848 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
RES 20 
THE 
RURAL NLW'YORKLR, 
K National Journal for Country and SuburU.n ITo.j 
Conducted by 
K. 8. CARMAN, 
Editor. 
J. 8. WOODWABl>, 
Associate 
Addres* 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20. 1884. 
We shall ask our friends who raise po¬ 
tatoes to give a careful trial, next year, in 
a small way at least,of the Rural’s trench- 
culture method of raising them. As has 
already been stated, we propose to see 
how it will work upon a half-acre of im¬ 
poverished soil. A full account of the 
fitting it has already received and of the 
supposed advantages of the system, will 
be presented, under “Notes from fhe 
Rural Grounds,” in the first issue of the 
next year. That number, w hich will con¬ 
tain a supplement, will also place before 
our readers true portraits of the largest 
potatoes received in response to our pre¬ 
mium offer of last Spring. 
We have offered nearly three thousand 
dollars’ worth of presents, which are pre¬ 
cisely as represented, to our subscribers 
for the clubs they may send to us. We 
do not know that a more liberal offer has 
ever been made by publishers to their sub¬ 
scribers—and to them alone. Our regular 
club agents have a Premium List of their 
own. In order to aid our friends in ob¬ 
taining subscribers, we will gladly send 
specimen copies to any names they may 
send us, free of charge; or we will send 
specimen copies for several weeks to such 
names, at the end of which time our 
friends may solicit their subscriptions. 
Our new posters and premium lists will 
be promptly forwarded to all applicants 
at once. 
Wiiat is the precise reason why the 
White Malaga Grapes will keep longer 
than any of our native kinds? 
When thousands, if not millions, of 
our people go hungry to bed every night, 
why talk of over-production ? This is the 
question a friend asks us. It is one we 
can not answer. 
We want to help our readers to raise 
400 bushels of potatoes to the acre where 
now they raise 100 bushels; and we have 
faith that we can do it. Read the Rural 
of January 3rd, next. 
Over 100 seeds of the combined King 
Humbert, Rural Bicolor and Pear-shaped 
Tomatoes will be sent, in each packet to 
our subscribeis in the Free-Seed Distri¬ 
bution. Please give them a good chance. 
It will pay you to do so. 
M. Le Moine, of Ottawa, Ontario, 
writes us that he tried the Rural’s plan 
of cultivating potatoes, and was laughed 
at by the farmers about him. But he 
adds, “I laughed at them when the Fall 
came. 1 had a beautiful crop while theirs 
were very poor.” 
One of the most potent factors in the 
winter-killing of grain is too much water 
on or in the surface soil. The expansion 
and contraction of water or of a saturated 
soil by freezing and thawing, are many 
times as much as in one in a proper state of 
mojstuie, and winter-killing is mostly due 
to the breaking of the roots and upheav¬ 
ing of the plants by frost. An hour 
spent iu opening surface drains may save 
a large share of the crop,and make all the 
difference between profit and loss. Now 
is the proper time to look after the drains. 
Rust and the elements annually destroy 
as many dollars’ worth of agricultural 
implements and machines as doesj^use. 
J 
The housing of all plows, barrows, and 
other implements is a chore that should 
be attended to before another week: of 
course, all harvesters, mowers, hay-rakes, 
etc., were put. away under cover several 
months ago. TTe who would save much 
loss from rust and much annoyance, and 
possibly his temper, iu Spring, should 
not forget to use on all metallic parts that 
kerosene,oil and bees-wax preparation wc 
recommended awhile ago. Rust doth 
wonderfully corrupt lurming tools. 
- — 
No sort of animal machinery can work 
to advantage at a less temperature than 98 
degrees, and this is maintained entirely 
by the consumption of food, and, of 
course, the more the animal is exposed to 
the cold the more food it takes to keep up 
the internal heat, and the food used for 
this purpose is entirely lost to the ow r ner. 
Should not these facts convince every one 
of the necessity of providing warm quart¬ 
ers for all the stock? They add not only 
to the comfort of the animals, but to the 
profits of the owner, and should add 
much to his happiness in the knowledge of 
having done his duty towards those en¬ 
tirely dependent upon him. 
«• ♦ »- 
Hallett’s Pedigree Wheat is now be¬ 
ing very liberally advertised in England. 
The advertisement states that the im¬ 
mense head shown in the advertisement 
(over eight inches long) was grown from 
a grain planted in 1867, and “restarted 
in each succeeding year for 27 years from 
the proved best Bingle grain.” We have 
tried this wheat, and are very much of 
the opinion that there is a good deal of 
humbug about |t,. At all events, it is 
worthless at the Rural Farm, whatever it 
may be in England. American farm-pa¬ 
pers are blindly talking a good deal about 
this wheat. They had better try it or 
have it tried before they delude Ameri¬ 
can farmers, 
. ..■ 
“ There is no danger of an over dose.” 
It is far better to hire an extra man this 
Winter than to keep the boys out of 
school to do the chores and get up next 
year’s supply of wood. Nearly all the 
difference between those who do the 
planning and those who do the manual 
labor is t he difference in knowledge. Jn 
this world “brains” are moTe potent than 
“brawn,” and brains, to be most efficient, 
must be well educated. There is no oc¬ 
cupation in which educated brains are 
more beneficial than in farming. The 
days are. bygone when educated farmers 
were the subject of derision; now educa¬ 
ted farmers arc the successful farmers, and 
command the respect of their fellows. By 
all means, therefore, give the boys a good 
education; ’tis better than money, and 
you need have no fear of giving them an 
over-dose. 
♦ » - ■ 
A friend writes asking for a form of 
constitution for a farmers’ club, and 
this reminds us that every neighborhood 
should have a farmers’ club in successful 
working order. It is wonderful how such 
an organization will brighten up the 
smartest of us. The bringing of miod 
into active contact with mind is like rub¬ 
bing two pennies together—it makes both 
brighter. Well, you don’t want, much 
constitution; the less, the better. The 
club that has the most constitution sel¬ 
dom has much of anything else. Let 
every man be a law- unto himself, striving 
to see how' much he can learn from his 
neighbors, and also how much he can 
learn for them. Simply choose a chair¬ 
man and a secretary, a name or not, as 
you please; select some subject and then 
go ahead. Let every member resolve for 
himself, that he will always he on hand 
at the meetings, and that he will think 
up something new, or at least, that he will 
be prepared to give one idea, no matter how 
crude, on some subject, and the thing 
w ill be a success—even the most sanguine 
w ill be surprised at the interest that will 
be awakened. By all means start that 
club. 
-- 
Sec’y Cuambkrlun says the ten 
men who compose the Ohio State Board of 
Agriculture and have the whole manage¬ 
ment of the State Fair, are “among the 
best farmers of Ohio, agriculimally, in¬ 
tellectually, socially and morally.” To 
all of which we say Amen . We were 
never treated better iu our life, and we 
fully believe the members of the Board to 
be perfect gentlemen; many, quite prob¬ 
ably all, are temperance men (teetotalers, 
except whin contending with that miser¬ 
able Columbus water !) good fathers,neigh¬ 
bors and exemplary citizens. But all this 
makes it the more difficult for us to un¬ 
derstand how such men could so far 
forget what was due to “intelligence, 
sociality, morality” and decency, as to 
permit swindling, jugglery, ribald song¬ 
singing, gambling (even after they knew 
of its existence, as he admits) and other 
demoralizing practices, to pollute their 
grounds for money, much less for the 
paltry sum which they received as license 
fees. They must have known that for 
every dollar received by them, the people 
would be fleeced out, of a score or more, 
besides having the youth taught a lesson 
in vanity and vice. 
No wonder their consciences cannot 
rest, easy under such a load. Scores of 
Ohio’s bright; boys and giris may be 
ruined by their permission of these vile 
influences upon the grounds. The way of 
the transgressor is bard\ doubly so, when 
he sins against light and knowledge! 
“I like the Rural w'onderfully well, 
and would sooner have it than all the pa¬ 
pers I ever took; hut prices are so low 
and times so hard I will have to get along 
without any paper next year.” 8o writes 
a correspondent, and as we opened his 
letter out dropped a liberal quantity of 
cigar ashes, and wc wondered how many, 
thinking more of a depraved appetite 
than of their brains, will dispense with 
all papers, and especially their agricultu¬ 
ral papers, while continuing to smoke 
from three to six cigars a day. 
Dear friends, before you decide on such 
a course, “let us reason togetherthree 
cigars each day, at three for a dime—and 
certainly you would not punish your 
stomach and friends Wy smoking any 
poorer weeds—would cost you just$36.50 
per year. Now, if you dispense with only 
one of these each day, you can, with the 
money saved, take the Rural New- 
Yorker, with its Free Seed Distribution, 
the Inter-Ocean, the Detroit Free-Press, 
with its Household Supple raent, Farmers’ 
Review, and still have 87.76 to buy your 
faithful wife and bright little ones Christ¬ 
mas presents, now much better is knowl¬ 
edge than tobacco; the one, while it 
soothes, stupefies and enervates the brain, 
and poisons the blood; the other makes 
the brain active, and thus the muscles 
more efficient: the one makes you poorer, 
less healthy, and all your friends uncom¬ 
fortable; the other makes you richer, 
more intelligent, and your home happier. 
Surely it is bad economy to scrim]) in in¬ 
tellectual food, to indulge a vitiated taste. 
Better a thousand times surrender tobacco 
entirely, and stick to the Rural. 
LEGISLATION AGAINST ALIEN LAND¬ 
GRABBING. 
Yesterday, in Congress, the House 
Committee on Public Lands unanimously 
agreed to report favorably a bill provid¬ 
ing that no alien, foreigner or persons other 
than citizens of this country, shall acquire 
title to or own land within the United 
States. It. is provided, however, that 
suoh foreign-born perBHis as have legally 
declared their intention to become citizens 
shall be eligible to acquire lauds. For 
years the Rural New-Yorker has been 
an earnest advocate of such a law. We 
have now before us a partial list of large 
tracts held by foreign capitalists, acquired 
for the most’part by fraudulent practices, 
and ranging from five thousand to five 
million acres each, aggregating nearly 
twenty-one million acres! A complete 
list would, probably, embrace double this 
vast area. Now, our land laws are based 
on the theory that, the soil is owned by 
those who cultivate it, and the closer 
practice adheres to theory in this matter, 
the better for the country. It is against 
the genius of our institutions that the 
land should be staked off into immense 
areas to be used as stock ranges or held 
for speculative purposes by native or for¬ 
eign Don-resident capitalists. Such a 
practice indulged in by natives is, so far 
as the people are concerned, a grievance 
that ought to be prevented; but when it 
is followed by aliens it becomes an out¬ 
rage that should be at once resented. In 
no other country in Christendom would 
such an abuse be tolerated for a moment. 
Here, however, not only do we submit to 
the illegal acquisition of immense areas 
by aliens; but we tamely allow them to 
appropriate to their own use vast tracts of 
the public domain to the injury and op¬ 
pression of our own citizens. Legislation 
against all suen abuses cannot be too 
prompt or too rigorously enforced. 
ANOTHER NATIONAL EXPOSITION 
The Southern Exposition Company is 
a private corporation composed chiefly of 
the business men of Louisville, Ky., who 
are benefited by the attraction of large 
crowds to that city. As an inducement 
to such gatherings toe company has pur¬ 
chased grounds and erected buildings 
that have cost, it states, half a million 
dollars, for the purpose of holding annual 
exhibitions. It now proposes to hold “a 
national agricultural, horticultural, min¬ 
eral and live stock exhibition,” at a date 
to be fixed hereafter, and offers to give 
the use of its grounds, buildings, machin¬ 
ery and other property for the exhibition, 
free of charge; but Congress is to be asked 
to contribute f500,000 to erect new ac¬ 
commodations, 81,000 to each Congres¬ 
sional district for the expenses of an agri¬ 
cultural exhibit, and 8200,000 for 
awards for agricultural displays. This 
“private company” of merchants who 
wish to attract crowds of purchasers to 
their stores, and of hotel keepers who 
wish to attract crowds of guests to their 
caravansaries, modestly put themselves 
forward as the representatives of the agri¬ 
cultural needs of the country, and mod¬ 
estly ask the government to make large 
appropriations really for the benefit of 
their private enterprise; though ostensi¬ 
bly for the benefit of the agriculture of 
the nation. The press of the country is 
asked to support this scheme, and stress 
is laid on the fact that the National 
Grange and the “American Agricultural 
Congress” have approved the project. 
Great public advantages are often derived 
from strictly private enterprises, and good 
results for agriculture would probably 
be gained from this scheme, but let it be 
distinctly understood that it is a private 
undertaking, for the accomplishment of 
which public money is sought. When 
the project of holding a great national 
cotton exposition was fiist mooted, Louis¬ 
ville might, have secured its location,had 
she been willing to contribute the .$500,- 
000 necessary for preliminary outlay. 
This was done by New Orleans, which is 
just about to open the grand exposition 
which has resulted from her enterprise. 
Isn’t it a trifle early for her rival to seek 
public aid for another national exposition, 
before the present one has been even 
inaugurated? 
-♦♦♦- 
BREVITIES. 
Will our subscribers please write all ques¬ 
tions pertaining to anything else but sub¬ 
scriptions on a separate sheet of paper? 
How do you expect, to spend the Winter? 
On the defensive, merely fighting cold and 
appendng hunger for yourselves and live¬ 
stock? Or do you mean to spend an aggres¬ 
sive Winter, achieving something while the 
farm work is at a minimum? 
The R. N.-Y. has tried every kind of celery 
and it prefers for a late kind the Golden 
Heartwell. It U a half-dwarf, healthy and 
hardy. It is a good keeper and the quality is 
excellent. It gives more lender stalks to a 
plant than any other variety we know of. 
The bill-of fare on many formers’ tubles is 
very monotonous through the Winter. This 
is not only disagreeable, but is not best for the 
health. Can’t you sell some of the potatoes 
and pork and buy such things as will make a 
whoL-some variety? It is very burdensome 
planning and preparing three ratals a day 
every day in the year, and the fanners’ wives 
who have been doing this, ought, now that 
the pushing work is done, to have a vacation 
from household care, making a visit some¬ 
where, that, will change the current of their 
thoughts and relieve them for a week or two 
of the usual routine. If tt is at all possible 
let. them not fail to have a vacation trip. 
The Toledo Produce Exchange bos asked the 
ruilroad managers of the West for a reduction 
in railroad rates corresponding with the 
low prices for grain and other products. 
The Exchanges of every city iu the Union 
should join in this reasonable request. The 
rule of the railroads is to “charge what the 
traffic will bear,” and in good times they are 
prompt enough to put up rates, so as to leave 
the producers but a small share of what 
should be their legitimate profits; why in 
times of depressson should they disregard 
their rule; why, while then patrons are in¬ 
curring a loss, should they Insist on increasing 
It in order to make a profit for themselves? 
While corn is selling in Nebraska and Kansas 
at 10 to 15 cents a bushel, and wheat at 35 to 
45 cents, why should the railroads charge the 
same prices as when these sold for over double 
tne prices? Surely the traffic can't bear as 
much now as then? 
A Curious figure in border life disappeared 
on the sudden death of “Oklahoma” Bayne, 
while breakfasting at Wellington, Kansas, 
the other day. “Uxbeart, the Scout of the 
Cimarron,” as he delighted to be called, 
gained notoriety through the country by his 
persistence in a series of land-grabbing raids 
into the Indian Territory. In this the title to 
a valuable tract called Oklahoma came to be 
a trifle doubtful, and Payne claimed that it 
was government laud, and therefore subject 
to occupation under the homestead and pre¬ 
emption laws. His first attempt to settle a 
colony on it was made Id the Spring of 1872, 
and the second in 1880. Since then the 
“Oklahoma boomer” has been constantly en¬ 
gaged either iu planning an invasion, making 
one, or suffering the consequences iu the form 
of ejectment, trial or imprisonment. The 
Government could only eject and fine him: 
but no fine could be collected, and to drive 
him out was to insure his return. A large 
number of bis followers, or confederates, 
suffered considerable loss by the capture and 
destruction of their “outfits” by the United 
(States troop.-; but by late advices the project 
of settlement has by no means died with its 
originator, for a “colony” is now prepared 
once more to move into Oklahoma. 
