MARCH 40 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Conducted by 
KLBERT 8. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
No. 34 Park Row, New York 
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1888. 
NOTICE. 
Rural readers, if they have any com¬ 
plaints to make as to the Seed Distribu¬ 
tion will please address us at River Edge, 
Bergen Co., New Jersey. Such com¬ 
plaints will receive immediate attention. 
In each package there should be found 
(1) two small envelopes of the Black- 
bearded Centennial Wheat; one each of 
(2) Garden Treasures; (3) Niagara Grape; 
(4) Perfection Watermelon, and (5) Wy- 
sor’s Shoe-peg Corn. All applications as 
to seed# received up to Feb. 20th have 
been mailed, except to our Canada sub¬ 
scribers. These will be mailed at once. 
The potatoes are mailed separately, as the 
weather permits. Those receiving frozen 
potatoes will please notify us. 
TO ADVERTISING PATRONS. 
We call attention to our changed ad¬ 
vertising rates for 1883. as presented on 
page 157. The change divests them of all 
discounts, presenting them in the simplest 
form so that they may be understood at a 
glance. We beg to assure those who 
would favor us with their advertising 
patronage that these rates are invariable 
and that any correspondence looking to a 
change would under any and all circum¬ 
stances prove ineffectual. 
We are obliged to state that all adver¬ 
tisements intended for the next issue must 
reach us before Thursday. 
Mr. Wysor writes us that the Wysor’s 
Early Shoe-peg is the heaviest dent corn 
he has ever seen, weighing 02 pounds to 
the bushel. 
The Rural suggests that its readers 
plant plum trees in their poultry yards. 
Except bv jarring the trees, it is the only 
way we can have sound plums where the 
curculio abounds. 
-- 
If you want to produce next season the 
tinest grapes you ever saw, cover the young 
hunches with paper bags and girdle the 
cane just belotv the bunch by cutting a nar¬ 
row ring around it or tying a wire tightly. 
Next week we shall give our readers 
the advice of several experienced seedling 
grape-growers as to the best methods of 
starting the seeds. Those who intend to 
plant the seeds of the Niagara sent them, are 
requested to read the instructions carefully. 
We planted dry grape seeds January 10 
in pots which have been kept over a Balti¬ 
more heater on the mantel. They have not 
yet germinated. February 1st seeds of the 
white Malaga grape were planted fresh 
from the berries and treated in the same 
way. February 14, seven had germinated. 
There were not over a dozen seeds planted. 
Dr. Sturtevant advises placing cut 
potato tubers in water colored with red 
iuk in order to observe the depth of the 
eyes and what he terms something similar 
to the cambium layer. If w r e cut a potato 
cross-wise near the stem-end, we may see 
a ring of vascular tissue wilich ruus nearly 
parallel with the circumference of the tu¬ 
ber except where it runs out to the surface 
in the buds or eyes, and in the narrow 
stem at whose extremity it grows. If a 
slice across the potato be soaked in a solu¬ 
tion of iodiue for a few' minutes (see John¬ 
son’s “ How Crops Grow,” page 274). the 
vascular rings become strikingly apparent. 
In its active eamhial cells, albuminoids are 
abundant, wilich assume a yellow tinge 
with iodine. The starch of the cell-tissue, 
on the other hand, becomes intensely blue, 
making the vascular tissue all the more 
evident. 
A writer in an exchange, who thinks 
.ife on the farm really more enjoyable than 
elsewhere, provided the fanner does not 
make a slave of himself or of those around 
lim, has been evidently hurt, sensible as 
he is, by the scoffing of some young lady 
cousins from the city who turn up their 
pretty noses, and declare they would not live 
on a farm. He takes comfort, however, in 
the thought that style is not salvation, that 
, fresh, home-grown fruits, eggs, vegetables, 
etc., are better than marketed ones, and 
especially in the comforting consideration 
that many of our Presidents and greatest 
men have worn heavy boots, with overalls 
tucked into their tops too, and that most 
estimable ladies have been thought by 
sensible people all the more estimable for 
taking charge of farmsteads and wearing 
calico dresses plainly trimmed. 
A movement is on foot for the forma¬ 
tion of a National Live Stock Association 
to include the owners of cattle, horses, 
swine, sheep and poultry. It is notorious 
that Congress has been culpably neglectful 
of legislation for the protection of domes¬ 
tic animals from contagious diseases, and 
it is thought that the representations of a 
national organization will have more weight 
in securing needed legislation on this and 
other topics, than the requests and protests 
of local bodies. In no country in the 
world are the live stock interests so im¬ 
portant as in this, and in no country in the 
world are the live stock interests so utterly 
neglected by the Government. Tens of 
millions are lost to the stock owners of the 
country every year by contagious diseases 
that could to a great extent be avoided bv 
appropriate legislation, the nature of which 
has been repeatedly pointed out by our 
most competent authorities; but in spite 
of the most urgent representations, not hing 
or next to nothing, has hitherto been done 
at Washington to meet the reasonable 
hopes of stock owners. 
Readers of the Rural ! we now suggest 
to you the very great importance of attend¬ 
ing to all sorts of work that may facilitate 
the labor of the busy planting season. As 
one man's work is more valuable than 
another’s, so you cannot afford to be obliged 
to abandon more important work during 
the busy farm season, which might have 
been done during the. dull season. Pardon 
such trite suggestions—but the wisest, of 
us are prone to put off until to-morrow 
what might better be done to-day. Soring 
is upon us. Is your wood supply sufficient 
to last until next Winter or must some one 
spend half an hour in chopping it during 
every Summer day? Are the fences in 
order? Are. the plows, harrows, seed- 
sowers, drags, and rollers ready for use? 
If you have fertilizers to buy,’ buy them 
now. If you have clover seed to buv, 
order it at once—it is not likely to fall in 
price. Select your vegetable seeds—mark 
labels for them—provide brush for the 
peas—see to the poles for the Limas. 
Every farmer who keeps poultry should 
have an inclosure in which to shut them 
up during the early growing season. If 
you have fruit or ornamental trees to buy, 
order them now and then dig the holes to 
receive them as soon as a spade can be 
forced into the ground. Prepare to keep 
ahead of your w’ork in all things. It is 
labor and money saved. It is satisfactory 
in every way. 
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 
Many ages ago an arm of the Gulf of 
Mexico extended northward to a point 
about 30 miles above the mouth of 
the Ohio and the present site of Cairo, TUi- 
nois. Its total length from its northern 
extremity to the. present limits of the Gulf 
was somewhat over 000 miles. Its breadth 
at the upper extremity varied from 30 to 
50 miles, its extreme width being 150 
miles, and its average width about 
20, its area being 12,300 square miles. 
The land stretching northwards for over 
a thousand miles, east ward to the Allegha- 
nies and westward to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, forming an area of nearly a million 
and a quarter square miles—a region more 
than half the size of Europe—drained its sur¬ 
plus water into this arm of the sea. The 
granite flanks of the Rocky Mountains, the 
shales of the Alleghenies, the tertiary form¬ 
ation of the Plains were all plowed by the 
rivers that poured their waters into it, 
bearing in solution or suspension earthy 
contributions from all the country through 
which they flowed. When the current of 
the rivers was checked on meeting the 
salt water, the suspended matter was pre¬ 
cipitated,shoaling thesalt waters and form¬ 
ing a delta, which was slowly pushed 
southward until, in the course of ages, the 
great salt-water trough was replaced by a 
long, broad alluvial plain through which 
flowed the mighty Mississippi, carrying to 
the Gulf the drainage of half n continent. 
This alluvial plain, extending from above 
Cairo to the Gulf, is terminated on the 
east and west by lines of bluffs of irregu¬ 
lar hight and direction, and down the 
plain the river flows in a serpentine course, 
washing the base of (be bluffs at Colum¬ 
bus, Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez and 
some other points on the east, and at 
Helena, Arkansas, on the west side. The 
actual length of the river from the mouth 
of the Ohio to the Gulf is 1,097 miles, 
while the distance in a straight line is only 
about 000 miles. The hight of the head of 
the plain near Cairo above the sea level is 
310 feet, and the range there between high 
and low water is 51 feet, while at 
New' Orleans, 115 miles above the 
mouth of the river, it is onlv 14.4 feet. 
At New Orleans the river is about 3,000 
feet wide and for nearly 2,000 miles above 
that point its width varies little, except 
that at the bends it widens to a mile, or 
even a mile and-a-half; the junction of its 
tributaries produces no increase in the 
width. The depth is variable, the max¬ 
imum being commonly from 120 to 130 
feet as far inland as Natchez, over 400 
miles from the mouth; while from about 
Vicksburg up, in low stages of the river, 
there is not sufficient water on the frequent 
bars to permit the free passage of boats 
drawing seven or eight feet of water, and 
above the mouth of the Ohio the shallow 
stage of the river frequently impedes or 
prevents navigation in Summer time. 
When the river is swollen by floods from 
any of its chief tributaries, it overflows 
the largo alluvial plain through which it 
runs, forming extensive seas spread out on 
cither side, the course of the river itself 
being marked by a clear, broad band of 
water in the midst of the homesteads or 
forests that elsewhere appear above the 
water; for the land along the river is by 
no means all cultivated; vast tracts of un¬ 
surpassed fertility are yet covered with 
eanebrakes and cypress. To protect their 
lands from devastation in the. times of high 
water, the riparian owners have built em¬ 
bankments, or levees, closely following the 
course of the stream; but as the compressed 
bed of the river is harder than its banks, 
the swollen current, instead of scouring 
out the bottom and thus deepening the 
channel, attacks the weaker, softer banks 
and devours reaches of levee, fields, farms, 
forests, even towns. 
The free navigation of the Mississippi 
River is a matter of national importance, 
and any measure intended to secure it is 
within the legitimate scone of tho Nation¬ 
al Government. To the Western farmer, es¬ 
pecially to the rapidlv-growing agricultural 
population west of the river, its unimpeded 
navigation is of paramount importance, as 
the great stream affords cheap transporta¬ 
tion of all surplus products to foreign mar¬ 
kets; and low charges for transportation 
mean to the producer higher prices for 
products. The navigation of the river 
cheapens transportation not only on the 
goods shipped on it to New Orleans, but 
also on those forwarded to the seaboard by 
rail, as the competition of the great water 
route to the Gulf lowers the rates on all 
the great rail routes to the Atlantic. 
The first large national appropriation 
made for the improvement of the naviga¬ 
tion of the river was one of about $5,000,- 
000 for the improvement of the Rock 
Island and Des Moines rapids, ordered in 
1806. Within the last few years enormous 
pressure has been brought to bear on 
Congress by the West for the improve¬ 
ment of the navigation of the river, and 
by the South, for the construction of 
levees at the national expense. It is agreed 
on all hands that the former project is a 
legitimate national undertaking; but many 
object to reclaiming or guarding the bot¬ 
tom lands along the river at the public ex¬ 
pense for the private benefit of the riparian 
owners. Various projects for deepening 
the bed of the river in shallow places, and 
also for confining it within certain limits 
in its most turbulent moods, have been 
proposed, at an expense ranging all the 
way from $33,000,000 to $100,"00,000. 
Of these the plan adopted as a finality bv 
the Commission of Engineers charged with 
the consideration of this problem, embraces 
two kinds of works—the protection of the 
banks and the narrowing of the stream 
to a uniform width of about 3,000 feet. 
The revetments for the prevention of the 
erosion and caving in of the banks are to 
consist of mattresses made of wire netting 
interlaced with brush, and held in position 
on the threatened banks by stones. The 
stream is to be narrowed in broad places 
by the construction of new banks formed 
by means of light, permeable dykes of 
piles or poles, brush and wire, so placed as 
to arrest the flow of the w T ater and cause 
it to deposit its sediment. The Commis¬ 
sion also propose to construct levees from 
Cairo to the Gulf, wherever needed, to 
keep the waters within reasonable limits 
in times of flood. The entire cost of this 
work has been estimated at $33,000,000 at 
least, while others think it cannot be done 
for less than double that amount. 
Last year Congress appropriated $4,123- 
000 ns the first installment of the sum 
needed towards carrying Ihis plan into 
execution, and a large proportion of this 
has been expended on works at Plum 
Point and Lake Providence. A telegram 
has just announced that 1,470 feet of the 
mattresses and piling at Plum Point have 
been swept away by the present freshet. 
For nenriv a week the wicker-work has 
been floating past Memphis “by the acre,” 
and it is impossible to determine the full 
amount of damage done, as the works are 
under water. A select Committee of the 
House, which has been investigating the 
subject, has just reported of the proposed 
channel improvements that the plan has 
not been shown to be sufficiently effective 
to warrant the continuance of the work 
save as an experiment, at the two points 
above mentioned, and that levees would 
in no way improve the navigation at low 
winter, and during high water no improve¬ 
ment is needed. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
What can I plant with the most profit ? 
Oats, peas and early potatoes. Shall you 
be ready to put them in the ground as soon as 
the frost is out? 
If von want a purple raspberry that is very 
productive and as hardy as any, try the New 
Rochelle. 
The Earliest Potato. Trv the Triumph, 
Early Ohio, and Beauty of Hebron. Plant 
them early in a warm situation. 
Why Is manic sugar darker when made 
from the san gathered at the Hose of the sugar 
season than from thntgathered in the early part? 
When Charles tells you that he can buy 
berries cheaper than you can tow them, be¬ 
ware of Charles—‘‘lie is fooling thee.” Mr. 
Green savs that this is t he method some hus¬ 
bands adopt of staving off n trifling expense. 
How practice differs. One friend writes ns 
he would as noon think of planting a whole ear 
of com in a hill as a whole potato. He has 
often, with anew kind. cut. the “eye cluster” 
(seed end) into three and four pieces and had a 
good hill from each piece. 
Three yean? aeo Prof. Beal suggested to us 
that if we wanted to increase the lenalh of the 
ear, would it not be well to plant kernels from 
the tins of the ears? Wo thought, not. Dr. 
Sturtevaut’s tests and those of others recently 
republished make Prof. Beni’s question an open 
one. 
Fourth Annual Notice to ©nr former read¬ 
ers: Plant a grane-vine this during—if blit 
one. Plant cuttings from the best vines in 
vonr neighborhood. let, them be a foot long 
including two buds. Place these firmly in the 
soil, leaving one bud out nnd then strew a little 
litter over them until warm weather. 
An item is going tho rounds that if Orchard 
Grass is sown thick enough it will not grow in 
tussocks or cl mo ns. We sowed a plot three 
yearn aeo so that the surface was covered with 
seeds, to find the incorrectness of the above. 
Of course it. starts verv evenly but it. will grow 
in " tussocks ” as surely as wheat will tiller. 
Mr. G. E. Parnell writes us:—"You a l-o do¬ 
ing a great service in illustrating and giving 
us tho practical experience Q f our best culti¬ 
vators on the newer varieties of grapes. I am 
pleased to see you treating annles. Continue 
the good work nnd give us similar notes on 
the principal old and new fruits. They are of 
great, value to all.” 
Try this eXjx'rimopt for one month: When 
you feel cross, selfish, fault-finding, dissatisfied 
with everybody and everything—oblige your¬ 
self to assume a smiling face aud to treat every¬ 
body with unusual courtesy and kindness. 
Corn bv selection through ten years is not. more 
susceptible to improvement than vou will find 
vonr disposition to lie in one month under this 
discipline. 
From a comparison of the latest English 
mail and cable ndvices it would seem that the 
prosnect for wheat at present in England and 
Scotland is the most tmprrwtdsiim ever known 
at this time of the vear. Even with favorable 
weather henceforth the crop, it is stated on 
good authority, is certain to be disastrously 
short, and another vear of great agricultural 
distress is believed to be inevitable. The 
gloomv outlook venders it like'v that the Gov¬ 
ernment. will soon introduce into Parliament 
some measures for the relief of t he agricultural 
classes, and esmyinllv of small farmers, bv an 
adjustment, of the arrears of rent in Great Brit¬ 
ain of the same nature ns that, lately introduced 
into Ireland 
The State Department, has forwarded to the 
American Minister at. Berlin a “memorial” 
from the Chamber of Commerce of this city, 
suggesting that the German Government, be¬ 
fore prohibiting the Importation of our 
hoes, bacon, ham and sausages, should send 
hither a commission of enwrts to examine 
the processes of preparing hogs and hog pro¬ 
ducts for market Secretary Frelinehuysen has 
directed that the “American pork Question” 
should be brought to tho attention of the Im¬ 
perial Government, which is to be asked to 
investigate the subject, thoroughly, as this 
country is unite confident that a complete 
knowledge of his supremo excellence will en¬ 
tirely dispel the Germans’ professed alarm at 
the exeunt,ionnI unsoundness of the American 
Hog. The total exports of bacon, ham and 
preserved meats from this country to Germany 
during the fiscal vear ending June 30, 1381— 
the latest whose full report, has lw>n issued — 
amounted to only $3,600,000, so that, our loss 
by any action of the German Government 
cannot be large, especially ns n great ileal of 
American pork is sure to lie imported from 
neighboring countries in the miise of home- 
raised meat. We exported thither $8,000,000 
worth of lard, during the same twelvemonth, 
nnd there is some fear that, the German pro¬ 
hibition mnv lie extended to this product, but 
as lard must be submitted to a high degree of 
heat, in “rendering,” there is uo pretext for 
barring it out, to prevent the introduction 
of trichina', which would lie rendered entirely 
harmless hv thejrendering process. 
