THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
©E6 43 
THE 
TO OLD FRIENDS. 
RURAL NLW'YORKER. 
1 National Journal for Country anil Suburban Ho.no 
Conducted by 
K. 8. CAHI1AN, 
Editor. 
J. 8. WOOaWAHB, 
Associate. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 84 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13. 18*4. 
For a considerable time past we have 
had many requests that the Rubai. New- 
Yorker should he cut and sewed, or 
pasted. Do the most of our subscribers 
really desire this? We should like to 
know about it. If it gbould prove to be 
the wish of a majority of our subscribers, 
we will grant the request with great 
pleasure. Remember, the Rural is your 
paper, and, so far as we are able, shall be 
made to meet your wishes. 
A lot of seeds of a new and very valu¬ 
able kind of watermelon were accidently 
thrown among and mixed with our flower 
seeds. An occasional seed or so will 
therefore be found in the envelopes to be 
sent out to our subscribers. We had in¬ 
tended to raise this watermelon exten¬ 
sively, with a view to its distribution a 
year hence. Our readers will do well to 
examine the “Garden Treasure 5 ' packet, 
and to pick out these seeds, should any 
be found, and plant them separately. 
They are very small for watermelon seeds 
—nearly round and of a dark color. 
And now begins the valuable series of 
articles upon iron-clad Fruits promised 
by Prof. J. L. Budd, of the Iowa Agri¬ 
cultural College. Nobody is better fitted 
by taste, experience, experiment and 
travel than Prof. Budd for tins work. 
He writes us: “My thought is to prepare 
a few papers of this kind for the Rural 
as hints to enterprising propagators and 
amateurs. I think you will find they will 
create some interest, and will result in ad¬ 
vancing the horticultural interests of at 
least the great Mississippi basin, which, 
you know, is peculiar in soil and climate 
and large enough for several kingdoms.” 
We have no doubt of it. 
--- 
Our friends must generously pardon 
us for alluding to ourselves so often dur¬ 
ing this, our harvest season; for we can 
not possibly see why the Rurai.’b circu¬ 
lation should not be largely increased for 
1885. And, further, we cannot see why 
our good fr’ends should not speak a kind¬ 
ly word of praise for the paper to their 
neighbors; or send us a new subscriber 
with their own renewals; or engage in 
gett ing up a club and in this way secur¬ 
ing one of the sterling presents offered to 
them alone. Well, we are confident that 
many of them will. Let us help you all 
we can by sending specimen copies, 
premium-lists, seed-distribution supple¬ 
ments and posters to all who desire them. 
Now is the time to make the effort. A 
rich harvest to the Rural means a rich 
treat to our readers. We have no inter¬ 
ests beyond theirs. 
A telegram from New Orleans last 
Monday announced that Director General 
Burke and the Building Committee of 
the Exposition, after a thorough inspec¬ 
tion ol all the buildings, machinery and 
grounds, have decided that there will be 
no delay in the opening which w ill take 
place on December 1«. Every building 
is full to overflowing, and further allot¬ 
ments can be made only as exhibitors who 
have been allotted space fail to occupy it 
within proper time. The Hon. Marshall 
] J . Wilder, President of the American 
Bornological Society, writes us that it has 
been thought proper that a large delega¬ 
tion from the Society should attend the 
Exposition. This will consist of the 
officers and committees of the Society, 
aud it is requested that all members of 
ihe Fruit Committee will report the re¬ 
sults of their Observations at the next 
meeting of the Society,which w ill he held 
at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our vener¬ 
able friend suggests that. January 13 
would be a good time for all to attend, us 
the session of the Mississippi Valley Hor¬ 
ticultural Society will then commence at 
the Crescent City. 
Rural New-Yorker posters and Premium- 
Lists are now ready. Send for them. We 
t trill gladly send them to any address free of 
o narge, j»oslpaid. 
We have had a mind to fix up and 
print a prospectus of the R. N.-Y. for 
1885, for we are full of new projects to 
interest and instruct our readers. But, in 
truth, most of these plans are but half- 
matured, and the Rural has ever been 
chary of making promises. What more 
then need we say than that our very best, 
our most earnest, unremitting attention 
shall be given to the paper during next 
year? We have never before been so well 
equipped for the work. It gives the 
writer a deal of pleasure to say that Mr. 
Woodward is as devoted to the Rural as 
its most ardent friend could wish him to 
be, and, what is more, he is heartily and 
fully devoted to the promotion of the 
true interests of American rural homes. 
The times are said to be hard, and the 
outlook somewhat gloomy. But whether 
our subscription list shall increase or 
diminish for the coming year, we promise 
this, at least, to our friends, viz., to exert 
our very best powers, whether in the 
field, garden or office, to render the Rural 
New-Yorker better than it has ever been 
before. What more can we do? We say— 
we repeat that the Rural lives to do 
good. It is true its owners and its em¬ 
ployes have a right to look for an ade¬ 
quate support. But beyond this, we are 
free to insist that no other agricultural, 
horticultural or live-stock journal pub¬ 
lished in any part of the world more sin¬ 
cerely has the welfare of its readers at 
heart than the Rural New-Yorker. 
Having spoken thus familiarly, it may 
now be added that, excepting a few 
weeks during the heat of political excite¬ 
ment, our circulation has increased, as 
compared with coriesponding dates of 
previous years, during the present sub¬ 
scription season more than in any 
preceding year of the Rural New- 
Yorker’s existence. 
And now, while gratefully thanking 
our friends for this appreciation, we call 
upon one and all who, with us, have the 
good of country people at heart, to assist 
us during the present subscription season, 
which has scarcely yet begun, to extend 
the circulation of a rural journal that, 
with all its heart and strength, is striving 
to extend, by earnest labor, those pre¬ 
cepts and examples best calculated to en¬ 
lighten, purify and prosper the farm and 
country home. k. s. c. 
THE GENERAL DEPRESSION. 
In spite of abundant harvests everywhere, 
unusual distress afflicts all parts' of the 
•world at the present time. In this coun¬ 
try, farmers the most extensive class, are 
suffering from extraordinarily low prices 
for many of their products, while rail¬ 
roads and manufacturing establishments 
are cutting down expenses by discharging 
employ (is, reducing their wages or short¬ 
ening their hours of work, or frequently 
by all three of these means. On the ap¬ 
proach of Winter, hundreds of thousands 
of nun are already out of work, aud the 
lists of discharges of employes, suspen¬ 
sions of work or reductions of wages fill 
columns in the newspapers daily. It is 
foolish to attribute this depression to the 
uncertainty about tariff legislation, as 
many papers are doing, for manufacturing 
and agricultural distress quite as serious 
exists in England under “a tariff for rev¬ 
enue only;” in Germany under a protect¬ 
ive tariff, very severe, though not so rig¬ 
orous as ours; in France under a complex 
system of very high duties on some ar¬ 
ticles and nearly 7 free trade in others; in 
Spain under a prohibitory tariff, and in 
Italy under a protective one. In Europe 
outspoken distress and discontent find 
vent through the utterances and deeds of 
the Fenians in Ireland, the crofters in 
Scotland, the labor agitators in England, 
the Anarchists in France, the Black Hand 
in Spain, the Carbonari in Italy, the 
Socialists in Germany, and the Nihilists 
in Russia, and the ranks of all these dis¬ 
contented agitators arc receiving large ac¬ 
cessions of late; while millions of toilers in 
the field or factory, who are compulsorily 
idle, arc bearing their hardships with quiet 
patience or sullen taciturnity. A distress 
so wide-spread, and affecting so many 
different industries in 6epara‘e countries, 
under various conditions, must have a 
general, not a local cause. What is it? 
“Over-production,” everybody says. But 
why this over production? Is it owing to 
the ingenuity of the age, which has per¬ 
fected millions of labor-saving machines, 
which in all civilized lands are capable 
of producing in a month what the world 
can use in a year? If this is not the cause, 
what is; and if it is the cause, what is the 
remedy? _ _ 
THE RANCHMEN’S NEW COMBINATION, 
Tins is an age of combinations of large 
capital to secure private gain at public 
loss. Vast railroad companies combine to 
avoid competition and charge higher rates 
to the public; large manufacturing con¬ 
cerns combine to limit production and 
keep up prices, or even to prevent the 
establishment of manufactories jwnilar to 
their own; large cattle-raising companies 
combine to influence legislation in their 
own favor, afford a more effective resist¬ 
ance to all conflicting interests, aud mono¬ 
polize more effectually and harmoniously 
the public domain. The largest combi¬ 
nation of this kind is that effected last 
week at St. Louis under the name of the 
National Association of Cattle and Horse 
Growers of the United States.” The 
word “national” prefixed to this is mis¬ 
leading; for it is merely sectional in its 
organization, objects, and mode of pro¬ 
cedure. While delegates from 15 States 
and Territories West of the Mississippi 
were present at the convention, only eight 
of the States cast of the river were repre¬ 
sented,and only a very slim representation 
was accorded to these, Texas being allowed 
242 delegates against two from Illinois. 
It w 7 as simply a gathering of ranchmen 
and large native and foreign stock-raising 
companies, and their organization is of 
muen the same character as that of the 
Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association, or 
the Texas Life-Stock Association, for just 
as each of these comprises many smaller 
organizations, in its own section, combin¬ 
ing together for mutual interest, so the 
so-called national association is merely a 
combination of all the large stock-raisers 
of the Western and South-western ranges. 
The interests of these are opposed to those 
of the small herdsmen, as well as to those 
of the homesteaders and preempt ore on 
the frontier; but the interests of the small 
herdsmen, homesteaders, and preempt,ors 
are of much more importance to the sec¬ 
tion in which they have settled and to the 
nation at largo. These are the men who 
“build up” a count ry, develop its resources 
to the utmost, form society, introduce 
civilization, pay the taxes, and add most 
to the power, grandeur, and wealth of 
the country, aud it is the interests of 
these rather than those of monopolizing 
capitalists, native or foreign, that the 
Rural will always heartily support. 
» » »- 
WHEAT CROPS AND PRICES. 
Is the present low price of wheat due, 
in part, at least, to exaggerated crop re¬ 
ports? It, is alleged that, in order to 
“boom” the Territory, Dakota farmers 
have been declaring that they can iaise 
40 bushels per acre, at a cost of 45 cents 
a bushel, and have also misrepresented 
the area under the crop. If they have of¬ 
fended in this respect, they have met 
speedy punishment, as No. 1 Hard—the 
best grade—is selling, in many parts of 
the Territory, for 47 cents, and No. 1 
“regular,” for 42 cents a bushel, while 
for wagon-loads of wheat seeking a pur¬ 
chaser the other day ut St. Vincent, 
Minn., the prices offered were from 27 to 
37 cents a bushel, mostly 27 cents. 
Across the line in Manitoba, Canada, 
similar exaggeration is said to have been 
practiced; but the Manitoba farmers have 
an advantage, as the rates for transporta¬ 
tion on the Canadian Pacific Railroad are 
from 10 to 100 per cent, lower than those 
on our own Northern Pacific, aeording to 
distance. Prices north of the line are 
therefore considerably higher than those 
south of it, so that some Dakota farmers 
find it better to sell their wheat in Cana¬ 
da, after paying 15 cents a bushel duty, 
than to dispose of it at, present Dakota 
prices, or wait, till the millers shall decide 
to offer higher figures. 
Indeed, the exaggeration seems to have 
been pretty general. The other day the 
London Times said that the actual returns 
from the British wheat crop had fallen 
sadly below the August estimates; and, 
later still, a cablegram to the New 7 York 
Herald tells a similar story with regard to 
the yield in Russia. The belief that the 
supply of wheat has been exaggerated is 
just now stiffening prices, and good au¬ 
thorities in Chicago predict that wheat 
will be a dollar a bushel there before the 
end of January. 
There are, however, several European 
influences opposed to any great advance. 
Mr. Creamer, our Consul-General in Swit¬ 
zerland, reports to the State Department 
that Russian wheat is driving American 
out of the markets of Switzerland and 
South Germany; that the Russian dealers 
are straining every nerve to supply the 
markets of Central and Southern Europe; 
and that they are supported in their en¬ 
deavors by the low cost of transportation 
by rail, river, and sea, so that if Ameri¬ 
can wheat is to regain command of those 
markets, “both its price and the cost of 
transportation must be reduced.” Russia 
has lately contracted a loan of $75,000,000 
for the construction of railroads to open 
up her wheat-producing territory. Late 
cablegrams, however, announce that the 
Russian whpat trade is very unsatisfac¬ 
tory; that merchants on the Black Sea 
are discouraged; and that “juices are 
miserably low.” In North Russia prices 
are said to be so low that it is very doubt¬ 
ful whether wheat growing will not be 
discouraged in Poland and North Russia. 
Mr. Benett, Director ot Agriculture in 
India, slates that the increase of exports 
of wheat there has been met by increased 
production without drawing on India’s 
food resources. He shows that the actual 
cost of production, on irrigated land, is 
33 rupees an acre, the production being 
22 bushels of grain and a ton of straw. 
The straw sells for seven lupees, leaving 
26 rupees, or $9.96, as the. cost of produc¬ 
ing 22 bushels—45 1-2 cents a bushel. 
The cost of transportation through 
India and thence to Europe is, however, 
about twice as great as trie average cost 
of transportation from American farms to 
Liverpool. A cablegram from Paris on 
Thursday announces that the Committee 
of Deputies has decided to propose to in¬ 
crease the duty on foreign grain to 2 
francs 40 centimes per centner (100 
pounds); on flour, to 7 francs per barrel; 
on oats to 1 franc 50 centimes per centner, 
and on barley to 2 francs per centner. 
Both Russia and America have protested 
against this increase of duty, however; 
but these protests will have no weight 
unless they are likely to be backed up by 
retaliatory legislation. Sowing of wheat 
in France is nearly completed; the acre¬ 
age is less than a year ago. 
BREVITIES. 
•SirJ. B. Lawes writes us that he intends 
to begin feeding his cows silage this month. 
Among new strawberries, there are none 
the Rural feels more confidence in than 
Jewell and Amateur. 
The solid winter enjoyment of farm life 
can only t>e experienced by those who,through 
thought and energy, are snugly ahead of 
their work. 
Although Dr. Gilbert has been appointed 
a professor at Oxford, he still remains with 
Nir J. B, Lawes. He is required to deliver 12 
lectures a year at Oxford—that is all. 
Wk have never raised larger cars of Chester 
County Mammoth Corn than during the past 
season. We have lota of ears 11 inches long 
with 1* rows,bearing 900 large kernels. 
Farmers, let it he your first duty to make 
vour wives and children contented and happy. 
You, yourself, can not bo happy otherwise, 
and prosperity without haptnessls a sham. 
Plkahk do not fail to inclose one of the 
labels that comes on your pajasr each week, 
when you renew. Names sent for other pap¬ 
ers with the Rural do not count towards a 
premium. 
Dr. Hunt, of New Jersey, said, in the 
office the other day, that be believed that of 
two men, one going without food or drink of 
any kind;the other without foodund with only 
alcoholic drinks, the former would live the 
longer. 
Now that our friends are renewing their 
subscriptions, we wish they would oblige us 
by writing, on a separate piece of paper, a 
note or so of their most valuable farm, gar¬ 
den, or live stock experiences during the past 
Summer. Thus we maj 7 help one uuotber. 
Our friends are asked again not to forget 
the R. N.-Y. when they muke their Christmas 
and New-Year presents. We have not yet 
heard from any of our wealthy subMirihers to 
whom we modestly proposed that they should 
present several thousand yearly subscriptions 
to poorer fanners of the worthy class. But 
WO may hear from them yeti 
It is an interesting fact that the Rural 
Branching Sorghum sent out in our Seed Dis¬ 
tribution four or five years ago, and rarely, 
if ever, alluded to by the farm press, is now 
being roundly praised under the recent name 
of“Millo Maize.” Wo have alluded to this 
before; but we keep thiukiug about it aud 
asking ourselves why this is so: It. isn't maize 
at all, and who is Millo? If our fraternal 
brethren don’t care to prefix “Rural,” let them 
call it “Branching Sorghum.” It is au ap¬ 
propriate name. 
