JUNE 30 
412 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1833. 
From four plants of the James Vick 
strawberry set last August, we picked 59 
ripe berries June 16. It is a wonderfully 
prolific variety, though the quality is not 
of the best. 
We beg to ask a question:—Why are 
varieties of corn preferred for ensilage 
that produce large stalks, as, e. < 7 ., 
Blount's, rather than those which produce 
more leaves and smaller stalks? 
We gathered a quantity of rose bugs, 
placed them in a tomato can and sprayed 
them with an emulsion of soap, kerosene 
and water blown from a bellows. They 
died in 15 minutes. The same emulsion 
sprayed upon them while upon grape¬ 
vines in the open air seemed to do them 
no harm. 
Dr. Manly Miles submits to the Mass. 
Ex. Station his plan of operations essen¬ 
tially the same as those which he at¬ 
tempted to carry out on land at Houghton 
Farm. The Hood of last year which 
deluged the plots, put an end to his ex¬ 
periments. Dr. Miles aims often, high 
and with a rare deliberation; but he 
shoots rarely. 
The tomatoes which up to this date 
(June 20) have come to market have all 
been picked green to ripen later the same 
as bananas are picked green to ripen en 
routs or after they have arrived at market. 
Many of our readers may not be aware that 
large, green tomatoes will color perfectly 
after Vicing picked, though, of course, de¬ 
ficient in flavor. Last year we picked 
many green tomatoes after the tirst light 
frosts of Fall, and placed them in rooms 
of the house. They colored as well as if 
left on the vines, though the color was less 
brilliant and the flavor insipid. 
We feel very much like telling our 
readers to beware of new strawberries. 
Buy them in small quantities. Very few 
of the later much-praised varieties are su¬ 
perior to the older kinds if treated the 
same. The Sharpless cxcells in vigor of 
plant and size of berry; the James 
Vick in productiveness; the Manchester 
in productiveness and firmness; the Mount 
Vernon in earliness. There is not one 
that may fairly be said to be superior to 
the Charles Downing, Boyden 30 and 
many others of the older varieties that 
are well known to all. 
- - ♦ » 
The agricultural editor of the N. Y 
Suu makes a characteristically evasive com¬ 
mentary upon our several statements that 
Bermuda Grass has been raised at the 
Rural Grounds (it has been raised for that 
matter in many other places) from seed, 
during the past two years. It is his 
business to know this and not to wait for 
Prof. Thurber or Dr. Gray to advise him 
of the important fact. True Bermuda 
Grass seed has been sold by seedsmen for 
two years past, and this Editor owes it to 
the farmers who read the widely cir¬ 
culated Sun to inform them of the fact, 
and to retract in full his previous state¬ 
ments to the contrary. Now, dear sir, 
don’t distress yourself about the Rural 
Editor's knowledge of botany, and waste 
words on little-minded personalities, but 
do as we bid you. There is that little, bit 
of justice that remains to lie done to Pro¬ 
fessor Riley also. 
-4-M- 
The barbed-wire fence monopolists have 
received another severe check by the de¬ 
cision rendered the other day by United 
States Circuit Judge McCrary and Dis¬ 
trict Judge Love in the case of the 
Washburn & Moen Company vs Rhodes 
and others. This case, known as the 
‘Town case,” was tried last Winter at Keo¬ 
kuk, and decision was reserved until sim¬ 
ilar motions involving the same question 
should lie passed upon by Judge Treat at 
St. Louis, as Judges McCrary and Love 
did not desire to forestall the argument 
or anticipate the judgment in the 
other court. The issue of the St. Louis 
cases was spoken of in the Rural of June 
16, and both Judges McCrary and Love 
find Judge Treat’s opinion in accord with 
their own judgment as to the invalidity of 
the reissues of the Kelly and Glidden 
patents. Monopoly dies hard, however, 
and is utterly reckless in its death strug¬ 
gles. Accordingly we are hardly surprised 
to learn that the barbed-wire fence monop¬ 
oly which bus hitherto attacked manu¬ 
facturers only, now threatens vexatious 
law-suits against the users of barbed fence 
not manufactured under its license or in 
its •workshops. 
With in the last two or three years a 
growing import trade in eggs has sprung 
up between this country and Europe. In 
t he last nine months a couple of firms here 
have imported over 200,000 dozen eggs 
from Europe, chiefly from France, Hol¬ 
land and Germany, though some came 
from Italy and even from Turkey. The 
breakage is said to be less than among 
eggs from the West, and the prices a cent 
or two a dozen less, as the foreign article 
is a trifle less than the product of Ameri¬ 
can hens. In Summer our home-raised 
supply is nearly enough, but we have to 
go abroad for eggs in Winter. Canada 
has hitherto been our chief source of sup¬ 
ply, our importations thence in 1882 
amounting to 12 , 000,000 dozen, valued at. 
$1,500,000. As no difficulty is experienced 
in keeping the eggs fresh* dealers antici¬ 
pate that by and by we shall get our eggs 
from China, which produces enough to 
supply the whole United States from its 
surplus. One of our Consuls in Canada 
a few months ago urged the ‘‘protection” 
of the American Hen by the imposition of 
an import duty on eggs, now on the “free 
list.” Will this be necessary, oh, ye farm¬ 
ers, and especially ye farmers' thrifty wives 
and daughters? 
The practice of hilling up corn and po¬ 
tatoes is not only robbing Peter to pay 
Paul, but it is worse than that. It is both 
robbing Peter and injuring Paul. When 
corn is a foot high, the roots extend a 
foot; >. <?., the plant is the center of a cir¬ 
cle of roots at least two feet in diameter. 
Now, in order to hill up, we take away 
the soil from these root extremities to 
heap it about the stems where it is not 
needed for any purpose whatever. When 
the roots extend half-way or more between 
the hills or drills, it is worse. The roots 
are then in a measure deprived of 
moisture, food and shelter, while many of 
the roots which the plant needs are sev¬ 
ered. This reasoning, which wc first 
acted upon six years ago, has guided us 
in our method of corn cultivation ever 
since, and we have latterly adopted it for 
potatoes, and have yet to ascertain that it 
is not the better plan. Again, after six 
years of drill planting, it would be diffi¬ 
cult to make us believe that corn plants 
growing one foot apart will not thrive bet¬ 
ter than when two, three or four plants 
arc crowded together; and, finally, wc be¬ 
lieve that a “handful of phosphate” in the 
hill is a “handful of phosphate” thrown 
away, except as it may. when distributed 
by the plow or harrow, benefit future crops. 
Menhaden, a fish of the herring fam¬ 
ily,is reported to be extraordinarily numer¬ 
ous this season. It makes its appearance 
on our coasts, from the British Provinces 
to New Jersey, in May, and departs in 
November. Being rather oily, it is not 
very palatable; but it yields a valuable 
oil, used chiefly in leather dressing and 
also in rope making and painting. The 
malodorous scrap, or refuse, after the oil 
has been extracted from the boiled fish, is 
used in the manufacture of fertilizers, this 
being the chief basis of fish guano, etc. 
There are some ?() factories in operation 
along the coasts of New York and New 
England, employing a large number of 
sailing vessels and steamers, the Eastern 
portion 01 Long Island being the principal 
seat of the industry. The fish swim in 
countless numbers close to the surface at¬ 
tended by sharks, blue-fish, gulls and 
other predacious creatures that prey upon 
them. They are caught in purse nets as 
far as 30 miles from land and also in shore 
seines and other nets. Tills year vessels 
sailing along the coast, report vast shoals 
of menhaden extending on every side as 
far as the eye could see, and the vessels 
engaged in fishing are making extraor¬ 
dinary catches, just as fast as the fish can 
be hauled in. A Congressional Committee 
was appointed last year for the purpose 
of investigating menhaden fishery, as it 
was claimed r.hat the destruction of this 
fish was so enormous along our coast, that 
it must soon cease to visit us in any consid¬ 
erable numbers, and it was consequently 
feared that the blue-fish and other food 
fishes that feed upon it would soon be¬ 
come scarce in our markets. Judging 
from the enormous extent of the shoals 
now on our coast, this fear was unfounded. 
ANTI-OLEOMARGARINE LEGISLATION 
JUDICIALLY SUSTAINED 
In the Missouri oleomargarine case de¬ 
cided by Justice Miller in the United 
States Circuit Court at Kansas City on 
June 12, the facts were these:—John Bros- 
nan, Jr., agent of the Southern Dairy Co, 
of Louisville, Ky., was arrested for sell¬ 
ing oleomargarine, which is a misdemean¬ 
or under a late Missouri statute. The case 
was brought before the United States 
Circuit Court under habeas corpus, Ex- 
Senator Roscoe Conkling, with other law¬ 
yers, appeared on behalf of the oleomarga¬ 
rine men. It was argued that the statute 
was illegal, because it prohibits the 
manufacture and sale of an article 
which is patented under the United 
States law; because it interferes with 
inter-State commerce, and nullifies the 
value of certain legitimate property. 
The court holds that the right under [lat¬ 
ent laws is simply protective as against 
competitors; that it secures to the inven¬ 
tor a monopoly of his invention, and 
therefore the Missouri statute is not an¬ 
tagonistic. It is not. a restriction on com¬ 
merce between States, but relates only to 
traffic within the State. It does not de¬ 
stroy the value of property, but simply 
punishes the offender under the statute. 
The Court therefore .decided that in this 
case it had no jurisdiction and remanded 
the petitioner to the State Court. The 
Court acknowledges the petitioner's proof 
of the wholesomeness of the concoction, 
but says the case can be considered only 
upon the question of jurisdiction. The 
petitioner claimed that the statute, is con¬ 
trary to tile Constitution of Missouri in 
prohibiting traffic, in a wholesome and 
useful article; the Court holds that this 
position appears sound, but, like the pre¬ 
vious question, it could not be considered 
in this case. The anti-Conkling papers 
are “poking fun” at the ex-Senator for 
bis high flights of oratory in glorifying 
“bullock and bog butter,” but the defeat 
of his cause will probably annoy liirn more 
than the jeers of his foes. 
COLLAPSE OF THE GREAT “CORNER” 
IN LARD. 
The country in general and Chicago in 
particular have experienced a sensation 
during the week by the collapse, last Sat¬ 
urday, of the enormous “corner” in July 
lard, manipulated at Chicago by the “Lord 
of Lard,” Peter McGeoch, of the firm of 
McGeoeh, Everinghmn A Co. Peter Mc¬ 
Geoch is a Scotchman of 50, large,vigorous 
and bold. Beginning with little or no capi¬ 
tal 20 years ago, by energy, ability and 
“nerve” be has of late years become one 
of the most notable speculators of the 
country, especially remarkable for the gi¬ 
gantic “corners" in grain and provisions 
of which he has been the chief manager. 
In these his name has been often associ¬ 
ated with those of Armour, Wells, Plank- 
ington, Hutchinson, Fairchild and Mitch¬ 
ell, among the largest speculators and cap¬ 
italists of Chicago and Milwaukee. Early 
iu April lie began buying lard heavily, 
especially for delivery in June and July. II 
soon beeaine an open secret that, lie was 
engineering a “corner” in lard, which was 
to culminate on the last day of July. As 
he kept buying, the packinghouses, head¬ 
ed by the great English concern Fowler 
Brothers, kept selling, buying hogs liber¬ 
ally and running their packing houses 
night and day to make the lard to 
sell. McGeoch wanted to buy more 
lard than could be produced, so that 
when the day of settlement arrived lie, 
holding all the lard in the market, 
could wring large sums from those who 
had sold to him what they hadn’t and 
could not procure except from him. Last 
week he had contracts for several hundred 
thousand tierces more than was in store, 
and his brokers were constantly buying 
on his account. The active demand and 
good prices, however, stimulated produc¬ 
tion so much that lately it is said lard 
was produced at Chicago to the amount of 
500,000 pounds a day. Moreover, the 
stocks in Chicago were enormously in¬ 
creased by shipments of lard to that 
market by packers all over the country, 
so that recently the receipts it is thought 
were as large as the home production. Tt 
is believed that McGeoeh had bought for 
his own firm and others between 500,000 
and 600,000 tierces, and still the supply 
seemed inexhaustible, Fowler Brothers 
alone turning in of late from 1,000 to 2,000 
tierces a day of “ James Wright & Co.’s ” 
brand of prime steam lard. The enormous 
production by this firm led McGeoch and 
his partners to investigate the manner in 
which the lard was made, and then came 
the sensational charges of adulteration 
spoken of on this page in our issue of 
June 9. 
While besmirching the reputation 
of the Fowlers, these charges reacted 
on McGeoch with disastrous effect, for 
they brought lard into disrepute every¬ 
where, lessened the consumption and 
consequently depreciated the price of 
a product of which he was far away the 
largest holder. Moreover, this deprecia¬ 
tion was the chief cause why his bank re¬ 
fused to accept lard as security for ad¬ 
vances on the eve of the collapse of last 
Saturday. A fall in price on Friday 
afternoon required that McGeoch should 
put up an additional $250,000 on lard he 
had bought lmt had not paid for. All 
signs indicated a further fall on Saturday, 
which would require another $250,000 for 
margins, and at this crisis his bank, in¬ 
stead of advancing more money, told him 
he must “take up” his lard—that he must 
pay the money he had borrowed on it. be¬ 
cause it had been declared adulterated by 
the borrower himself and was decidedly 
in bad repute the world over. All Friday 
night was spent in trying to raise money. 
Armour and other Chicago friends guar¬ 
anteed $ 1 , 000 , 000 , and tried liy telegraph 
to induce Senator 'Mitchell, the Milwaukee 
banker, and tlie richest man in the North¬ 
west, to aid McGeoeh whom he had for 
20 years befriended. It was found that 
not less than $5,000,000 would be required 
to see the July deal through—to pay for 
the vast amount of lard that would lie re¬ 
ceived before the last day of July—and 
Mitchell refused to advance any of this sum. 
Next day the announcement that 
McGeoch had failed caused a panic in the 
provision market. Over 320,000 tierces 
of lard, worth about $13,000,000, were 
sold nut for McGeoeh in the forenoon. 
Within an hour July lard tumbled from 
$10.65 per 100 pounds to $9.05, a de¬ 
preciation of $5 on every tierce of lard 
and of over $1,200 on every 250 tierces_ 
the smallest speculative lot traded in. A 
few days before lard sold for $40 a 
tierce; on Saturday it was worth anything 
from $30 to $36 a tierce, according to the 
fluctuations in price. So intense was the 
the excitement in the Exchange that 
brokers within arms’ length of each other 
were selling at prices 30 cents per 100 
pounds apart. McGeoch’s lard was prob¬ 
ably not much over half what was sold. 
Lard owned by countrymen, by friends of 
McGeoch or believers in his foresight or 
luck, bv brokers who bad bought for him 
and were left in the lurch, was all thrown 
on the market in the wild panic. When 
lard had dropped below 10 cents a pound 
Armour, Hutchinson, Kent, and other 
millionaire operators came to the rescue, 
buying in everything offered. Just be¬ 
fore the turn of the tide, July lard was 
sold at $9.05; it closed on Friday night at 
$11.17&. 
McGeoch dealt in other hog products also 
in connection with his dealings in lard, 
and as the former tumbled in sympathy 
with the latter, he lost on them also. He 
is reported to have been worth about $ 2 ,- 
000,000 at. the opening of the “corner;” 
at its close he had lost all this, and is 
said to have been about $1,090,000 in 
debt. The total, direct and consequential 
depreciation in hogs and hog products 
throughout the country, owing to the col¬ 
lapse of the lard “corner,” is moderately 
estimated at $ 6 , 000 , 000 ; a part of which, 
however, has already been recovered by 
the appreciation of the goods and the 
healthier tone of the market. 
BREVITIES. 
The Summer meeting of the Michigan Hor¬ 
ticultural Society will be held at Ionia, June 
26th and 27th. 
How good people may patronize horse-rac¬ 
ing without seeming to do so—attend the “ ag¬ 
ricultural” fair. 
The early potatoes have been cheeked in 
many fields about the Rural grounds by dry 
weather—and a “check” at this time means a 
poor crop. 
Cultivate the corn not only to mellow the 
soil but also to make it unnecessary that the 
plants should share their food with weeds. 
We may still sow carrot seeds if the soil is 
not too dry. Short-horn varieties should be 
preferred. Sow one pound and a-half to the 
acre and roll the drills. Let the drills be one 
foot apart. Thin the plants to four inches 
aparL 
So great is the fear of the spread of 
phylloxera in Algeria, that extraordinary pre¬ 
cautions are taken to prevent it. Trio' area 
under vineyard* j.s nearly-10,000 acres, and auy 
one visiting an infected vineyard must, before 
leaving, first, carefully dean his shoes, so that 
not a particle of soil shall he carried away; 
secondly, he must thoroughly brush his outer 
pan neji t*», and hat; and, third, anv imp lenient 
he may have used amoug the diseased plants 
must be scninulously cleaned. By the law of 
March 21,1883,no one is allowed to enter a vine¬ 
yard suspected of being infected without 
official permission, and all infected vineyards 
must he inspected bv the mayor of eaehcoin- 
nitme once a month. Every vine-grower is 
obliged to repor t to the authorities the first 
symptoms of phylloxera among his plants. A 
violation of any of these regulations renders 
the offender liuble to fine or imprisonment. 
