
ductions ; but by having a monetary stand¬ 
ard of agreed value, which each is will¬ 
ing to accept; each sells his surplus and 
buys what he wishes at his own home, 
paying a share of the cost of transporta¬ 
tion and exchange. 
Animals and their dried skins, shells, 
beads, and other curious or worthless 
things have been used by isolated nations 
as such measure of value. But the exten¬ 
sion of commerce between nations, render¬ 
ed necessary a standard acceptable to all, 
and which each was willing to receive, 
which should bo unvarying in itself. Such 
standard, as a matter of course, could not 
bean article of manufacture, but must be 
a natural product; it must be unchangea¬ 
ble by time and not destructible by the 
elements; of little or no economic use, 
and not likely to be found in sufficient 
quantities to become objectionably abun¬ 
dant. Gold alone seems to meet all these 
requirements, and is now universally ac¬ 
cepted by civilized nations as the stand¬ 
ard. Although each may have a coinage 
of shape and value to suit its own con¬ 
venience, all are founded on, and meas¬ 
ured by the weight and purity of the gold 
contained. While gold is really of little 
or no economical use to man, and there¬ 
fore has no intrinsic value, it is the “le¬ 
gal tender" of the world. The price put 
upon it. is arbitrary. By common con¬ 
sent, a grain of gold is received at a fixed 
value, a ‘ffiatic” value, accepted as its 
purchasing power, and each nation ou 
this basis constructs a unit of value. We 
call it a dollar; the English, a pouud; the 
French, a franc, etc., each having its own 
subdivisions, multiples, and nomenclature. 
Silver has many of the requisites; but, 
is found in such abundance and is of so 
much use in mechanics and the arts, that 
it has become an article of commerce, and 
its value is continually fluctuating, con¬ 
sequently it can never become a monetary 
standard, and though adopted by some 
nations—among which is our own—as a 
subsidiary coin, it can never be forced in¬ 
to universal circulation. The various 
forms of hills, gold, and silver certificates, 
etc., whether issued by the banks or the 
National Government, are not in them¬ 
selves ffitney ,though by common consent in 
the case of banks, and by force of law, 
with the greenback, we accept them as a 
medium of exchange, ami so long as 
the banks, and the nation are able to give 
us gold for them when presented, they 
are of as much use as the actual money 
and much more convenient in all home 
transactions. 
The expediency of legislating to the 
greenback its legal tender value, we do 
not propose to discuss; but when Con¬ 
gress, at the dictation of a few silver pro¬ 
ducers. legislates to compel the people to 
receive a eoinfor a greater than its int rin¬ 
sic value, it is simply an outrage on the 
people and entitled to he called by its true 
name —public rothery. To be sure, Con¬ 
gress has the right to coin money, but it 
has no more right, to issue 85 cents’ worth, 
more or less, of silver, and compel the 
people to receive it as a dollar, than it has 
to compel them to receive 12 ounces of 
any commodity and pay for a pound, or 
nine hours of labor, and pay for a day. 
Gold is worth what. it. weighs; even 
though it may have been coined and in 
circulation, every man has the right to 
question its vaiue, .and demand that it 
should be weighed; and nobody can be 
compelled to accept any that is of light 
weight. Not so in the case of the silver; 
about 85 cents’ worth is put in shape, re¬ 
ceives the stamp of the “buzzard,” and 
every one is compelled to receive it in any 
quantity, even though fully knowing 
that he is being robbed and swindled in 
so doing. Suppose a person receives a 
quantity of gold coin, and by some mis¬ 
hap it encounters the fire and becomes 
fused into a lump: little matter how hot 
the fire, he still has his treasure undimin- 
islied in value, save the small cost of re- 
coinage. Not so with the “buzzards;” 
passing through the fire, they must be sold 
as silver for the intrinsic value of the mol¬ 
ten mass, and the unfortunate owner finds 
himself the loser of one-seventh of his 
wealth. For shame on such a Govern¬ 
ment! Eternal disgrace is due lo every 
legislator who would lend himself to such 
a dishoneBt scheme! Why is it, that such 
disgraceful and dangerous laws are per¬ 
mitted to blot the statute hooks? Can it 
be possible that American legislators are 
so low as to traffic in the nation’s shame? 
Let us see to it that true men are elected, 
who will at once purge us of so vile a 
law. We want honest money; money 
that, like integrity, will endure and re¬ 
tain its value, even when tried so as by 
fire! 
-*-*-♦- 
BREVITIES. 
Read Mrs. Wager-Fisher’s Transcontinental 
Letters. 
The James Vick Strawberry has not done 
well with us the past season. 
Our friend Mr. Waring, of Tvronne, Fa., 
says that the Rural has excelled itself of late. 
Why don’t alt of our small fruit nursery¬ 
men tell, In their catalogues, which strawber¬ 
ries, raspberries, grapes, &c.. arc early, me¬ 
dium and late? That is one thing that buyers 
want to know. 
Try a handful of nitrate of soda on two 
hills of late sweet com. Spread it on evenly 
and rake it in. You will tee a difference in 
the color of the leaves in tw o days after the 
first shower, if your laud needs nitrogen. 
July 30. At this time the Superb is yield¬ 
ing more than any other of the many kinds of 
raspberries at the Rural Grounds. The plauts 
are growing beside the Marlboro and Hansel), 
which have passed the fruiting season. The 
berries are large and welt-formed. 
We wish to impress the Rural’s opinion— 
a mere opinion, several tiines expressed already 
—that pistillate strawberries are not mate¬ 
rially influenced in shafte or flavor by the her¬ 
maphrodites which fertilize them. The sub¬ 
ject will, no doubt, afford a good chance for 
long drawn-out discussions at our horticultural 
gatherings, and for column after column of 
talk in our farm papers. A little careful ex¬ 
perimenting would settle the question. Let us 
have the experiments. 
The papers have been lately telling us of 
machines being largely taken into use in the 
case of some of the workmen’s strikes, leav¬ 
ing hundreds of rucu hopeless of further em¬ 
ploy. What are they to do? A man trained 
as every farmer is, to the meeting of all sorts 
of exigencies—doing all sorts of work, keep¬ 
ing iu order and using a variety of machines, 
caring for many sorts of stock—has so many 
resources that sometimes he actually loses by 
flitting from one to the other, before draining 
the profit each is capable of giving. But fac¬ 
tory-hands and clerks are, for the most part, 
confiued to a few unvarying movements hour 
after hour and day after day, and are cut off 
from even seeing how other work is done. 
Young uieu w ho have any chance of working 
with Nuture on a farm, should think twice 
before they cage themselves iu a factory, or 
even in a store or clerk’s office. The needed 
dollars may be very much slower in coming 
to hand at the first, but a brave, well trained, 
healthful, resolute youth can endure some 
waiting when sure of ultimate results. 
