404 
o 
FEB 47 
T H K 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
A National Journal for Country md Suburban Homes. 
Conducted by 
KLCBBT 5. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NE VV r -YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, Nkw York. 
side of the water during the past year, 
the transatlantic imports were much less 
in England last yesr than in 1881, when 
they amounted to 27,000 tons. The Lon¬ 
don News says “American beef is still 
in high favor; but the mutton is consid¬ 
ered as below par, being poor in quality 
and bad in appearance.” Australian meats 
have hitherto filled the newspapers of 
London more than the stomachs of Lon¬ 
doners. 
Chicago, and other speculative centers, 
by firms that advertise largely in the 
newspapers and bv circulars soliciting 
investments of small sums for grain or 
stock speculation on what is known as 
the plan of the “Mutual Investment 
Club,” or “Mutual Operative Fund." 
We earnestly urged all to have nothing 
whatever to do with such concerns except 
to warn others against them. The Post- 
Office Department after careful investiga¬ 
tion, has just placed in the “ black list” 
some of the worst of these swindlers oper¬ 
ating in Chicago, Their names are 
doubtless known to many of our readers, 
but we trust, none of these has cause to 
regret that knowledge. They are Flem¬ 
ing & Merriam. R. E. Kendall Co., 
Charles J. Henri & Co.. Cudworth & Co., 
and Bennett, Kolzman & Co. In explain¬ 
ing the nature of the frauds Fost-office 
Inspector D. A. Ray repeats what was 
pithily set forth in the Rural more than 
a year ago. The swindlers pretended to 
conduct a business in which the money of 
all the “suckers” and “greenhorns” they 
could inveigle, was “pooled.” Each share 
or chance cost $10 and there was no limit 
to investment. The managers used the 
aggregate funds nominally in speculating 
in grain, provisions, stocks, etc., and 
every few days or weeks they made bogus 
reports, showing they had either made or 
lost so much money, and if the former, 
they returned to f he shareholders a pre¬ 
tended profit of so much per cent, always 
retaining the principal. The money re¬ 
turned as profit was always what they 
chose—just enough to induce the gullible 
shareholder to invest more largely. Bv 
this means men who started in with $10 
or $20 have been induced to invest 
as much as $1,500 or $2,000, and more. 
The fellows are all scoundrels who 
ought to be in the penitentiary. Flem¬ 
ming was a partner in Detroit with Mc¬ 
Kinney, now in the Michigan State Prison 
for “ fencing” stolen goods, and the an¬ 
tecedents and connections of the others 
are equally disreputable. They never 
bought or sold the goods they pretended 
to deal in. The Chief Grain inspector of 
Chicago certifies that none of the firms 
are known to the State Inspection De¬ 
partment “as warehousemen, grain re¬ 
ceivers or shippers, nor in any way con¬ 
nected with the actual grain trade.” The 
local manager of Bradstreet’s Commercial 
Agency denominates them frauds and 
swindlers of the worst sort. The Hon. 
W. P. Nixon, manager of the Chicago 
Inter-Ocean, states that the scoundrels 
print and scatter broadcast circulars and 
advertisements purporting to be copies of 
editorial indorsements of their frauds 
from reputable papers; while the pre¬ 
tended editorials ar 2 in reality paid 
advertisements written by themselves and 
copied for their own nefarious purposes. 
The notorious Benjamin Buckwnter whose 
swindling operations in ihia city we ex¬ 
posed at length three years ago, together 
with those of a batch of similar sharpers, 
was the moving spirit in organizing 
these Chicago swiudles. We prophesied 
the rascal would turn up equally bad 
somewhere else. Frank W. Waters and 
Dan Loring, of the Fireside Friend lot¬ 
tery scheDie and newspaper fraud of a 
few years ago, were connected with Flem¬ 
ming & Merriam and also with R. E. 
Kendall A Co. 
One may well ask whether it is possible 
the public could be duped into placing 
their money absolutely at the disposal 
of sue l thieves. The total amount 
“scooped iu” by the rascals can only 
be a matter of conjecture or infer¬ 
ence, as none of them kept any regu¬ 
lar accounts, but that the aggregate 
leached several millions of dollars an¬ 
nually there is no doubt. Agent Ray 
estimates that the receipts of the four 
firms aggregated au average daily, for the 
last 00 days, of not less than $10,000, or 
a total of $600,000, including what they 
received from the various express com¬ 
panies. From January 1 to 20—just 20 
days —Flemming & Merriam received 
through the Post-office 775 registered let¬ 
ters, noue of which contained less than 
$10, while many of them contained from 
$100 to $500, In the same time the firm 
received 820 money orders, aggregating 
$20,416. From various facts it is esti 
mated that at least $80,000 were received 
through the different express companies 
in the same time. Aggregating the re¬ 
ceipts from these sources, therefore, it 
would appear that this single clique of 
sharpera swindled the public, and chiefly 
the agricultural part of it, out of about 
$80,000 in 20 dvysl Tne others were 
proportionately lucky, but, being some¬ 
what smaller concerns, their total plunder 
was not quite so heavy, though, judging 
from the similar facts, B. E. Kendall 
& Co., in the same 20 days, raked in not 
less than $53,000! The two other firms 
of this precious quartette must, have re¬ 
ceived an aggregate of at least $50,000 in 
the same time. Now these have been “in 
the bu8ine8s”all the year round and some 
of them for several years, and if their 
aggregate plunder for 20 days amounted 
to about $183,000, how much have they 
fleeced the public out of all told? 
Of course, the dupes of these swindlers 
were over-greedy, ovei-ambitious, too 
eager to get rich soon, credulous, gulli¬ 
ble, foolish and all that sort of thing; 
but is it not the dutv of the State to pro¬ 
tect people of this class from the wiles of 
sharpers, thieves and rascals of every sort? 
The wise, the prudent, the provident, the 
cautious, the shrewd and those endowed 
with all the business virtues, need small 
protection. It is the infants, physical 
and intellectual, that need guardians. 
Is it not a burning shame that the 
great State of Illinois has not taken a 
single step to suppress these frauds 
or punish the rascals ? Is it not a 
burning shame that there should have 
been found members of the press through¬ 
out the country who aid- d the schemes of 
the sharpers by admitting to their col¬ 
umns advertisements whose evident ob¬ 
ject was the robbery of their readers ? 
A few' of the gulled dupes are now trying 
to recover their lost money by causing the 
arrest of a couple of the swindlers on the 
charge of obtaining money by false pre¬ 
tenses. The arrested sh a rpers, how< ver, 
have been released on $500 bail, a trifle 
they can well afford to forfeit. Most of 
them, however, have “ skipped” to the 
safe ground of Canada, where they can 
laugh in security and luxury, at the cha¬ 
grin of their dupes, while planning new 
modes of catching the same gudgeons and 
inventing new names under cover of which 
the same old games may be played upon 
the same old fools or upon fiesh specimens. 
BREVITIES. 
It is a good plan to make a note now of the 
appearance and quality of hay as it is being 
fed from the mow, and where the quality is 
poor from improper managament in the 
euring or from cutting too late, one should 
remember the fact so that the mistake shall 
not be repeated, 
A 8CBCSHIBEU writes; " I* there any lega 
penalty for the detention of papers or books 
by the postmaster or bia employes, for the pur¬ 
pose of reading them or looking them over 
before their delivery to the proper persons!" 
As we have received other queries of a similar 
nature relating to t>>a non-delivery of the 
Rural, we referred the matter to the proper 
authorities for information. Their reply was, 
“ Report any such cases to the P. O. Depart¬ 
ment. and they will be attended to hy author¬ 
ity.” A postmaster has no right whatever to 
thus detain mail matter 
Captain Payne and bis party of Oklahoma 
colonists have again gone through the ex¬ 
pensive farce of preparing “outfits” for occu¬ 
pying that portion of the Indian Territory 
supposed to have been ceded to the General 
Government, but which has not yet been 
thrown open to settlement. Payne and bis 
fellow filUbusters have “assembled” from 
various quarters, marched towards and even 
into the Territory with many vaunts of 
“dying in the last ditch.” or hog-wallow, rather 
than retrace their resolute steps, and after all 
the gasconading, they have submitted tamely 
to capture bv Uncle Sam’s Bovs in Blue. 
They will probably be taken to Fort Smith, 
where they will be t.nrued over to the civil 
authorities who will at once set them at 
liberty again, as they have been set on more 
than one former occasion. This farce of 
attempting illegally to oc'uoy land mast 
have already cost the adventurers pretty 
heavily in loss of time and “outfitting” ex¬ 
penses: while it has cost the government 
$200,000, to say nothing of the cost of check¬ 
ing the present raid. G«n. Sherman thinks 
more stringent laws should be enacted for the 
punishment of the invaders, and throughout 
the country there are more than a handful 
who agree with William Tecumseh. 
The late storm in the Far West appears to 
have been only about as hurtful to stock as 
its predecessor whose pffects were summar¬ 
ized here week before last. From San An¬ 
tonio, Goliad and Indianola, Texas, late tele¬ 
grams say that various reports put the loss of 
sheep from 15 to 20 per cent, that of calves at 
10 per cent and that of cattle at five per cent 
From Wichita, Kan. we learn there have been 
severe losses among sheep, cattle and other 
stock: whileeattle on the range drifted great, 
distances before the driving storms of sleet 
and chilling winds, From Cheyenne, the 
Wyoming Stock-growers’ Association, the 
largest organization of the kind on the globe, 
says fffldally that although the storm was 
unusually severe along the line of Union 
Pacific Raflway, it was le«s so on the ranges 
to the north, and that cattle in Wyoming are 
in better condition than they have been at 
this season for years. From Rawlins, Wyo., 
however, come news that prospects arc exceed 
ingly gloomy, and stockmen are praying for 
wind to sweep the heavy snows from the pas 
tures. Careful inquiries by the railroad 
agents go to show that cattle on the Mon 
tana ranges are doing well and that there 
have been little or no losses among stock. A 
telegram this morning from St. Louis says 
reports from the Colorado ranges say the 
loss of stock will amount to 15 per oent; while 
a telegram from Denver maintains that the 
loss will not be over five per cent among cat 
tie and somewhat more among sheep. 
SATURDAY,, FEB. 17, 
We call attention to the new plan of 
training grape-vines as pursued (and we 
believe originated) by Mr. A. J. Caywood, 
of Marlboro, New York. There is much 
in the system to commend it. 
♦ - 
We hope to present the Rural New- 
Yorker in & new dress of type next week 
or the week after. Our last new type has 
lasted us scarcely one year, notwithstand¬ 
ing several editions have been printed 
from electrotypes. 
-- 
Many of our readers are vexed or 
offended that the articles they have 
kindly sent to the Rural have not ap¬ 
peared in its columns. This is unjust to 
us. At this season of the year we usually 
receive more articles than we can find 
space for, and each article has therefore 
to await its turn. 
Some of our readers write us that they 
have received the Blush Potato in a frozen 
condition and ask us why we mail them 
at this season. Would they have us wait 
until next April? Those who receive the 
potato frozen will please notify us by 
postal-card of the fact, giving their 
names and addresses, plainly written. 
We will then send others. 
Owlno to an unprecedented pressure 
upon our space, many reports, articles, 
questions and answers etc., etc., have 
been delayed. We apologize to our 
friendg, though the delays are entirely 
beyond our control. We shall, no doubt, 
find place for all the shorter practical 
articles which we are always glad to 
receive. 
Next week we shall present a carefully- 
drawn portrait of the Kieffer Pear, with 
the opinions of our best pomological 
authorities and the results of our own 
tests. We venture to express the belief 
that all of our readers, open to convic¬ 
tion, will find matter therein which may 
enable them to decide whether il were bet¬ 
ter to invest in the Kieffer or let it alone. 
the plan and details of a substantial barn 1 
36x50, to cost $600. “If one has lots of 
cash,” he says, “the problem of barn 
building is easily solved—but to combine 
comfort and durability with economy is 
what we wrnt.” We should be pleased 
to receive plans from any of our experi¬ 
enced readers. Pencil sketches, if pjain, 
will enable us to present the engravings. 
A ewe of the Dorset breed, one fa¬ 
mous for producing early lambs which 
bring an extra high price in the Eng¬ 
lish market, yeaned four lambs at a 
birth last December. All were of large 
size, strong, healthy, and are doing well. 
The ewe supports two of them, and the 
other two are brought up by hand. 
Dorset sheep are celebrated for their 
fecundity, and we believe oftener cast 
two lambs at a birth than a single one. 
If they were not horned we would recom¬ 
mend their importation into America for 
the purpose of breeding early lambs, and 
yet they would be no better for this pur¬ 
pose than the South Down, which is be¬ 
ing trained now in England to bring forth 
as early in Autumn and Winter as the 
Dorset The former is a more perfect- 
formed animal than the latter, is hardier, 
and its flesh, young or old, if anything, 
superior. These we have already, so let 
us stick to them and not think of other 
breeds for the production of early lambs. 
Although money is dearer, or in other 
words, goods in general are cheaper, in 
England than here, according to late re¬ 
ports of the Smithfield market, the chief 
depot for supplying the 4,500,000 mouths 
of London with meat, the price of that 
commodity there is at least fully as high 
as here, and the relative prices of differ¬ 
ent kinds of meat are not proportionate. 
For instance, mutton brings 22 cents per 
pound by the carcass, and 25 cents per 
pound for leg; while the best roasting 
joints of beef are 11 1-2 or 12 pence per 
pound, equal to 23 to 24 cents. Beef bv 
the side brings about 15 cents per pound. 
Owing to the high prices of beef on this 
Importers of sugar, anxious for lower 
import duties on that product, are flood¬ 
ing the country with circulars full of the 
oppressive nature of taxes on that “ nec¬ 
essary of life”; and urging the “dear 
public” to petition Congress against such 
taxation; where are the representatives of 
the sugar-cane industry of the 8outh and 
of the sorghum sugar industries of the 
North ? The lumber men of Michigan 
are busily working for the restoration of 
the 20 per cent, import duties on lumber 
lately put on the free list; where are 
the conservators of our forests and the 
users of lumber in the multitudinous in¬ 
dustries into which it enters ? The wool¬ 
en manufacturers of New England, while 
battling vigorously for the old or even 
higher import duties on foreign woolen 
goods, are over-ready to concede that the 
duty on raw foreign wcol should be low¬ 
ered, although the manufacturers of wool 
profess to work with the growers of wool 
on the tariff question; where are the 
growers ? The salt makers of Michigan 
and New York are clamorous for the re¬ 
tention or an increase of duties on foreign 
salt; w T hy are the voices of the dairy¬ 
men, the meat-picklers and the millions 
of others who use foreign salt, silent? 
-- 
All trustworthy reports declare that 
never has there been so strong a lobby in 
Washington as during the present session 
of Congress. Every manufacturing indus¬ 
try deserving of name is abundantly rep¬ 
resented. The proposed revision of the 
tariff has aroused the cupidity of these 
to a highly active condition. Their ob¬ 
ject in Washington is tw<-fold—to 
secure a lower import duty on all foreign 
“raw” products that enter into their 
manufactures and a higher import duty 
on all foreign manufactured products 
that compete with their own wares in 
our markets. Wherever they are will- 
iog to sacrifice the former object to 
the latter, it is in the line ol “log¬ 
rolling.” Money, It is charged, is freely 
put where it will “do the most good” in 
the way of accomplishing their objeotB. 
Other modes ol illegitimate persuasion 
end disuasion are also liberally employed. 
The greatest industry in the country, the 
support and motive power of all others, is 
the only one unrepresented in the Wash¬ 
ington lobby. A griculture alone haB no 
hired advocates of its interests. The manu¬ 
facturers, the railroads, the land-grabbers, 
all have busy workerf toiling, smiling, 
dinner-giving, pleading, misrepresenting, 
arguing, bribing and seducing, in their 
favor; agriculture alone has no represen¬ 
tative in the scheming pack. This dig¬ 
nified abstention from underhand modes 
of influencing Congressional action is, of 
course, grand; but is it business-like? 
-♦ -- 
A bell has just been passed by the 
Province of Ontario, Canada, for the en¬ 
couragement of tree planting. It pro¬ 
vides that any municipality may pay out 
of the public funds a bonus not exceed¬ 
ing 25 cents for every tree—ash, bass¬ 
wood, beech, birch, butternut, cedar, 
cherry, chestnut, elm, hickory, maple, 
oak, pine, sassafras, spruce, walnut or 
whitewood—planted along a highway or 
farm boundary line or within six feet of 
such boundary line. Trees along the 
highways are to be the property of the 
owner of the adjacent land, but must not 
be cut down without permission of the 
authorities. Those planted along the 
boundary line are to be the joint property 
of the owners of the two farms. The 
bounty is to be paid on the certificate of 
inspectors that the trees are 30 feet apart, 
three years old, healthy and of good 
form. The Provincial Treasurer is to 
refund to the municipality half the bonus 
paid by the latter to the tree-planter. In¬ 
asmuch as only 10,000,000 acres of the 
130,000,000 acres of timbered land in the 
Province have yet been cleared, the Onta¬ 
rians have beguD in good time to provide 
against the evils which deforesting has 
inflicted upon some European, Asiatic and 
African regions now naked deserts, but 
formerly richly clothed wiih umbrageous 
timber and other flourishing vegetation. 
SWINDLERS AND DUPES. 
During the past three years we have 
often warned our friends against the 
allurements held out in New York, 
