828 
THE BUBAL WEW-YOBKEB. 
DEG 18 
producer, and his decided opinions cannot be 
obtained in one, two, or perhaps three seasons, 
and when they are given they will be based 
upon the actual merits of the article. 
Now, about the merits of the Marlboro: It 
has proved hardy thus fur: it has good color; 
its si ze is fair; its productiveness is abundant; 
it is a good keeper; but its quality and flavor 
are medium; its tendency to sucker is alarm¬ 
ing to the cultivator. (One of the patches to 
which I gave attention was just like a field of 
grass; the vines stood so thick that a person 
could hardly get through them.) Its tendency 
to ripen Its crop close together, and its liabi¬ 
lity to drop from the core if loft too long, are 
qualities which tend to militate against it. 
Its greatest misfortune Is the present contro¬ 
versy as to its quality and flavor, forced by 
Mr. Cay wood's attack on Mr. Downing. It Is 
unwise for an originator to lay claim to merits 
which his product does not possess, for the 
truth will soon bo fouud out and acknowledg¬ 
ed. As Hr Caywood says, the Rural is 
fearless and proverbial for truth, let the truth 
be told though the heavens fall. 
Mountainville, N. Y. j. r. iiawkins. 
THE KING HUMBERT TOMATO. 
I BEE that In the next Pree-t>eed Distribution 
the King Humbert Tomato will be sent out. I 
have raised the variety this year, haviug sent 
to Erfurt, Germany, for seed. Instead of 
overdrawing its good qualities, I tbiuk the 
Rural does it an injustice by not s-iylng a 
great deal more in its favor. W ttb tne the to¬ 
matoes grew in clusters, there being from five 
to flfteen in a cluster, uud they are beautiful 
to look at. A groat advantage in them is that 
there is not one-tenth as much foliage as in the 
common kinds; the fruit also contains not 
more than one*fifth as much acid We have 
made some Into sour and sweet pickles and 
preserves. For this purpose they are speci¬ 
ally good, as there Is so Utile acid in them, 
which makes them much less liable to sour. 
Long Pine, Neb. R w. b. 
Soculifs, etc. 
THE GREAT ST. LOUIS CATTLEMEN’S 
CONVENTION. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Tiie cattlemen’s eouvonilou which opened 
at St. Louts, on Monday. November 17tb, and 
closed on Saturday, November 22od, was by 
far the largest assemblage of representative 
stockmen that ever met in this or any other 
country. About 1,200 delegates were present, 
representing nearly all the Western States 
and Territories and several Eastern States as 
well as Canada, England, Scotland and Mex¬ 
ico. It could scarcely be called national, how¬ 
ever, in character, as it essentially represented 
rangemen’s interests, and acting upon the 
principle that its object was. first and fore¬ 
most, to promote these iuteresta, the Com¬ 
mittee on Credentials shut out or cut dowu 
all dedegatiuus uot directly identified with the 
grazing Interests, so as to prevent the range- 
men from being outvoted. With this end in 
view the Committee, with Gen. Brisbiu at its 
head, reduced the representation of Short 
horn breeders from 125 to 20, of the American 
Agricultural Societies from 57 to 20, and took 
similar action witn regard to all delegations 
which might in any way antagonize the in¬ 
terests of the vast live stock corp >ratlons and 
cattle kings of the plains ami the prairies. 
Those were represented in great force and 
ruled the meeting. The Wyoming Stock 
Growers’ Association, contuiuiug 14 smaller 
organizations, the wealthiest cattle company 
in the world, owning over 2,000.000 head of 
stock, beside vast herds of horses, and worth 
over 850 000,000, appeared to be somewhat 
out of favor,as it was supposed to be identified 
with the national live-stock association re¬ 
cently formed at Chicago. Next to this, the 
largest and richest association represented 
was the Texas Live-Stock Association which 
exteuds nearly all over the Lone Star State, 
embracing in its membership a large number 
of wbat arc known as district associations. 
William Lambert, its Secretary, stated that 
the association owns a tuiLlion head of cattle, 
the same number of sheep, and 450,000 horses, 
and that a moderate estimate of its property 
would be $45.000,000. The largest of the dis¬ 
trict organizations composing it, is the South¬ 
ern Texas Livestock Association, which owns 
420,000 head of cattle, 350,000 horses and a large 
number of sheep, all valued at over $9,000,000, 
besides 4 650.000 acres of land valued at $11,- 
625 000. making its entire property worth $21,- 
000,000. It employs 1.5U0 men as herders. 
The other large district associations are the 
North-we6t Texas Cattle Rai-ers’ Association; 
the Colorado and Brazos Cattlemen’s Associa¬ 
tion; the ran-Handle Livestock Association, 
and the Colorado Cnoneho Stock Association, 
all of which o wh immense herds and sent large 
delegations to the Convention, in which 
Texas stock interests had decidedly most in¬ 
fluence. Seven New Mexican Associations 
were represented, the largest of which was the 
Northern New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation, whose range practically covers Col fax, 
Mora, and San Miguel Counties, and embraces 
15,000,000 acres, on which 800,000 head of cat¬ 
tle graze, besides large numbers of horses. 
Other New Mexican associations represented, 
were the Aqua Caliente, with 240,(M.M.t head of 
cattle, and a capital of $2,500,000; the Wagon 
Mound Association, with a capital of 12,000,- 
000 and 170,000 head of cattle; the Lincoln 
County Association with 400.000 bead of cat¬ 
tle and a capital of $8,000,000, and the Cen¬ 
tral New Mexico Association with 600,000 
head of cattle, aud a capital of $6,(MX),000. In 
the ranges owned or controlled by St. Louis 
men, with headquarters in that city, the 
largest interest is that of Hunter & Kvuns, 
cattle dealers, which embraces several ranches 
in Texas, the Indian Territory, Kansas, and 
Nebraska. These aggregate 11.464,000 acres, 
and on them there are 286,000 head of cattle. 
Col Hunter was the chief mover in bringing 
together and organizing the convention. Sev¬ 
eral other private concerns from different 
parts of the West and South west represented 
much larger interests. 
The early part of the week was spent in discus¬ 
sions in the convention and committee work; 
aud it was not until Thursday, November 20, 
that the Committee on Permanent Organiza¬ 
tion reported a constitution and by lawB for 
the proposed national organization. This is 
to be called the National Association of Cat¬ 
tle and Horse Growers of the United States, 
and was organized with 600 members. Col, 
R. I). Hunter of St. Louis, was elected Presi 
dent for the ensuing year; Mr. A. T. Atwater, 
of St. Louis. Secretary, aud E. C. Moore, of 
the same place, Treasurer. One Vice-Presi¬ 
dent for each State and Territory was chosen 
as follows;—Alaska, John F. Kincaid; Ala¬ 
bama, J. J. Barclay; Arizona.H. C. Hooker; 
Colorado, A. M Pryor, Peublo: California, 
J. A. Hardiu, Santa Rosa; Delaware, John 
G Baker; Dakota, J. L. Wood, Rapid City; 
Dominion of Canada. W. B. Ives, Prescott, 
Ont ; Iowa, Justin Clark, Red Oak; Indian 
Territory, D. W, Bushy head, Tahlequab; 
Illinois, Elmer Washburn, Chicago; Idano, 
Charles Hermann; Kansas, Arthur Gorham, 
Kinsmick; Kentucky, B. V. Groom; Louisi 
ana, J. D. Snaplrs; Maryland, J. L McAtee; 
Missouri, Leverett Leonard; Mexico, H. M. 
Mundy, Chihuahua; New York, Dudley Mil 
ler; Nevada, Geo. Russell, Elko; Nebraska, 
F. I). Meserve; New Hampshire,-Cook; 
New Mexico, W. T. Thompson; Oregon, T. M. 
Overteldt, Kansas City; Pennsylvania, W. 
B. Roberts, Titusville; Texas, Judge Carroll. 
The followiug gentlemen were elected mem¬ 
bers of the Executive Committee:—O. M. 
Bradley, Raton, N M.; Mark W. Dunham, 
Wayne, III.; J- L, Brush, Greeley, Col.; N. H. 
A. Mason, San Francisco, Cal.; Wm. J. Pol¬ 
lock, Ponca, Agency, I. T.; E. R Lane, San 
Antonio, Tex.; J. W. Hamilton, Wellington, 
Kan.; Gen. J. S. Brisbin, Boise City, Idaho; 
A. H. Swan, Cheyenne, W. T.; Richard Gen¬ 
try, Kansas City, Mo.; H. W. Salmon, 
Clinton, Mo.; H. M. Mundy, Chihauhaua, 
Mexico; D. F. Duncan, New York; B. B. 
Groom, Lexington, Ky.; Johu T. Lytel. Ly- 
tel. Tex. These were divided Into sub-com- 
mittees on Leasing Lands; Branding, aud 
Foreign Trade. 
The object of the association is declared to 
be to promote the interests of the live stock 
Industry, and it is open to any individual 
directly interested in this Industry on payment 
of $6 initiation fee; and to all associations on 
payment of $15, with annual dues of $2.50for 
individuals, and $7,50 for associations. An¬ 
nual meetings are to be held on the fourth Mon¬ 
day of each November. The basis of repre¬ 
sentation in the convention was fixed at one 
vote for each member; three for each associa¬ 
tion, and one at-large for each State aud Ter¬ 
ritory duly accredited by the Governor. Pro¬ 
vision is also made to admit delegates accred¬ 
ited by the regular association in Mexico and 
Canada. St. Louis was fixed upon as the place 
for the meeting of the next convention. 
Besides the organization of a permanent 
association, the work of the convention was 
embodied in u series of resolutions to be pre¬ 
sented to Congress by a committee of nine, ap¬ 
pointed for that purpose, and who w ill prob¬ 
ably do a good deal of lobbying in Washing¬ 
ton this Winter. In order to prevent infec¬ 
tion from Texas fever during the passage 
north of cattle from the region in which the 
germs of the disease find a permanent home.it 
is proposed to memorialize Congress "to open 
establish and maintain a National Stock Trail, 
beginning at some point on the Red River and 
extending thence in a north or northwest 
direction to the north line of the United 
States.” This is to be six miles wide, narrow¬ 
ing at intervals to 100 feet so that, bridges can 
be built over it for the passage of cattle from 
one side to the other without incurring any 
risk of infection. The proposition really is to 
induce Congress, the railroads and the vari¬ 
ous States and Territories through which it 
would pass, to cede to a gigantic cattle sj ndi- 
cate a belt six miles wide from Texas to the 
British possessions. Only public land is asked 
from the National and State Governments, 
but they are asked to "condemn” wbat private 
property may lie within the trail, which would 
be over 1,0(KI miles long and comprise more 
than 23,500,000 acres—a most valuable grant 
for a private corporation which would at once 
have a monopoly of inestimable value. An¬ 
other resolution which was passed after a 
long and acrimonious debate, memorializes 
Congress to permit the leasing of the "arid 
lauds” west of the 08th meridian in large 
tracts and for a long term of years for graz¬ 
ing purposes. This was supported on the 
ground that the lands are unfit for tillage; 
that if given security of occupation, stock- 
men would sink wells and make other im¬ 
provements that would triple the present 
grazing capacity of the ranges; and that even 
at a rental of one cent an acre the rev¬ 
enue to the Government would amount to 
$12,000,000 a year, whereas now it gets 
nothing. It was opposed on the ground that 
if a law to this effect were passed, it would 
nullify the provisions of the preemption and 
homestead acts; chock the settlement of the 
country ; be ruinous to poor settlers and small 
herdsmen; give vast principalities of the pub¬ 
lic domuin to capitalists aud foreign syndi¬ 
cates, and make the rich richer and the poor 
poorer. The cattle kings, however, rode 
rough shod over all opposition, and passed the 
resolution after excepting Utah and Idaho 
from its scope. 
A resolution requesting the Secretary of the 
Interior to confine Indians to their reserva¬ 
tions; another favoring the building of a rail¬ 
road by Btockmen, the line to extend from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; another de¬ 
manding improvement in the veterinary ser¬ 
vice of the United States, and yet another 
urging that the head of the Department of 
Agriculture should have a seat in the Cabinet, 
were passed with little or no opposition, A 
Conference Committee from the National 
Stock Growers’ Association of America, lately 
forun-d at Chicago, tried in vain to effect a 
consolidation of both organizations. The con¬ 
trolling power iu the convention did not wish 
to give the States on this side of the Mississip¬ 
pi a proportionate shaie of influence in the 
deliberations and decisions of the body; and 
by rejecting ull overtures from the rival asso¬ 
ciation, the ruling spirits kept complete con¬ 
trol of their own organization—on association 
of ranchmen sectional, not national, in its 
objects and management. The primary cause 
of the convention was, doubtless, the agitation 
which has lately arisen with regard to the 
unscrupulous appropriation of the public, 
domain by native and foreign capitalists and 
syndicates engaged in live stock raising. It is 
highly probable that Congress will, at an 
early day, legislate to abate the abuses of the 
present system of spoliation. The Department 
of the Interior has already begun to prosecute 
the land-grabbers who have fenced in the 
public lands, and the United States Circnit 
Court lias recently decided that such action is 
illegal. To oppose a firm and uulted front 
to all legislation adverse to their interests, the 
ranchmen have perfected the present organi¬ 
zation, and will doubtless make a stout fight 
against reform. The tide of emigration is 
pouring westward, however, and will ere 
long force the powerful stock associations 
from all the arable districts. Every year in 
which the preseut conditions can be retained, 
however, adds millions to the wealth of the 
stockmen who graze their herds gratis on 
Uncle Sam’s broad pastures; and it is hoped 
that by combination the evil day of reform 
may 7 Vie indefinitely deferred, and when it 
shall be no longer avoidable, better terms can 
be obtained by united action and influence. 
The immediate cause of the convention, 
however, was the very legitimate desire of 
the St- Louis cattle dealers to secure a part of 
the immense live-stock trade of Chicago. To 
this end. they sent ont circulars urging the 
ranchmen to meet at the Mound City; pre¬ 
pared an enthusiastic welcome for them 
there; fought covertly aud openly the delega¬ 
tions that came on from Chicago to influence 
the action of the convention; opposed streu 
uously all combination of the two associa 
tions, and secured all the most prominent 
offices of the new organization for themselves. 
The Wyoming and Montana cattle men were 
snubbed by them, as were tbo3e from States 
east of the Mississippi, while those from Colo¬ 
rado, New Mexico and the South west, were 
flattered and feted, because the trade of the 
former would naturally go to Chicago, or 
some more eastern market, while that of the 
latter, they thought, ought to come to St. 
Louis "ROUNDABOUT.’' 
Rural New Yorker posters and Premhnn- 
Lists are now ready. Send for them . We 
will gladly send them to any address free of 
charge, postpaid. 
Bones as a Fertilizer.— Henry Stewart 
sets forth the value of bones as a fertilizer in 
a very plain manner. They consist, when 
fresh, of 68% per cent of mineral matter (of 
which 55 per cent., of the bone, is phosphate 
of lime); 81% per cent, of organic matter, 
chiefly gelatine and fat, and five per cent, of 
water. The organic matter contains 3% per 
cent, of nitrogen; the mineral matter con¬ 
tains from 20 to 25% per cent, of phosphoric 
acid, and 30 to 85 per cent, of lime. The 
phosphoric acid and the nitrogen arc the val¬ 
uable elements, the former being worth, at 
six cents a pound, $1 50, and the latter, at 25 
ceDts a pound, 87 cents; 100 pounds of bone, 
then, in a condition to be available would be 
worth $2.37. But bones when whole are only 
slowly soluble Id the soil. In moist soil they 
will decay and wholly disappear, only in so 
many years that it is necessary to reduce 
thpm to a fine state of division to make them 
useful This Is done by grinding them to 
powder or by burning them to ashes. The 
latter method is the cheaper, but the nitro¬ 
gen is lost, and if the bones can be reduced to 
powder for less than the value of the nitro¬ 
gen, the more costly method is the better. 
But in many cases it is impossible to grind 
them for want of mills, and then the burning 
becomes the only practicable method, This 
leaves the phosphate of lime in the finest pos¬ 
sible condition to be as available for plant 
food as to the raw bone or more so, because 
it is not held in an undecomposable condition 
by the gelatine. 
Continuous Wheat Growing. —For the 
first ten year* the produce of the unmauured 
plot was 15% bushels of wheat per acre on an 
average at ••Rotbamsted,” Englaud; in the 
second ten years it was 16% bushels: in the 
third period, 12% bushels; and in the last ten 
years, 10% bushels. The extra yield in the 
second period is ascribed by Sir John Lawes 
and Dr. Gilbert, in the journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society, reviewed by the Mark 
Lane Express, to a run of favorable seasons, 
while the decrease in the last period is attribu¬ 
ted chiefly to a succession of unfavorable sea¬ 
sons, though to a slight extent to the gradual 
exhaustion of soil fertility. The writers of 
the article are of opinion that the decrease due 
to exhaustion amounts to ubuut one-quarter 
bushel per acre per annum. Another conclu¬ 
sion arrived at by the experimenters is that 
the produce of land dressed with farmyard 
manure falls off greatly in a bad season, and 
does not rise proportionately in a good season, 
as compared with the increase gained from 
the application of artificial manures. This is 
believed to be chiefly because a great deal of 
the nitrogen in farmyard manure is not in a 
form immediately available as plant food. 
For this very reason, however, the effect of 
farmyard manure is much more lasting than 
that of artificial manure. "When dung is 
applied continuously to land,” the writers say, 
‘the accumulation of unexhausted fertility 
becomes very large, and the removal by crops 
of the substance accumulated would extend 
over a long series of years.” Conclusions of 
great importance which Dr. Lawes arrives at 
are, first, that manures cousisting of potash, 
phosphoric acid, and ammonia or nitrates, ap¬ 
pear competent lo grow large crops of wheat 
continuously. And, second, that a given 
weight of nitrogen as nitric acid has produced 
more growth in the wheat crop than the same 
weight of nitrogen in salts of ammonia. The 
Mark Lane Express, very truly, says that 
when the complete records of Rothamsted 
come to be written, they will afford a mine of 
wealth to scientific investigators, that has 
rarely, if ever, been equaled. 
One Wat to Suppress Contagious Live¬ 
stock Diseases.— The agricultural editor 
of the New York Tribune maintains that 
the sensible way to deal with animal disease 
is to first stop importations from infected 
fields of Europe, and then get rid of germs of 
present contagion, if any still Huger among 
our herds. For the latter work appoint a 
capable, practical man. skilled in business 
methods and known to be trustworthy, and 
clothe him with sufficient authority to call to 
bis aid all needed assistance or advice; and 
then hold him to strictest account for every 
penny of expenditure. To maintain at Wash¬ 
ington a loose "Bureau of Animal Industry,” 
in which a score or two of self-seekers can 
find easy places at the public crib, and whose 
one desire may be to perpetuate their bold, is 
the surest way to make a continuous and 
ever-increasing bill of expense, and to keep 
our vast cattle interests in a chronic state of 
agitation, the damage from which can hardly 
