332 
MAY 26 
THE 
RURAL NEW'YORKER, 
Conducted by 
E1B|ERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
No. 34 Park Row. New York. 
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1883. 
Will potatoes yield more when the fer¬ 
tilizer is placed on top of the seed-pieces 
or under them? We are making a careful 
test in the hope of throwing light upon 
this question. 
A supplementary seed distribution 
will this -week be made to members of the 
Rural’s Youths’ Horticultural Club. 
We would ask parents to assist their 
children in sowdng these seeds and to en¬ 
courage in every way the inherent love of 
plants that all good, intelligent children 
possess. 
We know of a case in which this ex¬ 
periment was tried: A clover sod was 
turned under in the Fall on two acres. On 
one of these 300 pounds of Peruvian 
guano were sown broadcast and harrowed 
in; on the other no manure was used. On 
the manured acre 220 bushels of large¬ 
sized potatoes were harvested; on the other 
lift, most of which were of smaller size. 
It is not surprising that potatoes raised 
with chemical potato fertilizers are less 
injured by wire-worms, etc., than those 
raised either without manure or with 
farm manure. One has but to sprinkle a 
little of the concentrated fertilizer upon 
such worms to see by their wriggling that 
they cannot bear it.* Balt affects them in 
the*same way: but not so powerfully. 
A few days ago we visited a plantation 
of very thrifty strawberry plants In full 
bloom. One rarely sees in one plot of con¬ 
siderable size plants more vigorous—and 
yet they do not bear well. “What are the 
kinds?” we asked. “The Scotch Runner 
and another—probably the Wilson, 11 was 
the reply. We examined the plants care¬ 
fully and found that probably nine-tenths 
were the Scotch Runner. As this is pistil¬ 
late (the flowers bearing no stamens) the 
plants were dependent upon the Wilson 
for pollenation. As one plant of the 
Wilson could scarcely be depended upon 
to supply pollen for 1*0 of the Scotch Run¬ 
ner, the unproductiveness of the planta¬ 
tion, in spite of the vigorous plants in 
profuse bloom, was readily accounted for. 
It seems to the workers at the Rural 
Grounds that nobody that speaks from ex¬ 
perience will advise people to pick off the 
first potato beetles (parent beetles) by 
hand in order to save work later on when 
the eggs hatch out. We tried this plan 
thoroughly last year, and our readers may 
remember the several est imates made of 
how many were thus gathered and de¬ 
stroyed daily. But it seemed in a great 
measure \ loss of time and labor. It is 
true enough that if all the parent beetles 
are destroyed, there will be no grubs, and 
this is just what we tried to do. But this 
is impract icable. A large proportion at any 
given time are concealed under the soil 
while others are creeping from place to 
place, not to speak of those that come from 
neighboring premises. In spite of our care 
in destroying the beetles and eggs, myriads 
of grubs appeared, and we were at length 
driven to use Pans-green the same as in 
previous years. When writers advise us, 
as many have done, to gather the beetles 
by hand, we want to tell them that if 
they would practice this advice for one 
season they would feel ashamed to offer it 
the next. 
Cow-peas are beginning to be pretty 
extensively noticed in the North both for 
stock feed* and for enriching poor soils as 
green manure. Little or nothing was ever 
said of them in Northern papers until the 
Rural New-Yorker included them in 
its Free Seed Distribution of 1877-8, and 
in this way insured experiments with 
them in every part of the country. Ex¬ 
tensive experiments with 11 varieties— 
the same number distributed among our 
friends—were also carried on at the Rural 
Farm, and the merits and characteristics 
of the peas were fully discussed in the 
Rural for 1878 and 18*79 by some of the 
best-informed agriculturists of the South, 
including Dr. A. R. Lcdoux, then Direc¬ 
tor of the North Carolina Agricultural 
Experiment Station; Mr. II. W. Ravenel, 
the eminent botanist of South Carolina, 
and others. The results of our experi¬ 
ments at the Rural Farm were also fully 
detailed, as were those of a large number 
of other experiments made in every State 
in the Union with the seeds sent out by 
us. The seeds of some plants though 
naturally very slow in germinating, after¬ 
wards produce a rich and abundant vege¬ 
tation; may it not. be metaphorically so 
with the Cow-peas we distributed through¬ 
out the North five years ago ? 
Do you want seedling strawberries? 
Then sow the seeds now—there is no bet¬ 
ter time. Wash the seeds from the pulp 
and sow them in neli, mellow, sandy loam. 
Keep the soil moist. The seeds will ger¬ 
minate in about three weeks, and produce 
plants which will winter well if slightly 
covered, and many will produce berries 
next year. Isn’t it a pleasure to eat berries 
which vou have yourself originated, even 
though not quite so large as the Slinrpless 
or so sweet as the Lenuig’s White, or so 
firm as the Wilson, or so altogether abso¬ 
lutely perfectly perfect as those of the 
latest introductions? When your wife and 
daughters, and sons and grandchildren eat 
of these berries, will it not give you a 
happy feeling to be able to say “Those 
strawberries were grown from seed which 
I planted ten years ago?” And then, 20 
years later, the sons or daughters may have 
occasion to remark, “This variety of 
strawberry was originated by my father 30 
years ago. 11 Well, if you wish to be re¬ 
membered and spoken of lovingly long 
after you have passed away, sow the seeds 
of strawberries now* and save the best 
plants for future propagation. 
A MATCHLESS MATCH-MAKING 
MONOPOLY. 
The last Congress removed the tax on 
matches in spite of the urgent opposition 
of the Diamond Match Company, which, 
owing to recent combinations, almost 
monopolizes the match manufacture of 
the country. Its resistance to the re¬ 
moval of*the tax was entirely selfish, as its 
continuance insured the combination 
against competition. After the first of 
July next there will be no tax on 
matches, and the Company has'for some 
time been making extensive preparations 
to maintain its hold on the production of 
matches and on the pockets of consumers. 
In the West it is buying up and closing 
small factories, having already done the 
same in the East. It is reported to have 
purchased all the pine timber lands in the 
Michigan markets; it owns all the patents 
on improved match-making machinery, 
and is prepared to buy up ail new inven¬ 
tions, and it now claims to be in a posi¬ 
tion to keep matches at the present price 
in spite of the removal of the tax. Well, 
it may do so for a time, hut it. will hardly 
be able to continue long to “corner” the 
enterprise, inventive ingenuity and pine 
timber of # this vast country as well as to 
force submission to extortion. The busi¬ 
ness is “protected” from foreign competi¬ 
tion by a tax of 35 per cent, ad valorem 
ou imported matches; but the love of 
competition and fair dealing among the 
public, and a desire of a share in the large 
profits of the combination among capitalists 
are pretty certain ere long to give toother 
manufacturers a share of the business 
which may for a few years be practically 
engrossed by this matchless match-mak¬ 
ing monopoly. 
A JERSEY COW TEST STATION. 
We are informed by a member that at 
the last annual meeting of the Jersey Cat¬ 
tle Club the question of establishing one 
or more stations for testing the milk and 
butter qualities of Jersey cows was re¬ 
ferred to a committee to devise some 
means for carrying this into effect. We 
hope this proposition will be put into some 
practical working shape. It is well known 
that through the numerous and large im¬ 
portations that, have been made to this 
country, we now have many of the best 
strains*the Island affords; that the records 
have been more systematically and ener¬ 
getically kept in this country than in any 
other, and that the present advantage in 
prices in favor of imported cows, is mostly 
without any just reason, and it is only 
necessary to furnish a guarantee that 
American-bred Jerseys can do what they 
are known to perform, to entirely turn the 
tide of exportation the other way. We 
are now sending Jerseys into Canada, 
New Brunswick and even Mexico and the 
West indies, and if the Club will estab¬ 
lish stations where cows can earn reliable 
records, it will be but. a short time until 
England and the Island of Jersey itself 
will bid for our produce, just, as England 
has already done with Short-horn cattle. 
The Jersey Cattle Club is a rich institution. 
The. offspring of the best butter producers 
sell for double and treble the prices ob¬ 
tained for other strains. The conveniences 
for transportation are so perfect that cows 
can be moved about the country just as 
valuable horses are now and we can see 
no obstacle in the way of the establish¬ 
ment of these testing stations, that, a little 
energy and enterprise cannot surmount. 
THE NEW TARIFF ON THINGS AGRI¬ 
CULTURAL. 
As most of the provisions of the new 
tariff soon go into force, it will probably 
be of interest to our readers to learn what 
those that concern agricultural matters 
are. The importation of neat, cattle and 
of their hides is prohibited, unless in cases 
where the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
officially determine and announce that 
such importation will not tend to the in¬ 
troduction or spread of contagious or in¬ 
fectious diseases among our own cattle. 
The Secretary is empowered to regulate or 
suspend such importations, and a willful 
violation of the law is punishable by a 
fine not exceeding $500, or imprisonment 
not exceeding one year, or both, in the 
discretion of the Court. The import du¬ 
ties on articles in which farmers are likely 
to he especially interested are:—Sumac, 
ground, threc-fourtlis of a cent per pound; 
sumac extract, 20 per cent, ad valorem; 
castor beans or seeds, 50 cents per bushel 
of 50 pounds; extract of hemlock and 
other bark used for tanning, 20 per cent, 
ad valorem; glucose, or grape sugar, 2ft 
per cent, ad valorem; leaf tobacco, of 
which 85 per cent, is of the size and fine¬ 
ness of texture to be suitable for wrappers 
and of which more than 100 leaves arc re¬ 
quired to weigh a pound, if not stemmed, 
75c. a pound; if stemmed, $1 a pound: all 
other leaf tobacco, not stemmed, 35c. per 
pound; tobacco stems, 15c. per pound. 
Live animals, 20 per cent ad valorem: 
beef and pork, 1c. a pound; hams and 
bacon, 2c. a pound; extract of meat, 20 
per cent ad valorem; cheese and butter as 
well as substitutes therefor, 4c. a pound; 
lard. 2c. a pound; wheat, 20e. a bushel; 
rye and barley, 10c. a bushel; barley, 
pearled, patent or bulled, half a cent a 
pound; barley malt. 20c. per bushel of 34 
pounds: Indian corn and oats. 10c. per 
bushel; corn-meal, lftc. per bushel of 48 
pounds; oat-meal and rye flour, half-a-ccnt 
per pound; wheat flour, 20 per cent ad 
valorem; potato or corn starch, 2c. a 
pound; rice starch and other starch, 2’ .;c. 
per pound; rice, cleaned, 2Yc. and un¬ 
cleaned, 1)^c. per pound; paddy l#e. per 
pound: rice flour and rice meal, 20 per 
cent ad valorem; hay, $2 per ton; honey, 
20c. per gallon; hops, 8c. a pound; milk, 
preserved or condensed, 20 per cent ad 
valorem; pickles, 35 per cent ad valorem; 
potatoes, 15c. per bushel of 60 pounds; 
vegetables, in their natural state or in salt 
or brine, not specially provided for, 10 
per cent ad valorem; vegetables prepared 
or preserved, not otherwise provided for, 
30 per cent ad valorem; chicory root, 2c. 
a pound; vinegar, 71^0. a gallon; acorns, 
dandelion root and other substitutes 
for coffee, 2c. per pound; oranges in 
bulk, $1.60 per 1,000; lemons in 
bulk, $2 per 1,000; limes and grapes, 
20 jut cent, ad valorem: raisins, 2c. 
per pound: filberts and walnuts, 3c. 
per pound; peanuts, unshelled, 1c. 
and shelled, per pound; flax straw, 
$5 per ton; flax not hackled or dressed, 
$20 per ton; hemp and substitutes 
therefor, $25 per ton; jute butts, $5 
per ton; jute, 20 per cent, ad valorem; 
bulbs and bulbous roots, not medicinal 
nor otherwise provided for. 20 per cent, 
ad valorem; hemp and rape seed and all 
other oil seeds, except linseed, one-quarter 
of a cent a pound; linseed or flax-seed, 
20 cents per bushel of 56 pounds; garden 
seeds, except seed of sugar beet, 20 per 
cent, ad valorem; osier, or basket willow, 
25 per cent, ad valorem; salt in packages, 
12c. and in bulk 8c. per 100 pounds; 
tallow, lc. per pound. The duties on 
wool and sugar are not given here, as they 
are considerably complicated, being differ¬ 
ent on different grades of each, so that if 
they found place here, this article would 
be too long. 
On the free list are annatto aud all ex¬ 
tracts of it; dried blood: crude bones; 
bone-dust, or bone-ash for the manufac¬ 
ture of fertilizers; animal carboD tit for 
fertilizing only; guano and all other sub¬ 
stances expressly used for manure; raw 
hide cuttings; hoofs and all glue stock; 
unmanufactured horns; rennets, raw and 
prepared; unground ginger-root; wood 
ashes; apatite, or native phosphate of 
lime; phosphate, crude or native, for fer¬ 
tilizing purposes; muriate of potash; plas- 
ter-of-Paris; nitrate of soda. Animals 
brought into the country for a period not 
exceeding six months for exhibition or 
competition for prizes offered by agricul¬ 
tural or racing associations are on the tree 
list, but under bond. Animals specially 
imported tor breeding purposes are duty¬ 
free; so arc teams of animals, including 
harness, vehicles, etc., actually owned by 
emigrants and in actual use for the purpose 
of emigration. Other duty-free imports 
are bod-feathers; eggs; tropical and semi- 
tropical fruit plants for propagation or 
cultivation ; ripe or green fruit, not other¬ 
wise provided for; raw goats 1 skins; hair 
of horse or eattlc not manufactured; 
hides, raw or uncured, whether dry, 
salted or pickled, aud skins, except sheep¬ 
skins with the wool on; Angora goat¬ 
skins, raw 7 , without the wool, unmanufac¬ 
tured ; asses’ skins,raw r or unmanufactured; 
hop roots for cultivation; hop poles; oil¬ 
cake; plants, trees, shrubs, and vines of all 
kinds not otherwise provided for, and 
seeds of all kinds, except medicinal seeds 
not specially enumerated elsewhere; saur- 
kraut; seed of sugar beet; silk-worms 1 eggs 
and silk cocoons; tea plants, teasels, yams. 
-- 
BREVITIES. 
Have you sown a row of beets for greens ? 
Keep the cultivator going between the rows 
of peas. 
It is now 7 time to wash the stems of all trees 
liable to the attacks of borers. 
You will never meet with the best success 
if you use raw farm manure for your melons. 
Give them a mellow soil and supply old man¬ 
ure that the plants can make use of at once. 
We have hud many inquiries in regard to 
Japan Clover. South'Carolina’s distinguished 
botanist, Mr. Ravenel, on page 338, drives its 
history and its value. This is one of the ar¬ 
ticles promised to our readers last Fall. 
Is it better to get 50 bushels of corn per 
aero in one season than in two ? Will it pay 
you to raise 200 bushpls per acre of potatoes 
this year, instead of 100 bushels each for this 
year and next ? 
Go over the strawberry plants set this 
Spring and cut off every flower. The fruit 
home by such plants would not amount to 
much, while the} 7 would interfere greatly with 
the vigorous growth necessary to a fail crop 
next year. 
Reports from nearly all parts of the coun¬ 
try speak in exceptionally favorable terms of 
the prospects for fruit. Reaches promise to be 
unusually abundant, there being scarcely a 
word of complaint from any quarter. The 
early cherries were damaged bv frost; but 
later cherries are abundant. From present 
appearances fruit of nearly all kinds will be 
plentiful and cheap this year. 
Many gardeners are not particular in plant¬ 
ing Lima Beans, to place the eye down. In 
a very interesting pamphlet received from 
Prof. Beal, befell us the results of planting 
the eye uppermost. Many of them came up 
after a fashion, but were a good deal confused. 
In the garden, nine out of 25—over one-third 
—sent the radicle and all the roots out of the 
ground, when the whole bean perished. 
If you have any sandy loam upon which a 
manure pile has rested, that is the best to use 
for melons. Dig your holes where the melon 
patch is to he, and fill them with this soil. 
Plant a dozen seeds in each, and when there is 
no longer fear of the striped bug, cut off all 
but three plants with a pair of scissors. Then 
the roots of those to remain will not be dis- 
turbed; or they mav bo pinched off; but 
don’t pull them out. The same advice applies 
as well to plants of cucumbers, cabbages, etc. 
M. F ARTHUR, in a late address before the 
Academy of Sciences at Paris, told of the won¬ 
derful results obtained bv vaccinating live 
stock with his “attenuated” vims as a preven¬ 
tive of disease. During the past year 80,000 
sheep, about. 4,000 cattle and 500 horses have 
been vaccinated. Before the introduction of 
the system the loss of sheep from liver-rot in 
one Department of Franco was nine per eent., 
but the loss since has been reduced over one- 
half. though only a part of the sheep there 
had been protected by vaccination. Even 
among flocks only partly vaccinated the ratio 
of the loss was only as one to ten between the 
vaccinated and nnvaccinated. all the animals 
receiving the same care, food and treatment. 
The rate of mortality among cattle was re¬ 
duced from 7.03 per cent, to .84 per cent. Dr. 
D E. Salmon expects even hotter results from 
his experiments iu Washington, so that the 
stock-owners of the country have good reason 
to wait with interest the outcome of his efforts. 
A uecikion of considerable interest to enter¬ 
prising settlers on the public domain has just 
been made by the Secretary of the Interior 
in the case of Plummer vs. Jackman, involv¬ 
ing the title to 160 acres of valuable land near 
Bismarck, D. T. Jackman’s claim to the land 
was contested on the ground that bo had not 
settled upon it in good faith, but to sell it on 
speculation, in violation of Section 2802 of the 
Revised Statutes. He took up the land at that 
particular joint in anticipation thut the North¬ 
ern Pacific Railroad would eros* the Missouri 
River there, in which case a town would be 
built—and this actually occurred. In his de¬ 
cision the Secretary says: “The statute refer¬ 
red to cau not he construed to mean that per¬ 
sons going to the frontiers, or along the lines 
of projected railways,and anticipating centers 
of population, shall not en joy the benefit, of 
their enterprise and foresight, though t hey be¬ 
lieved their claims would become of great, 
value ou account of the proximity to villages 
or cities, or that villages or cities would even 
lx> built upon such claims, and thereby enable 
them ultimately to realize large prices for such 
lands. That, is not the ‘speculation’The statute 
is intended to prohibit.”. This is just. 
