846 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
tup: 
RURAL NLW'YORKLR. 
K National Journal for Country unrl Suburban llo.n 
Conducted by 
K. H. CAIIMAN, 
J. 8. WOOCWAKI), 
Associate. 
Ad dres* 
THU RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6,1884. 
TO SUBSCRIBERS who desire to 
compete for the Rural presents, let us 
say that in order to aid them in ob 
taining subscriptions, we will send 
specimens of the R. N -Y, to any of 
their friends for one, two or three 
weeks postpaid, without charge. Let 
them examine it, compare it with other 
journals, judge for themselves and— 
subscribe through you. 
4 ♦♦ - — 
Christmas Presents. The Rural 
New-Yorker to your rural friends. 
Rural New-Yorker posters are now 
ready. If you have not. already received 
them, kindly notify us. 
It may seem incredible to some that 
one of the experiment plots at Rothamsted 
has produced 40 crops of wheat in succes¬ 
sion, averaging 14 bushels per aero, with¬ 
out the application of fertilizer or manure 
of any kind. 
We shall be able the present season to 
give the promptest attention to subscrip¬ 
tions sent to us for the Rural incombina 
tion with either the Inter Ocean or Detroit 
Free Free—und we would thank our read¬ 
ers to subscribe through us, as we desire 
to send those two excellent papers more 
subscribers than they send to us. 
Applications for lower than our pub¬ 
lished rates of advertising need not be 
made to us. We had rather lose our ad¬ 
vertising patronage than to depart from 
those rates. Our plan is that one good 
advertiser is entitled to the same rates as 
another. Advertising rates of the Rural 
New-Yorker are already too low. 
Dr. La wes thinks that the loss of ni¬ 
tric acid by being washed out of the soil, 
is greater in wet than in dry seasons. Dry 
seasons, therefore, are favorab le for the 
production of large crops of wheat. He 
further says that when far m 3 aid dung Is 
employed to grow' wheat, a considerably 
larger amount of nitrogen must be applied 
to produce a given increase in the crop, 
as much of the nitrogen contained in the 
dung is not in an active form. 
■ -»♦» 
Our farm Contemporaries tell 11 s that 
we cannot raise large yields of potatoes 
by the Rural’s method upon considera¬ 
ble areas. Perhaps we can’t. We are 
preparing to test the question—and upon 
a soil that, without fertilizer or manure, 
will not, according to our already record¬ 
ed experiments, yield over 150 bushels to 
the acre. Now we have committed our¬ 
selves and, whatever the result, our read¬ 
ers shall have it. next Summer. We pro¬ 
pose to invite all the farmers of the land 
to come and dig the potatoes and estimate 
the yield. 
♦ »» 
It may occur that some of our subscrib¬ 
ers will be entitled to certain presents for 
their clubs while they may prefer others, 
though perhaps of less value. After the 
presents shall have been awarded, we may 
be able to place such subscribers in com¬ 
munication with one another, so that a 
satisfactory exchange may be brought 
about. Our friends will please bear in 
mind that in the event of our receiving 
more clubs than we have presents, our 
regular Premium-List will be available 
all the same. This is scaled to pay them 
at. the rate of 50 cents per subscriber, as 
they will see by examining the list. But 
we do not look for this at all. A large 
proportion of our subscribers are so placed 
that they can make no systematic effort 
to obtain subscriptions. From such of 
our friends we have merely to solicit a 
kindly word for the Rural and, perhaps, 
one new subscription with their own. 
This would aid us materially in our earn¬ 
est efforts to increase our circulation and 
influence for another year. Our efforts to 
do good in this way are as disinterested 
as such efforts can be. So, good friends, 
don’t forget the Rural. 
BE PROMPT 
One of the most prevalent habits into 
which men are in danger of falling is the 
want of promptness, and the habit once 
acquired, tapiely gTows upon one until 
he seems to adopt as a motto “Never do 
to-day anything that, can be conveniently 
put off till to-morrow.” If he has an 
engagement, he never starts until the 
time appointed for the meeting, and then 
he finds the other party entirely out of 
humor, or disgusted and gone. And no 
one is more liable to fall into this habit 
than the farmer. Nature’s methods are 
so slow aud regular, that he seems to im¬ 
bibe the notion that there is no hurry; 
that what would be well to have done 
now, will be just us well if done to-mor¬ 
row. He simply lets things go till he 
has a convenient time to attend to them. 
Thus it is that we see so many crops just 
planted when they ought to be cultivated, 
and so much grain standing when it is 
time it was thrashed. The consequence 
is the late corn is not quite ripe when the 
frost comes, and the grain is injured by 
over-ripening, and liable to be injured 
by the late rains before it is secured. 
Monied institutions are quite reluctant 
to accommodate farmers or handle their 
paper on account of their forgetfulucss 
of the importance of promptly meeting 
their obligations at maturity, and the 
farmer wonders why he cannot get the 
accommodation as easily as his trading 
neighbor who is not worth half as much 
money, but who makes a point of always 
being prompt. 
In no place do farmer folk show this 
habit more than in their daily lives, and 
especially in responding to the signal for 
their meals. We have seen a farmer, with 
his force of men just started on a row of 
corn 40 or more rods long just, as the din¬ 
ner signal was displayed, and instead of 
at once resending when called, persist in 
hoeing the entire distance across the field, 
taking au hour or more, all the time keep¬ 
ing his wife and daughters waiting, and 
the dinner getting odd. The fact is “we 
men” get the impression that women’s 
work and women’s time are of but little 
account, amt so we are extremely care 
less of needlessly wasting both. We have 
seen the master of the place stop to finish 
some piece of work at which he was en¬ 
gaged before responding to the dinner 
signal, and not only keep his “women 
folk” waiting, but keep eight, men and 
five tpams waiting each a whole hour, not 
even stopping to think what a direct loss 
this occasioned himself bi s des annoying 
his wife. Not long since we saw a man 
stop to write letters, keeping his family 
waiting more than hour. 
These things are not done to annoy or 
hinder; they are the results of this per¬ 
nicious habit of procrastination, the re¬ 
sult. of mere thoughtlessness, aud yet they 
arc just as irritating to those kept wait 
ing, just as injurious to all concerned. 
“Promptness is profitable in all things,” 
and in nothing more so than in the house¬ 
hold. It also is largely the result of 
habit, and the habit, when once formed, 
makes it. as easy to be always on time as 
to be an hour or more behind. It should 
be an invariable rule, when we make au 
engagement to let nothing but uncon- 
tiollable events prevent our being at the 
appointed place promptly on time. No¬ 
thing so much benefits a man’s credit as 
never to seek an accommodation; but 
when we give any obligation we should 
meet it promptly when dun. And above 
all things, we should be prompt in our 
own homes; when our good wives have 
the meals prepared and give us the signal, 
we should be promptly on hand, so a*, not 
to cause them unnecessary labor or delay. 
Their work is really more tiresome and 
exacting than ours; their duties are more 
numerous and their time moio closely 
tilled than outs, and we should not be so 
thoughtless or unmindful of their con¬ 
venience and comfort as to keep them 
unnecessarily waiting, and, besides, if we 
think but a moment we shall see that it 
not only takes no ruore time to go to our 
meals at one time than at another; in 
fact, if promptness is the rule, and all so 
understand it, aud go at once on the signal 
given, the aggregate time spent wull be 
very greatly reduced. Besides all this, 
by being always prompt ourselves, we 
teach our children this invaluable lesson, 
and unconsciously they acquire the habit; 
and, further, where this rule is strictly 
insisted upon it has its effect even upon 
the hired help, and they become more 
prompt in every way; and nothing so 
much adds to any man’s efficiency as being 
always in the right place at the right 
time. Promptness should be one of the 
first requirements on every farm. 
THE NEW RECIPROCITY TREATY. 
The treaty of commercial reciprocity 
between the United States and Spain for 
Cuba and Porto Rico, lately signed at 
Madrid, but which has yet to be confirm¬ 
ed by the United States Senate, is the 
most complete reciprocity treaty ever 
negotiated by our Government, as it em¬ 
braces not only the exchange of products, 
but places the vessels of both nations 
trading between this country and either 
of the islands, on the same footing as 
national vessels engaged in the coasting 
trade. its provisions, if it is confirmed, 
will have a serious influence on two im¬ 
portant agricultural industries of this 
country—sugar and tobacco production. 
A clause in it, not in any other treaty, 
admits from Cuba and Porto Rico, duty 
free, sugar not above No. 10 Dutch 
standard, molasses, coffee, dye, and other 
wood*, cacoa, fruits, vegetables, and 
some other products, and also manufac¬ 
tured tobacco at a reduction of 50 per 
cent, of the present, tariff; but this must 
pay internal revenue taxes. 
In return for these concessions Cuba 
and Porto Rico admit, free of duty, all 
kinds of meat, lard, butter, cheese, fish, 
and grains lrom this country, as well as 
meal, flours (wheat flour excepted), vege¬ 
tables, fruits, all kinds of agricultural 
machines, cotton, wool, all sorts of live 
stock, together with a long list of Other 
raw and manufactured goods. Tn the 
duty on win at fi>ur there will be a reduc¬ 
tion of $8 a barrel, imports from this 
country being on the same footing as 
those from Spain, which has hitherto had 
a monopoly in suppljing the islands with 
this article. Of the $92,000,000 worth 
of sugar and molasses imported into this 
country last year, two-thirds come from 
Cuba aud Porto Rico, while nearly all the 
manufactured tobacco imported came 
from Cuba. 
Of course, under a treaty of this liberal 
character, the trade between this country 
and those two islands would increase 
enormously, especially if similar terms 
are not. granted to England, Germany 
and other nations, w r ho now supply the 
islands with most of their imports. Spain, 
however, has with most of these coun¬ 
tries commercial treaties containing a 
“most favored nation” clause, in which 
she stipulates to extend to them, in Cuba 
and Porto Rico, all the favors which 
she may concede to any other nation, 
and although there is a special stipulation 
in the treaty that this clause must be in¬ 
terpreted to mean that such favors should 
be extended only on condition of recip¬ 
rocity like that with this country, still it 
is a very general opinion that if the treaty 
is confirmed, other countries will soon 
share all the advantages it. concedes to us. 
In that case, having to meet the same 
competition as now, our trade would not 
be much greater, and at present the ad¬ 
vantages are enormously on the side of 
Culm and Porto Rico; for we buy from 
them more than four times the amount 
they buy from us, our exports to Cuba last 
year being only about $17,000,000, while 
our imports were over $70,000,000 Near¬ 
ly all the benefits of this treaty will be se¬ 
cured by the manufacturers of this country, 
who will gaiu wider aud more profitable 
markets for their goods; while all its dis¬ 
advantages will fall to the lot of our agri¬ 
culturists, as it imposes on them a ruin¬ 
ous competition in at least two important 
industries. 
Even in spite of the piesent “protec¬ 
tive” duties on imported sugar and to¬ 
bacco, the producers of cane sugar in 
Louisiana, and of sorghum sugar in Illi¬ 
nois and Kansas, find the business un¬ 
profitable or ruinous; while the tobacco- 
growers of Connecticut are agitating for 
higher duties on Sumatra wrappers, 
those of Virginia, North Carolina, Ken¬ 
tucky, and other States, aie earnestly 
protesting not only agaiust the present 
treatv with Spain, but also agamst that 
negotiated some monthsago with Mexico, 
which would admit tobacco from that 
countrv free of duty. A telegram from 
New Orleans tells us that the Senators 
from Louisiana and the other eane-sugar 
producing States will vigorously oppose 
the confirmation of the new treaty, un¬ 
less provisions are made to compensate 
the sugar growers for the losses they must 
incur by it. The quantity of cane-sugar 
produced in this country, mostly in Lou¬ 
isiana, is usually about 10 per cent, of 
the whole amount consumed here. Under 
the revised tariff, the dutie« on imp rted 
sugar last year amounttd to 50.26 of the 
aggregate value of ail our imports. In 
round numbers, this would amount to be¬ 
tween forty and forty-five million dollars, 
while the domestic production of cane 
sugar was not over eleven million dollars’ 
wortn. so that a tax of over forty million 
dollars was imposed on the people for the 
“protection” of the producers of eleven 
million dollars’ worth. It is proposed 
therefore by some to consent to the free 
admission of sugar, provided an adequate 
bounty be given, from the National Treas¬ 
ury, to our home augur-growers, just as 
New Jersey is now giving a bounty to the 
producers of sorghum sugar. This would 
amount to about five million dollars a 
year; the decrease of revenue due to the 
treaty would ho about forty million dol¬ 
lars a year; with a decrease of forty-five 
to fifty million dollars in the annual rev¬ 
enue surplus, it would not be so unman¬ 
ageable as it is at present, and there would 
be no immediate necessity for tinkering 
with the tariff. But the tobacco-growers— 
how are they to be satisfied? Aud those of 
Connecticut warn all farmers that they 
are interested in tlie success of the tobac¬ 
co growers, since if the latter are driven 
into other branches of agriculture, the 
competition will be keener and the prices 
of their products will, very likely, be 
depreciated. 
« ♦» 
BREVITIES. 
The French doll advertisement neglects to 
state that the dolls are paper. 
Speaking of green crops to turn under, 
how would Prickley Comfrey answer# This 
is said to be very rich in all nutrient quali¬ 
ties. 
One of the conditions of success of the farm 
journals of the future will be that the editors 
are farmers—and another condition will be 
that they love their neighbors as they love 
themselves. 
Dm you know that it pays well to buy soap, 
whether for laundry or toilet use. oue year 
before unng it? Store it in a dry. warm 
room. It becomes hard and doe* not waste 
half as much as when used fresh. 
Our faithful old subscribers should renew 
at once and send us at least one subscriber 
each. Have you read our offer to subscribers 
ulonot If u more kindly, liberal, true offer 
bus been made by any publisher, we do not 
know it. 
There is no objection to sowing any com¬ 
mercial fertilizers in the Fall, that ure com¬ 
posed of potash and phosphoric acid. These 
remain in the toil until exhausted by the 
crops. Nitrogen, or ammonia salts, should be 
sown in the Spring. Remember this. 
We have been scattering a slight mulch of 
old farm manure upon our special wheat 
plots, as the soil bus beau frozen on the sur¬ 
face. The leaves have been gathered and 
placed about the raspberries and grape vines, 
holding them in place by potato and tomato 
haulms and the like. 
Wk aro glad to see a portait of Milton 
George, the editor of the Western Rural and 
Stockman, in la e t month’s Farm Journal, it 
is an excellent likeness. Mr. George has done 
good work in opposing monopolies of all 
kinds, and in exposing many ot the frauds 
imposed upon the farming community. 
If you want to produce tuheroses of a 
beautiful rose color, insert ll.c Bower stems 
in analine dvu of that shade The stems do 
not so readily absorb other colors. One of the 
leading N Y. florists, upon first seeing such 
tuberoses, readily believed that a rose-colored 
variety had been produced. 
Do you think we can’t produce under the 
Rural method, u large crop of potatoes on a 
pool' soil, upon au acre instead of upon plots? 
Let ns see about that. W'e have done it with 
corn, and we propose to try it with potatoes. 
And so we commit ourselves in advance. The 
R. N.-Y. for 1886 means business. 
Since their late disastrous fire, the Newark 
Machine Co. have removed to Columbus, Ohio, 
and have occupied the large Gill cur works, 
which have been refitted w ith new machinery 
and tools for the construction of Victor clover 
hullers, grain drills, hay rakes, fanning mills 
and feed cutters We hope that good luck 
may attend them in this step. 
YOU should not forget how easy it is for 
you to make any friend a present of the Ru¬ 
ral for one month. All you have to do is to 
renew your subscription for 1885 now, and 
order the Rural for tho balance of vour year 
to be sent to that friend IVe shall be glad to 
accommodate you. aud it niav make friends of 
bim and u«. Is it not worth trying? 
Secretary Chamberlain, in criticing us 
for our strictures upon the “course of the 
kmg’’says: “It makes even a dog good na- 
CUi-ed to kick him.” Well, we never were adog, 
and so can’t sav as to the effect of kick ing upon 
his nature; but where the dog deserves the 
kicking, you can bet your bottom dollar that 
giviug it" to him makes a better dog of him. 
What we are after is to reform the dog, not 
to tickle him. 
It seems highly probable that before the 
close of another decade, the United States will 
bp the greatest wine-producing country on the 
*lobe In 1870. the production of wine here 
was estimated at 8,000,000 gallons; now it is 
nut at 30.u00.000, aud in ten years more it will 
certainly be 100,000.000 France is now the 
leading’wine-producing country, but it does 
uot contain any wore laud ?-uitable for grape 
culture than California; while tbe Piedmont 
Slope, including much of Virginia and the 
Carolinas, and also a great deal of Georgia 
and the Indian Territory would make excell¬ 
ent vineyards, to say nothing of the Hudson 
River Valley, and several other more limited 
areas here and there throughout tbe country'. 
