JULY 44 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
Conducted by 
ELBERT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. S4 Park Row. New York. 
SATUBDAY, JULY 14. 1883. 
If any of our readers have choice strains 
of flowers from which seeds may be gath¬ 
ered this Fall, we should he glad to hear 
from them. They will kindly name or 
describe the flowers, giving probable quan¬ 
tity, however small, and price. We de¬ 
sire a large quantity, made up of at least 
100 different kinds, for our “Garden 
Treasures” of the Rural’s next Free Seed 
Distribution. Our readers, living as they 
do in every State of the Union and in 
many foreign countries, might greatly aid 
us in this matter for the benefit of all. 
Fay’s Prolific currant ripens this season 
one week before the old Red Dutch. 
The Marlboro raspberry ripened at the 
Rural Grounds July 3d. We have picked 
quite a number of ripe Ilansells since 
June 24th. July 7. We may now add that 
the Marlboro seems to ripen with the Tur¬ 
ner. The berries are bright, large, firm 
and of good quality. 
The Souhegan Blaclc-cap (the plants 
set last Fall) is very fruitful. The bear¬ 
ing canes, hut 18 inches high, are matu¬ 
ring from 10 to 24 berries each. The new' 
canes are at this time (July 2) nearly six 
feet high. 
Fay’s Prolific Currant we are now' en¬ 
abled to say proves to be all that was 
claimed for it. Our specimen was set in 
the Spring of 1881, It is laden with cur¬ 
rants as large as the Cherry currant, while 
the berries are notably more uniform in 
size and the racemes longer. 
-- 
Sir J. B. Lawes writes us, under a late 
date, as follows: “Having had seven wet 
years, we are now having a very dry one, 
and since February hardly any rain has 
fallen. * * * 1 grow the Champion Potato 
on my experiment plots and at present I 
have had no disease, although, of course, 
taking the crop on the same ground every 
year is a severe trial * * * I am 
afraid our mangel crop will fail this year, 
the hulk of the seed never came up ow'ing 
to the dry weather.” 
-- 
Our plants (four in number) of the 
James Vick Strawberry were set out in 
August last. They wintered perfectly, and 
notwithstanding the great number of 
flowers and fruit, have grown w'ith un¬ 
usual vigor, the foliage being perfectly 
healthy and of a dark green color. From 
these four plants we have picked as fol¬ 
low's: June 14th 25 berries: June Kith 51) 
berries of medium size; 18tli 12 berries; 
20th, 58 berries of medium size—weather 
favorable; June 23, 94 berries, from small 
to medium size; June 24, 20; 20th, 40 
of small size. Many of the top flow’ers 
did not set and many that did set dried 
up. The berry is quite Arm, with red 
flesh which is not of high quality. From 
this test it would appear that the James 
Vick should be prized for its hardiness, 
healthiness, vigor and productiveness while 
the quality and size of the berries, will 
stand against it somewhat. 
-- 
On July 4 the Anti-Monopoly Con¬ 
vention met at Chicago, and has been in 
session since, delegates being present 
from 18 States and from Dakota and tlie 
District of Columbia. The movement is 
very widespread in the West, most of the 
States represented being in that section. 
The only Eastern States represented w r cre 
New Hampshire and New York. The 
latter, however, has by far the roost, 
efficient organization, and a New-Yorker 
was elected president of the conference. 
The original call declared the purpose of 
the Convention to be the organization of 
a new political party; but as the proceed¬ 
ings progressed it w'as clear that widely 
different views were held by the delegates 
upon matters of prime importance, such, 
for instance, as tariff and the currency. 
The platform submitted by the Committee 
on Resolutions advocates a postal tele¬ 
graph system, the abolishment of the 
national bank system, the establishment 
of a graduated income tax and of postal 
savings banks, the amendment of the 
patent laws to secure more perfect protec¬ 
tion for inventors and for the innocent 
users of patented articles, and the impo¬ 
sition of taxes for the necessary expenses 
of the Government only. “Corners” in 
agricultural produce and all gambling in 
the necessaries of life were emphatically 
denounced, and the limitation of cor¬ 
porate power strenuously advocated. 
TESTS AT THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Our potato tests with potato fertilizers 
used in different quantities,are this season 
very satisfactory. In every case —-judging 
alone by the growth of vines—the yield 
w'ill he according to the quantity used, 
except where it is excessive. In such 
cases the vines are much the same as 
where uo fertilizers at all were used. 
Our acre of experiment corn was drilled 
in with a new machine dropping one ker¬ 
nel every ten inches and planting two 
rows at a time. The kernels were too 
large for the plates selected so that a very 
imperfect stand was the consequence. A 
second planting was made by hand as 
soon as this was discovered, but, like 
most second plantings, it is far behind 
the first, and will not add much to the 
yield. But the first planting is looking 
superb, and with a continuation of favor¬ 
able weather must give to the variety a 
maximum yield. Months ago a farmer 
called at the office and said he had culti¬ 
vated one kind of corn for over 20 years. 
He said it grew to the bight of but five or 
six feet, matured in 90 days or less, 
yielded three ears to the stalk—the ear of 
good size, the cob small, the kernel dent¬ 
ed, very large and in color sometimes yel¬ 
lowish-while, sometimes reddish, lie laid 
especial stress upon the quality of the 
meal made from this corn. "We naturally 
requested a trial quantity, which request 
w T as kindly granted. The cars sent for 
seed fully substantiated our friend’s state¬ 
ment, and w T e concluded to use this seed 
for dTir regular trial acre. One of ihe ears 
with cross-section and cob was care¬ 
fully drawn and this will be presented in 
our Fair Number, and the variety will be 
placed in our next Seed Distribution, 
should it prove half as meritorious as the 
originator deems it. 
Our oats have partially recovered from 
the dry spell noted a few r weeks since, 
and our different kinds will have a fair 
opportunity of displaying their peculiar 
merits. 
Our wheats arc looking very well and 
the earliest* arc ready to cut at this date, 
July 1. One of these—the hardiest of all 
and, as we believe, the most prolific will 
make one of the many kinds of seeds 
we also hope to offer to our subscribers in 
the next Rural Free Seed Distribution. 
Ab to small fruits, the season has also 
thus far been peculiarly favorable. Wc 
are much pleased with the Hansell Rasp¬ 
berry. It is of good quality, firm and, 
judged by one season alone, the earliest 
raspberry we have ever tried. As regards 
hardiness and productiveness we cannot 
speak, as our plants were set last Spring. 
We do not, however, wish to make any 
comparisons between the Hansell and the 
Marlboro, Crimson Beauty and Superb, 
because they are this season growing un¬ 
der different conditions. 
THE TARIFF ON WOOL. 
According to the Census, Ohio had in 
1880 4,902,480 sheep, California coming 
next with 4,152,349, and Texas next with 
2,411.633—less than half the number in 
Ohio, while the other States are “nowhere” 
in comparison with the. Buckeye State. It 
is very natural therefore that Ohio should 
take a keen interest in all that concerns 
sheep husbandry, and the duty on foreign 
wools is a matter of prime importance in 
connection w'ith this subject. Accord¬ 
ingly, as might have been expected, both 
the Republican and Democratic parties at 
their late conventions for the nomination 
of State officers, vigorously denounced 
the reduction made by the last Congress 
in the tariff on wools as unjust and in¬ 
jurious to the sheep owners of the country, 
and the same cry has gone up from every 
convention of sheep owners from Michi¬ 
gan to Texas and Vermont to California. 
What does the reduction amount to is a 
question asked by hundreds of farmers 
who are indignant at the grievance with¬ 
out knowing precisely its extent. 
Under the present and the last tariff all 
wools have been divided, for the purpose 
of fixing the duties to be charged thereon, 
into three classes:—First come clothing 
wools, including the wool of the Merino 
and all wools of Merino blood, immediate 
or remote, Down clothing wools and wools 
of like character such as are usually im¬ 
ported from Buenos Ayres, New Zealand, 
Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, Rus¬ 
sia, Great Britain, Canada and elsewhere. 
Formerly wools of this class valued at 32 
cents or less per pound at the port of 
shipment, paid a duty of 10 cents per 
pound and 11 per cent, ad valorem ; if 
valued at over 32 cents the tax was 12 
cents a pound and 10 per cent, ad valorem. 
Now such wools valued at 30 cents or less 
per pound, pay 10 cents per pound; and 
if valued at over 30 cents per pound 
the duty is 12 cents per pound. Thus 
a specific duty only is now charged, 
the ad valorem duty having been en¬ 
tirely removed, while the duly is 
charged on a somewhat lower valuation. 
Class two consists of Combing wools, that 
is to say, Leicester, Cotswold, Lincoln¬ 
shire, Down combing wools, Canada long 
wools or other like combing wools of Eng¬ 
lish blood. Formerly these paid the same 
duty as those in class one, hut owing to 
the ad valorem duty changing owing to 
the difference iu value of the two classes, 
the entire duties on wools valued at 32 
cents or less and on those valued at over 
32 cents amounted respectively to 55.39 
and 41.61 per cent, for class one, and 
46.24 and 43.15 per cent, for class two. 
Under the present tariff the duties on the 
two classes are also the same, but owingto 
the absence of any ad valorem duty, there 
is no difference, of course, in the propor¬ 
tion of duty to cost. Class three consists of 
carpet wools and other similar wools, such 
as Donskoi, native South American, Cor¬ 
dova, Valparaiso, native Smyrna and all 
wools of Eke character usually imported 
from Turkey,Greece, Egypt, Syria and else¬ 
where. Formerly the duty on these when 
valued at 12 cents or less was 3 cents per 
pound,and when valued at over 12 cents.six 
cents per pound, the average ad valo¬ 
rem duty being 25.63 per cent, and 30.45 
per ccut. respectively. Now wools of 
this kind valued at 12 cents or less per 
pound, pay a duty of only two-and-a-half 
cents per pound, and on those valued at 
over 12 cents the tax is only live cents per 
pound, no adrolorem duty being charged in 
either case. Wools on the skins pay the 
same rates as other wools, the quantity and 
value to he ascertained under such rules 
as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre¬ 
scribe. With regard to wools of the first 
class, if they are imported washed, the 
duty is twice as great as if they were, im¬ 
ported unwashed, and the duty on wools 
of all classes imported scoured is three 
times the duty to which they would he 
subject, if imported unwashed. Wool 
imported in any other than ordinary cou- 
ditition, or which has been changed in 
character or condition for the purpose of 
evading the duty or which has been re¬ 
duced in value by an admixture of dirt or 
any other foreign substance, must pay twice 
the duty to which it would be otherwise 
subject. 
ANOTHER PHASE OF THE BARBED 
WIRE FENCE QUESTION. 
At the end of last week about 40 repre¬ 
sentatives of the manufacturers of barbed- 
wire iencc assembled at Chicago to 
consult w'ith the Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company as to the royalty 
henceforth to he paid on the wire turned 
out by each firm, in view of the recent 
decisions adverse to the patentees’ claims 
rendered by Judges Treat, McCrary and 
Love. Those who have read the full 
article on the defeat of the barbed-wire 
fence monopoly in the Rural of June 16, 
will remember that two series of eases 
were decided by Judge Treat, one involv¬ 
ing the validity of the patents on the 
fence; the other the validity of the pat¬ 
ents on the machinery for making the 
fence. It is with the latter question that 
the Chicago convention of manufacturers 
were concerned. This whole question is 
highly important to the fanners of the 
country, and therefore a brief sketch of 
this feature of it should lie of interest. 
For many years before Hunt’s patent on 
barbed wire in 1867, plain, unbarbed wire 
had been pretty widely used for fencing. 
Hunt’s crude device was meritorious only 
in its suggestiveness, and riglitawav 
others began to take out patents for im¬ 
provements in the same line, so that in 
the next ten years over 50 patents had 
been issued on devices connected with 
barbed-wire fencing. These had all been 
bought up by the Washburn «fc Moen 
Manufacturing Company and Isaac L. 
Ellw'ood. Seeing that the number of new 
patents might be well-nigh inexhaustible, 
and fully aware of the grand extension of 
which the business was capable, these 
shrewd meu determined to secure a 
“broad claim” covering every form of 
barbed wire and every device for manu¬ 
facturing it. This was very quietly done 
by obtaining reissues of the Kelley and 
Glidden patents in 1876. These reissued 
patents covered much more than the old 
patents were ever designed to “protect;” 
and the next stop of the patent-holders 
was to secure a decision of the courts sus¬ 
taining the reissues. This point, how¬ 
ever, was not gained until November, 
1880, when in the famous case of Haish 
and others in the United States Circuit 
Court at Chicago Judges Drummond and 
Blodgett decided the reissues were valid. 
Meanwhile thriving barbed-wire factories 
had started in a great many places in the 1 
West, the manufacturers knowing and 
caring little about the patents. From this 
blissful security they were aroused by a 
summons from the Washburn & Moen 
Company to meet them in Chicago for 
settlement three months after this deci¬ 
sion. They met in February, 1881, and 
about forty of the principal manufac¬ 
turers, after each had been assessed a cer¬ 
tain sum for back damages, were licensed 
to continue the business, each being lim¬ 
ited as to the amount of wire to he turned 
out every year and as to the price at 
which it was to be sold. Small makers 
having been refused licences, were crushed 
out. The price of wire to consumers was 
at once advanced about 40 per cent., and 
from February, 1881, to the date of the 
late decisions the monopolists must have 
wrung from the users of barbed-wire fence 
in half-a-dozen Western States at least 
$10,000,000 in addition to a fair profit on 
the manufacture and sale of the goods. 
Meanwhile the decision of the 
United States Supreme Court in the case 
Miller vs. the Brass Co. condemning the 
reissues of patents dishonestly covering 
more than Hie original patents claimed, 
encouraged the farmers of Iowa to start a 
“ moon shining ” factory in which barbed 
wire was made in defiance of the Kelley 
and Glidden patents. A large number of 
other “moonshiners” soon followed this 
example. The Washburn & Moen Co. 
entered suits anti petitions against all the 
“moonshiners,” but the courts of Missouri 
and Iowa moved slowly in the matter and 
finally decided against the patent owners, 
thus leaving the “moonshiners ” at liberty 
to continue making the barbed wire with¬ 
out paying a cent of “royalty,” while the 
licensed manufacturers remained bound by 
their contracts. The royalty hitherto paid 
was three-fourths of a cent per pound, and 
in lieu of this three-tenths of a cent per 
pound was substituted the other day 
at Chicago. A considerable number 
of manufacturers, however, refuse to 
accede to these terms, and have brought 
suits to avoid their contracts to pay 
royalty, while the Washburn & Moen 
Company has begun litigation against one 
of its recalcitrant licensees, and other suits 
of the same character are likely to follow, 
so that an open fight between the mono¬ 
poly and its whilom friends is probable in 
the near future. 
BREVITIES. 
You can not. defer sowing cucumber seeds 
any longer if you want, a good pickle crop. 
The letter by Mr. C. A. Keffer was received 
last Fall during his visit to the vineyards on 
the Rhine. 
Let our readers remember that they may 
obtain after September at any money-order 
office postal orders or notes In sums ns high as 
five dollars by paying only three cents. 
For the past 15 years we have raised the 
beautiful gladiolus from sued, the teedUfigg 
from which always vary from the mother 
plant. The flowers are easily crossed, the 
only trouble being to obtain pollen as the im¬ 
proved varieties bear it sparingly. Keep the 
seeds which are winged and very light until 
next Spring and plaut them as you would the 
seeds of Balsam. 
The firm of Benson, Manle (Sr Co., the trust¬ 
worthy seedsmen, of Philadelphia, was dissol¬ 
ved on June 30, bv mutual consent. G. S, Ben¬ 
son, Jr, retiring. The business will be contin¬ 
ued by W. H. Maule, trading under the old 
name of Benson, Maule it Co., he having pur¬ 
chased Mr. Benson’S interest and assumed all the 
responsibilities of the old firm. The retiring 
partner cordially recommends the now firm, 
and we join in the recommendation. 
Ark you not going to bag some grapes? Not. 
a few for the fair even? The Rural 1ms said 
a good deal on this subject during the past 
year arid now It advises its readers once more 
to bag a few' bunches of grapes “Just, for fun,” 
just to show the children; just to “see what 
they arc like.” Take any paper bag 7 x 10 
inches or thereabouts cut down the sides a 
little, slip in tile bunch, fold the top over the 
cane and pin together. Leave it until after 
the first slight frost. 
Mr. John 8. Collins writes us that lie finds 
a mistake iu the Rural of June 30th, p, 412 
in classing the Mount. Vernon as an early 
strawberry He says it is one of ins latest. 
He also states that Charles Downing and Hoy¬ 
den SO have had their day. Mount. Vernon is 
among our first, varieties to give ripe fruit, 
though it continues to lienv beyond the season 
of early varieties. As to Charles Downing, we 
should like to show Mr. Collins how it bears 
with us as well as on Long Island. We have 
not tried the Het.h Hoyden in foiu' years. It 
was then one of our best berries iu every way 
excepting the white tip which in this variety 
is to us for homo use no objection at all. 
