THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
©EG 27 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country ami Suburban Home 
relucted by 
K. 8. CARMAN, 
J . 8. WOODWARD, 
Editor. 
Associate. 
Add res* 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 8t Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1884. 
The Rural lias more reason to feel 
thankful, happy and altogether contented 
for this year than for any other year of 
its existence, and it is with a full heart 
that we wish our good friends, who have 
supported us so well, the happiest New 
Year of their lives! 
Carry the News — that the Rural, 
has found the Johnson Grass, Cuba 
Grass, Alabama Grass, Means’ Grass, 
Guinea Grass, Egyptian Grass, as it ib va¬ 
riously called, (Sorghum halapense, bo¬ 
tanical ly) hardy in the. climate of Chicago 
and New York! It may he hardy in Cana¬ 
da for aught we know. Try it. A lib¬ 
eral package for testing purposes will be 
sent out in its present Free Seed Distribu¬ 
tion. It is very nutritious, grows to the 
hightof seven feet, and may be cut twice, 
and will still fully mature 8eeds. 
We hope our friends will not desert the 
Rural for 1885. We cannot spare them 
and they—we are coutident—cannot, 
ought not, to spare us. 
■ ■« * »- 
The Rural New-Yorker clubs with 
all papers. A standing list cannot be 
presented, because we can devote the 
space to better purposes. 
An account of how we have begun to 
prepare our bind with a view to proving 
that by its own mettled the Rural can 
raise immense crops of potatoes on large 
areas as well as on small ones, will be pre¬ 
sented next week. 
Several of our usual departments and 
a number of pressing articles are crowded 
out of this number to give space to the 
Index, which has required our best at¬ 
tention during the week. Otherwise we 
might have added a supplement to this 
number; hut the supplenunt will appear 
next week. 
We beg to ask our readers if they have 
ever, in any farm journal, seen a more 
carefully prepared, comprehensive index 
than that presented in this number. We 
wish our readers knew what pams have 
been taken with it. A full, accurate in¬ 
dex of a paper like the Rural is as rare 
as it is valuable. 
Chrysanthemums are to the fall gar¬ 
den what hyacinths and tulips are to the 
spring garden—respectively the last and 
the earliest of the season. Chrysanthe¬ 
mums are better known to most of our 
friends as artemesias. The kinds of later 
introduction, from Japan and China, and 
seedlings of them, are extremely showy 
and beautiful. 
We shall present, a supplement next 
week in order to make space for the en¬ 
gravings of the largest potatoes lcceived 
under the Rural's prize offer, made last 
Spring. We shall also present a full des¬ 
cription of what has been done as a pre- 
paiatory fall fit Ling for a trial of our 
‘•trench-potato culture” on a measured 
half-acre of very poor land. 
To Raise a Hundred and Fifty Bush¬ 
els of potatoes to t he half-acre on poor soil, 
without farm manure, is what the Rural 
proposes to do next year under its method 
of trench culture —let the season be wet or 
dry. And, Rural subscribers, North, 
South, East and West, will be invited to 
come and see them harvested and 
weighed. The land—a worn-out, leachy 
soil—has already been plowed and re¬ 
ceived its first dressing of fertilizers. 
In these days of close competition, the 
thinking man is the^successlul man ; ef¬ 
ficiency comes of thought. It is not so 
much the power we exert as the correct 
application of that power, that accom¬ 
plish! s results. Unthinking muscle grasps 
the rock to be overturned, and lifting 
against an inequality, lifts in vain; the 
thoughtful man looks it over, discovers 
the side on which there are no projections, 
and easily rolls it over in that direction. 
The stupendous Brooklyn Bridge is 
the result of careful, well directed thought; 
unthinking muscle would still he pad¬ 
dling the rudest raft across the water be¬ 
neath. 
Even on the farm, the hired band that 
constantly thinks; studies how to make 
his efforts accomplish the most, is worth 
two or three times as much as he who 
blindly uses only brute force. By all 
means learn to think, and by much study 
and reading strive to make your mind 
most helpful to the body. 
THE RURAL ELECTION. 
Well, the election is over! There 
have been no tissue ballots or bulldozing, 
and yet the poll has beeo averv large one. 
We have received all the ballots and have 
canvassed the votes and have now to an¬ 
nounce the result. The election ha9 been 
carried in favor of cutting and pasting 
the Rural “by a labor majority” —at 
least a hundred to one, and now, true to 
our promise, and in fulfillment of our 
wish to make the R. N.-Y. just as good as 
its renders can ask and will sustain us in 
doing, we simply state that with the com¬ 
mencement of the new year, the Rural 
will come out cut and pasted, and as our 
printers are the most pains taking and, if 
possible, t he best workmen in the country, 
the cutting and pasting will he done, in a 
very u'veiior manner, as much better than 
th s work is ordinarily done, as our paper 
and illustrations are better than the or¬ 
dinary paper you receive. 
We shall also, in that number, include 
a four page supplement, rendered neces¬ 
sary by our illustrations of the large po¬ 
tatoes. As thousands of our friends have, 
said, while voting, that if the paper were 
cut and pasted, the last objection that 
could be urged would be removed, and 
that they could send us plenty of new 
subscribers, we hope they will now re¬ 
member those promises, and that nil will 
show (heir appreciation of the improve¬ 
ment, by making a special effort to show' 
the ID kal to their friends,and by askiug 
them to give it. a trial. A kind word 
from each of you, dear friends, will go 
far towards giving us that increased cir¬ 
culation which wc so much desire. 
Look out for the New' Year’s number! 
Those of you who have not renewed, 
should do so at once,so asnot. to miss it,and 
when doing 60 , send us the name of one 
or more of your friends whom you would 
like to receive this beautiful number. 
FARMERS AND THE SPANISH TREATY. 
“What should be the attitude of farm¬ 
ers with regard to the new Spanish treaty 
betw een Cuba and Porto Rico, and tins 
countryf’ writes a valuul hieud in Illin¬ 
ois. “Oue of decided and outspoken op¬ 
position,” we unhesitatingly reply. While 
the confirmation of the tieaiy would not 
increase the foreign maikcts for our agri¬ 
cultural products to any appreciable ex¬ 
tent. it would utterly ruin two important 
agricultural industries—sugar and tobac¬ 
co raising, This alone should be enough 
to enlist, against it every farmer in trie 
country, whether a tobacco or sugar 
grower or not; for,besides the fellow-feel¬ 
ing which should lead farmers to support 
the interests of each other in all legit¬ 
imate enterprises, it should be remember¬ 
ed that if the millions who now find profit¬ 
able- occupation in raising sugar and tobac¬ 
co are forced to give up those industries, 
they must embark in others, and thus in¬ 
crease competition, an increase of which 
always lowers prices. Every industry 
should look out and stick up for its own 
interests: every industry dots so except 
agriculture; it is by doing so that the ag¬ 
gregate interests of the natioD can receive 
proper governmental attention according 
to iheir needs and importance. 
But, in addition to the reasons why the 
treaty should be opposed by tarmers as 
injurious to the interests of agriculture, 
there are other reasons why they should 
oppose it as injurious to the best interests 
of the nation at large. The ehief of these 
may be briefly noticed as follows: The 
annual loss ot revenue from the remis¬ 
sion of duty on sugar from Cuba and Porto 
Rico, would now be about 830,000,000; 
as only about two thirds of our imports 
come from those islands. The loss would 
soon amount to over $50,0u(J,0u0; how¬ 
ever, as the exceptionally favorable terms 
accorded them would enable them speedi¬ 
ly to raise enough sugar to supply all the 
needs of this country; so that we would 
lose the revenue mw*derived from sugar 
imported from the British and French 
West Indies, South America and Europe. 
The cost, of collecting this revenue is a 
mere trifle; while the cost of collecting 
revenue from other sources forms a large 
percentage of the amount collected. It 
is hardly likely that the loss to the reve¬ 
nue will benefit American consumers, for 
the Cubans and Porto Ricans are sure to 
charge for their sugar only a small frac¬ 
tion less than the price of sugar from other 
countries. 
Spain, w hich for years has been losing 
money by these bankrupt islands, is sure 
to pur on enough additional taxes to con¬ 
sume much of the profits, so soon as they 
become prosperous uider the stimulation 
of w hat is equivalent to a bounty of nearly 
three cents a pound on all the sugar they 
produce. Few of the inhabitants nf the 
islands consume American goods, most of 
them being semi-civilized negroes and 
Cninese coolies,so that the increase in our 
export trade could not be great, even if 
we continued to enjoy exceptional ad¬ 
vantages; but these, European countries 
are not likely to allow us. There are 
numerous ifther reasons why this treaty 
should he rejected; and w'c are glad to 
see that the opposition to it is so general 
and so vigorous that there is little or no 
chance that it. will be confirmed. Even 
if the Senate should confirm it; the House 
is so thorougly opposed to it, that it 
would refuse to vote money to carry it 
into execution. 
RAILROAD3 AND FARMERS. 
Tile price the farmer gets for his prod¬ 
uct is all that is left out of its price in its 
final market after all the intermediate 
charges have been deducted. Thus the 
price he gets lor his wheat, is all that is 
left out of its prici? per bushel in Liver 
pool after the cost of transportation by 
Ameiichn railroads and British steam¬ 
ships, as well as the exactions of commis¬ 
sion sharks, elevator monopolists, etc., 
have been taken out. Of all those who 
diminish Iris profits and increase liis loss¬ 
es, the railroads are the most unscnipu 
Ions and extortionate: for not. only dothey 
charge exorbitant rates themselves: but 
they also by special rates, special facili¬ 
ties and other devices, frequently put the 
buying of grain and other produce along 
their lines in the. hands of monopolies, so 
that often a single company or firm owns 
all the elevators along a lailroad, and the 
farmer must take for his produce w'hat 
they choose to pay. At the great central 
collecting centers also, such as St. Louis, 
Chicago, Buffalo and New York, they or 
their greedy managers are interested in 
elevators and stockyards and such special 
advantages arc granted to these as to in¬ 
sure for them a monopoly of all business, 
and enable t bent to charge the extortion¬ 
ate rates characteristic of monopolies. 
Thus from the moment the farmer's pro¬ 
duce leaves bis wagon till it goes into the 
hands of the home consumer or out of the 
country, the railroads are constantly gor¬ 
mandizing on it and enabling others to 
do so. 
The roads have been managed, not for 
the benefit of the stock owners, but for 
that of their speculative directors; and 
while the former have often drawn small 
dividends, the latter have generally piled 
up enormous fortunes; yet the small divi¬ 
dends of the former are pointed to as a 
reason for high charges, white not a word 
is said of the enormous fortunes of the 
Vanderbilts, Goulds, Huntingdon*, Crock¬ 
ers, and other railroad kings, who have 
accumulated their tens and hundreds of 
millions from the wrecks of railroads, the 
bankruptcy of small store-keepeis, the 
destruction of petty industries and the 
impoverishment of farmers, and by build¬ 
ing up monopolies on tne tuins they have 
caused. Why should the public be forced 
or expected to pay for the havoc wrought 
by these men in the roads under their 
charge ? To hoodwink the people and 
further their owm selfish ends, they have 
frequently added tens of millions to the 
capital stock of the various roads of 
which they have had control, and for this 
additional stock absolutely no value has 
been given, yet the public are expected 
to pay, in perpetuity, big dividends on 
the stock thus outrageously “watered.” 
Why should they do so ? 
In times of prosperity people, with 
easy good humor, tolerate abuses which 
they will not endure when aggravated by 
adversity. When the larmer received 
$1 25 a bushel for his wheat, it did not 
trouble him.much that railroad charges 
were high, or that the only place where 
he could sell his product was at the soli¬ 
tary elevator beside the track. But when 
he receives only 35 cents a bushel for his 
wheat in parts of Dakota; 40 cents in 
parts of Iowa; 41 cents in parts of Min¬ 
nesota; 22 cents in parts of Kansas, and 
only 20 cents in parts of Nebraska, he 
readily realizes that if there w'ere two 
buyers instead of one, he might get a 
few cents more per bushel for his wheat; 
and that if railroad rates were lower, the 
price of his wheat, would be higher, and 
his irritation is aggravated by the knowl¬ 
edge that instead of decreasing his profits, 
the difference in circumstances is in¬ 
creasing his losses. It is very natural, 
therefore, that throughout nearly the 
cnt’Te West a spirit of irritation against 
the railroads is spreading rapidly among 
the farmers. 
The extremely high rates of freight 
which were patiently endured in prosper¬ 
ous years, are intolerable now that prices 
for all farm products are very low, and 
although a few roads have cut down local 
rates a trifle, most of them have made lit¬ 
tle or no diminution, while on some of 
those in Nebraska the rates are said to be 
higher now than in 1879. Corn is now 
moving to market, and the price is so low 
that the railroad freight is generally 
greater than the price rcceiveu by farm¬ 
ers, while the freight on wheat is also ex¬ 
travagantly high. For instance, wheat at 
Wicluta, Kansas, ranges from 30 cents to 
45 cents per bushel, while the freight to 
Chicago is 27 cents. At Central City, 
Nebraska, corn is selling at 15 cents per 
bushel, while the freight to Chicago is 18 
cents. In several parts of Kansas and 
Nebraska corn is reported to be only five 
cents a bushel, and it is being used for 
fuel because the loss is less by burning 
than by selling it. Wherever there is 
competition between different lines, con¬ 
siderable reductions have been made iu 
etiarges; but w here there is no competi¬ 
tion, extoition is rampant, and complaints 
are loud and bitter. For instance, a bushel 
of corn is carried to Chicago from Council 
Bluffs, on the western verge of Town, 500 
miles away, for eight cents; while eleven 
cents are exacted for carrying a bushel 
from Des Moines, half way across the State 
and only half the distance, and as the vast 
majority of farmers, living at interior 
points, must submit to local rates, the 
vast majority of farmers are suffering and 
complaining. 
All indications point to the probability 
of legislation against railroad abuses in 
several of the Western States during the 
coming Winter, and while all ackuowl 
edge the necessity for it, it is to be hoped 
that the lessons of the Granger legislation 
nearly a decade ago, will teach that mod¬ 
eration which alone can make legislation 
permanently beneficial. The battle against 
the railroads begins well with two judi¬ 
cial decisions just rendered against their 
abuses. On Friday, December 12, the 
Supreme Court of West Virginia asserted 
the absolute constitutional’ right of the 
State Legislature to regulate passenger and 
freight charges iu spite of any stipulation 
in the charter of a railroad; and on the 
following day, Saturday, December 13, 
the Supreme Court of Ohio denied the 
right of a railroad to make discriminat¬ 
ing rates. Several decisions of this tenor 
in other States, taken in connection with 
some recent judgments of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, are striking 
indications that railroad greed and dom¬ 
ination are likely ere long to be curbed. 
■ -- 
BREVITIES. 
When your feet are cold, instead of toast 
ing them over the fire, take olf your shoes, or 
boots, and stockings, and rub the feet with a 
crash towel until they are warm. Simple as 
this is, it will save you many u cold. We 
speak from experience. 
Readers, please to favor the Rural for 
18 ts 5 with short items of your experience, 
whether you record failures or successes. 
Important facts may he italed in five lines, 
and those are the “articles” we beg for. We 
have more long articles thau we can use for a 
year. 
The “Rural loves praise,’ says a sub¬ 
scriber Yes, truly, certainly, why not, if we 
deserve it? And we may add with all sincer¬ 
ity: “the Rural loves to be reproached,” 
when it deserves it. By discriminating praise 
and censure we learu how to impiove. 
A BILL to make tbe Commissioner of Agri¬ 
culture a Cabinet officer, under the name of 
Secretary of Agriculture, has pass'd tbe 
House of Representatives by more than u two 
third majority; but is likely to be killed iu 
the Senate Senates are always slow-moving, 
conservative bodies, which yield reluctantly 
to popular pressure; but before long the 
United States Senate must yield to popular 
pressure in this respect. A few years ago a 
similar bill received but slim support in the 
House, where now it passes without any real 
opposition. Individual larmers. here and 
there, are opposed to the measure; but we 
have yet to hear of a convention of stock- 
owners or agriculturists who have been influ¬ 
enced by their example. 
