MARCH 24 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
hoeing the plants may grow at any desired 
distance apart, according to the variety 
and the fertility of the soil. 
free trade; because, we suppose, that 
cheapens the cost of all agricultural im¬ 
plements and of all the other utensils as 
well as the apparel of agriculturists. Rail¬ 
way rates from the North to Bombay; 
that is. from the Punjaub, the chief 
wheat-producing province of India, are to 
be immediately reduced 18Lj per cent., 
which is equivalent to a reduction in the 
price of wheat of one sliillmg and sixpence 
per quarter, or about 4!s cents a bushel, 
in the London market. Under the im¬ 
pulse of British enterprise and skill there 
is a strong probability that India will soon 
become a more formidable rival of Amer¬ 
ica than Russia now is in the wheat mar¬ 
kets of Europe. 
» ♦ >- 
Just before the close of each session of 
Congress is the harvest time of the 
“lobby;” for during the rush and con¬ 
fusion of the last hours of the National 
Legislature greed and chicanery are most 
active and unscrupulous, and not unfre- 
quently objectionable bills or clauses in 
bills then push boldly through or creep 
unnoticed, that in calmer, more deliberate 
times would ho detected, denounced and 
successfully opposed. Such a bill was 
passed by the late Congress just before it 
expired, exempting the public land in 
Alabama from the operation of the “Min¬ 
eral Land Act,” and thus opening 1,500,- 
000 acres of iron and 250,000 acres of 
coal land to purchase by speculators at 
SI.25 per acre. Under the general law 
the Government would sell it at from 
$2.50 to $20 per acre, but the land grab¬ 
bers who lobbied the bill through will now 
take up large tracts at the lower figures, 
and the Government—that is, the People— 
will be the loser. By a jobbing bill in 
1876 the public domain in Alabama, as 
well as that iu Mississippi, Louisiana and 
Florida, was excluded from the provisions 
of the homestead laws, and this throwing 
away of the mineral lands of Alabama 
makes a clean sweep of the public domain 
in that State in favor of capitalists. 
OUR FOREIGN CATTLE-RAISING 
COMPANIES. 
The development ol' cattle raising in the 
West is still rapidly progressing. English 
and Scotch capital is already largely in¬ 
vested in the business, aud recent English 
papers tell of the formation of a large 
number of other cattle-raising companies 
having chiefly in view the prosecution of 
the industry on our Western ranges. Of a 
list of seventeen such lately organized en¬ 
terprises, representing a capital of $20. 
650,000, all but one intend to operate in 
this couutry. They have nearly all been 
formed iu the last three or four months 
and in soliciting investment, the prospec¬ 
tuses of nearly all have dwelt upon the 
success of the Prairie Cattle Company 
which lately announced a first dividend 
of over 27 per cent. These foreign cattle 
companies are fast gaining control of this 
industry in the Far West, either by appro¬ 
priating large ranges or by purchasing the 
herds and “plant” of American stockmen. 
It looks now as if Uncle Sam’s wide pas¬ 
tures from the Gulf to the Canadian line 
would ere long be doing more for the en¬ 
richment of Englishmen aud Scotchmen 
than of Americans. Is the arrogant dis¬ 
honesty of the “cattle kings,” towards 
smaller stockmen and neighboring agricul¬ 
tural settlers of native or foreign origin? 
The Land Office records, the columns of 
local papers, the observation of intelligent 
visitors to the ranges all tell of the high¬ 
handed manner in which these potentates 
often fence in large areas of the public 
domain, closing public roads that cross 
tlioir illegally acquired ranches, mix up 
small neighboring herds inextricably with 
their own multitudinous stock, depredate 
on the crops of adjacent settlers, and often 
at the mouth of rifle or revolver forbid 
intending settlers to take up the land 
offered them by the laws of their country. 
-» » » 
THE DRIVEN WELL TROUBLE. 
M.vxy of the driven well owners 
throughout the country who have not paid 
royalty on their wells, do not seem dis¬ 
posed to submit tamely to the exactions of 
Green’s agents. These are unusually busy 
and arrogant now owing to the late de¬ 
cision of the Supremo Court in favor of 
the validity of the patent, and unlicensed 
well owners should realize that they will 
doubtless ere long be called upon to pay 
“royalty.” It will save them much trou¬ 
ble and considerable expense if they decide 
beforehand what to do in ease the demand 
is made. It is absolutely foolish for indi¬ 
vidual well owners to refuse to pay, be¬ 
cause the cost of a first trial will be more 
than the license fee, which is always in¬ 
creased in case of refusal to pay, and no 
single farmer can afford the outlay needed 
to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, 
Conducted by 
ELBEBT 8. CABMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Pabk Row. New York. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1888. 
ALL SHOULD READ THIS. 
All applications made for seeds up to 
March 10th have been mailed. The potato 
is sent as the weather permits. Any of 
our readers who, having applied for the 
seeds prior to March 10th, have not yet re¬ 
ceived them, will please notify us by postal 
at onee. We shall give notice as to the 
potato later. 
In each envelope of seed there should 
he (1) two small envelopes of the Black- 
bearded Centennial Wheat; (2) one of 
Garden Treasures; (8) one of Niagara 
Grape; (4) one of Perfection Watermelon; 
(5) one of Wysor’s Shoe-peg Corn. 
AU Jiotifieations should he addressed to the 
Editor , at River Edge, Bergen Co., New Jer¬ 
sey. They will receive prompt attention. 
TO ADVERTISING PATRONS. 
We call attention to our changed ad¬ 
vertising rates for 1883, as presented on 
page 173. 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 circuin 
stances prove ineffectual. 
We are obliged to state that all adver¬ 
tisements intended for the next issue must 
reach us before Thursday. 
-- 
Readers of the Rural should know 
that our news page is edited with just the 
same care that is bestowed upon auy other 
portions of the paper. 
- 
Prof. W. R. Lazenby, director of the 
Ohio Ag. Ex. Station (Columbus), says 
that the Black-bearded Centennial Wheat 
is not a success with him. 
At present it may be said that it will 
not pay small farmers to buy suitable ap¬ 
paratus for making sugar from Northern 
cane. Every neighborhood may have a 
good factory. 
-»■» ♦- 
A writer in the Florist and Pomologist 
(England) points out very decided differ¬ 
ences between the Argenteuil and other 
strains of asparagus. Imported seed of 
this variety was sent out in the Rural’s 
Free Seed Distribution of two years ago. 
We shall soon hear from our subscribers 
no doubt, as to their views. 
As we have never adopted the plan o. 
notifying our subscribers when their sub¬ 
scriptions expire, we would ask them to 
look at the address slips on the wrappers 
and thus ascertain for themselves. Thus, 
if the number after the name is 1731, the 
subscription will end next week; if 1732 
the week after, and so on. 
Friends of the Rural, please send us 
your address plainly written on a postal if 
you have not received our present Seed 
Distribution. We have sent it to every 
applicant whose request was received up 
to March 10. We must not be held re¬ 
sponsible for post-office irregularities, and 
a modicum of mistakes in our own office is 
surely to be expected. 
There is no doubt about it—the agri¬ 
cultural press is better supported for 1883 
than ever before in the history of our 
country. Their columns are loaded with 
advertisements and most of them have 
added materially to their circulations. 
Now is the time for them to win the hearts 
of their readers so that when a gloomy 
period succeeds the present one ot prosper¬ 
ity, the agricultural paper may be deemed 
a trusty friend whose counsel is far more 
valuable than the yearly subscription price. 
•-♦ » ♦- 
In preparing the soil for Northern sugar 
cane, no matter what the variety planted, 
it is indispensable to roll and harrow until 
it is well pulverized. The preparation 
usually given for oats or corn will not suf¬ 
fice for sorghum. The seeds are small. 
They germinate slowly and grow feebly 
at first, so that weeds may readily get 
ahead of the young plants. The drills 
should be nearly or quite four feet apart, 
and the seeds dropped so that at the first 
The United States Bagging Manufac¬ 
turers’ Association is a new organization 
formed here a few days ago at a conven¬ 
tion of the cotton bagging manufacturers 
of the country. The Association will meet 
annually in this city, but special meetings 
may be held at the call of the president, 
James 8. Murdock, of Charleston, S. C. 
The chief professed object of the organiza¬ 
tion is to keep its members informed of 
the State of the trade, with a view to reg¬ 
ulate the production according to the de¬ 
mand, and its chief unexpressed object is 
to keep up prices of all sorts of bagging 
by checking the “cutting under” due to 
competition among manufacturers. 
Last December a gentleman from Suf¬ 
folk, Va., applied at Castle Garden, in this 
city, for white laborers to work vn his 
farm. It was the first application from 
Ya. in 15 years. He secured some Ger¬ 
mans, and, speaking of the results of the 
experiment in a Norfolk paper, he says 
that the most recent immigrants, without 
any knowledge of our language, are best 
for the South, because with no knowledge 
of the differences iu habits or wages in va¬ 
rious parts of the country, they readily 
adapt themselves to the customs of the 
place and are contented. Kind treatment 
in their new homes will win their attach¬ 
ment, but harshness and uncomfortable 
quarters, or coarse aud insufficient food, 
will render them dissatisfied—showing 
that there is u good deal of human nature 
in the poor ignorant creatures after all. 
-- 
Placer Co., California, has produced 
some of the choicest raisins that were ever 
grown in the State. About 12 miles west 
of Auburn, the county seat, there is a re¬ 
gion that in soil and climate seems to ex¬ 
actly suit the Muscat, Muscatel and seed¬ 
less Sultana grapes. The raisin-makers in 
that locality have done so well iu the past 
three years that this Spring, according to 
letters from California, several hundred 
acres are being planted in vines in small 
tracts of five, 10 and 20 acres. One gen¬ 
tleman, Charles Gladding, of Lincoln, is 
putting out 80 acres. About Newcastle, 
one of the noted fruit centers of Central 
California, also in Placer County, the 
raisin grape has been a remarkable suc¬ 
cess, though the culture of small fruits for 
shipment to the mining camps has at¬ 
tracted the attention of the horticulturists 
to a greater extent than has vine-planting. 
Mr. J. R. Dodoe, Statistician of the 
Agricultural Department, in his report to 
be published in a few days, concludes 
that no country in the world has such ex¬ 
cellent agricultural macliinery as the 
United States; hence we import no goods 
of that sort, for those in use in England, 
France, Germany and other countries 
would be cumbersome aud worthless here 
owing to the antiquity of their style and 
mechanism. The farm ccusus in the re¬ 
port gives the aggregate value of the live¬ 
stock in the States and Territories as $200,- 
338,147. The average value of horses is 
$70.59: of mules, $79.49; of milch cows, 
$30.21; of other cattle, $21.80; of sheep, 
$2.53; of swine, $6.75. These figures 
show an increase of $12,07 on horses, $8.14 
on mules, $4.32 on milch cows and $1.20 
on swine during the year. 
-» • ♦- 
A case ot considerable interest to stock 
importers has lately been decided. The 
Customs officers claimed the regular duty 
of 20 per cent, on a number of horses al¬ 
leged to he imported “for breeding pur¬ 
poses,” on the ground that they were not 
such as were calculated to improve the 
race, and that the improvement of stock 
was the only thing which exempted im¬ 
ported horses from duty. On reference to 
the Act, exempting breeding horses, how¬ 
ever, no clause could he found which de¬ 
clared that breeding purposes” were 
limited to the improvement of stock, and 
the Court therefore dismissed the case. 
Siuee the date of this decision quite a large 
number of ordinary mares have been im¬ 
ported from Canada, and especially from 
Montreal, duty-free. Previously the only 
mares imported free of duty were those of 
superior breed; but now breeders of all 
kinds of mares and stallions are claiming 
exemption on the “breeding” score. 
-- 
» 
A cablegram dated Bombay, India, 
yesterday and received here this morning, 
says the Indian budget fully discusses the 
competition of Indian with American wheat 
in the London market. The budget re¬ 
port says that India, though at a great 
disadvantage with regard to internal com¬ 
munications, has a great advantage through 
From first to last no paper in the country 
has opposed this monstrous patent extor¬ 
tion so persistently aud vigorously as the 
Rural New-Yorker, but it would be 
worse than foolish, in the present state of 
the case, to say a word that might lead an 
individual reader to refuse to pay the ex¬ 
action. If the owners of wells in each 
section combine, and these combinations 
collectively contribute towards carrying 
the case once more before the Supreme 
Court, it is quite possible that before a full 
bench the recent decision may be reversed; 
hut is there much prospect of such a com¬ 
bination? The well owners of Cattarau¬ 
gus County, New York, are contemplating 
such a movement. A considerable num¬ 
ber of well-owners in that county have 
been sued by patent agents without pre¬ 
vious notice, and in every instance $60 
have been demanded in settlement. The 
ordinary “royalty” is $10, and it is hardly 
likely that any court will sanction the ex¬ 
tortionate charge of $60, although until 
the recent decision of the Supreme Court 
is reversed, the reasonable demands of the 
patentees are pretty certain in all cases 
to be conceded. 
BREVITIES. 
A quick growth means tender vegetables. 
There is no one grass better for lawns in 
this climate than Red-top. 
See that there are no offensive odors in your 
cellars or about your houses. 
Washington Territory reports favorably of 
Smith’s Cider Apple for market. 
We need never expect to obtain maximum 
crops from a soil worked when wot. 
We may now say that the Vergennes Grape 
is a “chance” seedling found in the garden of 
Mr. Greene of Vergennes, Vermont. 
P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta. Ga., writes 
us. under a late date, that Spring is unusually 
early and that peach trees are nearly out of 
bloom, except Alexander, and the fruit crop 
is safe thus far. 
Novelties of all kinds should not be judged 
according to the claims made for them by 
catalogues which generally merely repeat the 
claims of the originators or introduces Test 
them in a small way. 
One of the most liberal-minded journals we 
know of is the Farm Journal, of Philadelplua, 
Pa., published and edited by Mr. Wihner At¬ 
kinson. He sees good in other farm journals 
besides his own, and is sufficiently interested in 
the agricultural interests o* America to say so. 
From the great London seeds-house of James 
Carter & Co. we have received a note which 
concludes as follows: “Wo thank you very 
much for the impartial report that has ap¬ 
peared in the Rural Nkw-Yobker. It has 
gone a long way to confirm t he general opinion 
on this side that our new peas. Stratagem, 
Telephone and Pride of the Market, are at 
present the best in the world.” 
Don’t uncover protected grape-vines, straw¬ 
berry plants, ete., because we may have a warm 
spell. Mora harm is often done in this way 
than the benefit derived from the protection. 
It is more important to protect plants from the 
quickening effects of warm weather which is 
not to last than from the severest cold of mid¬ 
winter. Remember this: there is more harm 
done to plants in March and April than in 
December and January. 
The Noiv England Homestead, one of the 
liveliest of our Eastern exchanges, offers prizes 
for the best system of keeping farm accounts, 
the object being to induce farmers to pay 
closer attention to the business side of farming. 
Enterprise—enterprise in our rural journals 
is what we like to hoc! Let us have more of 
this and less of obsequious catering to the 
advertising patronage, as if this were the first, 
interest to be considered. 
The Eleventh Report of the Illinois Indus¬ 
trial University says that though sorghum 
seed in its general composition resembles other 
grain, the amount of tannin contained in it 
will no doubt prevent its liberal use os food for 
animals. As immense quantities of seed will 
necessarily be produced ns soon as the sorghum 
sugar industry is introduced, the professors 
have given this matter careful study, and have 
found that the seed is eminently adapted for 
the production of glucose. They have prepared 
the glucose directly from the ground seed, 
without the tedious and expensive process of 
first separating the starch. The great advan¬ 
tage of this industry to the sorghum industry 
will apjtear from the fact that, as the seed is 
practically ripe when the cane is cut, it can be 
stored up till the sugar season is over, and can 
afterwards be manufactured into glucose with 
the same machineiy now used in making sugar 
from the cane, thus giving employmentfor the 
balance of the year to the works, which other¬ 
wise would have to lie idle for eight or ten 
months annually. 
Tiie German decree against the importa¬ 
tion of American hog products, including 
sides, bacon and sausage, has at last been pro¬ 
mulgated. Prince Bismarck has also requested 
that the Bundesrath. in order to prevent an 
evasion of the law by the introduction of 
American hog products through other coun¬ 
tries, should decree that hog products should 
be admitted into the couutry only ou attested 
proof that they urc not from America, The 
prohibition Is not likely to lmvc any sensible 
effect on our markets t his year, nor, indeed, 
at any time unless there should bo u plethora 
of hogs hero as iu 1861, Anyhow Germany 
never nought, much pork from us, and what 
she did buy was at the low’est prices. The law 
is sure to be evaded too, for most of our pack¬ 
ers have Irish or English branches and their 
meats are ot the English cut, ho that, they can¬ 
not be distinguished from English packed 
meats when repacked in other barrels or when 
the marks on tne old packages have been ob¬ 
literated. The Amencau Hog is sin e to get in. 
